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Spain smashes Iran missile material export plan

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, April 7, 6:04 AM

MADRID — Spanish police say they have arrested four people who allegedly planned to send to Iran industrial machinery that could be used to make missiles.

A Civil Guard statement Monday said officers seized two Leifeld metalworking machines that had been imported illegally from Britain last year.

The statement said the machines are classified as “dual use” — meaning they can be used in both civilian and military industry — and their shipping to Iran would violate U.N. sanctions.

It said three Spaniards and one Iranian were arrested in the cities of Barcelona, Tarragona and Palma de Mallorca.

They were charged with membership of a criminal gang, trafficking dual-use goods and money laundering.

The statement said police also confiscated 10,000 euros ($13,700) and documents on exporting dual-use technology.

Spanish version translated;

Madrid. (IRIN) -. Civil Guard has dismantled an organization dedicated to traffic illicit dual-use materials intended to provide the Republic of Iran , and industrial machinery and information technology which could be used to make missiles through a complex business network .

As reported by the Civil Guard said in a statement, have been arrested four people - three Spaniards and an Iranian - in Barcelona, ​​Tarragona and Palma de Mallorca. Those arrested have been charged offenses belonging to a criminal organization, smuggling of dual-use material and money laundering.

As part of the operation ' Terracotta ', agents have seized two metal forming machines. Have also been practiced four house searches as well as the head offices of companies network in Tarragona and Palma de Mallorca, where you carried out illegal activities and coordinated the participation of other companies involved in the network .

The organization also sought to deflect information and technology (engineering plans and projects) through a complex business structure, as indicated by the Guardia Civil. The operation began last year when officers detected the purchase of two metal forming machines by several people at a company in the defense sector in the UK.

Export controls
After preliminary investigations, the Civil Guard found that the machines were introduced in Spain illegally to hide her true destiny and with the intention of waiting for the optimal time to proceed with your shipment to Iran, in violation of international sanctions against that country for the development of its nuclear and missile program. With the dismantling of the network has frustrated delivery to Iran of a machine under control as it can be used in the manufacture of missile casings, as well as the elements used in gas centrifuges used in the enrichment process uranium.

Material seized
In total have been seized two industrial metal forming machines brand Leifeld, considered dual-use material, ie, products that can be used for both civilian and military uses. The so-called dual-use materials include all those products that can be used for both non-explosive uses and assisting in the manufacture of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

Moreover, agents have seized an equivalent amount to 10,000 euros, Iranian rials and between euros, obtained by the benefits from the crime of smuggling, and blocked the financial assets of the companies involved. They have also taken over extensive documentation on export operations and sale of defense equipment and dual-use, and also a large amount of computer storage devices for study.

The operation was conducted by the Chief of Information of the Civil Guard, with support from their units information Commandery of Barcelona, ​​Tarragona, Balearic Islands and Catalonia area, and research has been directed by the Court of Instruction No. 6 of Tarragona.

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Spanish version translated;

This tells me about Iran's missile program are in desperate need of some kind machinery to make parts more consistently. Interesting for the Spaniards to name the operation "Terracotta" to make one think of the Chinese ancient Terracotta warriors, but I think it has more to do with the Spanish clay tiles that are popular in that region of Europe. They're awesome looking and can last for hundreds of years.

 

[Dizasta1]

Warning Language! Turn about is always Fair play Two Russian Ambassadors on the Phone.
[video=youtube_share;xJK00daiKD8]http://youtu.be/xJK00daiKD8[/video]


Our Scottish members might want to bush up on there Russian
Наши шотландские члены, возможно, захотите куста вверх на там-русски.

Seems to be hogwash, no way of authenticating this!

 

[SampanViking]

Capitol Hill decides to remind us that they still maintain an average mental age of 5

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The Pompous Arrogance of these guys really has no limit.
They really need to be told to shut up, sit down and finally understand that the world does not revolve around their little wants and whims, no matter how many tantrums they throw.

