Pakistan denies BBC report on nuke dumping

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly denied an allegation by Afghan Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Farouq Wardak that it dumped its nuclear waste in Afghanistan's Kandahar and Helmand provinces in the mid-1990s.
Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said, “We have to ascertain first credibility of the statement. So far Afghan government has not made any complaint or charge against Pakistan on this issue.''
He said the report aired by BBC, said Pakistan had dumped its nuclear waste inside Afghanistan in 1996. At that time Pakistan's nuclear facility at Chashma near Afghan border was not commissioned.
“I have spoken to the BBC and told them this allegation is like Pakistan attacking Great Britain in 1935.'' He said the ministry could not make further comments on the issue until veracity of statement is ascertained.

US must fulfil obligations to nuclear test victims: congressman

MAJURO  ( 2008-03-31 12:46:48 ) : 

The United States must fulfil its obligations to victims of its nuclear weapons testing programme in the Marshall Islands, a US congressman said.
Eni Faleomavaega, who represents American Samoa in Congress and chairs the House Subcommittee on Asia, Pacific and the Global Environment, was in the Marshalls capital Majuro last week for hearings on the island nation's nuclear claims.
"The United States has a moral obligation," Faleomavaega said Friday.
"As a member of Congress, I want to ensure we make good (on our obligations). "I will work with my colleagues to make good on our promises made to Marshallese more than 50 years ago when we started nuclear testing."
The US tested 67 nuclear weapons at Bikini and Enewetak atolls, including many large hydrogen bombs, from 1946 to 1958.
"It was like 1.7 Hiroshima bombs going off every day for 12 years," Foreign Minister Tony deBrum told the hearing.
Between 1986 and 2003, the US government provided a 150 million dollar trust fund to compensate all clams past and future.
The State Department in a report to Congress last year said bluntly that the US had no legal obligation to provide more funding.
But the Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal, set up under an agretiated in the early 1980s, "overwhelming evidence" had emerged to dispute the US contention that only four atolls were affected by fallout.
"The original settlement amount (150 million dollars) was pulled out of the air," Graham said.
Since the Marshall Islands filed a petition for additional nuclear test compensation in 2000, it has received no formal response from either the administration of President George W. Bush or Congress.

US urges North Korea to move quickly on nuke deal

SEOUL  ( 2008-04-01 20:54:56 ) : 

US negotiator Christopher Hill, who arrived on Tuesday in South Korea to discuss ways to restart stalled nuclear talks with North Korea, urged the communist state to move 'very quickly' to seal a deal.
"Obviously we are getting to the point where we need to make some progress very quickly," he told reporters at the airport, when asked about delays in the North's promised declaration of all atomic programmes and activities.
Hill said no candidate in the upcoming US presidential election "has suggested they are interested in giving the DPRK (North Korea) a better deal than the one we put on the table.
"So I would say, from the DPRK's point of view, it's time to settle now."
A six-nation denuclearisation deal, involving the United States, China, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia, offers the North energy aid and major diplomatic and security benefits in return for full denuclearisation.
But the deal has stalled over the declaration, which was due to be handed over by the end of last year.
The North says it submitted the document last November. But the United States says it has not fully accounted for a suspected secret uranium enrichment weapons programme or for alleged nuclear proliferation to Syria.
Hill said the North had not submitted a declaration last year. "They showed us some research materials, research reference materials. It's very clear that it's not a complete and correct declaration."
Hill said his meeting last month with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan in Geneva had made some progress and there had been subsequent indirect contacts.
"I would say there was some progress but it doesn't really mean anything until we actually get a declaration."
Seoul's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said Hill has already confronted Pyongyang with alleged evidence of its nuclear links to Syria.
It said he handed over a list of North Korean officials and engineers said to be involved in the technology transfer during an earlier meeting with Kim, who has denied any knowledge of the list.
The South's foreign ministry declined comment on the Chosun report.
The North insists it has no covert uranium programme and says it never transferred atomic technology to Syria. It has threatened to slow down ongoing work to disable its plutonium-producing plants if the deadlock continues.
Hill will hold a dinner meeting late Tuesday with his counterpart Chun Yung-Woo. He is scheduled to meet Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-Rak and Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-Joon on Wednesday, and then head to Indonesia on Thursday.

N Korea test fires several short-range missiles

 

SEOUL: North Korea has test-fired several short-range missiles off its western coast, a news report said Friday.
Local news agency reported that the launches happened at around10:30 a.m. (0130 GMT), citing an unidentified government official.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Ministry said they were checking on the report.

