Iran nuke talks stalled, despite Kerry efforts
VIENNA — Contentious nuclear talks between world powers and Tehran hit a new snag Friday after Iran apparently again turned down U.S. demands for concessions, leaving negotiations in limbo just three days before a deadline for a deal.
In hours of high drama reflecting the delicate stage of the talks, both U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif first made, then canceled plans to walk away from the talks — at least temporarily — for additional consultations. Such developments could have meant possible progress, suggesting the Iranians needed political approval from Tehran to move forward.
After initially announcing he was flying to Paris, Kerry suddenly reversed course and scheduled a new meeting with Zarif late Friday, with the two talking into the evening for more than two hours.
Iranian media initially spoke of a new U.S. initiative Zarif needed to have his superiors sign off on, but the Iranian diplomat dashed those hopes. “There have been a lot of discussions in Vienna, but there were no remarkable offers and ideas to take to Tehran,” Zarif told Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
The remark reflected the probability substantial obstacles remain in the way of a deal that would cap Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief — a view reinforced by senior diplomats of other nations taking part in the negotiations.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said a phone call between Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed “more efforts are needed” to meet Monday’s deadline for a deal. And after consulting in Vienna with participants in the talks, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond spoke of “a very significant gap between the parties.”
Civic group: No Ferguson grand jury decision yet
FERGUSON, Mo. — Crews erected barricades Saturday around the building where a grand jury has been considering whether to indict the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, even as a grand jury decision seemed unlikely this weekend.
Downtown STL Inc., a St. Louis civic group that promotes downtown businesses, told members in an email Saturday the grand jury will reconvene Monday to continue deliberating whether charges are warranted against Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of Brown.
The email did not explain how the group knew the information, and a spokeswoman declined comment. Ed Magee, a spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, didn’t respond to several messages Saturday.
Somalia’s extremist rebels kill 28 non-Muslims in Kenya
NAIROBI, Kenya — One gunman shot from the right, one from the left, each killing the non-Muslims lying in a line on the ground, growing closer and closer to Douglas Ochwodho, who was in the middle.
And then the shooting stopped. Apparently each gunman thought the other shot Ochwodho. He lay perfectly still until the 20 Islamic extremists left, and he appears to be the only survivor of those who had been selected for death.
Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, attacked a bus in northern Kenya at dawn Saturday, singling out and killing 28 passengers who could not recite an Islamic creed and were assumed to be non-Muslims, Kenyan police said.
Those who could not say the Shahada, a tenet of the Muslim faith, were shot at close range, Ochwodho told The Associated Press.
Nineteen men and nine women were killed in the bus attack, said Kenyan police chief David Kimaiyo.
By wire sources