Maldini

Do you believe that America want these all energy due to the population? If they really want the energy for the population, they can get it friendly instead of occupyig the others lands. There are a hidden purpose, and everyone one know that.

Protesters seek Lebanon PM resignation By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hundreds of thousands protesters from Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies massed Friday in downtown Beirut seeking to force the resignation of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, who was holed up in his office ringed by hundreds of police and combat troops The protest, which police estimated at 800,000, created a sea of Lebanese flags that blanketed downtown and spilled onto the surrounding streets. Hezbollah officials put the number at 1 million — one-fourth of Lebanon's population. "Saniora out! We want a free government!" protesters shouted through loudspeakers. The crowd roared in approval amid the deafening sound of Hezbollah revolutionary and nationalist songs. "We want a clean government," read one placard, in what has become the opposition's motto. Launching a long-threatened campaign to force Lebanon's U.S.-backed government from office, Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies said the demonstration would be followed by a wave of open-ended protests. Hezbollah had threatened demonstrations unless it and its allies obtained a veto share of the Cabinet — a demand Saniora and Lebanon's anti-Syrian parties rejected. The protests now aim to generate enough popular pressure to paralyze the Saniora government and force it out. Heavily armed soldiers and police had closed all roads to downtown, feverishly unfurling barbed wire and placing barricades. Despite Hezbollah's assurances the protests will be peaceful, the heavy security came amid fears the protests may turn into clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian factions or that Hezbollah supporters could try to storm Saniora's government headquarters. Hezbollah's security men, donning caps, formed two lines between the protesters and the security forces to prevent clashes. "I wish that the prime minister and his ministers were among us today, not hiding behind barbed wire and army armored carriers. He who has his people behind him does not need barbed wire," Michel Aoun, a Christian leader and Hezbollah ally, told the crowd. Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, who has not made a public appearance since a September rally for the militant group, could not be seen Friday. Inside the prime minister's building, Saniora went about his schedule, in what appeared to be a tactic to ignore the throngs outside. A day earlier, a defiant Saniora vowed his government would not fall but warned that "Lebanon's independence is threatened and its democratic system is in danger." A demonstration last week for a slain anti-Syrian politician also drew hundreds of thousands of people downtown, filling Martyr's Square. But Friday's appeared larger, as protesters swarmed not only that square but others, as well as nearby streets and parking lots. Supporters planned to set up camp around the clock in tents erected on a road outside Saniora's office and in a downtown square. Hezbollah has tried to depict the protest as rallying all Lebanese, not just its supporters. It urged demonstrators to wave only the red and white Lebanese flag with its green cedar tree, in contrast to past protests that featured the group's yellow flag with a fist and Kalashnikov rifle. The battle is a fallout from the summer war between Hezbollah and Israel that ravaged parts of Lebanon. The guerrilla force's strong resistance against Israeli troops sent its support among Shiites skyrocketing, emboldening it to grab more political power. Hezbollah also feels Saniora did not do enough to support it during the fight. Pro-government groups, in turn, resent Hezbollah for sparking the fight by snatching two Israeli soldiers, dragging Lebanon into war with Israel. Government supporters accuse Syria of being behind the Hezbollah campaign, trying to regain its lost influence in its smaller neighbor. Hezbollah and its allies, in turn, say the country has fallen under U.S. domination and that they have lost their rightful portion of power. Tension have been running high between Sunni Muslims, who generally support the anti-Syrian government, and Shiites, who lead the pro-Syrian opposition, and Lebanon's Christians, who are divided between the two. In a stark sign of the divide, the spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunnis, Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, gave Friday prayers at the prime minister's headquarters in a show of support for Saniora, a Sunni. "Fear has gripped the Lebanese," Kabbani said, appealing for the protests to end. "The constitution guarantees freedom of expression, but trying to overthrow the government in the street is a call for stirring up discord among people, and we will not accept this." Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheik Naim Kassim, made it clear the fight is against "American tutelage" and said the protest action will continue until the government falls. "We will not let you sell Lebanon, we will protect the constitution and people of Lebanon," Kassim said on television Friday, addressing Saniora. The United States has made Lebanon a key front in its attempts to rein in Syria and its ally, regional powerhouse Iran. President Bush warned earlier this week that the two countries were trying to destabilize Lebanon. Lebanon has witnessed a string of assassinations of anti-Syrian figures over the past two years, including a prominent Christian government minister gunned down last week and former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a February 2005 bombing.