Death toll in Basra clashes rises to seven

 

BASRA  ( 2008-03-25 20:56:39 ) : 

The death toll from fierce fighting on Tuesday between Iraq's security forces and the Mahdi Army militia in the southern city of Basra has risen to seven, police and health officials said.
Police Major Abbas Youssef said the bodies of four people were brought to Al-Mawani hospital in the city centre while 18 wounded people were treated at the facility.
At the Al-Fayha military hospital, officials said the bodies of two Iraqi soldiers and a child had been received while 30 people were admitted -- 24 members of the Iraqi security forces and six civilians.

Russia, Egypt to seal nuclear power deal in Mubarak visit

 

NOVO-OGARYOVO  ( 2008-03-25 18:02:34 ) : 

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met Tuesday with Russian leaders to close a deal allowing Moscow to join a tender for Egypt's first civilian nuclear power station.
The agreement, which has taken years to draw up, opens the way for Russia to bid for a 1.5-1.8 billion dollars (970 - 1.16 billion euros) reactor project on Egypt's Mediterranean coast.
The nuclear cooperation accord was to be signed by Russia's Rosatom nuclear energy agency chief, Sergei Kiriyenko, and Egypt's energy minister, Hassan Younis.
Mubarak said that after "difficult" negotiations the deal was ready, Interfax news agency reported.
Meeting with Mubarak at Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow, President Vladimir Putin praised Egypt as "one of the leaders of the Islamic and the Arab world" and said Russian-Egyptian relations were of "strategic importance."
Putin's incoming successor Dmitry Medvedev, who takes over the Kremlin in May, told Mubarak that he expected a "productive partnership" in the nuclear sphere, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
Russia -- which is close to completing Iran's controversial first nuclear facility in Bushehr, and also recently signed a contract for a reactor in Bulgaria -- is keen to reestablish a commercial and diplomatic presence in the Middle East.
The region was a stronghold of Soviet influence before the end of the Cold War and subsequent surge of US dominance.
Today, nuclear technology and conventional weapons sales are again giving Moscow a foot in the door, and Mubarak was expected also to discuss possible arms deals on Tuesday.
Even if ties are a long way from the days when Middle Eastern elites routinely studied and trained in the Soviet Union, throngs of sun-seeking Russians are making their own mark by flooding to Egypt's coastal resorts in growing numbers.
In an interview with state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily, Mubarak voiced "full satisfaction with the level of international political consultations between Cairo and Moscow."
"However, since friends must always be open with each other, I must say that I am not as happy with the volume of Russian investment into Egypt's economy," Mubarak added.
"The chief issue on the agenda is the signing of an accord on Russian-Egyptian cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy," the
Kommersant daily wrote. The paper added that its sources hinted that "Moscow gave some ground to Cairo and now expects an answer."
The daily added: "Moscow particularly hopes that Cairo will return to buying Russian arms."
The Nezavisimaya daily echoed that theme in its headline: "Cairo is interested in Russian nuclear technologies and (conventional) weapons."

Russia, China block UN Iran resolution

VIENNA: Russia and China on Tuesday scuttled a Western attempt to introduce a resolution on Iran's nuclear defiance at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, diplomats said.

The decision appeared to be the result of lingering unhappiness by the two world powers about not being informed earlier of plans for such a resolution.

It came a day after the U.N. Security Council imposed another round of sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. Iran defiantly vowed to continue its nuclear program, which it insists is aimed only at generating power.

Moscow on Monday had threatened not to back the new U.N. sanctions against Iran unless the West gave up its IAEA resolution plans.

Then on Tuesday it signaled that it was ready to back such a document if it was given substantial input in drafting it before deciding later in the day that it was against it after all, said the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was confidential.

Asked why Russia and China were opposed, one of diplomats said Moscow decided to withdraw its support "on principle" and Beijing, which often takes a cue from Russia on the Iran nuclear dispute, followed suit.

A senior Western diplomat said the decision to scrap plans for a resolution was jointly taken by the six powers taking the lead on engaging Iran on its nuclear program — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

He said the six felt that new U.N. Security Council sanctions passed Monday to punish Iran had sent enough of a message.

