News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Bush Says He Declassified Pre-War Intel

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Monday that he declassified sensitive prewar intelligence on Iraq back in 2003 to counter critics who claimed the administration had exaggerated the nuclear threat posed by
Saddam Hussein.

"I wanted people to see the truth and thought it made sense for people to see the truth," Bush said during an appearance at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

"You're not supposed to talk about classified information, and so I declassified the document," he said in a question-and-answer session after delivering a speech on Iraq. "I thought it was important for people to get a better sense for why I was saying what I was saying in my speeches. And I felt I could do so without jeopardizing ongoing intelligence matters, and so I did."

It was Bush's first comment since more detail about the release of a prewar intelligence document surfaced last week in a court filing by U.S. prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

In the filing, Fitzgerald wrote that Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, told a grand jury that Bush authorized him, through Cheney, to leak information from a classified document that detailed intelligence agencies' conclusions about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

A lawyer knowledgeable about the case said Saturday that Bush declassified sensitive intelligence in 2003 and authorized it to be publicly disclosed to rebut Iraq war critics. But the lawyer said Bush did not specifically direct Libby to disseminate information about prewar intelligence to reporters.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sent a letter to Bush on Monday asking him for details about how the document was declassified. "There are many questions that the president must answer so that the American people can understand that this declassification was done for national security purposes, not for immediate political gain."

Bush's decision in July 2003 to disclose sensitive prewar intelligence assessments came amid a growing public realization that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. The failure to find such weapons undermined a chief rationale Bush and Cheney used for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

On Sunday, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Bush and Cheney should speak publicly about the CIA leak case so people can make their own judgments about what happened. But Bush said he can't talk about an ongoing legal proceeding.

"You're just going to have to let Mr. Fitzgerald complete his case," Bush said. "And I hope you understand that. It's a serious legal matter that we've got to be careful in making public statements about it."

Libby faces charges of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI regarding the disclosure that Valerie Plame, the wife of war critic Joseph Wilson, worked for the CIA. Libby is accused of making false statements about how he learned of her CIA employment and what he told reporters about her.

Plame's CIA employment was disclosed by conservative columnist Robert Novak eight days after her husband, Wilson, accused the Bush administration of manipulating prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction.

Bush Says He Declassified Pre-War Intel

[Shammu]

Huge Crowds March for Immigration Rights

By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Hundreds of thousands of people demanding U.S. citizenship for illegal immigrants took to the streets in dozens of cities from New York to San Diego on Monday in some of the most widespread demonstrations since the mass protests began around the country last month.

Rallies took place in communities of all sizes, from a gathering of at least 50,000 people in Atlanta to one involving 3,000 people in the farming town of Garden City, Kan., which has fewer than 30,000 residents.

Demonstrators in New York City held signs with slogans such as "We Are America," "Immigrant Values are Family Values," and "Legalize Don't Criminalize." One sign said: "Bush Step Down."

"We love this country. This country gives to us everything," said Florentino Cruz, 32, an illegal worker from Mexico who has been in the United States since 1992. "This country was made by immigrants."

The protesters have been urging lawmakers to help an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants settle legally in the United States. A bill passed by the House would crack down on illegal immigrants and strengthen the nation's border with Mexico. A broader overhaul of immigration law stalled in the Senate last week.

Monday's demonstrations followed a weekend of rallies in 10 states that drew up to 500,000 people in Dallas and tens of thousands elsewhere. Dozens of other rallies, many organized by Spanish-language radio DJ's, have been held nationwide over the past two weeks, including one with more than 500,000 people in Los Angeles.

In the nation's capital, thousands of immigrants, their families and supporters marched Monday from Hispanic neighborhoods past the White House, then converged on the National Mall.

In North Carolina and Dallas, immigrant groups called for an economic boycott to show their financial impact. In Pittsburgh and other cities, protesters gathered outside lawmakers' offices. At the Mississippi Capitol, they sang "We Shall Overcome" in Spanish.

In Atlanta, many in white T-shirts, waving American flags, joined a two-mile march from a largely immigrant neighborhood.

The Rev. James Orange from the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda compared the march to civil rights demonstrations led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and farm-labor organizer Cesar Chavez.

"People of the world, we have come to say this is our moment," Orange said.

In New Jersey — with the Statute of Liberty in the background — several hundred people listened to speeches in Spanish and waved U.S., Colombian and Mexican flags.

Thick crowds gathered in New York's Washington Square Park before marching to City Hall. Many waved flags, both American and of countries of their origin. Korean-Americans beat drums nearby. Another group marched from Chinatown, and a third demonstration took place in Brooklyn.

Police declined to estimate the size of the crowds, but organizers said 125,000 people were present at City Hall.

One of the Korean drummers, Grace Nam, 35, who is an American citizen, said: "We just need to make our voices heard. You want to live in a place where people are treated with dignity."

Peter Lanteri, director of New York's chapter of the Minutemen, a volunteer border watch group, said he thought it was "ridiculous" that illegal immigrants were protesting for their rights.

"Illegal is illegal, and they break our laws to come here," Lanteri said by telephone. "We want the illegal immigration stopped and the borders secured."

Supporters in San Diego held a ceremony to honor immigrants who died while illegally crossing the border.

In Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony led a prayer calling on Congress to hear their pleas, before the crowd, estimated by police at 3,500, began an evening march. Thousands of other protesters also gathered in Fresno, San Francisco, Oakland and Sacramento.

In Phoenix, police and organizers estimated that about 100,000 people marched from the state fairgrounds to the Capitol for a rally. Exit ramps were closed and traffic on freeways through downtown was backed up for miles. At one point, the crowd stretched more than two miles.

In Houston, event organizers estimated that 50,000 people gathered at a park in a largely Hispanic area of town as they rallied to march toward the spot where the city's founders first arrived.

At least 2,000 people gathered in front of the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Mo., according to rough estimates from organizers.

Maria Santiago, 53, an outreach coordinator for nonprofit health clinic in Harrisburg, Pa., said she sees many illegal immigrants seeking access to health care.

"These are people that are willing to take any job, clean bathrooms, scrub floors for a measly penny so that they have an opportunity to live in this country ... and yet we want to send them back because they want a better life?" Santiago said.

Huge Crowds March for Immigration Rights

[Shammu]

EU Snubs Belarus President Over Election

By ROBERT WIELAARD, Associated Press Writer Mon Apr 10, 4:11 PM ET

LUXEMBOURG - The European Union told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday that he was unwelcome in the 25-nation bloc after his re-election last month in a vote observers said was rigged.

It also imposed a visa ban on 30 other top officials in Belarus seen as having a hand in the government's election campaign crackdown on the opposition and its supporters.

Officials said further measures may follow, including more visa bans and a freeze on assets belonging to Lukashenko and other Belarus officials.

Belarus said it would place a visa ban of its own on EU and U.S. officials. In a statement, the foreign ministry in Minsk, the Belarus capital, called EU and U.S. criticism of Lukashenko "uncivilized ... shortsighted and ineffective." It did not say which officials would be banned.

The visa ban marked the first time the EU has prohibited the head of state of a neighboring nation from visiting the union. It has taken the same steps against the leaders of Zimbabwe and Myanmar.

The EU foreign ministers, in a statement after a meeting, urged Lukashenko "not to penalize or discriminate against those exercising their right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, including the leaders of the opposition parties."

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, who chaired the meeting, said the EU "demanded the immediate release and full rehabilitation of all political detainees, as well as respect for democratic rights."

She said the EU also agreed to sponsor independent media broadcasts into Belarus from neighboring nations such as EU member Poland to offset Lukashenko propaganda.

The EU said Lukashenko and the other 30 officials are "responsible for the violations of international electoral standards and international human rights law, as well as for the crackdown on civil society and democratic opposition."

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said the move "sends a strong message" that the EU is targeting the Belarus leadership, not its people.

"We want to keep the people of Belarus on our side, so we will try to cultivate relations with people of the opposition," he told reporters.

Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Swoboda said he wanted more Belarus officials on the list.

"I am not completely satisfied because the list should be bigger," Swoboda said. "We want to ask the (Belarus) opposition to ask for an assessment" of the list.

Swoboda said the EU ban should have included more officials from the state TV and radio broadcaster, which ensures there are no opposition media broadcasts.

Besides Lukashenko, the list included his ministers of justice, information and education, the chair of the Belarus lower house of parliament, the chair and his deputy of the Belarus state security service, eight election commission officials, the head of the state broadcaster and three judges.

Lukashenko won 83 percent of the vote and a third consecutive term according to the official results of last month's elections, declared by the EU and the United States to be undemocratic and fraudulent.

Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich won 6.1 percent of the vote. Milinkevich, who held talks with EU lawmakers last week, had called for hundreds of officials to be included on the visa blacklist.

Still, he praised the EU visa ban and said he hoped it will encourage Russia to drop its support for Lukashenko's government, which he said would collapse without Moscow's backing.

EU Snubs Belarus President Over Election

[Shammu]

 U.S. Says Venezuela Complicit in Attack

By GEORGE GEDDA
ASSOCIATED PRESS


WASHINGTON (AP) -

0407dv-ambassador-attacked The State Department accused Caracas city officials of complicity Friday in an attack on the car of U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield in the Venezuelan capital.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns summoned Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez to the State Department and told him that Venezuela was in violation of an international treaty that requires the host countries to ensure the safety of foreign diplomats, department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The incident "clearly was condoned by the local government," McCormack said.
Pro-government activists bombarded Brownfield's car with fruit and vegetables and a group of motorcyclists chased the convoy, at times pummeling the vehicles with their fists.

<SNIP>

more....... U.S. Says Venezuela Complicit in Attack

[Shammu]

Iran hints at nuclear milestone

Monday 10 April 2006, 18:49 Makka Time, 15:49 GMT 

Iran's president has promised "good news" within days about the country's nuclear programme and a newspaper said he might announce uranium enrichment to a level used in power plants.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in the northeastern city of Mashad, where newspapers said he would spend five days, said: "I will give you, the Iranian nation, good nuclear news during the time I am [here]."
   
His comments echoed remarks by other officials suggesting the imminent announcement of progress in Iran's nuclear programme, which the West fears is a cover to develop atomic weapons.
   
The daily Jomhuri-ye Eslami newpaper wrote: "It was said the good news is related to Iran's achievement of uranium enrichment at 3.5% and creating a laboratory platform that will register Iran in the club of nuclear fuel countries."
   
