Britain, France and the United States have dispatched hundreds of military advisors to Libya to set up military bases in the country’s oil-rich east, reports say. Read the full story

Iranian scholar Shahram Amiri, who was freed 14 months after being kidnapped by US and Saudi agents, says he turned down a 50 million dollar bribe offer by the US for cooperation. Read the full story

Plans for a fourth set of UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme are being circulated among all 15 members of the Security Council. Read the full story

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva met with Iranian leaders on Sunday, and called the relationship between the two countries “strategic.” Read the full story

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is looking to turn the tables Monday on Western efforts to rein in his nuclear program, with a speech at a United Nations treaty conference which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called a bid to “divert” and “confuse.” Read the full story

Google’s closure of its search engine in China should not damage Sino-US relations as long as it remains an isolated act by a commercial company, China’s Foreign Ministry said today. Read the full story

Addressing Israeli lobbyists, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used new accusatory rhetoric against Iran and vowed extra toughness in blocking Tehran’s progress in its nuclear program by imposing severe sanctions, among other harsh measures. Read the full story

The international Quartet of Middle East peace mediators has called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity. Read the full story

The Obama administration refused to let go of the Ramat Shlomo construction controversy Sunday, with two top aides to US President Barack Obama slamming Israel amid a growing sense in Jerusalem that Washington was using the issue to squeeze diplomatic concessions from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Read the full story

Brazil has highlighted Iran’s role in the region, reiterating that Tehran must be part of a solution to any conflict in the Middle East. Read the full story

British diplomats have expressed serious concerns to the US State Department at least three times over Washington’s response to the latest dispute over the Falkland Islands, The Times has learnt. Read the full story

The Brazilian government has announced increased trade tariffs against a variety of American goods in response to illegal US subsidies to cotton farmers. Read the full story

Turkey recalled its ambassador to Washington tonight after a congressional panel voted to label the massacre of Armenians in the First World War as “genocide”, in developments that threatened to poison relations between the US and its closest Muslim ally. Read the full story

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to win Brazil’s support on Wednesday for more sanctions against Iran and said Tehran would not talk seriously about its nuclear program until the United Nations took new action. Read the full story

As US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tours Latin America to recruit support for new international sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Tel Aviv urges Washington to adopt Cuba-like embargos against Tehran. Read the full story

Defense Minister Ehud Barak stressed the need for tough sanctions against Iran as he wrapped up meetings with senior American officials, even as the two allies have disagreed on the severity of punitive measures in recent days. Read the full story

The US has rejected Iran’s suggestion of a prisoner swap for several Iranians jailed in the US for the three American hikers currently being held in Iran. Read the full story

China has denied any state involvement in alleged cyber attacks on Google and accused the US of double standards. A Chinese industry ministry spokesman told the state-run Xinhua news agency that claims that Beijing was behind recent cyber attacks were “groundless”. Read the full story