Aug
30
A senior Iranian military commander has warned that any U.S. or Israeli attack on the Islamic republic would start a new world war.
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Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, in a statement carried by the state news agency Irna said it is evident that if such a challenge occurs, the fake and artificial regimes will be eliminated before anything. The United States and its staunch ally Israel, accuse Iran of seeking atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme. Iran has vehemently denied the allegations, insisting its nuclear drive is aimed solely at providing electricity for a growing population when its reserves of fossil fuels run out. The united states has never ruled out military action against Iran over its defiance of international demands for an enrichment freeze, but so far is pursuing the diplomatic route with calls for more sanctions. Another top military commander said Iran was prepared to “take the enemies off-guard” and would unveil more weapons in case of an attack. Source
Aug
29
Russia says the U.S is provoking the conflict in Georgia for domestic election purposes.
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In an interview with CNN, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the U.S citizens were in the area during the conflict over south Ossetia and were taking direct orders from their leaders. At the United Nations, Russia and Georgia traded harsh words during an open Security Council meeting.The council also refused to approve a request from representatives of two Georgian breakaway regions, which Russia has recognized as independent states, to address the council.Speaking in Washington, white house spokesperson said the U.S may scrap a civil nuclear pact with Moscow and consider sanctions as punishment for its military action in Georgia.She said the U.S is consulting in its international partners, such as France, Germany and all the other NATO countries in this connection. In Tbilisi, the Georgian parliament approved a resolution calling on the government to cut diplomatic ties with Russia. It called on the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili to declare Russian military forces in Georgia illegal and occupying forces.
Aug
27
The U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice says Israel’s settlement building in the West Bank is not conducive to creating an environment for negotiations.
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Rice reiterated the U.S. position in separate talks with Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. She said anything that undermines confidence between the parties ought to be avoided. Rice also discussed with Abbas for the first time new ideas that could move peace talks forward. Her visit coincided with the release of a report by an Israeli watchdog group saying construction of housing for Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank had nearly doubled since last year.
Source
Aug
22
President Bush has assured that the US administration will continue to support the government and democratic forces in Pakistan.
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In a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani he renewed us firm commitment to economic and anti-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan
White house spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Washington that the two leaders reaffirmed their mutual support for going after extremists who are a threat to Pakistan, the United States and the entire world. Talking to newsmen in Islamabad, information minister Sherry Rehman said that president bush expressed happiness on successful transition to democracy in Pakistan.
Source
Aug
20
The United States and Poland are set to sign an agreement on the U.S. global anti-missile system in Poland.
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The U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has arrived in Warsaw to sign the agreement. Washington says the interceptors and radar in Eastern Europe would form part of a global missile shield protecting the United States and its allies from long range missiles. Russia is strongly opposing the US missile shield in the region. Source
Aug
18
The U.S has termed launching of a home-built rocket into space by Iran as troubling saying such technology could also be used for ballistic missiles.
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A white house spokesman said development and testing of rockets by Iran raises further questions about their intentions. Earlier, Iran said it had successfully launched a rocket capable of carrying its first domestically built satellite.
Source
Aug
7
Pakistan has said it will provide all possible assistance to its citizen Dr. Aafia Siddiqui in U.S. Custody.
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In a weekly new briefing in Islamabad, foreign office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said Pakistan has sought consular access to Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, so we get get first hand information from her. He said consular access is a legal process and we hope the U.S. Government will provide consular access to Aafia Siddiqui as soon as possible.The spokesman said Pakistan is committed to bring back all Pakistanis including Aafia Siddiqui in custody in foreign countries.In reply to a question, he said Pakistan is interested in acquiring civilian nuclear technology to fulfill its energy needs.
Aug
6
Iraq’s oil profits huge while U.S. shoulders reconstruction, GAO says
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WASHINGTON - Iraq has benefited handsomely from this year’s surge in oil prices and is well-positioned financially to shoulder a greater share of its own economic and security needs, the U.S. government’s accounting watchdog concluded in a report released Tuesday.
In its report on efforts to stabilize and reconstruct Iraq , the Government Accountability Office steered clear of the politics of who pays for what. But it left little doubt that Iraq , which racked up $32.9 billion in oil earnings from January through June, can afford to pay more for its own reconstruction.
The GAO estimates that Iraq will earn $67 billion to $79 billion in oil sales this year, twice the average annual amount of revenue that it generated from oil sales from 2005 through 2007. This windfall comes despite the fact that Iraq is still struggling to approach pre-invasion oil-production levels.
Record high oil prices mean that Iraq’s government could post a budget surplus of more than $50 billion by year’s end. From 2005 to 2007, oil exports provided 94 percent of the Iraqi government’s revenues.
“This substantial increase in revenues offers the Iraqi government the potential to better finance its own security and finance needs,” the GAO said.
The Iraqi government has run budget surpluses since 2005 that amounted to a cumulative $29.4 billion at the end of last year. Should oil prices remain high, Iraq could post a budget surplus for this year of $38.2 billion to $50.3 billion , GAO researchers concluded.
However, investment spending by the Iraqi ministries that are responsible for oil, water and electricity declined sharply from 2005 to 2007. The GAO said that Oil Ministry spending fell by an annual rate of 92 percent, Electricity Ministry spending by 93 percent and Water Ministry spending by 13 percent. All three ministries affect Iraqi citizens’ quality of life and thus support for the struggling elected government.
