Morning Shinbun Thursday September 16

Ahmadinejad: Iran justified in barring nuclear inspectors

Iranian leader also tells NBC his nation does not need U.S. ‘whatsoever’

NBC News  

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told NBC News on Wednesday that his country was justified in barring further visits by U.N. atomic inspectors and challenged other nations to fully disclose their nuclear activities.

He also rebuffed the threat of new sanctions: “Our nation does not need the United States

More world news

Ahmadinejad: Iran justified in barring nuclear inspectors

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tells NBC News that his country was justified in barring further visits by U.N. atomic inspectors and says more sanctions won’t hurt Iran. Full story

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whatsoever,” he told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell in Tehran.

Pope Benedict XVI set to begin controversial state visit to Britain

 

By Anthony Faiola

Washington Post Foreign Service

Wednesday, September 15, 2010; 11:43 PM

LONDON – The first state visit by a pope to Britain, a country that unceremoniously broke with the Vatican over Henry VIII’s divorce in the 16th century, seemed doomed to controversy from the start. Months before Pope Benedict XVI’s scheduled arrival Thursday, a memo making the rounds at the British Foreign Office suggested that he be invited to preside over a same-sex marriage and visit an abortion clinic while in town

USA

Poll Suggests Opportunities for Both Parties in Midterms



By JEFF ZELENY and MEGAN THEE-BRENAN

Published: September 15, 2010  

Republicans are heading into the general election phase of the midterm campaign backed by two powerful currents: the highest proportion of voters in two decades say it is time for their own member of Congress to be replaced, and Americans are expressing widespread dissatisfaction with President Obama’s leadership.

But the latest New York Times/CBS News poll also finds that while voters rate the performance of Democrats negatively, they view Republicans as even worse, providing a potential opening for Democrats to make a last-ditch case for keeping their hold on power.

An American innovation in light bulbs, but will manufacturing stay in the U.S.?

 

By Peter Whoriskey

Washington Post Staff Writer

IN SATELLITE BEACH, FLA. During the depths of the night, Fred Maxik is often struck by an idea for building a better light bulb. When that happens, he rolls over and scrawls a diagram or a few words on the wall beside his bed with an indelible black marker, a practice his wife tolerates because he offers to repaint their room every six months.

“I don’t want to lose the thought,” says the graying, pony-tailed inventor.

Now, in a coup for Maxik and the company here he founded, the object of those pre-dawn inspirations is going on sale at Home Depot, the nation’s largest lighting retailer

Europe

Wasteland: Europe stalked by spectre of mass unemployment

Rise in UK claimants prompts calls for rethink in austerity plans

By Alistair Dawber Thursday, 16 September 2010

The UK’s fragile economic recovery was exposed yesterday by disappointing employment figures and an unexpected rise in the number of people claiming unemployment benefits.

The claimant count, which measures the number of people claiming jobseekers’ allowance, increased by 2,300 in August, the first rise since December last year, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics. The jump confounded City forecasts, which had pointed to further declines – and will alarm policy makers, coming as it does in the wake of this week’s IMF warning that Europe risks becoming an employment “wasteland” in which joblessness threatens entire societies.

Sarkozy suggests Roma ‘should be sent to Luxembourg’

Nicolas Sarkozy has sparked a bitter EU row by suggesting that the European Commissioner who compared his Roma policy to Nazi deportations should offer to host expelled gipsies in her native country of Luxembourg.  

By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels

Published: 1:05AM BST 16 Sep 2010  

Luxembourg reacted with fury as the heated row threatened to engulf the meeting of EU leaders.

“I know that Nicolas Sarkozy has problems with Luxembourgers, but he’s gone too far here,” said Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s foreign minister.

France has lashed out at Viviane Reding, a Luxembourger and the EU’s justice commissioner, who on Tuesday threatened legal action and described Mr Sarkozy’s treatment of Roma as a “disgrace” that reminded her of Second World War round ups of gipsies and Jews.

“For Nicolas Sarkozy to amalgamate the commissioner’s nationality and Luxembourg is malevolent. She was not talking for Luxembourg and did not take instructions from Luxembourg,” said Mr Asselborn.

