Among measures Iran is taking since the interim agreement took effect on January 20 is the dilution of its stock of higher-enriched uranium to a fissile concentration less suitable for any attempt to fuel an atomic bomb.Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), indicated that Iran had made sufficient progress in this regard to receive a scheduled March 1 installment of $450 million out of a total of $4.2 billion in previously blocked overseas funds.
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Iran cutting sensitive nuclear stocks, much work remains: IAEA | Reuters - 0 views
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Separately, the IAEA is investigating suspicions - largely believed to be based on intelligence provided by Western states and Israel - that Iran has researched how to construct an atomic bomb, a charge Tehran denies. Iran says it is Israel's assumed nuclear arsenal that threatens Middle East peace.
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Amano said 17 IAEA member states had so far expressed interest in contributing extra-budgetary funds to help finance the IAEA's extra workload in monitoring the implementation of the Geneva agreement in Iran, but that more was needed. "We are still short of some €1.6 million ($2.21 million)," Amano said.The U.n. agency said in January it needed about 5.5 million euros from member states to pay for its increased activities in Iran. This would cover more inspectors sent to Iran and the purchase of specialized surveillance-related equipment.
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Iran and World Powers Resume nuclear Talks as Tensions Rise Over Ukraine Crisis - 0 views
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Iran and six world powers are meeting in Vienna Tuesday resuming talks over Tehran's disputed nuclear program aiming to reach a comprehensive agreement by mid-July. However, tension between western countries and Russia over events in Ukraine and Crimea's succession vote on Sunday, which overwhelmingly approved reunification with Russia, may threaten the second round of talks.
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disagreements between the permanent U.n. Security Council member states may reduce pressure on Iran to make a deal
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US encourages resolution of Western Sahara dispute - 4 views
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Clinton reiterated the U.S. commitment to facilitating an Israeli-Palestinian peace, and also singled out the Western Sahara dispute, reaffirming longstanding U.S. policy that supports autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the only realistic solution to end the 34-year-old conflict.
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Clinton was sharply criticized for restating what has been U.S. policy for three successive administrations.
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The Algerian-backed rebel group Polisario Front accused Clinton of misstating U.S. policy on the Sahara and over-praising Morocco for its unarguably impressive record of political reforms, social progress and economic growth over the last decade.
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Current U.S. policy on Western Sahara is that “autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only feasible solution to the Western Sahara dispute” and should be negotiated “within the U.n.-led framework.”
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The U.S. adopted the policy as the only realistic solution to ending the decades-long stalemate over Western Sahara, which continues to be a roadblock to regional cooperation to grow economies in north Africa, address security concerns including terrorism and trafficking, and create a pillar of stability in an unstable part of the world.
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Failure to resolve the conflict also perpetuates the suffering of tens of thousands of refugees trapped for more than three decades in desert camps in Algeria, held hostage by Polisario leaders and a failed ideology willing to sacrifice a people’s future to score political points.
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Agencies Say Iran Has the nuclear Fuel to Build a Bomb - nYTimes.com - 0 views
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In the first public acknowledgment of the intelligence findings, the American ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency declared on Wednesday that Iran now had what he called a “possible breakout capacity” if it decided to enrich its stockpile of uranium, converting it to bomb grade material.
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Iran has maintained its continuing enrichment program is for peaceful purposes, that the uranium is solely for electric power
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But in a 2007 announcement, the United States said that it had found evidence that Iran had worked on designs for making a warhead, though it determined the project was halted in late 2003.
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It is unclear how many months — or even years — it would take Iran to complete that final design work,
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he United States and its allies would likely have considerable warning time if Iran moved to convert its growing stockpile of low-enriched nuclear fuel to make it usable for weapons.
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At the core of the dispute is the “breakout capacity” that Mr. Davies referred to on Wednesday in his first presentation as ambassador to the I.A.E.A., the U.n.’s nuclear watchdog.
