The positions of world powers and Iran remain "far apart" in talks seeking to end the standoff over Tehran's nuclear programme, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after the latest meeting wrapped up in Almaty on Saturday. "It became clear that the positions (of the world powers) and Iran remain far apart on the substance," Ashton told reporters at a news conference.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Wednesday she was cautiously optimistic over the outcome of talks this week between Iran and world powers on Tehran's nuclear drive. Officials from the so-called P5+1 grouping meet negotiators from Iran in Kazakhstan on Friday, hoping for a response to a revised offer that would ease some sanctions in return for concessions over its uranium enrichment activities.

The United Nations said Wednesday that Syria has made no formal request for a UN investigation into government claims that opposition rebels have used chemical weapons. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky appeared to counter a statement by Syria's UN envoy Bashar Jaafari that Syria had asked for the "independent" inquiry into the claims. Nesirky said he had briefed Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Jaafari's comments to reporters. "I think we will have something further to say once we have received a formal request which we have so far not received," Nesirky told reporters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it was evaluating allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria but dismissed charges that the opposition had used such weapons in the two-year-old conflict. The Syrian government and rebels accused each other of launching a deadly chemical attack near the northern city of Aleppo. "We are looking carefully at allegations of ... chemical weapons use, we are evaluating them," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.