Australia refuses to host US nuclear carrier strike group

Ohio-class guided missile submarine USS Michigan (SSGN 727) arrives at HMAS Stirling (file photo).

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/02/254126/australia-turns-away-us-nuclear-carrier/

A Pentagon-commissioned report on repositioning US forces in the region had suggested relocating a carrier from the US East Coast to an Australian naval base south of Perth as part of a shift in the US military’s overseas deployment to the Asia-Pacific region. The report had been drafted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith said on Thursday that Australia's Indian Ocean base, HMAS Stirling would never become a US military base, although, negotiations were underway to increase the US Navy’s access to the outpost.

"We have made it crystal clear from the first moment - we don't have United States military bases in Australia. We don't see the need for that," The Associated Press quoted Smith as saying on Australian Broadcasting Corp. television.

"It's a suggestion by an independent think tank. It's not one we're proposing to take up," he said.

Hugh White, the head of Australian National University's Strategic and Defense Studies Center, said Chinese objections were the major reason why Australia was unlikely to ever allow US bases on its territory.

Venezuela to close consulate in US

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/220972.html

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has ordered the closure of the country's consulate in the US city of Miami amid tensions over the expulsion of Venezuelan Consul General Livia Acosta Noguera.

Chavez said on Friday that the country will close its consulate in Miami, Florida, over the “unjust” and “abusive” removal of Acosta.

"What we are going to do is administratively close the consulate, while we study the situation, because it is unjust, it is abusive, it is immoral, the expulsion of the madame consult," Chavez said in a speech to the national assembly.

He added that Venezuela would not retaliate for the expulsion, nor would it expel a US consul in the country.

"Someone recommended that we needed to expel somebody. No, I said, we are not going to respond like they do. I have no reason to expel any US consul," he said.

On January 8, the US government expelled Acosta Noguera on accusations that she had planned a cyber attack against the US government in 2008.

The expulsion of Acosta is connected to a documentary that alleges the Venezuelan diplomat talked to a Mexican computer expert about the attacks in 2008 when she worked at the Venezuelan Embassy in Mexico.

Russia rejects Iran oil sanctions

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/220529.html

The Russian government has announced it will not join proposed US and European sanctions against Iran's oil sector which aim to prevent the country's crude exports.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Reuters as saying on Wednesday that Moscow opposes US and European oil sanctions against Iran, even if Tehran presses ahead with its nuclear program, including uranium enrichment.

"Regardless of any conditions…be those the conditions in which the Iranian nuclear program expands or others, we are against the application of such measures against Iran," he added.

The Russian deputy foreign minister further noted that new sanctions will do nothing to strengthen nuclear non-proliferation.

Moscow's new announcement comes after the signing of a new law by US President Barack Obama on December 31, 2011, which seeks to impose fresh economic sanctions against Iran's Central Bank and oil sector. The law requires foreign financial firms to make a choice between doing business with Iran's Central Bank and oil sector or with the US financial sector.

The European Union (EU) is also expected to hold its summit meeting later this month on January 23, to discuss proposed embargo on Iran's oil exports.

EU members have so far failed to reach a final agreement on such details as the exact timing of the sanctions and their diplomats say it may take months before sanctions actually enter into force given the critical economic conditions facing European countries.

Venezuela's Chavez: did U.S. give Latin American leaders cancer?

Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/28/us-venezuela-usa-cancer-idUSTRE7BR14I20111228

(Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated on Wednesday that the United States might have developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after Argentina's Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents diagnosed with the disease.

It was a typically controversial statement by Venezuela's socialist leader, who underwent surgery in June to remove a tumor from his pelvis. But he stressed that he was not making any accusations, just thinking aloud.

"It would not be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it until now ... I don't know. I'm just reflecting," he said in a televised speech to troops at a military base.

"But this is very, very, very strange ... it's a bit difficult to explain this, to reason it, including using the law of probabilities."

Chavez, Fernandez, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have all been diagnosed recently with cancer. All of them are leftists.

Doctors say Fernandez has a very good chance of recovery and will not need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Her diagnosis was made public on Tuesday.

Chavez said other regional leaders should beware, including his close ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales.

"We'll have to take good care of Evo. Take care Evo!" he said.

