Iran makes new nuclear offer, US ready to listen

TEHRAN, Feb 3 – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pic) said on Tuesday Iran was ready to send its enriched uranium abroad in exchange for nuclear fuel, and a US official said Washington was prepared to listen if Iran was making a new offer to break an impasse over its disputed nuclear programme.

The president appeared for the first time to drop long-standing conditions Tehran had set for accepting a UN-brokered proposal that the West hopes will stop enriched uranium being used to build atomic bombs in Iran.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has brokered the proposed plan under which Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, would send its low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for more highly enriched fuel for a medical research reactor.

“We have no problem sending our enriched uranium abroad,” Ahmadinejad told state television.

“We say: we will give you our 3.5 per cent enriched uranium and will get the fuel. It may take 4 to 5 months until we get the fuel.

“If we send our enriched uranium abroad and then they do not give us the 20 per cent enriched fuel for our reactor, we are capable of producing it inside Iran,” he said.

In Washington, a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “If Iran has something new to say, we are prepared to listen.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the uranium could be exchanged in Turkey, Brazil or Japan if agreement is reached.

Iran has faced intense Western pressure, under threat of new sanctions, to implement the plan and Ahmadinejad’s words came with both conciliatory international gestures and uncompromising moves to crack down on opposition protesters at home.

The president offered to swap three detained US citizens charged with spying for jailed Iranians in the United States. At the same time, Iran said it would hang nine more rioters over unrest following a disputed presidential vote last June.

US Vice President Joe Biden said Iran’s leaders were “sowing the seeds of their own destruction” through their harsh crackdown on anti-government unrest.

Western powers accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian enrichment programme that Tehran says will fuel a future network of nuclear power plants so it can export more oil and gas.

Ahmadinejad’s statement on the nuclear issue – on which Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word – was apparently the first time a top official had publicly accepted exchanging low-enriched uranium for nuclear medicine fuel off Iranian soil.

“We made a good faith and balanced offer regarding the Tehran research reactor,” White House spokesman Mike Hammer said in Washington. “We believe it makes sense for all parties. If Mr. Ahmadinejad’s comments reflect an updated Iranian position, we look forward to Iran informing the IAEA.”

URANIUM TRANSFER

Mottaki and the IAEA said last week a deal on uranium enrichment was still possible, despite Western diplomats saying Tehran had in effect turned down the proposal.

Under the proposed deal Tehran would transfer 70 per cent of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for conversion into special fuel rods to keep the nuclear medicine reactor running.

The plan aims to reduce Iran’s reserves below the quantity needed for the fissile core of a nuclear weapon, if the material were refined to a high degree of purity.

“For us the real matter is to reach an agreement about fuel exchange,” Mottaki said in an interview with Turkish television TRT. “If we can reach an agreement on the formula then we can talk about the place. About timing we can always talk. Turkey might be a place, Brazil or Japan might be a place.”

The United States and European allies are pursuing broader UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activity.

The United States, Britain, Germany and France seek a fourth round of UN measures against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment as demanded by five Security Council resolutions.

As well as outlining nuclear plans, Ahmadinejad said three US citizens detained in Iran and charged with spying may be swapped with jailed Iranians in the United States.

A US State Department spokesman said Washington would welcome Iranian willingness to resolve the case.

“We do not like to have any person in jail. Some discussions are going on to swap the three with jailed Iranians in America,” Ahmadinejad told state television.

The three were detained after they strayed into Iran from northern Iraq at the end of July. Iran has said the three Americans would be put on trial, without giving a date.

CRACKDOWN ON OPPOSITION

Cracking down on internal dissent, Iran said it would soon hang nine more rioters over unrest that erupted after the June presidential vote. The opposition said the poll was rigged.

“Nine others will be hanged soon. The nine, and the two who were hanged on Thursday, were surely arrested in the recent riots and had links to anti-revolutionary groups,” said senior judiciary official Ebrahim Raisi, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The two men hanged last week were among 11 people sentenced to death on charges including “waging war against God.”

