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At 5:00pm Pacific Time, Ethiopian Flight 702, a Boeing 767-300 was flying over Sudan when it started squawking 7500. The transponder code, is supposed to indicate a “hijacking.” (snip) The flight, operating from Addis Abba to Rome has been confirmed by Rome Airport not to have arrived yet. As of now, it is over France, but has recently taken a steep northeast heading. Based on flight tracking, it appears the plane is headed to Geneva. Emergency crews are standing by.

An apparent delay in Iran’s building of a nuclear conversion plant suggests its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) gas will grow for a while longer, despite Tehran’s deal with world powers to curb its disputed atomic activity. Among other steps, Iran agreed under the six-month accord—which took effect on Monday—to limit its LEU reserve. The new plant is meant to achieve that by turning the material into oxide powder that is not suited for further processing into high-enriched—or bomb-grade—uranium. …

Iran and the EU have found solutions to all their disagreements after talks on how to implement a deal on containing Tehran’s nuclear program, Iranian deputy chief negotiator Abbas Araqchi said Friday. “We had two days of good, constructive and intense negotiations in which we made good progress,” Araqchi was quoted by state television as saying at the end of two days of talks in Geneva. “We found solutions for all the points of disagreements, but the implementation of the Geneva agreement depends on the final ratification of the capitals.” …

Iranian lawmaker, cleric, and Majilis (council) member Mohammed Nabavian declared Monday that Iran does need a nuclear bomb - to destroy Israel. Iran would be able to build a nuclear bomb in “two weeks” if it gets “access to 270 kilograms of 20 percent [enriched uranium], 10 tons of 5 percent, and 20 thousand centrifuges,” Nabavian stated, according to Iranian media reports. “We are not looking for a nuclear bomb, but having a nuclear bomb is necessary to put down Israel." Regarding Iran's resumed diplomatic relations with the US, Nabavian stated, "If Obama asked for a meeting five times before...

January 6, 2014 Group Run by al Qaeda Terrorist Invited to Brief Dems on Drone Policy Alana Goodman The representative of a human rights group headed by a designated al Qaeda terrorist was denied a visa by the State Department after being invited by congressional Democrats to discuss drone strikes.Mohammad Al Ahmady, the Yemen director for Geneva-based NGO Al Karama, was expected to brief Reps. Alan Grayson (D., Fla.), Barbara Lee (D., Calif.), and Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill.) the morning of the Nov. 19, according to press release from Grayson’s office.Ahmady, who also serves as a top official in an...

Iran, U.S. Set to Establish Joint Chamber of Commerce within Month,” reports Agence-France Presse. Government official Abolfazi Hejazi tells the English-language newspaper Iran Daily that the Islamic Republic will shortly commence direct flights to America. Passenger jets, not ICBMs, one assumes — although, as with everything else, the details have yet to be worked out. Still, the historic U.S.–Iranian rapprochement seems to be galloping along, and any moment now the cultural-exchange program will be announced and you’ll have to book early for the Tehran Ballet’s season at the Kennedy Center (“Death to America” in repertory with “Death to the Great...

It all depends on the meaning of sex and is "peace." My earlier attempts at analysis are here and here. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geKssJ1c-SI&w=640&h=360]Video linkPower Line provides an overview here. One part of it is reprinted below:   5. The Iranian regime never disclosed its uranium enrichment facilities or heavy water reactor. Each was revealed by outsiders. The agreement addresses Iran’s known nuclear facilities with at least one exception. It makes no mention of Parchin, the military facility where Iran is believed by the IAEA to have conducted weaponization research and sought to conceal the evidence. As David Albright and Robert Avagyan wrote earlier this year:...

As the US prepares to start talks on an "end state" agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, US President Barack Obama has asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to "take a breather" from his vocal criticism of the interim deal signed in Geneva, journalist David Ignatius wrote in a column published in The Washington Post on Thursday. Obama and Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Sunday, in a conversation meant to assuage the prime minister's concerns following the signing of the "first stage" deal between Tehran and the P5+1 countries. After weeks of Israeli officials publicly condemning the deal, Netanyahu...

It isn't surprising that the US and the other five powers signed a deal with Iran on Saturday. Over the past few weeks, US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry made it clear that they were committed to signing a deal with Iran as quickly as possible. >>SNIP<< The negotiations with the Iranians that culminated in Saturday night's agreement went on for a year. And yet, the final deal reflects Iran's opening positions. That is, over the course of the entire year, American and European negotiators were not able to move Iran's positions one iota. So what...

