News, Prophecy and other

[2nd Timothy]

I'm not going to lose any sleep over these other prophecies

I would tend to agree with you bro.   Certainly a bit skeptical myself, as I have been in the past about such supposed words of prophecy which never came to pass.   Either way, I'm with you..... Gods will be done whatever that may be!

[Shammu]

Insurers told to provide Medicare drugs: report
Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:22 AM ET10

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has told health insurers under contract to the new Medicare drug plan that they must provide a 30-day supply of any drug a beneficiary was previously taking after tens of thousands of people were unable to get medicines promised by Medicare, the New York Times reported on Monday.

In a directive sent to all Medicare drug plans over the weekend, the Bush administration also said insurers "must take immediate steps" to ensure that low-income beneficiaries were not charged more than $2 for a generic drug and $5 for a brand-name drug, according to the Times.

The actions came after several states declared public health emergencies, and many states announced that they would step in to pay for prescriptions that should have been covered by Medicare's new prescription drug program, which started on January 1, the Times said.

People who had signed up for coverage found that they were not on the government's list of subscribers and insurers said they had no way to identify poor people entitled to extra help with their drug costs, the paper reported.

Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told the Times that "several hundred thousand beneficiaries who switched plans" in December may have had difficulty filling prescriptions in the last two weeks.

Despite these problems, Medicare is now covering one million prescriptions a day, McClellan said. With the latest corrective actions, "all beneficiaries should be able to get their prescriptions filled," McClellan told the paper.

About 20 states, including California, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and all of New England, have announced that they will help low-income people by paying drug claims that should have been paid by the federal Medicare program, the Times said.

"The new federal program is too complicated for many people to understand, and the implementation of the new program by the federal government has been awful," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican. On Saturday, he signed an emergency executive order making the state a "payer of last resort" for the out-of-pocket drug costs, the Times reported.

Any of the 42 million Medicare beneficiaries can sign up for the new drug coverage. Federal officials say that a surge in enrollments occurred in late December. About 6.2 million low-income people who had drug coverage under Medicaid were automatically enrolled in Medicare drug plans, and some of them have switched to other Medicare plans, the Times said.

Insurers told to provide Medicare drugs: report

My note; I know I am paying $1 for a generic drug, and $3 for a brand-name drug.

[twobombs]

insert bomb here
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/01/15/PH2006011500348.html

In this image provided by the Institute for Science and International Security, this Jan. 2, 2006 satellite image of the Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Iran was released Friday, Jan. 13, 2006 by the Institute for Science and International Security. (AP Photo/Digital Globe - Institute for Science and International Security)   

[Shammu]

Security Council powers meet on Iran
Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:45 AM ET9

 By Mark Heinrich and Madeline Chambers

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and European Union were seeking Russian and Chinese support for robust diplomatic steps to curb Iran's nuclear program in talks among U.N. Security Council powers that began on Monday.

Iran's resumption of research that could advance a quest for civilian atomic energy or bombs has sparked a flurry of Western diplomacy in pursuit of a vote by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to refer Tehran to the Council for possible sanctions.

Moscow, with a $1 billion stake building Iran's first atomic reactor, and Beijing, reliant on Iranian oil for its surging economy, have so far thwarted such a move by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors.

But Russia has warned Iran it could lose Moscow's support unless it suspended the fuel research it resumed last week.

China, however, said resorting to the Security Council might "complicate the issue", citing Iran's threat to hit back by halting snap U.N. inspections of its atomic plants.

Russia and China are veto-wielding permanent members of the Council, along with the United States, Britain and France.

Diplomats said the London meeting of permanent Council members and Germany was aimed at reaching a consensus before an emergency IAEA board meeting the West wants next month.

"There's some confidence that Russia is increasingly leaning toward the EU3-U.S. position and will not block referral," said a diplomat with the EU trio of Germany, France and Britain that last week called off a moribund dialogue with Iran.

But he said China looked more difficult to win over.

"The crucial thing for us now is to gauge where Russia and China are on this matter," said another EU3 diplomat.

