Iran News - Yahoo!News

Iran: Enriched uranium traces a 'technical issue'

Sat, 26 May 2012 16:17:25 -0400

A top Iranian nuclear official said that traces of enriched uranium discovered at an underground bunker came from a "routine technical issue," the country's official IRNA news agency reported Saturday.

Bahrain to quit Arabsat to protest Iran channels

Sat, 26 May 2012 14:24:50 -0400

Bahrain will stop broadcasting its channels on satellite operator Arabsat to protest an Iran-led "hostile" media campaign, the state news agency BNA reported on Saturday.

Kidnapped Lebanese Shiite pilgrims 'not in Turkey'

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:29:36 -0400

A group of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Syria and said by Lebanese authorities to have reached Turkey are not in the country after all, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Saturday.

Iran downplays UN find, media wary of Moscow talks

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:22:21 -0400

Iran on Saturday downplayed a report by the UN atomic watchdog that uranium traces have been detected of a higher grade than any found before, as media voiced doubts about the next round of talks on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Germany's Grass blasts treatment of Greece

Sat, 26 May 2012 09:01:55 -0400

German Nobel literature laureate Guenter Grass has criticized Greece's treatment by its fellow European nations in the debt crisis, describing it in a new poem published Saturday as a "country sentenced to poverty."

Iran has enough uranium for 5 bombs: expert

Sat, 26 May 2012 08:48:55 -0400

Iran has significantly stepped up its output of low-enriched uranium and total production in the last five years would be enough for at least five nuclear weapons if refined much further, a U.S. security institute said. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a think-tank which tracks Iran's nuclear program closely, based the analysis on data in the latest report by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which was issued on Friday. ...

Iran plays down U.N. nuclear report

Sat, 26 May 2012 07:57:02 -0400

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has played down a United Nations report that said Iranian nuclear scientists had enriched uranium to a higher-than-expected level, state media reported on Saturday. On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that samples taken in February showed particles with enrichment levels of up to 27 percent - putting Iran further down the road to making potentially weapons-grade uranium. ...

Syrian troops kill 50 people including 13 children in restive province, activists say

Sat, 26 May 2012 02:30:14 -0400

BEIRUT - President Bashar Assad's forces have killed at least 50 civilians including 13 children in central Syria, activists say, in one of the highest death tolls in one specific area since an internationally brokered cease-fire went into effect last month.

Clinton to visit Scandinavia, Caucasus, Turkey

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:24:51 -0400

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaves next week on an eight-day trip to Scandinavia, the Caucasus and Turkey that will cover security issues such as Iran and Syria as well as the environment and health. The State Department said Clinton begins her May 31-June 7 trip with visits to Denmark, Norway and Sweden that will largely concentrate on the environment. ...

Analysts play down higher-grade uranium find in Iran

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:24:07 -0400

Analysts have played down the UN atomic agency's discovery of higher-grade uranium traces in Iran, saying it was likely due to a technical glitch rather than a covert attempt to enrich to arms grade.

Exclusive: Syria grain trade signals alarm for Assad

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:02:02 -0400

LONDON/HAMBURG (Reuters) - Syria is struggling to meet its grain import needs because of sanctions, raising the risk of bread shortages that could sap public support for President Bashar al-Assad as he tries to snuff out a 15-month-old uprising. Trade sources said a reluctance among foreign banks, shipowners and grain traders to sell to import-dependent Syria - even though food is not itself subject to sanctions - has forced Damascus into an array of unusually small deals, many arranged by shadowy middlemen around the Middle East and Asia. ...

UN agency finds higher enrichment at Iranian site

Fri, 25 May 2012 18:01:27 -0400

Inspectors have located radioactive traces at an Iranian underground bunker, the U.N. atomic agency said Friday — a finding that could mean Iran has moved closer to reaching the uranium threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles.

Activists: Troops kills up to 50 in central Syria

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:50:20 -0400

President Bashar Assad's forces killed at least 50 civilians, including 13 children, in central Syria on Friday, activists said, in one of the highest death tolls in one specific area since an internationally-brokered cease-fire went into effect last month.

