5.3-magnitude earthquake hits Iran

/in /by

An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale has rocked the southeastern Iranian province of Kerman.

According to Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), the quake hit the town of Fariab, south of Kerman Province, at 8:16 am (0446 GMT) local time on Friday.

The epicenter was at 57.34 degrees north latitude and 27.77 degrees east longitude.

No report has yet been issued on the possible damage and casualties caused by the earthquake.

Located on seismic fault lines, Iran is prone to earthquakes and experiences at least one slight tremor every day on average.

The deadliest earthquake to hit Iran in recent years struck the country on December 26, 2003. Back then, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake jolted the city of Bam and its surrounding areas in Kerman province.

The destructive earthquake left 26,271 people dead and 30,000 injured.

FNR/HMV/KA

US probes ISIL ‘chlorine attack in Iraq’

/in /by

The United States says it is investigating whether the ISIL terrorist group launched a chlorine attack against security forces and volunteer fighters north of Baghdad last month.

According to Iraqi officials, ISIL militants used bombs with chlorine-filled cylinders during clashes in the town of Dhuluiya, located about 96 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Iraqi capital, on September 15.

“It was a strange explosion,” Lt. Khairalla al-Jabbouri, a police officer, told the Washington Post. “We saw a yellow smoke in the sky” that drifted low to the ground.

In response to the reports of ISIL using chlorine gas as a weapon in Iraq, Alistair Baskey, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said on Thursday, “We continue to take all allegations of C.W. use — and in particular these recent allegations regarding the use of chlorine as a chemical weapon — very seriously.”

“We are aware of the reports but cannot confirm details and are seeking additional information. The use of chlorine as a chemical weapon is an abhorrent act.  These recent allegations underscore the importance of our work to eliminate chemical weapons in this volatile region,” he added.

The use of chlorine gas has raised grave concerns about future militant attacks in Iraq. There are also fears that Iraq’s old chemical weapons stores could have fallen into ISIL’s hands.

In September, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons stated that chlorine gas was being used in parts of Syria that are under the control of ISIL.

Recent photos of Kurdish fighters killed in battle against the ISIL Takfiri militants in the Syrian border town of Kobani apparently suggest that the terrorists have used chemical weapons against the Kurds.

The ISIL terrorists, some of whom were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large parts of Syria’s northern territory. ISIL sent its fighters into Iraq in June, making swift advances there over the summer.

GJH/GJH

Iran to produce 5,000 MW clean power

/in /by

Iran is planning to produce 5,000 megawatts of electricity in the next five years using renewable energy sources, an Iranian official says.

“The Renewable Energy Organization [of Iran] has comprehensive plans underway with respect to utilization of clean methods of energy supply,” said the organization’s managing director, Yusef Armodeli, in a Friday interview.

“Iran has put the objective of producing 5,000 MW [of clean energy] from renewable sources in the next five years on its agenda,” he added.

At present, the country produces 10,000 MW of electricity from hydropower plants, Armodeli added.

He underlined the Iranian administration’s resolve to support the development of renewable energies and noted that the incentives provided by the government have attracted investors to the sector.

“The majority of [investment] requests are related to wind and solar power plants. This indicates that there are resources and demand for investment. Moreover, the industrial infrastructure for production [of energy] exists in the country,” Armodeli pointed out.

Due to its geographical and geological position, Iran enjoys enormous potentials for production of different sorts of renewable energies, including geothermal, solar and wind power.

The country seeks to gradually shift its energy consumption toward renewable resources in a bid to derive the remarkable economic benefits of the sector and tackle its growing environmental issues.

ASH/HMV/SS

US undermines global stability: Putin

/in /by

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of undermining the global stability by trying to impose its will on other countries.

In a speech to a group of political scholars known as the Valdai Club in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, Putin said Washington’s policy has made the world a more dangerous place.

He also criticized Washington’s interference in the internal affairs of other countries, calling for talks on internationally acceptable conditions for the use of force.

Putin also dismissed as a mistake sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union on Moscow over its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

“Russia will not be posturing, get offended, ask someone for anything. Russia is self-sufficient,” he said.

Putin further noted that Russia did not initiate the ongoing tensions between Moscow and the West.

The “so-called Cold War victors” want to redraw the entire world exclusively for themselves, the Russian president stated.

Tensions between Russia and the West heightened after Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March.

