Iran's Rouhani Urges Nuclear Talks With West

Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani has said he is "seriously determined" to resolve a dispute with the West over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Addressing his first news conference as leader, Mr Rouhani said was ready to enter "serious and substantive" negotiations on the issue without delay.

"We are the people of interaction and talks, with seriousness and without wasting time, if the other sides are ready," he said.

"As the president of the Islamic republic, I am announcing that there is political will to solve this issue and also take into consideration the concerns of the other sides.

"If the other party is also prepared like we are, then I am confident that the concerns of both sides will be removed through negotiations within a period which will not be very long."

Mr Rouhani said he wanted to allay Western concerns but would not surrender Iran's rights.

"Iran's peaceful nuclear programme is a national issue ... we will not give up the rights of the Iranian people," he said.

He said Iran would not abandon its nuclear programme, which it would uphold "on the basis of international law".

"We will preserve our rights based on the international regulations," he added, in reference to Iran's insistence that it has the right to peaceful use of nuclear power as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Mr Rouhani also used the speech to hit out at a call by 76 US senators for tougher sanctions from Washington.

Former leader Mr Ahmadinejad (C) at a nuclear enrichment facility in 2008

He said Friday's letter from the politicians to President Barack Obama, which was published on Monday, showed a lack of understanding of Iranian politics.

"Recent declarations from the the White House show that some US officials do not have a correct and realistic assessment of the situation here and the message that the Iranian people gave in the election," the new president said.

"They are still sending contradictory messages," he said, adding: "We care about the US response in deeds, not in words."

On Sunday, the White House said Iran will find the United States a "willing partner" if Mr Rouhani is prepared to engage substantively and seriously on its nuclear programme.

Mr Rouhani headed Iran's nuclear negotiating team in the early 2000s and Western leaders have expressed hope of a more constructive approach in the protracted talks.

The hard line policies of Mr Rouhani's predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, prompted crippling EU and US sanctions against Iran's oil and banking sectors that he has vowed to seek to relax.

Iran's critics say that it has used previous nuclear talks as a delaying tactic while continuing to develop nuclear weapons-related technology - something Tehran denies.

Western powers believe the Iranian nuclear programme is being used to develop an atomic bomb but Tehran insists it is for peaceful purposes.

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Iraq Bombs: Dozens Killed In Car Blasts

At least 51 people have been killed by a series of car bombs that ripped through busy markets and shopping streets in and around Baghdad.

More than 100 were wounded in the blasts as Iraq battles with its worst surge of sectarian violence in five years.

More than 1,000 were killed in the country in July - the highest monthly death toll since 2008, the United Nations said.

The Interior Ministry ramped up security in the capital this week by closing roads and deploying additional police and helicopters.

Bombs went off in northern, eastern and southern districts of the capital late on Tuesday, in areas crowded with shoppers and worshippers near a mosque.

Wreckage at the scene of a blast in Baghdad's Karrada district

One of the attacks hit a square in central Baghdad, where a parked car bomb killed five and wounded 18.

In a mainly Shi'ite neighbourhood to the south, another car bomb exploded close to a shop selling ice cream after the evening breaking of the Ramadan fast.

In Nahrawan, 30km (20 miles) southeast of Baghdad, militants targeted a crowded commercial street with a car bomb.

On the northern outskirts of the capital, a bomb exploded near a packed market.

Co-ordinated strikes that kill scores of people have become more common in Iraq in recent months.

Sunni Islamist militants have been regaining momentum in their insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government since the start of the year and have been emboldened by the civil war in neighbouring Syria, which has stoked sectarian tensions across the Middle East.

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Kenya Airport Fire: Inbound Flights Diverted

Kenya's main international airport has been closed as firefighters tackle a large blaze in the arrivals area.

Inbound flights have been rerouted to other Kenyan airports while the fire continues to burn at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

Eyewitnesses say the billowing smoke can be seen from miles away, and stranded passengers are standing on pavements outside the airport holding their luggage.

"It was huge, the smoke billowing, and it didn't seem to be stopping," said Barry Fisher, who had hoped to fly to Ethiopia but was turned away.

Stranded passengers are standing on the pavement outside the airport

A British passenger, Martyn Collbeck, said he was surprised that the airport wasn't shut down sooner so that emergency vehicles could respond.

