Important Political News

[mike435]

remember the best best and most accurate news comes from thos agancy's that their name stats with an f on both side of the atlantic

[ghalibaf]

Europeans Refuse to Back US Strike on Iran

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- A poll conducted in five European countries and the US found inconsiderable support for the use of military strikes against Iran to halt its nuclear program.

The Harris Interactive Survey said using force against Iran is backed by just 8 percent in France, 7 percent in Germany, 8 percent in Italy, 8 percent in Spain, 11 percent in the UK and 21 percent in the US.

Diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving Iran's nuclear case were supported by 50 percent in France, 51 percent in Germany, 52 percent in Italy, 53 percent in Spain, 44 percent in the UK and 36 percent in the US, the poll showed.

The US and some of its western allies claim Iran's program is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, but they don't have any corroborative document to prove their allegations. Iran says it wants the technology to generate electricity. The US has refused to rule out a military response.

A majority in all six countries surveyed backed a withdrawal of US and other coalition troops from Iraq. Ninety percent of French nationals support an Iraq pullout, as do 75 percent of Germans, 82 percent of Italians, 84 percent of Spaniards, 82 percent of UK nationals and 67 percent of Americans.

The poll was conducted for France 24 television and the Paris-based International Herald Tribune newspaper Oct. 3-15. It surveyed 6,645 people aged 16 to 64 in France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the US and aged 18 to 64 in Italy. Harris did not specify margins of error.

http://www.farsnews.com/English/news...?nn=8608180279

[Rasputin]

UN uncertainty over nuclear Iran

Iran says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes
Iran's track record of hiding nuclear activities means the UN cannot be sure about what Iran is doing now, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has said.
Mohamed ElBaradei was speaking as the IAEA's governing board met in Vienna.

Last week, he said Iran had been more open about its past, but still enriched uranium in defiance of the UN.

Western countries are seeking further sanctions fearing Iran's programme is not peaceful. Iran says it co-operates and there is no need for sanctions.

'Especially crucial'

Mr ElBaradei told the meeting the IAEA was "unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities.

We will continue this mood of co-operation provided that international community ... prevent the United States or others to make noise and create problems

Ali Ashgar Soltanieh
Iranian IAEA ambassador

"This is especially crucial in the case of Iran because of its history of undeclared activities, and the corresponding need to restore confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme," he said.

The IAEA is meeting to discuss what to do about Iran, and in particular, whether to move towards imposing tougher sanctions on it, as some Western states want.

The US and its European allies who are permanent members of the UN Security Council - France and Britain - fear Tehran is enriching uranium in order to build nuclear weapons, and are pushing for a third round of UN sanctions.


Mr ElBaradei said Iran's past history of hiding counted against it

Russia and China, the other two permanent members of the Security Council, are reluctant to pursue sanctions, saying further negotiations are needed.

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, told the meeting Tehran was co-operating with the IAEA. He warned that new UN sanctions would be counter-productive.

"We will continue this mood of co-operation provided that international community and peace-loving countries prevent the United States or others to make noise and create problems and jeopardise this constructive approach," he said.

"The United Nations Security Council involvement has to stop, the sooner the better."

'More co-operation needed'

The Vienna meeting provides Mr ElBaradei with an opportunity to defend his "work plan" with Iran.

That set up a mechanism for Tehran to provide more clarity about its nuclear programme.

Mr ElBaradei has faced criticism that it has given Iran the chance to delay more international sanctions.

In the latest report, Mr ElBaradei said Iran has provided more information on past aspects of its nuclear programme.

But he said more co-operation was needed to explain current activity, including traces of highly enriched uranium that inspectors have found at nuclear sites.

Uranium can be enriched for use as fuel in power plants, but more highly enriched it can be used to make weapons.

Iran insists that its programme is for civilian energy purposes only and refuses to accede to demands that it suspend uranium enrichment until international fears are dispelled.

Its top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, says he will meet European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in London on 30 November to discuss nuclear issues. Mr Solana's office has yet to confirm a date.

[Dokhtar Bandari]

2 down 3 to go...we shall prevail.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Humbled by his first electoral defeat ever, President Hugo Chavez said Monday he may have been too ambitious in asking voters to let him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state.