"It is a very fluid situation. Sanctions may be addressed briefly or in depth; it's hard to say at this stage."

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw suggested Iran could rethink its course merely by being put in Security Council hands and that sanctions -- unpalatable to many industrialized states that import Iranian oil and gas -- might not prove necessary.

"The fact that Iran is so concerned not to see the matter referred ... I think underlines the strength of the authority of that body," Straw said at a London conference on terrorism.

WEST SEEKS EMERGENCY IAEA MEETING

If the Western powers find Russia and China ready to back referral, Monday's talks could yield a date for an IAEA board meeting well ahead of its next scheduled session on March 6.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph, who oversees arms-control issues, was in Vienna for talks with IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei and other diplomats, a U.S. spokesman said.

Iran says it seeks atomic energy only to power its economy -- the IAEA has unearthed no proof to the contrary -- within its rights as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But Iran's concealment of nuclear activities for almost 20 years until it was exposed by dissident exiles in 2002, a spotty record of cooperation with the IAEA since, and calls for wiping out Israel have fired Western resolve to rein it in.

ElBaradei told Newsweek magazine that it was not impossible the Islamic republic had a secret nuclear arms program.

"If they have the nuclear material and they have a parallel weaponization program along the way, they are really not very far -- a few months -- from a weapon," he said.

"We still need to assure ourselves through access to documents, individuals (and) locations that we have seen all that we ought to see and that there is nothing fishy, if you like, about the program," ElBaradei added.

Western officials say Iran crossed the "red line" last week by stripping IAEA seals from equipment that purifies uranium, used for nuclear fuel, or if highly enriched, for bombs.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington wanted the IAEA board to meet soon rather than wait until March, to deny Iran time to "obfuscate" further on the nuclear issue.

"There is some work to do because you would like there to be a strong consensus for a vote," she said during an Africa trip.

But OPEC giant Iran noted that any crackdown could drive up world oil prices, which would batter industrialized economies.

Iran is the world's fourth largest exporter of crude oil.

Tehran also said only diplomacy, not threats of Security Council referral, could defuse its standoff with the West.

Many Iranians favor acquiring a full nuclear fuel industry to be taken seriously as a Middle East power and deter what they see as threats of U.S. and Israeli attack. Washington calls Iran a major orchestrator of terrorism, something Tehran denies.

Security Council powers meet on Iran

[Shammu]

Big Security Council Members Agree on Iran

By BETH GARDINER, Associated Press Writer 31 minutes ago

LONDON - Powerful members of the U.N. Security Council agreed Monday that Iran must fully suspend its nuclear program, Britain's Foreign Office said following a meeting aimed at forging a common response to Tehran's decision to resume uranium enrichment activities.

Diplomats also announced plans to call for an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency board of directors on Feb. 2-3 to discuss what action to take against Tehran for removing some U.N. seals from its main uranium enrichment facility in Natanz last week.

The Foreign Office said all five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China — and Germany had shown "serious concern over Iranian moves to restart uranium enrichment activities."

They agreed on the need for Iran to "return to full suspension," according to a statement.

Big Security Council Members Agree on Iran

[Shammu]

The Times     January 16, 2006

Scientists journey towards centre of the Earth to seek out origins of life
From Leo Lewis in Kochi Shinko
THE world’s most technologically advanced exploration ship sails today on a mission that may reveal the origin of life on Earth.

The Japanese ship Chikyu intends to drill seven kilometres (4.3 miles) below the sea bed — more than three times deeper than has been done before. It will then raise to the surface a cylinder 1.5m (5ft) long and 15cm wide which could contain science’s first glimpse of a “living” sample of the Earth’s mantle.

“The 20th century was all about the origin of matter and the universe, so it seemed useful to go to space and the Moon,” the project’s director general, Asahiko Taira, told The Times. “There were extraordinary advances and we learnt about atoms and the Big Bang. The 21st century is about the fundamental question of where life comes from.”