"When I arrived there were one or two fire engines parked outside the international arrivals, it spread very fast," said Mr Collbeck, who had been scheduled to fly back to London on an early morning KLM flight.

"There were a couple of explosions which I think were a couple of gas canisters. I would have expected more fire engines to respond faster."

The country's largest newspaper, The Daily Nation, reported last month that Nairobi County doesn't have a single working fire engine, and that three fire engines were auctioned off in 2009 because the county hadn't paid a $1,000 (£650) repair bill.

The fire happened at an airport in Nairobi

The fire burned for four hours before it was contained.

Transport secretary Michael Kamau said: "The fire started at a very central part of the airport and this made access difficult. But we have closed the airport indefinitely as we try to contain the fire."

It is the busiest airport in East Africa, and its closure is likely to affect flights throughout the region.

An official from the Civil Aviation Authority said only emergency landings would be allowed. No casualties have been reported.

The fire comes less than 48 hours after a fuel jet pump failure caused huge delays at the airport, forcing some flights to be rerouted to the airport in the coastal town of Mombasa, Uganda and Rwanda.

More follows...

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Python Attack: Snake Kills Two Sleeping Boys

A python that escaped from a pet shop has killed two children by asphyxiating them in their sleep in eastern Canada.

The two boys - named locally as Noah Barthe, five, and his brother Connor, seven - were having a sleepover at their best friend's flat in the town of Campbellton when they were attacked by the snake.

The animal had escaped from the Reptile Ocean pet shop run by family friend Jean-Claude Savoie, located on the ground floor of the building.

Police outside the exotic pet store in Campbellton (Pic: CBC News)

The shop specialises in exotic pets.

Police said the African rock python entered the upstairs apartment via the two-storey building's ventilation system.

The boys were sleeping in the living room when they were attacked by the snake early on Monday morning.

"The preliminary investigation has led police to believe that a large exotic snake had escaped its enclosure at the store," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

An example of an African rock python (file pic)

"(It) got into the ventilation system, then into the upstairs apartment. It's believed the two boys were strangled by the snake."

The boys' mother, Mandy Trecartin, lives close to the Reptile Ocean store.

Mr Savoie told Global News that he found a "horrific scene" when he checked on the boys at about 6am.

Connor Barthe (L) and Noah Barthe (Pic: Facebook / Mandy Trecartin)

"I thought they were sleeping and I've seen the hole in the ceiling, (and) everything has fallen. I turn the lights on and I've seen this horrific scene," Mr Savoie said.

"I have so many mixed emotions right now. I can't believe this is real."

The python has been recaptured.

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Embassy Threat Came From Bugged Al Qaeda Call

Opportunity Knocks With Embassy Scare

Updated: 1:39pm UK, Monday 05 August 2013

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent

Talk about an opportunity.

Intelligence, from somewhere, indicated a serious plot to attack US interests - notably an embassy, in an unspecified Muslim nation.

Washington moves quickly. Some 22 embassies are 'closed'.

Within hours senators are defending the National Security Agency's highly controversial programmes for intercepting, that means bugging of some kind, of emails and phones across the US and the rest of the world.

"There has been an awful lot of (terrorist) chatter, which is very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11," said the Republican senator Saxby Chambliss on NBC's Meet the Press.

"As we come to the end of Ramadan, which is always an interesting time for terrorists, and the upcoming 9/11 anniversary, this is the most serious threat that I have seen in the last several years."

Mr Chambliss said he believed the intelligence had been gathered by the NSA using foreign surveillance powers granted under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

"This is a good indication of why they (the surveillance powers) are so important," he said.

Another Republican, Lindsey Graham weighed in. The senator said: "It is scary … the NSA programme is proving its worth yet again."

Coming at a time when the NSA is being investigated and pilloried in some quarters for violating the privacy of individuals. And at a time when the NSA has been exposed for spending $100m (£65m) on the UK's GCHQ facility in Cheltenham as part of its programme of global electronic surveillance, the US embassy scares are a Godsend.

Any attack on an American embassy would be extremely difficult. After the 1998 bombing of the Nairobi mission in which hundreds died, American diplomatic buildings closely resemble high value military installations, wrapped in concrete.

Ayman al Zawahiri, the new leader of al Qaeda, last week issued a call to arms and orders to his followers to attack US interests.

