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No early Iran nuclear estimate update: U.S. official (World, 7 articles)
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Deputy Director of National Intelligence Donald Kerr said, however, that the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran also reflects significant concerns over Iran's intentions, and that these have been overlooked in public debate. U.S. intelligence officials have spent considerable effort trying to emphasize those concerns since an unclassified version of the document was released in December, Kerr told a think-tank audience. The estimate said Iran had stopped its development of a nuclear device in 2003 a change from previous findings but continued both efforts to enrich uranium that can be used for nuclear weapons and its ballistic-missile program. The top U.S. Navy official in the Persian Gulf warned in an interview with ABC News that war with Iran would be "pretty disastrous with" echoes and aftershocks " reverberating throughout the region. " The preferred path by far is the diplomatic path, keep working with the international community to bring the right sort of pressure to bear on the Islamic Republic of Iran. For years, there has been a swirl of speculation about the prospects of war, as the United States has accused Iran of arming militias in Iraq, trying to develop nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism.
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Other stories about Iran, Nuclear and Ahmadinejad:
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Report Sees Decade of High Food Prices (World, 13 articles)
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High oil prices, surging demand, flawed trade policies, extreme weather, growth in biofuel production and speculation have inflated food prices worldwide, trigging protests from Africa to Asia and raising fears of widespread malnutrition and economic instability. The era of cheap and plentiful food was declared at an end yesterday as a key international report issued a warning that high world food prices will continue for at least a decade. The report said that after soaring in the past year to record levels, food prices should fall back.
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Nepal protesters and police clash (World, 9 articles)
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Demonstrators celebrating the abolition of the centuries-old monarchy in Nepal have clashed with police near the royal palace in the capital, Kathmandu. KATHMANDU, Nepal - The world's last Hindu kingdom became its newest secular republic yesterday as Nepal's lawmakers, led by former communist insurgents, abolished the monarchy that had reigned over this Himalayan land for 239 years. The newly elected assembly, led by the former Communist rebels, adopted the resolution at its first meeting by an overwhelming majority.
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LVMH drops Sharon Stone from Chinese Dior ads on quake remark (World, 8 articles)
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BEIJING French fashion house Christian Dior said Thursday it has dropped Sharon Stone from its Chinese ads and released a statement from the actress apologizing for saying China's earthquake may have been bad karma for its treatment of Tibet. LVMH, the world's largest luxury company, is removing advertisements featuring Stone's image only in China, spokesman Olivier Labesse said from Paris. The 50-year-old actress's comments about China's deadliest earthquake in 32 years are the latest setback for LVMH after earlier calls by Chinese bloggers for boycotts of French goods to protest disruptions to the Olympic torch relay in Paris.
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Britain 'could talk to al-Qaeda' (World, 5 articles)
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The UK should not rule out talking to al-Qaeda in a strategy to end its campaign of violence, according to one of the country's most senior policemen. In a strikingly upbeat assessment, the CIA chief cited major gains against al-Qaeda's allies in the Middle East and an increasingly successful campaign to destabilize the group's core leadership. Senior U.S. officials tell ABC News that in recent months there have been secret contacts between the Iranian government and the leadership of al Qaeda.
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U.S. Withdraws Fulbright Grants to Palestinians in Gaza (World, 7 articles)
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RAMALLAH, West Bank - Nibbling doughnuts and wrestling with computer code, the workers at G., an Internet start-up here, are holding their weekly staff meeting - with colleagues on the other side of the Israeli-Palestinian divide. " Start with the optimistic parts, Mustafa Gilad Parann-Nissany, an Israeli who is vice president for research and development, jokes with a Palestinian colleague who is giving a progress report. Speaking at the end of a two day mission to the area, the former archbishop said the humanitarian situation there could not be justified.
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Treaty to ban cluster bombs (World, 4 articles)
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But critics say the explosives often fail to detonate and later inflict a terrible cost on civilians, from farmers who strike bomblets in their fields to children who mistake them for playthings. Diplomats from more than 100 nations agreed on a treaty Wednesday to ban current types of cluster bombs and require the destruction of stockpiles within eight years. However, the talks did not involve the biggest makers and users of cluster bombs: the United States, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan.
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NATO Chief in Afghanistan Says Pakistan’s Tack on Militants Is Not as Expected (World, 4 articles)
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The government has sued for peace, a policy tried in 2005 and 2006 that led directly to a rise in attacks across the border, as is happening now. About 30 Taleban fighters have been killed in a joint Nato operation in the western province of Farah, Afghan military officials say. In the capital Kabul, three Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide car bomb attack aimed at a convoy of international troops.
