International Glance
Bolivian President Evo Morales gave details about an alleged CIA role in a corruption scandal affecting the country’s main firm.
According to Morales, the CIA infiltrated state-run oil firm Yacimientos Petrol¡feros Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) through YPFB’s Marketing Director Rodrigo Carrasco, who took part in more than fifteen training courses in the United States.
Carrasco was trained by the CIA as a covert agent to establish a corruption network, said Morales in Lauka N, Cochabamba, at a ceremony to launch Kausachum Coca community radio.
Bolivia gives details of CIA activity
Newly homeless Gazans lament otherwise valuable rainfall
Palestine’s long-awaited rainfall, called a blessing from heaven by Palestinians in the West Bank, was described as a curse for homeless families in the Gaza Strip.
Israel completely destroyed at least 2,000 Palestinian homes and left as a many as 12,000 damaged during its 22-day assault on Gaza.
46,000 people were displaced, according to the United Nations.
According to the official Palestinian Authority news agency, Wada, the rains are “adding to the suffering of homeless people in Gaza,” despite the blessing to farmers.
Iran not producing weapon-grade uranium: IAEA
Iran has not converted the low-grade uranium that it has produced into weapon-grade uranium, inspectors belonging to the International Atomic Energy Agency have said.
The Austrian Press Agency quoted an IAEA expert as saying that the uranium substances that Iran has produced at its Natanz enrichment facility have been carefully recorded and remote cameras have been installed to supervise part of the stockpile.
“If the Iranians intend to transport these uranium substances to a secret location for further processing, agency’s inspectors will find out,” he said.
The expert added that “so far, Iran has carried out good cooperation with us in relevant verifications”.
Is Israel assassinating Iran nuclear scientists?
Israel is assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists as part of a covert war against the Islamic Republic's illicit weapons program, the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday quoted Western intelligence analysts as saying. The British daily said Israel's Mossad espionage agency was rumored to be behind the death of Ardeshire Hassanpour, a top nuclear scientist at Iran's Isfahan uranium plant, who died in mysterious circumstances from reported "gas poisoning" in 2007.
Other recent deaths of important figures in the procurement and enrichment process in Iran and Europe have been the result of Israeli "hits", intended to deprive Tehran of key technical skills at the head of the program, according to the analysts.
Calling the police to account
From today, it is illegal to photograph the police, despite the fact that they use increasingly aggressive techniques to record us.
On the day that it becomes illegal to take pictures of police engaged in counter-terrorist operations – in practice a ban on taking pictures of the police – it is worth noting events in Brighton recently where police set up outside a cafe and photographed people attending a meeting about the environment.
The local MP, David Lepper, agrees that the police operation was designed to scare activists rather than prevent crime, and has written to the divisional commander for Brighton and Hove demanding to know why officers were photographing people engaged in a political activity. The police have refused to comment other than to produce the usual assertion that this was a normal police operation.
Israel takes control of more West Bank land
Israel has taken control of a large chunk of land near a prominent West Bank settlement, paving the way for the possible construction of 2,500 settlement homes, officials said Monday, in a new challenge to Mideast peacemaking.
Successive Israeli governments have broken promises to the United States to halt settlement expansion, defined by Washington as an obstacle to peace. Ongoing expansion is likely to create friction not only with the Palestinians, but with President Barack Obama, whose Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, has long pushed for a settlement freeze. Obama has said he'd get involved quickly in Mideast peace efforts.
Iraq MPs seek reparation for 1981 Israeli attack on nuclear reactor
Iraqi parliamentarians are demanding Israel pay billions of dollars in reparations for a 1981 Israeli attack on an Iraqi nuclear reactor, Baghdad's daily al-Sabbah reported Thursday.
Israeli officials at the time said they were concerned that the
reactor could eventually be used to produce nuclear weapons.
The Security Council, however, noted at the time that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had testified that its safeguards had been "satisfactorily applied" in Iraq."
Rather, the Security Council said, the Osiraq attack constituted 'a serious threat to the entire safeguards regime' of the IAEA.
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