It gave no source or further details.
   
Uranium enriched to a low level can be used as fuel to generate electricity. Fuel for use in Iran's only nuclear plant now under construction would need to be enriched to 3.5%. Uranium must be enriched to far higher levels for bomb-making.

Iran has always insisted its enrichment of uranium is for civilian use only.

Iran hints at nuclear milestone

[Shammu]

San Francisco may be world's gayest city: report
 Email this Story

Apr 7, 7:30 PM (ET)

By Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - New statistics suggest San Francisco has the highest percentage of gay men among major cities in the world, with a quarter of them HIV-positive, a top city health official said on Friday.

"Despite an overall loss in the population in San Francisco in the last five years, we think there has been an absolute gain in gay men," William McFarland, head of HIV/AIDS statistics at San Francisco's Department of Public Health, said in an interview. "From all the data I have seen ... it's the gayest city in the world."

McFarland has compiled the city's first survey in five years on gay men and HIV to be presented at a meeting next week to discuss HIV/AIDS prevention.

He said it found an estimated 63,577 gay males aged 15 and above in San Francisco, a city with a total population of 764,000. That figure represents nearly one in five of the city's males above the age of 15.

0ne out of every four gay males -- 25.8 percent -- is infected with the HIV virus, giving San Francisco an estimated total of 16,401 HIV-positive men, said McFarland, an epidemiologist who has also worked on studies in Uganda, Zimbabwe and Egypt.

The survey indicates that the overall percentage of those living with HIV has dropped since the last study five years ago.

"The major changes since 2001 are that, first of all, the gay community has grown. It's largely been an influx of more HIV-negative gay men that are here," he said. "It used to be near 30 percent.

"The absolute number of gay men living with HIV has crept up partly because of ongoing transmission and partly because of improved survival with treatment," he added.

At 40 percent, Baltimore has the highest percentage of HIV-positive men among its population in a study of five cities, with San Francisco second, according to a 2005 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

In coming up with his estimate of the number of gay men, McFarland said he took the middle point of nine previous studies.

McFarland acknowledged that it was difficult to get a precise number because of sensitivities over the issue. But he said San Francisco residents were likely to be more open about their sexuality than people in many other areas.

San Francisco may be world's gayest city: report

[Soldier4Christ]

Church forced to close by mob

Despite constitutional guarantees, Indonesia law could ban Christian fellowship


Hundreds of radical Muslims who converged on a church filled with Christian worshippers in West Java on March 26, causing distress to many with their hostile demonstration, were convinced to disband only after police were called and the pastor of nine years agreed to close the church and cease all its Christian activities, reports the Voice of the Martyrs, a leading monitor of Christian persecution.

According to the report, a mob numbering around 200 came to the Church of Pentecost in Gunung Putri, Indonesia, during the Sunday morning service to protest the property being "misused" as a church building. The five-hour demonstration became so hostile, some of the women among the 190 congregants began crying hysterically.

Pastor Daniel Fekky was told by representatives of the Muslim mob, in a meeting arranged by police, the church would have to be closed based on a pending revision of the 1969 Joint Ministerial Decree (SKB) which dealt with church buildings and government approval. The pastor was able to get the mob to leave only by agreeing to shut the doors to his church.

The revision, announced by the Religious Affairs Minister and the Home Minister, will need the signature of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before coming into effect.

The revised regulations set three conditions before a church building can be built or a congregation legally established:

   1. Proof of at least 90 existing members with official ID cards
   2. Signatures from 60 neighbors of different faiths approving of the establishment of the new Christian congregation
   3. Approval from local authorities

Indonesian Christians say the new law will make it more difficult to open new churches, especially in rural, predominantly Muslim areas. They also point to already-established churches which have tried for years to get government approval, without success.

Article 29(b) of the Indonesian constitution guarantees Indonesian citizens the freedom to choose their own religion and to worship according to the dictates of that religion.

Pastor Daniel has led his church's services for nine years, but the residents of Gunung Putri and the local government did not protest his ministry until a year ago.

"If this church is closed down, where can my congregants and their children worship the Lord?" said the pastor

[Shammu]

Bombing During Pakistani Prayers Kills 41

By ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writer 27 minutes ago

KARACHI, Pakistan - A suicide attacker detonated a bomb during an outdoor Islamic prayer service Tuesday, killing at least 41 people and wounding dozens, police said. An angry mob burned cars and threw stones at police, who fired into the air to disperse the crowds, a witness said.

The attacker blew himself up while sitting behind leaders of the Sunni Tehrik religious group, one of several Muslim organizations that organized the service in a downtown Karachi park, said police Chief Niaz Siddiqui.

"The bomber used about (11 pounds) of explosives obtained locally, and we have collected his body parts," Siddiqui told The Associated Press.

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told The Associated Press that at least 40 people were killed; officials at three Karachi hospitals later said they received the bodies of 41 people.

Scenes of mass confusion broke out after the explosion in the park, where hundreds of people had gathered for the Sunni Muslim prayer service.

Scores of men wearing long white, blood-spattered robes clambered onto the stage to assist victims, some apparently dead and others wounded and waving their arms for help. A plume of smoke caused by the blast hung over the stage.

People were seen carrying away bloodied blast victims and placing them into ambulances. Four men carried one victim in what looked like a white sheet soaked with blood. Several bodies were seen lying side-by-side on a strip of dusty ground.