The June election gave Ahmadinejad a second term, but sparked the worst internal crisis in the Islamic Republic’s history. The government denied any fraud in the voting.

Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, a former prime minister, said the repression showed the 1979 revolution that overthrew the US-backed Shah “had not achieved its goals.”

“Filling the prisons and brutally killing protesters show that the root of ... dictatorship remain from the monarchist era,” he said on his Kalemeh website.

Biden, speaking on MSNBC, indicated Washington was sticking to its dual track on Iran of diplomacy and sanctions.

“It’s time (for the United States) to reach out, demonstrate that we’re not the problem, the hand that gets rejected, and be able to have the whole world stay with us ... against the Iranian government,” he said.

Asked whether it was time for “regime change” in Iran since President Barack Obama’s effort to engage the Islamic republic had failed to make progress, he said:

“The people of Iran are thinking about, the very people marching, they’re thinking about regime change.” – Reuters

Cyberthieves are hiring, using online ads

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 – The people who brought the world malicious software that steals credit card numbers from your personal computer and empties bank ATMs of their cash are hiring, and they’re advertising online.

Two companies that are hiring – at least on a contractor basis – advertise online, said Kevin Stevens, a threat intelligence analyst for SecureWorks, who presented findings on the organisations at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference outside Washington on Monday.

What they are seeking is people who are willing to take malicious code they provide and link it to something that people will click on – like a picture of Britney Spears getting out of her car. These people then collect a fee for each 1,000 times that the malware is downloaded.

One site, for example, pays $180 for each 1,000 times that malware is downloaded onto a US computer but less for computers elsewhere. It refuses to pay for any downloads to Russian computers, causing Stevens and others to strongly suspect that it, like other similar sites, are based in Russia.

“We pay your wages via the following systems: Fethard, WebMoney, Wire, e-gold, Western Union (WU), MoneyGram, Anelik and ePassporte, and PayPal,” the site said.

Stevens said it was impossible to know how many computers were infected via these companies but put the number in the millions.

Security professionals in the audience for Stevens’ presentation laughed at times, most likely at how blatant the web sites were.

It’s hard to separate theft arising from these web sites from other sorts of Internet crime but the FBI tallied $264 million in losses from Internet crime reported by individuals in 2008. The report for 2009 has yet to be released.

The cybercrime problem has become worse over the past three years as consumers and companies alike increasingly expose valuable data such as business plans, credit card numbers, banking information and Social Security numbers on the Internet.

“There are hundreds of billions of dollars that traverse the Internet,” Shawn Henry, assistant director for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Division, told Reuters late last year. “It’s (the problem) absolutely gotten bigger, yes, absolutely.” – Reuters

Israel 'responsible' on Iran

JERUSALEM - ISRAEL and the United States are closely conferring about the Iranian nuclear programme, US National Security Adviser Jim Jones said in an interview published on Sunday, calling Israel's conduct 'responsible'.

Western governments fear that Iran wants to produce nuclear weapons but Teheran says the programme is for peaceful purposes.

Iran has vowed to respond to any unilateral Israeli strike over the nuclear progamme.

The five permanent Security Council members - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - along with Germany have been negotiating with Iran, but US officials say drafts of possible sanctions should circulate among the group soon.

Mr Jones said the United States and Israel are in close coordination over how to handle Iran. 'We have very good dialogue with Israel, continual dialogue,' he told The Jerusalem Post. 'We're working very closely with them.'

Asked whether Washington was concerned about Israel trying to take on its arch-foe alone, Mr Jones said: 'Our Israeli partners are very responsible.' Michael Oren, Israel's envoy to the United States, said last month the military option 'was not a subject of discussion'. -- REUTERS

Violence kills 196 Iraqis in Jan

BAGHDAD - A TOTAL of 196 Iraqis were killed in violence in January, authorities said on Sunday, a slight rise on the toll for the same month in 2009, although the number wounded was much higher.

The figures compiled by the health, interior and defence ministries showed that 135 civilians, 41 police and 20 soldiers died. The total was five more than the 191 Iraqis killed in January of last year.

