Iran puts off Bushehr nuclear plant launch to early 2011

Iranian officials deny Stuxnet virus has affected major systems at nuclear plant, but analysts believe Iran may be suffering wider sabotage.



Iran's first nuclear power plant will begin supplying energy in early 2011, a senior official said, signaling a delay of several months after the spread of a global computer virus believed to have affected mainly Iran.

Iranian officials said on Sunday the Stuxnet virus had hit staff computers at the Bushehr plant, a symbol of Iran's growing geopolitical sway and rejection of international efforts to curb its nuclear activity, but not affected major systems there.

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'Israel's Gaza boat takeover violent'

Passengers onboard a Jewish aid boat, which was intercepted by Israeli warships en route to the Gaza Strip, refute Israel's claims of non-violent takeover.


On Tuesday, around 10 Israeli warships surrounded the aid vessel Irene nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the Gaza coast, forcefully diverting it to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

Following the incident, Israeli army officials insisted that the takeover was carried out without any use of force, but the civilian activists onboard the vessel begged to differ.

"There are no words to describe what we went through," Israel's Ynet news website quoted passenger Yonatan Shapira as saying.

Shapira was one of the five Israelis aboard the Gaza-bound boat, who was interrogated by the Ashdod police before being released a day later.

A former Israel Air Force pilot, Shapira, said Israeli soldiers had resorted to violence while taking over the boat.



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BBC Journalist: MOSSAD DID 9/11

A BBC journalist discussing the events about 9/11 and including discussion about Iran nukes and involvement of Mossad in these events.

Ahmadinejad: Koran burning will bring about Israel's annihilation

Iran president calls U.S. pastor's plan to burn copies of Koran on Sept. 11 anniversary a violation of the teachings of all religions.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday condemned plans by a Florida pastor to burn copies of the Koran, saying that it was a Zionist plot that would bring about Israel's annihilation, Iran's Press TV reported.



Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday condemned plans by a Florida pastor to burn copies of the Koran, saying that it was a Zionist plot that would bring about Israel's annihilation, Iran's Press TV reported.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad AP September 5, 2010

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking at the royal palace in Doha, Qatar on Sept. 5, 2010.
Photo by: AP

Speaking at a meeting between Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior Iranian officials in Tehran, Ahmadinejad said that "the Zionists and their supporters are on the path to collapse and decline and such desperate actions will not save them, but will accelerate their fall and annihilation."

The Iranian president added that burning the Koran would be a violation of the teachings of all religions.

Florida pastor Terry Jones announced his intention to burn copies of the Muslim holy book on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York City and Washington, sparking a global media storm.


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Ahmadinejad to visit Lebanon's border with Israel

Iran announces official presidential visit to Lebanon next month, Ahmadinejad's first since taking office in 2005.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will make an official visit to Lebanon next month, the Iranian administration said in an official announcement on Thursday.

The visit will be Ahmadinejad's first official visit to Lebanon in the five years since he was elected to office.

Lebanese media reported that Ahmadinejad, who is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on October 13, was expected to tour the southern part of the country and to visit the county's shared border with Israel.


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UN report: Iran has enough uranium for three nuclear devices

IAEA report raises concerns over Iran's rejection of IAEA decisions regarding identity of nuclear program inspectors and says Iran has prevented inspectors from entering nuclear sites.

Iran has accelerated its nuclear program and currently possesses a sufficient supply of enriched uranium to make three nuclear devices, assuming it speeds up enrichment to 90 percent, according to a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The report was presented ahead of a discussion by the IAEA board of governors, as well as the organization's General Assembly, which will meet in Vienna this month.

According to the findings, Iran currently has 22 kilograms of uranium enriched at levels of 20 percent, and a total of 2.8 tons of uranium enriched at 3.5 percent. The material is being supervised by IAEA inspectors and Iran cannot make use of it for military purposes without this being known to the international community.


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UN nuclear watchdog: Iran boosting uranium enrichment despite sanctions

In confidential report, IAEA also voicees concern about what it called Iran's 'repeated objection' to the agency's choice of inspectors working in the country.

Iran's total production of low-enriched uranium has risen by around 15 percent since May to reach 2.8 tons, according to a United Nations nuclear watchdog report, showing Tehran is pushing ahead with disputed work despite tougher sanctions.

The confidential report, obtained by Reuters on Monday, said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) remained concerned about possible activity in the Islamic Republic to develop a nuclear payload for a missile.


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BREAKING:ETA announces cease-fire

MADRID – The armed Basque separatist group ETA, under pressure from political allies to renounce violence and decapitated repeatedly by the arrests of its leaders, announced another cease-fire Sunday, suggesting it might turn to a political process in its quest for an independent homeland.

But the Basque regional government immediately dismissed the announcement as meaningless because ETA failed to renounce violence or announce its dissolution.

"It's absolutely insufficient because it does not take into account what the vast majority of Basque society demands and requires from ETA, which is that it definitively abandon terrorist activity," Basque regional interior minister Rodolfo Ares said in the first official comment on the announcement.