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The Israelis have argued that there could be little or no warning time — especially if Iran has hidden facilities
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As American and Israeli officials expected, Iran turned over to European nations on Wednesday what it called a new set of “proposals” for negotiations over its nuclear program.
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The White House has given Iran a late-September deadline to begin substantive negotiations, or face additional sanctions.
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Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents - nYTimes.com - 0 views
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accelerated a transformation of the C.I.A. into a paramilitary organization as much as a spying agency, which some critics worry could lower the threshold for future quasi-military operations. In Pakistan’s mountains, the agency had broadened its drone campaign beyond selective strikes against Qaeda leaders and now regularly obliterates suspected enemy compounds and logistics convoys, just as the military would grind down an enemy force. For its part, the Pentagon is becoming more like the C.I.A. Across the Middle East and elsewhere, Special Operations troops under secret “Execute Orders” have conducted spying missions that were once the preserve of civilian intelligence agencies. With code names like Eager Pawn and Indigo Spade, such programs typically operate with even less transparency and Congressional oversight than traditional covert actions by the C.I.A. And, as American counterterrorism operations spread beyond war zones into territory hostile to the military, private contractors have taken on a prominent role, raising concerns that the United States has outsourced some of its most important missions to a sometimes unaccountable private army.
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“For the first time in our history, an entity has declared a covert war against us,” Mr. Smith said, referring to Al Qaeda. “And we are using similar elements of American power to respond to that covert war.” Some security experts draw parallels to the cold war, when the United States drew heavily on covert operations as it fought a series of proxy battles with the Soviet Union. And some of the central players of those days have returned to take on supporting roles in the shadow war. Michael G. Vickers, who helped run the C.I.A.’s campaign to funnel guns and money to the Afghanistan mujahedeen in the 1980s and was featured in the book and movie “Charlie Wilson’s War,” is now the top Pentagon official overseeing Special Operations troops around the globe. Duane R. Clarridge, a profane former C.I.A. officer who ran operations in Central America and was indicted in the Iran-contra scandal, turned up this year helping run a Pentagon-financed private spying operation in Pakistan.
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A Navy ship offshore had fired the weapoN iN the attack, a cruise missile loaded with cluster bombs, accordiNg to a report by AmNesty INterNatioNal. UNlike coNveNtioNal bombs, cluster bombs disperse small muNitioNs, some of which do Not immediately explode, iNcreasiNg the likelihood of civiliaN causalities. The use of cluster muNitioNs, later documeNted by AmNesty, was coNdemNed by humaN rights groups.
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By law, covert action programs require presidential authorization and formal notification to the Congressional intelligence committees. no such requirements apply to the military’s so-called Special Access Programs, like the Yemen strikes.
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he spotty record of the Yemen airstrikes may derive from another unavoidable risk of the new shadow war: the need to depend on local proxies who may be unreliable or corrupt, or whose agendas differ from that of the United States.
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for all Mr. Saleh’s power — his portraits hang everywhere in the Yemeni capital — his government is deeply unpopular in the remote provinces where the militants have sought sanctuary. The tribes there tend to regularly switch sides, making it difficult to depend on them for information about Al Qaeda
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Do the selective hits make the United States safer by eliminating terrorists? Or do they help the terrorist network frame its violence as a heroic religious struggle against American aggression, recruiting new operatives for the enemy?
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Most Yemenis have little sympathy for Al Qaeda and have observed the American strikes with “passive indignation,” Mr. Eryani said. But, he added, “I think the strikes over all have been counterproductive.”
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“I think it’s both understandable and defensible for the Obama administration to pursue aggressive counterterrorism operations,” Mr. Hull said. But he added: “I’m concerned that counterterrorism is defined as an intelligence and military program. To be successful in the long run, we have to take a far broader approach that emphasizes political, social and economic forces.”
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ver the years, military force had proved to be a seductive tool that tended to dominate “all the discussions and planning” and push more subtle solutions to the side
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When terrorists threaten Americans, Mr. Zenko said, “there is tremendous pressure from the national Security Council and the Congressional committees to, quote, ‘do something.’ ” That is apparent to visitors at the American Embassy in Sana, who have noticed that it is increasingly crowded with military personnel and intelligence operatives. For now, the shadow warriors are taking the lead.
