Peres warns Iran for threatening Israel
AP, JERUSALEM
May 9: Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres warned Iran that it could be
threatened with destruction if it continues to vow to destroy Israel.
"Be careful with your threats," Peres told Channel 1 TV on
Monday. "Those who threaten to destroy are in danger of being destroyed."
Israel has grown increasingly concerned in recent months by calls from
Iran's leader to wipe Israel off the map and Iran's determination to continue its nuclear
programme. The West believes Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon and has moved to
impose sanctions against the country in the UN Security Council. Iran says its enrichment
of uranium is meant for peaceful purposes.
Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, drew unusually stiff criticism
from an analyst on Israel's state television, Yoav Limor, for talking of destroying
another country.
"There is a broad consensus that it would have been better if
Peres had not said this, especially now," Limor said. "I'm quite sure Israel
does not want to find itself in the same insane asylum as (Iranian President Mahmoud)
Ahmadinejad."
Last week, a top Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said Israel
would be Iran's first retaliatory target if attacked by the United States. Peres also
reacted to that comment with a warning of his own: "Remember that Israel is
exceptionally strong and knows how to defend itself."Peres did not say Monday who
should act against Iran if it continues with its nuclear programme, but implied military
action should be led by the United States, pointing to the recent wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq.
Israeli officials have indicated that Israel would join any
international operation against Iran.
In 1981, Israel launched an air strike to destroy an unfinished Iraqi
nuclear reactor. Experts have said such a pinpointed strike against Iran would not be
possible, because Tehran's nuclear facilities are intentionally dispersed throughout the
country, some of them hidden underground.
Peres urged China and Russia to join Western efforts to impose
sanctions on Iran so military action could be avoided. The two countries thus far have
been reluctant to back such proposals. "We can prevent all of this threat, without
weapons, if there will be unity," Peres said.
Rice rejects Iran's letter as it criticises US govt
AP, NEW YORK
May 9: Iran's President declared in a letter to President Bush that
democracy had failed worldwide and lamented "an ever-increasing global hatred"
of the US government. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice swiftly rejected the letter,
saying it made no progress toward resolving questions about Tehran's suspect nuclear
programme.
"This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to
engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort," Rice said in an interview with
The Associated Press. "It isn't addressing the issues that we're dealing with in a
concrete way."
Rice's comments were the most detailed response from the United States
to the letter, the first from an Iranian head of state to an American president since the
1979 hostage crisis at the US Embassy in Tehran.
The letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made only an oblique
reference to Iran's nuclear intentions. It asked why "any technological and
scientific achievement reached in the Middle East region is translated into and portrayed
as a threat to the Zionist regime." Otherwise, it lambasted Bush for his handling of
the Sept. 11 attacks, accused the media of spreading lies about the Iraq war and railed
against the United States for its support of Israel. It questioned whether the world would
be a different place if the money spent on Iraq had been spent to fight poverty.
"Would not your administration's political and economic standing
have been stronger?" the letter said. "And I am most sorry to say, would there
have been an ever- increasing global hatred of the American government?
Iran's top nuclear negotiator called the surprise letter a new
"diplomatic opening" between the two countries, but Rice said it failed to
resolve the dispute over the Iranian nuclear programme - the focus of intense UN Security
Council debate this week. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush had been
briefed on the letter, which the White House received Monday through the Swiss Embassy in
Tehran.
"There's nothing in here that would suggest that we're on any
different course than we were before we got the letter," Rice said.
Even though the letter hardly touched on nuclear issues, officials said
it appeared timed with a push by the United States, Britain, France and Germany for a
Security Council vote to restrain the Islamic regime's nuclear ambitions. Both China and
Russia are opposed to leveling sanctions against Iran and the letter could provide them
support.
Rice, who said she expected no quick action on sanctions, met privately
for more than two hours Monday night on Iran with foreign ministers from the other
permanent members of the council.
Her spokesman gave no details of the substance of the discussions, but
described the talks as strategic and not focused on specific steps.
The United States is concerned that Iran's programme is a cover for
making nuclear weapons, while Iran contends it has the right to process uranium as fuel in
nuclear reactors to generate electricity.