However, the 782 people wounded last month - comprising 620 civilians, 120 police officers and 42 soldiers - was almost double the 406 hurt in the same period last year.

In addition, Iraqi authorities said 54 insurgents were killed in January and a further 681 arrested.

The US military lost five soldiers in Iraq last month, three of whom died from non-combat related injuries, according to the independent website www.icasualties.org.

In total, 4,375 American troops have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein from power in 2003. -- AFP

Anti-Kremlin protesters nabbed

MOSCOW - POLICE detained up to 100 anti-Kremlin protesters, including leading opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, in central Moscow on Sunday, despite an appeal by rights group Amnesty International to let the rally go ahead.

Hundreds of people gathered to protest against what they say is a long-running Kremlin campaign to dismantle the constitutional right to peaceful protest, one of the few avenues open to Russia's weak and fragmented opposition.

Mr Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, is leader of the opposition group Solidarity and one of the toughest critics of the Kremlin and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

At a similar rally in December, police detained 82-year-old Soviet-era activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva, prompting a rebuke from the administration of US President Barack Obama. A senior officer followed Ms Alexeyeva throughout Sunday's rally in an apparent effort to prevent his colleagues from detaining her. She screamed repeatedly when a line of policemen surged towards her, causing a crush.

'They have organised all of this just for a bunch of pensioners,' said Ms Alexeyeva. 'They are scared of us more than they need to be. We are civilised people.'

At least 200 policemen cordoned off the square with 30 police vans before the rally. They refrained from detaining people for the first half-hour, shouting 'Citizens, please clear the path. Don't block the pedestrians!' Protesters shouted 'Shame!' and 'Russia without Putin!' At least 300 people tried to join the meeting and 100 were detained, Interfax news agency quoted police spokesman Viktor Biryukov as saying.-- REUTERS

13 killed at Mexico school party

CIUDAD JUAREZ (Mexico) - ARMED men stormed a party in this violent Mexican border city, killing 13 high school and college students in what witnesses said they thought was an attack prompted by false information.

About two dozen teens and young adults were hospitalised after the late Saturday assault in Ciudad Juarez, a drug cartel-plagued city which is one of the deadliest in the world.

Grieving witnesses and family members told The Associated Press on Sunday they thought the victims, mostly residents of the housing complex where the attack occurred, had no ties to drug traffickers. 'It must have been a huge mistake,' said Martha Lujan, who lives at the housing complex.

The young adults had gathered to watch a boxing match, Ms Lujan said, when two trucks pulled up loaded with armed men who opened fire. Ten people were killed at the scene and other three died at local hospitals, Chihuahua State Attorney Patricia Gonzales said.

The bodies of the victims, whose ages ranged from 15 to 20, lay scattered around the house where the attack happened.

A witness to the attacks said he was just outside when the gunfire broke out. Hector, who only gave his first name because he feared retaliation, said the party was an innocuous gathering of friends who must have been targeted incorrectly. 'I think there was some confusion,' he said. 'We're seeking justice.' -- AP

Measures to reduce smokers

LONDON - BRITAIN is considering extending its public smoking ban to include building entrances as one of a series of measures to cut the number of smokers by half in a decade, the government said on Monday.

The government says it wants to cut the number of smokers to 10 per cent of the population, from 21 per cent, with a particular focus on young people.

'We've come so far and now we'll go even further - to push forward and save even more lives,' Health Secretary Andy Burnham said in a statement.

The number of people lighting up has fallen by a quarter in the past decade as a result of various policies including a ban on advertising, putting grisly pictures on packets and raising the age of sale for tobacco to 18.

In 2007, the government introduced a ban on smoking in virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces, and last year 337,000 people stopped puffing on cigarettes. Despite falling smoking rates, the number of deaths attributed to smoking is 80,000 a year, costing the National Health Service some 2.7 billion pounds (S$6.07 billion) a year.