Lebanon's government backs U.N. tribunal By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon - The U.S.-backed government on Saturday approved an international tribunal for suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, overriding the objections of Hezbollah amid a political crisis that threatens to spin Lebanon into violence. Attempts to reach a last-minute compromise between the government and the pro-Syrian camp, led by Hezbollah, failed Saturday as the Cabinet moved forward with its meeting on the U.N-created court. Lebanon's Syria -allied president denounced the vote as did Hezbollah officials, who warned that the Shiite Muslim militant group would go ahead with threatened mass street protests seeking to force the government from power. The tribunal is key in the struggle between allies and opponents of Syria, which dominated its neighbor for nearly three decades until international pressure forced it to withdraw its troops last year. Anti-Syrian forces — mainly Christians and Sunni Muslims — dominate parliament and the Cabinet, but are facing growing resistance from the mainly Shiite pro-Syrian camp. The political crisis became potentially explosive this week with the assassination of an anti-Syrian politician, raising worries of more violence that could tear apart the country apart long its fragile sectarian seams. The anti-Syrian bloc brought out some 800,000 people for a rally at the funeral of the politician, Pierre Gemayel, on Thursday. Hezbollah has shown it can bring out similar numbers, and many people fear its threatened new demonstrations could start a spiral of street action. Earlier Saturday, two key anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians met with Parliament Speaker Nabil Berri, an ally of Hezbollah and a Syria supporter, in an apparent attempt at a compromise. U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora offered to put off the Cabinet vote for several days if six pro-Hezbollah ministers who quit the Cabinet earlier this month return. But with Hezbollah demanding that the government be changed to give it and its allies more power, the reconciliation bid failed, and the Cabinet meeting approved a U.N. draft for the tribunal. "Unfortunately, no agreement was reached because each side stuck to its position," Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said after the Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet approval "puts the opposition before its options to confront the government. The time and the place will be decided," Sheik Hassan Ezzeddine, a senior Hezbollah official, said after the vote when asked if Hezbollah would carry out its threat to try to topple Saniora with mass demonstrations. In the eyes of Hezbollah, the approval of the tribunal amounted to a rejection of its demands for more seats on the Cabinet, and Saniora's foes contend his administration is unconstitutional because it does not represent all of Lebanon's main communities. "The government represents part of the Lebanese people, not all of them. Its decisions are void," Ezzeddine told Al-Arabiya television. President Emile Lahoud also called the Cabinet's approval of the tribunal "null and void" for the same reason, according to a statement from his office. Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah charged the tribunal vote would "deepen divisions in the country," and said the militant group would not take to the streets although he did not say when. Saniora insisted the approval of the tribunal was not meant as a "provocation" against Hezbollah and its allies, according to a statement read by Aridi after the vote. "It is in fact based on Lebanese unanimity on the creation of this tribunal and the Lebanese who are yearning to protect Lebanon, bolster its democratic freedoms and national security and bring it out of the cycle of killings and assassinations," the statement said. Aridi underlined the government's "respect" for Hezbollah's opinion and would allow nonviolent protests led by the group, but added: "We will not give up our goals." For opponents of Syria, the court is a major priority, and they hope it will uncover the truth behind the February 2005 assassination of Hariri in a bomb blast that killed 22 others, which they accuse Damascus of orchestrating. Syria has denied any role in the killing. The court, which will sit outside Lebanon and have a majority of non-Lebanese judges, is to try four Lebanese generals — top pro-Syrian security chiefs under Lahoud, including his Presidential Guard commander, who have been under arrest for 14 months accused of involvement in Hariri's murder. The U.N. investigation into Hariri's death has also implicated Brig. Gen. Assaf Shawkat, Syria's military intelligence chief and the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Shawkat is not in custody. Hariri's death was the first in a string of attacks that killed five other prominent anti-Syrian figures — with Gemayel the most recent, in a bold daytime shooting Tuesday. Many Lebanese blame Syria for all the killings, which Damascus denies. Since Gemayel's assassination, some ministers in Saniora's Cabinet have moved into the heavily guarded prime minister's building in downtown Beirut, fearing more slayings.

Gaza ceasefire takes effect By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - A ceasefire between Israel and militants in Gaza took hold on Sunday and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised restraint in response to early Palestinian truce violations. Olmert voiced hope the deal could help revive peacemaking that collapsed before a Palestinian uprising began in 2000. The agreement is designed to end rocket attacks and halt a crushing Israeli army offensive that was launched after gunmen seized a soldier in a cross-border raid last June. Olmert said he hoped the soldier would now be freed. "All of these things ultimately could lead to one thing -- the opening of serious, real, open and direct negotiations between us," Olmert said. "So that we can move forward toward a comprehensive agreement between us and the Palestinians." Militants fired several rockets at Israel just hours after the start of the ceasefire. "We will show the necessary restraint and patience, certainly in the coming days," Olmert said in southern Israel. The Israeli army pulled forces out of Gaza overnight, before the ceasefire took effect. Palestinian witnesses confirmed that soldiers had left northern Gaza, where operations against rocket-launching squads had been focused. Before Saturday, there had been little sign a truce was imminent. It came at a time of growing U.S. pressure on both Olmert and the Palestinians to curtail spiraling violence and show progress toward ending decades of conflict. A deal could also ease domestic pressure on Olmert and help end months of Palestinian political deadlock. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate, instructed security chiefs to ensure the ceasefire held. Palestinian forces in helmets and flak jackets patrolled near Gaza's borders. One official said 13,000 men were on the ground to stop rocket fire. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, from the governing Hamas Islamist group, said all main factions had agreed -- after the initial violations -- that they now would maintain the truce. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for launching at least five rockets into southern Israel on Sunday. Hamas's own armed wing and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Abbas's Fatah , also said they had launched rockets. RELIEF AND SCEPTICISM More than 400 Palestinians, about half of them militants, have been killed in the offensive, Palestinian hospital officials and residents say. Three Israeli soldiers and two civilians have been killed since the assault began. "Thanks to God the Israeli forces have quit our land in defeat. We feel like victors," said Abdel-Majid Ash-Shanti, 23, who lives in northern Gaza. In Sderot, the southern Israeli town that has felt the brunt of rocket attacks, there was skepticism. "There is no ceasefire," said mayor Eli Moyal, dashing for shelter as a warning came of a rocket attack. The ceasefire could pave the way for a summit between Abbas and Olmert on ways to restart peacemaking. Adherence to the truce could help Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas finalize talks on forming a unity government that Palestinians hope might ease Western sanctions imposed after the Islamist group took office in March. Hamas was instrumental in bringing about the latest truce, but is formally dedicated to destroying Israel. A halt to rocket attacks could also reduce pressure on Olmert at home, where his popularity has flagged after a July-August war against Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon that ended inconclusively with a U.N.-brokered truce. The agreement came days President Bush is due to the visit the Middle East, stopping in Jordan for talks expected to touch on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as Iraq.

Iran says will help U.S. if it quits Iraq TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran was ready to help the United States and Britain in Iraq but only if they pledged to change their attitude and withdraw their troops. The remark comes amid growing calls for Washington to engage Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria , to help prevent Iraq plunging into civil war. A senior U.S. official said this month Washington was "in principle" ready to discuss Iraq with Iran but said the timing of such talks was unclear. Ahmadinejad has previously said he would talk but only if Washington changed its behavior. "The Iranian nation is ready to help you get out of that swamp (in Iraq) on one condition ... you should pledge to correct your attitude," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech to a parade of the Basij religious militia. "Go back and take your forces to behind your borders and serve your own nations," he added. Ahmadinejad regularly condemns the U.S. occupation of Iraq and complains about U.S. bases in the region. Washington accuses Iran of seeking to foment unrest, while Iran blames the violence on the presence of U.S. troops. The Iranian president also criticizes what he says is a hostile U.S. and British attitude to Iran, particularly over its disputed nuclear programme. Western countries, including the United States and Britain, accuse Iran of seeking to develop atomic bombs, a charge Iran denies. It says its aim is to generate electricity. Ahmadinejad urged countries in the region to work together to expel foreign forces from their soil. "Let us put our hands together and expel enemies who are against humanity from our countries and our sacred lands," he said. Iran has in the past called for a security pact between Iran and other regional states, but Gulf Arab countries, dominated by Sunni Muslims, have long been suspicious of Shi'ite Muslim Iran's intentions in the region.

