By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran indicated it may suspend some unspecified nuclear activities after European powers offered a package of incentives in return for Tehran's promise to permanently give up uranium enrichment.
Meanwhile, a scientist said Iranian researchers have developed technology to produce zirconium, a key metal used in the heart of a nuclear reactor to produce nuclear fuel.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, told state television that Tehran was still studying the offer last week by Britain, Germany and France that included civilian nuclear technology and a trade deal.
"We are trying to choose the best course of work," he said.
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They thought about it...and then said....nahhhhhhhhh.
Andrew B.
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - A stormy two-day debate in the Israeli parliament wound down Tuesday ahead of a historic vote on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and parts of the West Bank.
Approval was expected and would mark the first time the Knesset agreed to the uprooting of Jewish settlements in lands claimed by the Palestinians for a state.
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We will see how this pans out for both sides. You would think the "Palestinians" would be helping and looking forward to the pullout. Instead, they consider the pullout part of the occupation. It's like nothing will ever satisfy these people, until the destruction of Israel is complete. In my opinion.
Andrew B.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi insurgent group said on its Web site Tuesday it had taken 11 Iraqi National Guard soldiers hostage and showed pictures of them in uniform.
The Ansar al-Sunnah Army said the troops were captured on the highway between Baghdad and Hillah but did not say when they were seized. The posting included the names of all 11.
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This is just terrible news. My fingers are crossed and I pray that they either escape or their captors have a change of heart. I highly doubt the latter of the two.
Andrew B.
By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. airstrike in Fallujah on Tuesday killed an aide to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the military said, while Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim prime minister blamed U.S.-led coalition forces for "great negligence" in the ambush that killed about 50 American-trained soldiers. An Iraqi insurgent group, meanwhile, said on a Web site it had taken 11 Iraqi National Guard soldiers hostage.
They were seized on a highway between Baghdad and Hillah, according to the Internet posting by the militant group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army. The posting included the names of all 11.
The authenticity of the posting could not immediately be verified. The movement claimed responsibility for a number of attacks and hostage takings, including the kidnap and murder of 12 Nepalese, who were seized in August.
The U.S. military said the early-morning raid in Fallujah struck a safe house used by al-Zarqawi's group. U.S. forces have stepped up aerial and artillery assaults on Fallujah in recent weeks in an attempt to root out insurgents.
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INSHALLAH...we will get Zarqawi and soon.
Andrew B.
By SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt - A Palestinian refugee plotted the coordinated bombings targeting Israeli tourists at resorts in the Sinai and accidentally killed himself while carrying out the deadliest blast, Egyptian authorities said Monday.
Discounting the theory of al-Qaida involvement, an Interior Ministry statement said Ayad Said Saleh was motivated by the deteriorating situation in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip (news - web sites), which his relatives fled in 1967, and carried out the attack with the help of local residents.
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What a shock...I am just dombfounded...(sarcasm?)
Andrew B.
LONDON (AFP) - Mordechai Vanunu, who was freed in April after 18 years in an Israeli prison for revealing the country's nuclear program, told the BBC in a television interview from Israel that he was desperate to start a new life elsewhere.
"I want to feel free, I'm not free here," said the 50-year-old Vanunu, who on release was subjected to a series of sweeping restrictions, including a ban on travelling abroad as well as holding unauthorised meetings with foreigners.
"The only way to feel and enjoy freedom and start my new life as a free human being will be when I can leave Israel and live my life in the US, in Europe or in London," he said.
Vanunu was sentenced in 1986 to 18 years in prison for "treason" and "espionage" after leaking top-secret details about the Dimona nuclear plant, where he was employed, to The Sunday Times.
"I tried to inform the world and to try to stop this nuclear proliferation," he said on Sunday in the live television interview with BBC's Breakfast with (David) Frost programme.
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He forgot endangering the ENTIRE state of Israel as one of his accomplishments.
Andrew B.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A large explosion shook downtown Baghdad on Sunday night, but its cause could not immediately be determined.