His statement was timed to coincide with the jail break of al Qaeda supporters in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan.

Al Qaeda threats are real. They are a tactical nightmare.

They are hard to stop, and take intense amounts of funding to prevent.

But al Qaeda has never posed a strategic threat to any Western nation. It can't disrupt trade, shut down power supplies, or topple governments.

It does, however, affect our lives every day as a consequence of the natural vigilance that sensible precautions against terror would require.

And as a result of legislation like the US Patriot Act and the UK's draft Communications Bill, both of which curtail individual liberties of ordinary citizens in the name of fighting terror.

It may be cynical to suggest that had it not been for the work of the NSA and other electronic surveillance organisations, that a terrible atrocity would not have been avoided.

But no plot is ever unravelled by electronic spying alone.

The focus of the latest operation appears to be the Yemen. The British embassy has closed there and asked all of its citizens to get out of the country.

The last time a major terror attack was foiled which emanated from the Yemen was when printers were loaded with plastic explosives and sent by courier to targets in the US.

They were intercepted in the UK. On information supplied by a Saudi agent. A good old fashioned human spy.

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Cannes Jewellery Heist: Reward Offered

Lloyd's of London has offered up to one million euro (£864,000) for information leading to the recovery of jewels stolen from a Cannes hotel.

An armed man pulled off a brazen daylight heist at the luxury Carlton Hotel on July 28, in one of the world's biggest ever jewellery thefts.

The jewels, which were taken from the hotel used to film To Catch a Thief  - the 1955 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock about a jewel thief, had an estimated value of £88.48m.

Carrying a semi-automatic pistol, his head covered with a cloth, the robber stole jewels that were part of an exhibition by a group owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.

Authorities say the man escaped with "all kinds of different" jewellery, including "rings, pendants, and earrings encrusted with diamonds".

The exhibition was held in a wing of the hotel with direct access to the street and police said they had not been told that it was taking place.

Prosecutors say the robber entered the exhibition room through a French window that opened on to a terrace, which itself looks on to the popular Croisette avenue in Cannes.

"A reward of up to €1m pro rata is offered to the first person who provides information which leads to recovery of the goods. Offer subject to certain conditions," Lloyd's said in a statement.

Cannes has fallen prey to thieves several times recently, notably during this year's film festival, which attracts a glittering array of celebrities from the movie world.

In a pre-dawn heist at a hotel during the festival in May, thieves stole £660,000 of jewellery due to be loaned to movie stars.

That robbery took place in the hotel room of an American employee of Swiss jeweller Chopard while she was out for the evening, police said.

Anyone with information about the jewel heist should contact SW Associates at reward1millionE@gmail.com.

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Israeli-Palestinian Talks Set Nine-Month Goal

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have set a nine-month deadline goal for reaching a so-far elusive peace deal.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden met with the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the sides agreed to meet again within two weeks to continue negotiations on reaching a pact.

Speaking as the two sides wrapped up an initial round of talks on Tuesday, Mr Kerry said they were committed to "sustained, continuous and substantive negotiations on the core issues" that divided them.

Mr Kerry opposite Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erekat

He said the next round of negotiations would take place in either Israel or the Palestinian territories.

"The parties have agreed here today that all of the final status issues, all of the core issues and all other issues are all on the table for negotiation," Mr Kerry said.

"And they are on the table with one simple goal: a view to ending the conflict. Our objective will be to achieve a final status agreement over the course of the next nine months," he added.

Shuafat refugee camp is seen behind the Israeli barrier in the West Bank

Earlier Tuesday, President Barack Obama invited the negotiators to the White House to give a boost to his administration's third bid to relaunch stalled Middle East peace talks.

Mr Kerry said he was aware of the deep scepticism surrounding the new push for peace and acknowledged that the road ahead would be difficult.

Yet, he said he was hopeful an agreement could be reached.

Refugee camps are a key area of contention - this one is in the Gaza Strip

"While I understand the scepticism, I don't share it. And I don't think we have time for it," he said.

Mr Kerry said the negotiations, to be mediated on a day-to-day basis by his new Mideast peace envoy, Martin Indyk, would be cloaked in secrecy and that the parties had agreed that he would be the only person to comment on them.

