UN report says Iran not answering questions about alleged nuclear weapons work
VIENNA — The U.N. nuclear agency said Friday that its attempts to probe allegations that Tehran worked on nuclear weapons were deadlocked — a finding that all but rules out hopes of full nuclear deal between six world powers and Iran by the Nov. 24 target date.
Iran agreed in February to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency, in what was seen as a test of Tehran’s professed new willingness to reduce tensions over its nuclear program.
Since then, the agency has sought information on alleged experiments with detonators that can be used to set off nuclear explosions; work on high-explosive charges used in nuclear blasts, and alleged studies on calculating nuclear explosive yields.
Iran denies wanting — or ever working on — nuclear arms. Since February, it has provided information only on the detonators, insisting that they were used for oil exploration or non-nuclear military purposes. The agency says interconnected information suggests that they were being tested for nuclear weapons use.
“Iran has not provided any explanations that enable the agency to clarify the outstanding practical measures,” said the confidential report from the IAEA obtained by The Associated Press.
Judge OKs Detroit’s plan to get out of bankruptcy, says this ‘must never happen again’
DETROIT — A judge cleared Detroit to emerge from bankruptcy Friday, approving a hard-fought turnaround plan with a fervent plea to the people of this one-time industrial powerhouse to “move past your anger” and help fix the Motor City.
“What happened in Detroit must never happen again,” federal Judge Steven Rhodes said in bringing the case to a close a relatively speedy 16 months after Detroit — the cradle of the auto industry — became the biggest city in U.S. history to file for bankruptcy.
The plan calls for cutting retiree pensions by 4.5 percent, erasing $7 billion of debt and spending $1.7 billion to demolish thousands of blighted buildings, make the city safer and improve long-neglected basic services.
Rhodes praised decisions that settled the most contentious issues in the bankruptcy case, including a deal to prevent the sell-off of world-class art at the Detroit Institute of Arts and a consensus that prevented pension cuts from getting even worse for thousands of retirees. He said the pension deal “borders on the miraculous,” though he acknowledged the cuts could still cause severe misfortune for some.
Politicians and civic leaders, including Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, hailed Friday’s milestone as a fresh start for the city and the beginning of what could be a bright new era. It was Snyder who agreed with state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr to take the city into Chapter 9.
Jerusalem’s Muslims on edge over Israeli clampdown at contested shrine as clashes continue
JERUSALEM — Hundreds of Palestinians knelt on prayer carpets in a Jerusalem street Friday, faced by a cordon of Israeli riot police who blocked them from reaching Islam’s third- holiest shrine in the nearby Old City.
The worshippers eventually dispersed peacefully, but the scene highlighted the escalating tensions over the holy site — a walled, hilltop plateau known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Israel argues that restricting access to the shrine, which has been common in recent weeks, is needed to clamp down on growing unrest in the contested city of 810,000 people. On Friday, Muslims under age 35 were denied entry, while restrictions were broader in preceding weeks.
Jerusalem’s Muslims, who make up about a third of the population, say the security clampdown only heightens fears that their traditional control of the holy site, home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-topped Dome of the Rock, is under threat from Jewish zealots.
By wire sources