Bin Laden an environmentalist? Tape says so - World news - Mideast/n. Africa - msnbc.com - 0 views
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Freedomhouse Report: Libya - 0 views
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al-Qadhafi has sought to promote the status of women and to encourage them to participate in his Jamahiriya project
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e directly challenged the prevailing conservatism in Libya, though his regime at times has struck a conciliatory tone with the Islamist political opposition and the conservative populace at the expense of women's rights
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al-Qadhafi has pushed for women to become equal citizens and has introduced legislation aimed at reducing discrimination between the sexes.
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o not permit any genuinely independent organizations or political groups to exist. Membership in any group or organization that is not sanctioned by the state is punishable by death under Law no. 71 of 1972. There are a number of women's organizations in Libya that purport to be independent, but they are all in fact closely linked to the state. Consequently, their efforts to promote women's emancipation have yielded little progress.
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promote a greater awareness of domestic violence and the fact that more women are entering the workforce.
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government temporarily restricted women from leaving the country without their male guardian, a step that the authorities later denied.
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1977 Declaration of the Authority of the People and the 1988 Great Green Charter of Human Rights in the Age of the Masses (Great Green Charter).
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Women have been eligible to become judges since 1981, although they remain underrepresented in the judiciary. The first female judge was appointed in 1991, and currently there are an estimated 50 female judges
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An adult woman is recognized as a full person before the court and is equal to a man throughout all stages of litigation and legal proceedings. However, in some instances, women are not considered to be as authentic witnesses as men.
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Libya acceded to the UN CoNveNtioN oN the ElimiNatioN of All Forms of DiscrimiNatioN agaiNst WomeN (CEDAW) iN 1989. At that time, it made reservatioNs to Article 2 aNd Article 16, iN relatioN to rights aNd respoNsibilities iN marriage, divorce, aNd pareNthood, oN the grouNds that these articles should be applied without prejudice to Shari'a. Libya made aN additioNal geNeral reservatioN iN 1995, declariNg that No aspect of accessioN caN coNflict with the laws of persoNal status derived from Shari'a.[15]
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In June 2004, Libya became the first country in the Arab region to ratify the Optional Protocol to CEDAW.[16] The protocol allows Libyan groups and individuals to petition the Un CEDAW committee if they believe their rights under the convention have been violated.[17] However, because the committee can only issue nonbinding recommendations to states in response to these petitions, the practical effects of the protocol remain unclea
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There are no genuinely independent nongovernmental women's rights groups in Libya. Several women's organizations claim to be independent, such as Al-Wafa Association for Human Services, which seeks to improve the status of women and "to further women's education and social standing."[18] However, all such organizations have close ties to the authorities. The charity Al-Wattasimu, for example, organized an international conference on women's rights in Tripoli in April 2007. Participants sought to draft new concepts and principles on women's rights and "to realize a strategic support group project for African women."[19] Al-Wattasimu is run by Aisha al-Qadhafi, the daughter of Muammar al-Qadhafi.
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zations claim to be independent, such as Al-Wafa Association for Human Services, which seeks to improve the status of
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Society in general still considers women's primary role to be in the home. While more young women in Libya aspire to pursue professional careers, their working lives are often cut short when they marry.
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Their political rights and civic voice remain extremely limited on account of the nature of the regime and the fact that all political activity must be sanctioned by the authorities. Recent years have brought no real change in this respect, and women continue to play a marginal role in state institutions. For example, just 36 women gained s
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nces. For all its discourse on women's rights, the regime clearly remains extremely reluctant to appoint women to senior positions.
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Women are even less likely to participate in the Basic People's Congresses in rural areas, and in some cases those who do attend choose to do so indirectly on account of conservative social attitudes.
