Shorter Question Everything

Iran

• Saudi Arabia has dismissed US claims that Riyadh would use its leverage to pressure China to approve new sanctions against Iran.
  According to the Saudi official news agency, SPA, an official in Riadh rejected a claim by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the issue of pressuring China to support fresh sanctions against Iran, IRNA reported on Friday.
  The report indicates that the two sides did not even discuss the matter during Gates’ visit to Saudi Arabia.
  Earlier, Gates had said that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had expressed willingness to push Beijing to support sanctions against Iran.

US: New York

• After years of fighting in court, lawyers representing New York City, construction companies and more than 10,000 “Ground Zero” rescue and recovery workers have agreed to a settlement that could pay up to $657.5m (£433.3) to people made ill by dust from the destroyed World Trade Centre.
  The deal, which went before a judge yesterday for final approval before going to the workers themselves, would make the city and other companies represented by the insurer liable for a minimum of $575m, with more money available if certain conditions are met.
  Most, if not all, of the money would come out of a $1bn grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the settlement “a fair and reasonable resolution to a complex set of circumstances”. “The resolution of the World Trade Centre litigation will allow the first responders and workers to be compensated for injuries suffered following their work at Ground Zero,” he said.

Israel

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Israel’s behavior “insulting” after it approved 1,600 new homes last week at a settlement in the Jerusalem area on the very day Vice President Joe Biden was there to set a seal on relaunched negotiations.

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