The government said seven out of 10 smokers want to give up and supportive measures will include a review of smoke-free laws with the possibility of extending the ban to include areas such as entrances to buildings. It also will look at protecting children from second-hand smoke by promoting smoke-free homes and cars. Tailor-made anti-smoking strategies will be available on the NHS, and the government will crackdown on cheap illicit cigarettes. Policymakers also are considering introducing plain packaging. -- REUTERS

26 arrested for terrorism plot

CAIRO - EGYPT has arrested 26 suspects who the prosecutor said belonged to a cell of militant group Islamic Jihad and were plotting 'terrorist acts' against tourists and state installations, the official news agency MENA reported on Sunday.

The suspects, arrested in the provinces of Mansoura and Dakahiliya on the Nile Delta, had firearms, ammunition and explosives, the agency said.

'The public prosecutor ordered them placed in precautionary detention for 15 days pending investigations,' MENA wrote, adding that the prosecutor had sent the arms and explosives for forensic investigations.

Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) emerged in the 1970s and carried out the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat.

Security analysts say it has been largely absorbed into Al-Qaeda, in which former EIJ leader Ayman al-Zawahri is deputy to Osama bin Laden.

Egypt is concerned about the possibility that Al-Qaeda-inspired militants could infiltrate the country after being forced out of the neighbouring Palestinian enclave of Gaza by Islamist group Hamas, analysts told a conference last week. -- REUTERS

UK invasion of Iraq 'illegal'

The focus of the inquiry has sharpened ahead of the appearance of Blair, who took Britain into the war alongside then US president George W. Bush despite strong opposition at home and abroad. -- PHOTO: AFP

LONDON - BRITAIN'S invasion of Iraq in 2003 was illegal, the former chief legal advisor to the foreign ministry told a public inquiry into the war Tuesday, three days before ex-prime minister Tony Blair appears.

'I considered that the use of force against Iraq in March 2003 was contrary to international law,' Michael Wood, legal advisor to the Foreign Office between 1999 and 2006, wrote in a submission to the Chilcot inquiry in London.

'In my opinion, that use of force had not been authorised by the Security Council, and had no other legal basis in international law.'

The focus of the inquiry has sharpened ahead of the appearance of Blair, who took Britain into the war alongside then US president George W. Bush despite strong opposition at home and abroad. Blair justified the invasion on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's continued defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions governing his possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

His chief legal advisor, attorney general Peter Goldsmith, gave the green light on the eve of the March 2003 invasion, saying that UN resolution 1441 passed in November 2002 provided a base for military action.

However, Wood told the inquiry that 1441 made clear that it was up to the UN Security Council to decide whether Saddam had complied with their demands, not individual states like Britain - and no such decision had been made. Wood said he challenged the government's view in January 2003, after then foreign secretary Jack Straw told the US-vice president Dick Cheney that it would be 'ok' if no second UN resolution was obtained. -- AFP

Suicide bomb injures nine

KABUL - A SUICIDE bomber in a car laden with explosives struck near a US military base in Kabul on Tuesday, injuring at least nine Afghan civilians, police and the Nato-led force said.

The attacker detonated a car near the main gate of Camp Phoenix, a military base on the outskirts of Kabul on the main road to the eastern provinces. Other Nato member nations also have a presence in the camp.

'There was a suicide car bomb attack near Camp Phoenix. The suicide attacker detonated his car close to an international forces convoy,' said Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahman. He said nine Afghan civilians were wounded. Three of them were interpreters working with foreign forces. 'The situation is under control now,' he added.

Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary also confirmed the bombing, while Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the explosion was likely an improvised explosive device (IED) hidden in a vehicle.

The force 'is aware of an explosion outside the main gate of Camp Phoenix that occurred this afternoon at approximately 5pm", a statement said. 'Initial reports indicate the cause of the explosion was a vehicle-borne IED. More details will be released as they become available.' Afghan security forces cordoned off the area to investigate, Bashary added.

The bombing comes just over a week after seven Taliban gunmen armed with suicide vests launched a massive attack on civilian and government buildings near the presidential palace in the capital, killing five people. There was no claim of responsibility for the Tuesday's bombing but the Taliban militant group has been blamed for similar incidents in the past. -- AFP