The blast occurred after sundown when Iraqi Muslims were taking their iftar meal, which breaks the fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
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Lovely people...blowing people up. WTF is wrong with these people.
Andrew B.
More than 650 politicians, activists and intellectuals issued a landmark joint statement saying they will push to amend Egypt's constitution to prevent Hosni Mubarak, the country's president for almost a quarter of a century, from standing for another term next year.
Mubarak, 76, has been Egypt's president and leader of the National Democratic Party since replacing his assassinated predecessor, Anwar Sadat, in 1981. His current six-year term ends in October, 2005 and he has not chosen a successor. In four previous presidential referendums, which require Egyptians to vote yes or no, he has been the sole candidate.
Some 689 people, ranging from Islamists to Communists and including 30 lawmakers, signed a petition Saturday in the name of The Popular Campaign for Reforms, an umbrella group formed last month to try to amend Egypt's constitution to limit a president to holding two terms only.
Among the signatories, including 26 human rights and civil society groups and opposition political parties, was the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic group, which has 17 members represented in the Egyptian parliament as independents.
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No successor? I thought he was a president. A president is ELECTED to office...not succeded. This is all a farce.
Andrew B.
A car bomb blew up near IDF troops deployed in Beit Ilma near Nablus Sunday morning. No one was wounded in the attack.
It was the third car bomb to blow up in the Nablus area in the past month, and the fourth in the West Bank.
IDF sources said that the bomb was likely intended to be used for a larger terror attack, and detonated within Israeli territory, Israel Radio reported.
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I wish the IDF had special bomb sniffers that can automatically detonate the bombs as their being made by the terrorists. Or even better yet have these drone planes fly over head and detect the bombs.
Andrew B.
A bomb exploded at the entrance of a McDonald's restaurant in the northeastern city of Trabzon on Sunday, injuring one passer-by, the Anatolia news agency said.
The explosion occurred in downtown Trabzon, a port city on the Black Sea.
Police were searching for a man who was seen escaping the area on foot and was believed to have planted the device.
The condition of the injured person was not immediately clear.
Several McDonald's restaurants have been targeted by attacks in Turkey in the past.
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Gee...I wonder...it must be those pesky Jews again, stirring up trouble.
Andrew B.
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran rejected European demands that it halt all uranium enrichment activities and described a proposal aimed at ending Tehran's nuclear standoff with the international community as "unbalanced."
"The European proposal is their preliminary proposition and is not definitive but it is unbalanced," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
Iran is also refusing to suspend indefinitely work on enriching uranium, part of the nuclear fuel cycle, as called for in the deal offered to Tehran last week by the European Three of Britain, France and Germany, he added.
"In their proposal, the Europeans sought the suspension of enrichment until a comprehensive deal is reached. During the negotiations there is no question of an unlimited suspension," he told reporters.
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What a shocker...Iran doesn't want to make a deal. Shocked. (sarcasm?)
Andrew B.
JERUSALEM - The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved legislation to pay compensation to settlers uprooted by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s Gaza withdrawal plan.
The 13-6 vote gave Sharon another boost as he pushes forward with the contentious plan. He faces an important battle on Tuesday, when the parliament will vote on the withdrawal.
The legislation approved Sunday includes guidelines for compensating settlers forced from their homes and penalties for settlers who resist evacuation orders. Sharon hopes to carry out the withdrawals next summer.
"The law will ease life as much as possible for the settlers who will be evacuated," Sharon told the ministers ahead of the vote. "I'm sure that even those who are opposed to disengagement will not want to make life difficult for the settlers."
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This is exactly what Sharon and his government need to do. These settlers need to be pampered and escorted to new fully functioning villages so that they can resume their lives. It is not an easy task to move an entire section of a country out peacefully and willingly. This is going to take some serious consideration by the Sharon government.
Andrew B.