"I understand and accept that the proposal I made was quite profound and intense," he said after voters narrowly rejected the sweeping constitutional reforms by 51 percent to 49 percent.

Opposition activists were ecstatic as the results were announced shortly after midnight — with 88 percent of the vote counted, the trend was declared irreversible by elections council chief Tibisay Lucena.

Some shed tears. Others began chanting: "And now he's going away!"

Without the overhaul, Chavez will be barred from running again in 2012.

Foes of the reform effort — including Roman Catholic leaders, media freedom groups, human rights groups and prominent business leaders — said it would have granted Chavez unchecked power and imperiled basic rights.

Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace that the outcome of Sunday's balloting had taught him that "Venezuelan democracy is maturing." His respect for the verdict, he asserted, proves he is a true democratic leader.

"From this moment on, let's be calm," he proposed, asking for no more street violence like the clashes that marred pre-vote protests. "There is no dictatorship here."

The White House took note of Chavez's setback.

"We congratulate the people of Venezuela on their election and their continued desire to live in freedom and democracy," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns also said it was a victory for the country's citizens who want to prevent Chavez from having unchecked power.

"We felt that this referendum would make Chavez president for life, and that's not ever a welcome development," Burns told reporters in Singapore. "In a country that wants to be a democracy, the people spoke, and the people spoke for democracy and against unlimited power."

Chavez, who was briefly ousted in a failed 2002 coup, blamed the loss on low turnout among the very supporters who re-elected him a year ago with 63 percent of the vote.

Seven in 10 eligible voters cast ballots then. This time it was just 56 percent.

The defeated reform package would have created new types of communal property, let Chavez handpick local leaders under a redrawn political map and suspended civil liberties during extended states of emergency.

Other changes would have shortened the workday from eight hours to six, created a social security fund for millions of informal laborers and promoted communal councils where residents decide how to spend government funds.

Nelly Hernandez, a 37-year-old street vendor, cried as she wandered outside the presidential palace early Monday amid broken beer bottles as government workers took apart a stage mounted earlier for a victory fete.

"It's difficult to accept this, but Chavez has not abandoned us, he'll still be there for us," she said between sobs.

A close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro, Chavez has redistributed more oil wealth than past Venezuelan leaders, and also has aided Latin American allies — including Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua — that have followed Venezuela's turn to the left.

"He is a man who feels for the people, a man who has suffered, a man who comes from below," Carlos Orlando Vega, a 47-year-old carpenter's assistant, said outside a polling station in a Caracas slum on Sunday.

Vega is among tens of thousands of Venezuelans who, under Chavez, have new government-provided homes.

Chavez urged calm and restraint after his Sunday setback.

"I wouldn't have wanted that Pyrrhic victory," he said, suggesting a small margin wouldn't have been enough of a mandate.

Tensions surged in the weeks ahead of Sunday's vote, with university students leading protests and occasionally clashing with police and Chavista groups.

Chavez had warned opponents against inciting violence before the vote, and threatened to cut off oil exports to the United States if the Bush administration interfered.

Chavez, 53, also suffered some high-profile defections by political allies, including former defense minister Gen. Raul Baduel.

Early Monday, Baduel reminded fellow Venezuelans that Chavez still wields special decree powers thanks to a pliant National Assembly packed with his supporters.

"These results can't be recognized as a victory," Baduel told reporters,

Baduel, who as defense minister helped Chavez turn back the 2002 putsch, said Venezuela can only be properly united by convening a popularly elected assembly to rewrite its constitution.

Chavez has progressively steamrolled a fractured opposition since he was first elected in 1998, and his allies now control most elected posts.

At opposition headquarters in an affluent east Caracas district, jubilant Chavez foes sang the national anthem.

"This reform was about democracy or totalitarian socialism, and democracy won," said opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez said.

"At least now we have the guarantee that Chavez will leave power," said Valeria Aguirre, a 22-year-old student who had braved tear gas during street protests.

Lucena, the electoral agency chief, called the vote "the calmest we've had in the last 10 years."

All was reported calm during Sunday's voting but 45 people were detained, most for committing ballot-related crimes like "destroying electoral materials," said Gen. Jesus Gonzalez, chief of a military command overseeing security.

[Dokhtar Bandari]

Khood kardeh ra tadbeer niest
Nago mara taghseer chiest...