World powers mull changes to Iran nuclear offer

BRUSSELS: World powers are mulling whether to reformulate an offer to Iran to persuade it to suspend uranium enrichment, even as they discuss new UN sanctions, an EU diplomat said Wednesday.
"The package of incentives for Iran could be repackaged to make it more attractive, but that does not mean we are going to add things to it," he added.
On Monday, officials from the major powers -- UN Security Council permanent members the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia, plus Germany -- discussed a new report on Iran's nuclear activities and possible next steps.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has, for more than 18 months, been trying to persuade the Islamic republic to suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for a vast package of political, trade and economic incentives.
As he held out this diplomatic carrot however, pressure has mounted at the UN Security Council, which has slapped two sets of sanctions on Iran and is in the process of preparing a third.
Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

U.S. warns India its now or never for nuclear deal

Technorati Tags: NUCLEAR,AMERICA,INDIA

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The United States has warned India it was now or never for a controversial nuclear cooperation deal which was unlikely to be offered again after President George W. Bush leaves office.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told Reuters on Friday that "time was wasting" and warned India needed to move quickly to clear remaining international hurdles if the deal was to go through this year.
And in an interview released on Saturday and due to be broadcast on Sunday, the U.S. ambassador to India David Mulford went a step further, saying this might be India's last chance.
"If this is not processed in the present Congress it is unlikely that this deal will be offered again to India," he told CNN-IBN. "If it were to be revived it would have to go through the Committee process and I think the non-proliferation groups would insist on changes in many of the terms or additional conditions."
"So I think the atmosphere is changing and therefore I believe, and I know both Republicans and Democrats believe in the United States, this is the time to finish this deal."
Asked if this meant it was now or maybe never, Mulford said: "That's pretty close to it."
The deal would give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment for the first time in 30 years even though New Delhi has tested nuclear weapons and refused to join nonproliferation agreements.
Proponents argue the deal will be the cornerstone of a new strategic relationship between the two nations. Some Indians, however, feel it infringes on their sovereignty while some nonproliferation advocates believe it undermines the global system designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
The Indian government's communist allies have warned they would withdraw support from the coalition if the deal was pushed through, but they have allowed the government to continue talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over the deal.
To go into effect, the pact has to clear three hurdles.
India must reach an agreement with the IAEA to place its civilian nuclear reactors under U.N. safeguards, and get clearance from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group that governs global civilian nuclear trade.
After those steps, it must secure a final approval from the U.S. Congress, where it enjoys bipartisan support but where its passage could be complicated by the short legislative calendar ahead of the U.S. November 4 election.