Qaeda-linked suicide bomber kills 12 in Yemen

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:19:34 -0400

SANAA (Reuters) - Two al Qaeda-linked suicide bombers targeting Shi'ite Muslims blew themselves up at a school and a protest march in northern Yemen on Friday killing at least 12 people, the defence ministry said. The attacks came less than a week after a suicide bomber in army uniform detonated an explosive belt at a military parade rehearsal in Sanaa, killing more than 90 soldiers and wounding at least 200 more. ...

U.N. inspectors find high-grade uranium traces in Iran

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:04:21 -0400

VIENNA (Reuters) - United Nations nuclear inspectors have found uranium particles refined to a higher-than-expected level at an underground site where Iran has installed more than 50 percent more enrichment centrifuges, a U.N. watchdog report said on Friday. It said Tehran had told the U.N. agency that the presence of traces of highly refined uranium - still well below potential nuclear weapons-grade material - "may happen for technical reasons beyond the operator's control". ...

Turkmen leader sacks oil and gas minister

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:24:25 -0400

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov sacked his oil and gas minister, citing his poor performance on state television on Friday, just two days after the Central Asian nation agreed landmark deals to supply natural gas to Pakistan and India. The deals agreed on Wednesday offer major economic benefits but depend on building and defending a U.S.-backed pipeline across violence-wracked Afghanistan, including a 735-km (450-mile) leg through the provinces of Herat and Kandahar. ...

Analysts play down higher-grade uranium find in Iran

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:35:48 -0400

Analysts on Friday played down the UN atomic agency's discovery of higher-grade uranium traces in Iran, saying it was likely due to a technical glitch rather than a covert attempt to enrich to arms grade.

Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria free: minister

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:15:33 -0400

A group of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Syria were freed on Friday and arrived in Turkey, Lebanese Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said.

Iran nuclear talks a 'complete failure,' says Iranian diplomat

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:49:00 -0400

After two days of withering and sometimes combative nuclear talks, Iran and six world powers put a positive spin on the outcome.

Italian automaker Fiat halts sales to Iran

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:42:20 -0400

Italian automaker Fiat SpA, which controls Chrysler, said Friday that it and subsidiaries will immediately halt sales to Iran, following similar moves by other carmakers under pressure to cut ties to Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.

Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria are released

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:23:33 -0400

A group of Lebanese Shiites who were kidnapped in Syria were released in good health Friday, three days after gunmen abducted the men as they returned from a religious pilgrimage, officials said.

Exclusive: U.S. probes China's ZTE over tech sales to Iran

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:40:03 -0400

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Department of Commerce is investigating Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corp for allegedly selling embargoed U.S. computer products to Iran. The investigation was launched following reports by Reuters in March and April that ZTE had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of America's best-known tech firms to Telecommunication Co of Iran (TCI) and a unit of the consortium that controls it along with the Iranian regime. TCI is Iran's largest telecom carrier. ...

Lebanese Shi'ite hostages freed, en route to Beirut

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:34:10 -0400

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese Shi'ites kidnapped in Syria were freed and handed over to Turkish authorities on Friday, Lebanon's prime minister said after the abductions sparked angry protests in his country where sectarian tensions have flared over Syria's turmoil. The kidnapping of the Lebanese, who were snatched in northern Syria this week as they returned from a pilgrimage in Iran, was the latest incident in the 14-month-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to entangle neighboring Lebanon. ...

Exclusive: Syria grain trade signals alarm for Assad

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:12:13 -0400

APNewsBreak: Higher enrichment at Iranian site

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:10:50 -0400

The U.N. atomic agency has found evidence at an underground bunker in Iran that could mean the country has moved closer to producing the uranium threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles, diplomats said Friday.

Suicide bomber kills 12 in northern Yemen

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:59:08 -0400

SANAA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber drove into a school in northern Yemen's al-Jawf province where members of a Shi'ite Muslim rebel group had gathered for Friday prayers and killed 12 people, the defense ministry said. A local official said several people were wounded in the attack. The province borders oil giant Saudi Arabia. Western and Gulf Arab states have watched with mounting alarm as al Qaeda-linked militants have exploited political instability in Yemen to gain a foothold there. ...