The 57-year-old is Latin America's loudest critic of U.S. foreign policy along with Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro, and he frequently lashes out at what he calls the "Yankee Empire".

CASTRO'S WARNING

"Fidel always told me, 'Chavez take care. These people have developed technology. You are very careless. Take care what you eat, what they give you to eat ... a little needle and they inject you with I don't know what,'" he said.

In his comments on Wednesday, Chavez also slammed Washington and its European allies for criticizing Russia's recent parliamentary elections - and said they were planning the same thing for Venezuela's presidential election in October, when he will seek re-election.

"They are crying fraud and saying the elections need to be re-run ... They're trying to destabilize no less than Russia, a nuclear power. That's the madness of the Empire," Chavez said.

"I say this because here in Venezuela, the Imperial Yankee, the local bourgeoisie, and a good part of what they call the opposition parties here, are preparing a similar plan," he said.

"I call on the armed forces to be alert, on the Venezuelan people to be alert. Because we are not going to let the Imperial Yankee destabilize Venezuela again like they did in the past."

Details about Chavez's health remain a closely guarded secret, although he now appears to be recovering and is making longer and longer televised appearances.

Earlier this month he made his first official foreign trip after his surgery, to a regional summit in Uruguay.

Since his return he has often appeared sporting something of a younger, new look: a dark sports coat over an open-necked maroon shirt, and is hair is growing back after chemotherapy.

It is far cry from the green fatigues and red beret that he became famous for wearing for much of his 13 years in power.

Chavez 'recovering well' after surgery

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (C) is visited by Cuba's President Raul Castro (R) and its revolutionary leader Fidel Castro at a hospital in Havana, June 17, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186383.html

Venezuelan officials have dismissed reports claiming that President Hugo Chavez is in a “critical condition,” telling his enemies to "stop dreaming" of his death.

Chavez has not made a public appearance since June 10, when went to Cuba to have a pelvic swelling removed, Reuters reported.

Due to his absence El Nueva Herald -- the Miami Herald's Spanish-language sister paper -- released a report claiming he is in a worse condition that what Venezuelan officials have so far said.

"President Chavez is recovering well from his surgery. His enemies should stop dreaming and his friends should stop worrying," Vice Foreign Minister Temir Porras said on Saturday.

"The only thing that has metastasized is the cancer of the Miami Herald and the rest of the right-wing press," he added.

However, US officials and opponents of Chaves have claimed that as his government has not yet released a firm report regarding the matter, they might be hiding the “true picture.”

In response, Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua said "The national and international right-wing are going crazy, rubbing their hands together ... even talking about the death of the president," adding that Chaves would soon return.

Pro-government groups have been prepared for days to celebrate Chavez's return to the Miraflores presidential palace in the capital Caracas.

US reports Chavez in 'critical' condition

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/186277.html

Reports, citing 'US intelligence' claim that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in “critical” condition after undergoing an emergency surgery in Cuba on June 10.

Chavez "is in critical condition; not on the brink of death, but critical indeed, and complicated," reported a US-based anti-Cuban Spanish daily El Nuevo Herald.

According to the report, cited by a number of right-wing news outlets in US, Britain and Israel, Chavez's daughter, Rosines, and his mother, Marisabel Rodriguez, “urgently” left Venezuela within the past 72 hours heading to Cuba in an air force plane.

On Wednesday, the Venezuelan president's brother Adan Chavez announced that President Chavez "as officially reported, is recovering well."

He added that it was not clear when his younger brother would return home but noted that the Venezuelan chief executive is expected to leave Cuba within 10 to 12 days.

Chavez underwent unscheduled surgery for a pelvic abscess during his official visit to Cuba and has remained on the Caribbean island since then to recover.

Opponents of the popular president claim that Chavez may have suffered from something more serious, such as cancer.

Pro-government groups, however, have been prepared for days to celebrate Chavez's return to the Miraflores presidential palace in the capital Caracas.

The Venezuelan leader plans to run for re-election in 2012 and serve at least one more six-year term. He has focused on implementing wide-ranging reforms in the country during his tenure as the chief executive.

Venezuela has recently severed relations with the US, following a US move on May 24 to imposed sanctions against Venezuela's giant oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) for supplying Iran with gasoline and other refined oil products.

