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Media Summary

UK calls for special UN investigator into Iranian human rights abuses

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In the UK and international press today, the Times and BBC Online note that the Egyptian public prosecutor has banned Hosni Mubarak and his family from leaving the country while it investigates charges against them. Reuters reports that a referendum on constitutional change will take place in Egypt on 19 March, with a parliamentary election in June and a presidential poll six weeks afterwards. The news wire also notes that Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he had ‘fruitful and frank’ discussions with his EU counterpart, and hopes that talks on the Iranian nuclear programme will continue. A few papers note that Iran is threatening to boycott the Olympic Games in London next year because the official logo appears to spell the word ‘Zion’. The Daily Telegraph reviews the book Jerusalem: The biography, by Simon Sebag Montefiore.

 

In the Israeli press, Haaretz reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will submit a decision to the High Court of Justice calling for the immediate dismantling of illegal settlement outposts built on private Palestinian land in the West Bank. The paper also notes that PM Netanyahu told his Likud faction yesterday that Israel cannot ignore international pressure on settlement construction. The Jerusalem Post notes that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the United Nations Human Rights Council is undermining its work by giving too much focus to Israel. The paper also reports that Foreign Secretary William Hague yesterday called on the UN to appoint a special investigator on human rights abuses in Iran.