Major powers fail to agree on Iran's nuclear strategy
REUTERS, UNITED NATIONS
May 9: Foreign ministers of major powers failed to come up with a joint
strategy for dealing with Iran after Tehran sought to influence the negotiations with a
stunning last-minute diplomatic manoeuvre, officials said.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said a US-hosted,
three-hour meeting on Monday of ministers from Russia, Britain, China and Germany did not
reach agreement.
"We are still considering our work," he told reporters after
the late night session had ended.
A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the
meeting agreed that Iran must pay a price for not complying with UN resolutions but did
not come to terms on what form that would take.
"I think the prospects for an agreement this week are not
substantially good," he said. "Clearly we had a ways to go."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Tass news agency:
"All of us agreed that Iran must not have nuclear weapons." He stressed Moscow's
desire to draw Iran into "fruitful" negotiations on the issue.
Major power political directors will meet on Iran on Tuesday in New
York and will likely meet again next week but sponsors -- aiming for unity -- have backed
off a timeline for security council action, the US official said.
Russia and China have been resisting a UN Security Council resolution
sponsored by Britain and France and backed by the United States that would legally require
Iran to halt uranium enrichment. Britain and France had wanted to get the resolution
passed before the Monday night ministers' meeting.
The meeting of the Security Council's five veto-wielding permanent
members plus Germany and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana came after
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote to President George W. Bush proposing
"new ways" to resolve their differences.
But a copy obtained by Reuters showed a long rambling treatise that
focused on American wrong doings and did not contain ideas for ending the dispute over
Iran's nuclear ambitions. It was the first letter from an Iranian head of state to a US
president since Washington broke off relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Sceptical US officials dismissed the 18-page letter as a diversionary
tactic. But a European diplomat who works on the Iran issue but was not authorized to
speak publicly called the letter "another tactical masterstroke that was deliberately
timed to come out today (ahead of the ministers' meeting) and has made administration
officials very nervous."
Iran's letter did not prompt calls from the other powers for Washington
to change its tough policy or to hold direct talks with Tehran, a senior US official said.
While the immediate issue was Iran's nuclear ambitions, participants
said the Monday night discussions were much broader, including terrorism and regional
security.
Margaret Beckett, Britain's new foreign secretary, said "No one
has the intention of taking military action (against Iran). That was not discussed. It was
not an issue."
India's space agency urges Bush to lift all sanctions
AFP, BANGALORE, INDIA
May 9: India's main space agency urged the United States to lift
sanctions that remain in force on three of its operations and thus enable more high-tech
imports.
Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO), said sanctions were still applied to its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and Liquid
Propulsion Systems Centre in Kerala state and the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra
Pradesh.
"As an effort between our prime minister and President George Bush
three (other) institutions were removed from the list to enable import of more high-tech
imports and services from the US," Nair said.
"I hope this will encourage an improvement in space commerce
activity in the coming years," he said after India and the US signed a cooperative
pact for carrying two US payloads on board India's Chandrayaan-1 unmanned mission to the
moon.
"I can see that there is a willingness on both sides to improve
this cooperation."
Space cooperation between the two dates back to 1963 when an
atmospheric experiment was carried on a US-made rocket.
Relations have warmed markedly in recent years and Washington has
lifted sanctions slapped on India's nuclear and space programmemes following New Delhi's
nuclear test blasts in 1998.
The sanctions had frozen exchanges in nuclear and other high-tech
sectors such as technology with both civilian and military use.
During the March visit of US President George W. Bush, a landmark
civilian nuclear deal was sealed.
India agreed to place most of its civilian atomic reactors under global
scrutiny for the first time in more than three decades in return for foreign nuclear
technology.
The agreement effectively ends India's status as a nuclear pariah, even
though it refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Australian miners rescued after being trapped for two weeks
AP, BEACONSFIELD, AUSTRALIA
May 9: Bells pealed and sirens wailed as this tiny mining town erupted
in jubilation Tuesday after two miners were rescued from the kennel-sized cage where they
had been trapped more than a half mile underground for two weeks.