Middle East

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani denies torture claims on Iranian TV

Iranian woman facing death by stoning gives new interview amid claims previous confession was forced

Saeed Kamali Dehghan

The Guardian, Thursday 16 September 2010

The Iranian woman facing death by stoning after being convicted for adultery appeared on the Islamic republic’s state TV channel last night to say she has not been whipped or tortured.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose stoning sentence was suspended in July, was allegedly given 99 lashes on 2 September after the Times ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as her, her lawyer said at the time.

Gaza militants launch rocket attacks in effort to derail peace talks



By Catrina Stewart in Jerusalem Thursday, 16 September 2010

Short-range rockets and mortars rained on southern Israel yesterday as militants sought to derail the revived peace process on the second day of talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Militants in Gaza, the coastal enclave controlled by Hamas, fired at least nine projectiles into Israel, causing no injuries. Israel responded with an air strike on Gaza, killing a 23-year-old Palestinian man.

The upsurge in attacks came during talks in Jerusalem, where Washington is pushing for a breakthrough in the peace process, launched a fortnight ago after nearly two years of stalled negotiations.

Asia

Zardari offers more intelligence to Afghanistan Tahir Khan

 

The Frontier Post

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday offered more intelligence to neighbouring to check the activities of the militants and ensure peace and security in the two countries and the regions. Zardari made the offer to his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai who arrived in Islamabad on a 2-day visit for talks on security issues and to enhance cooperation against terrorism. “We need more security cooperation between our intelligence and their intelligence, which Pakistan is willing to offer,” Zardari said at a joint press conference with President Karzai after they met in Islamabad. “We talked about future of our coming generations. I am hopeful that we will be able to see their share dream of betterment of Pakistanis and Afghans,” he said.

How North Korea was lost – to China  



By Aidan Foster-Carter  

Who lost North Korea? The question may sound odd, even impertinent. It carries echoes of a similar question that was bruited next door, 60 years ago, when North Korea was new.

Then, the question was: Who lost China? That was how some in the United States put it. They were anguished and angry that their man, Chiang Kai-shek, had unaccountably been chased off the mainland by an unknown communist upstart called Mao Zedong. In the emerging Cold War, which rapidly dissolved the pre-1945 anti-fascist global alliance, the world’s most populous nation had in this view fallen on the wrong side of the fence. USSR 1, USA 0 – or so it seemed.

Africa

Guinea postpones presidential election run-off

 Guinean authorities have postponed a presidential election run-off, casting doubts on the West African state’s bid to return to civilian rule  

Published: 12:55AM BST 16 Sep 2010

Street battles left one dead and 50 injured this week as rival political camps traded accusations of attempted vote-rigging, while turmoil within the election body itself had made a delay to Sunday’s poll look increasingly inevitable.

Election officials emerging from hours of talks in the capital Conakry blamed the postponement on a lack of necessary voting equipment and said it could take up to two weeks for arrangements to be in place.

“This is a hope that has been unfulfilled, an important opportunity that has gone by the wayside,” said junta leader Sekouba Konate, who has won international plaudits for his decision to relinquish power.

Copenhagen climate change summit effort fruitless, says Kibaki



THURSDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:00  

KENYAN President Mwai Kibaki has urged parliamentarians from the 54 Commonwealth countries to lobby their respective governments to urgently consider passing a new climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.

The Kenyan leader, who addressed the opening session of the 56th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) in Nairobi, according to the Pan-African News Agency (PANA), called the December 2009 UN Climate Change Summit in the Danish capital, Copenhagen “an effort in vain.”

“Climate change continues to threaten our environment. The Denmark conference ended in vain,” Kibaki said.

Latin America

High security alert for Mexico bicentennial

Mexico is celebrating the bicentennial of its independence with parties across the country.

The BBC  16 September 2010

However, security is high in many regions, with some towns and cities cancelling or cutting back festivities amid fears of drug cartel violence.

The celebrations mark the 1810 uprising that paved the way for the end of Spanish rule in 1821.

Wednesday’s show of concerts, parades and fireworks in Mexico City is said to be the largest of its kind in Mexico.

‘Living in fear’

The festivities in the capital kicked off with a group of shamans dressed in white robes and feathers carrying out a pre-Hispanic fire ritual.

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