The ship will also be conducting research into the origin of earthquakes. By sinking sensors beneath the Earth’s crust scientists aboard the Chikyu want to provide Japan and East Asia with the first effective earthquake prediction system.

The theory behind the life sciences side of the research is that life may have originated beneath the Earth’s crust at temperatures and pressures unknown on land or sea. The energy that provoked the first semblance of life may also have been geothermal rather than solar.

Samples of mantle that have been pushed to the Earth’s surface over thousands of years have been studied by scientists but nobody has ever seen a “living” slice or had the opportunity to see whatever micro-organisms may be living there.

“This planet is home and we know so little about what is going on just a relatively little distance below our feet. If the secret of life exists to be seen, it is in the deep somewhere,” Dr Taira said.

After completing the training missions that begin today, the ship, which cost about £350 million to build and will cost another £50 million for every year it is drilling, will head to the Nankai Trough, 200 kilometres off the coast of Nagoya, where the sea-bed is 2.5 kilometres below the surface.

The mission of discovery is not restricted to biology. Physical samples of the mantle are also expected to deliver a rich trove of seismological, volcanic, geological, environmental and climatological information. The reason the Japanese project offers the prospect of such important scientific discoveries is not depth alone.

The now-abandoned Russian Kola Well bored nearly 12 kilometres into the Earth, but contributed virtually nothing to science because its entire depth was all in the crust. The Japanese project will be the first to reach the entirely unsurveyed environment of the mantle — the next layer of depth within the Earth — and will do so by exploiting that the Japanese archipelago lies near to a site where main tectonic plates overlap, making it an area where the Earth’s crust is thinner.

By boring beneath the seabed the scientists will take advantage that the Mohorovicic Discontinuity (the point where the crust officially becomes the mantle) is nearer than it is on land.

Although the international project has the financial and scientific involvement of the US, South Korea, several European countries and China, it is led by the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology and is heavily funded by the Japanese taxpayer. The cost can be justified because of what the Chikyu may find about the origins of earthquakes.

By drilling to record-breaking depths below areas where tectonic plates overlap, the ship may have its sensors in place as an earthquake begins and significantly advance the science of seismology.

Other areas of research include using deep rock samples to construct a better picture of Earth’s environmental history, particularly in the areas under ice caps, which may offer clues to the baffling question of why the polarity of the planet’s magnetic field has repeatedly switched.

The project’s chief engineer, Kiyotaka Yamamoto, said: “We will be drilling at possible temperatures of 200C (392F), pressures at which we make industrial diamonds and through rock that even the oil industry has never scratched. Of course there will be failures before we get down there, but this is Japan’s Apollo mission.”

A DRILL TOO FAR
# In 1957 the American scientist Walter Munk proposed drilling through to the Earth’s mantle to find out more about the Earth’s origins

# Drilling began in March 1961 off the coast of Guadalupe in Mexico, using a former oil drillship. Five holes were drilled in the sea bed 3,500m below sea level, the deepest reaching 183m into the crust

# The second phase of the project, which would have continued drilling towards the mantle, was abandoned by Congress as too expensive

Scientists journey towards centre of the Earth

[Shammu]

Iran Sets Aside $215M for Nuclear Plants

Mon Jan 16, 8:15 AM ET

TEHRAN, Iran -
Iran has allocated the equivalent of $215 million for the construction of what would be its second and third nuclear power plants, state radio reported Monday.

The report did not give the location of the new reactors, but last month Iran said it planned to build new plants in the southern Iranian provinces of Khuzestan and Bushehr.

Iran's first reactor has been built at Bushehr with Russian assistance.

"Some 1,940 billion rials have been allocated for the building of two nuclear power plants in the draft budget bill for the next Iranian year," the head of Iran's Management and Planning Organization, Farhad Rahbar, told Tehran radio. The U.S. dollar trades at about 9,000 rials on the open market, and the Iranian new year begins March 21.

Iran plans to build 20 more nuclear plants, and Russia has offered to build some of them.