Iran offers look at uranium program By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria - Iran has agreed to crack open the books on its uranium enrichment activities, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday — a move that could give experts a better grasp of a program the Security Council fears could be misused to produce atomic bombs. The concession appeared timed in hopes of heading off a rejection by the IAEA of Iran's request for technical help in building its Arak plutonium-producing reactor. Unmoved, the IAEA's 35-nation board denied the aid for at least two years. Tehran's decision to provide access to the operating records of its pilot uranium enrichment plant at Natanz came with another carrot — a pledge to allow U.N. inspectors to take more samples from a facility that had yielded suspicious traces of enriched uranium. Both moves were described as "important steps" by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who announced Tehran's offer. Uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing can both produce material for atomic warheads, and Iran's lack of complete candor about its programs has fed suspicions in Washington and other capitals that Tehran is trying to make nuclear weapons in violation of its treaty obligations. Iran insists its only goal is to use enrichment to produce fuel for nuclear reactors that generate electricity and plutonium reprocessing to make nuclear isotopes for medical treatments. Responding to Iran's defiance of demands that it curb its nuclear program until suspicions are allayed, the IAEA board decided to put off a ruling on the request for technical help on the Arak reactor. That denied IAEA help for at least two years, after which Tehran can submit a new request. The board's voted to approve all requests for IAEA technical aid "with the exception of" Arak, wording that allowed both the United States and Iran to claim victory. Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, said Arak was "removed entirely from the program, not just deferred." "The U.S. and the IAEA are not prepared to help countries build nuclear bombs," he told reporters. Disputing Schulte's view, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, the chief Iranian representative, said the ruling meant "that this project was not deleted ... and therefore we are expecting as soon as possible the decision be made" to provide the requested aid. In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the IAEA was legally required to provide technical assistance to Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. "It is the duty of the IAEA to help. If they help, we will appreciate it. If not, we will do it on our own," Mottaki said. While Iran's pilot uranium enrichment plant at Natanz is under some IAEA monitoring, Iran's offer to open the operating records of the facility could potentially yield key information to U.N. inspectors that has up to now been off limits. "It should tell them how well the centrifuges have operated" in enriching uranium, said former U.N. inspector David Albright, whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security tracks Iran's nuclear activities. Such information could verify other evidence that the Iranian program has been hobbled by technical glitches. Iran's records should also help strengthen IAEA findings on the level of the small amounts of uranium enriched since Tehran restarted the program early this year. The agency puts enrichment at 5 percent or below — far from the 90 percent-plus needed to make the core of nuclear bombs. Tehran's other offer to allow IAEA inspectors to look for fresh samples of enriched uranium at a site where earlier finds revealed traces that could have come from an undeclared program linked to the military was described as "important" by a U.N. official. He agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name because he was not authorized to comment publicly. The U.N. Security Council demanded in July that Tehran suspend enrichment, but Iran instead has expanded that work, recently setting up a second experimental chain of 164 centrifuges to produce small amounts of low-enriched uranium. Tehran has said it intends to activate 3,000 centrifuges by late 2006 and then increase the program to 54,000 centrifuges. Iranian officials say that would produce enough enriched uranium to fuel a 1,000-megawatt reactor, such as that being built by Russia and nearing completion at Bushehr. Experts estimate Iran would need only 1,500 centrifuges to produce a nuclear weapon, if it wanted to.

Bad Luck :\

U.S. involved in Iraq longer than WWII By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The war in Iraq has now lasted longer than the U.S. involvement in the war that President Bush 's father fought in, World War II. As of Sunday, the conflict in Iraq has raged for three years and just over eight months. Only the Vietnam War (eight years, five months), the Revolutionary War (six years, nine months), and the Civil War (four years), have engaged America longer. Fighting in Afghanistan , which may or may not be a full-fledged war depending on who is keeping track, has gone on for five years, one month. It continues as the ousted Taliban resurges and the central government is challenged. Bush says he still is undecided whether to start bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq or add to the 140,000 there now. He is awaiting the conclusions of several top-to-bottom studies, including a military review by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Expected soon, too, are recommendations from an outside blue-ribbon commission headed by former Secretary of State James Baker, a Republican close to the Bush family, and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, an Indiana Democrat who was one of the leaders of the Sept. 11 commission. The Iraq war began on March 19, 2003, with the U.S. bombing of Baghdad. On May 1, 2003, Bush famously declared major combat operations over, the pronouncement coming in a speech aboard an aircraft carrier emblazoned with a "Mission Accomplished" banner. Yet the fighting has dragged on, and most of the 2,800-plus U.S. military deaths have occurred after Bush suggested an end to what he called the Iraq front in the global fight against terrorism. Politicians in both parties blame the increasingly unpopular war for GOP losses on Capitol Hill in the November elections that handed control of the House and Senate to Democrats. Twice before in the last half-century have presidents — Harry S. Truman in Korea and Lyndon B. Johnson in Vietnam — been crippled politically by prolonged and unpopular wars. Bush last week visited Vietnam for the first time, attending a summit of Asian and Pacific Rim nations. Asked if the Vietnam war held any messages for U.S. policy in Iraq, Bush said it showed that "we'll succeed unless we quit." John Mueller, an Ohio State University political scientist who wrote the book "War, Presidents and Public Opinion," said Americans soured on Iraq after "doing a rough cost-benefit analysis. They say, `What's it worth to us and how much is it costing us?'" By that standard, Americans were willing to abandon the Iraq war long before they turned against the war in Vietnam, Mueller suggested. "So that, for example, when more than 2,000 Americans had died in Iraq, support lowered. It took 20,000 deaths in Vietnam to lower support for that war to the same level," he said. In the casualty count, the Civil War was the most lethal, with military deaths of the North and South combined totaling at least 620,000. By comparison, the total for World War II was roughly 406,000; Vietnam, 58,000; Korea, 37,000; World War I, 116,000. The outgoing Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee , Sen. John Warner of Virginia, a veteran of World War II and a former Navy secretary, noted solemnly at a recent hearing of his committee that Sunday would mark the day when U.S. was involved longer in the Iraq war than it had been in World War II. Yet the October 2002 congressional resolution that authorized the Iraq war "addressed the Iraq of Saddam Hussein , which is now gone, and no more a threat to us," Warner said. While the United States is helping the Iraq's current government to assume the full reins of sovereignty, "we need to revise (our) strategy to achieve that goal," Warner said. U.S. involvement in the Iraq war has outlasted that of the Korean War (three years, one month); the War of 1812 (two years, six months); the U.S.-Mexican War (one year, 10 months); World War I (one year, seven months); the Spanish American War (eight months); and the first Persian Gulf War (one and a half months). Democrats and Republicans are divided about what to do next in Iraq. Many Democrats and some Republicans have called for a phased withdrawal. Some lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain R-Ariz., a 2008 presidential hopeful, are urging that more U.S. troops be sent to help stabilize Iraq. Sen. Carl Levin the Michigan Democrat who will be the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, argues for beginning to bring troops home soon. "We should put the responsibility for Iraq's future squarely where it belongs, on the Iraqis," Levin said. "We cannot save the Iraqis from themselves." Experts of various political stripes have suggested that the options are few. "No mix of options for U.S. action can provide a convincing plan for 'victory' in Iraq," said Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The initiative has passed into Iraqi hands."

