The New Saturday Evening Post by Sir Jeremiah Kennedy No. 6

The New Saturday Evening Post

No. 6

For people who don’t have time for the bullshit corporate media

A. Doubts surface on North Korea's role in ship sinking

Some in South Korea dispute the official version of events: that a North Korean torpedo ripped apart the Cheonan.

July 23, 2010 |By Barbara Demick and John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Seoul — The way U.S. officials see it, there's little mystery behind the most notorious shipwreck in recent Korean history.

Challenges to the official version of events are coming from an unlikely place: within South Korea. Armed with dossiers of their own scientific studies and bolstered by conspiracy theories, critics dispute the findings announced May 20 by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, which pointed a finger at Pyongyang.

They also question why Lee made the announcement nearly two months after the ship's sinking, on the very day campaigning opened for fiercely contested local elections. Many accuse the conservative leader of using the deaths of 46 sailors to stir up anti-communist sentiment and sway the vote.

The critics, mostly but not all from the opposition, say it is unlikely that the impoverished North Korean regime could have pulled off a perfectly executed hit against a superior military power, sneaking a submarine into the area and slipping away without detection. They also wonder whether the evidence of a torpedo attack was misinterpreted, or even fabricated.

"I couldn't find the slightest sign of an explosion," said Shin Sang-chul, a former shipbuilding executive-turned-investigative journalist. "The sailors drowned to death. Their bodies were clean. We didn't even find dead fish in the sea."
Shin, who was appointed to the joint investigative panel by the opposition Democratic Party, inspected the damaged ship with other experts April 30. He was removed from the panel shortly afterward, he says, because he had voiced a contrary opinion: that the Cheonan hit ground in the shallow water off the Korean peninsula and then damaged its hull trying to get off a reef.

"It was the equivalent of a simple traffic accident at sea," Shin said.

B.  Kosovo receives independence from UN court

Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 did not violate international law, the United Nations' highest court declared Thursday in a closely watched case that could have significant repercussions for secessionist movements around the world.

The opinion by the International Court of Justice, while not binding, is likely to give a big boost to the tiny Balkancountry's quest for full statehood and represents a blow to Serbia, which considers Kosovo part of its territory. At present, 69 nations, including the U.S., recognize Kosovo as a country, but a number of major powers such as Russia andChina do not.

The court, based in The Hague, decided that Kosovo "did not violate general international law" in announcing itself independent in February 2008, because there are no prohibitions against such declarations.

C. Chavez cuts ties with Colombia
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez cut ties on Thursday with Colombia in an escalating dispute between the two Andean neighbors over Bogota's charges that leftist Colombian rebels shelter in Venezuela.

Socialist Chavez, who views U.S.-backed Colombia as a threat, announced he was severing relations after Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's government presented evidence it said showed 1,500 Colombian guerrillas were hiding in Venezuela.

The move elevated tensions in the Andean zone, a regional tinderbox where clashing ideologies and the presence of heavily armed militaries, guerrilla groups and drug-traffickers make for a dangerous and volatile mix.

But an immediate military confrontation between Venezuela, South America's biggest oil producer and a leading U.S. supplier, and Colombia, the region's top U.S. military ally, did not appear immediately likely.

Chavez called the Colombian accusations, which were presented at the Organization of American States (OAS), a U.S.-inspired "aggression," and said he was ordering "a maximum alert" on his country's long border with Colombia.
"We have no other choice but, out of dignity, to totally break our relations with our brother nation of Colombia," Chavez said as he hosted Argentine soccer idol Diego Maradona.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said he had ordered the closing of Venezuela's embassy in Bogota and gave the Colombian mission 72 hours to leave. He said Caracas was considering other measures, such as suspending flights.
Chavez, who portrays himself as an anti-U.S. and anti-capitalist standard bearer in Latin America, faces an opposition challenge in September 26 legislative elections and has ramped up his rhetoric against perceived foes. Critics say he is trying to distract attention from economic and other woes.
Colombia's OAS ambassador, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, called Venezuela's breaking of ties a "historic mistake."
"Venezuela should break relations with the gangs that kidnap and kill and traffic drugs, and not with a legally constituted government," he told reporters.
Chavez blamed the rift on outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, whom he called "crazed". He accused the United States of inciting Uribe to confront Venezuela.
But he added he hoped that Colombia's newly elected leader, Juan Manuel Santos, who will take office on August 7, would help bring relations back to normal.
President-elect Santos, in Mexico to meet President Felipe Calderon, told reporters: "The best contribution we can make is not to make any pronouncement. President Uribe is president of the republic until August 7.