Iran is under increasing international pressure over its nuclear program as it insists on controlling the whole fuel cycle — from mining uranium to enriching it to the point where it can be used in reactors. The West objects to Iran's enriching uranium as the process can be used to produce material for nuclear bombs.

The United States accuses Iran of trying secretly to build nuclear weapons — a charge Iran denies. Britain, France and Germany, with U.S. backing, have been trying to persuade Iran to import nuclear fuel, but Iran has rejected this.

Iran Sets Aside $215M for Nuclear Plants

[Shammu]

India upset by Iranian nuclear official's comments

19 minutes ago

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India expressed "regret" over comments made by Iran's top nuclear negotiator that New Delhi received preferential international treatment on nuclear proliferation issues.

"We have seen comments made by Ali Larijani regarding India in a recent interview. We regret this reference to India," said a statement released by the Indian foreign ministry on Monday.

"India is a responsible nuclear weapon state and has always been in compliance with its obligations under international treaties and agreements."

On January 12, CNN aired an interview with Larijani, in which the official asserted Iran's right to pursue peaceful nuclear activities and noted that the country submits to international inspections while several nations that already possess nuclear weapons do not.

"Countries that produce nuclear weapons are neither members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nor signatories to the (nuclear) Non-Proliferation Treaty," Larijani said, according to a report published on the web site of the English-language Tehran Times newspaper.

"Iran is an IAEA member and an NPT signatory and its nuclear activities are constantly monitored."

According to Indian foreign ministry notes, Larijani made a specific reference to India at the end of the interview.

"Americans say (to Iran) 'we doubt and we suspect your intentions, you may in future develop nuclear weapons,' while IAEA reports say that Iran is 10 years away from being capable of developing weapons," Larijani reportedly said.

"But compare that to India, it does have nuclear weapons but they have extensive relations in the nuclear field. This dual standard is detrimental to international security."

India entered into an unprecedented agreement last year with the United States that would give it access to advanced civilian nuclear technology.

Critics of the deal, noting that India tested atomic weapons in 1998 and has refused to sign the NPT, say the deal will send the wrong message on nonproliferation to other nations.

In the wake of the agreement, India has appeared to fall in line with western efforts to restrict Iran's nuclear program.

In September, India voted in favour of a resolution at the IAEA drafted by Britain, Germany and France, sometimes called the EU-3, to refer Iran's nuclear program to the United Nations Security Council.

India's vote in favour of the motion raised fears domestically that Iran would retaliate by cooling ties that have become closer in the last 10 years.

Iran and India signed a strategic partnership deal in 2003 and are cooperating, along with Pakistan, on a multi-billion dollar natural gas pipeline from Iran. The two countries also have an agreement under which Iran would ship five million tons of LNG a year to India starting in 2009.

The Indian response to Larijani's remarks came as the EU-3, the United States, Russia and China met in London to discuss future action on Iran's nuclear program.

Britain, France and Germany joined the United States in calling for the IAEA to refer Iran to the Security Council -- a move that could potentially lead to sanctions.

India upset by Iranian nuclear official's comments

[Soldier4Christ]

Scientists journey towards centre of the Earth to seek out origins of life

Thats not what their gonna find there.

These scientists just don't give up. First space dust to find the "origins of life" and now this. They just keep looking in the wrong direction.

[Shammu]

Musharraf to address nation amid storm over airstrike
Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:48 AM ET

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf will address the nation on state television at 8.00 pm (1500 GMT) on Tuesday, officials said, with a storm of protest still to die down over last week's U.S. airstrike on Pakistani territory.

So far the president has made little comment on the furor caused by the attack, said to have been conducted by CIA-operated Predator drone aircraft, that killed at least 18 people in a village close to the Afghan border last Friday.

Officials would not say what Musharraf's address would focus on, though Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has also scheduled a news conference two hours before the president is due to speak.

Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, has already lodged a protest with U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker over the attack and loss of life.

There have been nationwide protests, although few have been sizable by Pakistani standards.

Parliament is expected to debate the issue, and both the Islamist opposition and pro-government parties have spoken out against the U.S. action.