Palestinian rockets hit Israel in threat to fledgling ceasefire by Sakher Abu El Oun GAZA CITY (AFP) - Israel has ordered restraint after Palestinian militants fired a salvo of rockets at the Jewish state, violating a fledgling ceasefire less than two hours after it took effect in the Gaza Strip. The rocket strike threatened the ceasefire agreement that came into effect at dawn and in which militants promised to halt rocket attacks in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from the impoverished coastal territory. The Israeli army completed its withdrawal from Gaza shortly after dawn, a military spokeswoman said Sunday. The armed wings of the ruling Islamist Hamas movement and the radical Islamic Jihad, both of which signed on to the ceasefire accord, each claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks which hit the Israeli town of Sderot shortly before 8:00 am (0600 GMT), causing no casualties. The attacks, which were condemned by both the Hamas-led government and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, marked an inauspicious start to the ceasefire which came into play at 6:00 am (0400 GMT). But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, vowing restraint and patience in the coming days, said he had ordered the army not to respond to the attacks. "We will show restraint and patience in order to give the ceasefire a chance," said Olmert, speaking at the inauguration of a school in the Bedouin town of Rahat in southern Israel. "I took into account the possibility that ceasefires do not materialize immediately to their fullest extent without any violations," he added. "There are violations of the ceasefire on the Palestinian side, but I instructed the security establishment not to respond." Olmert said he was optimistic the ceasefire would soon be extended to include the West Bank. Abbas condemned the rocket attacks and ordered Palestinian security forces to deploy across the northern Gaza Strip to prevent further violations of the ceasefire, according to senior Palestinian security officials in Gaza. Palestinian prime minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, meanwhile, insisted the ceasefire agreement stood and said the circumstances surrounding the morning's rocket strikes were being reviewed. "There is a renewed commitment to the (ceasefire) agreement," Haniya told reporters in Gaza City after speaking with faction leaders. "We call on all to respect and help prevent any violations of this agreement which all the factions and forces have agreed to." Despite his reassurances, however, Islamic Jihad renounced the ceasefire after Israel launched fresh operations in the West Bank overnight, a spokesman for the group's armed wing Suraya al-Quds told AFP. "This morning there were incursions in (the northern West Bank city of) Jenin and also arrests," said Abu Ahmed. "We will not abide any ceasefire as long as the Zionist enemy does not totally adhere to it as well." Under the ceasefire accord Palestinian militant groups were to stop firing rockets at Israel from dawn Sunday, with Israel in exchange promising to halt military operations and withdraw from the Palestinian territory. The Palestinian Authority and Israel agreed to the ceasefire after a phone conversation between Olmert and Abbas, during which Abbas told the Israeli premier that the Palestinian factions were willing to stop firing rockets, according to Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina. In exchange, Israel promised to "respond favorably" and withdraw its forces which were mostly deployed in northern Gaza in a bid to combat the rocket fire, according to the army. The United States welcomed the ceasefire agreement as a step toward peace. "We welcome the announcement and see this as a positive step forward," said White House spokesman Alex Conant. "We hope that it leads to less violence for the Israeli and Palestinian people." The five-month offensive in Gaza to counter Palestinian rocket attacks, which have become a near daily event since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, has taken a hefty toll. More than 400 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers have been killed since the military launched a massive counter-offensive in late June aimed at rescuing a captured soldier and ending the constant rocket menace. But Israel has conceded it is helpless to stop the homemade projectiles from striking Israel. Although the rockets are inaccurate and rarely cause casualties, in the past two weeks they have killed two Israelis.

