Iran reached nuclear agreement [ 3181 ]

Iran and six world powers reached a breakthrough agreement early on Sunday to curb Tehran's nuclear...

Monday / 24 November 2013 // .euronews.com


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Iran and six world powers reached a breakthrough agreement early on Sunday to curb Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for limited sanctions relief, in a first step towards resolving a dangerous decade-old standoff.

The agreement between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia was nailed down after more than four days of tortuous negotiations in the Swiss city of Geneva.

As part of the six-month interim deal, Iran will get access to the equivalent of 3.1 billion euros in foreign exchange and has committed to halting uranium enrichment above five percent.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has been coordinating talks with Iran on behalf of the major powers, said it created time and space for talks aimed at reaching a comprehensive solution to the dispute.

In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama said that if Iran did not meet its commitments during a six-month period, the United States would turn off sanctions relief and "ratchet up the pressure."

"Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure - a future in which we can verify that Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful, and that it cannot build a nuclear weapon. While today's announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal. For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the process of the Iranian nuclear programme, and key parts of the programme will be rolled back. Iran had committed to halting certain levels of enrichment and neutralising part of its stockpile," said the president.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that an agreement between Iran and major powers would make it harder for Iran to make a dash to build a nuclear weapon and would make Israel and other U.S. allies safer.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu's government denounced the agreement as "a bad deal" that Israel did not regard itself as bound by.
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Latvia store collapse..[ 3180 ]

Latvia store collapse: Deaths rise as Riga rescue continues

Riga resident Gatis Smagars: "Bags of soil and cobblestones piled on roof"

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BBC /   22 November 2013 Last updated at 14:35 GMT

At least 45 people have been killed when the roof of a supermarket collapsed in the Latvian capital Riga.

Rescue efforts are continuing and police have launched a criminal investigation.
Three of those killed were emergency workers who were helping people trapped when more of the roof came down.
The number of deaths makes this the former Soviet republic's worst disaster since the country became independent in 1991.
Police say they expect the number to rise further.
It is unclear how many more people could still be inside.

Relatives were being asked to help find victims by ringing their phones

The cause of the collapse is unclear although reports say a garden was being constructed on the roof at the time.
British pilot Paul Tribble, 27, was shopping in the store with his partner Elizabeth when the roof fell in.
"I was taken down by shelving falling on me, which skimmed my shoulder and forced me to the ground but I was still able to move," he told the BBC.
"There were torrents of water coming down off the roof. We headed into the back of the supermarket, the aisles were covered in produce and concrete and people lying on the floor."
Mr Tribble said a crane had been loading sand and building materials onto the roof for the past few weeks. He said he believed a lack of drainage following heavy rains had contributed to the fall.
"The police have started the investigation already," said Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis after visiting the scene.
"The criminal process has started about violating building standards."
Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis told Latvian TV it was "clear" there had been a problem meeting building regulations.

 

The store was said to have been busy when the roof fell in

 

This photo was taken in the immediate aftermath of the collapse by a local resident

People have been waiting for news at the scene

 

A view from a nearby building revealed the extent of the damage

Latvian rescue services spokeswoman Viktorija Sembele said three firefighters were among those killed.
"We do not know the number of people who are still inside," she told the BBC.
She said people were being asked to call the mobile phones of relatives feared missing to help rescuers find them in the rubble.
More than 34 people were injured, 28 of whom were treated in hospital.
TV footage showed rescue workers using mechanical cutters to clear debris from the single-storey concrete and glass building. Cranes were brought in to remove slabs of concrete.
More than 60 soldiers were helping the rescue effort, the army said on its official Twitter feed.
The initial collapse happened just before 18:00 (16:00 GMT) on Thursday, when the store was busy with customers.
Walls and windows also crumbled, leaving the shell of the building piled with rubble, witnesses said.
About 20 minutes later another part of the roof caved in, trapping rescue workers who were trying to reach survivors.
Dangerous work The rescue services believe a total of about 500sq m (5,300sq ft) of roof caved in, according to reports.
Witnesses said customers tried to run out after the first part of the roof collapsed but the supermarket's electronic doors closed, trapping them inside.
Leta news agency said the collapse represented the largest loss of life from a disaster since the restoration of independence in 1991, worse than a fire at a nursing home in 2007 that killed 25.