U.S. intelligence officials say orders for the air strike were given based on information that al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri had been in Dalamoda village, in Bajaur tribal agency.

Pakistani officials say Osama bin Laden's deputy was not there.

While U.S. officials privately accept that chances of Zawahri being among the dead have dwindled they are clinging to hopes that the attack eliminated other leading figures in al Qaeda.

Musharraf to address nation amid storm over airstrike

[nChrist]

insert bomb here
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/01/15/PH2006011500348.html

In this image provided by the Institute for Science and International Security, this Jan. 2, 2006 satellite image of the Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Iran was released Friday, Jan. 13, 2006 by the Institute for Science and International Security. (AP Photo/Digital Globe - Institute for Science and International Security)   

Hello TwoBombs,

Brother, how are you doing?

Thanks for the link. I find it fascinating that the mainstream news media is so wimpy about telling the truth about what's going on in Iran. It's like most of the world playing a game and talking about what Iran doesn't have, all the while knowing that Iran does, in fact, have it. It sounds like "play along with the lies" to keep everyone happy and just forget it. After all, telling the blunt truth would cause considerable political trouble for several major players.

Well, I don't think that the world has much choice with Iran except to acknowledge the truth and know that Iran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. The absolute facts are very simple: Iran must be and will be stopped. Iran will never have nuclear weapons, regardless of how big the mouth is on their president. That guy isn't mature enough for a pea-shooter. The choices are really very simple:  1) Stop Iran right NOW! before a lot of innocent people are killed;  2) Stop Iran after a lot of innocent people are killed. I don't see a third choice.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Galatians 6:9-10 NASB  Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

[Shammu]

Ford hospitalized with pneumonia
Former president being treated with intravenous antibiotics

Tuesday, January 17, 2006; Posted: 5:33 a.m. EST (10:33 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Former President Ford is being treated for pneumonia, two days after being admitted to a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, his office said Monday.

"He is doing well and resting comfortably," said Penny Circle, Ford's chief of staff.

The 92-year-old former president was admitted to Eisenhower Medical Center on Saturday and has been receiving intravenous antibiotics, Circle said.

Ford was hospitalized briefly in December for unspecified tests, but his spokeswoman said at the time that the former president was in good health for his age.

He also was hospitalized in 2003 after suffering a dizzy spell while playing golf in 96-degree heat. He also suffered a mild stroke during the 2000 Republican National Convention.

Ford became the 38th president of the United States in August 1974, when the Watergate scandal forced Richard Nixon to resign.

Ford had become vice president in October 1973 when Nixon's original vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned and pleaded no contest to bribery, conspiracy and extortion charges.

Ford sought the presidency in his own right in 1976, but lost to former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter.

Ford had assumed the Oval Office with the words: "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over," and then made pardoning Nixon one of his first acts. Many people say that doomed his 1976 campaign and handed the presidency to Carter, who served one term as president.

Ford said that he pardoned Nixon solely because the cloud of drawn-out impeachment proceedings would have prevented the country from tending to more important business, but the voters disagreed, and Carter defeated Ford in his only attempt to become an elected president.

Before taking the country's helm, Ford was a gifted athlete and played for two national championship football teams at the University of Michigan in 1932 and 1933.

He was offered spots on two professional teams -- the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers -- but instead took a position as a boxing and football coach at Yale University, where he was admitted to law school in 1938.

Ford joined the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1942, and had a brush with death during World War II, when he was almost swept overboard during a typhoon in the Philippine Sea in 1944.

After Ford's discharge as a lieutenant commander in 1946, his stepfather, a Republican leader, encouraged him to take on GOP Rep. Bartel Jonkman for the nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives. He won the nomination and later the general election and took congressional office in 1948.

He proved popular with his constituents, who re-elected him 12 times between 1949 and 1973, each time by a margin of more than 60 percent.

His inclusion among the Young Turks -- a group of young, progressive House Republicans who wanted to oust the older GOP leadership -- propelled him to top House positions and earned him a spot on the Warren Commission, charged with investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Ford is the last living member of the Warren Commission.