Israel and the Palestinians remain deeply divided over so-called "final status issues" - such as the fate of Jerusalem, claimed by both as a capital, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the borders of a future Palestinian state complicated by dozens of Jewish settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank.

At the State Department ceremony, Mr Kerry was flanked Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat, who each spoke briefly about the need to resolve the long-standing conflict.

"It's time for the Palestinian people to have an independent sovereign state of their own," said Mr Erekat, who spoke first.

"It's time for the Palestinians to live in peace, freedom and dignity within their own independent, sovereign state."

Ms Livni allowed that she and Mr Erekat had been involved in failed negotiations before, notably the Annapolis Process that former President George W Bush initiated in 2008, but she said this time could be different.

"You know, Saeb," she said to Mr Erekat, "we all spent some time in the negotiations room ... but we didn't complete our mission.

"And this is something that we need to do now, in these negotiations that we will launch today. And the opportunity has been created for us, for all of us, and we cannot afford to waste it."

"I believe that history is not made by cynics; it is made by realists who are not afraid to dream," Ms Livni added. "Let us be these people."

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Spain Train Crash Hearing: 'Driver On Phone'

The driver of the train that crashed in Spain killing 79 people was on a phone talking to railway officials just before it derailed, investigators say.

The train was travelling at 119mph (190kph) in the moments before it came off the tracks outside of Santiago de Compostela last Wednesday, a preliminary hearing has been told.

The court, sitting in Spain's capital city Madrid, was told the conductor activated the brakes "seconds before the crash".

But investigators working with the Court of Justice in Galicia said this only managed to slow it to 95mph (153kph) at the point when it came off the rails on a bend.

The speed limit at the spot where the train derailed was set at 50mph (80kph).

The train derailed as it entered a bend in the track

Crash investigators have been opening the black boxes which record details about the train's speed and conversations between drivers and other controllers.

Under Spanish law, the contents of the black boxes were revealed within a court environment.

The train was carrying 218 passengers when it hurtled off the tracks last Wednesday evening. It slammed into a concrete wall, causing some carriages to flip over and catch fire.

So far, 79 people have died, and at least 130 were taken to hospital. Two Americans were among the dead, while four US citizens and one Briton were among the injured.

Train driver Francisco Jose Garzon is under investigation

Dozens of passengers are still being treated for injuries.

The driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo has been identified as the person most likely to be responsible for multiple cases of negligent homicide but is still under investigation.

He was questioned and then released on Sunday and is under court supervision.

A statement released by the court said that the conductor was talking on the phone to an official of national rail company Renfe while apparently consulting a paper document at the time of the crash.

The crash killed 79 people and dozens of injured remain in hospital

"Minutes before the train came off the tracks he received a call on his work phone to get indications on the route he had to take to get to Ferrol," it said.

"From the content of the conversation and background noise it seems that the driver consulted a map or paper document."

Investigators from the Santiago de Compostela court, forensic police experts, the Ministry of Transport and Renfe examined the contents of the two black boxes.

The Spanish railway agency has already said the brakes should have been applied 2.5 miles (4km) before the train hit the curve.

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Brazil: Child Dies After Water Main Bursts

A child has died and 17 people have been injured after a burst water main flooded a residential area near Rio de Janeiro.

Three-year-old Isabela Severo dos Santos was taken to the hospital but did not survive after swallowing large amounts of water. 

Firefighters wade across the water dragging a dinghy

According to Brazilian authorities seven people remain in hospital.

Local television showed images of a giant fountain of water crashing down on buildings, destroying homes and sweeping away cars in the ensuing current.

Water crashed down onto nearby homes and swept away cars

People could be seen wading through the floodwaters trying to climb on to a roof.

Some 20 houses were destroyed in the resulting floods

The burst pipeline, operated by State Company for Water and Wastewater, has now been shut down but large volumes of water are still leaking and continue to flood the neighbourhood.

The cause of the accident is still unknown. Firefighters are using boats to rescue residents who have been trapped by the flooding.

Officials say some people are still missing and suspect some may have been buried or submerged by the high pressure water as it burst out of the ruptured pipeline.

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Train Crash Driver Not Answering Questions

The driver held by police after a train derailed in northwestern Spain has refused to answer questions, authorities have confirmed.

A spokesman for the National Police said the driver "has refused to answer police authorities" and added the case will now "proceed to a judicial process as soon as possible".