D. International Montary Funds cancels Haiti’s debt.
PARIS – The IMF says it has canceled Haiti's $268 million debt and will lend the earthquake-devastated country another $60 million to help it with reconstruction plans.
The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday the decision is part of a plan for long-term reconstruction after the Jan. 12 magnitude-7 quake, which killed as many as 300,000 people.

The three-year loan carries a zero interest rate until 2011 which then rises to no more than 0.5 percent.The Washington-based fund says its moves should encourage aid contributions to the impoverished country.

"Donors must start delivering on their promises to Haiti quickly, so reconstruction can be accelerated, living standards quickly improved and social tensions soothed," IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement.

In Haiti more than six months after the quake, rubble and collapsed buildings still dominate the landscape.

The number of people in relief camps has nearly doubled to 1.6 million, while the amount of transitional housing built is minuscule. Crime is more prevalent since the quake, with attacks in camps terrorizing thousands, especially women and girls.
Most of the $3.1 billion pledged for humanitarian aid has paid for fieldhospitals, plastic tarps, bandages, and food, plus salaries, transportation and upkeep of relief workers.
At a March conference, donors pledged a total of $9.9 billion — money that is separate from the humanitarian aid — to help Haiti recover.

E. Federal Reserve Chairman says unemployment to remain low for sometime.
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Federal Reserve, in saying that it had no immediate plans to provide additional support to the economy, dashed the hopes of some economists and executives who have been pushing for action to add momentum to the sluggish recovery.

The chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, saidWednesday that the recovery was continuing at a modest pace, though with a “somewhat weaker outlook.”

He projected that the unemployment rate would remain well above 7 percent through the end of 2012, and the duration ofPresident Obama’s current term. That, too, was a discouraging note to Washington incumbents facing tough re-election fights.
Mr. Bernanke’s statement that the Fed had no imminent plans to go beyond its current strategy of keeping short-term interest rates exceptionally low pushed stock prices down. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.07 percent, or 109.43 points, to close at 10,120.53.

In presenting the Fed’s semiannual monetary policy report to Congress, Mr. Bernanke said that it would take “a significant amount of time” to restore the 8.5 million jobs lost in the United States in 2008 and 2009, and that “the economic outlook remains unusually uncertain.”

The New Saturday Evening Post by Sir Jeremiah Kennedy No. 5

The New Saturday Evening Post

by

Sir Jeremiah Orion Kennedy

A. Abbas sets conditions to return to direct talks.
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he'll resume direct peace talks if Israel accepts its 1967 frontier as a baseline for the borders of a Palestinian state and agrees to the deployment of an international force to guard them.

B. EU to let states rule on GM crops

GM crops are restricted in Europe but planted widely elsewhere

EU officials plan to give the 27 member states the freedom to grow, restrict or ban genetically modified (GM) crops.
The European Commission says different local conditions mean EU countries need more flexibility to decide where, if at all, GM crops are grown.

But the EU will continue to study the health impact of GM crops under its current authorisation system. Currently a type of maize called MON 810 is the only GM food cultivated commercially in the EU. A GM type of potato, called Amflora, has also been authorised, but it is harvested for industrial starch.

Applications to cultivate new GM crops - also known as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) - have stalled in the EU because member states take different positions on their safety. The Commission aims to let the states establish GMO-free areas if they want to avoid any unintended presence of GMOs in conventional and organic crops.
Supporters of GMOs argue that they deliver higher yields and resistance to pests, requiring less fertiliser and pesticides.

Opponents say more scientific data is needed, arguing that their long-term genetic impact on humans and wildlife could be harmful.

C. U.S. Says Scientist Aided C.I.A. While Still in Iran

The Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri, with his 7-year-old son, was met by family members in Tehran on Thursday.

