● <B>UNITED STATES. Two Indian and six Chinese firms sanctioned for Iran dealings.</B> The United States has imposed sanctions on six Chinese state-run firms for selling missiles or chemical weapons-related supplies to Iran, a State Department spokesman said on Tuesday. Two Indian companies, Sabero Organic Chemicals and Sandhya Organic Chemicals, and the Austrian arms maker Steyr-Mannlicher were also sanctioned, said State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli. The nine companies were punished for violating the 2000 Iran Nonproliferation Act, designed by Washington to block international aid for what it suspects are Iranian nuclear and chemical weapons programs.

● <B>ITALY. Police seize looted art at pensioner’s home.</B> Italian police said they had seized nearly 9,000 ancient artefacts from a 74-year-old pensioner who sold looted antiquities at a flea market in Rome. Police stopped the man on Monday night and found three bags full of Etruscan and Roman pieces in his car. They also searched his house where they discovered a laboratory to clean and restore the antiquities, as well as what they described as the classic tomb raider’s kit, including three metal detectors. Among the 8,972 pieces seized were ancient terracotta vases, amphorae, masks, clay and bronze statues and parts of marble columns.

● <B>BANGLADESH. Angry teachers surround Prime minister’s office.</B>Thousands of poorly paid Bangladeshi school teachers, many wearing black bands, marched through Dhaka on Tuesday demanding higher wages and retirement benefits on par with those given to teachers in government-run schools. The primary school teachers, who have converged on the capital from around the country, said they will launch a hunger strike and stage a protest sit-in around the prime minister’s office to press their demands.