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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had already announced Sunday that his country would significantly enrich at least some of the country’s stockpile of uranium

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Iran moved closer to being able to produce nuclear warheads Monday with formal notification that it will enrich uranium to higher levels, even while insisting that the move was meant only to provide fuel for its research reactor.

Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh told The Associated Press that he informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of the decision to enrich at least some of its low-enriched uranium stockpile to 20 percent, considered the threshold value for highly enriched uranium.

Soltanieh, who represents Iran at the Vienna-based IAEA, also said that the U.N. agency’s inspectors now overseeing enrichment to low levels would be able to stay on site to fully monitor the process. And he blamed world powers for Iran’s decision, asserting that it was their fault that a plan that foresaw Russian and French involvement in supplying the research reactor had failed.

« Until now, we have not received any response to our positive logical and technical proposal, » he said. « We cannot leave hospitals and patients desperately waiting for radio isotopes » being produced at the Tehran reactor and used in cancer treatment, 천안 안마 he added.

Western powers blame Iran for rejecting an internationally endorsed plan to take Iranian low enriched uranium, further enriching it and return it in the form of fuel rods for the reactor – and in broader terms for turning down other overtures meant to diminish concerns about its nuclear agenda.

At a news conference with French Defense Minister Herve Morin, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised President Barack Obama’s attempts to engage the Islamic Republic diplomatically and chided Tehran for not reciprocating.

« No U.S. president has reached out more sincerely, and frankly taken more political risk, in an effort to try to create an opening for engagement for Iran, » he said. « All these initiatives have been rejected. »

Israel, Iran’s most implacable foe, said Iran’s enrichment plans are « additional proof of the fact that Iran is ridiculing the entire world. »

« The right response is to impose decisive and permanent sanctions on Iran, » said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had already announced Sunday that his country would significantly enrich at least some of the country’s stockpile of uranium. Still, Monday’s notification to the IAEA was important as formal confirmation of the plan, particularly because of the rash of conflicting signals sent in recent months by Iranian officials on the issue.

Although material for the fissile core of a nuclear warhead must be enriched to a level of 90 percent or more, just getting its stockpile to the 20 percent mark would be a major step for the country’s nuclear program. While enriching to 20 percent would take about one year, using up to 2,000 centrifuges at Tehran’s underground Natanz facility, any next step – moving from 20 to 90 percent – would take only half a year and between 500-1,000 centrifuges.

Achieving the 20-percent level « would be going most of the rest of the way to weapon-grade uranium, » said David Albright, whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security tracks suspected proliferators.

Soltanieh declined to say how much of Iran’s stockpile – now estimated at 1.8 tons – would be enriched. Nor did he say when the process would begin. Albright said enriching to higher levels could begin within a day – or only in several months, depending on how far technical preparations had progressed.

Apparent technical problems could also slow the process, he said.

Iran’s enrichment program « should be like a Christmas tree in full light, » he said. « In fact, the lights are flickering. »

While Iran would be able to enrich up to 20 percent, it is not considered technically sophisticated enough to turn that material into fuel rods for the Tehran reactor. A senior official from a member nation of the 35-country IAEA board said that issue cast Iran’s stated reason for higher enrichment into doubt.

Legal constraints could tie Iran’s hands as well. The senior official said he believed Tehran was obligated to notify the agency 60 days in advance of starting to enrich to higher levels.

The official asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the issue. The IAEA had no immediate comment.

On Sunday, Iranian officials said higher enrichment would start on Tuesday.

The Iranian move came just days after , which foresaw Tehran exporting the bulk of its low-enriched uranium to Russia for further enrichment and then conversion for fuel rods for the research reactor.

That plan was welcomed internationally because it would have delayed Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons by shipping out about 70 percent of its low-enriched uranium stockpile, thereby leaving it with not enough to make a bomb. Tehran denies nuclear weapons ambitions, insisting it needs to enrich to create fuel for an envisaged nuclear reactor network.