The Iranian scientist who American officials say defected to the United States, only to return to Tehran on Thursday, had been an informant for the Central Intelligence Agency inside Iran for several years, providing information about the country’s nuclear program, according to United States officials.

And if you believe any of that your an idot. When I was being totured in 2005 so that I was sent to a mental hospital. I know that sometimes the truth does not get out. Like when NorthKorea was saying they wanted something done or not coming back to table. When in reality I was being tortured for other reasons and it had nothing to do with bank accounts.

D. Rare Officers Meeting Held in the Korean DMZ

Steve Herman | Seoul15 July 2010

A North Korean Army soldier looks south at the border village of Panmunjom,(DMZ) that separates the two Koreas since the Korean War (File)

Colonels of the U.S. military and their counterparts from North Korea's Army have held a rare meeting at the truce village, Panmunjom.

Officials with the United Nations Command in Seoul say the Thursday morning meeting in the demilitarized zone lasted about 90 minutes.  It was intended to be a preliminary discussion to clear the way for talks between generals of the two sides.

The American officers were representing the United Nations command, which, since 1953, has monitored the armistice agreement that ended fighting in the Korean War.

The rare talks are the first to be held since the South Korean warship, the Cheonan, exploded and sank in the Yellow Sea on March 26.

The U.N. Command last month proposed military talks with North Korea to review the findings of the international investigation into the sinking and to start dialog. The North Koreans initially refused, then announced last Friday they would agree to talks, Tuesday.  But Tuesday morning, just two hours before the discussion was to begin, the North Koreans asked for a postponement for administrative reasons.

Details about the substance of the talks have not been released.

E. Afghans to Form Local Forces to Fight Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan — After intensive negotiations with NATOmilitary commanders, the Afghan government on Wednesday approved a program to establish local defense forces that American military officials hope will help remote areas of the country thwart attacks by Taliban insurgents.

Details of the plan are sketchy, but Americans had been promoting the force as a crucial stopgap to combat rising violence here and frustration with the slow pace of training permanent professional security forces — the bottom-line condition for the American military to begin pulling back from an increasingly unpopular war. Many parts ofAfghanistan have no soldiers or police officers on the ground.
Over 12 days of talks, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the new NATO commander, overcame the objections of President Hamid Karzai, who had worried that the forces could harden into militias that his weak government could not control. In the end, the two sides agreed that the forces would be under the supervision of the Afghan Interior Ministry, which will also be their paymaster.
“They would not be militias,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon spokesman, at a briefing in Washington on Wednesday. “These would be government-formed, government-paid, government-uniformed local police units who would keep any eye out for bad guys — in their neighborhoods, in their communities — and who would, in turn, work with the Afghan police forces and the Afghan Army, to keep them out of their towns.”
It is, he added, “a temporary solution to a very real, near-term problem.”
The program borrows from the largely successful Awakening groups that General Petraeus created in Iraq, though the two programs would not be identical. Unlike the Iraqi units, the Afghan forces would not be composed of insurgents who had switched sides. They would be similar as a lightly armed, trained and, significantly, paid force in a nation starving for jobs.
In fact, the program runs the risk of becoming too popular — it will create a demand in poor communities around the nation that could turn it into an unwieldy and ineffective job creation program.

F. BP fucks American fisherman Royaly

Gulf coast fishermen angry over oil claims ruling BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) – Fishermen in Mississippi say they are angry that under the terms of BP's $20 billion oil spill fund, money they earn doing clean-up will be subtracted from their claim against the company.

The fishermen reacted after Kenneth Feinberg, the federal official in charge of administering the compensation fund, announced the decision at a town hall meeting in Biloxi on Friday.

