VIENNA – Iran’s demand for changes to a nuclear fuel deal is unacceptable because it could mean Tehran keeping enough enriched uranium for possible use in an atom bomb, the UN nuclear watchdog chief said in an interview.
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WASHINGTON – The United States unveiled its proposal to cut greenhouse gases by 2020 yesterday and said President Barack Obama will attend UN climate talks in Copenhagen next month — before other world leaders show up.
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JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a 10-month freeze on some building in West Bank settlements, pleasing the United States but Palestinians said it was not enough to restart peace talks.
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MOSCOW – Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said he was alarmed by the amount of hot money flooding into Russia and would support “soft measures” to stop speculators from inflating the value of the stock market.
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RUESSELSHEIM/STOCKHOLM – General Motors targeted Germany for the bulk of 9,000 planned job cuts at European arm Opel, turning the tables on the country that lobbied hardest for an Opel sale to Canada’s Magna.
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MOGADISHU – Two freelance journalists released in Somalia after 15 months captivity said they were tortured and feared being sold on to hardline rebels in the anarchic Horn of Africa nation.
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DUBAI/NEW YORK – Dubai said two of its flagship firms planned to delay repayment on billions of dollars of debt as a first step toward restructuring Dubai World, the conglomerate that spearheaded the emirate’s breakneck growth.
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BAGHDAD – The political battle over Iraq’s election law has shown that the deep sectarian faultlines which led to years of bloodshed could once again provoke conflict.
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DUBAI – Multiplying security and economic pressures are deepening instability in Yemen, raising fears for a strategically vital neighbourhood that includes oil superpower Saudi Arabia and one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