The proposal was endorsed by the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – the six powers that originally elicited a tentative approval from Iran in landmark talks last fall. Since then, however, mixed messages from Tehran have infuriated the U.S. and its European allies, who claim Iran is only stalling for time as it attempts to build a nuclear weapon.

Even before Iran’s formal notification of the IAEA, some of those nations criticized the plan and suggested it would be met by increased pressure for new penalties on the Islamic Republic.

Iran has defied five U.N. Security Council resolutions – and three sets of U.N. sanctions – aimed at pressuring it to freeze enrichment, and has instead steadily expanded its program.

Iran’s enrichment plans « would be a deliberate breach » of the resolutions, the British Foreign Office said. In Berlin, Ulrich Wilhelm, the spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Germany and its allies were watching developments and were prepared to « continue along the path of raising diplomatic pressure. »By Associated Press Writer George Jahn; AP writers Danica Kirka in London, Anne Flaherty in Paris and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report

Hamas outpolled Fatah in a general election four years ago, and the West Bank and Gaza were supposed to have another vote in six months but that seems unlikely to happen because of the Hamas-Fatah split
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A man who lost two daughters and his home can’t visit his surviving 4-year-old girl in a Belgian hospital because Gaza’s borders remain sealed. A 15-year-old struggles to walk on her artificial limbs, while dozens of other war amputees still await prostheses.

Couples postpone marriage because not enough apartments survived three weeks of bombing and shelling. Thousands are homeless, and damaged systems mean electricity and water are sporadic. Untreated sewage pours into the Mediterranean.

A three-year-old blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel and Egypt makes any large-scale rebuilding impossible, because the embargo includes steel and concrete.

The unprecedented use of Israeli firepower against the Palestinians has had repercussions far beyond the pain inflicted on Gaza’s long-suffering 1.5 million people.

It emboldened Gaza’s Hamas rulers by failing to topple them, and weakened their Western-backed Fatah rivals, whom Palestinians increasingly see as subordinate to Israel. It deepened the political split between Hamas-ruled Gaza and the Fatah-governed West Bank, making a unified Palestinian government – a prerequisite for any peace deal – even less likely.

Israel largely succeeded in stopping the rocket fire, and its towns and villages that lived under constant threat have blossomed. But the quiet is fragile, and the screams of Palestinian civilians and bloody scenes in Gaza that filled TV sets and Web sites worldwide badly damaged Israel’s international standing.

By the time a cease-fire took effect Jan. 18, 청주 마사지 about 1,400 Gazans had been killed, including hundreds of civilians, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights researchers. Israel’s military gave a lower toll, of 1,166 and said a majority were combatants, but did not release a list of names. Thirteen Israelis were also killed in the war.

A U.N. fact-finding team and international human rights groups accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes, including the deliberate targeting of civilians. Both sides have denied wrongdoing.

Israeli politicians and generals must think twice before traveling abroad in case activist groups seek their arrest for alleged war crimes. Tzipi Livni had to cancel a London trip this month because she was foreign minister during the war and faced an arrest warrant.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem are coming under tougher European criticism, and a Palestinian-led campaign to boycott goods made in settlements has gained momentum.

President Barack Obama’s hopes of jump-starting peace talks have made no visible headway.

Israel insists it acted in self-defense after eight years of rocket fire, and most Israelis supported the war. Their hawkish mood helped right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu win an election months after the cease-fire.

For Gazans, prospects of a better life are dim. The only ones prospering seem to be Hamas politicians and smugglers tunneling under the sealed borders. A flattened neighborhood close to Israel still looks as if the war ended yesterday.

There, on a recent morning, young men hammered twisted metal out of mountains of broken concrete to be sold for small building ventures by those who are determined to start over with what they have.

Gaza businessman Emad Khaldi uses mud bricks and ancient techniques, such as domed roofs that don’t require steel support. He has completed one home and is building another.

The main U.N. aid agency in Gaza has ordered 120 such Arabesque-style homes for the displaced see left). But the housing crunch, in one of the world’s most crowded places, has dashed the wedding plans of 30-year-old Mohammed Jaradeh. His fiancee’s family forced her to break off the engagement.