Venezuela's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, who is also the head of PDVSA, announced on May 25 that Venezuela would continue to maintain good ties with Iran and any other country it wants to, emphasizing that "this is a right we are not going to renounce."

Ever since Chavez was elected into office, the US government has made numerous attempts to incite anti-Chavez revolts in Venezuela and even overthrow the popular president.

US army base transfer in Japan delayed

(L-R) Japan's Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hold a joint press conference at the Department of State June 21, 2011 in Washington।

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/185741.html

The United States and Japan have acknowledged dropping a 2014 deadline for the relocation of an American military base on the Japanese island of Okinawa.

“Completion of the FRF (Futenma Replacement Facility) and the Marine relocation will not meet the previously targeted date of 2014,” the US and Japan said in a joint statement following a high level meeting in Washington on Tuesday.

The meeting involved US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, Reuters reported.

The future of the base has been a major source of friction between the United States and Japan.

Washington and Tokyo agreed in 2006 to shift the US Marines' Futenma airbase in Okinawa to a less crowded area on the island, which is host to about half of the 47,000 US troops in the East Asian country.

But Tokyo has failed to win local backing for its plan to relocate the American base on the island.

Many of Okinawa's residents are demanding the removal of the military base from the island altogether.

Japan hosts some 47,000 US troops under a post-World War Two treaty.

Japan, US drop Okinawa base relocation

US Marines' Futenma airbase in Okinawa, Japan.(file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/178664.html

Japan and the United States have cancelled a formerly-approved plan for relocating the controversial American airbase on Okinawa Island by 2014.

According to Japanese media, Washington and Tokyo will discuss a new timeframe for the relocation of US Marines' Futenma airbase, Reuters reported on Friday.

The issue of US military bases on the southern Japanese island has long strained relations between the two countries. Last year, Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan promised to implement a 2006 agreement to shift the American airbase to a less populated part of Okinawa.

The failure to implement the 2006 deal sustained a hefty blow to Kan's predecessor Yukio Hatoyama, who was forced to resign in 2010 after facing public pressure and outrage over the issue.

The two sides had agreed in 2006 to transfer the facility from the residential district of Ginowan to the coastal and less populated area of Henoko in Nago, Okinawa.

However, that plan is also facing strong opposition from local residents who see the base as a source of crime, accidents and noise.

Former US National Security Adviser James Johns says the best possible choice is the integration of Futenma air base with another US base in Kadena town in southern Okinawa.

Johns said in a Friday meeting in Washington with Mikio Shimoji, secretary general of Japan's ruling party, that the relocation plan was not feasible on account of expected environmental destruction in the area.

'US sends warships, troops to Egypt'

USS Kearsarge warship

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/164038.html

The US is sending warships, including one with 800 troops, and other military assets to Egypt as the revolution in the North African country gains momentum.

Officials in Washington have stated that the move is to be prepared in case of an evacuation of Americans from Egypt.

Pentagon has dismissed widespread assumptions that military intervention in Cairo is being contemplated, asserting that the objective of the deployment is mainly for the evacuation of US citizens in case the situation in Egypt further deteriorates.

Separately, a US aircraft carrier has been asked to abort its mission and stay in the Mediterranean.

The move comes after reports last month that a US Army aviation regiment had been mobilized for deployment to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to back the Multinational Force and Observers overseeing the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.

The recent move comes against the backdrop of deepening political stalemate in Egypt, where swarms of demonstrators are still spilling out into central Cairo's Liberation Square, demanding the ouster of embattled President Hosni Mubarak.

On Sunday, opponents of Mubarak, including Egypt's main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, held negotiations with Vice President Omar Suleiman as part of efforts to extract the country out of its political standoff.

Muslim Brotherhood, however, has discarded the regime's proposed reform plans, asserting that protesters would not accept anything but Mubarak's resignation.

In another development, US President Barack Obama called for a "representative government" in Egypt after government and opposition parties failed to narrow down their differences.

Millions of Egyptians took to the streets on Sunday to honor hundreds of protesters killed during the anti-government rallies of the past 13 days.

According to the United Nations, at least 300 people have so far been killed and thousands more have been injured during nationwide protests in Egypt.

Israel: No more Egypt troops in Sinai

A file photo of an Israeli military convoy along the Egyptian border

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/164075.html

Israel has refused a request by Egyptian authorities for the deployment of additional military forces to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, a report says.