Normunds Plegermanis, deputy head of rescue services, said emergency teams faced difficult conditions at the supermarket.
"Falls are happening from time to time... it is very dangerous to work inside," he said.
Local media said the store, part of the Maxima retail chain, had been awarded a national architecture prize when it was completed in 2011.
The reason for the collapse is not known. Some have blamed the weight of soil being used to plant a winter garden on the supermarket's roof.

Mars Probe Launch Over the Moon ..[ 3179 ]

Picture-Perfect' Mars Probe Launch Has NASA Over the Moon

by Miriam Kramer, Staff Writer   |   November 18, 2013 06:20pm ET-//Space.com

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft launches aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1:28 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls View full size image

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Scientists and NASA officials are euphoric today (Nov. 18) after the smooth launch of the space agency's next Mars probe, which is now streaking toward a date with the Red Planet in September 2014.
The Atlas 5 rocket carrying the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft (MAVEN) launched on time and in spectacular fashion from here at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rocket roared to life at 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT) today, leaving car alarms blaring in its wake. The MAVEN probe was released into space a little more than 50 minutes later.
Today's launch felt especially good for MAVEN principal investigator Bruce Jakosky, who has been working on the mission to study Mars' upper atmosphere for the past decade. [Photos from NASA's MAVEN Launch to Mars]

"After 10 years of doing this, I don't have the words to describe what I’m feeling," Jakosky, of the University of Colorado, Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, told the press during a post-launch news conference today. "It's every possible emotion, but they're all positive. This is about the most exciting thing I can imagine happening, and this day has been picture-perfect from beginning to end."

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft lifts off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster from Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Nov. 18, 2013.
Credit: collectSPACE.com/Robert Z. Pearlman

View full size image

Best wishes to MAVEN
Before launch, an astronaut in space wished MAVEN luck on its mission to the Red Planet.
"Understanding the Red Planet's atmosphere is essential to NASA's goal of safely sending humans there one day," NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins said from aboard the International Space Station. "From the International Space Station, best wishes for a fabulous mission."
MAVEN is now on a 10-month journey to Mars, with arrival slated for Sept. 22, 2014. Once the probe gets into orbit around the Red Planet, it will peer deeply into the upper part of Mars' atmosphere from a highly elliptical orbit.
MAVEN is designed to try to solve the mystery of how the Red Planet lost its atmosphere to space by understanding the processes spurring the escape of volatile gases today. Scientists think that ancient Mars was probably a wet and warm world much like Earth, but the sun and other factors caused the planet to lose most of its atmosphere, turning the planet into a cold, dry desert.
"What a Monday at the office," David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said today. "You build something to go to Mars, and we're now flying to Mars today. Maybe I'm not showing it, but I'm euphoric."

Relay to Mars
Along with its eight scientific instruments, MAVEN also has the ability to help relay data from NASA's two currently operational Mars rovers — Opportunity and the 1-ton Curiosity rover — to their ground controllers on Earth.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey and the European Space Agency's Mars Express are already active in orbit around Mars.
"MAVEN joins our orbiters and rovers already at Mars to explore yet another facet of the Red Planet and prepare for human missions there by the 2030s," NASA chief Charlie Bolden said in a statement. "This mission is part of an integrated and strategic exploration program that is uncovering the mysteries of the solar system and enabling us to reach farther destinations."
The Indian space agency's first mission to Mars — launched on Nov. 5 — could also join the other probes in orbit as soon as Sept. 24, 2014, two days after MAVEN is scheduled to arrive in orbit.
On time, under budget
Because MAVEN launched on time, the $671 million mission actually came in under budget, NASA officials said.
"It's my projection that they will be under," said Jim Green, NASA's planetary science division director. "We haven't paid all of the bills … In the long run, we do anticipate that they will be under budget. They certainly won't exceed their $671 million tab, and for that, we're grateful for it. What will happen next, of course, is how that funding — if there is any that's left — will be used within the program itself."
Visit SPACE.com for the latest MAVEN news, photos and videos. You can also follow MAVEN coverage through the Mission Status Center at SPACE.com's partner, Spaceflight Now.
Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

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A fake bomb...[ 3178 ]

Turkish police subdue man with fake bomb

November 21, 2013 - Updated 1757 PKT // From Web Edition

ANKARA: Turkish police on Thursday subdued a man who arrived near Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office in the capital Ankara carrying a fake bomb, an official said.