Iran is entitled to appoint any diplomat they feel fit and if artificial obstacles to diplomacy of this sort are going to be thrown up by the host nation, then maybe its time to relocate the UN to a more appropriate location for the new multi polar world.

By contrast today the Queen was playing host to the President of the Irish Republic today. Guests at the State Banquet included Martin McGuinness, the man who was head of the Provisional IRA during much of the troubles and the man most likely to have issued the order to assassinate Friend and Relative of Prince Philip; Lord Louis Mountbatten.

I think the Chicken Hawk, Beltway Blowhards could do far worse than study the example of Her Majesty for a masterclass in both dignity and statesmanship!

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

I strongly disagree SampanViking. The Man in question participated in the Iranian Embassy take over. Whether he took hostages or translated his actions were part of the violation of a American Embassy. Now he Wishes to be allowed into The US for Diplomatic duties! The US has every right to refuse him entry. The UN is on American Soil. And In my View he has stood on more then enough of that for his life. If the UN Wants to protest that, then they should Move somewhere else. And Sampan I am obviously not the only one the Vote was unanimous, that means 53 Democrats, 45 Republicans and 1 Independence and 1 Democratic Socialist ( it's Vermont They are weird there) All Told this guy to stay home. Do you have any Idea how often that happens? It's like getting mauled by a tag team of a Brown Bear, a Black Bear, a Asian Bear, A Panda Bear, a Koala bear and a polar bear Or winning the Lottery. So Sampan If you have a problem with it, Get over it The UN placed it's offices in the US and the US has every right to say who can and cannot enter are boarders.
The Uk decided to Except The IRA, that is there right at the same time they have refused entry to others in the past.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

Niijima Island Merges With Volcanic Sister in 'Ring of Fire' Off Japan
Tuesday, 08 Apr 2014 06:58 AM
By Michael Mullins

Niijima Island, the newest Japanese territory created last November from an underwater volcanic burst, has been rapidly expanding and has merged with another relatively recent Pacific island over the past few months.

The island is located in the Philippine Sea approximately 600 miles south of Tokyo in an area of the Pacific Ocean commonly referred to as the "Ring of Fire" for its heightened seismic and volcanic activity, according to ScienceWorldReport.com

.
When Niijima Island first surfaced last November it was located approximately 550 yards away from its existing neighbor – Nishinoshima Island, which was created 40 years earlier by a similar seafloor volcano. The merger of the two islands was reportedly first noted by NASA's Earth Observatory, which took images of the two islands as they grew closer together between Dec. 30 and March 30.


According to the space agency's latest recorded observations of Niijima Island, following its consumption of its 40-year-old neighbor, the emergent land mass measures approximately six-tenths of a mile across and nearly 200 feet above sea level at its highest point, CNN reported.

In December, Japanese scientists estimated that Niijima Island would likely last several years before being swallowed up by the ocean, however, due to its rapid expansion recently the new land mass could last much longer.

"A lot of it depends on how fast it erodes," Ken Rubin, an expert in deep submarine volcanism and a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told CNN. "Until it shuts off, it's too soon to tell."

Niijima Island is among 30 or so small islands that make up what is known as the Bonin Island chain, all of which were formed by the protrusions of an ancient underwater volcano and are home to some 14 kinds of animals and more than 100 kind of indigenous plants, ScienceWorldReport.com noted.


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more Islands to be claimed by someone else.

N.Korea Shuts Down Jang Song-taek's Department
The North Korean regime has shut down the Workers Party department once headed by purged eminence grise Jang Song-taek and executed or interned 11 high-ranking officials, sources said Sunday.

One of them was burned alive.

A source said the regime is preparing a third purge of officials who supported Jang. The first purge involved his family, relatives and high-ranking party officials, while the second purge underway. The third will target his supporters in provincial chapters of the Workers Party.

The source said Jang's elder sister Kye-sun and her husband and ambassador to Cuba Jon Yong-jin, as well as their son-in-law Kim Yong-ho, who was head of a trading company, were executed. But ambassador to Malaysia Jang Yong-chol, Jang's nephew, escaped with his life.

