Cheerleaders donned black leggings and white T-shirts for a world championship basketball match between Iran and the United States in Istanbul on Wednesday to respect cultural sensitivities...Patrick Baumann, secretary-general of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), said "special arrangements" had been made with the dancers' dress on Wednesday.

Google can be seen as an American political tool, argues cyber diplomacy analyst Evgeny Morozov in a new editorial pegged to the announcement of an Iranian national search engine. Furthermore, he indicts many Silicon Valley companies for collaborating with the State Department to turn business matters into political questions.

An Iranian newspaper said on Tuesday that France's first lady Carla Bruni deserves to die after she condemned Iran's decision to stone a woman to death for adultery.

After its inaugural convention in Bucharest last year, the Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum, or BSEEF, is taking a big step to build dialogue within the Eurasian region. According to Ambassador Ross Wilson, the Atlantic Council is organizing the forum in Istanbul this year in order to highlight the economic and cultural commonalities in the region and stimulate discussions on common problems.

Iranian media have been prohibited from mentioning opposition leaders, including former President Mohammad Khatami, under a purported media directive that would further strengthen the government's grip over the remaining news outlets.

The Internet has become an increasingly important part of the distribution channels for U.S.-funded international broadcasting operations. Here’s one example. Radio Liberty’s Persian-language radio service Radio Farda broadcasts on short- and medium-wave, the Internet and satellite radio to Iran 24/7.

'I hope one day I come to see you because, every day here, it's worse and worse." The young man's guarded, disconsolate voice comes distantly from Iran on a bad Skype line. He's a well-known figure in that country's burgeoning but relentlessly suppressed underground rock music scene. Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei recently declared music to be "incompatible" with the values of the Islamic Republic...

Disputes between Gulf Arab states and the maker of the Blackberry smartphone over access to encrypted communications highlight a growing nervousness over looming regional security threats, from Iran to al Qaeda.