Iran ambassador: Protesters represent a minority

The anti-government protesters who have streamed into streets across Iran to protest this month’s presidential elections as rigged represent a small minority of the nation, Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri, said Wednesday. “The minority can’t impose their opinion on the majority,” Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri told CNN en Español.

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Iran election race tightens

The day before polls open in Iran’s presidential election, the streets are suddenly quiet again as official campaigning comes to an end, and voters prepare for what is expected to be a record turnout. Whereas President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a sure bet just 10 days ago, the race has closed this past week, in what is clearly turning into a referendum on his four years in office. Rivers of green have flowed through the streets, those decked out in the colors of his main challenger, former Prime Minster Mir Hossein Moussavi.

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One of Tiananmen’s ‘most wanted’ returns to China

Xiong Yan was at the forefront of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. As a student leader, he rallied other youths to attend a memorial for a reform-minded leader that snowballed into the political movement, he joined an ensuing hunger strike, participated in student negotiations with the Chinese leadership and spent 19 months in prison after being named by authorities as one of the government’s “most wanted” for his activities. Because of his student activism in 1989, Xiong has never been allowed to return to mainland China, where technically he is still a wanted man.

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Pakistan’s top court allows Nawaz Sharif to run for political office

Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned its ban on opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his brother, allowing both men to run for political office, a court representative told CNN Tuesday. British poet Ruth Padel resigned as the University of Oxford’s Professor of Poetry Monday, only days after being elected to the 300-year old title. But rival poet Derek Walcott, who won the Nobel prize for Literature in 1992, pulled out of the race earlier this month amid allegations about his private life.

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Iran’s Ahmadinejad dismisses nuclear talks with other nations

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday ruled out nuclear negotiations with other nations, saying, "Iran’s nuclear issue is over, in our opinion." At a news conference in Tehran, the hardline president also said that if re-elected he again will call for a debate with President Obama. Ahmadinejad previously urged a debate with President Bush and offered to debate both Obama and Republican presidential candidate Sen.

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Analysis: Is Europe facing a threat from the right?

Does trans-national democracy work? Or is Europe about to see a wave of new Far Right politicians and mavericks marching from obscurity to national prominence thanks to an election most voters are neglecting? Between June 4 and June 7 it could happen.

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