Ford hospitalized with pneumonia

[Shammu]

“Alien” Embryo Removed From 35-Year-Old Man’s Back

Created: 16.01.2006 16:09 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:09 MSK

MosNews

Click Here!

A 35-year-old tractor operator, Igor Namyatov, has undergone surgery to be relieved of what had initially been diagnosed as a tumor, but turned out to be the embryo of his unborn twin brother, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported Monday.

Doctors said the embryo belonged to Namyatov’s unborn brother who had spent 35 years in the body of the patient.

Namyatov’s fellow villagers doubted the explanation given by the doctors. Some even surmised the object removed from Namyatov’s body was an extraterrestrial organism. “It is a pity they have removed it. They should have waited to see what would become of it later on. That would have been a great scientific find,” one of the villagers said.

The “little brother” first made himself known when Igor was 15. At that time the boy complained about pains in his back, but doctors played down his complaints saying it was only a harmless fatty tumor.

Twenty years later the pains came back. The doctors decided to operate at once. They were genuinely surprised to see that the tumor was in fact an embryo with little legs and hands.

A forensic expert summoned to the village to investigate refused to probe the incident saying it was clear anyway that the object was an underdeveloped embryo.

Igor Namyatov refused to leave the embryo at the hospital for further research.

“Alien” Embryo Removed From 35-Year-Old Man’s Back

My note; I would file this under, wierd and wacky news.

[Shammu]

Iran plea for more nuclear talks gets cool response
Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:45 PM ET163

 By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran urged the European Union on Tuesday to resume talks on its nuclear dispute with the West, drawing a chilly response from Britain and Russia.

A senior British official dismissed as "vacuous" the Iranian offer, contained in a letter from Javad Vaeedi, deputy head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tehran should first restore the basis for negotiations by halting the nuclear fuel research it resumed last week in defiance of world powers.

"Talks presuppose an obligation. The Iranian obligation was to stick to the moratorium," Lavrov said. "Now Iran (has departed from) the moratorium on scientific research."

Britain, France and Germany called off the talks last week after Tehran removed U.N. seals on uranium enrichment equipment, deepening Western suspicions that it is seeking nuclear arms.

Washington and its EU allies say it is time the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency sent Iran's case to the U.N. Security Council, which could eventually decide to impose sanctions on Iran.

China has demurred, saying it would like talks between Iran and the EU trio to resume, but has not said it will try to block any move to report Iran to the Council.

Russia, while sharing China's opposition to U.N. sanctions on Iran, has moved closer to the West's view on referral.

An Iranian source in Vienna said Iran had written to the EU trio proposing that talks restart immediately and saying Tehran was ready to "remove existing ambiguities regarding its peaceful nuclear program through talks and negotiations".

The senior British official dismissed the offer, saying: "That is vacuous because the Iranians have created the conditions to make (further talks) impossible."

Despite Tehran's call for talks, an Iranian official said the decision to resume nuclear fuel research was "irreversible".

Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iranian representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also told the students news agency ISNA that he would meet the agency's chief Mohamed ElBaradei later on Tuesday to discuss Iran's plans.

An IAEA spokesman could not confirm a meeting was planned.

Soltaniyeh reiterated Iran's threat to halt snap IAEA checks on its nuclear sites if its case goes to the Security Council.

The senior British official said referral to the Council would not automatically lead to punitive measures.

"We don't see this leading straight into sanctions," the official told reporters under condition he not be named. "We want to build gradual, sustained pressure over time."

Lavrov also said talk of sanctions was premature.

"The question of sanctions against Iran puts the cart before the horse. Sanctions are in no way the best, or the only, way to solve the problem," he told a news briefing.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Beijing favored diplomacy, urging all parties to "keep patient and make utmost efforts to resume the negotiations between the EU3 and Iran".

Germany earlier said Council members remained at odds on the Iranian nuclear issue after Monday's talks in London among the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

However, participants did agree to call an emergency meeting of the IAEA board on February 2 to discuss referral.

