Knowledge Is Power - News Facts Information And Opinions2008-07-24T06:27:24ZInformation Resource Network info@informationresourcenetwork.comCopyright 2008, Information Resource Network info@informationresourcenetwork.comSPHPBLOGIran Snubs Western Efforts to Suspend Its Nuclear Enrichment Iran snubbed Western efforts to get it to suspend nuclear enrichment at international talks in Geneva today, setting the stage for new sanctions if the Islamic Republic doesn't respond to an existing proposal in two weeks.
``We did not get what we were looking for,'' European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said at a press conference following four hours of talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.
Iran needs to give a ``clear'' answer within two weeks to the so-called freeze-for-freeze plan or risk ``further isolation,'' U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in an e-mailed statement in Washington after the discussions.
The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany regard agreement on the proposal as necessary to start talks on a wider package of economic and diplomatic incentives with the Islamic Republic. The United Nations has already passed three sets of sanctions because of Iran's refusal to halt its atomic work.
Under the plan, first presented five weeks ago in Tehran, Iran would temporarily suspend enrichment in return for a freeze on further sanctions.
Iran has consistently asserted it has an international right to enrich uranium. Today, a member of Iran's delegation, who declined to be identified by name, said before the meeting began that any suspension of Iranian nuclear enrichment was ``out of the question.''
`Cooperation, Confrontation'
Enriched uranium can fuel an atomic reactor or form a bomb's core. The U.S. accuses Iran of wanting to build atomic weapons. Iran denies the accusation, saying that its enrichment program is for a civilian energy program.
Iran's leaders ``need to make a choice between cooperation, which would bring benefits to all, and confrontation,'' McCormack said in his statement.
Asked what would happen if Iran doesn't reply to the six- nation proposal within two weeks, Solana declined to comment.
U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns represented his nation at the talks, making them the highest-level encounter between American and Iranian officials since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The U.S. in the past has boycotted the nuclear talks saying that Iran must first end enrichment. - See Iran Snubs Western Efforts to Suspend Its Nuclear Enrichment for the full report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080719-1616442008-07-19T00:00:00Z2008-07-19T00:00:00ZComedian Andy Dick arrested on drug, sexual battery charges in Murrieta Police in Murrieta say comedian Andy Dick, who was arrested today on charges of sexual battery and suspicion of drug possession, had been warned earlier by officers to leave another local bar or face charges of public intoxication.
Lt. Dennis Vrooman said police were called to the Corner Pocket Sports Bar about 9 p.m. Tuesday after receiving reports of a disturbance. When they arrived, they found Dick extremely intoxicated, he said. Rather than arrest the 42-year-old actor for public intoxication, they gave him the option to leave, which he did, Vrooman said.
Police do not know if Dick was involved in the disturbance at the bar.
Dick later ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings on Murrieta Hot Springs Road, where he drank with four or five friends, Vrooman said. Several bar patrons recognized Dick and approached him, including a 17-year-old girl.
"She recognized that he was extremely intoxicated and walked away," Vrooman said.
Later, as Dick and his friends were leaving, Vrooman said, Dick spotted the girl and her friend and shouted, "There are the girls. Moments later, he allegedly fondled the girl's breast with his right hand and then pulled her top down in the parking lot. - See Comedian Andy Dick arrested on drug, sexual battery charges in Murrieta for the full report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080716-1923592008-07-17T00:00:00Z2008-07-17T00:00:00ZCalifornia gay marriage ban vote to proceed California, the U.S.'s most populous state, started marrying same-sex couples a month ago after the California Supreme Court ruled that limiting marriage to a man and a woman violated the state's constitution.
Opponents of gay marriage then placed an initiative to amend the constitution on the November ballot. "Proposition 8" declares that marriage will be limited to one man with one woman.
In the latest phase of a bitter legal battle, supporters of homosexual marriage asked the California Supreme Court to remove the issue from the ballot. The court unanimously denied the petition without detailed comment. - See California gay marriage ban vote to proceed for the full report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080716-1918562008-07-17T00:00:00Z2008-07-17T00:00:00ZCritics Blast Obama for Setting Foreign Policy Before Iraq Visit Barack Obama’s continued call for a troop withdrawal timetable in Iraq has critics complaining that he’s set on that policy before even taking his highly anticipated trip to the Middle East.
The Illinois senator has over the past two days escalated a campaign to minimize Iraq in the context of the overall war on terror.
Obama on Wednesday stressed the need to secure loose nuclear material and draw down nuclear stockpiles around the world. He said if the nation devoted just one month of Iraq combat costs, estimated to be $10 billion, it could virtually wipe out the threat of weapons-grade nuclear material falling into the hands of terrorists.