Foreign propaganda and Pakistan's nuclear assets

Of late, a lot of reports are appearing in the western media claiming that Pakistan is about to be taken over by extremists i.e. Al Qaeda or the Taliban. The reports, one after the other, imply that once the extremists capture the country, they will have control over Pakistan's nuclear assets and may use them against nations like the United States and the United Kingdom. The other scenario that is being presented is that instability would grow in Pakistan, providing a chance to the extremists to move towards the storages where the nuclear weapons are stored. These terrorists or extremists, once getting the bombs or stocks of nuclear explosive material, would use them as they like, perhaps against the American and NATO forces fighting in Afghanistan. With regard to these reports, there are several significant points that should be taken note of.
First, the talk about the unwanted elements taking over Pakistan's fissile material and nuclear assets emerged soon after 9/11. Among the proponents of the theory was the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), whose president, David Albright, declared that "Fighting the war on terror starts with ensuring the stability of a nuclear-armed Pakistan, otherwise the terrorist threat will take on a new frightening dimension." The experts divided the security threat to Pakistan's nuclear weapons arsenal in five categories: outsider threat; insider threat; insider/outsider threat; leakage of sensitive information; and the loss of central control of storage facilities. They advocated that the Pakistani nuclear weapons should not be put at one place, they should be disassembled and the components scattered far away from the Afghan border where Al Qaeda was operating. Also, such procedures should be devised that no one man could have access to the sensitive material or the assembled devices. Also, strong physical security should be put in place around the storages and nuclear installations. While the media kept away from the topic, the US, nevertheless, covertly started providing technical aid to Pakistan to safeguard its nuclear facilities. Reports say the Americans provided nuclear detection units, helicopters and night-vision goggles to Pakistan besides other equipment so that the storages of nuclear warheads and laboratories remained safe. At the same time, they made sure that the equipment that they provided did not enhance Pakistan's nuclear capabilities, including better warhead designs. They also made sure that the systems and equipment they provided did not increase the chances of war with India. Such support to Pakistan was not the first case of its kind. Earlier, after the end of the Cold War, the US had provided similar help to Russia so that it could safeguard its weapons, its nuclear facilities and keep track of its scientists.
Second, it was Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and his network that instead became the focus of American efforts and the media, which accused him of spreading the nuclear know-how and technology among countries like Iran, Libya and North Korea, considered pariah by the United States. The reports about Dr Qadeer Khan and his alleged network of international smugglers continued to appear regularly in the western newspapers and magazines while books were also written about it. The west focused on the claim that Pakistan had allowed the AQ Khan network to sell sensitive technology endangering the western countries. But then, the Libyans surrendered their nuclear equipment to the United States, the North Koreans bowed before the US demands and it was proven that Iranians were not in the race to build nuclear bombs. Even to the surprise of many, the US intelligence said so about Tehran's intentions. Most of such reports roughly appeared between 2002 and 2007.
Third, from the advent of the year 2007 what we see is that there has been a gradual shift in the western media from the above three countries and the AQ Khan network. Their focus as we see now is on the possibilities of the taking over of Pakistan's nuclear assets by the extremists and doomsday scenarios. One report after another is appearing in American newspapers and some British publications, claiming that extremists are about to capture the Pakistani nuclear weapons. The reports, which are also coming out in the electronic media, are trying to convince the world that the Pakistani military has no safe control over its nuclear assets.
Fourth, a significant development has been the involvement of US presidential hopefuls in the subject. While these people shoot their mouths on a host of issues that may have an impact on the US public or subjects that may earn them votes to land in the White House, their participation in the propaganda war against the Pakistani nuclear assets not only keeps the issue alive but it also gives impetus to it. Statements coming from Senator Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and John McCain cannot simply be ignored by the US media.
Fifth, it is visible that to a great extent the western media, especially the Americans, continue to ignore the clarifications issued by the Pakistani government and the military top brass, including General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and General Tariq Majeed, to the effect. In every interview, President Musharraf, besides the Foreign Office in its briefings, is found defending the country's stance on the control of nuclear weapons. The American media, however, is harping on the theme that sooner or later, the nuclear assets would fall into the wrong hands. They have little understanding or perhaps don't want to learn how Pakistan has mounted multi-layered security around the sensitive facilities and how a single agency with professional and dedicated team is running it.
What is clear, however, is the reports in the foreign media are getting a boost from the increasing number of suicide attacks in the country and the ongoing military operations in North and South Waziristan agencies and Swat. The three-day anarchy following the death of Benazir Bhutto and the government's inability to stop the criminal elements in their tracks has provided fodder to the elements that are out to portray the Pakistan nuclear programme and its control in the bleakest terms.
At the same time, suspicions are rising among the Pakistani public that the United States is working on an agenda to locate and disable Pakistani nuclear weapons or take them into its control. In fact, some quarters have started putting up extremely grave scenarios. These include the US taking the Pakistani nuclear weapons out of the country, intensive bombing of the nuclear sites that could release vast amounts of radioactivity that could kill thousands of people and so on and so forth. Such talk is awfully foolish. Needless to say, any unilateral action would never be acceptable to the Pakistan military or the ordinary people. It would be tantamount to making Pakistan another Iran with hundred times more serious repercussions for the United States.
It is time for the Pakistan government to realise that the longer it is perceived to be losing control over law and order and ignoring the rogue elements, whether terrorists or common criminals, the stronger the media campaign will become against the country's nuclear assets. Also, poor tackling of national crises like the unavailability of flour and liquefied petroleum gas, among others, in any way will not help the country's nuclear cause.