Baleh..areh orreh va shamsie koreh thought they can run a country..vali hamashoon zadan reedan be keshveremon...margg bar IRI va its nokara. Time to get lost..

TEHRAN, Iran - A sharp rise in inflation has provoked fierce criticism of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — not only from his reformist opponents, but also from senior conservatives who helped bring him to power but now say he is mismanaging the economy.

Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005 on a populist agenda promising to bring oil revenues to every family, eradicate poverty, improve living standards and tackle unemployment. Now he is being challenged for his failure to meet those promises.

Reformists and even some fellow conservatives say Ahmadinejad has concentrated too much on fiery, anti-U.S. speeches and not enough on the economy — and they have become more aggressive in calling him to account.

In a rare gesture, Ahmadinejad admitted last week that inflation existed but blamed it on his predecessors, the conservative-dominated parliament, state-run media and bank managers who misused their power and printed too many bank notes.

"Inflation has its roots in the past," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech. (hala ke hamatoon goh kari kardeen...point the finger at each other...)

His comments were denounced from all sides, with economists and some fellow conservatives saying it is his policies that have led to higher prices.

Ahmadinejad's critics point out that more than 80 percent of Iran's government revenues come from crude exports and that inflation has risen under him despite sharp increases in oil prices to near $100 per barrel currently.

The growing discontent comes less than three months ahead of crucial parliamentary elections slated for March 14.

Hard-line conservatives gained control of the parliament in the February 2004 elections after the country's constitutional watchdog barred thousands of reformists from running. But in local municipal elections a year ago, the president's allies suffered a humiliating defeat after a majority of the seats were won by reformists and anti-Ahmadinejad conservatives.

Central Bank of Iran figures for November showed prices of basic commodities and services rising at a 19 percent while overall inflation is running at a 16.8 percent rate annually — double the pace it was when Ahmadinejad took office in 2005. But independent economists and experts put the inflation rate well above 30 percent.

No official figures are available for specific items but over the past month, the price of basic commodities has clearly jumped in many places. In some shops visited by an Associated Press reporter in the capital, Tehran, about 2 pounds of chicken has increased 35 percent to $2.44, and rice is up 43 percent at about $2.12 for 2 pounds.

Prices for fruit and vegetables have almost tripled in the past year in many shops, and housing prices in many neighborhoods have more than doubled since last summer.

Hossein Alavi, a Tehran real estate agent, said he is selling houses at more than twice the price he asked for last year.

A prominent economist, Mohammad Sattarifar, said Ahmadinejad is to blame for flooding the market with too many newly printed bank notes, relying too much on imported goods — including basic commodities — and using oil revenues to pay for the government's day-to-day expenses instead of distributing it to the people as he promised to do in his election campaign.

Sattarifar said the government increased liquidity, or the amount of money in circulation, from $72.3 billion in 2004 to $148.9 billion this year. Economist Morteza Allahdad said this amount was a "huge, unusual increase in liquidity that has led to high inflation. Ahmadinejad can't escape responsibility for this."

Even one prominent Ahmadinejad ally, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, reversed his usual strong support for the government and acknowledged that the president has made mistakes. Bahonar, a top behind-the-scenes hard-liner, is believed to have been a key engineer of the election campaign that brought Ahmadinejad to power.

"Inflation is a reality. If a fundamental solution is not found, we are going to see harder days in the next two or three months," Bahonar, who is the deputy parliamentary speaker, was quoted in several newspapers as saying. "Increase in liquidity was among the government's mistakes. This has happened in the past two years."

Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful figure in Iran's clerical leadership, warned Ahmadinejad on Friday that he needs to speak less and do more for his country.

"Inflation won't be resolved through slogans and political manipulation," Rafsanjani said.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the conservative mayor of Tehran, blamed the economic woes on Ahmadinejad's "mismanagement" of the country. Qalibaf said there was inflation when crude oil was sold at $10 a barrel but inflation has increased even now that oil prices are near $100 per barrel.

Mohsen Rezaei, the conservative former commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, said the injection of huge amounts of liquidity was the main cause of increase in prices.

"The source of inflation is the government itself. It needs to rectify its economic behavior in order to control inflation," Rezaei said in remarks published Sunday.