« I had managed to build one room and utilities on the roof of my family’s house, which cost me $7,000, but my fiancee’s family didn’t accept that, » he said.

For Khaled Abed Rabbo, rebuilding his family home is the least of his problems.

On Jan. 7, as Israeli tanks rumbled through his neighborhood, soldiers ordered him, his wife, mother and four children to leave the house, he said. After the women and children emerged waving a white cloth, a soldier opened fire, killing 2-year-old Amal and 7-year-old Soad, while 4-year-old Samar was left paralyzed, Abed Rabbo said.

Samar has been in Belgium for treatment for the past year accompanied by Abed Rabbo’s wife, while he stayed behind with his 7-year-old son in a rented Gaza apartment.

Israel denies its soldiers targeted civilians but is investigating some of the allegations. The military said it is still investigating Abed Rabbo’s case and cannot comment further.

The father wants to travel to Belgium to see his wife and child. But Hamas told him he is not on the list of hardship cases allowed out of Gaza when Egypt opens its border every few months.

Jamila Habash, 15 (left), was given artificial limbs in Saudi Arabia, but they didn’t fit well. She tried on a new pair last week at Shawa’s center, struggling to hold on to parallel bars as she hobbled forward.

« I miss walking, to move wherever I want, alone, without the help of others, » she said.

Hamas, which seized Gaza Strip in 2007 by driving out its Western-backed rival Fatah, has taken the war as a victory over Israel and has tightened its grip with arrests, threats against political rivals and occasional « virtue campaigns » to promote Islamic morality.

Hamas outpolled Fatah in a general election four years ago, and the West Bank and Gaza were supposed to have another vote in six months but that seems unlikely to happen because of the Hamas-Fatah split.

There’s no telling whether Hamas would win again, and in the postwar gloom enveloping Gaza, a popular uprising against the militants seems unlikely.

Privately, some Gazans grumble that Hamas politicians act just like the Fatah government, removed from public concerns, riding fancy cars. Yet Hamas was also able to mobilize tens of thousand this month for an anniversary rally marking the group’s founding. Many Gazans are exhausted by conflict, resent Israel more than they do Hamas, or believe the militants’ tough stance is the only dignity they have left.

A prisoner swap could lift the blockade, which was imposed after Hamas-allied militants captured an Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, in 2006 and was tightened after Hamas seized Gaza a year later.

« Israel lost the war, » said Khalil al-Hayeh, a Hamas leader. « Israel said it wants to destroy Hamas, but today … we are more powerful. »By Associated Press Writer Karin Laub; Additional reporting by Rizek Abdel Jawad in Gaza City

He and the other main rival quickly conceded defeat

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Laura Chinchilla had 47 percent of the votes after a quarter of the ballots were counted. The closest contender, Otton Solis of the Citizens Action Party, had 23 percent. He and the other main rival quickly conceded defeat.

Chinchilla, a protege of the current president, Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, campaigned on a promise to continue the government’s free market economic policies.

Chinchilla, who served as vice president under Arias, needed 40 percent of the vote to avoid an April run-off.

Solis barely lost the presidential election to Arias in 2006, but many opposition voters went over to tax-bashing Libertarian candidate Otto Guevarra, who had just under 22 percent of the votes.

Solis congratulated Chinchilla on her apparent victory. « She is going to be the next president of Costa Rica, » he told supporters Sunday night. Guevarra offered congratulations to « our president, Laura Chinchilla. »

Arias’ economic policies brought Costa Rica into the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and initiated trade relations with China after a 63-year association with Taiwan.

Critics of the government argued that Arias’ administration catered to big developers to boost the economy at the cost of the nation’s fragile ecosystems.

Both Solis and Guevarra portrayed Arias’ centrist National Liberation Party as stagnant and ridden with old-school Latin American cronyism.