Relations were strained further after Ukraine launched military operations in mid-April to silence pro-Russia protests in the country’s mainly Russian speaking regions in the east.

The United States and the European Union accuse Russia of destabilizing Ukraine and have slapped a number of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures. Moscow, however, rejects the accusation.

MP/HSN/SS

US arms ISIL in Iraq town: Lawmaker

/in /by

The United States has supplied ammunition to terrorists of the ISIL Takfiri group, says an Iraqi lawmaker.

Member of the Council of Representatives of Iraq Sattar al-Ghanim said a US military plane had airdropped three consignments of military equipment for the terrorists in Jalawla – a town in the Diyala Province, which has been the scene of heavy clashes between Iraqi forces and the Takfiri militants.

Washington has not yet reacted to the accusation.

The comments came after footage emerged from northern Syria showing ISIL terrorists in possession of the weapons the US claims to be sending to Kurdish forces.

The video showed masked militants inspecting the military equipment, which was airdropped in areas controlled by ISIL near the Syrian border city of Kobani.

The supplies included several boxes of hand grenades and RPGs. Parachutes used for the airdrops were clearly visible on the ground in the video.

A senior Iranian commander has also denounced Washington’s egregious support for terrorist groups and its provision of arms for them.

Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, said Americans had placed arms and hardware consignments in the ISIL terrorists’ hands, adding, “It is not far-fetched that the Americans announce that these arms have mistakenly found their way to the ISIL.”

“How is it possible that the United States, which possesses accurate satellite information, makes mistake in sending weapon to Kurdish fighters?” he asked.

ISIL Takfiri militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq over the summer, after capturing large swathes of northern Syria.

Since late September, the US and some of its Arab allies — Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates — have been conducting airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

HN/HMV/SS

 

1 Brit dies every 3 weeks in Syria, Iraq

/in /by

A study shows that every three weeks, at least one British national has been killed in the conflict in Syria and Iraq; but the true total number of the fatalities could be much bigger.

In 2014 alone, 16 British nationals have been killed in the war zone that spreads from the Mediterranean coast to central Iraq, and to Kurdish-controlled areas on the Turkish border with Syria.

The figure indicates that roughly three British nationals are dying every two months, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) at King’s College in London stated.

ICSR’s figures were updated after reports that 24-year-old Mamanour Roshid had become the third person from the city of Portsmouth who was killed in Syria on Tuesday.

The majority of British militants have joined the ISIL Takfiri terrorists.

The average age of those who have died was 23.5, the study said.

However, the true total of British nationals dead in the war zone could be much higher, said Shiraz Maher, an ICSR research fellow.

Other Britons have been reported dead but could not be substantially verified, while some deaths may have evaded monitoring altogether, Maher noted.

On Tuesday, Metropolitan Police commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, said at least five Britons are travelling to Iraq and Syria every week to join the ISIL Takfiri group.

The commissioner said since the beginning of 2014, the Metropolitan Police have made 218 arrests for activities related to terrorism, which shows a rise of approximately 70 percent compared to three years ago.

GMA/HSN/SS

Iraqi forces kill over 40 ISIL militants

/in /by

Iraq’s army troops, backed by volunteer forces, have killed more than 40 ISIL militants during a mop-up operation against the terror group near the capital.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry said in a statement that the forces succeeded in purging a district south of Baghdad of the Takfiri militants.

The country’s armed forces, who have been battling the ISIL for nearly six months now, inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists, capturing a huge amount of ammunition from them and destroying their vehicles.

The new advances come as the Iraqi government forces have also engaged the Takfiri militants in other parts of the violence-hit country, with reports saying that they have killed scores of militants near the cities of Tikrit and Baiji.

The US-led coalition, meanwhile, has been conducting airstrikes on ISIL positions across Iraq, but the air raids have so far failed to dislodge the terrorists.

The Iraqi troops have pledged to make more gains in the coming weeks.

The ISIL militants have seized large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, terrorizing all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians and Izadi Kurds in the areas they are controlling.

UN Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic has recently warned that Izadi Kurds in Iraq are facing what may amount to an “attempted genocide” at the hands of the ISIL Takfiris.

MR/NN/KA

 

Amnesty slams Ferguson police abuses

/in /by

The global human rights organization Amnesty International condemns the harsh police response to mostly peaceful protests in Ferguson, Missouri, which erupted after a white police officer killed an unarmed black teenager in August.