Fearing a complete breakdown of the peace treaty with Cairo, Tel Aviv has for the second time refused Egypt's request for more troops in Sinai, the Israel daily newspaper JPost reported on its website on Monday.

“We do not want it to seem as if the peace treaty is meaningless, particularly at a time when there could be a regime change in Egypt, which could renounce the treaty altogether,” the report quoted an unnamed military official as saying.

According to the source, Israel will not allow a complete breach of the treaty even in the event of regime change in troubled Egypt.

Meanwhile, the US Army's Aviation Regiment recently mobilized for deployment to Sinai in order to back the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) overseeing the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.

The MFO is an international peacekeeping force overseeing the terms of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

Under the 1979 treaty, Israel returned Sinai to Egypt and Cairo agreed to leave the peninsula demilitarized.

The recent revolution protests in Egypt against the embattled President Hosni Mubarak's regime, an Israeli ally, has caused serious concerns in Tel Aviv which fears the instigation of an Islamic establishment in the Arab world's most populous country.

Chavez dares US to cut diplomatic ties

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rejected the nominated US ambassador because of his harsh criticism of Venezuela

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157668.html


Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has dared the United States to cut off diplomatic ties over his opposition to Washington's choice of ambassador.

In a national television broadcast on Tuesday, Chavez said he has no problem with the US wanting to cut off diplomatic relations and expelling Caracas' ambassador to Washington.

Tensions have flared up between the United States and Venezuela since August after US President Barack Obama nominated Larry Palmer as the US new ambassador to Caracas.

But Chavez has insisted that Palmer is not welcome after the diplomat leveled harsh criticism against Venezuela during his US Senate confirmation hearings months ago.

At the time, he had claimed that morale is low in Venezuela's military and also linked Chavez's government to leftist rebels in neighboring Colombian.

His comments fueled a row between Bogota and Caracas.

"We have denied recognition to this gentleman and now the United States government is threatening to retaliate. Well, they can do whatever they want, but this man is not coming," Chavez said.

The Venezuelan president further added that allowing Palmer to enter Venezuela would be an "indignity," because he has no respect for the country he is being sent to.

The US embassy in Caracas has been without an ambassador since Palmer's predecessor finished his term in July.

The US Senate is yet to confirm Palmer's nomination.

Washington has warned that the fragile ties between the two countries could suffer over the dispute.

Poll: US news media trust falling

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138760&sectionid=3510203


A new poll in the United States has shown that three-quarters of Americans do not trust the country's newspapers and television news.

The findings are from Gallup's annual Confidence in Institutions survey published on Friday, which has found that 75 percent of the respondents do not have confidence in newspapers, with 78 percent distrusting television news.

The Gallup surveyed 1,020 people on 16 US institutions and gave an error margin of four percentage points.

The dismal results showed that the American near-record low confidence in news media came ahead of Health Management Organizations and big business.

The survey found the military rated best and US Congress rated worst out of the 16 institutions tested.

Although no more than one-quarter of Americans trust the struggling news media, the greatest confidence in newspapers --49 percent-- ironically came from young people aged 18-29, which Gallup linked to the fact that young people tended to be more confident in institutions in general.

There is a dramatic decline in confidence, however, as Americans get older with only 19 percent of people aged 30-49 trusting newspapers.

Experts say the US media are not gaining new fans as Americans continue to express low confidence in line with a steady slide over the past two decades.

China slams US South Korea naval drills

An aircraft (rear) takes off on the flight deck of the US
nuclear-powered aircraft carrier during the US-South
Korea joint naval and air exercise on the open seas east
of South Korea.



Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138577§ionid=351020404


A senior Chinese official has strongly condemned the second round of joint US-South Korea naval exercises.

Rear Admiral Yang Yi wrote in a commentary published in Friday edition of China Daily that the drills are a fresh provocation "to China and its surrounding region."

He said Washington will pay a "costly price" for its decision to participate in new military exercises near China.

"On the one hand, it wants China to play a role in regional security issues. On the other hand, it is engaging in an increasingly tight encirclement of China and constantly challenging China's core interests," Yang said.

The drills are the second US-South Korean war games recently conducted close to Chinese waters.

In July, the US and South Korea conducted massive joint sea and air drills. Those exercises were also condemned by Beijing.