Police officers fired into the air to disperse crowds that massed at the scene. An angry mob burned cars and pelted security forces with stones after the blast, said witness Mohammed Asif.

"I saw body parts everywhere. I saw people collecting body parts and putting them in ambulances," Asif said.

Television footage inside several Karachi hospitals showed scores of victims being treated in crowded wards. A screaming woman wailed over a person killed in the blast, the body covered by a white sheet on a hospital bed.

A young boy with burns on his face said he was praying in the park when a massive blast ripped through the crowd. "I saw fire and smoke after the big explosion," the unidentified boy told Geo television.

Sindh Provincial Interior Minister Raouf Sadiqui said officials were investigating the attack but that "so far we don't have any confirmed information."

Two prominent Sunni Muslim clerics were among the dead, including Akram Qadri, a senior leader of the Sunni Tehrik religious group that organized the prayer service, said Sami Jamali, a doctor at a nearby hospital. Sadiqui said Sheik Hanif Billu also died.

Karachi has been the scene of several bombings and attacks since Pakistan became a key ally of the United States in its war on terror after Sept. 11, 2001.

On March 2, a suicide bomber who was blocked from driving into the U.S. Consulate instead slammed into an American diplomat's car, killing the envoy and three others just days before President Bush visited Pakistan.

Bombing During Pakistani Prayers Kills 41

[Shammu]

Iran: expect "good nuclear news" on Tuesday night
Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:23 AM ET

 By Christian Oliver

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranians will hear "good news" on Tehran's nuclear program on Tuesday night, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, and Iranian media said this would mean Iran had enriched uranium for use in fuelling atomic reactors.

Such an announcement would mark a serious setback to UN Security Council efforts to have Iran suspend enrichment work. It could escalate a confrontation with Western powers leading to consideration of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The Council has demanded Iran shelve enrichment activity, which the West suspects is a preliminary step toward making nuclear bombs, and on March 29 asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report on its compliance in 30 days.

Iran was referred by the IAEA to the Council in February for failing to convince much of the international community that its nuclear work aims to generate only electricity, not weaponry, and will not pose a threat to international peace and security.

"After hearing all the good news tomorrow (Tuesday) night, Iranians should prostrate themselves before almighty God," Ahmadinejad was quoted by official news agency IRNA as saying in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Monday night.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to visit Iran later this week to seek full Iranian cooperation with the Council and IAEA inquiries. Any announcement of advances in enrichment work by Iran could cast an embarrassing cloud over ElBaradei's trip.

Teymour Ali Asgari, a Mashhad parliamentarian, told Mehr news agency Ahmadinejad had informed a meeting of clerics that the whole enrichment process had been mastered, "so that Iran is among the countries that are members of the atomic energy club".

Iranian nuclear officials have previously said purifying uranium to 3.5 percent would require the operation of 164 centrifuges, which spin it at supersonic speeds to heighten the concentration of its most radioactive isotope, U-235.

"LOGICAL EXTENT OF PROGRESS"

Two weeks ago IAEA diplomats said Iran had set up a "cascade" of 164 centrifuges at its Natanz plant but no uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), the feedstock for enriched fuel, had yet been fed into them. It had tested 20 centrifuges, they added.

"It may be that they have begun feeding the 164. That might be the logical extent of progress since late March. It wouldn't be surprising," a European Union diplomat accredited to the IAEA said when asked about Ahmadinejad's teaser.

A special team of IAEA inspectors went to Iran on Friday to gather fresh information at nuclear sites for ElBaradei's pending report to the Security Council. IAEA officials have declined to divulge any findings so far.

The level of enrichment needed to trigger the nuclear chain reaction that detonates bombs is far higher, around 90 percent. but even word that low-level enrichment is under way will be unacceptable to Western powers, diplomats say.

"164 centrifuges is still well short of producing enriched uranium in significant quantity over a sustained period. But the more they do it, the more they learn the technology. So any form of enrichment is a red line for us," the EU diplomat said.

It would take Iran years to yield enough highly enriched uranium for one bomb with such a small cascade. But Iran has told the IAEA it will start installing 3,000 centrifuges later this year, enough to produce material for a warhead in a year.

"After the good nuclear news, the psychological war against us will start," lawmaker Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghaddam told an Iranian parliament session on Tuesday. "I can say there will be international media campaign against us in the next days because of the news the president will announce."

Washington has said repeatedly it wants to resolve the nuclear standoff by diplomatic means. But analysts says advances in uranium enrichment technology by Iran may be the tripwire for the United States or Israel to take military action.

President George W. Bush on Monday dismissed reports of plans for military strikes on Iran as "wild speculation".

"Our enemies cannot do a damn thing given the Iranian nation's persistence, and they know that," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by state television.

Iran: expect "good nuclear news" on Tuesday night

[Shammu]

Iran joins nuclear club

By Christian Oliver 29 minutes ago

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday Iran had joined the group of countries possessing nuclear technology and was determined to achieve industrial-scale uranium enrichment.

The United States said Iran was "moving in the wrong direction" with its nuclear program and if it persisted, the United States would discuss possible next steps with the U.N. Security Council.