A historic deal was struck early Sunday between Iran and six world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program, a first step in ending a decades-long standoff over the country’s nuclear intentions. … The White House said that “the initial, six-month” Iran nuclear deal addresses the United States’ “most urgent concerns.” Among them are Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, what to do about its existing enriched uranium stockpiles, the number and potential of its centrifuges and Tehran’s “ability to produce weapons-grade plutonium using the Arak reactor.” Iran also agreed to provide “increased transparency and intrusive monitoring of its nuclear program.” …

Secretary of State John Kerry confirms there is a deal on Iran's nuclear program in Geneva.

Secretary of State John Kerry travels to Geneva Friday to join Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who arrived in Geneva Friday for an effort to end the standoff in the talks between the six major powers and Iran on an interim accord for Iran’s nuclear program. Both will try and narrow the differences between the parties and bring them closer to an agreement. While in the Swiss city, Lavrov also plans to meet the UN special envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi and US diplomats Monday to work on preparations for an international peace conference on Syria.

(Jerusalem, Israel) — “Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country would not step back from its nuclear rights and his negotiating team had set limits for talks over Iran’s disputed nuclear program to resume in Geneva later on Wednesday,” reported the Jerusalem Post. ” Khamenei took swipes at Israel and France during his speech to tens of thousands of volunteer Basij militiamen in Tehran, broadcast live on Iran’s Press TV.” “Zionist officials cannot be called humans, they are like animals, some of them,” said Khamenei. “The Israeli regime is doomed to failure and annihilation,” he added. “The ‘Zionist...

The Geneva negotiations between the so-called P5+1 powers and Iran are a mere “facade,” because the terms of a deal on Iran’s nuclear program have been negotiated in talks between a top adviser to President Barack Obama and a leading Iranian nuclear official that have continued in secret for more than a year, Israeli television reported Sunday. Despite ostensible full coordination between the US and Israel over strategies for thwarting Iran’s nuclear weapons drive, the administration did not keep Israel fully informed on those talks, Channel 10 news reported, but Jerusalem nonetheless has a pretty clear picture of what has

Secretary of State John Kerry has told US lawmakers any new sanctions against Iran would risk ruining talks over Tehran's nuclear programme. He told a Senate banking committee that the US might lose negotiating partners if it imposed economic penalties. The panel has been considering a fresh package but legislators are divided on the measure. Mr Kerry has told the BBC that Iran and world powers had come "extremely close" to a deal at the weekend. Before Wednesday's closed-door meeting with senators, Washington's top diplomat told reporters: "What we're asking everybody to do is calm down, look hard at what...

Speaking to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday, Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz explained Israel's concerns about the nuclear negotiations with Iran in Geneva. "We're worried Geneva 2013 will end up like Munich 1938." Well, the time for worrying has passed. The statements from the Obama administration and the EU following the closing of the first round of talks all made clear that Geneva 2013 is Munich 1938. >>SNIP<< The Iranians remain committed to developing nuclear weapons. But the US and Europe have stopped even paying lip service to stopping them. Instead, the US and Europe aim...

UN hides naked male sculpture to please Iranians A relief carving of a naked man at the UN's Geneva headquarters was covered up on Monday, apparently to spare the blushes of Iranian diplomats ahead of fresh talks on the country's nuclear drive. UN officials would not comment on why the wall relief, inspired by Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam", had been masked by a large white screen, referring questions to the Swiss authorities. But Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve claimed that the aim was to avoid offending the Islamic republic's delegation for the talks taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Iranian...

An upstate hair care products company whose returned and obsolete products were deposited in a private landfill that it never owned is potentially liable for a portion of the clean-up costs under an "arranger liability" theory, a Western District judge has held. In a lengthy application of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2009 holding in Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway v. United States, 556 U.S. 599, Chief Judge William Skretny said that even though Zotos International did not dump hazardous materials on a site in Seneca County, it effectively "arranged" for the disposal and, under Burlington Northern, may be liable...

ROCHESTER, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Mark Valerio, 57, of Macedon, N.Y., pleaded guilty to violating a provision of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act before U.S. Magistrate Jonathan W. Feldman. The defendant faces up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The charge also carries a thirteen year prohibition from holding a leadership role in a labor organization. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig R. Gestring, who handled the case, stated that between 2003 and 2012, the defendant was President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Union, Local 249,...

A report emanating from a UN human rights inquiry has called on Israel to remove all Jewish settlers from the West Bank and to immediately cease expansion. According to the report, the settlements violate international law and are merely an attempt to drive out Palestinians through intimidation. The report comes from an inquiry led by French judge Christine Chanet and was based on interviews with 50 Palestinians, describing land grabs, violence, and damages to livelihood, and reads, "Israel must, in compliance with article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, cease all settlement activities without preconditions.” The report further states that...