Pak nuclear weapons ‘vulnerable’: US official

WASHINGTON: Political turmoil in Pakistan has not seriously threatened the military’s control of its nuclear weapons “but vulnerabilities exist”, US intelligence said in a report on Tuesday.
“We judge the ongoing political uncertainty in Pakistan has not seriously threatened the military’s control of the nuclear arsenal, but vulnerabilities exist,” the US intelligence community said in its annual threat assessment.
Noting that the Pakistan Army was responsible for the country’s nuclear programs, the report said, “we judge that the Army’s management of nuclear policy issues – to include physical security – has not been degraded by Pakistan’s political crisis.”
US intelligence chief Mike McConnell told a Senate hearing that al-Qaeda, increasingly shut down in Iraq, is establishing cells in other countries as Osama bin Laden’s organisation uses a “safe haven” in Pakistan’s tribal region to train for attacks in Afghanistan, the Middle East, Africa and the United States.
“Al-Qaeda remains the pre-eminent threat against the United States,” McConnell said. He said that fewer than 100 al-Qaeda terrorists had moved from Iraq to establish cells in other countries as the US military clamped down on their activities, and “they may deploy resources to mount attacks outside the country”.
The al-Qaeda network in Iraq and in Pakistan and Afghanistan has suffered setbacks, but he said the group posed a persistent and growing danger. He said that al-Qaeda maintained a “safe haven” in Pakistan’s tribal areas, where it was able to stage attacks supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani tribal areas provide al-Qaeda “many of the advantages it once derived from its base across the border in Afghanistan, albeit on a smaller and less secure scale”, allowing militants to train for strikes in Pakistan, the Middle East, Africa and the United States, McConnell said.
Terrorists use the “sanctuary” of Pakistan’s border area to “maintain a cadre of skilled lieutenants capable of directing the organisation’s operations around the world”, McConnell told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The next attack on the United States will most likely be launched by al-Qaeda operating in “under-governed regions” of Pakistan, Adm Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, planned to tell Congress on Wednesday.
“Continued congressional support for the legitimate government of Pakistan braces this bulwark in the long war against violent extremism,” Mullen states in remarks prepared for a separate budget hearing and obtained by The Associated Press.
Still, McConnell praised Pakistan’s cooperation in the fight against extremists, saying that hundreds of Pakistanis have died while fighting terrorists. He said Islamabad had done more to “neutralise” terrorists than any other partner of the United States.
Despite the Pakistani cooperation, Lt-Gen Michael Maples, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, said the Pakistani military had been unable to disrupt or damage al-Qaeda terrorists operating in the tribal border region. And the US military is prohibited by Pakistan from pursuing Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters that cross the border to conduct attacks inside Afghanistan.
McConnell also told the Intelligence Committee that the Taliban, once thought to be routed from Afghanistan, had expanded its operations into previously peaceful areas of the west and around the capital of Kabul, despite the death or capture of three top commanders in the last year.
At the same hearing, CIA Director Michael Hayden publicly confirmed for the first time the names of three suspected al-Qaeda terrorists who were subjected to a particularly harsh interrogation technique known as waterboarding, and why.
“We used it against these three detainees because of the circumstances at the time,” Hayden said. “There was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were inevitable. And we had limited knowledge about al-Qaeda and its workings. Those two realities have changed.”
Hayden said that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the purported mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, and Abu Zubayda and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were subject to the harsh interrogations in 2002 and 2003.
Waterboarding is an interrogation technique that critics call torture. Waterboarding induces a feeling of imminent drowning with the restrained subject’s mouth covered and water poured over his face.
“Waterboarding taken to its extreme, could be death, you could drown someone,” McConnell acknowledged. He said waterboarding remains a technique in the CIA’s arsenal, but it would require the consent of the president and legal approval of the attorney general.

Bush pushes US-Turkey nuclear cooperation

 

WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush has green-lighted a civilian nuclear cooperation deal with Turkey, saying that private-sector proliferation worries have been addressed, the White House said Wednesday.
Bush on Tuesday sent the US Congress a July 2000 agreement, signed by then-US president Bill Clinton, that would clear the way for transfers of nuclear know-how to Turkey's planned civilian atomic sector, it said.
"In my judgment, entry into force of the Agreement will serve as a strong incentive for Turkey to continue its support for nonproliferation objectives and enact future sound nonproliferation policies and practices," Bush said in a letter to lawmakers dated Tuesday.
"It will also promote closer political and economic ties with a NATO ally, and provide the necessary legal framework for US industry to make nuclear exports to Turkey's planned civil nuclear sector," it said.
Lawmakers could pass legislation blocking the accord.
The agreement "permits the transfer of technology, material, equipment (including reactors), and components for nuclear research and nuclear power production," a White House official said.
"It does not permit transfers of sensitive nuclear technology, restricted data, or sensitive nuclear facilities or major critical components of such facilities," the official said.
The pact has an initial term of 15 years and provides for automatic renewal, in five-year increments, unless either side terminates it, according to the official.
The deal stalled shortly after being signed in July 2000 because US agencies received "information implicating Turkish private entities in certain activities directly relating to nuclear proliferation," the White House said.
"The pertinent issues have been sufficiently resolved," it said.