"I am officially announcing that Iran has joined the group of those countries which have nuclear technology. This is the result of the Iranian nation's resistance," Ahmadinejad said in a televised address from the northeastern city of Mashhad.

"Based on international regulations, we will continue our path until we achieve production of industrial-scale enrichment," he said, adding that the West must respect Iran's right to peaceful atomic technology.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Washington would "be talking about the way forward with the other members of the Security Council and Germany about how to address this" if Iran continued to move in its current direction.

The United States says Iran's nuclear program is a cover for developing nuclear weapons, while Tehran insists it is for civilian purposes to generate electricity.

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said earlier that Iran had enriched uranium to a level used in nuclear power plants.

"I am proud to announce that we have started enriching uranium to the 3.5 percent level," Gholamreza Aghazadeh said, adding that the pilot enrichment plant in Natanz, south of Tehran, had started working on Monday.

Influential former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said earlier on Tuesday that Iran was producing enriched uranium from a cascade of 164 centrifuges.

Iran's announcement is a serious setback to U.N. Security Council efforts to have Tehran halt enrichment work. It could escalate a confrontation with Western powers leading to consideration of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

"We operated the first unit which comprises of 164 centrifuges, gas was injected, and we got the industrial output," Rafsanjani said in an interview with the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA.

"There needs to be an expansion of operations if we are to have a complete industrial unit; tens of units are required to set up a uranium enrichment plant," said Rafsanjani, who was Ahmadinejad's rival in last year's presidential race.

Rafsanjani's announcement may have been aimed at trumping his rival and taking credit for progress in the nuclear program, which has broad support in Iran, analysts said.

"They are competing with each other for who will be the first person," political analyst Saeed Laylaz said.

The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran shelve enrichment activity and on March 29 asked the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report on its compliance in 30 days.

An IAEA spokesman declined comment on Iran's announcement and said no official agency reaction was likely for the time being.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to visit Iran later this week to seek full Iranian cooperation with the Council and IAEA inquiries. The announcement of advances in enrichment work by Iran will cast an embarrassing cloud over ElBaradei's trip.

Iran was referred by the IAEA to the Council in February for failing to convince much of the international community that its nuclear work aims to generate only electricity, not weaponry, and will not pose a threat to international peace and security.

Reflecting anxiety about the nuclear dispute, investors shifted into the safe-haven Swiss franc after Rafsanjani made his comments, traders said. The nuclear dispute has also been a factor helping to push up oil prices to record levels.

'LOGICAL EXTENT OF PROGRESS'

Two weeks ago IAEA diplomats said Iran had set up a "cascade" of 164 centrifuges at its Natanz plant but no uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), the feedstock for enriched fuel, had yet been fed into them. It had tested 20 centrifuges, they added.

Iranian nuclear officials have previously said purifying uranium to 3.5 percent -- the level needed for fuel for power stations -- would require the operation of 164 centrifuges, which spin it at supersonic speeds to heighten the concentration of its most radioactive isotope, U-235.

The level of enrichment needed to trigger the nuclear chain reaction that detonates bombs is far higher, around 90 percent. But even word that low-level enrichment is under way will be unacceptable to Western powers, diplomats say.

Iran has only one nuclear power plant under construction but plans to build more and says it wants to make its own fuel.

"It may be that they have begun feeding the 164. That might be the logical extent of progress since late March. It wouldn't be surprising," a European Union diplomat accredited to the IAEA said when asked about Ahmadinejad's teaser.

"164 centrifuges is still well short of producing enriched uranium in a significant quantity over a sustained period. But the more they do it, the more they learn the technology. So any form of enrichment is a red line for us," the diplomat said.

It would take Iran years to yield enough highly enriched uranium for one bomb with such a small cascade. But Iran has told the IAEA it will start installing 3,000 centrifuges later this year, enough to produce material for a warhead in a year.

Washington has said repeatedly it wants to resolve the nuclear stand-off by diplomatic means. But analysts say advances in uranium enrichment technology by Iran may be the tripwire for the United States or Israel to take military action.

President George W. Bush on Monday dismissed reports of plans for military strikes on Iran as "wild speculation."

Iran joins nuclear club

[Shammu]

Iran defies UN with nuclear breakthrough

24 minutes ago

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran announced it had successfully enriched uranium to make nuclear fuel, a dramatic breakthrough in its disputed atomic drive that defies a UN Security Council demand for the work to be halted.

The announcement came just 15 days before the expiry of a Security Council deadline for Iran to freeze enrichment -- a process that can be extended to make the fissile core of an atom bomb.

In a speech carried live on state television, vice president and atomic energy chief Gholam Reza Aghazadeh announced that "on April 9, we successfully enriched uranium to 3.5 percent," the purity required for civilian reactor fuel.

Aghazadeh said the progress in enrichment "paves the way for enrichment on an industrial scale", and revealed Iran also had 110 tonnes of UF6 gas -- the feedstock gas that is fed into centrifuges to be enriched.

He also said Iran was "determined" to complete work on a heavy water reactor in Arak, which could also produce plutonium for a nuclear weapon, within three years.

The announcement, made in the northeastern city of Mashhad before top regime officials, was greeted by chants of "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest").

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, whose government accuses the Islamic republic of seeking nuclear weapons, immediately responded that Iran was "moving in the wrong direction."

Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the work to be accelerated.

