VIENNA, Austria — Diplomats say uranium has been found in environmental samples from a Syrian site bombed by Israel on suspicion it was a covert nuclear reactor.
The diplomats say that the uranium — combined with other elements found in the samples — merits further investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
One of the diplomats told The Associated Press that the findings and other details will be presented by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei in a report to the IAEA's 35-nation board next week. Oh, boy. The IAEA. They're in trouble now... Continued on Page 47
Iran's Parliament has set new strict limits for people wishing to run for president in the country's upcoming presidential election. "And what are those rules?"
"Y'gotta be named Mahmoud."
Under the new electoral law, applicants must be aged between 40 and 75 and hold the equivalent of a master's degree. How about an honorary doctorate from Oxford? Will that do?
The amendment comes after Interior Minister Ali Kordan failed to win Majlis support in an impeachment session over his forged Oxford University Ph.D degree and was removed from his post. Oops. Guess not.
The new law also requires candidates to have already served in a national post such as president, vice-president, minister, judiciary, military or broadcasting official, or as mayor of a major city. Faculty members ranked assistant professor and above, lawyers with more than 10 years' experience, the leaders of recognized political parties, directors and editors of newspapers and private company directors are also eligible to register.
The tightening of electoral rules is expected to prevent frivolous candidacies ahead of Iran's presidential election scheduled for June 12, 2009. "Frivolous candidacies" being candidacies by anybody not named Mahmoud?
Iran's incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also expected to seek a second term. No! Reeeeeally?
Former Iranian president Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, Head of the Iranian Expert Assembly's Center for Strategic Research, Hojjatoleslam Hassan Rowhani, and the secretary general of Iran's National Confidence Party Mehdi Karroubi are also among expected candidates in the country's 2009 presidential election.
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Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Syria's President Bashar al-Assad accused Israel on Sunday of "instinctively" seeking aggression and cast doubt on the Jewish state's willingness to make peace with Syria at a meeting of Arab lawmakers in Damascus.
"Israel's refusal to meet the minimum legitimate demands of the Palestinians and the requirements for peace on the Syrian tack shows that peace for it is a tactical thing, not a strategic choice," Assad told the gathering. "Israel has never ruled out aggression because the Israelis have an instinctive fear of peace, especially with the shameless rise of their religious and racial extremism," he added.
Indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel were suspended about two months ago after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned over a corruption scandal. The talks started months after Israeli planes bombed a military complex in eastern Syria. The United States, Israel's chief ally, said the target was an illegal nuclear reactor under construction. Syria denied the charge and Israel kept quiet.
Olmert, who is still caretaker prime minister, has said he wants to renew the Turkish-mediated talks. Syria has shown no objection and Assad did not address the issue directly.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
We still haven't finished digesting the idea that there is only one way to make peace with Arabs.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad accused Israel on Sunday of "instinctively" seeking aggression and cast doubt on the Jewish state's willingness to make peace with Syria at a meeting of Arab lawmakers in Damascus. 