But the joy quickly turned to grief as mourners gathered to bury a
miner who died in the same rock collapse that trapped his co-workers.
"There's not many things in life that take us through so many
emotions at the same time," said Graham Mulligan, spokesman for a Christian
motorcycle club which escorted Larry Knight's coffin from the church to a nearby cemetery.
"This whole ordeal has taken us from horror to shock, grief,
sadness, joy and happiness and then back to sadness again."
Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, punched the air as they walked
out of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine before dawn Tuesday, freed by rescue crews drilling
round-the-clock. Hundreds of well-wishers gathered at the mine gates erupted in cheers.
The miners hugged family and friends before climbing into two
ambulances, laughing and joking. Before going, they removed their identity tags from the
wall outside the elevator - a standard safety measure when miners finish a shift.
The men also handed out small cards that read: "The Great Escape.
To all who have helped and supported us and our families, we cannot wait to shake your
hand and (buy) you a Sustagen," referring to a nutrition drink the pair sipped during
their ordeal.
As news of the rescue spread, a fire engine drove with its siren
blaring through Beaconsfield, located in the southern state of Tasmania. A church bell not
used since the end of World War II rang out in celebration.
Webb and Russell were then driven through Beaconsfield in two
ambulances, their back doors open so they could wave to townsfolk, and underwent tests at
a hospital. The families said neither they nor the miners planned to speak to the media
Tuesday.
One of the rescuers, who identified himself only as Peter, said many
miners celebrated with free beer at a local bar before turning to the more somber business
of the day - burying their colleague Knight.
Russell limped into the service, which was attended by hundreds of
Beaconsfield residents, but otherwise looked fit and healthy, the beard he had grown
during his underground ordeal trimmed to a goatee. It was not immediately clear if Webb
also attended.
Knight's family had delayed the service hoping the trapped miners would
be able to attend.
Webb and Russell were buried after a small earthquake April 25 trapped
the safety cage they were working in under tons of rock.
Teams of miners bored through more than 45 feet of rock over the past
week with a giant drilling machine to reach the men.
Constitutional court nullifies April elections
Thailand prepares for new polls
AFP, BANGKOK
May 9: Thailand is preparing for new, court-supervised elections, as
Thaksin Shinawatra mulled whether to run for prime minister just one month after he
tearfully stepped aside following months of protests.
The nation's three most powerful courts said they would supervise the
polls, one day after the Constitutional Court nullified last month's snap elections that
left Thailand without a functioning parliament.
"The chief justices have agreed to carry on with their mission
because the verdict by the Constitutional Court does not mean the conflict will end,"
said Justice Charan Pakdithanakul, speaking for the Supreme Court.
A host of questions remain about how and when the new polls will take
place, including whether Thaksin will run again for prime minister.
Thaksin, who remains a lawmaker and the leader of his powerful party,
has dodged the question.
"Why are you following a jobless man?" he asked reporters who
quizzed him recently as he went shopping with his wife. Senior aide Prommin Lertsuridej
said the billionaire businessman would run for a seat in parliament, but would not say
whether he had his sights set on being premier.
"I cannot answer on his behalf whether he will seek another role.
He will be the sole person to make that decision. As of today, there is no decision,"
he told reporters.
Before the snap elections, Thaksin had faced months of street protests
accusing him of using his political office to enrich his telecom empire.
One of the protest leaders, media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul, warned
Thaksin not to stage a comeback.
"Thaksin does not realize that he was the Centre of the problem,
so he should pull out of politics completely," Sondhi told reporters.
Sondhi also threatened to call new protests unless the Election
Commission resigns.
"We believe that if the existing EC organizes the new polls, the
new election will not be fair for everyone, even if Thaksin doesn't run," he said.
The courts have also raised questions about the Election Commission,
which has received much of the blame for the failure of the April 2 polls.
The opposition, which boycotted those polls, has accused the commission
of being too closely aligned with Thaksin.
The opposition on Monday also called on the commissioners to resign,
but the government has warned that naming new members to the panel could drag out the
organization of the next polls.
But Charan said the Supreme Court was prepared to name new members to
the panel, saying that appointing new commissioners would help ensure public confidence in
the polls.