Russian nuclear fuel delivered to Iran

 

TEHRAN: Russia delivered a sixth consignment of fuel for Iran's first nuclear power plant in the Gulf port of Bushehr on Thursday which makes it around 80 percent of the consignment, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"The sixth load of nuclear fuel arrived at the Bushehr plant on Thursday morning," said a statement from the Organisation for Production and Development of Nuclear Energy quoted by the news agency.
The delivery brings the nuclear fuel supplied by Russia so far to 66 tones or around 80 percent of the total order of 82 tones, agency said.

Musharraf criticizes dubbing Pakistan nukes ‘Islamic bomb’

 

 

DAVOS: President Pervez Musharraf Thursday said Pakistan is fighting war against terrorism and extremism.
Speaking to the annual gathering of the world's political and business elite at World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, Musharraf said Pakistan is advancing towards genuine democracy and with free and fair elections in February democracy will be more stable in the country.
He said the media has been given freedom in Pakistan. “When I assumed power there was only on television channel in the country but the number has now reached to more than 50”.
Musharraf said Pakistan is fighting against terrorism and extremism and pursuing a multidimensional strategy in this respect.
Talking on Pakistan’s nuclear programme President Musharraf said the nukes have no threat from terrorists. He questioned labeling Pakistan’s nuclear bomb as “Islamic bomb.” He asked why the other bombs not being named as Hindu bomb or Zionist bomb? It is incorrect to dub Pakistan nuclear bomb an Islamic bomb, he said.
Musharraf warned against judging Pakistan by "misconceived" standards of Western democracy.
"I have upheld the constitution and laws of Pakistan. Please, look at Pakistan from Pakistan eyes," he said.
Talking about imposition of emergency in Pakistan Musharraf said due to unavoidable circumstances the government had to take extraordinary steps. “Terrorists were being encouraged and the government and the security forces were discouraged at that time.”
“We are advancing towards political stability according to the political environment of our country,” he said.
Responding questions after his address Musharraf said any party that will win the elections would form the government; if any party fails to win majority in the parliament a coalition of parties will form government.
Replying to another question he said the parliament would elect new prime minister after Feb. 18 elections.

New UN resolution on Iran envisions talks

MOSCOW: A new draft UN Security Council resolution on Iran's nuclear programme envisages direct talks with Tehran that would include the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.
The five permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany, agreed earlier in the day in Berlin on the text of the resolution aimed at getting Iran to heed international demands to halt uranium enrichment.
"It's clearly confirmed by the resolution that direct negotiations on resolving all questions related to the Iranian nuclear programme -- with the participation of all six powers, including the United States -- would be initiated if Iran accepts the proposals of the six," Lavrov said.
He made his remarks to Russian journalists after the Berlin meeting, the Ria-Novosti news agency reported.
Lavrov said the new wording "not only acknowledges, but salutes progress made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in clarifying aspects of Iran's nuclear programme".
The resolution underlines "support" among the six powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United States -- for the IAEA's efforts towards alleviating their remaining concerns, he said.
Iran -- which rejects Western fears that it is covertly developing nuclear weapons -- has promised to deliver answers on outstanding questions put to it "within the next two or three weeks," Lavrov

US denies NKorean charges on denuclearization

 

 

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday denied charges it was failing to live up to its part of six-country deal aimed at North Korea's denuclearization.
"The US has met and is meeting its commitments," Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, told reporters when asked to comment on the charges.
A North Korean newspaper blamed Washington for the deadlocked demilitarization deal by criticizing its failure to start the process of removing Pyongyang from its list of state terrorism sponsors.
"As part of the February 13 agreement, the United States agreed to begin the process of removing the designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism," he said, reading a statement.
Under a breakthrough six-nation deal reached in February last year, North Korea, which tested an atom bomb in 2006, receives badly needed aid and security guarantees in return for disarmament.
But the hardline communist state missed a December 31 deadline to disable its main atomic facilities and give a full declaration of all nuclear programs, as required under the accord.
In response to the disablement and declaration, the negotiating partners -- South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia -- were to supply one million tons of fuel oil or equivalent energy aid.
The United States was also to start the process of removing the North from its terrorism list, which blocks access to bilateral economic aid and loans from international financial institutions.
"We also agreed to advance the process of terminating an application of the Trading with the Enemy Act to North Korea," Gallegos added.
"Criteria for removing a country's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and lifting the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act are set forth in US law," he said.
"US action related to the terrorism designation and the Trading with the Enemy Act application are dependent on North Korea's fulfillment of the requirements of US law and its progress on addressing concerns on a nuclear issue and meeting its denuclearization commitments," he said.
"We're going to continue working with our close allies, Japan and South Korea, and our partners China and Russia as we urge North Korea to deliver a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs," he said.