China has already reduced its military cooperation with the Pentagon over the 6.4-billion-dollar US arms sales to Taiwan. China considers the island as part of its territory.

Seoul says the drills come in response to the North's alleged torpedo attack on a South Korean warship in March, which claims 46 lives.

Pyongyang denies any involvement in the sinking of the warship.

North Korea's military has described the war games as a direct military invasion.

Hamas rejects negotiations with Israel

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137099&sectionid=351020202

Hamas has ruled out any form of negotiations with Israel, saying US-pushed support by Arab leaders cannot legitimize peace talks with Tel Aviv.

"There is no legitimacy for the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations whether they were direct or indirect," Head of Hamas Political Bureau Khaled Meshaal said on Sunday.

"These negotiations took their legitimacy from the Americans and the Israeli pressure," he said during a graduation ceremony for new members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command.

The senior Palestinian leader dismissed the Arab League's backing for direct peace talks, saying it could not give legitimacy for those negotiations "because this cover was imposed and not desired by the Arabs."

Meshaal reiterated the Islamic movement's stance toward Israel and emphasized resistance as the only choice for the Palestinian nation. "It is the way for our pride and dignity," he stressed.

On Thursday, the Arab League's peace process committee in Cairo gave its support to face-to-face peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel when the Palestinians deem the time is right.

This came despite oppositions by the President Authority which, despite US pressure to agree to such talks, has demanded progress in the ongoing US-mediated indirect negotiations before direct talks could resume.

The Middle East peace talks broke down in the wake of Israel's December 2008-January 2009 offensive against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in the populated coastal enclave.

The Palestinian Authority joined the US-sponsored "proximity talks" with Israel in May despite strong opposition from other Palestinian factions.

Obama slams Palestinian protests, rejects Israeli row

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121101§ionid=351020202


US President Barack Obama condemns Palestinian protests in Jerusalem al-Quds over Israeli provocations near al-Aqsa Mosque as 'destructive to peace' while downplaying reported row with the Israeli regime over Tel Aviv's continued settlement expansions, denying reports that US-Israeli ties are in a state of crisis.

In a quick turn of face, under reportedly intense pressure from the wealthy Israeli lobby in the US, Obama, whose top administration officials described Israeli settlement expansion plans as 'insulting and destructive to peace efforts,' rejected tensions with Tel Aviv as 'friendly disagreements' and, instead, denounced the Palestinians for reacting against intimidating Israeli moves to Judaize al-Quds.

"Friends are going to disagree sometimes," said Obama Wednesday in his first official reference to Tel Aviv's plans to erect 1,600 new settlement units near East al-Quds, in grave violation of the regime's past commitments to freeze settlement expansion.

"Israel's one of our closest allies, and we and the Israeli people have a special bond that's not going to go away," Obama reiterated in a rare interview with ultra-conservative Fox News Channel, a prime critic of the Obama Administration.

Last week, Israeli Interior Minister Yishai announced Tel Aviv's green light for the settlement expansion plan while US Vice President Joe Biden toured Israel to supposedly facilitate indirect "proximity talks" between Palestinians and the Tel Aviv regime.

"The actions that were taken by the interior minister in Israel weren't helpful to that process, said Obama.

"There is a disagreement in terms of how we can move this peace process forward, and obviously, when I sent Vice President Biden there it was at a moment where we were trying to restart talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis."

The Israeli decision led to a series of criticism from US officials who described the move by the Tel Aviv regime as offensive, cautioning that the expansions could derail the peace process.

However, critics took the row with some skepticism arguing that it was intended to avert international attention from Israeli "Judiazation" of East al-Quds which hosts a number of major Islamic sanctities, including the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Some 50 Palestinians were wounded on Tuesday, dubbed by Hamas as Palestine's day of rage, as thousands of protesters poured into streets across al-Quds to condemn Tel Aviv's falsification of history and efforts to take away the city's Palestinian and Islamic identity.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, top US commander Gen. David Petraeus described the Arab-Israeli conflict as one of the "root causes of instability" and "obstacle to security" in the Middle East, warning that it would further the anti-American sentiments in the region and limit America's strategic partnerships with Arab governments.

"Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in the [Middle East] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world," he said in a written testimony.