Allahdad agreed, saying the unusual increase in liquidity led to a rise in prices and economic hardship for many.

"The intention was to improve the economy but it backfired because the government ignored expert views," he said.

I say give the addicts everything they want until they can't have no
more...Burn IRI burn in hell.

[Rasputin]

Iranian arrest over Putin 'plot'

Mr Putin (r) attended the summit in Tehran despite the rumours
Reports from Iran say a person has been arrested for spreading a rumour that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would be assassinated during a visit to Tehran.
The reports say the individual, who worked for a telecommunications company, was arrested last week.

Mr Putin went ahead with the visit in October despite the Kremlin saying it had uncovered a plot to kill him.

At the time, Iran described the threat as baseless and part of a psychological war being waged on Iran by the West.

Mr Putin became the first Russian leader to visit Iran. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin went there in 1943.

Reports of the arrest come from the semi-official Fars news agency and various Iranian newspapers.

There has been no comment from any official source.

[IQ]

Iran, Turkey to boost police co-op



Tehran and Ankara have signed an MoU to enhance police cooperation and joint efforts in opposing drug trafficking and terrorism.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Second-in-Command of the Iranian police force, General Ali Jazini and head of the Turkish National Police Inspection Board, Ali Poulad in Ankara on Tuesday night, IRNA reported.

General Ali Jazini and six Iranian police chiefs arrived in the Turkish capital on Sunday.

In the MoU, the Iranian and Turkish police forces have pledged to work together in fighting drug trafficking, curbing the demand for narcotics, and encouraging rehabilitation of addicts, as well as preventing illegal immigration and human smuggling, battling organized crime and countering terrorism.

Prior to signing the MoU, the Iranian delegation also met with other Turkish law enforcement officials including Director General of the Turkish National Police, Oguz Kagan Koksal, and visited a morphine production site in the outs***ts of the city of Afyon and a police dog training center in Ankara.

Before leaving for Tehran, the delegation is also scheduled to meet the Turkish Gendarmerie Chief of Staff Ibrahim Acikmese and visit a rehabilitation center.

[Rasputin]

محمد رضا خاتمی:
مملکت نياز مند مجلسی است
که بتواند ترمز قطار قدرت را بکشد




محمد رضا خاتمی دبير كل سابق جبهه مشاركت که بمناسبت روزهای عزاداری عاشورا به اردکان فارس سفر کرده بود، در اين شهر برای مردم سخنرانی کرد و از جمله گفت:

اصلاح*طلبان در انتخابات مجلس هشتم شرکت می کنند زيرا به دنبال ايجاد مجلسی نيستند كه كارهای عظيمی انجام دهند، بلكه احساس آنها اين است كه كشور شرايط خوبی ندارد و كسی بايد سوار قطار قدرت شود كه ترمز را بتواند بكشد و اجازه ندهد كشور از مسير خارج شود.

«چه كسی بايد جلو برخی اتفاقات را بگيرد؟» تنها جايی كه می*توان اميدوار بود جلو بدتر شدن اوضاع را بگيرد ، فعلا و در شرايط كنونی مجلس است و اگر مجلس هشتم مجلسی باشد كه حداقل شرايط را فراهم كند، آن*گاه می*توان به فكر موفقيت در انتخابات رياست*جمهوری بود .

كار خوب آقای خاتمی اين است كه سياست را در سطح جامعه به اجرا درمی*آورد نه در سطح قدرت و اين سرمايه بزرگی است كه بايد حفظ شود. خاتمی بايد رئيس*جمهوری بسازد تا رئيس*جمهور شود و اين ظرفيتی است در آقای خاتمی كه جريان اصلاحات را دائمی و جاودانه می*كند.

از سوی بزرگان هر دو جناح برای حضور آقای خاتمی در انتخابات رياست*جمهوری آينده فشار وارد می شود اما نظر شخصی من اين است كه ايشان نبايد در انتخابات رياست*جمهوری آينده ثبت*نام كنند.

[IranianGuards]

Iran refuses to receive U.S. protest over ship incident

"Iran refused to accept the U.S. government's message due to the appearance of the world 'Gulf' instead of 'Persian Gulf' in it and rejected it," Ali-Akbar Rezaie, head of the No. 1 American Affairs Department at Foreign Ministry told IRNA.

