Iranian PM cornered

TEHRAN: Leading Iranian MPs voiced strong opposition on Monday to some of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s proposed ministers, including women, on the second day of a heated debate on his cabinet line-up. Parliament is due to hold a vote of confidence on the 21-member cabinet on Wednesday but the hardline Ahmadinejad is battling to win support even from conservative MPs who complained about the inclusion of women and charged that many of his nominees lacked experience. On Monday, MPs openly objected to one of the three women Ahmadinejad has picked, the first time in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic that Iran would have female cabinet ministers. Education minister-designate Sousan Keshvaraz, dressed in a black chador, sought to win the support of a hostile parliament by showcasing her Islamic credentials and her plans for the post. — AFP

Lockerbie case

LONDON: The decision to release the only person convicted in the Lockerbie bombing was based on justice rather than commercial decisions, a senior Scottish politician said on Monday. The comments came after a British newspaper reported government officials allowed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi to be included in a prisoner transfer agreement because it was in the U.K.’s “overwhelming interests” as a major oil deal was being negotiated. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s deputy first minister, told the BBC she didn’t know what agreements the British government had made, and said the decision of Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds was based on legal principles. — AP

Lankan journo jailed

COLOMBO: A Sri Lanka court sentenced a Tamil reporter, cited by US President Barack Obama as an “emblematic example” of a persecuted journalist, to 20 years in prison Monday on charges of supporting terrorism. J.S. Tissainayagam, 45, contributes to the local Sunday Times and runs a website. — AFP

Quake rattles China

BEIJING: A moderate 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck northwest China on Monday, just three days after a strong tremor rattled the same area and caused the collapse of a coal mine, seismologists said. The epicentre of the latest quake, which struck at 1015 GMT, was located 170 kilometres northeast of the city of Golmud in Qinghai province, the US Geological Survey reported. The quake hit

at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres. — AFP