"I ask all nuclear officials to speed up their work so as to produce fuel for the country's (future) power stations," Ahmadinejad said in his speech.

On March 29, the Security Council called on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment to provide a watertight guarantee that its nuclear programme is peaceful, with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei asked to report on Iranian compliance after 30 days.

ElBaradei is also due to arrive in Tehran overnight Wednesday, but Iran -- which insists it only wants to generate nuclear power -- has so far rejected the ultimatum despite the threat of sanctions or even military action.

A foreign diplomat said the announcement, if true, meant Iran had made a "technological leap" and was advancing much quicker than thought.

"If it is true, it means that they are going faster than we expected. It represents a technological leap forward, because it's more important to master research and development than to go from RetD to industrial enrichment," said the Tehran-based diplomat, who asked not to be named.

Western powers argue that Iran must be prevented from mastering this sensitive process, which even if for peaceful purposes would also deliver the country the technical know-how needed to make a bomb.

Over the weekend, the Washington Post and the New Yorker magazine reported that US President George W. Bush was examining military options against Iran, a country he has lumped into an "axis of evil."

Although Bush has dismissed the reports as "wild speculation," oil prices have sent up amid fears of a looming conflict.

Iran defies UN with nuclear breakthrough

[Shammu]

Iran Hits Milestone in Nuclear Technology

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer 4 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has successfully enriched uranium for the first time, a landmark in its quest to develop nuclear fuel, hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday, although he insisted his country does not aim to develop atomic weapons.

In a nationally televised speech, Ahmadinejad called on the West "not to cause an everlasting hatred in the hearts of Iranians" by trying to force Iran to abandon uranium enrichment.

The announcement came ahead of a visit to Tehran this week by Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, who is trying to resolve the West's standoff with Iran. The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran stop all enrichment activity by April 28. Iran has rejected this, saying it has a right to the process.

"At this historic moment, with the blessings of God almighty and the efforts made by our scientists, I declare here that the laboratory-scale nuclear fuel cycle has been completed and young scientists produced enriched uranium needed to the degree for nuclear power plants Sunday," Ahmadinejad said.

"I formally declare that Iran has joined the club of nuclear countries," he told an audience that included top military commanders and clerics in the northwestern holy city of Mashhad. The crowd broke into cheers of "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!" Some stood and thrust their fists in the air.

The White House denounced the latest comments by Iranian officials, with spokesman Scott McClellan saying they "continue to show that Iran is moving in the wrong direction."

Ahmadinejad said Iran "relies on the sublime beliefs that lie within the Iranian and Islamic culture. Our nation does not get its strength from nuclear arsenals."

He said Iran wanted to operate its nuclear program under supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency and within its rights and regulations under the regulations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The announcement does not mean Iran is immediately capable of producing enough fuel to run or a reactor or develop the material needed for a nuclear warhead. Uranium enrichment can produce either, but it must be carried out on a much larger scale, using thousands of centrifuges.

Iran succeeded in enriching uranium to a level needed for fuel on a research scale — using 164 centrifuges, officials said.

But the breakthrough underlined how difficult it will be for the West to convince Iran to give up enrichment.

Ahmadinejad made the announcement in a richly appointed hall of one of Iran's holiest cities in a ceremony clearly aimed at proclaiming the country's nuclear success.

Speaking before Ahmadinejad, Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh — the nuclear chief — said Iran has produced 110 tons of uranium gas, the feedstock that is pumped into centrifuges for enrichment. The amount is nearly twice the 60 tons of uranium hexaflouride, or UF-6, gas that Iran said last year that it had produced.

Aghazadeh said Iran plans to expand its enrichment program to be able to use 3,000 centrifuges by the end of the year.

The United States and some European countries accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, an accusation Tehran denies, saying it intends only to generate electricity.

The IAEA is due to report to the U.N. Security Council on April 28 whether Iran has met its demand for a full halt to uranium enrichment. If Tehran has not complied, the council will consider the next step. The U.S. and Europe are pressing for sanctions against Iran, a step Russia and China have so far opposed.

McClellan told reporters traveling on Air Force One with President Bush that Iran's enrichment claims "only further isolate" Tehran and underscore why the international community must continue to raise concerns about its suspected ambition to develop nuclear weapons.

McClellan noted the Security Council clock now running on Iran.

"This is a regime that needs to be building confidence with the international community," McClellan said. "Instead, they're moving in the wrong direction."

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the Iranians' announcement "shows that they're not paying any attention to what the Security Council has said."

"And it shows why we feel a sense of urgency here that we have to have Iran realize the mistaken course it's pursuing," he told The Associated Press.

In Vienna, officials of the IAEA, whose inspectors are now in Iran, declined to comment.

A diplomat familiar with Tehran's enrichment program said the announcement appeared to be accurate. He demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss information restricted to the agency.

The reported breakthrough came only two months after Iran resumed research on enrichment at its facility in the central town of Natanz in February. The resumption of work there prompted the IAEA to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council — escalating the standoff.

The enrichment process is one of the most difficult steps in developing a nuclear program. It requires a complicated plumbing network of pipes connecting centrifuges that can operate flawless for months or years.

The process aims to produce a gas high with an increased percentage of uranium-235, the isotope needed for nuclear fission, which is much rarer than the more prevalent isotope uranium 238.

A gas made from raw uranium is pumped into a centrifuge, which spins, causing a small portion of the heavier uranium-238 to drop away. The gas then proceeds to other centrifuges — perhaps thousands of them — where the process is repeated, increasing the proportion of uranium-235.

The enrichment process can take years to produce a gas rich enough in uranium-235 that it can be used to power a nuclear reactor or produce a bomb.

Iran Hits Milestone in Nuclear Technology

[Soldier4Christ]

Gas Costs Expected to Be High This Summer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Pump prices for gasoline are rising and likely will average about a 25 cents a gallon more than last summer, but not enough to keep people home.

The Energy Department's new "seasonal outlook," released Tuesday, projects that the price for regular grade gasoline will average $2.62 a gallon, barring any unexpected supply disruptions. Gasoline prices have soared since February.

Last week motorists paid on average $2.68 a gallon nationwide for regular, an 18-cent increase in two weeks and 40 cents higher than the national average a year ago.

Growing demand, high crude oil costs, requirements for low-sulfur gasoline and greater demand for corn-based ethanol as an additive all "are expected to keep consumer prices for motor fuels ... high in 2006," said the report by the department's Energy Information Administration.

The high prices are not expected to dampen demand during the April-September heavy driving season. Motorists are expected to use an average 9.4 million barrels of gasoline a day, or 1.5 percent more than last summer, according to the Energy Department agency.

The agency cautioned that prices can vary by 27 cents to 50 cents a gallon between different regions of the country and that prices could spike higher if there are unexpected supply disruptions caused by the weather or refinery problems.

Some analysts said gasoline could return to $3 a gallon or more if crude oil prices increase sharply or there is concern about hurricane damage to producers in the Gulf of Mexico.

The markets are likely to be more jittery about the weather this summer in light of the widespread disruption of Gulf oil and gasoline production caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year.

Gasoline spiked to a national average of $3.07 a gallon - and considerably higher in some areas - after last year's hurricanes.

"News of any developing hurricanes and tropical storms with a potential to cause significant new outages could add to (price) volatility ... in the latter part of the summer," said report said.

Prices at the pump have been climbing since February when the national average for the month was $2.25 a gallon.

High crude oil costs are partly to blame. Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose 61 cents to $69.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday Tuesday in Europe. The contract rose $1.35 to settle at $68.74 on Monday.

The Energy Department's report said that crude oil is expected to remain high, averaging $65 a barrel for the year. But it said gasoline costs are expected to outstrip crude prices as demand for gasoline remains high and refiners assume additional costs because of new low-sulfur requirements and the phaseout of a clean-air additive known as MTBE.

Three of the biggest refiners - Valero Energy Corp. (VLO), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Shell Oil Co. - said they will stop putting the additive into gasoline beginning May 5. Valero estimates that will shrink the nation's gasoline supply by 145,000 barrels a day.

At a congressional hearing last month, Guy Caruso, head of the Energy Information Administration, said about 130,000 barrels of ethanol, a substitute additive for MTBE, will be needed. That's about 50 percent of current output.

The demand for more ethanol has caused the price of the corn-based additive to surge to about $2.75 a gallon, an increase of about 50 cents a gallon.

The additives account for about 10 percent of gasoline volume in areas where they are used, so a 50-cent increase in ethanol translates into about a nickel a gallon boost in the fuel's cost to motorists.

Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade group that represents the ethanol industry, told a Senate hearing last month that the industry will be able to meet ethanol demand even as refiners move away from using the additive.

He said the industry is filling East Coast ethanol storage tanks and contracting barges that can ship ethanol down the Mississippi River to Gulf Coast refiners and up the Atlantic seaboard.

"The market is responding," he said. But he also said it was the oil industry's decision to stop using MTBE this soon.

Last year, Congress as part of broad energy legislation lifted the requirement that refiners include 2 percent oxygenate - ethanol - in gasoline sold in areas having clean air problems, clearing the way for refiners to stop using the additive.

[Shammu]

U.S. Denounces Iran's Uranium Announcement

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - The White House on Tuesday criticized the Iranian government after its president said Tehran had successfully enriched uranium for the first time, a potential step toward developing nuclear weapons.

"Defiant statements and actions only further isolate the regime from the rest of the world," White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One while flying to Missouri.

In a nationally televised speech, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the development but said his country did not plan to develop nuclear weapons. He asked the West not to try to force Iran to abandon uranium enrichment.

That's exactly what the United States hopes to do — work with allies to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"This is a regime that needs to be building confidence with the international community," McClellan said. "Instead, they're moving in the wrong direction. This is a regime that has a long history of hiding its nuclear activities from the international community, and refusing to comply with its international obligations."

At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said he would not engage in "fantasyland" speculation about a possible U.S. attack on Iran, though he said the Bush administration is concerned about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"The United States of America is on a diplomatic track," Rumsfeld said.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he could not verify what he called the technical details of Tehran's announcement.

"This is another step by the Iranians in defiance of the international community. Once again they have chosen the pathway of defiance instead of the pathway of cooperation," he said.

On Monday, Bush said force is not necessarily required to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon. The president dismissed reports of U.S. plans for a military attack against Tehran as "wild speculation."

The United States is trying to persuade other members of the U.N. Security Council to side with the U.S. and levy sanctions against Iran unless Tehran backs down.