Attack on Baghdad Shiite slum kills 161 By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni Muslim insurgents blew up five car bombs and fired mortars into Baghdad's largest Shiite district Thursday, killing at least 161 people and wounding 257 in a dramatic attack that sent the U.S. ambassador racing to meet with Iraqi leaders in an effort to contain the growing sectarian war. Shiite mortar teams quickly retaliated, firing 10 shells at Sunni Islam's most important shrine in Baghdad, badly damaging the Abu Hanifa mosque and killing one person. Eight more rounds slammed down near the offices of the Association of Muslim Scholars, the top Sunni Muslim organization in Iraq , setting nearby houses on fire. Two other mortar barrages on Sunni neighborhoods in west Baghdad killed nine and wounded 21, police said late Thursday. The bloodshed underlined the impotence of the Iraqi army and police to quell determined sectarian extremists at a time when the Bush administration appears to be considering a move to accelerate the hand-over of security responsibilities. President Bush plans to visit the region next week to discuss the security situation with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "We condemn such acts of senseless violence that are clearly aimed at undermining the Iraqi people's hopes for a peaceful and stable Iraq," said Jeanie Mamo, a White House spokeswoman. Iraq's government imposed a curfew in the capital and also closed the international airport. The transport ministry then took the highly unusual step of closing the airport and docks in the southern city of Basra, the country's main outlet to the vital shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf. Leaders from Iraq's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities issued a televised appeal for calm after a hastily organized meeting with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. The U.S. Embassy said it had nothing to report about the session. Al-Maliki, a Shiite, also went on state TV and blamed Sunni radicals and followers of Saddam Hussein for the attacks on Sadr City. The coordinated car bombings — three by suicide drivers and two of parked cars — billowed black smoke up into clouds hanging low over blood-smeared streets jammed with twisted and charred cars and buses. Hospital corridors and waiting rooms were awash in blood and mangled survivors of bombs that struck at 15-minute intervals in the sprawling Shiite slum, which is a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia of radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a key al-Maliki backer. The militia and associated death squads are believed responsible for the slayings of hundreds of Sunnis since suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants bombed a revered Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra last February. That attack set off a surge of retaliatory killings between Shiites and Sunnis that have raged all year. Al-Sadr associates, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information, said the cleric feared that the Sadr City bombings would make it impossible for him to hold back his heavily armed fighters from a furious round of revenge attacks. In a television statement read by an aide, al-Sadr urged unity among his followers to end the U.S. "occupation" that he said is causing Iraq's strife. Al-Sadr said the attacks coincided with the seventh anniversary of the assassination of his father, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, a revered Shiite religious leader. The anniversary reckoning was by the Islamic calendar. "Had the late al-Sadr been among you he would have said preserve your unity," the statement said. "Don't carry out any act before you ask the Hawza (Shiite seminary in Najaf). Be the ones who are unjustly treated and not the ones who treat others unjustly." Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the pre-eminent Shiite religious figure in Iraq, condemned the bombings and issued condolences to family members of those who were killed. He called for self-control among his followers. Iraq is suffering through a period of unparalleled violence. The United Nations said Wednesday that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed in October, the most in any month since the war began 44 months ago, and a figure certain to be eclipsed in November. The Sadr City slaughter occurred just moments after U.S. helicopters and Iraqi armor had to intervene to stop an attack by 30 masked Sunni gunmen who tried to storm the Shiite-dominated Health Ministry, about a mile west of the Shiite slum. Seven ministry guards were wounded. Residents also reported heavy mortar fire and gunbattles in Hurriyah, a now-largely Shiite neighborhood in northwest Baghdad. There were pitched battles between gunmen and the army on Haifa Street, a dangerous thoroughfare running north from the Green Zone, site of the American and British embassies as well as the Iraqi government and parliament. Iraqis also reported heavy fighting around the Jadriyah Bridge near Baghdad University and AP personnel saw 12 pickup trucks loaded with men armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and heavy machine guns driving through the center of the city. Counting those killed in Sadr City, at least 233 people died or were found dead across Iraq on Thursday. Before dawn Thursday, U.S. and Iraqi forces searching for a kidnapped American soldier swept through an area of Sadr City, killing four Iraqis, wounding eight and detaining five, police said. The raid was the fourth time in six days that coalition forces raided the district looking for U.S. soldier Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old Ann Arbor, Mich., resident who was snatched from the street while he was visiting his Iraqi wife in Baghdad on Oct. 23. The Mahdi Army is believed to have grabbed al-Taayie as well as dozens of people during a raid on a Ministry of Higher Education office in Baghdad on Nov. 14. The ministry is predominantly Sunni Arab. During the 4:30 a.m. raid coalition forces searched houses and opened fire on a minivan carrying Iraqi workers in al-Fallah Street, killing four and wounding eight, said police Capt. Mohammed Ismail. He said coalition forces also detained five Iraqis. In a statement, the U.S. military confirmed the raid and said it was part of the effort to find al-Taayie. It confirmed the detention of five Iraqis and said a vehicle was shot at by Iraqi troops after "displaying hostile intent." The statement did not report Iraqi casualties. The military also reported that three Marines were killed during combat in Anbar province, where many Sunni-Arab insurgents are based. That raised the U.S. death toll so far this month to 52. Associated Press correspondents Thomas Wagner, Bassem Mroue and Qais al-Bashir contributed to this report.

Why it's ironic?:rolleyes:

Happy birthday Julinha :)

Barcelona trapped :laugh3:

I'm totally agree with you

Moses who is the first one tech the Judaism. I know the Orthodox Judaism said that Abraham the first one, but what I said that's what I know from the Islam.

The structural integrity of these "gas chambers" is also extremely faulty. These rooms have ordinary doors and windows which are not hermetically sealed! There are large gaps between the floors and doors. If the Germans had attempted to gas anyone in these rooms, they would have died themselves , as the gas would have leaked and contaminated the entire area. Also, no equipment exists to exhaust the air-gas mixture from these buildings. Nothing was made to introduce or distribute the gas throughout the chambers. There are no provisions to prevent condensation of gas on the walls, floors or ceilings. No exhaust stacks have ever existed. Though six million Jews supposedly died in the gas chambers, not one body has ever been autopsied and found to have died of gas poisoning We have been shown piles of bodies from World War II, but most of these persons died of typhus or starvation or Allied bombings and a great many of those were murdered Germans, not Jews Even if we threw away all the evidence and accounted for every so-called gas chamber, it would have taken 68 YEARS to accomplish gassing six million Jews!

