Briefly World

Iran delays nuclear talks until late Aug

TEHRAN: Iran will not hold talks with the West over its nuclear programme until late August to punish world powers for imposing tougher sanctions against the country,Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday. He also said Iran would retaliate should its ships be searched over suspicions that the cargo may violate the new sanctions.

Vatican rebukes Austrian Cardinal for comments

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI with Vienna Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn. The Vatican has issued an unprecedented public rebuke on Monday of Cardinal Schoenborn,who had questioned the Churchs policy of celibacy and criticised the retired Vatican No. 2 for his handling of sex abuse cases.

US court extends gun rights to states,cities

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court on Monday extended gun rights to every state and city in the nation,in a ruling likely to spur new challenges to gun control measures across the US. The 5-4 ruling could make it easier for individuals to own handguns. The US is estimated to have the worlds highest civilian gun ownership rate. Gun deaths average 80 a day,34 of them homicides,statistics show.

Kyrgyz constitution wins 90 p c support

Moscow: Kyrgyzstan has voted to create Central Asias first parliamentary democracy,referendum results showed on Monday,prompting a Russian warning that extremists could manipulate parliament. Official results showed that with almost all votes counted,90.6 per cent of voters backed a new constitution paving way for elections in October.