"This would help to resolve the crisis," he said.
Thailand's courts have never taken such a powerful stand in national
politics. Until 1992, the country had long used military intervention to resolve political
problems.
But the judiciary was pushed into action two weeks ago after the
influential King Bhumibol Adulyadej publicly castigated the nation's top judges for
failing to resolve the crisis.
In a nationally televised speech, he branded the elections
"undemocratic", refused to meet opposition demands for a royally appointed prime
minister and ordered the courts to find a solution to the impasse.
Thaksin had called the April 2 snap polls, just a year after winning a
landslide re-election victory, in hopes of ending street protests against him.
Instead, the elections sent the country spinning towards a
constitutional crisis after the opposition boycotted them, saying they could not be fair.
Thaksin's party won 56 percent of the vote but the elections failed to
fill all the seats in parliament, undermining Thaksin's victory and forcing him to step
aside on April 4.
Indonesia backs Iran on nuclear ambitions
AP, JAKARTA, INDONESIA
May 9: Indonesia said Monday it supported Iran's right to pursue
nuclear technology for peaceful means ahead of a visit to the country by President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
During his six-day stay in the world's most populous Muslim nation,
Ahmadinejad is expected to seek support for Iran's nuclear programme, and sign
multimillion-dollar energy deals with the government.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said late Monday that
Ahmadinejad would discuss the nuclear issue with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when
the two meet Wednesday.
"We want to hear for ourselves from Iran about their position on
the resolution being discussed at the United Nations," he said. "Our position is
that we support nuclear development for peaceful purposes, especially energy, but we
consistently object to nuclear weapons proliferation."
Violence in Iraq leaves 34 dead
AP, BAGHDAD, IRAQ
May 9: Violence killed at least 34 people including a US soldier as
efforts to finish choosing the new Cabinet bogged down Monday in a web of conflicting
interests.
The deadliest attack Monday occurred when a car bomb exploded near an
Iraqi court in central Baghdad, killing five Iraqi civilians and wounding 10, police Lt.
Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said.
Two Iraqi policemen died and 12 people were wounded when another car
bomb went off near a police patrol traveling down busy Palestine Street in eastern
Baghdad, police Lt. Ahmed Qassim said.
The American soldier was killed when a roadside bomb struck a military
convoy Monday southeast of Baghdad, according to a US statement. The command did not
specify the location, but Iraqi police reported a bombing damaged a US convoy between the
Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.
In a separate statement, the US command said one American soldier was
killed and another wounded during a clash Sunday near Tal Afar, 260 miles northwest of
Baghdad.
A new wrinkle in gifts for mom and dad
REUTERS, SEOUL
South Koreans traditionally used to say it with flowers or money, but
now more are showing love and respect to their parents by giving mom and dad coupons for
cosmetic surgery.
Local media has reported a boom in orders this year for botox
treatments, face lifts and hair transplants to mark Parents' Day Monday.
Cosmetic surgery clinics in Seoul said they have been booked solid for
weeks with appointments made by children for their parents.
Using surgery to ehance looks is common in South Korea, with few
stigmas attached to having procedures done to make eyes rounder, noses more shapely and
even calves slimmer.
Indian couple wed on phone amid sectarian clashes
REUTERS, AHMEDABAD, INDIA
An Indian couple exchanged wedding vows over the telephone after the
bridegroom could not make it to the ceremony due to Hindu-Muslim clashes in the bride's
city.
The long-distance marriage was solemnized Friday as a curfew and army
patrols in the western Indian city of Vadodara prevented 21-year-old Sufiyan Agarbatiwala
from reaching the bride's house there.
Vadodara, earlier known as Baroda, was rocked by sectarian strife this
week after city authorities demolished a Muslim shrine to widen a road. Six people were
killed and scores injured in the rioting.
Although the violence has since abated, curfews and tight security
remain in place.
UFOs caused by natural forces, not aliens
REUTERS, LONDON
Hopes -- or fears -- that the Earth has been visited by alien life
forms have been dismissed in an official report by British defense specialists.
The Ministry of Defense confirmed Sunday a secret study completed in
December 2000 had found no evidence that "flying saucers" or unidentified flying
objects were anything other than natural phenomena.