Some walked out of the meeting in protest, arguing it was pointless to work under the Vessels of Opportunity program, set up by BP to help clean up the damage from the deepwater leak that started in April.
Oil stopped flowing from the leak on Thursday.
"I am furious about this," said Tuget Nguyen, who works with family members as a fisherman in Pass Christian, Mississippi.
"If he takes away the money we are making from BP when we get our claims, then nobody is going to work for BP to clean up this oil and we will not rent our boats to BP either. It is not fair," Nguyen said.
Thousands of fishermen in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, out of work because federal authorities have closed much of the Gulf to fishing, are working for the Vessels of Opportunity program, skimming oil from the water and protecting coastlines.
Vessels of Opportunity "workers can file a claim, but we will subtract the amount they are paid from BP from their claim. That is how it has to work .... Of course you can file a claim. You must file a claim, but you cannot get paid twice," Feinberg told the meeting.


AND THIS COMES DAYS AFTER BP GET CAUGHT DOING A BUSINESS DEAL WITH LYBIA
TO GET THE BOMBER OF LOCKERBIE FREE WHO KILLED MANY COLLEGE AMERICANS.


G. Washington Post about to publish an article and quide that shows how private companies within the US are helping the US Government in Secret studies. Like Brainwashing for example or the high tech weapons that torture people now I and other people will be able to see Universities like Harvard and Princeton for there studies on Mind control, dream manipulation. Or companies like Soft ware or hardware companies that are behind secret weapons.

SJOK

I-Phone meet Karma by Sir Jeremiah Orion Kennedy China/Slavery/I-Pad

The Apple Corporation and it's shareholders now know the meaning of Karma. After supporting
Slavery in China and now the company has to move further inland to get even further cheaper fairs
after the subsidary in Tawian - Foxx is forced to pay the workers more after they were throwing
themselves off the roof of the building that build said I-Phone, I-Pad and IPod.

For over 7 years I have known of this problem and is the reason why I had to purchase a MP3
rather then the Apple product.

Karma - A telephone that losses communication - Apple - Slavery - China.

Toast

Tne New Saturday Evening Post by Sir Jeremiah Kennedy No. 5

A. Palestinian reject calls for direct talks. 
 RAMALLAH, July 7th,The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Wednesday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's call for direct peace talks. U.S., Israel patch up spat "We reject the call" Netanyahu made Tuesday in Washington following his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, said Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator.
"The era in which we held negotiations while Israel continued its unilateral procedures away from the references of peace no longer exists and has gone forever," Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio.
Netanyahu "closes the door for the direct negotiations and he can open it," Erekat said, urging the hawkish prime minister to stop settlement constructions, including the so-called natural growth of the blocs, and to agree that the direct negotiations resume from where they stopped in 2008.
Obama said he was confident that the indirect negotiations, launched by Washington in May, would lead to direct talks, while Netanyahu said it is time to shift to face-to-face discussions rather than the so-called proximities.
Erekat asked the U.S. administration "to let Israel choose between peace and settlements because the two things can not be taken together."

B. Iran sends requirements to Permanent members of Security Council for meeting.
Iran on Tuesday set September 1 as a possible date to resume nuclear talks with six world powers that have been stalled since October, but insisted its conditions must first be met. Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili sent a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton saying Tehran needed three issues clarified by the world powers before it could consider resuming talks.
Ashton, who is negotiating with Iran on behalf of the so-called P5+1 powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- invited Tehran for talks after the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on the Islamic republic on June 9.
Jalili said the world powers must answer whether the talks are aimed at "engagement and cooperation or continued confrontation and hostility towards
Iranians." "Will you be committed to the logic of talks which calls for avoiding threats and pressure?" he asked, calling on the six powers to air a "clear view" on the "Zionist regime's nuclear arsenal."
"Your response to the above questions can pave the way for forming talks to allay common global concerns for peace and justice with the presence of other interested countries from September 1," Jalili told Ashton.

C. US parks new sub in South East Asia
A new class of U.S. superweapon had suddenly surfaced nearby. It was an Ohio-class submarine, which for decades carried only nuclear missiles targeted against the Soviet Union, and then Russia. But this one was different: for nearly three years, the U.S. Navy has been dispatching modified "boomers" to who knows where (they do travel underwater, after all). Four of the 18 ballistic-missile subs no longer carry nuclear-tipped Trident missiles. Instead, they hold up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles each, capable of hitting anything within 1,000 miles with non-nuclear warheads.