Brazil stresses Iran's role in ME, rejects sanctions

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120712§ionid=351020101


Brazil has highlighted Iran's role in the region, reiterating that Tehran must be part of a solution to any conflict in the Middle East.

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva said in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz that "new ideas" from all key players in the Middle East are needed to resolve issues in the sensitive region including the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"The time has come to bring into the arena players who will be able to put forward new ideas. Those players must have access to all levels of the conflict: in Israel, Palestine, Iran, Syria, Jordan and in many other countries that are associated with this conflict."

"After all, the Middle East conflict is not bilateral and does not pertain only to Israel and Palestine. There are other interests in the Middle East, interests which must be represented so we can find a solution. Iran is part of all this, and therefore someone must talk to them," he added.

Lula's remarks come as Israel is under pressure to stop settlement activities, which are considered the key obstacle to a long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Israel on Friday, saying that its plan to erect new housing units in East Jerusalem Al-Quds has undermined trust and confidence in the so-called peace process.

Israel's settlement activities are in direct violation of international law.

On the Iranian nuclear issue, the Brazilian president, who is scheduled to travel to Iran in May, said he did not favor further sanctions against Tehran.

"Before sanctions of any kind are imposed, we must make every effort to rebuild peace in the Middle East."

Brazil has repeatedly warned that fresh sanctions against Iran would be counterproductive reiterating that diplomacy can still work on the issue.

Iran rejects GCC claim over 3 Persian Gulf islands

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120562§ionid=351020101


Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has rejected a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) statement over its three Persian Gulf islands.

"The baseless claims made by the GCC in Riyadh over the Iranian islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa is a clear interference in Iran's internal affairs," Mehmanparast said on Wednesday.

"The three islands remain an indisputable part of the Iranian territory," he went on to say.

"We have repeatedly said that the slight misunderstanding between Iran and the UAE over Abu Musa is resolvable and the interference of other parties will never help solve the problem," he further explained.

Tehran possesses historical, legal and geographical documents verifying its sovereign right to the islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.

The three Persian Gulf islands were historically owned by Iran but the exercise of colonialism by Britain led to the islands temporarily falling under British control in the 1800s.

The islands were then returned to Iran on November 30th 1971 through a legal process before the state of the United Arab Emirates was created and the Al Nahyan family assumed leadership.

According to international regulations, no state can defy any agreements which had come into being before its creation unless such agreements had been officially declared as null and void by the newly-created state.

Iceland rejects bank payback deal

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/03/201036224143997328.html

Icelanders have rejected a deal to pay Britain and the Netherlands billions for their losses in the collapse of the Icesave bank, the government said after partial referendum results.

Some 93.1 per cent of voters cast ballots opposing the deal, partial results showed after 32 per cent of ballots were ounted, RUV public broadcaster, which compiles all electoral statistics, said.

Only 1.6 per cent of voters so far voted "yes" to the Icesave deal.

"Initial figures indicate clearly that the December amendment to the Icesave legislation of August 2009 will be repealed," the government said in a statement just minutes after polling stations closed.

Icelanders were asked to vote on whether the country should honour an agreement to repay the UK and the Netherlands $5.3 bn.

This would be to compensate them for money they paid to 340,000 of their citizens hit by the collapse of Icesave in 2008.

Observers said an Icelandic refusal to repay the money could block the remaining half of a $2.1bn International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescue package, as well as its EU and euro currency membership talks.

It could also damage Iceland's credit rating and destabilise the government, which negotiated the agreement in the first place.

'Unacceptable' conditions

Magnus Arni Skulason, a founder of the Indefence movement, which is opposed to the repayment deal, said the agreement being voted on was "obtained through coercion, with threats from both the British and the Dutch".

He also noted that most Icelanders felt the demanded 5.5-per cent interest rate was particularly unacceptable.

"You're basically sending the bill to tax payers for the failure of a private bank," he was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

But others argue the referendum is largely redundant as the terms of the repayment plan are already being renegotiated.

Johanna Sigurdardottir, the prime minister, described the referendum as "meaningless," saying she saw no reason to go to the ballot box.

Charlie Parker, a financial analyst with the Citywire website, told Al Jazeera: "When the referendum was originally conceived it was conceived in response to the first offer from Britain and the Netherlands to structure this repayment, of course that has since been revised."