"So, on this basis, no message has yet been received and evidently, once a revised version is received, it would be investigated," Rezaie said.

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/6344056.html

[Rasputin]

عمر دولت رومانو پرودی ساعت ۸ و ۳۷ دقيقه پنج شنبه شب با پايان رای گيری در مجلس سنای ايتاليا به پايان رسيد؛ سیاستمداری که به گفته برخی صاحب نظران، موجب شده بود تا ایتالیا به «اصلی ترین شریک اقتصادی و دوست جمهوری اسلامی ایران در اروپا» بدل شود.

دولت ائتلافی ميانه و چپ که برای گرفتن رای اعتماد به مجلس سنا مراجعه کرده بود با ۱۶۱ رای مخالف در برابر ۱۵۶ رای موافق مجبور به استعفا شد.

روز جمعه رئيس جمهوری ايتاليا مذاکرات برای تشکيل دولت جديد و يا انحلال مجلس و سنا و برگزاری انتخابات زودرس را در کاخ رياست جمهوری آغاز کرد.

در ايتاليا قبل از تشکيل هر دولت جديدی و يا انحلال پارلمان، رئيس جمهوری بايد با کليه نيروهای سياسی که دارای نمايندگانی در مجلس يا سنا هستند مشاوره و تبادل نظر کرده و در خاتمه تصميم اش را اعلام کند.

در ايتاليا قبل از تشکيل هر دولت جديدی و يا انحلال پارلمان، رئيس جمهوری بايد با کليه نيروهای سياسی که دارای نمايندگانی در مجلس يا سنا هستند مشاوره و تبادل نظر کرده و در خاتمه تصميم اش را اعلام کند.جورجيو ناپولينتانو رئيس جمهوری کنونی چهار گزينه قانونی در برابر خود دارد.

به غير از انحلال مجلس و يا تعيين نخست وزير جديدی برای کسب رای اعتماد، رئيس جمهوری می تواند دولتی متشکل از کارشناسان را تشکيل دهد و يا اينکه از همه احزاب بخواهد برای انجام رفرم های بنيادی دولت اتحاد ملی تشکيل دهند.

در حالی که اين گزينه چهارم از حمايت برخی از نيروهای ائتلاف ميانه و چپ کنونی برخوردار است، نيروهای اپوزيسيون خواهان رجوع به رای مردم و برگزاری انتخابات جديد هستند.

در صورتی که اين گزينه از سوی رئيس جمهوری پذيرفته شود، پس از انحلال پارلمان در ماه آوريل ايتاليايی ها به پای صندوق رای خوانده خواهند شد.

تاثير تحولات بر روابط ايران - ايتاليا

با سقوط دولت رومانو پرودی، جمهوری اسلامی ايران و برخی از گروه های سياسی خاورميانه هم چون حزب الله لبنان، يکی از مهم ترين متحدين شان در اتحاديه اروپا را از دست می دهند.

رومانو پرودی و وزير امور خارجه دولتی که پنج شنبه اکثريت اش را از دست داد، قرار بود در اين ساعات سرگرم مذاکره با هاشمی ثمره، با نفوذترين مشاور محمود احمدی نژاد باشند؛ ديداری که به علت سقوط دولت منتفی شد.

روز سه شنبه وزير امور خارجه ايتاليا که نيابت رياست دولت را نيز عهده دار بود، در ميزگردی که به مناسبت انتشار شماره ويژه ايران مجله راهبردی ليمس LIMES برگزار شد گفته بود: «جامعه جهانی بايد با صرف نظر از پيش شرط تعليق غنی سازی اورانيوم به مذاکره با ايران بپردازد.»

در همين ميزگرد ماسيمو دالما گفته بود: «بحران های منطقه ای از عراق و افغانستان، تا لبنان و غزه بدون شرکت دادن ايران در روند مذاکرات قابل حل نيستند و عدم حضور ايران در تلاش ها برای حل اين بحران ها می تواند به وخامت آنها بينجامد.»