But most Costa Ricans appeared reluctant to shake up the status quo in a country with relatively high salaries, the longest life expectancy in Latin America, 강남 안마 a thriving ecotourism industry and near-universal literacy.

Chinchilla, a 50-year-old mother and a social conservative who opposes abortion and gay marriage, appealed both to Costa Ricans seeking a fresh face in politics and those reluctant to risk the unknown.

As a female president, she would follow an increasingly common trend in many Latin American countries: Nicaragua, Panama, Chile and Argentina have all elected women as presidents.

Even voters on the margins of society backed Chinchilla.

Heizel Arias, a 24-year-old single mother who voted at a prison where she is serving an eight-year sentence for trying to smuggle drugs into a jail, said she cast her vote for Chinchilla.

« I voted for Laura Chinchilla because she has promised to fight for women, » Arias said. « She was the only one who visited us and told us her plans and I believe in her. »

3, the dolls come to life as high school girls who vow to keep their friendship together even though their different interests in school are pulling them apart

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TheShowBuzz.com brings you an exclusive listening party featuring the complete original soundtrack from the movie, with songs by Jibbs, Ashlee Simpson, Lifehouse and more.

In the « Bratz » movie, due out Aug. 3, the dolls come to life as high school girls who vow to keep their friendship together even though their different interests in school are pulling them apart.

The Bratz fit into four different cliques. Janel Parrish plays Jade, the scientist; Skyler Shaye plays the jock, Cloe; Nathalia Ramos plays Yasmin, the singer-journalist; and Logan Browning plays Sasha, 부천 마사지 the cheerleader.

In their new school, Carry Nation High, the foursome discovers how difficult to navigate the high school’s social structure, which is based firmly on cliques. They decide that they should take a stand against pressure.

« Bratz – Original Movie Soundtrack » Track Listing1. Rock Star – Prima J 2. Fearless – Daechelle 3. Love Is Wicked – Brick & Lace 4. Rainy Day – Janel Parrish 5. Open Eyes – The Bratz 6. Heartburn – NLT 7. It’s All About Me – Chelsea Staub in the role of « Meredith » 8. Now or Never – Orianthi 9. Out From Under – Joanna 10. In Crowd – Sean Stewart 11. Express Yourself – Black Eyed Peas ft. Apl de Ap 12. My Life – Slumber Party Girls 13. Go Go – Jibbs 14. It Doesn’t Get Better Than This – Alex Band 15. Saying Goodbye – Matt White 16. Invisible – Ashlee Simpson 17. Alter Ego – Clique Girlz 18. Tell Me – Dropping Daylight 19. If This Is – Lifehouse 20. Fabulous – Chelsea Staub in the role of « Meredith »

« Pakistan is best-placed to be a facilitator of a conciliatory move, » said the official, who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity. « That is what we have now told our American friends. « Pakistan has the clout to try to bring some otherwise irreconcilable elements to the table, » the official added. Last week, General Kiyani met with journalists from a few selected Western news organizations (including CBS News) for his first-ever on the record press briefing at the Pakistan army’s heavily-fortified headquarters in Rawalpindi, just outside Islamabad. The high point of General Kiyani’s briefing was a signal to the U.S. and its NATO allies, offering a role for Pakistan in training recruits to a newly-planned national army and national police force for Afghanistan. Following General Kiyani’s briefing, Pakistani officials said that country’s role was likely to be significant, as it had established close links in the past with Islamic militants, including the Taliban during their rule of Afghanistan. (Pakistan was one of just three countries which recognized the Taliban regime — the others being Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — and maintained an embassy in Kabul.) Following the 9/11 terror attacks, Pakistan’s former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, abandoned his country’s closely-built ties with the Taliban movement. Responding to news of Pakistan’s offer to the U.S., Western diplomats in Pakistan expressed mixed reaction. Some warned that the offer of support to the U.S. was unlikely to gain much momentum, given Washington’s suspicions over the Pakistani security establishment’s continued links with Taliban militants. For months, Western officials have privately complained about an inadequate push by Islamabad against members of the network of notorious Afghan warlord Sirajuddin Haqqani. Known to some as the « Haqqani network, » this group (which is allied with the Taliban) is thought to have carried out a number of attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan during the past year. But others said the U.S. cannot afford to lock itself in an open-ended conflict in Afghanistan, and needs to bring Pakistan on board in order to guarantee security mechanisms remain in place once U.S. troops have left. « I know there are many who will criticize reliance on Pakistan given Pakistan’s own history, » said a senior Western diplomat in Islamabad who spoke to on condition of anonymity. « But the U.S. needs an ally who is able and willing to hold the security apparatus together. In this case, Pakistan is not one such ally; in fact, it’s the only U.S. ally. » The diplomat characterized General Kiyani’s offer as « a serious new beginning. » By CBS News’ Farhan Bokhari reporting from Islamabad
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Judge Bernard Saint-Vil finished questioning the Americans on Wednesday and now must transmit his recommendation to the prosecutor, lawyer Gary Lassade toldd the AP