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Aid to the Burmese Cyclone Victims (World, 4 articles)
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Myanmar's ruling junta lashed out Thursday at aid donors who promised millions of dollars for cyclone relief, saying survivors didn't need " bars of chocolate. Paul Risley of the U.N.'s World Food Program, which is directing the effort for emergency food supplies, said his agency provides rice, ready-to-eat meals of rice and beans and high-energy biscuits. Burma has approved all pending visas for UN staff, in a sign the regime intends to keep its promise to allow in all foreign aid workers.
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India's Gujjar caste fight for a downgrade (World, 4 articles)
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The violence has thrown a spotlight on police brutality in India and the politics of the Hindu caste system, which enforces a strict social hierarchy with Brahmins at the top and Untouchables, or Dalits, at the bottom. The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder watches as protesters from the Gujjar tribe in India block roads into the Indian capital, Delhi, as part of their demands to be included in affirmative action quotas for education and state jobs Hundreds of protesters blocked traffic at major roads around the edges of New Delhi, burning tires alongside a traffic jam that sprawled in all directions.
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Cartoons of Prophet Met With Outrage (World, 4 articles)
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KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 8 Like tens of thousands of protesters this week, the crowd that gathered Wednesday in the southern Afghan town of Qalat came to speak out against cartoons in European newspapers mocking the prophet Muhammad. Pakistanis in the crowd began chanting against the United States and tried to force their way into the local U.S. military base. KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb.16 Tens of thousands of people marched through this southern Pakistani city Thursday, shouting " God is great.
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Helicopter crashes at Mich. hospital, no deaths (World, 5 articles)
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Chile's national police chief has been killed along with 10 other people in a helicopter crash while visiting Panama City for a conference. Gen Jose Alejandro Bernales, three Chilean police officials, two spouses and five Panamanians all died when the aircraft hit a warehouse. Great police director The Chilean dead were named as Gen Bernales and his wife Teresa Bianchini, police commander Oscar Tapia and his wife Carolina Reyes, police commander Ricardo Orozco and police Capt Mauricio Fuenzalida.
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Tzipi Livni breaks ranks over Ehud Olmert (World, 7 articles)
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The comments come a day after Ehud Barak said that if Mr Olmert did not resign as Prime Minister he would remove his Labor party from the coalition government and call for elections. (05-29) 13:40 PDT JERUSALEM, Israel (AP) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suffered another blow Thursday when a key rival for power in his political party suggested the embattled leader should be replaced because of a widening corruption investigation. Livni, one of Israel's most popular politicians, suggested a change of leadership was required to maintain the party's dignity, becoming the first senior party member to openly come out against Olmert.
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ABC News: Will Pakistan's Musharraf Give Up His Hold? (World, 6 articles)
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President Pervez Musharraf has met Pakistan's army chief, Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, amid growing concerns over political and economic problems. Violent clashes with militants in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan come at a politically sensitive time for Pakistan's embattled president , Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Behind-the-scenes negotiations to remove President Pervez Musharraf from office appear to have moved into the final stage, according to Pakistani military and political leaders close to the events.
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Iraq's appeals stir little Arab response (World, 6 articles)
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Fresh carnage as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki urges Baghdad creditors to cancel $60 billion debt at Sweden conference. Iraq's plea for debt relief - made before nearly 500 delegates at a U.N. conference to assess Iraq's reconstruction - was echoed at the highest diplomatic levels including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Iraq has at least $67 billion in foreign debt - most incurred under Saddam and owed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
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Canada to reaffirm sovereignty over High Arctic waters at conference (World, 4 articles)
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Diplomats from the five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean adopted a declaration on Wednesday aimed at defusing tensions over the likelihood that global warming will open northern waters to shipping, energy extraction and other activities. The countries also agreed to work more cooperatively to limit environmental risks attending more Arctic shipping and commerce and to coordinate potential rescue operations given the rising number of tourists heading north as sea ice increasingly retreats in the summer. As summer approaches, more traffic is expected in Canada's northern waterways, particularly along the Northwest Passage, where global warming is gradually opening new routes.
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Cubans Hope Raul Castro Brings Reform (World, 4 articles)
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Led by President Bush, a chorus of officials expressed hope that Castro's departure would spark fundamental changes for the Cuban people. Given that Raul is already 76, it could fall to a new generation of leaders to fulfill or frustrate Cubans' dreams of prosperity. As acting president, Raul Castro has only hinted at reforms, a reticence many see as a sign of respect for his more doctrinaire older brother.
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blaster@cs.columbia.edu
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