Iran's parliament dismisses minister

Iran's parliament voted on Sunday to dismiss the country's transport minister, the first member of reformist President Mohammad Khatami's cabinet to be impeached since conservative lawmakers won a majority in February's polls. Parliamentarians, who voted overwhelmingly to remove Ahmad Khorram, accused him of failing to improve Iran's dismal air, rail and road safety record and lambasted him for awarding a deal to run the capital's new airport to a foreign consortium. Lawmakers, in debates broadcast live on state radio, said the minister should have resigned long ago, because of his failure in tackling road and air accidents. -- Reuters

Global stocks of nuke bomb material growing

The world's stockpiles of plutonium and highly enriched uranium usable in atomic weapons are growing, despite increasing fears about the security of nuclear materials, a U.S. based think-tank says in a new report. The estimates of civilian and military stocks of plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) -- information treated by most governments as classified -- were prepared by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), run by former UN weapons inspector David Albright. -- Reuters

Bangladeshi opposition calls fresh strike

Bangladesh's main opposition Awami League at its first public meeting since a grenade attack on its rally in August announced Sunday a general strike on Oct. 10 and a massive street march two days later. Announcing the protests, Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed said the actions coincided with a program by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government to celebrate its three years in power. Sunday's meeting, attended by tens of thousands of Awami League supporters, marked the first public appearance of Sheikh Hasina since the Aug. 21 grenade attack which killed 21 people and which party leaders claimed was an attempt on her life. -- AFP