IAEA finds higher uranium trace in Iran: sources

Fri, 25 May 2012 09:16:05 -0400

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear inspectors have found uranium traces in an Iranian underground site refined to a somewhat higher level than the enrichment work normally carried out there, but still well below potential weapons-grade material, diplomatic sources said on Friday. One source said the higher level detected was believed to be within variation of the usual activity at the Fordow facility - where Iran is refining uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent - making clear it was not a big difference. "It is not up there ... towards nuclear weapons capability," the diplomat said. ...

Iran, big powers agree to hold more nuclear talks in June

Fri, 25 May 2012 09:16:05 -0400

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iran and world powers agreed to meet again next month to try to ease the long standoff over its nuclear work despite achieving scant progress at talks in Baghdad towards resolving the main sticking points of their dispute. At its heart is Iran's insistence on right to enrich uranium and that economic sanctions should be lifted before it shelves activities that could lead to its achieving the capability to develop nuclear weapons. Western powers insist Tehran must first shut down higher-grade enrichment before sanctions could be eased. ...

Oil edges up above $91 on inconclusive Iran talks

Fri, 25 May 2012 07:52:35 -0400

Oil edged up above $91 a barrel Friday as an inconclusive summit about Iran's nuclear program outweighed demands concerns tied to Greece's financial crisis and sputtering growth in China.

Russian bikers freed from Iraq prison

Fri, 25 May 2012 07:22:33 -0400

Four Russian bikers who were arrested in Iraq last weekend and complained of beatings by security forces have been freed and are in Russian custody, a top official said Friday.

Thousands gather for anti-Assad protests in Syria

Fri, 25 May 2012 06:47:53 -0400

Activists say Syrian forces are shelling opposition strongholds as thousands gather across the country in weekly anti-government protests.

Russia says Iran talks on track despite differences

Fri, 25 May 2012 06:40:59 -0400

Russia on Friday called the latest round of talks on the Iranian nuclear standoff "constructive" despite big differences that remain as the parties head for more negotiations in Moscow next month.

Islamists Set the Pace in Egypt's Presidential Race, but Runoff Is Likely

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:20:00 -0400

Updated: May 25, 2011 at 5:15 a.m. EST

The Detention of Chinese Fishermen Fuels Anger with North Korea

Fri, 25 May 2012 04:40:06 -0400

As maritime tensions with neighbors including Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines continue to simmer, China has a fresh grievance with a somewhat unexpected antagonist: North Korea. On May 8 the isolated authoritarian regime detained 28 Chinese fishermen in the Yellow Sea and demanded payments of as much as $63,000 for each of the three vessels held. On Monday, the three boats returned to the Chinese port city of Dalian with no apparent payment of ransom. ...

Oil rises above $91 as global stocks rally

Fri, 25 May 2012 04:34:15 -0400

Oil rose above $91 a barrel Friday in Asia as a global stock market rally boosted oil trader confidence.

U.S. urged to follow own human rights reporting

Fri, 25 May 2012 04:19:20 -0400

WASHINGTON, May 24 (IPS) - The U.S. State Department on Thursday released the government's annual compendium of country-by-country human rights reports, but ran into criticism from rights groups for holding double standards.

Top US negotiator on Iran visiting Israel

Fri, 25 May 2012 03:57:23 -0400

The United States' top negotiator in Iran nuclear talks is visiting Israel to consult on regional issues, the U.S. State Department said Friday.

Top US negotiator on Iran to visit Israel

Fri, 25 May 2012 03:46:20 -0400

The U.S. State Department says the top American negotiator in Iran nuclear talks is visiting Israel to consult on regional issues.

UN panel claims evidence of illegal killings, torture by Syrian forces, armed opposition

Fri, 25 May 2012 02:10:22 -0400

BEIRUT - The Syrian regime and an increasingly organized rebel force are carrying out illegal killings and torturing their opponents, but government forces are still responsible for most of the violence stemming from the country's uprising, a U.N. panel says.

Talks with Iran set to resume next month in push for accord on its nuclear program

Fri, 25 May 2012 02:00:10 -0400

BAGHDAD - Iran and six world powers have wrapped up talks, still far apart over how to oversee Tehran's atomic program but with resolve to keep dialogue going as an alternative to possible military action.