N. Korea only hold-out at nuclear talks
BEIJING, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- North Korea was the only country holding out on a Chinese proposal in the 10th day of six-nation nuclear disarmament talks in Beijing Thursday.
Christopher Hill, the top U.S. envoy to the talks, said there is a lingering dispute over verification of Pyongyang's activities, Voice of America reported.
"We cannot have a situation where (North Korea) pretends to abandon its nuclear program and we pretend to believe them," Hill said. "We need to have a situation where we know precisely what they have agreed to do, exactly what they have agreed to abandon."
South Korean envoy Song Min-soon made a similar comment, saying the North Korean position remains out of line, which is why the talks have not ended.
Three rounds of previous talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States failed to resolve the conflict. North Korea is seeking significant economic aid and U.S. non-aggression guarantees before it dismantles its nuclear weapons.
Iran's nuclear plans are not negotiable
TEHRAN, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Ignoring a warning from three European governments, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator declared the country's uranium conversion activity was irreversible.
Hassan Rowhani made the remarks in response to a warning letter from Britain, France and Germany, the Financial Times said Thursday.
"They have clearly told us that if uranium conversion activities start, the talks will be cut off, but this is not acceptable to us," Rowhani told state television. "We are ready to continue the talks. ... Iran is prepared to stand against any threats and in case of referral to the Security Council, it is the Europeans who will lose and not Iranians."
The United States and Europe are concerned Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb although Iran claims it is developing a civil nuclear program only.
Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, a conservative Islamic fundamentalist who won last month's Iranian presidential election, took office on Wednesday. Ahmadi-Nejad indicated no retreat from Iran's plans to build nuclear plants, the report said.
Amnesty Int'l slams U.S. secret detentions
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Amnesty International has called for an end to the U.S. practice of using secret prisons for interrogation of terror suspects.
In a report issued Thursday, the London-based group claimed two Yemeni men were held in U.S. secret detention in solitary confinement for more than a year and a half without seeing daylight, mostly shackled and in handcuffs, with no chance of communicating with their families, lawyers or humanitarian organizations.
Salah Nasser Salim Ali and Muhammad Faraj Ahmed Bashmilah, who were living in Indonesia, told Amnesty International they were separately detained, Salah in Indonesia in August 2003, Muhammad in Jordan in October 2003.
"We fear that what we have heard from these two men is just one small part of the much broader picture of U.S. secret detentions around the world," said Sharon Critoph, North America researcher at Amnesty International.
The CIA declined to comment on the report, but the agency is investigating allegations that the CIA hid prisoners from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Financial Times reported.
Iraqi bombs getting bigger, stronger
BAGHDAD, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. and British forces are concerned that bombs planted by Iraqi insurgents are becoming much larger, more powerful and lethal, The New York Times reports.
Military officials said the device that blew up beneath a U.S. Marines amphibious vehicle Wednesday near Haditha was powerful enough to flip the 25-ton vehicle, and killed 14 Marines.
On July 23, a 500-pound bomb buried on a road southwest of Baghdad Airport detonated underneath a Humvee carrying four U.S. soldiers. They were all killed, and the blast left a crater 6 feet deep and nearly 17 feet wide. The bomb was meant to be dropped from an aircraft, and military explosives experts said was probably Russian in origin.
Soon after the blast, a British explosives expert stepped on a second, smaller bomb buried near the first and was badly wounded. A third device, hidden a few yards away, was found and defused.
"Our assessment is that they are probably going off to school" to learn how to make bombs that can destroy armored vehicles, a U.S. officer told the newspaper.
Chalabi's top aide assassinated in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A top aide for Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi was killed Thursday when gunmen stormed his Baghdad house and shot him in front of his family.
Police said 20 gunmen broke into the house of Haidar Mohammed Ali Dajili, the director of Chalabi's office, in western Baghdad in the early morning hours Thursday to carry out the killing.
No group claimed responsibility for the assassination.
In Baaqouba, gunmen stormed the house of Iraqi soldier Ibrahim Omar and killed his wife and two of his children. Omar was not at home at the time of the attack in which also two other children were injured.
