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Thursday, April 9, 2009
Danish Free Speech Group Sells Copies of Controversial Cartoon
Italy quake death toll rises
Taleban storm district near Swat
Two Tibetan protestors sentenced to death
Indonesians set to head to polls
Rebel leaders sentenced to up to 52 years in prison for war crimes
U.S. to Join Group Talks With Iran Over Nuclear Program
WASHINGTON In a major departure from previous policy, the United States will join direct talks between U.N. and European powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, the State Department announced Wednesday.The Obama administration has asked the European Union's international policy chief, Javier Solana, to invite Iran to new talks with the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.Washington, which does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, has stayed out of those talks to date."If Iran accepts, we hope this will be an occasion to seriously engage Iran of how to break the logjam of recent years and work in a cooperative manner to resolve the outstanding international concerns about its nuclear program," Wood said.Iran has so far refused Security Council demands to halt its production of enriched uranium, which it has said will be used to fuel nuclear power plants. The United States has accused Tehran of concealing efforts to develop a nuclear bomb, and the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency said it has failed to resolve questions about the aim of Iranian program.
Hijacked US crew 'retake vessel'
Give us the drones; we’ll take out the militants: Zardari
ISLAMABAD President Asif Ali Zardari in an interview with The Independent has called on the United States to provide Pakistan with missiles and drone technology to target militants as opposed to conducting independent operations that violate the country’s sovereignty.Pakistan had made it clear that it was willing to ‘take out high-value targets on our own, and we welcome the technology and intelligence assistance that will give us the ability to succeed.’ Zardari said, adding that ‘I cannot condone violations of our sovereignty even when they are done by allies and friends. We would much prefer that the US share its intelligence and give us the drones and missiles that will allow us to take care of this problem on our own.’During the interview, President Zardari for the first time conceded that more than one of the 10 militants who carried out the Mumbai attacks may be Pakistani.It is generally believed that despite public denials Pakistan co-operates with the US drone strikes. However, such tactics are increasingly unpopular among the Pakistani people.‘President Obama once said that he would act if we weren’t willing and able. We certainly are willing and with international support we will become even more able,’ The Independent quoted Zardari as saying.He also acknowledged that more than a year after elections, many Pakistanis are growing frustrated with an apparent lack of progress. ‘After a decade of dictatorship the people had enormous expectations of rapid improvement in their lives. That is still very much our priority but the enormity of the economic crisis both within Pakistan and internationally, compounded by the war that we fight within and along our borders, has made progress much slower than we hoped.’