By The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The bodies of about 50 Iraqi soldiers were found on a remote road in eastern Iraq (news - web sites), apparently the victims of an ambush as they were heading home on leave, Iraqi authorities said Sunday. Also, a State Department security officer was killed during a mortar or rocket attack at a U.S. base near the Baghdad airport.
The nature of the attack suggested an increased boldness and organization by insurgents, who, until now, have mainly used roadside bombs and suicide car bombs in their attacks on the Iraqi military and police.
Interior Ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul-Rahman said the victims were believed to have been killed about sundown Saturday on a road about 95 miles east of Baghdad near the Iranian border.
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Who says that it was Iraqi terrorists that murdered these brave men? If it was close to the Iranian border...who is to say that it wasn't the Iranians that did this? I am just throwing that one out there...It is a possibility.
Andrew B.
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Even if Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites), it will still be considered the occupying power under international law and as such responsible for the crowded territory, according to an internal Israeli government assessment obtained by The Associated Press.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) asked his Cabinet Sunday to approve legislation authorizing him to carry out his "disengagement plan", which foresees Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four isolated West Bank Jewish settlements in the summer of 2005.
Sharon was expected to win approval from his Cabinet, setting the stage for a parliamentary vote later this week.
But because Israel intends to maintain control over the crossings into Gaza, its coastline and airspace, international law will continue to hold the Jewish state responsible for the territory, according to the study by legal experts from the Justice Ministry, Foreign Ministry and the military.
"We must be aware that the disengagement does not necessarily exempt Israel from responsibility in the evacuated territories," said the 47-page report.
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Don't you love the spin on this? Even if Israel disengages the Gaza Strip...they are still occupying it. How the FUCK can you be an occupying power when your forces and people aren't even in the area in question??? This is crazy. Just keep blaming Israel for all of the "Palestinians'" problems. It's not like the Arab world is using the "Palestinian" people as pawns....nahhhhhhhhhhh.
Andrew B.
By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Interviews with dozens of former and current Iraqi officials by congressional investigators have produced new evidence that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) micromanaged business deals under the U.N. oil-for-food program to maximize political influence with important foreign governments like Russia and neighboring Arab states.
The Iraqi officials, who were flown outside of Iraq (news - web sites) for their own safety during the interviews, provided a list of foreign companies favored by Saddam and his top lieutenants for import contracts under the U.N. program. They also revealed a parallel blacklist of companies that the then-Iraq leader disqualified from getting deals, investigators told The Associated Press.
The precaution of redoubled secrecy comes after an Iraqi official involved in the oil-for-food investigation of corruption died in a car bombing in late June after speaking with investigators from the House International Relations Committee. The official, Ehsan Karim, who headed the Iraqi Finance Ministry's audit board, was interviewed in Amman, Jordan, on May 21.
The Iraqi officials also helped investigators identify Iraqi front companies, which operated abroad to solicit and process alleged bribes from foreign companies and to help facilitate imports for the Iraqi government, including dual-use military goods such as vehicles.
The oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, was created to permit the former Iraqi government to sell limited amounts of oil in exchange for humanitarian goods as an exception to U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
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They are just finding this out NOW??????? Eric Shawn and Claudia Rosette broke this story LAST YEAR. Talk about being irrelevant...
Andrew B.
CAIRO, Egypt - Iraqi militants beheaded a man, presumably Iraqi, who said he worked for the U.S. military in the northern city of Mosul for the past 10 months, according to a videotape posted on Islamic Web sites Saturday.
The killing was claimed by the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, a group that claimed responsibility for beheading a Turkish driver and an Arab Shiite Muslim in two tapes that surfaced earlier this month and 12 Nepalese construction workers, whose killings were shown in a video posted Aug. 31.
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How do these animals do it? They MUST really enjoy cutting heads off to do it this frequently. Sick fucks.
Andrew B.
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas militants killed a Palestinian whose information they said helped Israel assassinate the group's founder and nine others, dumping the collaborator's bullet-ridden body near a trash can on a Gaza street where it was found Saturday.
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Lovely people...they treat each other with such respect. They really love life. You can just tell.
Andrew B.
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