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Report: Tehran pays Taliban for every US casualty

Intelligence sources in Afghanistan, senior Taliban officials tell Sunday Times about training camps built by Iran for terror activists, money they receive for their 'achievements' - $1,000 for each soldier and $6,000 for each vehicle

At least five Iranian companies are sending money to the Islamist terror group in Afghanistan in order to fund the fighting against Western powers, led by the United States, according to a Sunday Times report, which quoted Taliban sources.


Afghani intelligence and Taliban officials told how the money is transferred from Iranian straw-men companies to Afghani rebels. Intelligence officials in the West believe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps the driving force behind these companies.


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IDF attacks Gaza tunnels in response to week of terror incidents

Gaza militants fired rocket at southern Israel earlier Saturday, just days after four Israelis were killed in a West Bank shooting attack.

Israel Air Force planes struck targets in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday, hours after Palestinian militants fired a rocket from the territory into
Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that its air force had attacked the coastal territory in response to a wave of security incidents over the last week. The army said that it had struck smuggling tunnels used by militants planning to infiltrateIsrael and commit terror acts against civilians soldiers.



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'US to continue supplying military assistance to Lebanon'

Report says an estimated $100m. worth of equipment and weaponry has been approved, after funds were frozen by US in the wake of fatal border clashes with Israel.


The US will continue to supply the Lebanese Armed Forces with equipment and weapons estimated to be worth approximately $100 million, a Lebanese newspaper reported on Saturday.

Al-Nahar quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Washington had urged both Israel and Lebanon to continue showing restraint towards each other and to refrain from threats and other provocative behavior.

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Explosion at apparent Hezbollah arms depot causes fire in south Lebanon village

Lebanese security officials say that explosion in southern village of Shehabiyeh may have been caused by a short circuit that set off secret Hezbollah munitions.


Explosions ripped through a building on Friday in southern Lebanon that might have been used to store weapons by the militant group Hezbollah, Lebanese security officials said.

It was not clear whether there were any casualties from the blasts, which set off a large fire, the officials said. Rescue crews responded to the scene.


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Hamas military spokesman: These last few attacks are just the beginning

BLAST AT OIL PLATFORM IN GULF OF MEXICO

There are conflicting reports of an oil slick appearing in the Gulf of Mexico following a fire on a second oil platform.


Fire Blazes On Gulf Of Mexico Oil Platform

There are conflicting reports of an oil slick appearing in the Gulf of Mexico following a fire on a second oil platform.

It was initially believed that a blast ripped through one of the wells on the Mariner Energy platform, west of the site where BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April.

But it has since been claimed that there was no explosion and the fire in fact broke out near staff living quarters on the upper deck.

The oil and gas facility, 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast, was engulfed in flames.

All 13 workers who were on board at the time are thought to have managed to don lifesaving gear and jumed into the water.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the men have now been recovered.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal told the media: "It is too early to know what sparked the fire."

He said the blaze was continuing but according to reports it would soon burn out.

The White House has said a government response was ready if needed.

Mr Gibbs said: "We obviously have response assets ready for deployment, should we receive reports of pollution in the water."

Sky News' US correspondent Greg Milam said: "You can imagine the shudder that a headline like that causes across America.

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Palestinians authorities: We've arrested 2 suspects in deadly West Bank shooting attack

Palestinian Authority security forces detained two men on Thursday suspected of involvement in a deadly shooting attack in which four Israelis were killed on Tuesday.


The four victims were residents of the Beit Hagai settlement in the West Bank. They were traveling in a car on route 60 late Tuesday when assailants opened fire at them, killing all four.

Following the incident, Palestinian security forces in the West Bank carried out one of the largest arrest sweeps in history, bringing in over 300 suspects in efforts to locate the culprits.



http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinians-authorities-we-ve-arrested-2-suspects-in-deadly-west-bank-shooting-attack-1.311811

New attack in the West Bank

"2 Israelis wounded in second West Bank shooting attack in two days"



Two Israelis were wounded, one seriously, on Wednesday night in a shooting attack in the West Bank, one day after a similar attack left four Israeli civilians dead.


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Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring evacuated; gunman inside

UPDATE 2:25 All workers in building were evacuated. Many told to go home though they left personal items in the building.

UPDATE 2:21: Police are saying there is at least one hostage.

UPDATE 2:15 p.m. Angela Gates, a Metro spokeswoman, said the SIlver Spring Metro station remains open, though the south entrance is closed. Buses that service the Silver Spring Transit Center are being detoured around closed streets, she said. Colesville Road is blocked off.

UPDATE: 2:02 p.m.: The Discovery Channel day care has been evacuated to the nearby McDonald's. The day care had about 100 kids. They are reported to be safe.

UPDATE: 1:50 p.m.: According to Cpl. Dan Friz, a Montgomery County police spokesman, a tactical team is trying to get in touch with the gunman, who is being monitored on closed circuit TV.

The "tactical team has put together a plan for dealing with this individual," Friz told ABC 7 News.

Friz was unable to confirm reports that multiple shots have been fired, but he said no shots had been fired by police as of 1:40 p.m.

Police were initially dispatched to the building for the report of shots fired at about 1 p.m. Police are reporting the suspect is an Asian male.

"Some sort of device on him that may be explosive in nature..." Friz said.


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