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Women have gained access to new sources of information in recent years, but the extent to which they can use this information to empower themselves in their civic and pol
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gime. Women increasingly use the Internet as a source of information, though satellite television, which is more accessible, is the most influential medium
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t the same time, social and cultural attitudes are being influenced by growing access to satellite television and the Internet, and by a partial opening in the domestic media, which has led to an increased awareness of women's issues and greater room for discussion. The expansion of mobile telephone access has also give
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FreedomHouse Report on Saudi Arabia - 0 views
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e that work in these fields will become more widely available to women in the future. Higher education, in fact, is one area in
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8 report was critical of Saudi Arabia's compliance with the convention and called for Saudi Arabia "to enact a gender equality law."
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consultation, and equality in accordance with Shari'a, or Islamic law. However, Shari'a in Saudi Arabia does not offer equality to women, particularly regarding family law. Instead, women are considered legal minors under the control of their mahram (closest male relative) and are subject to legal restrictions on their personal behavior that do not apply to men.
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In 2004 a royal decree affirmed the principle of equality between men and women in all matters relating to Saudi nationality,[5] but women remain unable
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Saudi Arabia ratified the UN CoNveNtioN oN the ElimiNatioN of All Forms of DiscrimiNatioN agaiNst WomeN (CEDAW) iN 2000, with reservatioNs statiNg that the kiNgdom is uNder No obligatioN to observe terms of the treaty that coNtradict Islamic law.
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ittee for Women's Right to Drive organized a petition addressed to the king.[19] In January 2008, days after Saudi Arabia faced criticism by the CEDAW committee for restricting "virtually every aspect of a woman's life,"[20] the government announced that a royal decree allowing women to drive would be issued "at the end of the year."[21] In March, the Consultative Council recommended that women be allowed to drive during the daylight hours of weekdays if they get permission from their guardians, undergo drivers' education, wear modest dress, and carry a cell phone. To allay concerns about women's safety, the council added the imposition of a sentence and a fine on any male in another car talking to or sexually harassing a female driver.
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As of October 2009 these goals had not been implemented, but government approval for the idea of women's driving is a milestone for the kingdom.
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At the end of 2007, the long–standing bans on women checking into hotels alone and renting apartments for themselves were lifted by royal decree, and a women-only hotel opened in 2008 in Riyadh
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Government efforts to support women's legal right to work are in reality ambiguous, giving comfort to those who believe that women should stay at ho
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t. Statistics on women's economic activity vary somewhat depending on the source. According to the Ministry of Economy and Planning, women constituted only 5.4 percent of the total Saudi workforce in 2005
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mixing the sexes in the workplace and the requirement that a woman's guardian give permission for her to work.
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women have recently been appointed to elite ministry posts, university deanships, and directorships in quasi-governmental civic organizations
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The opening of a women's department in the law faculty at King Saud University in Riyadh raises the possibility of appointments to judgeships for women in the future
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The Internet has played a major role in political activism in Saudi Arabia by helping to bring human rights abuses to international attention.
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Iran puts conditions on nuclear fuel swap - Yahoo! news - 0 views
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"We accepted the proposal in principle," Foreign Minister Manochehr Mottaki told reporters at a regional security conference in Bahrain. In what is almost certain to be a deal breaker, however, he spoke of exchanging the material in phases rather than all at once as is called for in the U.n. plan. He said Iran had offered to make a first shipment of 880 pounds (400 kilograms) of enriched uranium. Carrying it out in slow stages would leave Iran in control of enough uranium to make a bomb.
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Middle East News | Israel risks closiNg door to peace talks: Syria - 0 views
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Syria warned Israel on Thursday it risked closing the door to renewed peace talks, a day after the Israeli parliament agreed to consider a bill that would make it far more difficult to return the occupied Golan.
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"The current Israeli government of (Benjamin) netanyahu is perfectly aware that Syria will not resume indirect talks brokered by Turkey unless this prime minister commits himself to a full withdrawal from the Golan," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "Syria's recovery of its occupied territory is non-negotiable as it is a right recognized by U.n. resolutions."