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A Haitian judge has decided to release 10 American missionaries accused of kidnapping children in Haiti, Reuters news agency reported Wednesday afternoon, siting a « judicial source ».

The judge decided the Americans had no « criminal intentions » when they tried to take the children out of Haiti, according to Reuters’ report.

A defense lawyer for the Americans, 청주 마사지 however, tells The Associated Press that the judge deciding whether the Baptist group should face trial for attempting to take a busload of children out of the country is probably ready to make his ruling, but has not yet decided what that ruling will be.

Judge Bernard Saint-Vil finished questioning the Americans on Wednesday and now must transmit his recommendation to the prosecutor, lawyer Gary Lassade toldd the AP.

The prosecutor could appeal if the judge recommended dropping charges, but the judge has the last say, the attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday. He said he expected the judge to issue that final decision Thursday.

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« The judge will not take a decision before he sends his finding to the prosecutor, » Lassade told the AP.

The Americans, most from an Idaho Baptist group, were charged last week with child kidnapping and criminal association after being arrested Jan. 29 trying to take 33 children, ages 2 to 12, across the border to an orphanage they were trying to set up in the Dominican Republic.

The day after the group’s arrest, its leader, Laura Silsby of Meridian, Idaho, told the AP that the children were obtained either from orphanages or from distant relatives. She said only children who were found not to have living parents or relatives who could care for them might be put up for adoption.

Who is Laura Silsby?

However, at least 20 of the children are from a single village and have living parents. Some of the parents told the AP they willingly turned over their children to the missionaries on the promise the Americans would educate them and allow relatives to visit.

Saint-Vil questioned at least two of the parents Wednesday as well as the 10 Americans.

In a brief conversation afterward through cell bars in the stuffy, grimy jail where they have been held, the missionaries refused to be interviewed by the AP.

« We’ve said all we’re going to say for now. We don’t want to talk now, » Silsby said. « Maybe tomorrow. »

The women were held separately from the men, who shared their cell with nine Haitian men, some of whom played checkers on the cell floor.

« We will not talk unless our lawyer is present, » said Paul Thompson, pastor of the Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho. Lassade represents Thompson’s cousin, Jim Allen of Amarillo, Texas.

A Dallas attorney for Allen, Hiram Sasser, told the AP that his client was recruited just 48 hours before the group left last month for the Dominican Republic on what Silsby termed an emergency rescue mission.

« He did not know many of the other people who were on the mission trip, or what other people were going to do, or about paperwork, » Sasser said.

Silsby had decided last summer to create an orphanage in the Dominican Republic and in November registered the nonprofit New Life Children’s Refuge foundation in Idaho.

After Haiti’s catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake she accelerated the plan and recruited her fellow missionaries. Silsby told the AP she was only interested in saving suffering children.

She told the AP after her arrest, however, that she did not have all the Haitian papers required to take the children out of the country.

A Dominican diplomat who said she visited him the same day the missionaries tried to take the children out of the country told the AP that he warned her that without those papers she could be arrested.