Iran has stockpiled enough uranium for 1-2 nuclear arms ..[ 1707 ]

Iran has material for 1-2 atom bombs: ex-IAEA aide

PARIS | Thu Aug 26, 2010 8:01am EDT

PARIS (Reuters) - Iran has stockpiled enough low-enriched uranium for 1-2 nuclear arms but it would not make sense for it to cross the bomb-making threshold with only this amount, a former top U.N. nuclear official was quoted as saying.

In unusual public remarks about Iran's disputed nuclear programme Olli Heinonen, the former chief of U.N. nuclear inspections worldwide, told Le Monde newspaper that Iran's uranium reserve still represented a "threat."
Until he stepped down earlier this month for personal reasons, Heinonen was deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and head of its nuclear safeguards department, which verifies that countries' nuclear programmes are not being diverted for military use.
A no-nonsense Finn, he was one of the U.N. agency's leading experts on Iran, which denies Western suspicions that its nuclear programme is aimed at making bombs despite intelligence indications to the contrary, which he investigated for years.
 
In the interview published on Thursday, Heinonen said the Islamic Republic now possessed three tonnes of low-enriched uranium, material which can be used to fuel nuclear power plants, or form the core of a bomb if refined much further.
"In theory, it is enough to make one or two nuclear arms. But to reach the final step, when one only has just enough material for two weapons, does not make sense," Heinonen said in the interview carried out just before he left office.
In comments translated from English to French, he suggested this was not sufficient to constitute a serious bargaining chip in any negotiations with the United States, the Islamic Republic's old adversary.
"But this constitutes a ... threat," he said, apparently referring to Iran's LEU stockpile.
Heinonen said the United States estimated that Iran would need a year to convert its low-enriched uranium to higher-grade material, adding that this was a not a "bad estimate."
 
Top Pentagon officials told the U.S. Congress in April that Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a single nuclear weapon in as little as a year -- but would probably need three to five years to assemble, test and deploy it.
World powers hope that new U.N., U.S. and European sanctions imposed on Iran since June will persuade it to enter negotiations on its nuclear programme which the West hopes will lead to a suspension of all uranium enrichment activity.
 

Iran, which says its nuclear work is aimed at generating electricity so that it can export more of its gas and oil, has repeatedly ruled out halting enrichment, while keeping the door open for talks.
 

Heinonen is probably best known for giving a closed-door presentation to diplomats on Iran in 2008 which indicated links between projects to process uranium, test explosives and modify a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.
 

His department's five-year investigation based on Western intelligence funneled to the agency helped harden IAEA concerns that Iran might have worked to develop a nuclear-armed missile and was still doing so.
Tehran says the intelligence is forged and that its atomic work is solely for peaceful purposes.

(Additional reporting by Sylvia Westall and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Russian images, a century ago..[ 1706 ]

Russia in color, a century ago

Click for Photo Gallery / Boston Globe

With images from southern and central Russia in the news lately due to extensive wildfires, I thought it would be interesting to look back in time with this extraordinary collection of color photographs taken between 1909 and 1912.

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NASA Image of the Day Aug 25th..[ 1705]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Hydrogen Sulfide and Dust Plumes on Namibia's Coast

Cloudless skies allowed a clear view of dust and hydrogen sulfide plumes along the coast of Namibia in early August 2010. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image on Aug. 10, 2010. 

Multiple dust plumes blow off the coast toward the ocean, most or all of them probably arising from streambeds. Unlike the reddish-tan sands comprising the dunes directly south of the Kuiseb River, the stream-channel sediments are lighter in color. Wind frequently pushes dust plumes seaward along the Namibian Coast. 

Easterly trade winds blow from the Indian Ocean over the African continent, losing much of their moisture as they go. The winds are hot and dry as they pass over Namibia’s coastal plain, where they are prone to stir fine sediments. 

Even with dust plumes overhead, the marked change in land cover is obvious along the Kuiseb River. South of the river, sand dunes predominate, but the vegetation along the Kuiseb River prevents the dunes from advancing northward. 

North of the river, the land surface consists primarily of gravel plains punctuated by rocky hills. Hydrogen sulfide appears as a swath of irridescent green running parallel to the coast north of Walvis Bay. A 2009 study linked the emissions in this region to ocean currents, biological activity in the water column, and carbon-rich organic sediments under the water column. 

The meeting of hydrogen sulfide gas and oxygen-rich surface waters causes pure sulfur to precipitate into the water. The sulfur’s yellow color makes the water appear green to the satellite sensor. 

Image Credit: NASA

Τετάρτη, 25 Αύγουστος 2010 7:00:00 πμ

Moscow patriarch as mediator..[ 1704 ]

Moscow patriarch to mediate talks to return dead Azerbaijani soldier

TREND///25.08.2010 10:30 

Moscow and All-Russia Patriarch Cyril announced today that he will do his utmost to ensure the return of a dead Azerbaijani soldier from the conflict line. 