Israel welcomes accord on UN Iran resolution

JERUSALEM: A senior Israeli official on Wednesday welcomed world powers agreeing on the text of a new UN Security Council resolution against Iran over its disputed nuclear programme.
The chairman of the Israeli parliament's powerful foreign affairs and defense committee, Tzahi Hanegbi, hailed the agreement by the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany reached in Berlin on Tuesday.
"It is important that the five members of the Security Council and Germany are in agreement, as the Iranian leadership has recently made it seem as if their nuclear programme enjoys impunity and as if the sword was not hanging above their head," Hanegbi told army radio.
"Before considering a military option against the Iranian nuclear programme one must prove that all the other means have been exhausted," he said.

Pakistan won’t stop improving nuclear capability on any pressure: Musharraf

 

PARIS: President General Pervez Musharraf has ruled out to yield any international pressure to stop further improving the nuclear capability.
He stated this here while addressing a gathering of Pakistani community. Pakistan is the only nuclear power among the Muslim countries, he remarked.
The atomic missile programme of Pakistan is mush better than the same programme of many countries, he said.

Israel: ‘No options’ out on Iran nuclear program--It is Olmert’s clearest statement yet that Israel is willing to use force

 

 

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a powerful parliamentary panel on Monday that Israel rejects "no options" to block Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, a meeting participant said.

The statement was the Israeli leader's clearest indication yet that he is willing to use military force against Iran.

"Israel clearly will not reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran," the meeting participant quoted Olmert as telling the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "All options that prevent Iran from gaining nuclear capabilities are legitimate within the context of how to grapple with this matter."

The meeting participant spoke on condition of anonymity because the session was closed.

Olmert addressed the panel days after discussing Iran's nuclear ambitions in talks with President Bush in Jerusalem.

During that visit, Israeli officials disputed the recently released conclusions of a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate that concluded Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

In Jerusalem, Bush declared that Iran remained "a threat to world peace," but reasserted his commitment to trying to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear program diplomatically.

Israel, which sent warplanes in 1981 to demolish an unfinished nuclear reactor in Iraq, advocates a diplomatic solution to the Iranian standoff as well. But in his comments to the parliamentary committee, Olmert said: "It's clear that Israel won't reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran. We reject no options a priori."

Europe set for debate rerun on 'Frankenfoods

Europe is set for a rerun of the heated debate over genetically modified "Frankenfoods", after regulators declared on Friday that meat and milk from cloned pigs and cows and their offspring were safe to eat.

The finding comes as GM foods are about to reignite trade friction between the US and European Union, with a deadline set to expire on Friday night by which the EU must comply with a World Trade Organization ruling to allow imports of GM seeds.

While it could be years before meat and milk from cloned animals are on dinner plates in the EU, the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) issued a "draft opinion" that such livestock and their products were as healthy and nutritious as their natural-born kin. "Healthy clones and healthy offspring do not show any significant differences from their conventional counterparts," it said.

Efsa has invited views on its opinion before drawing up a definitive conclusion in May. Its deliberations come as the Food & Drug Agency in the US is expected to reach a final decision on the issue, possibly next week.

The developments would boost a handful of US biotechnology companies that have been working on cloning animals, mainly cattle, for the past four years. They say cloning would help farmers by increasing the availability of elite breeding stock.

Europe is already sharply divided over GM food, dubbed "Frankenfoods" by opponents, with just one product - a pest-resistant maize - approved for cultivation. Austria and Hungary have banned even that and France is set to follow suit.

In the US, consumer acceptance of plant biotechnology in foods is high. Acceptance of biotechnologically altered animal produce is much lower, although a survey last year by the International Food Information Council showed that 61 per cent would purchase products derived from genetically engineered animals if they were FDA-approved.

In a sign of possible unprecedented congressional involvement in the process, Democratic senator Barbara Mikulski has called on the FDA to delay its final decision about cloning, pending further scientific tests. "We do not know enough about the long-term effects of introducing cloned animals, or their offspring, into our food supply. What's the rush?" she asked.

Following Friday's scientific report from Efsa, the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies expects to deliver its report on Wednesday about the ethical and practical effects of approving food from cloned animals.