He was sent to a concentration camp shortly after Jang Song-taek's execution but was ordered to return to Pyongyang without a job after South Korean media reported rumors of his execution, the source added.

Jang's closest confidants Ri Yong-ha and Jang Su-gil as well as nine other high-ranking party officials were purged, while around 100 lower-ranking party officials loyal to Jang were sacked.

O Sang-hon, a deputy minister at the Ministry of Public Security, was "executed by flamethrower," the source said.

The reason for the horrific method that he had turned the ministry into Jang's personal protection squad, the source added. O managed a bureau in the ministry as his personal security service and raised its status to the same rank as officials guarding leader Kim Jong-un.

The Dog story was refuted but Flamethrower Actually fits with North Korean execution methods.

 

[delft]

I strongly disagree SampanViking. The Man in question participated in the Iranian Embassy take over. Whether he took hostages or translated his actions were part of the violation of a American Embassy. Now he Wishes to be allowed into The US for Diplomatic duties! The US has every right to refuse him entry. The UN is on American Soil. And In my View he has stood on more then enough of that for his life. If the UN Wants to protest that, then they should Move somewhere else. And Sampan I am obviously not the only one the Vote was unanimous, that means 53 Democrats, 45 Republicans and 1 Independence and 1 Democratic Socialist ( it's Vermont They are weird there) All Told this guy to stay home. Do you have any Idea how often that happens? It's like getting mauled by a tag team of a Brown Bear, a Black Bear, a Asian Bear, A Panda Bear, a Koala bear and a polar bear Or winning the Lottery. So Sampan If you have a problem with it, Get over it The UN placed it's offices in the US and the US has every right to say who can and cannot enter are boarders.
The Uk decided to Except The IRA, that is there right at the same time they have refused entry to others in the past.

What the Queen did would be equivalent to the US President inviting the leader of the Iranians who occupied the embassy to a formal dinner at the White House. Allowing a diplomat you don't like to be ambassador to the UN is required by the agreement that led to the UN being established in New York. SampanViking is wholly right.

 

[SampanViking]

I strongly disagree SampanViking. The Man in question participated in the Iranian Embassy take over. Whether he took hostages or translated his actions were part of the violation of a American Embassy. Now he Wishes to be allowed into The US for Diplomatic duties! The US has every right to refuse him entry. The UN is on American Soil. And In my View he has stood on more then enough of that for his life. If the UN Wants to protest that, then they should Move somewhere else. And Sampan I am obviously not the only one the Vote was unanimous, that means 53 Democrats, 45 Republicans and 1 Independence and 1 Democratic Socialist ( it's Vermont They are weird there) All Told this guy to stay home. Do you have any Idea how often that happens? It's like getting mauled by a tag team of a Brown Bear, a Black Bear, a Asian Bear, A Panda Bear, a Koala bear and a polar bear Or winning the Lottery. So Sampan If you have a problem with it, Get over it The UN placed it's offices in the US and the US has every right to say who can and cannot enter are boarders.
The Uk decided to Except The IRA, that is there right at the same time they have refused entry to others in the past.

The US may have a case if this was a diplomatic appointment to the US. This however is not the case, this is a appointment to the UN and to use the position as host to interfere with such a mission is an abuse of that position.
It does though reinforce my long held view that the UN should exist like the Vatican, as a separate state and not beholden or answerable to any other.
As to the matter that this gentleman was once involved in something that the US does not like, well so what? I think collectively the US establishment needs to Grow Up and Man Up and just accept that not everything revolves around the whims of America. For a nation so keen on talking about Global leadership, that this sort of puerile and immature pantomime is hardly a demonstration of anything even remotely close.

 

[bd popeye]

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ISLAMABAD (AP) — A bomb ripped through a fruit and vegetable market on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Wednesday morning, killing at least 21 people and leaving dozens more wounded, officials said.