Caucasian Muslims Office Chairman Sheikh-ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazade asked the patriarch to help retrieve Mubariz Ibrahimov's body earlier this month, ITAR-TASS reported. 

"I received a letter from the much respected Sheikh-ul-Islam and I will take the necessary steps," Cyril said after meeting with Pashazade. The patriarch added that "this issue, as we know, is not decided in one country. Some talks must be held. Let's see what happens."

Ibrahimov repelled an Armenian attack on June 18. Five Armenian soldiers were killed and three were wounded. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree conferring upon Ibrahimov the posthumous title of national hero on July 22.

President Aliyev also instructed the government to name a public school and a street in the Bilasuvar region after the soldier.

Τhe Mediterranean diet..[ 1703 ]

A prize for Italy’s first love

It is wonderful that the Mediterranean diet could achieve Unesco world heritage status, says Antonio Carluccio .

The Mediterranean diet might soon have the same status as a World Heritage Site Photo: BBC

 

Telegraph co. uk.,By Antonio Carluccio
Published: 7:00AM BST 25 Aug 2010

When a baby is born in Italy, there are several milestones its parents will look forward to: their first steps, their first words, the first tooth taken away by la fatina (the tooth fairy) or il topino (the tooth mouse). And then there is one of the biggest celebrations of all – the moment that a child eats their first meal of spaghetti. At this point we rejoice, for it is the beginning of a long life of glorious eating.

The importance of food in Italy cannot be underestimated. In many cases, we do not eat to live – we live to eat. We do not see a meal as mere fuel to get through the day. Food is about pleasure, and most importantly it is a catalyst for family. We share food together, and through that we share other bits and pieces of our lives.

So it does not surprise me that our Mediterranean diet might soon have the same status as a World Heritage Site – as the Great Wall of China, Stonehenge or the Pyramids. That, by the end of this year, our cuisine of fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, meat and olive oil might be as protected as the Great Barrier Reef, the Statue of Liberty or, indeed, the Dolomites. 

If that sounds bizarre, then let me explain. In 2003, Unesco launched a list of “intangible cultural heritage” that would compliment its vast collection of places of international importance. This strange cultural heritage list safeguards traditions; it already features the tango (Argentina), lace-making (Croatia) and polyphonic singing (Georgia and the Central African Republic). And now Italy is hoping to add to its current tally of Sicilian puppet theatre and Sardinian pastoral songs, by suggesting that Mediterranean cuisine joins the list. 

Italy, along with Greece, Spain and Morocco, first made a submission four years ago, but the proposal was turned down. The countries have now re-submitted it, hoping that by underlining the cultural importance of the diet, our delicious food will make the grade when Unesco meet to discuss the matter in November.
I do hope that we succeed; the Italian passion for food is such that we certainly deserve it. It is hard to imagine Britain ever making such a request, or Unesco sanctioning it (what would be submitted, I wonder: baked beans, egg-and-bacon butties?). In Britain, despite the proliferation of delicatessens, the huge amount of fabulous restaurants and chefs, a curiously old-fashioned mentality regarding food remains: it is a commodity, something to sustain us. 

It was the cookery writer Elizabeth David who exported our cuisine to Britain, with the publication in 1954 of her book Italian Food (Evelyn Waugh remarked that it was one of his favourite books of the year). At the time you could only buy olive oil in chemists, where it was sold as a remedy for earache - it is remarkable to think of this given the varieties you can now buy in any British supermarket. 

David’s aim was to get readers to eat true Italian food, and not strange British versions of it (she wrote of her frustration at seeing “a recipe for a risotto made with twice-cooked Patna rice and a tin of tomato soup.” Meanwhile: “A crumpet or a made-up scone mix spread with tomato purée and a slice of processed cheese turns up regularly as a Neopolitan pizza”). 

Yet it still surprises me what passes for “Italian” food. The first time I ate spaghetti bolognese in this country, I sent it back to the kitchen – real bolognese is simply meat, tomato sauce, onions, wine and vegetables, served with tagliatelle, not oodles of garlic and spaghetti (in Italy we have over 600 types of pasta, all of which go with certain sauces). And what some people have done to the pizza - deep pan! Pineapples on them! Horrendous!
In Italy, the onus is on fresh, seasonal food – fruit and vegetables are as important to us, if not more so, than meat and vegetables. Ask yourself, what would you prefer? A ripe peach that is free from your garden, or one that has been sitting in a box in a supermarket, having flown many miles to be there?
We enjoy eating, but we eat sensibly, in moderation. Despite our obsession with food, we have low levels of obesity. If only this country was as obsessed. I look at real British food, and what this country has on offer – the game, the local fish, the vegetables – and I think that, if all that was developed, Britain could easily have cuisine as good as Italy.