Iran's letter also said it wanted to pursue scheduled talks with Russia over Moscow's proposal to enrich uranium for Iran in a joint venture to prevent any diversion for military use.

"Iran believes that negotiations with Russia will continue seriously and constructively, and as planned, they will be on February 16 in Moscow," the source quoted the letter as saying.

Lavrov said Russia's offer remained on the table. Tehran has sent mixed signals on the idea, which has EU and U.S. support.

The senior British official said he did not believe Iran was seriously considering the plan. "Iran is playing with the Russia proposal for tactical reasons," he said.

German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said Iran must keep its promises if it wanted more talks with the EU3.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, who plans to go to Moscow to discuss Iran on Wednesday, said his country would try to maintain international unity on the issue.

"At stake is the credibility of the agency (IAEA), the credibility of the multilateral system of non-proliferation and especially the stability of the region," he told parliament.

Any Security Council action would need the consent of its five permanent members, including Russia and China, both wary of jeopardizing their major economic interests in Iran.

Iran is a key oil supplier for China. Russia has a $1 billion stake in building Iran's first atomic reactor.
Iran plea for more nuclear talks gets cool response

[Shammu]

Court rules govt. can't stop Oregon suicide law
Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:24 PM ET162

 By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration overstepped its authority when it barred doctors from helping terminally ill patients die in the only state that allows physician-assisted suicide, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

In a stinging defeat for the administration, the high court ruled by a 6-3 vote that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft wrongly interpreted a federal law in 2001 to bar distribution of controlled drugs to assist suicides, disregarding the Oregon law authorizing it.

"It is difficult to defend the attorney general's declaration that the statute impliedly criminalizes physician-assisted suicide," Justice Anthony Kennedy said for the court majority.

The court's most conservative members -- Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and new Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed by President George W. Bush -- dissented. Roberts, in his first dissent, did not write an opinion.

The Oregon law, called the Death with Dignity Act, was twice approved by the state's voters. The only state law in the nation allowing doctor-assisted suicide, it has been used by more than 200 people since it took effect in 1997.

Under Oregon law, terminally ill patients who want to end their lives with a physician's help must get a certification from two doctors stating they are of sound mind and have fewer than six months to live. A prescription for lethal drugs is then written by the doctor, and the patients administer the drugs themselves.

Ashcroft's directive declared that assisting suicide was not "a legitimate medical purpose" under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 and that prescribing federally controlled drugs for that purpose was against the federal law.

Oregon challenged Ashcroft's directive, and the Supreme Court's ruling marked the third time the administration has lost, following similar defeats before a federal judge and a U.S. appeals court.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the U.S. Justice Department was reviewing the ruling.

WHITE HOUSE DISAPPOINTED

"We are disappointed at the decision. The president remains fully committed to building a culture of life ... that is built on valuing life at all stages," McClellan said.

Both sides predicted the decision likely will lead to more states adopting assisted suicide laws. Lawmakers sponsoring a similar law in California said the ruling gave them a major boost.

Supporters of the state law, including Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, praised the ruling. He vowed to fight any congressional attempts to overturn the decision.

"The court's decision has stopped, for now, the administration's attempts to wrest control of decisions rightfully left to the states and individuals," Wyden said.

Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death with Dignity National Center, called the ruling "a historic milestone that will protect the people's rights as patients."

Ashcroft reversed the policy adopted by his predecessor Janet Reno, who was attorney general during the Clinton administration. Conservative lawmakers and groups had opposed Reno's decision.

Kennedy, joined by another moderate conservative, retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and the court's four most liberal members, said the authority claimed by Ashcroft was "both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design."

He said in the 28-page opinion that federal law regulated medical practice only to bar doctors from using their prescription-writing powers as a way to engage in illicit drug dealing and trafficking.

Scalia said in his dissent that he would uphold the administration's position. "If the term 'legitimate medical purpose' has any meaning, it surely excludes the prescription of drugs to produce death," he said.

Court rules govt. can't stop Oregon suicide law