In what was billed as a major foreign policy address Tuesday, Obama said the Iraq war has become a distraction from fighting terrorism in Afghanistan and pledged to end the war by the summer of 2010.
“He’s going to Iraq but he’s already decided his position,” Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a top John McCain supporter, told FOX News on Wednesday. “He’s not going to listen to (David) Petraeus. He’s not going to listen to our troops. He’s not going to listen to his own eyes with what he sees there.” - See Critics Blast Obama for Setting Foreign Policy Before Iraq Visit for the full report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080716-1841062008-07-17T00:00:00Z2008-07-17T00:00:00ZMassachusetts Senate passes repeal of 1913 marriage law The bill, which had the support of Senate President Therese Murray, passed with no objections on a voice vote. Proponents of the repeal called the 1913 law archaic and discriminatory.
"There are very few laws on the books that I can say that I'm ashamed that they're on the books," said State Senator Mark Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat. He said he opposed the law because of the "immorality of discrimination."
"This is a very simple law, contrived in shame, and it exists in shame and we ought to wipe it off the books," he said.
"The 1913 law is a shadow, a terrible shadow. It represents a segregationist past that is best put to rest and put to rest quickly," said Senator Harriette Chandler, a Worcester Democrat.
The law originated when lawmakers in many states were trying to prevent interracial couples from crossing state lines to marry. It fell into obscurity for decades. But it received new attention in 2004, when Republican Governor Mitt Romney invoked it after gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts to prevent out-of-state gay and lesbian couples from marrying here and forcing their home states to consider recognizing Massachusetts marriage law. - See Senate passes repeal of 1913 marriage law for the full report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080715-1921142008-07-16T00:00:00Z2008-07-16T00:00:00ZMiddle East Envoy Blair Cancels Visit to Gaza Due to Security Threat A spokesman for international Middle East envoy Tony Blair says the former British prime minister has canceled his trip to the Gaza Strip because of a security threat.
Mr. Blair was to tour an internationally-funded waste water treatment plant in the north of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and meet with United Nations and other humanitarian officials.
But his spokesman says a "specific security threat" would have made it irresponsible to proceed with the trip. He did not elaborate on the threat, but he said Mr. Blair hopes to visit the coastal territory at a later date.
Israeli authorities confirmed they had alerted Mr. Blair to a security threat before his arrival.
Hamas officials Tuesday dismissed reports of a threat and accused Israel of pressuring Mr. Blair into canceling the trip. The officials said they had made appropriate security preparations for Mr. Blair's visit. - See Middle East Envoy Blair Cancels Visit to Gaza Due to Security Threat for the full report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080715-1858532008-07-16T00:00:00Z2008-07-16T00:00:00ZIntel Second-Quarter Profit Climbs 25% on PC Demand Intel Corp., the world's biggest chipmaker, reported a 25 percent increase in second-quarter profit and gave a sales forecast that topped analysts' estimates after demand grew worldwide for personal-computer processors.
Net income climbed to $1.6 billion, or 28 cents a share, from $1.28 billion, or 22 cents, a year earlier, Santa Clara, California-based Intel said today in a statement. Sales gained 9.1 percent to $9.47 billion.
Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said he's seeing strong demand globally and hasn't felt any impact from a slowing U.S. economy. The outlook signals that technology may be holding up better than housing and financial markets. Intel also expects shipments of more-profitable laptop processors to overtake those of desktop-computer chips for the first time this year.
``The fact that they are maintaining guidance and said they see no slow-up in demand is very positive,'' said Michael Shinnick, a portfolio manager at First Source Bank in South Bend, Indiana, which owns about 190,000 Intel shares. ``We are getting data that the tech sector is doing better than other sectors in this economy.'' - See Intel Second-Quarter Profit Climbs 25% on PC Demand for the complete report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080715-1850532008-07-16T00:00:00Z2008-07-16T00:00:00ZBush sees no quick fix for high gasoline prices President George W. Bush said on Tuesday there was no quick fix to lowering record fuel prices and that oil in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve should be saved for supply emergencies.
"The SPR is for emergencies," Bush told reporters at a White House news conference. He said "there is no immediate fix" to lowering record-high fuel prices.
Several U.S. lawmakers called on the White House this week to release some of the 706 million barrels of crude held in the reserve in order to put more supplies on the market and help lower oil and gasoline prices.