Their capability makes watching these particular submarines especially interesting. The 14 Trident-carrying subs are useful in the unlikely event of a nuclear Armageddon, and Russia remains their prime target. But the Tomahawk-outfitted quartet carries a weapon that the U.S. military has used repeatedly against targets in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq and Sudan. (See pictures of the U.S. military in the Pacific.)

That's why alarm bells would have sounded in Beijing on June 28 when the Tomahawk-laden 560-ft. U.S.S.Ohio popped up in the Philippines' Subic Bay. More alarms were likely sounded when the U.S.S. Michiganarrived in Pusan, South Korea, on the same day. And the Klaxons would have maxed out as the U.S.S.Florida surfaced, also on the same day, at the joint U.S.-British naval base on Diego Garcia, a flyspeck of an island in the Indian Ocean. In all, the Chinese military awoke to find as many as 462 new Tomahawks deployed by the U.S. in its neighborhood. "There's been a decision to bolster our forces in the Pacific," says Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "There is no doubt that China will stand up and take notice."
U.S. officials deny that any message is being directed at Beijing, saying the Tomahawk triple play was a coincidence. But they did make sure that news of the deployments appeared in the Hong Kong–based South China Morning Post - on July 4, no less. The Chinese took notice quietly. "At present, common aspirations of countries in the Asian and Pacific regions are seeking for peace, stability and regional security," Wang Baodong, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said on Wednesday. "We hope the relevant U.S. military activities will serve for the regional peace, stability and security, and not the contrary." (See pictures of the most expensive military planes.)
Last month, the Navy announced that all four of the Tomahawk-carrying subs were operationally deployed away from their home ports for the first time. Each vessel packs "the firepower of multiple surface ships," says Captain Tracy Howard of Submarine Squadron 16 in Kings Bay, Ga., and can "respond to diverse threats on short

The submarines aren't the only new potential issue of concern for the Chinese. Two major military exercises involving the U.S. and its allies in the region are now under way. More than three dozen naval ships and subs began participating in the "Rim of the Pacific" war games off Hawaii on Wednesday. Some 20,000 personnel from 14 nations are involved in the biennial exercise, which includes missile drills and the sinking of three abandoned vessels playing the role of enemy ships. Nations joining the U.S. in what is billed as the world's largest-ever naval war game are Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, Singapore and Thailand. Closer to China, CARAT 2010 - for Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training - just got under way off Singapore. The operation involves 17,000 personnel and 73 ships from the U.S., Singapore, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

D. Cuba begins to free it’s political prisoners.
Cuba took the first steps toward releasing 52 political prisoners as the island's Catholic Church on Thursday notified five they would be freed soon in a deal struck with the Cuban government that drew praise from Washington.
The planned release prompted dissident Guillermo Farinas to end his 4-1/2-month-long hunger strike, sweeping aside a thorny issue that threatened Cuba's international relations.
The Church, asserting its new prominence in communist-led Cuba, said the five prisoners would be set free "in coming days" and allowed to go to Spain.

E. BP - British Pretrolum stops paying fisherman.
I guess you can give millions to the cable and internet for commercials, to clear up your image.

GRAND ISLE, La. --
Hundreds of fishermen from Lake Charles to Moss Point, Miss., were supposed to get checks from BP on Wednesday but didn't.
Wednesday night, their lawyer wanted answers.
Jeffrey Briet represents more than 500 fishermen, and he said the payment system he set up with BP required his clients to be paid every 30 days. Now that process has suddenly changed without warning, Briet said.
More Oil Spill News:
I-Team: Oil Cleanup Crews Rest More Than Work
Appeals Court To Hear Drilling Moratorium Case
"Not only did they spring it on us that the process has changed, but the people I've been dealing with for six weeks who've done a good job said, 'We don't know what the process is going to be. We're not authorized to talk to you about it. Someone from BP will contact you,'" he said.
But Briet said he hasn't heard from BP or its lawyers. He said the claims people have been given so much conflicting information about the process that they can't provide answers.


F. EU bans cloned meat


G. Death toll in Pakistan "Terror" bombing kills over 100.
This week Pakistan goverment decided to set up an non partisan "think tank" to deal with it's internal terrorism problem.