برخی ناظران می گويند که در اگر انتخابات زودرس برگزار شود و ائتلاف ميانه و راست اکثريت را به دست آورد، در سياست خارجی ايتاليا به ويژه در روابط اين کشور با ايران و کشورهای اسلامی منطقه شاهد چرخشی جدی خواهيم بود.ماسيمو دالما در رابطه با روابط اقتصادی بسيار گسترده بين دو کشور ايران و ايتاليا گفته بود: «اگرچه در سال ۲۰۰۷ ميلادی حجم مبادلات بين دو کشور به مقدار هجده درصد نسبت به سال گذشته کاهش يافته است، ولی با اين وجود جمهوری اسلامی ايران يکی از مهم ترين شرکای اقتصادی ايتاليا است و در محاسبات اقتصادی ايتاليا نمی توان اين روابط را ناديده گرفت.»

ماسيمو دالما و رومانو پرودی در مجامع اروپايی و بين المللی ضمن پشتيبانی از تحريم ها آنها را «بی تاثير و بيهوده» خوانده و خواهان عدم گسترششان می شدند و تلاش داشتند ديگر متحدين ايتاليا در اتحاديه اروپا را قانع سازند با تصويب تحريم های جديد عليه ايران مخالفت کنند.

برپايه نظرسنجی هايی که در ماه های اخير در ايتاليا انجام گرفته است در صورتی که در ماه های آينده انتخابات جديد در اين کشور برگزار شود، ائتلاف نيروهای ميانه و راست به رهبری سيلويو برلوسکونی پيروز خواهند شد.

برخی ناظران می گويند که در اگر انتخابات زودرس برگزار شود و ائتلاف ميانه و راست اکثريت را به دست آورد، در سياست خارجی ايتاليا به ويژه در روابط اين کشور با ايران و کشورهای اسلامی منطقه شاهد چرخشی جدی خواهيم بود.

بر اساس اين تحليل ها، به قدرت رسيدن ائتلاف ميانه روها و راستگرايان، به شکلی جدی روابط ايتاليا با دولت تهران و حزب الله لبنان را دگرگون می کند و مواضع ايتاليا در رابطه با بحران اسراييل - فلسطين نيز به طور بنيادی تغيير خواهد کرد.

[Rasputin]

لهستان با استقرار سپر موشکی آمریکا موافقت کرد


روسیه، همسایه لهستان با استقرار سپر موشکی آمریکا مخالف است
لهستان با آمریکا بر سر کلیات استقرار سپر دفاع موشکی آمریکا بر خاک این کشور توافق کرده است.
قرار است درمقابل استقرار دفاع موشکی آمریکا در خاک لهستان، آمریکا به تقویت دفاع هوایی لهستان کمک کند.

آمریکا می خواهد در لهستان سیستم دفاعی موشک ضد موشک و در جمهوری چک یک پایگاه رادار راه اندازی کند.

روسیه با این پروژه مخالف است و می گوید این کار امنیت جهان را تهدید می کند.

ولادیمیر پوتین، رییس جمهوری روسیه در ماه اکتبر این برنامه روسیه را با بحران موشکی کوبا در دهه 60 مقایسه کرد.

این بحران، آمریکا و اتحاد جماهیر شوروی سابق را به آستانه جنگ هسته ای کشانده بود.

روسیه تهدید کرده در صورتی که آمریکا بخش هایی از این سپر دفاعی را در نزدیکی مرزهای این کشور مستقر کند، مسکو موشک های خود را به سوی اروپا نشانه خواهد گرفت.

لهستان در پاسخ گفته است برای پیشرفته تر کردن دفاع هوایی اش نیاز به کمک دارد.

رادک سیکورسکی، وزیر امور خارجه لهستان در دیدار خود از واشنگتن گفت از اینکه نگرانی های امنیتی لهستان در این توافق لحاظ شده رضایت خاطر دارد.

آقای سیکورسکی گفت: "هنوز متخصصان ما کار زیادی برای انجام دادن دارند اما، بله، من راضی ام از اینکه اصولی که ما در استدلال های مان مدنظر داشتیم پذیرفته شده است."

کاندولیزا رایس وزیر امور خارجه آمریکا نیز گفت :" ما متوجه هستیم که لهستان خواستار مدرنیزه کردن سیستم دفاعی خود، به ویژه نیروی هوایی اش است. ما از این موضوع حمایت می کنیم چرا که متحد ما، لهستان را ، تواناتر می کند."