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Israeli MPs passed a bill backed by NetaNyahu's right-leaNiNg goverNmeNt at first readiNg oN WedNesday which would require aNy withdrawal from aNNexed territory to be approved by aN absolute majority iN the 120-seat parliameNt aNd theN be put to a refereNdum withiN 80 days.
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"Through this action, Israel is once again defying the desire of the international community to achieve a comprehensive peace in the region in accordance with international resolutions and the principle of the exchange of land for peace.
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Taliban Re-emerge in Afghanistan's Once-Quiet north - nYTimes.com - 0 views
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over the last two years the Taliban have steadily staged a resurgence in Kunduz, where they now threaten a vital nATO supply line and employ more sophisticated tactics. In november, residents listened to air raids by nATO forces for five consecutive nights, the first heavy fighting since the Taliban were overthrown eight years ago.
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Turkish Populism Goes to the Polls | Foreign Affairs - 0 views
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Amid the political turmoil sweeping the Middle East, there are signs that the populist and anti-Western strand in Turkey's foreign policy may have run its course
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Building on the work of its predecessors, the AKP government replaced a foreign policy based on security with one focused on engagement, soft power, and trade, in the process diffusing tensions with neighboring countries such as Iran, Iraq, and Syria (known as the "zero problems" policy).
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Never before iN Turkey's moderN history has foreigN policy beeN so directly wedded to domestic politics: The architects of Turkey's foreigN policy used to aNswer to the geNerals; these days, policymakers aNswer to the public. ANd Never before has a Turkish goverNmeNt staked so much of its reputatioN oN its iNterNatioNal accomplishmeNts, real or hypothetical.
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especially in the wake of Turkey's response to the Mavi Marmara incident, a number of U.S. congressmen withdrew their support for Ankara on important policy issues. For example, Anthony Weiner (D-n.Y.) argued that Turkey's membership in nATO should be "called into question," while Shelley Berkley (D-nev.), threatened to speak "actively" against Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
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Yet the populism inherent in the AKP's foreign policy has a hidden danger: Fuelling anti-Western and anti-Israeli sentiment may win Erdogan a few nationalist or Islamist votes, but it is also costing him some valuable friends, from European politicians to the U.S. congressional representatives.
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With support for joining the European Union among Turks plummeting from 71 percent in 2004 to 47 percent last year, according to a Eurobarometer poll, there are few votes to be won by campaigning in favor of EU accession.
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Under the AKP, the Turkish government has inserted identity politics, particularly religion, into foreign policy. (It is revealing that Erdogan refers to Europeans as "partners" or "friends" but to Arabs and Iranians as "brothers.") Two years ago, Erdogan proclaimed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, innocent of genocide -- Muslims, he argued, "are incapable of such a thing." At the same time, Ankara, quick to condemn any use of force by Israelis, has been much more indulgent toward its Arab allies, Syria and Libya included. Turkey has struggled to formulate a coherent response to the uprisings shaking the Arab world. Erdogan was one of the first world leaders to call on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down, yet one of the last to ask the same of Libya's Qaddafi. In Syria, meanwhile, the Turkish government remains unable to let go of Bashar al-Assad: It has condemned the violence but not the perpetrator. This paralysis reveals an unintended consequence of both deepening ties with autocratic regimes in the Arab world and establishing credibility in the eyes of Arab populations. As Davutoğlu himself told journalists in May, "We have felt the pressure of being entrapped between the two successes."
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With the Middle East in flames and the limits of its leverage in the region laid bare, Turkey may have no choice but to reengage with the European Union and the United States. The policy of "zero problems" has not really worked out too well with Qaddafi and Assad. It might be time to try it out with the West.