G. North Korea calls for Nuclear talks day after UN statement regarding the ship sinking.

 North Korea said on Saturday it was willing to return to nuclear disarmament talks and signaled satisfaction that a U.N. Security Council statement did not directly blame it for the sinking of aSouth Korean warship.

China, the North's sole key ally, urged regional powers to put the navy ship sinking behind them and return to the negotiating table to end a cycle of confrontation that has raised security tensions to new heights since late March.

On Friday, the Security Council condemned the sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan in March that killed 46 sailors but stopped short of directly blaming North Korea, an outcome hailed by Pyongyang's U.N. ambassador as "a great diplomatic victory."

Six-way nuclear talks involving North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China have been in limbo since 2007 and a 2005 disarmament deal appeared to lose relevance when Pyongyang tested a long-range missile and a nuclear device.

"The DPRK will make consistent efforts for the conclusion of a peace treaty and the denuclearization through the six-party talks conducted on equal footing," the North's Foreign Ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the KCNA news agency.

DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"We take note of the ... statement saying that 'the Security Council encourages the settlement of outstanding issues on the Korean Peninsula by peaceful means to resume direct dialogue and negotiation through appropriate channels'," it added.

A South Korea-led investigation concluded that a North Korean torpedo sank the Cheonan. Pyongyang has denied any involvement in the incident, saying it was a fabrication by the South aimed at politically damaging Pyongyang's leaders.

The Security Council statement, by not identifying an attacker, was able to win consent from Pyongyang's ally China for unanimous approval.

China, which had been the host of the six-way talks that began in 2003, urged regional powers to "flip the page of the Cheonan incident" and quickly resume those negotiations.

"We call for an early resumption of the six-party talks and joint efforts to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

The New Saturday Evening Post by Sir Jeremiah Kennedy No. 4

The Saturday Evening Post

         No. 4

A Weekly Cyber Magazine

A.

SEOUL — North Korea vowed Monday to strengthen its nuclear weaponry in the face of what it branded US hostility

As world leaders intensified pressure on Pyongyang over the sinking of a South Korean warship. Recent developments underscore the need for the North "to bolster its nuclear deterrent in a newly developed way" to cope with persistent US hostility and its military threat. Baek Seung-Joo of the (South) Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, said the statement indicates the North would start developing nuclear weapons based on highly enriched uranium. After years of denial, the hardline communist state last September announced it had reached the final stage of enriching uranium -- a second way of making nuclear bombs in addition to its original plutonium-based operation.

B. Iran's to postpone nuclear talks with the west as a "punishment" for the imposition of new UN sanctions. 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. Negotiations would be put off until after Ramadan in late August, he said, though no talks have in fact been scheduled. "It's a punishment to teach them a lesson to know how to have a dialogue with nations," he told reporters in Tehran. Ahmadinejad also repeated that Iran would retaliate if attempts were made to inspect its ships, as sanctions permit.

Earlier, the Iranian leader had complained of a hidden agenda. "The western and US sanctions and threats are not only aimed at putting the brakes on Iran's progress in nuclear technology, but come to keep Iran from becoming an economic and industrial power," he told a crowd in Natanz in Isfahan province.

Separately, Iran's foreign ministry dismissed as "psychological warfare" an assessment by the CIA that the Islamic republic already has enough uranium to make two nuclear weapons. Ramin Mehmanparast, the ministry spokesman, called the comments by Leon Panetta, the CIA chief, "propaganda" intended to allow the US to avoid nuclear disarmament. "What Iran is pursuing is only in the framework of the rights that its membership of the International Atomic Energy Agency entitles it to," Mehmanparast said. "The real concern is disarmament and non-proliferation."

Reports from Dubai said that the UAE central bank has ordered financial institutions to freeze 41 Iran-linked accounts, in line with the UN sanctions. UN resolution 1929 calls for measures against new Iranian banks abroad if a connection to the nuclear or missile programmes is suspected, as well as vigilance over transactions with any Iranian bank.

c. Google's stops redirecting China web site and now will provide a link.