Lebanon cancels Independence Day events By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer BIKFAYA, Lebanon - Lebanon canceled Independence Day celebrations and people huddled around televisions to watch the live broadcast Wednesday of dignitaries paying last respects to a Christian politician whose assassination threatened to push the country's political crisis into wider violence. Members of the Phalange Party and hundreds of villagers walked past the coffin of Pierre Gemayel and paid condolences to his father, former President Amin Gemayel, in the family's home in this mountain town. Pierre Gemayel, the minister of industry, was killed Tuesday when two cars blocked his vehicle at an intersection in the suburbs of Beirut and he was shot numerous times through a side window. His killing — the fifth murder of an anti-Syrian figure in Lebanon in two years — immediately drew condemnation from all quarters. The United States denounced it as an act of terrorism. Presiden Bush accused Syria and Iran of trying to undermine Lebanon's government, but stopped short of blaming them. Syria, too, condemned the assassination and denied any role in it. Bush called Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Amin Gemayel on Wednesday to express his condolences. "President Bush reiterated to Prime Minister Saniora the unwavering commitment of the United States to help build Lebanese democracy, and to support Lebanese independence from the encroachments of Iran and Syria," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for National Security Council at the White House. In Vatican City , Pope Benedict XVI condemned the killing as a "brutal attack" and said he was close to the victim's family and to the "beloved Lebanese people." "In the face of the dark forces that try to destroy the country, I call on all Lebanese not to be overwhelmed by hatred, but to strengthen national unity, justice and reconciliation and work together to build a future of peace," Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square for his weekly audience. The tension has generated fears of a return to the sectarian strife that tore the nation apart in the 1975-90 civil war. Lebanese politicians struggled to pull the country from the brink, urging calm and unity. There were calls for revenge among supporters, but Amin Gemayel urged restraint, a plea echoed by the Maronite Catholic Church. Nevertheless, there was sporadic violence such as burning tires, wrecking vehicles and attacking offices of rival parties. During the 1975-90 civil war, such a killing would have triggered mass sectarian retaliation. The war was sparked when a bodyguard of the late grandfather of Pierre Gemayel was killed in an assassination attempt against the leader, prompting Phalangist gunmen to attack a busload of Palestinian refugees. In 1982, when Gemayel's uncle, President-elect Bashir Gemayel, was assassinated, his supporters stormed Palestinian refugee camps, killing hundreds of unarmed refugees. Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud said Gemayel's murder was part of a "conspiracy" that began with the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "I tell the Lebanese that today is the time for them to unite or else all of Lebanon will lose," Lahoud said in a TV address late Tuesday, when he announced the cancellation of Independence Day ceremonies. "We will do the impossible to uncover the criminals because they are against all the Lebanese," Lahoud said. Saniora also went on TV to appeal for unity and warn that Lebanon was facing "sedition." Schools and shops were closed and traffic was light Wednesday morning as Gemayel's coffin, draped in the flag of his Phalange Party, was driven up to the mountains for mourning ceremonies at the family home before the funeral, scheduled for Thursday. Motorists waving the Phalange Party flag — white with a green cedar tree in the middle — followed the hearse. The cortege stopped at the entrance of Bikfaya where, next to a statue of Pierre's grandfather, pallbearers lifted the casket on to their shoulders and carried it to the stone-walled house. Supporters jolted the coffin in a traditional expression of extreme anguish as it passed through hundreds of mourners, many of whom were weeping. Anti-Syrian factions allied with the Phalange Party have planned a huge turnout for Thursday's funeral in central Beirut, intending to show their strength as they wage a power struggle against Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian parties. Hezbollah and its Shiite Muslim allies have threatened to call mass demonstrations to topple the government unless they receive effective veto powers in the Cabinet. Saniora's government is dominated by opponents of Syria. In his TV address, Saniora linked Gemayel's slaying to the issue that sparked the crisis with Hezbollah: a plan for an international court, just approved by U.N Security Council , to try suspects in the Hariri assassination. He said Lebanese should rally behind the government's backing for such a court. In his phone calls Wednesday, Bush said "violence and unrest in Lebanon will not stop the international community from establishing the special tribunal for Lebanon," according to Johndroe. Washington sees Lebanon as a key front in its attempts to isolate Syria and Iran. The draft document creating the international court to try suspects in the Hariri murder, in which an U.N. investigation has implicated several Syrian officials, now goes to the Lebanese government for final approval. Six members from Hezbollah and its allies quit Saniora's 24-member Cabinet earlier this month before it gave its backing to the court, sparking the political crisis. The draft of the international tribunal also says that if political assassinations were found linked to Hariri's murder, the court will have jurisdiction to try suspects in those attacks as well.

China, Pakistan to sign economic accords ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Chinese Presiden Hu Jintao received a red carpet welcome to Pakistan on Thursday on a trip aimed at expanding economic ties with Beijing's longtime ally, including signing a free trade agreement between the two countries, a Pakistan diplomat said Hu and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will sign a raft of economic deals on Friday that aim at expanding a burgeoning bilateral trade relationship that grew 39 percent last year to $4.26 billion. Salman Bashir, Pakistan's envoy to China, said the free trade agreement will be the most important document signed during Hu's four-day visit.

Officials: Afghanistan needs more troops By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - More troops and sophisticated equipment are needed to bolster Afghanistan 's security forces, but it is not clear whether more U.S. troops will be deployed there, U.S. and Afghan defense officials said Tuesday. Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry told Pentagon reporters that U.S. officials will wait until after next week's NATO summit in Latvia to see how many troops other countries plan to provide before deciding if more U.S. forces must be sent to Afghanistan. "I think it will be best at this point to wait and see what NATO is able to provide," Eikenberry said. "There's more meetings that are taking place on the military staff. And this is very high on their agenda." U.S. military leaders have been pushing NATO members to meet their commitments and provide more troops in Afghanistan. For months, officials have said that NATO nations have provided only 85 percent of the support they promised. There is a NATO-led force of about 30,000 in Afghanistan, including some 12,000 U.S. troops. An additional 11,000 American troops are there under U.S. control, conducting counterterrorism operations and other training and reconstruction duties. The Afghan minister of defense, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, who met Tuesday with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said his country needs more firepower, transport planes and armored vehicles. The Afghans have asked for additional helicopters and aircraft that can move troops and supplies through the mountainous regions. Eikenberry said some body armor, helmets and other equipment are already being provided to the Afghan National Army. He added that there have been no final decisions on what other weapons and aircraft would be provided, and therefore he could not provide any cost estimate. He said now is an appropriate time to give the Afghans more sophisticated equipment because they are better able to operate and maintain the equipment. It will be less expensive to equip the Afghans than continue to use U.S. troops and equipment in the war there, he said. Wardak said Afghanistan is accelerating its training program for the army, and hopes to have about 70,000 troops by October 2008 — several years ahead of schedule. He said officials are hoping that NATO "will take a more effective role in equipping and training the Afghan national security forces." "Once we are well-trained and well-equipped, we will be able to repay some of our debt to the international community by participating in peacekeeping operations," said Wardak, adding that Afghanistan would also be able to be "a permanent part of the war against terrorism." In other comments, Eikenberry said the ongoing hunt for Osama bin Laden continues, and it "remains as much of a priority as it has since the United States of America was struck on 9/11."

