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SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012 PAGE 5A
Iran proposes new nuclear talks
B R I E F
The U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany have been called to return to negotiations. By ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press
AP PHOTO
Prayers for the new year
Pope Benedict XVI displays the Eucharist as he celebrates a New Year’s Eve vespers service in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday. The Pontiff marked the end of 2011 with prayers of thanks and said humanity awaits the new year with apprehension but also with hope.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said Saturday it has proposed a new round of talks on its nuclear program with six world powers that have been trying for years to persuade Tehran to freeze aspects of its atomic work that could provide a possible pathway to weapons production. The country’s top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said he has formally called on the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to return to negotiations. The invitation comes after new sanctions recently imposed by the West over Tehran’s enrichment of uranium, a process that produces fuel for reactors
but which can also be used in making nuclear weapons. Iran insists it only has peaceful intentions, while the U.S. and many of its European allies suspect Iran of aiming to use a civilian nuclear energy program as a cover for developing a weapons capability. The last round of negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany was held in January in Istanbul, Turkey, but it ended in failure. “We formally declared to them (the intent) to return to the path of dialogue for cooperation,” Jalili told Iranian diplomats in Tehran, according to the official IRNA news agency. Jalili did not say when or through what channel he issued the invitation. Iran’s ambassador to Germany, Ali Reza Sheikh Attar, said earlier Saturday that Jalili was to send a letter soon to EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to arrange a new round of talks. A spokesman for Ashton said she had
AP PHOTO
An Iranian navy boat fires a missile in a drill in the sea of Oman, on Friday.
not yet received any new communication from Iran. “As she has made clear in her statements on behalf of the (six nations), we continue to pursue our twin-track approach and are open for meaningful discussions on confidence-building measures, without preconditions from the Iranian side,” said the spokesman, Michael Mann.
The Iranian announcement was the latest signal from Tehran that the country is feeling the impact of international sanctions. The U.N. has imposed four rounds of sanctions. Separately, the U.S. and the European Union have imposed their own tough economic and financial penalties.
Defense bill wins OK from Obama
LOS ANGELES
Links sought in car blazes
everal more cars burned in suspected arson attacks in the Los Angeles S area early Saturday morning, and au-
thorities investigated if they were connected to nearly two dozen deliberately set blazes a day earlier, police said. Seven or eight cars burned Saturday in the North Hollywood area, said officer Robert Collier. He said he didn’t have further details of the blazes, but said arson is suspected and there could be a link to the earlier blazes. Fire officials said the first report came in shortly after midnight, and the most recent about three hours later. Early Friday morning, fires were reported in nearly two dozen locations in Hollywood and the neighboring city of West Hollywood during a four-hour period before dawn. In nearly every case, the fire started in a parked car.
President forced changes, but still says he has reservations. By JULIE PACE Associated Press
WASHINGTON
US to sell missiles to UAE
The United States has reached a deal to sell $3.48 billion worth of missiles and related technology to its close Mideast ally, the United Arab Emirates. Pentagon spokesman George Little announced the Christmas Day sale on Friday night. He notes that the U.S. and U.A.E. have a strong defense relationship and are both interested in “a secure and stable” Persian Gulf region. The deal includes 96 missiles, along with supporting technology and training support that Little says will bolster the nation’s missile defense capacity. Wary of Iran, the U.S. has been building up missile defenses of its allies, including a $1.7 billion deal to upgrade Saudi Arabia’s Patriot missiles and the sale of 209 Patriot missiles to Kuwait, valued at about $900 million. MEXICO CITY
Cartel entering Guatemala
Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa drug cartel appears to be extending its massive production of methamphetamine into neighboring Guatemala, as hundreds of tons of precursor chemicals stream into the Central American nation. While Mexico is usually estimated to be the main supplier of meth used in the United States, seizure data suggest that neighboring Guatemala could in fact be producing as much or more. That data, along with interviews with U.S. and Guatemalan officials, also indicate that Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is taking advantage of Guatemala’s remote, isolated mountains and an alliance with a key Guatemalan trafficker to make the Central American nation a new international meth production base. LEXINGTON, N.C.
Big bill brings trouble
Do you have change for a milliondollar bill? Police say a North Carolina man insisted his million-dollar note was real when he was buying $476 worth of items at a Walmart. Investigators told the Winston-Salem Journal that 53-year-old Michael Fuller tried to buy a vacuum cleaner, a microwave oven and other items. Store employees called police after his insistence that the bill was legit, and Fuller was arrested. The largest bill in circulation is $100. The government stopped making bills of up to $10,000 in 1969. Fuller was charged with attempting to obtain property by false pretense and uttering a forged instrument.
AP PHOTO
Yemeni soldiers and officers march during a rally demanding reforms and dismissal of a senior official over alleged corruption in Taiz, Yemen, Saturday. Arabic on the banners, center, reads, ‘take from me the rifle and give me the civil state,’ and at right, ‘with our standing against corruption, we will build army to protect the country.’