"Four-dollar gasoline, bogged down in a war in Iraq, the economy entering a recession, the stock market down more than 15 percent since January, the housing market in crisis, banks failing, the highest inflation in almost 30 years, and he still doesn't think we're in an emergency?" asked Democratic Rep. Edward Markey, who wants the president to release 500,000 barrels of oil a day from the reserve for six months. - See Bush sees no quick fix for high gasoline prices for the full report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080715-1846412008-07-16T00:00:00Z2008-07-16T00:00:00ZBernanke Abandons Assessment of Lessening Growth Risk Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke abandoned his June assessment that the threat of an economic downturn had diminished, telling lawmakers that growth and inflation risks are increasing.
There are ``significant downside risks to the outlook for growth,'' and ``upside risks to the inflation outlook have intensified,'' Bernanke said in semiannual testimony on the economy to the Senate Banking Committee in Washington.
Bernanke's shift reflects renewed turmoil in markets that forced the Treasury and Fed to mount a rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week. He said that stabilizing financial markets remains ``a top priority,''
The Fed chief spoke less than two hours after government figures showed that the economic boost from U.S. tax rebates began to fade in June and inflation pressures increased.
``Clearly, policy is on hold,'' said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a former Fed economist. ``They are relatively concerned about the second half of the year.'' - See Bernanke Abandons Assessment of Lessening Growth Risk for the full report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080715-1837572008-07-16T00:00:00Z2008-07-16T00:00:00ZCourt Clears eBay in Suit Over Sale of Counterfeit Goods EBay scored an important victory in an American court Monday on how much vetting it is required to do of its auction listings, but the decision was in contrast to recent European court rulings.
In a long-awaited decision in a four-year-old trademark lawsuit against eBay brought by jeweler Tiffany & Company, Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that the online retailer does not have a legal responsibility to prevent its users from selling counterfeit items on its online marketplace.
The verdict reaffirms that Internet companies do not have to actively filter their sites for trademarked material. Rather, they can rely on intellectual property holders to monitor their sites, as long as they promptly remove material when rights holders complain.
“The court ruled that eBay does in fact meet its responsibilities regarding counterfeits,” said Rob Chesnut, senior vice president and legal counsel at eBay. “We aggressively fight counterfeits not only to meet our limited responsibilities, but also because counterfeits hurt the eBay community.” - See Court Clears eBay in Suit Over Sale of Counterfeit Goods for the full report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080714-1753052008-07-15T00:00:00Z2008-07-15T00:00:00ZMcCain Says Obama Undermined U.S. Immigration Measure Republican presidential candidate John McCain defended his commitment to an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws and accused Democrat Barack Obama of voting to undermine the legislation in the Senate.
``He voted for, and even sponsored, amendments that were intended to kill the legislation,'' McCain said in a speech today to the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza, an Hispanic advocacy group.
Obama's campaign said the Illinois senator supported the immigration law changes and denied his proposal was intended to block the overhaul.
The measure, the biggest rewrite of U.S. immigration law since 1986, would have offered an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship while tightening the border with Mexico and creating a guest-worker program. Cosponsored by McCain and Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, the legislation stalled in June 2007 on a procedural vote as Republicans and some Democrats lined up against it. - See McCain Says Obama Undermined U.S. Immigration Measure for the full report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080714-1748112008-07-15T00:00:00Z2008-07-15T00:00:00ZTaliban Breached NATO Base in Deadly Clash The Taliban insurgents who attacked a remote American-run outpost near the Pakistan border on Sunday numbered nearly 200 fighters, almost three times the size of the allied force, and some breached the NATO compound in a coordinated assault that took the defenders by surprise, Western officials said Monday.
The attackers were driven back in a pitched four-hour battle, and appeared to suffer scores of dead and wounded of their own, but the toll they inflicted was sobering. The base and a nearby observation post were manned by just 45 American troops and 25 Afghan soldiers, two senior allied officials said, asking for anonymity while an investigation is under way.
With 9 Americans dead and at least 15 injured, that means that one in five of the American defenders was killed and nearly half the remainder were wounded. Four Afghan soldiers were also injured.
American and Afghan forces started building the makeshift base just last week and its defenses were not fully in place, said one senior allied official. In some places, troops were using their vehicles as barriers against insurgents.
The militants apparently detected the vulnerability and moved quickly to exploit it in a pre-dawn assault in which they attacked from two directions, American officials said.
It was the first time insurgents had partly breached any of the three dozen outposts that American and Afghan forces operate jointly across the country, according to a Western official who insisted on anonymity in providing details of the operation. - See Taliban Breached NATO Base in Deadly Clash for the complete report.]]>http://www.informationresourcenetwork.com/index.php?entry=entry080714-1743382008-07-15T00:00:00Z2008-07-15T00:00:00Z