US troops open fire on civilians, Afghan doctor killed KABUL (AFP) - US troops opened fire on a civilian car on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, causing a traffic accident that killed an Afghan doctor and wounded four other people, officials said. The NATO -led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement a civilian van was "observed driving suspiciously" Wednesday near a US patrol on a road between Kabul and the main US base at Bagram, north of the city. "ISAF troops signalled for the vehicle to stop and fired a number of shots. The driver subsequently lost control of the van and unfortunately crashed," it said on Thursday. "Regrettably, one of the civilians was killed and four were injured." The Afghan interior ministry confirmed the incident saying it involved US troops and it had been told the dead man was a doctor. Reports said he had been working at a health facility in Bagram. Civilian deaths caused by foreign troops have become increasingly sensitive in Afaghnistan with human rights groups expressing alarm at the mounting toll which is disaffecting the population. ISAF soldiers were accused of killing scores of civilians in an October 24 raid against Taliban fighters in the southern province of Kandahar. The force has not released the results of its investigation but The New York Times last week cited a senior ISAF official saying 31 civilians were killed. Wednesday's incident was not far from where a deadly traffic accident involving a US military truck sparked day-long rioting in May in the centre of Kabul. Around a dozen people were killed.

ICC says Darfur evidence enough to prosecute By Nicola Leske THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has nearly completed an investigation into war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region and has sufficient evidence to file charges soon, he said on Thursday. "Based on a careful and thorough source evaluation of all the evidence collected, we were able to identify the gravest incidents and some of those who could be considered to be the most criminally responsible," Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in a speech to the annual meeting of the court's member states. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes in three years of conflict in Darfur, a remote region of western Sudan where the U.S. government says genocide is taking place. Khartoum rejects the charge. Moreno-Ocampo said the crimes committed include persecution, torture, rape and murder. Jan Egeland, the top U.N. humanitarian official accused Sudan on Wednesday of deliberately hindering relief aid in Darfur, attacking villages and arming Arab militia to combat rebels and bandits. The UN , Sudan and the African Union (AU), which has fielded a 7,000-member force, agreed in principle in Addis Ababa last week on a beefed-up AU force with extensive U.N. support. Sudan had previously ruled out a big U.N. role in Darfur, concerned that its forces may try to enforce ICC warrants. Before the prosecution submits the evidence to ICC judges, the office of the prosecutor will assess whether Sudan's government is conducting its own judicial proceedings on the same incidents and persons, Moreno-Ocampo said. Under the treaty that set up the ICC in 2002, the Hague-based court cannot prosecute suspects who have already been tried in fair trials in their home countries. "I plan to have collected this information by the beginning of December," Moreno-Ocampo said. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has charged that Khartoum set up the court to head off the ICC investigation and tried just 13 criminal cases unconnected to Darfur since the court was formed in June 2005. The ICC was set up as the first permanent global war crimes court to try individuals and issued its first warrants last year for leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), who have led 20 years of war. The LRA has signed a truce with the government but the LRA has repeatedly said it will not sign a final peace deal unless the ICC indictments against its leaders are dropped. Moreno-Ocampo said the government of Uganda had reiterated it understood its obligations and that arresting LRA commanders would "prevent recurrent violence and provide justice to the victims." "The victims have a right to peace, security and justice," he said

N. Korea won't abandon nukes TOKYO - A senior North Korean diplomat strongly indicated that his country has no plans to abandon nuclear weapons, despite its agreement to return to six-nation disarmament talks, according to news reports Wednesday. North Korea 's deputy foreign minister, Kang Sok Ju, speaking to a group of reporters while passing through Beijing from Russia, instead demanded that the United States lift financial sanctions against the North, Japan's NHK television and Kyodo News agency said. Kang said North Korea had not tested nuclear weapons only to get rid of them, the reports said. "Why would we abandon nuclear weapons?" NHK and Kyodo quoted Kang as saying in a Japanese translation of his comments in Korean. "Are you saying we conducted a nuclear test in order to abandon them?" Asked if Pyongyang planned to demand the U.S. lift sanctions, Kang said, "of course," NHK and Kyodo reported. A nuclear test by North Korea on Oct. 9 triggered international condemnation and sanctions. In September 2005, Pyongyang agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid, but it withdrew from the talks with the U.S., China, South Korea , Japan and Russia two months later, protesting Washington's financial sanctions over suspected money laundering. Pyongyang agreed this month to return to the talks, which may resume next month.