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UN commissioNer urges move forward oN womeN's rights - The NatioNal Newspaper - 0 views
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Women around the world are denied fundamental freedoms according to the Un’s human rights chief, citing in particular Sudan, Afghanistan and Gulf states.“Women’s rights continue to be curtailed in too many countries,” and efforts must be made to address this,
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She highlighted recent positive developments in the Gulf, such as the election of nine women in 2006 to the UAE’s Federal national Council [FnC], the election of four women to the 50-member Kuwaiti parliament, and the recent appointment of the first female deputy minister in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.But, Ms Pillay said, the overall situation of women in the region “falls well short of international standards”.
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South African legal expert, formerly the top judge on Rwanda’s war crimes tribunal, urged Gulf governments to adopt international conventions and reject home-grown laws that discriminate against women.“A crucial step in the right direction is the ratification and implementation of key human rights conventions, as well as the removal of the numerous reservations expressed by many Gulf countries regarding those human rights treaties they have chosen to accept,”
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She described “huge gaps” between the “lofty pledges” made by states and the realities of daily life for many of their inhabitants, pointing out that “no country in the world can claim to be free of human rights violations”.
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All six members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) have been censured for laws that block female nationals from passing on their nationality to their children if the father is a foreigner.
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Saudi Arabia’s record comes under particular scrutiny, with activists criticising a ban on female drivers and a system of male guardianship that sharply curtails a woman’s right to travel and control her own life.
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“We’ve raised several concerns about the situation for women in the Gulf, including a report on the system of guardianship in Saudi Arabia and the problems faced by female migrant workers,
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Dr Anwar Gargash, the Minister of State for Foreign and FnC Affairs, acknowledged the UAE is “not a perfect society” and listed improving conditions for women as at the top of the Government’s agenda. He said limitations on Emirati women passing on citizenship to their children should be “reviewed and debated” with the focus on liberalising such laws.
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U.N. to iNspect IraN Nuclear plaNt this moNth - CNN.com - 0 views
www.cnn.com/...index.html
Iran International Atomic Energy Committee nuclear power plant nuclear enrichment facility nuclear weapons P5+1 IAEA
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Iran sent shock waves through the international community recently when Tehran wrote a letter to the IAEA revealing the existence of a nuclear enrichment facility near the city of Qom
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our whole approach is predicated on an urgent need to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons capacity.
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"This is a very serious process where we are together aligned with the P5+1 -- that's Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and the United States -- presenting Iran with a very stark choice: Either they give up their nuclear weapons program conclusively to our satisfaction, or they will face additional pressure,"
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Iran will sit down with the United States, Russia and France on October 19 at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, to discuss that request, he said
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shared by Julianne Greco on 16 Oct 09
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AFP: Lebanon to defend Arab interests in Un Security Council - 0 views
www.google.com/...M5iZjhg8tK80Lh2CDG4Ob-BfjFw9KQ
Lebanon U.N. Security Council protecting Arab interests
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President Michel Sleiman said on Thursday his country will defend Arab interests, after Lebanon was elected to the Un Security Council for the first time since 1954.
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His country would "be the spearhead for protecting its interests and those of the Arab nation, as well as the defence of human rights, and will work for the return of Palestinian refugees," he said.
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U.S.-built bridge is windfall - for illegal Afghan drug trade | McClatchy - 1 views
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it's clear why the dirt-poor former Soviet Central Asian republic of Tajikistan is on the verge of becoming a narco-state.After the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the United States and other Western powers looked the other way as opium and heroin production surged to record levels, making Afghanistan by far the world's biggest producer.Much of the ballooning supply of drugs shipped across Afghanistan's northern border, up to one-fifth of the country's output, has traveled to and through Tajikistan. The opium and heroin funded rampant corruption in Tajikistan and turned the country, still hobbled by five years of civil war in the 1990s, into what at times seems like one big drug-trafficking organization.Every day last year — extrapolating from United nations estimates — an average of more than 4 metric tons of opium, which can be made into some 1,320 pounds of heroin, moved on the northern route. Put another way, the equivalent of nearly 6 million doses of pure heroin — at 100 milligrams each — is carried across the northern Afghan border each day.