Police fired two warning shots before overpowering the suspect and arresting him, said an aide to the prime minister. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without authorization.

Erdogan was not in his office at the time and no one was injured by the gunfire, the aide said.

The 53-year-old man, identified as Tugrul B., was carrying a device made to look like a bomb, the official said. The suspect was being questioned and the motive for his action was not immediately known.

Private NTV television, quoting unidentified officials, said the man had credit card debts and wanted to draw attention to his plight.

Initial news reports had said police had shot and wounded a suspected of being a suicide bomber. (AP)

Targeting the Iranian Embassy in Beirut ..[ 3177 ]

Iranian Embassy targeted in Beirut bombings; diplomat among dead

A Lebanese man runs in front of a burned car at the scene where two explosions occurred near the Iranian Embassy, killing at least 20 and injuring scores more. (Hussein Malla / Associated Press / November 19, 2013) -

Los Angeles Times / By Patrick J. McDonnell

November 19, 2013, 2:12 a.m.
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BEIRUT -- A pair of explosions apparently targeting the Iranian Embassy rocked a southern Beirut neighborhood early Tuesday, leaving at least 20 dead, including an Iranian diplomat, and close to 100 injured, authorities said.The casualty count was expected to rise.
The attacks appeared to be the latest spillover of violence from neighboring Syria, where a civil war has been raging for more than two years. Iran is a major ally of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
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[Updated, 4:52 a.m. PST Nov. 19: In a series of posts on Twitter, an Al Qaeda-linked faction known as the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s twin blasts outside the embassy.
The group, based in Lebanon, described the incident as a double-suicide attack and demanded the release of prisoners from Lebanese jails and the withdrawal of Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based political and military organization, from Syria.]
Official Iranian media reported that among those killed was Ebrahim Ansari, Iran’s cultural attache to Lebanon.
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Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, was reported to be safe and was offered condolences by Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, who condemned the attack.
The blasts were the work of a pair of suicide bombers, one who detonated a payload while on foot and another while in a car, Lebanon's national news agency said.
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At the chaotic scene, ambulances were taking away casualties as residents manned hoses to put out several fires. Television images from the area showed cars ablaze, heavily damaged buildings, charred bodies on the ground and dark smoke rising into the sky.
Hospitals in the area put out appeals for blood, local media reported.
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The explosions took place in the Jnah district, where the Iranian Embassy is situated, along with several Iranian media outlets. Initial reports indicated that the embassy was the likely target. One report said that the car bomb went off about 10 yards from the embassy building.
The area near the embassy is heavily guarded, and the explosions would appear to indicate a major security breech.
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Analysts immediately linked the blasts to the war raging in neighboring Syria, which has deeply divided Lebanon along sectarian lines, between supporters and opponents of the government of Assad. Throughout the region, the Syrian conflict has heightened tensions between adherents of Islam’s two major branches, Shiite and Sunni.
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Shiite Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, are key supporters of the Syrian government, and Hezbollah has dispatched fighters to assist Assad’s forces. Other Lebanese factions back the mostly Sunni Muslim armed rebellion seeking to overthrow the more than four-decade rule of the Assad family, who are members of the Alawite sect, regarded as a Shiite offshoot.
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Just last week, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said that the group would continue to send its militiamen to Syria to fight alongside government forces. The announcement drew condemnation from anti-Assad groups in Lebanon and Syria.
Lebanese officials, keen to avoid their nation being drawn into Syria’s civil war, have declared a policy of neutrality in the conflict. Many in Lebanon fear the Syrian war could destabilize Lebanon’s fragile, multi-sectarian democracy, still brittle following Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990.
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The bombings occurred as Syrian forces appear to be mounting major counterattacks against rebel positions throughout Syria, including opposition strongholds near the Lebanese border. Several thousand Syrians fleeing the fighting escaped last week to Lebanon, which is already home to nearly 1 million refugees from Syria.
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The blasts were the latest to hit Lebanon, which has been the site of a number of attacks linked to the Syrian conflict.
Last summer, a powerful car bomb killed more than two dozen people and injured hundreds in a southern Beirut neighborhood where Hezbollah is heavily supported. Hezbollah blamed militants fighting in Syria for the attack.