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, was arrested in the hospital where he is recovering after the crash which killed 78 passengers and injured another 130.

Galicia region police chief, Jaime Iglesias, earlier said Garzon would be questioned "as a suspect for a crime linked to the cause of the accident" and said he had been arrested for "recklessness".

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo pictured after the crash

He is being guarded by police in hospital, although his condition is understood not to be serious.

Pictures and video footage have emerged of him being led away from the crash scene with his head covered in blood.

The train's black box recorder has been retrieved from the wreckage near Santiago de Compostela.

Early indications suggested the train may have been travelling at more than twice the speed limit at the time of the crash on Wednesday night.

The eight-carriage train came off the tracks on a bend, hit a wall and caught fire just outside the city - a pilgrimage destination for Roman Catholics.

The train entered the bend at 190km per hour (120mph), according to local media reports. The speed limit on the curve was 80km per hour (50mph).

Mr Garzon boasted about speeding on his Facebook page

Spanish media revealed that immediately after the derailment Garzon allegedly said to officials at the railway station 3km from the crash: "I ****** up, I want to die. So many people dead, so many people dead."

El Pais newspaper quoted him as telling rail officials: "I was going at 190! I hope no one died because it will weigh on my conscience."

He is also thought to have boasted on his Facebook page about how fast he was driving a train in March last year.

The driver posted a picture of a train speedometer at 200km per hour (124mph) on the social networking site. His Facebook page has since been blocked.

There was a second driver on the train, but it is believed Garzon was the only driver at the time.

He is understood to have taken control of the train from a second driver about 65 miles (104km) south of Santiago de Compostela.

Two investigations are being carried out into the catastrophe - one to look into possible failings by the driver and the other to examine the train's in-built speed regulation systems and see if it was a technical malfunction that meant the driver was not warned of the reduced speed limit around the bend.

A truck hauls one of the damaged carriages from the scene of the crash

Many questions remain unanswered about what went wrong, with some experts claiming that high speed alone would not explain the crash and speculation that the train's braking systems might have failed.

State train company Renfe said Garzon had been at the firm for 30 years and he had been driving trains for more than a decade.

He became an assistant driver in 2000 and a fully qualified driver in 2003.

Garzon is understood to have been on the Madrid to Ferrol service, on which the crash happened, for a year, after undergoing training specific to that line.

Medical experts are attempting to identify six of the 78 dead. DNA tests are expected to be carried out on those with catastrophic injuries.

Victims of the crash included a US citizen and a Mexican. At least one British citizen and four children were among the 130 people injured.

Some 31 of those in hospital are still critically ill.

Spanish newspaper El Pais has revealed details of a dramatic WhatsApp conversation between one of the survivors trapped in the train wreck and her husband.

At 8.45pm local time, the woman sent messages saying she had been in an accident and was "crushed".

Hospital staff hold a minute's silence

After what her husband described as "the longest five minutes of my life", she sent another message saying "I'm safe".

The 46-year-old woman escaped with minor injuries to her legs and has already been discharged from hospital. 

Video footage from a security camera showed the train, which had 247 people on board, hurtling into a concrete wall at the side of the track.

The impact was so huge one carriage flew several metres into the air and landed on the other side of a concrete barrier.

The Alvia 730 series train was travelling from Madrid to the port city of Ferrol when it crashed about 8.40pm local time - 7.40pm UK time - on Wednesday.

Gonzalo Ferre, president of the rail infrastructure company Adif, said the driver should have started slowing the train 2.5 miles before reaching a dangerous bend.

People applaud after a minute's silence in Santiago de Compostela

The crash occurred on the eve of a major Christian religious festival honouring St James, the disciple of Jesus whose remains are said to rest in a shrine.

Many of the dead or injured were believed to be Catholic pilgrims converging on the city.

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was born in Santiago de Compostela, visited the scene of the crash on Thursday and declared three days of official mourning across the country.

King Juan Carlos also visited one of the hospitals where many passengers are being treated.

The train crash is the worst Spain has experienced since a three-train accident in a tunnel in the northern Leon province in 1944.

Due to heavy censorship at the time, the exact death toll for the Torre del Bierzo disaster has never been established. The official figure was given as 78 dead, but it is thought that as many as 250 could have been killed.

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