Amnesty International issued a report Friday urging an investigation into violations of human rights and other abuses by law enforcement officers during weeks of racially charged protests over the shooting death of Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on August 9.

The human rights group said the use of rubber bullets, stun grenades, tear gas and heavy military equipment to quell protests violated international standards.

Heavily-armed police clashed with demonstrators in Ferguson for weeks after Brown was gunned down in the street of a predominately black neighborhood.

The Amnesty report said the ammunition that was shot to disperse the crowds in Ferguson “can result in serious injury and even death.”

Among other measures, the organization urged a number of local and nationwide law enforcement reforms, including restrictions on racial profiling and creation of a national database to keep track of fatal police shootings.

The report also criticizes a Missouri law that allows police to use lethal force against someone even if they pose no imminent threat of harm.

“Lethal force is only to be used to protect life when there is an immediate threat,” said Rachel Ward, director of research at Amnesty International. “The Missouri statute goes far beyond that. It is of grave concern.”

Amnesty observers were deployed to Ferguson from Aug. 14-22 to monitor the situation.

HRJ/HRJ

‘Some US allies want Iran talks to fail’

/in /by

The chief US nuclear negotiator has acknowledged that certain allies of the United States and members of Congress are opposed to a final nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers.

“Some worry that it will fail. Others seem to fear that it will succeed. Many have questions and doubts,” Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Thursday.

She said the White House “has consulted regularly with members of Congress and with our many overseas partners, including Israel and the [Persian] Gulf states. We have heard a variety of concerns and done our best to answer hard questions.”

Sherman added that a possible comprehensive deal between Iran and P5+1 world powers — the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany — give the world confidence that Tehran’s nuclear energy program is exclusively peaceful and that the Islamic Republic would get significant relief from the Western sanctions.

She said that the Obama administration is “aware, of course, that this negotiating process is, shall we say, controversial,” but diplomacy with Tehran is worth the risk.

Sherman said the ongoing negotiations progressed at a “deliberative pace, which is diplo-speak for not so fast”, adding, “We have made impressive progress on issues that originally seemed intractable.”

Referring to a November 24 deadline for clinching a deal, she said that “this is the time to finish the job.”

Iran and the six powers are in talks to hammer out a final deal to end a decade of impasse over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

Last year, the two sides clinched an interim nuclear accord, which took effect on January 20 and expired six months later. However, they agreed to extend their talks until November 24 as they remained divided on a number of key issues.

Sources close to the Iranian negotiating team say the main stumbling block in the way of resolving the Western dispute over Iran’s nuclear energy program remains to be the removal of all the bans slapped on the Islamic Republic and not the number of centrifuges or the level of uranium enrichment.

Tehran wants the sanctions entirely lifted while Washington, under pressure from the pro-Israeli lobby, insists that at least the UN-imposed sanctions should remain in place.

DB/NN/KA

 

UK police to pay £425k to victim of spy

/in /by

UK’s Metropolitan Police are to pay £425,000 in compensation to a woman whose child was fathered by an undercover police officer.

The sum, announced on Thursday, was reached in an out-of-court settlement between the force and the mother, known by the name Jacqui, amid the police’s legal battle with over a dozen women who say they were deceived by officers sent to spy on them.

Jacqui said the compensation would not bring closure for her as the Metropolitan police have not admitted any wrongdoing.

Jacqui also criticized the force for delaying the legal proceedings by refusing to concede for two years that her child’s father, Bob Lambert, was an undercover officer, despite he himself having already confessed his covert role.

In addition, Jacqui said she was angry because so many questions about her life would remain unanswered amid the force’s refusal to give her an explanation.

“I live in a country that protects its establishment so much that someone like me is nothing to them – I am just like a little ant, and they are like a big elephant stamping on a little ant. I would like all the gaps of the last 30 years of my life filled in,” said Jacqui.

During an operation against animal rights and environmental groups in the mid 1980s, Lambert began a relationship with Jacqui, despite being already married with children. The couple’s child was born in 1985 and two years later Lambert abandoned both of them.

Jacqui first discovered by chance that Lambert was an undercover officer in June 2012 when she read about his covert work in a newspaper.

This is while the Metropolitan police are still resisting legal claims from more than 10 other women who have discovered that their one-time partners were undercover officers.

Police chiefs have maintained that undercover officers were not permitted to engage intimately with their targets; however, evidence has revealed that such sexual relationships were routine and often lasted a number of years.

CAH/NN/KA