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as the Afghan drug supply has grown, Tajik seizures have fallen. In 2004, Afghanistan produced 4,200 metric tons of opium, and some 5 metric tons of heroin or its equivalent in opium were seized in Tajikistan, according to U.n. figures. Last year, with Afghan cultivation rising to 7,700 metric tons of opium, Tajik authorities seized less than 2 metric tons of heroin.
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The U.S.-financed bridge has made drug trafficking even easier
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"If high officials on the border weren't involved, then people like me couldn't take drugs into their country."
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"Just go to the airport. There are bags of heroin going through unchecked. . . . People are pretty open about it. There's more and more a culture of impunity."
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Some Western officials acknowledge that it's the result of a political tradeoff: no one wants to risk alienating Rahmon on the issue of drug corruption because his authoritarian regime's cooperation is important for preventing Islamic militants from using the Tajik-Afghan border as a sanctuary.
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Iran Hints at Cooperation on U.n. nuclear Deal - nYTimes.com - 0 views
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After days of uncertain signals, the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hinted Thursday that Iran would accept a United nations-sponsored plan to send the country’s uranium abroad for processing, saying, “We welcome cooperation on nuclear fuel, power plants and technology, and we are ready to cooperate.”
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But it remained unclear whether Iran would insist on shipping the material in installments, which would undercut the intent of the plan: to leave Iran without enough nuclear material to build a weapon for at least a year, time in which the West would work toward an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
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The uranium would be returned to Iran in the form of fuel rods, usable only in a civilian nuclear facility and not for weapons.
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Reports from Tehran this week have suggested persistently that Iran will seek changes in the plan drafted last week. The proposal provides for Iran to ship 2,645 pounds of low-enriched uranium to Russia for further processing. That amount, representing most of the country’s known stockpile of low-enriched uranium, would take about a year to replace.
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Indications continued Thursday that Iran would not agree to ship the uranium all at once, as France — one of the deal’s brokers — has insisted.
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The pro-government newspaper Javan said Thursday that Tehran would seek two changes in the plan: the gradual transfer of low-enriched uranium rather than a single shipment, and the “simultaneous exchange” of fuel for a research reactor in Tehran.
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Some of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s conservative rivals have already criticized the plan as a risky concession to the West, and on Thursday, the opposition leader Mir-Hussein Moussavi joined them, suggesting that any response to the plan would have negative consequences for Iran.
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Some Palestinians doubt Abbas will really step down | McClatchy - 0 views
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"What Abbas is doing is sending out a message to the Israelis, the Americans, and the Europeans: 'I'm not a president for life,' " Kukali says. "The alternative is a leadership which represents a more radical side of Palestinian politics. Abbas has a very clear agenda for peace and it has a shelf life, and unfortunately the Israelis don't understand that."
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"We cannot go to negotiations without a framework," Abbas said. "And we say the framework is U.n. resolutions, meaning a return to the 1967 borders," he said, referring to the 1967 war in which Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. "What's new in this demand? We want a full stop to settlements, including natural growth and in Jerusalem," Abbas said.Abbas said that resuming negotiations requires an Israeli halt to all settlement activity, including natural growth and settlement activity in Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed and considers its eternal capital.
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Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead - report - Yahoo!Xtra news - 0 views
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The U.N. Nuclear watchdog has asked IraN to explaiN evideNce suggestiNg the Islamic Republic's scieNtists have experimeNted with aN advaNced Nuclear warhead desigN, the GuardiaN reported iN its Friday editioN.The Newspaper, citiNg what it describes as "previously uNpublished documeNtatioN" from aN INterNatioNal Atomic ENergy AgeNcy compiled dossier, said IraNiaN scieNtists may have tested high-explosive compoNeNts of a "two-poiNt implosioN" device.The IAEA said iN September it has No proof IraN has or oNce had a covert atomic bomb program.The VieNNa-based IAEA was Not immediately available for commeNt oN Thursday.IraN's ForeigN MiNistry aNd the Atomic ENergy OrgaNisatioN of IraN (AEOI) were also uNavailable for commeNt wheN coNtacted by Reuters.