While Iraq has amassed budget surpluses, the U.S. Congress has appropriated roughly $48 billion since 2003 for efforts to stabilize and reconstruct the invaded nation. As of this June, the GAO said, about $42 billion of that money had been spent.
Just 1 percent of what Iraq spent from 2005 through 2007 went toward expenditures such as maintaining U.S.- and Iraqi-funded investment in buildings, water supplies and power-generation facilities.
“The Iraqi government now has tens of billions of dollars at its disposal to fund large-scale reconstruction projects. It is inexcusable for U.S. taxpayers to continue to foot the bill for projects the Iraqis are fully capable of funding themselves,” Sen. Carl Levin , D-Mich., said in a statement. “We should not be paying for Iraqi projects while Iraqi oil revenues continue to pile up in the bank, including outrageous profits from $4 a gallon gas prices in the U.S.”
Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee , requested the study in March, along with the ranking Republican on the panel, Virginia’s John Warner . Warner joined Levin on Tuesday in bipartisan criticism of Iraqi budget practices.
“Despite Iraq earning billions of dollars in oil revenue in the past five years, U.S. taxpayer money has been the overwhelming source of Iraq reconstruction funds,” Warner said. “It is time for the sovereign government of Iraq , using its revenues, expenditures and surpluses, to fully assume the responsibility to provide essential services and improve the quality of life for the Iraqi people.”
Before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz declared that Iraq’s oil proceeds would cover the cost of the war and the expense of rebuilding the country after Saddam Hussein was removed from power.
“To assume we’re going to pay for it all is just wrong,” Wolfowitz told the House Budget Committee on Feb. 28, 2003 .
The Bush administration didn’t refute the GAO’s assertions. In a request from the GAO for comment, Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Andy Baukol acknowledged that increased oil revenues put Iraq in a stronger position to shoulder its own burdens.
“Nonetheless, the pace of spending has been held back by various factors, including deficiencies in capacity and security,” Baukol, the chief treasury official for the Middle East , said in a written response.
Iraq spent $10.8 billion this year through April, Baukol noted, twice what it spent in the same period last year. The Iraqi government submitted a supplemental budget to the nation’s parliament in July, he added, and the proposal included $8 billion dedicated to capital projects.
Source
Jul
18
Gore challenges US to ditch oil
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The Nobel laureate and former US vice- president, Al Gore, has urged Americans to abandon electricity generated by fossil fuels within a decade.
Mr Gore compared the scale of the challenge to that of putting a man on the moon in the 1960s.
He said it did not make sense that the US was borrowing money from China to burn oil from the Middle East which then contributed to climate change.
Critics say weaning the US off fossil fuels is not possible within a decade.
Mr Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his work on climate change, insists his goal is achievable and affordable.
We have a hundred years of infrastructure with trillions of dollars of investment that is not simply going to be made obsolete
Robby Diamond,
Securing America’s Future Energy
“The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels,” he said in a speech in Washington.
“When you connect the dots, it turns out that the real solutions to the climate crisis are the very same measures needed to renew our economy and escape the trap of ever-rising energy prices.”
To secure this green revolution, Mr Gore said the single most important policy change would be to “tax what we burn - not what we earn”.
Cold turkey
Mr Gore’s ambitious plan would still rely on nuclear energy for a fifth of America’s energy needs. Many see the goal as unachievable.
Robby Diamond, president of a bipartisan think tank called Securing America’s Future Energy, said weaning the nation off fossil fuels could not be done in a decade.
“The country is not going to be able to go cold turkey,” he told the Associated Press.
“We have a hundred years of infrastructure with trillions of dollars of investment that is not simply going to be made obsolete.”
US President George W Bush has often been criticised for not doing enough to tackle climate change.
Green campaign
At the recent G8 summit of developed nations in Japan, he did move the US closer to a consensus on climate change, by agreeing to language which makes achieving 50% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 a G8 “vision”.
The BBC’s Warren Bull says that whatever those seeking to succeed Mr Bush in the White House think of Mr Gore’s plan, they appear to agree on the need for progress on green issues.
Mr Gore said US presidential contenders Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain were way ahead of most politicians in the fight against global climate change.
Whether their enthusiasm for the environment survives into the White House may be influenced by how much the electorate warms to Mr Gore’s vision, our correspondent adds.
Jul
18
San Francisco most walkable U.S. city, website says
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - San Francisco, New York and Boston are the United States’ most walkable cities, according to new rankings from a website that evaluates how easy it is to live in the nation’s cities and neighborhoods without a car.
Walkscore.com, which uses an algorithm to identify those neighborhoods boasting the most amenities per person, published its ranking on Thursday and deemed San Francisco the most walkable city, with a “Walk Score” of 86 out of 100.
The ultimate goal is to see the site’s scores included in property listings, said Mike Mathieu, founder of the company that created the site’s software.
“What we see is someone calling up a broker and saying ‘I want three bedrooms, two baths, a walkability score of 85, what’ve you got?”‘ Mathieu said.
Type an address, and the site generates a map showing the nearby grocery stores, cafes, movie theaters, schools and parks.
New York received a score of 83, Boston a score of 79.
Scores greater than 70 indicate neighborhoods where it’s possible to get by without owning a car, while scores greater than 90 qualify communities as a “Walker’s Paradise.”
(Reporting by Helen Chernikoff)