Iran won't drop nuclear program

Iran will not abandon its nuclear program even if the U.N. nuclear watchdog refers it to the Security Council, where it could face punitive measures, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a rare news conference Saturday.

He insisted that Iran had the right to a peaceful nuclear program and that "no excuse could deprive the country from this right."

The United States and other Western nations, through the International Atomic Energy Agency, have been pressing Iran not to resume any nuclear activity.

Ahmadinejad also said he had been misquoted last month when he described Israel as a "disgraceful blot" that should be destroyed.

Gay unions, right

to abortion backed

Tens of thousands of Italians protested Saturday demanding legal recognition for gay unions and the right to abortion, two days after Pope Benedict XVI condemned homosexual marriage and abortion.

Tens of thousands of women marched through Milan on Saturday to demand Italy keep its liberal abortion law intact while gays rallied in Rome to push for legal recognition for homosexual couples.

Clutching banners reading "We will no longer be silenced," the demonstrators, many women and gay couples, crammed into squares in Rome and financial capital Milan. Italy goes to the polls April 9 and the church's position could play a significant role in the result.

Sharon's condition

stable but critical

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remained in critical but stable condition Saturday, a spokesman for Hadassah-Ein Kerem Hospital said.

Sharon, 77, who had a major stroke Jan. 4, was still receiving a small amount of sedatives, said the spokesman, Ron Krumer.Doctors began Wednesday to reduce the amount of sedatives they had been giving Sharon to keep him in an induced coma.

Also

Kerry tours quake site: Former U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry toured earthquake-devastated parts of Pakistan on Saturday.

Nepal bombs kill 12: Five blasts rocked the area near Kathmandu on Saturday, killing at least 12 policemen and injuring eight others.

Compiled from The New York Times and Reuters