Outgoing president staying in Yemen
President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s change rising against Saleh’s In recent the past year. weeks, the of decision is an apparent attempt to rule Hundreds of thouunrest has salvage his control over the regime. sands of Yemenis marched in the streets expanded with of Sanaa and other ci- strikes breakties on Saturday, deBy AHMED AL-HAJ manding that Saleh be ing out. Associated Press SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s outgoing president decided to stay in the country, reversing plans to leave, his ruling party said Saturday, in an apparent attempt to salvage his control over the regime, which has appeared to unravel in the face of internal revolts and relentless street protests. In a sign of the fraying, the son and nephew of President Ali Abdullah Saleh launched a crackdown on suspected dissidents within the ranks of the elite security services they command, officials within the services said. The Republic Guard, led by the son, and Central Security, led by the nephew, have been the main forces used in trying to suppress the up-
put on trial for the deaths of protesters killed in the crackdown since February. “We will not let you escape,” protesters chanted, holding up posters of the president with a noose around his neck. Saleh signed a power transfer agreement in early November that was meant to ease him out of power after nearly 33 years of rule in hopes of calming the turmoil that has shaken this impoverished Arab nation for months. Under the accord, Saleh handed over all his authorities to his vice president and committed to step down formally once parliament grants him immunity from prosecution. But opponents say he has tried since then to maintain his influence through
loyalists in his ruling party and through the security forces commanded by his family. His People’s Congress Party retains considerable power as part of a power-sharing government with the opposition, and critics say it has worked to undermine Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Meanwhile, protests have swelled after organizers rejected the accord because of the provision granting Saleh immunity. In recent weeks, the unrest has expanded with strikes breaking out within multiple government institutions and within units of the regular military demanding the removal of Saleh loyalists. Hundreds of men in military uniform marched on Saturday through the southern city of Taiz, a center of the uprising, calling for trials of top commanders over the killings of protesters. Some renegade units in other parts of the military have even locked their commanders out of military installations and demanded the removal of officers accused of corruption or involvement in the deadly crackdown.
Moon countdown: NASA probe enters lunar orbit The Grail spacecraft, which won’t land on the surface, will measure lunar gravity from orbit. By ALICIA CHANG AP Science Writer
PASADENA, Calif. — A NASA spacecraft fired its engine and slipped into orbit around the moon Saturday in the first of two back-to-back arrivals over the New Year’s weekend. Ground controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory erupted in cheers and applause after receiving a signal that the probe was healthy and circling the moon. An engineer was seen on closed-
circuit television blowing a noisemaker to herald the New Year’s Eve arrival. “This is great, a big relief,” deputy project scientist Sami Asmar told a roomful of family and friends who gathered at the NASA center to watch the drama unfold. The celebration was brief. Despite the successful maneuver, the work was not over. Its twin still had to enter lunar orbit on New Year’s Day. The Grail probes — short for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory — have been cruising independently toward their destination since launching in September aboard the same rocket on a mission to measure lunar gravity. Hours before Earth revelers counted down the new year, Grail-A flew over the south pole and slowed itself to get cap-
tured into orbit. Deep space antennas in the California desert and Madrid tracked every move and fed real-time updates to ground controllers. Grail is the 110th mission to target the moon since the dawn of the Space Age including the six Apollo moon landings that put 12 astronauts on the surface. Despite the attention the moon has received, scientists don’t know everything about Earth’s nearest neighbor. Why the moon is ever so slightly lopsided with the far side more mountainous than the side that always faces Earth remains a mystery. A theory put forth earlier this year suggested that Earth once had two moons that collided early in the solar system’s history, producing the hummocky region.
HONOLULU — President Barack Obama signed a wideranging defense bill into law Saturday despite having “serious reservations” about provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists. The bill also applies penalties against Iran’s central bank in an effort to hamper Tehran’s ability to fund its nuclear enrichment program. The Obama administration is looking to soften the impact of those penalties because of con- Obama cerns that they could lead to a spike in global oil prices or cause economic hardship on U.S. allies that import petroleum from Iran. In a statement accompanying his signature, the president chastised some lawmakers for what he contended was their attempts to use the bill to restrict the ability of counterterrorism officials to protect the country. Among the changes the administration secured was striking a provision that would have eliminated executive branch authority to use civilian courts for trying terrorism cases against foreign nationals. The new law now requires military custody for any suspect who is a member of al-Qaida or “associated forces” and involved in planning or attempting to carry out an attack on the United States or its coalition partners. The president or a designated subordinate may waive the military custody requirement by certifying to Congress that such a move is in the interest of national security. The administration also pushed Congress to change a provision that would have denied U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism the right to trial and could have subjected them to indefinite detention. Lawmakers eventually dropped the military custody requirement for U.S. citizens or lawful U.S. residents.
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