Mr. Drummond wrote that in an effort to continue to serve Google’s Chinese users while placating the government, the company is proposing a compromise. In the next few days, it will stop automatically redirecting users to its Hong Kong site. Instead, Chinese users will see a page at google.cn which offers a single link to the Hong Kong site, where they can conduct searches or use other Google services, like translation and music, that require no filtering.

The company said it had resubmitted its content provider license based on this approach and hopes the Chinese government will find it more palatable. If the government continues to object, Google would lose its ability to operate a Web site in China altogether.

“This approach ensures we stay true to our commitment not to censor our results on google.cn and gives users access to all of our services from one page,” Mr. Drummond wrote. “We are therefore hopeful that our license will be renewed on this basis so we can continue to offer our Chinese users services via google.cn.”

D. State Department: Permanent members of Security Council Plus German meet on Iran in Brussels. 

Brussels and the P-5+1?

MR. TONER: Oh, yes. Thank you for reminding me. 

QUESTION: Specifically what’s on the agenda and why they’re still meeting given that you already have the resolution?

MR. TONER: Right. Well, just to – he met with his counterparts from Russia, the UK, France, China, and Germany, and the EU, as well as the EU High Commissioner Catherine Ashton, to review the situation regarding Iran’s nuclear program. They reaffirmed the commitments that they made in the statement issued upon the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1929. They also reiterated the group’s goals toward a comprehensive and long-term resolution to resolving international concerns regarding Iran. The group also agreed on the importance of ensuring swift enforcement of Resolution 1929 that’s consistent with the dual – and which is consistent with the dual-track approach. And also has communicated in High Representative Ashton letter’s to Iran, they restated the offer to meet with Iran for discussions on the nuclear issue and stressed the door remains open to Iran. 

And just as your follow-up question there, again, I think this is part of their regular consultations. They are going to continue to meet, obviously, the – the passage of 1929, does not in any way connote an end to the P-5+1’s regular consultations. 

E. Iran moves radar to Syria

Iran has moved radar to Syria that could provide early-warning against a possible surprise Israeli air attack against Tehran's nuclear sites, a US defense official said on Friday.

The radar transfer was first reported in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday and prompted the State Department to voice concerns about cooperation between Syria and Iran.

The sophisticated radar were deployed in Syria last year, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The move could bolster Iran's position amid long-running speculation that Israel might stage a bombing raid against Tehran's nuclear enrichment facilities.

Information from new radar also could potentially help the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah with its missile arsenal and air defenses.


F. . China 'jails Tibet activist for five years'

Rinchen Samdrup denied posting a pro-Dalai Lama article on his website

A Tibetan environmentalist has been sentenced to five years in prison by a Chinese court, his lawyer has said.

Rinchen Samdrup, the third brother in his family to be jailed, was found guilty of inciting separatism in China, reports say.

Mr Samdrup, who had pleaded not guilty, was accused of posting a pro-Dalai Lama article on his website.

The sentence comes just over a week after one of Mr Samdrup's brothers was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Authorities in China said an article on the Tibetan spiritual leader was posted on Mr Samdrup's website, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The website is devoted to protecting the environment in the Himalayan region.

F. Palestinians reject for the moment direct talks with Israel after weeks of indirect talks.

Israel and the Palestinians have reached the half-way point of indirect peace talks mediated by the United States. 
After two months of indirect peace talks slated to last four months, Israeli and Palestinian leaders have differing visions about how to proceed. 

U.S. envoy George Mitchell has been shuttling between Jerusalem and the West Bank, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it is time to move on to a new framework. He had this message for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"The best way to convince Israelis that you're serious about peace is to begin serious, direct peace negotiations and I'm ready to begin them any time," said Benjamin Netanyahu. "I'm ready to meet President Abbas today and tomorrow and the next day, at any place." 

The Palestinians opted for indirect talks in protest over Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad says moving to direct talks would be premature.

"Those indirect talks have just begun, not a long time ago, and we've yet to see the kind of progress that would begin to justify consideration of that particular outcome," said Salam Fayyad.

The talks are dealing with the core issues of the conflict: the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements and the final borders of a Palestinians state. Israel says territorial concessions are unthinkable if the Palestinians are unwilling to sit down and talk, face to face.Mr. Netanyahu says he will push for direct talks when he meets with President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday.