News
The News in 2 Minutes
From The Associated Press
Iran nuke talks stall even with U.S. at table
GENEVA—A U.S. decision to bend policy and sit down with Iran at nuclear talks fizzled Saturday, with Iran stonewalling Washington and five other world powers on their call to freeze uranium enrichment.
In response, the six gave Iran two weeks to respond to their demand, setting the stage for a new round of U.N. sanctions.
Iran’s refusal to consider suspending enrichment was an indirect slap at the United States, which had sent Undersecretary of State William Burns to the talks in hopes the first-time American presence would encourage Tehran into making concessions.
Phoenix area completes freeway loop
PHOENIX—Transportation officials say they’ve completed the final stretch of the Loop 202, giving the Phoenix metro area an unbroken 137-mile commuter loop.
It’s a milestone for Maricopa County. The county’s voters first passed a tax increase for highways in 1985.
During that time, Phoenix had only Interstate 10 and Interstate 17 running through it. Now, there’s the Loop 101, the Loop 202, along with several other commuter routes. The roads supported a population that grew 41 percent to more than 2.1 million, from 1980 to 1990.
Dignitaries attend party for Mandela’s 90th
QUNU, South Africa—Songs, laughter, teasing and tender words marked Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebration Saturday as presidents, village elders and African royalty joined him for a festive luncheon on his rural homestead.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner celebrated privately with his family in this rural southeastern village Friday, the day he turned 90. Saturday was a grand occasion, held in a tent outside his homestead in Qunu, 600 miles south of Johannesburg, where as a boy he herded cattle in the hills.
The anti-apartheid icon walked into the tent with his successor to the South African presidency, Thabo Mbeki, and African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma, stopping to personally greet some of the 500 guests as he made his way to the head table.
Mandela was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against apartheid. He was released in 1990 to lead negotiations that ended decades of racist white rule, then was elected president in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.
Unification Church founder Moon hurt in crash
SEOUL, South Korea—A helicopter carrying the Rev. Sun Myung Moon crashed into a mountainside Saturday as it attempted an emergency landing, injuring the founder of the Unification Church and 15 others, officials said.
Moon, 88, was slightly injured in the crash, a hospital official said. Members of Moon’s family, including his wife, were also hurt, and one person suffered a serious back injury, fire official Kim Wu-jong said.
No details of his injury were given, but the church said in a brief statement on its Web site that Moon and the others were “safe.”
Iraqi Sunni bloc rejoins government
BAGHDAD—Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab political bloc returned to the government fold Saturday after calling off a nearly one-year boycott of the Shiite-dominated leadership, another critical stride toward healing sectarian rifts.
The return of the National Accordance Front does more than politically reunite some of Iraq’s main centers of power.
It was seen as a significant advance toward reconciliation and efforts to cement security cooperation between Shiite-led forces and armed Sunni groups that rose up against al-Qaida in Iraq.
Iraq’s sharply improved security situation is already bringing plans for a pared-down British force. On a visit to Baghdad, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said plans are being made to scale back troops in Iraq.
Iran nuke talks stall even with U.S. at table
GENEVA—A U.S. decision to bend policy and sit down with Iran at nuclear talks fizzled Saturday, with Iran stonewalling Washington and five other world powers on their call to freeze uranium enrichment.
In response, the six gave Iran two weeks to respond to their demand, setting the stage for a new round of U.N. sanctions.
Iran’s refusal to consider suspending enrichment was an indirect slap at the United States, which had sent Undersecretary of State William Burns to the talks in hopes the first-time American presence would encourage Tehran into making concessions.
Phoenix area completes freeway loop
PHOENIX—Transportation officials say they’ve completed the final stretch of the Loop 202, giving the Phoenix metro area an unbroken 137-mile commuter loop.
It’s a milestone for Maricopa County. The county’s voters first passed a tax increase for highways in 1985.
During that time, Phoenix had only Interstate 10 and Interstate 17 running through it. Now, there’s the Loop 101, the Loop 202, along with several other commuter routes. The roads supported a population that grew 41 percent to more than 2.1 million, from 1980 to 1990.
Dignitaries attend party for Mandela’s 90th
QUNU, South Africa—Songs, laughter, teasing and tender words marked Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebration Saturday as presidents, village elders and African royalty joined him for a festive luncheon on his rural homestead.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner celebrated privately with his family in this rural southeastern village Friday, the day he turned 90. Saturday was a grand occasion, held in a tent outside his homestead in Qunu, 600 miles south of Johannesburg, where as a boy he herded cattle in the hills.
The anti-apartheid icon walked into the tent with his successor to the South African presidency, Thabo Mbeki, and African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma, stopping to personally greet some of the 500 guests as he made his way to the head table.
Mandela was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against apartheid. He was released in 1990 to lead negotiations that ended decades of racist white rule, then was elected president in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.
Unification Church founder Moon hurt in crash
SEOUL, South Korea—A helicopter carrying the Rev. Sun Myung Moon crashed into a mountainside Saturday as it attempted an emergency landing, injuring the founder of the Unification Church and 15 others, officials said.
Moon, 88, was slightly injured in the crash, a hospital official said. Members of Moon’s family, including his wife, were also hurt, and one person suffered a serious back injury, fire official Kim Wu-jong said.
No details of his injury were given, but the church said in a brief statement on its Web site that Moon and the others were “safe.”
Iraqi Sunni bloc rejoins government
BAGHDAD—Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab political bloc returned to the government fold Saturday after calling off a nearly one-year boycott of the Shiite-dominated leadership, another critical stride toward healing sectarian rifts.
The return of the National Accordance Front does more than politically reunite some of Iraq’s main centers of power.
It was seen as a significant advance toward reconciliation and efforts to cement security cooperation between Shiite-led forces and armed Sunni groups that rose up against al-Qaida in Iraq.
Iraq’s sharply improved security situation is already bringing plans for a pared-down British force. On a visit to Baghdad, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said plans are being made to scale back troops in Iraq.
Copyright © 2010 - Green Valley News and Sun