But he also noted that Iceland had some "legitimate grievances", including that the UK and the Netherlands chose to repay all of their citizen's lost savings, even above the standard compensation limits.

"It was the government of Britain and the Netherlands that unilaterally decided they would pay back all the money that savers had invested," Parker said.

"I think Iceland can legitimately say 'if these governments made this decision unilaterally, why have we got to pay out for their largess to their citizens?"

Bank collapse

Jan Randolph, the head of sovereign risk at HIS Global Insight, told Al Jazeera there was no indication Iceland would not repay the debt, but that the referendum was about winning better terms.

"I think the referendum is really about bargaining position. The government will use the 'no' vote to come back to the British and the Dutch and say: 'Look, the people are not behind this, you've got to improve the terms further'."

Iceland's leaders have said they will resume talks to negotiate better terms with London and The Hague after the referendum.

Randolph told Al Jazeera: "The referendum is a chance for the Icelanders to vent their anger - their anger at their government and at Britain for using anti-terror laws to seize Icelandic bank assets, which accelerated the implosion of the banking system."

In the aftermath of the Icesave collapse, the UK invoked so-called anti-terror laws to take control of Landisbanki assets held in Britain. Icesave was the the online arm of Landisbanki.

Israel rejects UN demands over Gaza war report

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118443§ionid=351020202


Israel has rejected United Nations demands of an independent probe into its last year war on the Gaza Strip which claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians.

A senior official in the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday that the report Israel gave UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the investigations it is conducting into Operation Cast Lead earlier this month is sufficient.

“Israel feels the report it gave was a serious, comprehensive, credible and complete answer to the UN secretary-general,” the official said.

“We believe that we conduct credible investigations and that we have procedures in place to investigate these types of matters that are as good as exist in any country in the world,” he added.

Israel's rejection comes as Ban Ki-moon has repeatedly urged Tel Aviv to allow an independent inquiry into the Gaza war.

The United Nations blasted Israel last week for what it called Israel's un-reliable report.

The UN report led by former South African judge Richard Goldstone concluded last September that Israel carried out "deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects" in January-December war on Gaza.

The 575-page UN-ordered report asserts seven incidents in which Palestinian civilians were shot while leaving their homes, trying to run for safety or waving white flags.

In November 2009, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that accuses Israel of war crimes and criminal acts against humanity during the weeks-long onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

US rejects EU diplomacy over Iran N program

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118082§ionid=351020104


Leading US senators Joseph Lieberman and John Kerry inveigh against a top EU official for supporting further diplomatic talks with Iran over its nuclear program.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, the two US officials criticized the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashto who threw her lot with more dialogue over Iran's nuclear program.

The two went on to claim that Iran has been 'explicitly dishonest' over its uranium enrichment and thus does not deserve further dialogue, or diplomacy for that matter.

"Iran comes to the international conference like this and talks in a way that is simply dishonest," said Lieberman, who chairs the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and is known for his pro-Israeli stance on international issues.

Rather than dealing with Iran through diplomatic negotiations, Lieberman asserted that the US should try to deal with the Tehran government through other means.

"Dialogues have being going on for last six years, (and) there are always dialogues," he said. "But the Iranians do not take the chance. I think it simply has to get a tougher economic sanction if any kind of diplomacy is over, and military will never be necessary."

His remarks were instantly backed by John Kerry, the former US presidential candidate who now heads the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.

"We are united in the congress, senate house, the administration and with our allies here in Europe," said Kerry.

This comes as Iran is trying to find a middle ground with the West in swapping its low-enriched uranium with more refined nuclear material for the Tehran research reactor.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki expressed hop on Saturday that an agreement on the nuclear fuel proposal will soon be reached with the Western side, but with the changes that Tehran seeks.

His remarks were largely ignored by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates who has instead insisted on the imposition of fresh sanctions on the country.

Washington accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons and has for years levied sanctions and threatened the country with war scenarios to force the Tehran government into halting its nuclear activities.

Iran which has been under various US sanctions after the Islamic Revolution toppled a US-backed monarch in 1979 rejects the accusations as politically motivated.

Iran's nuclear program was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. After the 1979 Revolution, Western companies working on Iran's program refused to fulfill their obligations even though they had been paid in full.

Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and, unlike some of its regional neighbors, has opened its enrichment plants to UN inspection.