Israelis press Gaza offensive By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli troops went after Palestinian militants in Gaza on Thursday as rockets slammed into Southern Israel , but a planned meeting between a Hamas leader and Egyptian mediators raised hopes the violence could be contained. Two gunmen were killed in clashes with the military in the town of Beit Lahiya, militant groups said. Various Arab and Western nations have been trying to get Israel and the Palestinians talking again. Chief among them has been Egypt, which is trying to broker a deal to free an Israeli soldier whose June 25 capture by Hamas-linked militants touched off Israel's 5-month-old Gaza offensive. Egypt is also involved in efforts to form a more moderate Palestinian government to replace the one led by the violently anti-Israel Hamas. The new government would include Hamas appointments, and the group's radical political chief, Khaled Mashaal, would have to approve both the new Cabinet and any prisoner swap. Mashaal was in Cairo "to discuss the Israeli soldier and the national unity government," with Egyptian mediators Thursday, Moussa Abu Marzouk, Mashaal's deputy, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the exiled Hamas leadership's base in Syria. It was his first to Egypt since early this year, raising hopes for progress. Mashaal, who has demanded Israel release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Cpl. Gilad Shalit, was expected to meet with the key figure in Egyptian mediation efforts, Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman, Abu Marzouk said. It was not known when the two would meet. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah held another round of coalition talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Thursday. Israel — which is boycotting the Hamas government for refusing to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist — has been anxiously following the rocky unity government talks. It has voiced willingness to negotiate with the more moderate Abbas but those talks have faltered over the prisoner swap. On Wednesday night, advisers to Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met to try to push ahead plans for a first working meeting between the two leaders. Abbas adviser Saeb Erekat said no date was set. Abbas has balked at meeting with Olmert without receiving assurances he would walk away from the talks with concrete results, such as the release of Palestinian prisoners. With diplomatic efforts still facing formidable obstacles, the violence in Gaza persisted. Israeli tanks rumbled up to an apartment complex on the outskirts of Beit Lahiya around dawn, security officials said. Troops fired bursts from turret-mounted machine guns, killing a militant and wounding another man, and then withdrew, they said. Hamas said the dead man was a member. The officials said militants had fired rockets into Israel from a field near the apartment complex overnight. A second militant from Islamic Jihad was killed by tank fire elsewhere in the town, the group said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. The army said Israeli troops in the same area saw a figure they deemed suspicious and opened fire, but think he escaped unharmed. It was not immediately clear if this was the same incident in which the Palestinian was killed. Israeli infantrymen were also operating inside Beit Lahiya on Thursday. Snipers took over a building overnight, security officials said, and militants fired two shoulder-launched rockets at them, setting the top floor on fire. Residents said helicopter gunships hovered overhead, and the Hamas TV station showed tanks moving through streets and army bulldozers leveling agricultural land just outside the town. Meanwhile, more rockets landed in southern Israel. Five were fired from Gaza, the army said, and four hit. No injuries were reported. The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said Thursday that a longer-range rocket it is developing would soon be operational, but it did not say when. Abu Hamza, a spokesman for the group, said the rocket was based on the Russian-made Katyusha, which Lebanese guerrillas fired at northern Israel during the summer war. The rocket has a range of 11 to 12 miles — about double the range of anything the militants have developed yet. In March, the group said it had "many" Russian-made rockets with a 11- to 19-mile range, smuggled into Gaza from Egypt. Islamic Jihad fired several of these rockets into Israel. But the Israeli military said at the time that they only traveled two to three miles into Israel. The militants' rocket operations are exacting an increasingly heavy toll on Israelis living near the border with Gaza. Two civilians were killed over the past week, and the near-daily attacks have severely disrupted the lives of anxious residents. In all, 163 rockets have been launched from Gaza since the beginning of November, and 93 landed in Israeli territory, the army said. About 70 were launched in October, before Israel widened its operations against rocket squads. On Wednesday, Israel's Security Cabinet of senior government officials resisted military pressure for a broad offensive in northern Gaza, though it did approve intensified action against wanted militants and attacks on Hamas operations in Gaza.

UN agency shelves Iranian reactor request by Michael Adler VIENNA (AFP) - The UN atomic agency has Shelved Iran's request for technical help in building a nuclear reactor that the United States fears could provide plutonium for weapons. The decision of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors came after three days of divisive meetings on technical cooperation that ended with a compromise between Western and developing states. In another development, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said limited cooperation by Iran had blocked the agency from making "further progress" on clearing up questions about Tehran's nuclear program, which Washington suspects of hiding weapons development. But ElBaradei said Iran had recently made "steps in the right direction," by agreeing to let IAEA inspectors take environmental sample swipes on equipment from a former military site at Lavizan and granting access to operating records at a uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. The IAEA had requested these steps for months, as Iran pushed ahead with uranium enrichment in defiance of a UN call for it to suspend the sensitive nuclear work. The agency's governing board blocked technical cooperation for the heavy-water reactor Iran is building in Arak, 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of Tehran, by dropping the proposal from a list of some 800 aid projects it approved on Thursday for the coming two years, an IAEA spokeswoman said. US ambassador Gregory Schulte insisted that the deletion of the Iranian request was permanent. "The Arak project was not deferred. It was not put on hold. It was removed entirely from the IAEA program," Schulte told reporters. "The removal of Arak, an action taken by consensus, reflects the board's continued concern about the nature of Iran's nuclear program," he said. "Heavy water reactors are well-suited to producing significant quantities of plutonium, a key ingredient in building nuclear weapons." In a face-saving compromise, the Arak project was shelved rather than rejected, with the board's chairman saying "no decision was taken" on the Iranian request. An Iranian diplomat described the IAEA move as "only a postponement." Delegates from non-aligned countries anxious to protect the right of developing countries to obtain peaceful nuclear technology also argued that Iran could re-apply at some point for aid to Arak. A EU diplomat had said Wednesday that "the bottom line" was a denial of aid for the next two years, by which time there could well be a UN Security Council call for Iran to suspend work at the heavy water reactor. Tehran says the facility is intended to make medical isotopes. Both the IAEA and the Security Council have called on Iran to "reconsider" building Arak, and a Western diplomat said the IAEA's decision not to approve technical assistance "should reinforce the point." The United States and the European Union had argued that Iran, suspected of seeking nuclear weapons and threatened with UN sanctions, had no right to assistance with the reactor. Schulte said the United States "strongly supports" peaceful nuclear technology for IAEA member states "but neither we nor the board are prepared to help countries build nuclear bombs." The IAEA board will also be hearing a report from ElBaradei detailing the level of Iranian cooperation with the agency's investigation into its nuclear program. The IAEA is still unable, after over three years of inspections, to certify Iran's program as peaceful

Iran says it will go on with nuke plans By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran - Iran on Thursday said it plans to press ahead with construction of a heavy-water nuclear reactor the U.S. and its allies fear could be used to produce plutonium to build atomic weapons hours after the U.N. nuclear watchdog denied Tehran help in building it. The U.N. nuclear agency, the IAEA , decided to deny Iran technical help in building the heavy-water reactor in central Iran — at least for now — but left room for Tehran to renew its request, diplomats said. But Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the IAEA was legally required to provide technical assistance to Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Iran has repeatedly said its contentious nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. "It is the duty of the IAEA to help. If they help, we will appreciate it. If not, we will do it on our own," Mottaki told reporters in Tehran.