آمریکا می گوید برای آمادگی دربرابر حملات احتمالی کشورهایی از جمله ایران و کره شمالی که واشنگتن آنها را "کشورهای دردسرساز" می خواند، می خواهد 10 موشک ضد موشک را در اروپای شرقی مستقر کند.

دولت چک قصد دارد پیش نویس قرارداد استقرار پایگاه رادار آمریکا در خاک این کشور را ماه آوریل به پارلمان خود ارائه کند.

[Rasputin]

5 Shot Dead at Suburban Chicago Store

TINLEY PARK, Ill. -- A gunman fatally shot five women in a robbery at a store in a suburban Chicago strip mall before fleeing Saturday, leading police to sweep through neighboring shops as terrified customers watched.

The victims, including at least one employee, were killed at a Lane Bryant clothing store at the Brookside Marketplace, police Chief Mike O'Connell said.

Officers found the victims at the back of the store after getting a 911 call around 10:45 a.m. Police said a bystander told them that a man came out of the store and gave them a description.

Authorities said robbery was believed to be the motive. Police searched for the gunman using dogs and a helicopter equipped with infrared sensors but concluded he left the stores off Interstate 80 southwest of downtown Chicago.

"We do not want to compromise any evidence that may be out there ... I ask we keep family of the victims in our thoughts and prayers," O'Connell said.

In a Target store across the parking lot from Lane Bryant, terrified customers were herded to the front as police with pistols and rifles drawn went up and down the aisles and into storerooms searching for the gunman.

"I was so scared I couldn't think," said Selena Kujawa, who had just entered the store with her 5-year-old son when it was locked down. After about an hour, customers were told to leave.

"They told us to get in our cars and get out of here," Kujawa said.

Kujawa said her son was still asking about the shooting long after they had gotten home.

"He asked `What happened to the people? Did they catch the bad guy?'" she said. "There will be lots of nightmares tonight."

Meanwhile, the Chicago Police Department warned its officers to pay attention to strip malls and other Lane Bryant stores, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Tinley Park police Sgt. T.J. Grady said investigators were trying to determine if there was video from security cameras mounted at nearby stores. O'Connell said the Lane Bryant store did not have a camera.

The Lane Bryant was open at the time of the shootings. O'Connell would not identify the victims, but said they ranged in age from 22 to 37. Four were from suburban Chicago and one was from South Bend, Ind.

The police chief said no further information would be made available until Sunday afternoon, after forensic exams were completed.

The family of Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort, said she was one of the victims.

"She is the most wonderful person, and that maniac took a piece of all of us," Jennifer Hudek, Chiuso's sister-in-law, told the Chicago Tribune for a story posted on its Web site Saturday.

Chiuso, a 1993 graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School, was a social worker at the school.

"Carrie was deeply loved by faculty and staff," school spokesman Dave Thieman said in a statement. "She had a real touch with students. The entire H-F family is deeply saddened."

Police were allowing some shoppers into parts of the strip mall later Saturday, but had cordoned off the store.

Tracy Caccavella was shopping at a Pet Smart store late Saturday morning across the parking lot from the Lane Bryant when she saw police enter the pet supply store.

"Six police entered the store with their hands on their gun holsters," Caccavella said.

The small red and brown brick Lane Bryant is part of a cluster of four or five stores isolated on one side of a large blacktop parking lot, with big box stores including Target and a Best Buy several hundred yards away.

Two large county vans backed up to the front of the building Saturday afternoon and a white canopy was placed over the front of the building.

Messages left at Lane Bryant Brand headquarters were not immediately returned.

Lane Bryant is part of plus-size women's apparel retailer Charming Shoppes Inc., based in Bensalem, Pa., which also owns the Fashion Bug and Catherines brands.

[Rasputin]

A British boat captured by the Iranians was paraded through the streets of Teheran today as the country celebrated the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.



The boat, reportedly one of three captured in 2004, was manned by Iranian sailors as it weaved its way through crowds of thousands of Iranians.

The parade came as the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told a huge rally marking the anniversary of the 1979 revolution that his country would not back down “one iota” in its nuclear dispute with the United States.

Washington fears Teheran is covertly trying to obtain nuclear bombs while Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter, says it needs nuclear technology to meet its booming electricity demand.



“They should know that the Iranian nation will not retreat one iota from its nuclear rights,” Mr Ahmadinejad said.