The 400-page report, released under freedom of information laws to an
academic from the northern city of Sheffield, concluded that meteors and unusual
atmospheric conditions could explain UFO sightings such as bright lights in the sky.
"No evidence exists to suggest that the phenomena seen are hostile
or under any type of control, other than that of natural physical forces," the report
said, according to extracts quoted by the BBC.
"Evidence suggests that meteors and their well-known effects, and
possibly some other less-known effects, are responsible for some unidentified aerial
phenomena.
"Considerable evidence exists to support the thesis that the
events are almost certainly attributable to physical, electrical and magnetic phenomena in
kthe atmosphere, mesosphere and ionosphere," it said.
A Ministry of Defense (MOD) spokesman said the full report,
"Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defense Region," would be published
on its Web site on May 15.
The ministry publishes annual lists of UFO sightings on its Web site,
which rank among its most viewed -- and bizarre -- pages.
In 2005 the ministry was asked under freedom of information laws for
details of its plans for "dealing with the arrival of extra-terrestrials."
An unnamed defense official replied: "While we remain open-minded,
to date the MOD knows of no evidence which substantiates the existence of these alleged
phenomena and therefore has no plans for dealing with such a situation."
Al-Qaida video purports to show attacks
AP, CAIRO, EGYPT
May 9: An alleged al-Qaida videotape broadcast Monday on Arab
television purported to show roadside bomb attacks on US and Afghan forces in a violent
Afghan region bordering Pakistan.
The video showed a militant preparing a mine for an attack. Sitting
next to him on a bench was a boy who appeared to be about 5 years old, holding a pistol,
with ammunition belts draped over his shoulders and his face covered by a headscarf. The
boy sat and watched as the man, also masked, wrapped a mine in transparent tape.
Judge acquits Zuma of rape
AP, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
May 9: A man who once seemed in line to be South Africa's next
president was acquitted of rape Monday in the country's most politically charged trial
since the end of apartheid.
Supporters erupted into boisterous celebrations, but former Deputy
President Jacob Zuma still faces trial in July on separate corruption charges -
accusations supporters say were part of a conspiracy against him - and his political
future was in question. Trial testimony riveted the nation, focused attention on its high
rate of rape and raised questions about Zuma's attitude toward women and whether
ultimately he had the judgment to govern. His testimony about having unprotected
consensual sex with an HIV-positive AIDS activist demonstrated an amazing ignorance about
HIV transmission by a man who once headed South Africa's campaign against the virus. It
also heightened questions about HIV prevention in a country with 6 million HIV-infected
people - the world's highest number. South Africa's president once questioned the link
between HIV and AIDS, and its health minister resisted attempts to introduce
anti-retroviral treatment, advocating instead the AIDS-fighting ability of garlic and the
African potato.
China for return of Gitmo men
AP, BEIJING
May 9: China on Tuesday demanded the return of five Chinese Muslims
released from the Guantanamo Bay detention Centre, denouncing a US decision to allow them
to seek asylum in Albania.
The United States allowed the five Chinese to go to the Balkan country
after concluding they posed no terrorist threat to the United States but might face
persecution if they returned to China. "These suspects should be sent to China as
soon as possible," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao. "The act by the
United States and Albania strongly violates international law," Liu said at a news
briefing. Liu claimed that the five Chinese, members of the country's Uighur minority, are
suspected of being members of a group accused of waging a violent separatist campaign in
the country's northwest.
9 students killed in Nepal accident
AP, KATMANDU, NEPAL
May 9: A school van plunged into a canal in eastern Nepal on Tuesday,
killing at least nine students and leaving several others missing, a police official said.
The van was carrying about two dozen students when it veered off a
bridge and plunged into the canal near Jhumka, a small town about 280 miles east of the
capital, Katmandu, a police official on the scene said by telephone, without giving his
name. The vehicle's steering system had apparently failed, the official said. Police and
army rescuers were searching the water for several missing students, he said. It was not
clear how many students survived and swam to safety. Such accidents are relatively common
in Nepal, where many roads and vehicles are poorly maintained.
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