The bomb went off as morning shoppers were buying supplies at the market, located on the outskirts of Islamabad. The power of the blast sent cartons of fruit and vegetables flying. Police quickly cordoned off the scene, which was littered with guavas, shoes, and prayer caps. Blood stained the ground in many areas.

"I saw body parts flying in the air," said one of the fruit traders, Afzal Khan. "People were dying. People were crying. People were running."

The dead and the wounded were taken to nearby hospitals.

Nineteen of the dead were taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad, said an emergency room doctor, Zulfikar Ghauri. He said the hospital was also treating 56 people who were wounded in the bombing. Two bodies and 31 wounded were taken to Holy Family Hospital in the nearby city of Rawalpindi said Tahir Sharif, a doctor there.

View galleryPakistani investigators gather around a crater following …
Pakistani investigators gather around a crater following an explosion in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednes …
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and the Pakistani Taliban in a statement emailed to reporters denied they were behind the attack. The militant group said it was sticking to a previously agreed-to ceasefire.

Police and officers from the bomb disposal squad were scanning the area for more devices. The approximately five kilograms (11 pounds) of explosives were hidden in a fruit carton, said a police official, Yasin Malik.

The market is located near a makeshift camp for people displaced from fighting in Pakistan's northwest, as well as refugees from Afghanistan. It's also next to a supermarket that sells food and household items to the capital's middle class families.

"I saw people lying there. The people were torn apart. Their body parts scattered," said Abdul Jalil, frantically searching for his brother who works at the market. Cell phone calls to the brother were not going through "Who are these people killing innocent people? What do they get out of it? God will not forgive them."

While large bombings happen frequently in Pakistani cities such as the northwestern city of Peshawar or the southern port city of Karachi, they are relatively rare in the capital, which is home to diplomats, generals and top government officials.

The symbolism of having such a deadly attack in Islamabad — even in an area on the edge of the city and rarely frequented by its elite — is a blow to a Pakistani government trying to increase foreign investment and project an air of security in the capital.

For Islamabad, it was the most deadly day since a March 3 attack on a court complex killed 11 people. That attack was claimed by a little-known splinter group called Ahrar-ul-Hind.

Attacks like Wednesday's have continued even as the negotiations between the government and the Taliban have picked up pace, leading to questions about whether the militant group is in full control of various factions that could be behind the attacks.

Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, a lawmaker from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N party, said it was difficult to say which group was behind the explosion until police complete their investigation.

Asked what the intended target was, he said: "I think peace in Pakistan is the target."

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came to power last May promising to end the years of bloodshed through negotiation instead of military operations.

Government negotiators held direct talks with the Taliban on March 26 at an undisclosed location in the tribal areas, and on Saturday the government announced that Pakistan would release 13 Taliban prisoners to facilitate the talks. The militants have also declared a temporary ceasefire.

But many observers question whether it's possible to come to a peace deal with the militants, who they contend have used previous peace deals to simply regroup and fight another day.

Critics also point out that the Tehrik-e-Taliban, as the Pakistani Taliban are formally called, is made up of numerous factions and even if the umbrella organization agrees to a peace deal, it doesn't mean all the factions will.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

The US may have a case if this was a diplomatic appointment to the US. This however is not the case, this is a appointment to the UN and to use the position as host to interfere with such a mission is an abuse of that position.
It does though reinforce my long held view that the UN should exist like the Vatican, as a separate state and not beholden or answerable to any other.
As to the matter that this gentleman was once involved in something that the US does not like, well so what? I think collectively the US establishment needs to Grow Up and Man Up and just accept that not everything revolves around the whims of America. For a nation so keen on talking about Global leadership, that this sort of puerile and immature pantomime is hardly a demonstration of anything even remotely close.

Iran has no Official Ambassador to the United States, ergo the post of Ambassador to the United Nations doubles as defacto Ambassador to the United States.
As to the UN answering to no one, considering the number of organizations under them that have violated there own rules and regulations. Frankly I think the UN needs a massive reevaluation.