Iranian officials had called on people to turn out in large numbers to show their unity in the face of Western pressure.

State television broadcast live footage of major rallies held in Teheran and other cities.

At Teheran’s Azadi square, Ahmadinejad asked the crowd: “Were you ready to retreat from your nuclear rights one step or one iota?” The demonstrators chanted: “No, nuclear energy is our obvious right.”

In 2005, Iran displayed three British naval boats it seized the previous year, shrugging off protests by London which had demanded their return.

The Fars news agency said that today the boat paraded was that “of British violators seized in the Persian Gulf have been put on display in front of the Cultural Heritage Organisation,” without giving details.

In March last year, Iran seized 15 British naval personnel along with their patrol boats in the northern Gulf. The British sailors were freed after a two-week stand-off and after being paraded in Iran.

[Rasputin]

Iran's new generation of advanced centrifuges have begun processing small quantities of the gas that can be used to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The diplomats emphasized that the centrifuges were working with only minute amounts of the uranium gas used as the feed stock for Iran's uranium enrichment program. And one of them said Teheran had set up only 10 of the machines - far too few to produce enriched uranium in the quantities needed for an industrial scale energy or a weapons program.

Still, the information revealed previously unknown details of the state of the Islamic Republic's experiments with its domestically developed IR-2 centrifuges, which can churn out enriched uranium at more than double the rate of the machines that now form the backbone of its nuclear project.

The existence of the IR-2 was made known only last week by diplomats accredited to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency probing Iran's nuclear program for suspicions it may have been designed to make weapons.

But diplomats back then told the AP that the machines appeared to be running empty and could not quantify the number of the centrifuges had been set up at the experimental facility linked to Iran's growing enrichment underground enrichment plant at Natanz.

Fleshing out previous information, one of the diplomats said Wednesday that the centrifuges were set up Jan. 20 and began processing minute amounts of the uranium gas soon afterward as part of testing the machines. He and others accredited to the IAEA demanded anonymity because their information was confidential.

Iran is under two sets of UN Security Council sanctions for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, which it started developing during nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity built on illicit purchases and revealed only five years ago.

That secrecy heightened suspicions about Iran's intent, but Iranian leaders argued the country has a right to run a peaceful enrichment program to generate electricity and dismissed the UN demands, saying they planned to expand the project rather than freeze it.

Until last week's revelations that Iran had developed its own advanced centrifuge, Iran had publicly focused on working with P1 centrifuges - outmoded machines that it acquired on the black market in the 1980s. More than 3,000 of the older centrifuges are operating in the large underground hall near Natanz, a city nearly 500 kilometers south of Teheran.

In related news, Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday that Moscow disapproved of Iran's uranium enrichment efforts and its missile program.

"We don't approve of Iran's continuously demonstrating its intentions to develop its missile industry and continue uranium enrichment," Sergey Lavrov told Russian news wires on his way back from Slovenia. "From the point of view of international law, these activities aren't forbidden. However, it's necessary to take into account that the past years have shown a number of problems related to Iran's nuclear program."

[Rasputin]

Morales: Iran to start TV channel in Bolivian coca country

Iran plans to open a television station "for all of Latin America" to be based in the coca-growing Andean foothills of Bolivia, President Evo Morales said Monday.

Morales made the announcement at a gathering of coca farmers from the Chapare who re-elected him Monday as president of Bolivia's largest coca growers' union. He did not provide any details on the channel's possible programming.

The station would be "for all of Bolivia, for all of Latin America, recognizing the great struggle of this peasant movement," Morales told the gathering in Cochabamba.

Presidential spokesman Alex Contreras later confirmed that Morales and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed the idea during the Iranian leader's visit last September and that the channel was still in its planning stages.

Long an ally to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Ahmadinejad has recently reached out to fellow leftist Morales.

During last year's visit, Ahmadinejad promised Bolivia US$1 billion (€680 million) in investment aimed at developing its oil and gas industry and improving infrastructure.

Morales' description of a left-leaning channel reaching all of Latin American echoes the role now played by Telesur, a region-wide network backed by Chavez.

An outspoken critic of the U.S. government, Chavez sees Telesur an alternative to what he calls the Washington-friendly coverage of other large media outlets.