The Latest from Iran (10 May): Ahmadinejad's Welcome Distraction

1820 GMT: Book Corner. Radio Zamaneh reports that all works of the prominent author Ali Ashraf Darvishian have been removed from the Tehran Book Fair.

1810 GMT: Parliament Watch. Back from a break to summarise latest developments in the tug-of-war between Parliament and the Government.

On Monday, the Majlis finally confirmed the 2011/12 Budget --- after a debate and delays of more than two months --- but the affirmation was far from resounding: only 144 votes of the 290 MPs voted for the package. There were 29 votes against, 12 abstentions, 23 "presents", and 82 absences.

Now a new battle is brewing: MPs, including Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, are claiming that the Government may be breaking the law in its plans for the merger of nine Ministries. On Monday, Parliament had warned that former Ministers could not continue to serve in the new Ministries.

1320 GMT: The House Arrests. Kalemeh, reporting on the continued house arrest and "denial of basic rights" of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, says that the two met one of their daughters last week for an hour.

Mousavi and Rahnavard have been under strict house arrest since mid-February.

1300 GMT: Campus Watch. Minister of Science and Higher Education Kamran Daneshjoo has said that hijab should be present in all aspects of university life. As for the curriculum, he continued, "I don't say we should not teach "estern ideas, but we should teach Islamic ideas as well."

1030 GMT: Media Watch. The International Foundation of Women in Media has honoured Parisa Hafezi, the Reuters bureau chief in Tehran, for her "courage in journalism".

The foundation praised Hafezi's persistence in reporting despite threats and intimidation by Iranian authorities.

0800 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. The President has continued his projection of authority, using an international conference (see 0545 GMT), with a meeting with Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai.

Ahmadinejad repeated the line, made in his speech at the UN meeting on the Least Developed Countries, that the US should end its "occupations" in Central Asia and the Middle East.

0630 GMT: Justice Watch (Ahmadinejad Edition). Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei announced on Monday that several members of the President's office had been arrested, including some accused of "exorcism". He denied, however, that 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi had been sentenced to prison for five years and banned permanently from government employment over corruption charges.

0625 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. A bit of good news for the President on Monday, with 13 provincial Governors-General signing a letter declaring support for Ahmadinejad and his aide Rahim-Mashai.

0615 GMT: The Battle Within. The report by Alef claiming corruption among the family and associates of Ahmadinejad right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai is significant because the site is linked to MP Ahmad Tavakoli, prominent critic of the Government and relative of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani.

Alef has claimed financial irregularities by Samga, a company founded by a former aide to Rahim-Mashai. Samga has denied any connection with Rahim-Mashai and Hamid Baghaei, another Ahmadinejad aide.

Alef also alleges nepotism benefiting Rahim-Mashai's nephews, Arah and Korosh Esfandiar Mashai, allowing them to accumulate wealth since Rahim-Mashai joined Ahmadinejad in the Tehran mayor's office in 2002 and then the Presidency.

Tavakoli also attacked this week with a list of "gross mistakes" by the Government in implementation of subsidy cuts.

0600 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist/filmmaker Mohammad Reza Nourizad was released from prison on Monday after nearly two years in detention.

There was no indication whether the release of Nourizad, who has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison and 50 lashes for “insulting public officials and propaganda against the regime", was permanent or for a short term.

0550 GMT: The Battle Within. But the President's departure for Turkey, even after his public concession to the authority of the Supreme Leader, was not going to erase his political problems.

As Parliament pressed the Government over the 2011/12 Budget and its organisation --- warning that former Ministers could not continue to served in merged Ministries --- Iranian media outlet maintained the attack on Ahmadinejad's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

The opposition Rah-e Sabz, drawing on information from media such as the conservative Alef, writes that Rahim-Mashai's family and associates owe hundreds of millions of dollars to Iranian banks.

0545 GMT: President Ahmadinejad offered a useful, if temporary, solution to his domestic differences on Monday --- he left the country.

A visit to Turkey for a United Nations conference on Least Developed Countries gave Ahmadinejad the opportunity to denounce the US at a press conference --- America should withdraw from Afghanistan and the region from Central Asia to the Middle East, there should be an international inquiry into 9/11, "“if (Obama) makes a wrong decision, he will suffer an even worse fate than that of Bush” --- and have photo opportunities with Turkish leaders Abdullah Gul and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ahmadinejad also presented a six-point plan to the conference, including "an organization...made up of members from countries that are independent of the capitalist system...to develop a mechanism to closely supervise the central banks and treasuries of the expansionist countries", "an independent committee [to] estimate the damage inflicted during the era of colonialism and slavery", and "10% of the military budgets of 40 countries in the world...allocated to the least developed countries".