The gulf between attitudes across the Atlantic on GM crops has already led to a trade spat with Washington, which won a WTO ruling in 2004 that the EU was illegally blocking GM produce.

European farmers said they were not seeking to use cloning but feared a loss of competitiveness if the US went ahead and imports were allowed. "It is essential to inform the consumers and citizens about the state of play already and not wait until this new technology is on the shelves," said Pekka Pesonen, secretary-general of Copa-Cogeca, which represents them.

Friends of the Earth said the Efsa ruling was "unsatisfactory" because there was a shortage of scientific evidence.

U.S lodges diplomatic protest against Iran

The incident was another sign of tension between the United States and Iran, at odds over a range of issues including Tehran's nuclear program and its alleged role in Iraq.

The Strait of Hormuz is the most prominent potential "choke point" for crude oil flows, handling 17 million barrels per day, or two-fifths of globally traded oil.

Close to opening fire
U.S. officials have said U.S. sailors were close to opening fire Sunday before the Iranian boats moved away. They have said they believe the boats came from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"I'd much rather prevent a war than fight one," Mullen said. "We'd all prefer Iran to take a more productive, positive role in the region. And I support the use of economic and diplomatic measures to help bring that about."

"But our own military restraint in dealing with that problem should in turn never be confused for a lack of capability."

Some U.S. commentators have suggested the U.S. sailors should have opened fire and their restraint will be interpreted by Iran as a sign of weakness. But Mullen, a former head of the U.S. Navy, said the crews' actions had been "exactly right."

Sides release videos, conflicting accounts
Both the United States and Iran have issued video footage to support their conflicting accounts of the incident.

The United States has also released the recording of a message it says was received by one of the U.S. ships. "You will explode after... minutes," a heavily accented voice on the recording says.

U.S. officials initially said the audio was believed to have come from one of the Iranian boats but they have since said they are not certain of its exact origin.

"I can't shed any light as far as the radio transmission is concerned," Mullen said. "If you're out there on the bridge, it's hard to tell where (radio transmissions are) coming from."

Tehran's strategy shift
The recent confrontation in the Persian Gulf reflects a strategy shift by Tehran to use its Revolutionary Guard's fast boats more aggressively in the region, Mullen said.

Mullen said the U.S. has been focused "for several years" on this shift to greater use of small, fast boats by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has taken over patrols in the Gulf from Tehran's regular navy.

"It's clearly strategically where the Iranian military has gone," said Mullen. "There's a projection they were going to do that over a number of years ... That was a big concern to me because of the history and the background with the (Revolutionary Guard). This fits that mold, as far as I was concerned."

Navy official: Ship fired warning at Iran boat-Admiral says U.S. will defend ships with ‘deadly force’ against Tehran

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Navy said Friday that one of its ships fired warning shots at a small Iranian boat in the Strait of Hormuz in December during one of two serious encounters that month.

The USS Whidbey Island fired the warning shots on Dec. 19 in response to a small Iranian boat that was rapidly approaching it, said a U.S. Navy official.

"One small (Iranian) craft was coming toward it, and it stopped after the Whidbey Island fired warning shots," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
It was the first official confirmation that the United States had fired warning shots in any recent confrontation with Iran in the Gulf.

In the second incident that month, the USS Carr encountered three small Iranian craft on Dec. 22, two of which were armed, said the official. The USS Carr did not fire warning shots, but sent warning blasts on the ship's whistle, which caused the boats to turn around.

Diplomatic protest lodged in another incident
The reports come a day after the United States lodged a formal diplomatic protest with Iran over an incident Sunday in which Iranian speedboats harassed U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.

Adm. William J. Fallon, the top U.S. military commander in the Mideast, said Friday that Iran runs the risk of triggering an unintended conflict if its boats continue to harass U.S. warships in the strait.

And Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday that the United States is ready to counter any threat.

"The incident ought to remind us all just how real is the threat posed by Iran and just how ready we are to meet that threat if it comes to it," Mullen told reporters.

"We will defend ourselves and our ships, and we will do so with deadly force if need be," he said at the Pentagon.

Latest incident in Persian Gulf
Five Iranian speedboats maneuvered aggressively close to three U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, as the U.S. ships received a radio transmission threatening an explosion, according to the United States.

The United States released its complete 35-minute video of the incident, but it contained little new from the 4-minute edited version released earlier this week.

The United States has formally complained about the incident. But Iranian officials have dismissed U.S. objections, saying the encounter was normal and the Iranian boats were merely trying to identify the U.S. vessels.