Iran

Iran is to appoint a woman ambassador for the first time since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to unconfirmed media reports April 15.
      
The reports said foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham would be named ambassador to an Asian country.
      

Poverty, gender discrimination and violence are keeping more than 12 million children in the Middle East out of school, despite efforts to expand education, the UN children's agency warned April 15.
      
An additional three million children in Syria and Iraq have been forced out of school by conflict, UNICEF said in a new report.
      

US Secretary of State John Kerry on April 15 welcomed a compromise with Congress on giving lawmakers a say on any final deal on Iran's nuclear programme.

Kerry said the measure approved April 14 by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which raises the threshold for critics in Congress to block any accord with Tehran, made him "confident" ahead of a June 30 deadline.    

Israel is pleased at a compromise deal achieved between the United States Congress and the administration of President Barack Obama, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said on April 15.

President Barack Obama is set to remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, in a landmark step paving the way towards restoring ties frozen for five decades.

A?r? is an eastern province close to Turkey?s borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran. It is a rather small and underdeveloped province, and will send only four deputies to the 550-seat Turkish Parliament in the June 7 general election.

Russia's return to the group of leading industrialised nations hinges on its assistance to efforts to put an an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told skeptical Republicans and Democrats on April 13 that the U.S. Congress should give him another two and a half months to secure a final nuclear deal with Iran. 

The UN Security Council will vote on April 14 on a draft resolution that demands Yemen's Huthi rebels pull back and punishes them with an arms embargo and sanctions, diplomats said.

The move by Moscow to lift an embargo on supplying Iran with S-300 air defense missile systems is "unhelpful", a Pentagon official has said.

On Sunday Russia announced it would renounce a ban on selling the equipment to Iran after substantial progress was marked in talks of world powers with Iran over the country's controversial nuclear program earlier in April.