"If the regime continues to move in the direction it is, currently, then we will be talking about the way forward with other members of the Security Council and Germany and how to address this going forward," McClellan said.

The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran stop all uranium enrichment activity by April 28. Iran has rejected the demand, saying it has a right to develop the process.

"We'll talk with the rest of the Security Council members and others about the next steps," McClellan said. "Right now, the regime has been given an opportunity to comply with its obligations, and the most recent statements by the regime only further isolate itself and continue to show that it's moving in the wrong direction."

The Bush administration has sought to defuse reports of military planning against Iran.

"We have I don't know how many various contingency plans in this department and the last thing I'm going to do is start telling you or anybody else in the press or the world at what point we can refresh a plan or don't refresh a plan or why," Rumsfeld said.

Bush, who has called Iran part of the "axis of evil," has said military force is always an option, but a last resort.

U.S. Denounces Iran's Uranium Announcement

[Shammu]

Iran Insists Enrichment Goal Is Peaceful

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer 48 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line president said Tuesday that the country "has joined the club of nuclear countries" by successfully enriching uranium for the first time — a key process in what Iran maintains is a peaceful energy program.

The announcement from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was certain to heighten international tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear program. The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran stop all enrichment by April 28 because of suspicions the program is designed to make nuclear weapons.

Ahmadinejad warned the West that trying to force it to abandon uranium enrichment would "cause an everlasting hatred in the hearts of Iranians."

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, was heading to Iran on Wednesday for talks aimed at resolving the standoff. The timing of the announcement suggested Iran wanted to present him with a fait accompli and argue that it cannot be expected to entirely give up a program showing progress.

Former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful member of Iran's ruling clerical regime, said the breakthrough means ElBaradei "faces new circumstances."

The White House, which is pressing for U.N. sanctions against Iran, said the enrichment claims "show that Iran is moving in the wrong direction."

"Defiant statements and actions only further isolate the regime from the rest of the world," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Britain's Foreign Office issued a statement reiterating the U.N. call for a halt to enrichment work and warned that "if Iran does not comply, the Security Council will revisit the issue."

The Iranian enrichment announcement "is not particularly helpful," it said.

Uranium enrichment can produce either fuel for a nuclear energy reactor — as Iran says it seeks — or the material needed for an atomic warhead.

Tuesday's announcement does not mean Iran is immediately capable of doing either. So far it has succeeded only in getting a series of 164 centrifuges to work in the enrichment process. Thousands of centrifuges are needed for a workable program.

But successfully carrying out the highly complicated and delicate process even on a small scale would be a breakthrough, and Iran's nuclear chief said the program would be expanded to 3,000 centrifuges by the end of the year.

Ahmadinejad announced it at a nationally televised ceremony clearly aimed at drumming up popular Iranian support for the nuclear program. He addressed an audience that included top military commanders and clerics in an ornate hall in one of Iran's holiest cities, Mashhad. Before he spoke, screens on the stage showed footage of nuclear facilities and scientists at work.

"At this historic moment, with the blessings of God Almighty and the efforts made by our scientists, I declare here that the laboratory-scale nuclear fuel cycle has been completed and young scientists produced enriched uranium needed to the degree for nuclear power plants Sunday," Ahmadinejad said.

"I formally declare that Iran has joined the club of nuclear countries," he said. The crowd broke into cheers of "Allahu akbar," or "God is great."

As part of the ceremony, costumed dancers performed on the stage, holding aloft vials of raw uranium and also chanting "Allahu akbar."

Ahmadinejad said the West "has to respect Iran's right for nuclear energy."

He said Iran wanted to operate its nuclear program under supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency and within its rights and the regulations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

According to the IAEA, a total of 31 countries have nuclear power plants either in operation or under construction.

In Vienna, officials of the IAEA, whose inspectors are now in Iran, declined to comment on Ahmadinejad's announcement.

But a diplomat familiar with Tehran's enrichment program said it appeared to be accurate. He demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss information restricted to the agency.

Speaking before the president, Iran's nuclear chief — Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh — told the audience that Iran has produced 110 tons of uranium gas, the feedstock that is pumped into centrifuges for enrichment.

The amount is nearly twice the 60 tons that Iran said last year that it had produced — an amount that former U.N. nuclear inspector David Albright said would be enough to produce up to 20 nuclear bombs if Iran developed the capacity.

Aghazadeh also said a heavy water nuclear reactor, under construction near Arak in central Iran, will be completed by early 2009. The U.S. fears that the spent fuel from a heavy-water reactor can be reprocessed to extract plutonium for use in a bomb.

The IAEA is due to report to the U.N. Security Council on April 28 whether Iran has met its demand for a full halt to uranium enrichment. If Tehran fails to comply, the U.S. and Europe are pressing for sanctions against Iran, a step Russia and China have opposed.

Under the non-proliferation pact, nations without nuclear weapons pledge not to pursue them in exchange for a commitment by five nuclear-weapons states — the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China — to negotiate nuclear disarmament. The treaty guarantees countries that renounce nuclear weapons access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

North Korea withdrew from the treaty in 2003. Three countries have refused to join — India and Pakistan, which conducted rival nuclear tests in 1998, and Israel, which is widely believed to possess weapons.

Iran Insists Enrichment Goal Is Peaceful