A handful of foreign companies have been slapped with sanctions for sales of technologies that could help Iran, Syria and North Korea to develop nuclear weapons.

Following a meeting between Mauritania's junta leaders and the European Union in Paris, EU officials have given the military officials one month to show how they will restore constitutional order, or sanctions will take effect.

The sentencing of Solizhon Abdurakhmanov, a human rights activist, prompted calls for extended sanctions on Uzbekistan.

PRESIDENT Mugabe says he sees no hitches in implementing the power-sharing agreement between Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations and has called on the West to remove the illegal sanctions it imposed on Zimbabwe.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday promised to pursue nuclear technology despite Western "bullying," as Russia apparently scuppered a push for new sanctions against Tehran.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will stop any attacker before he can "pull the trigger" and sanctions intended to isolate the Islamic Republic have not worked, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a military parade on Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The six powers leading negotiations over Iran's suspect nuclear program met here Friday to hammer out new sanctions against Tehran, complicated by tensions between Moscow and the West.

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Both front-runners for the leadership of Israel's ruling party vow to take a hard line against Iran, threatening possible military force if sanctions do not halt what Israel believes is a covert nuclear weapons program....

Europe and the United States have taken a "wait-and-see" approach to Zimbabwe's power-sharing pact, suggesting they will lift sanctions and provide aid only when they see evidence of its implementation.

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned the West that any sanctions against Moscow over the war in Georgia will backfire....