U.S.: Iran moving in 'wrong direction'
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., April 11 (UPI) -- A spokesman for U.S. President George Bush said Iran's announcement of an advance in nuclear materials processing shows Tehran going in the "wrong direction."
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, before Bush spoke on healthcare to a Missouri audience, said members of the international community have "clearly expressed their concerns" about Iran's nuclear program.
Iran has been referred to the U.N. Security Council, which is debating which diplomatic steps to take.
Iranian officials, in a televised announcement Tuesday, said their scientists had enriched uranium. Iran claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes but enriched uranium is needed for weapons development.
"I think this only further underscores why the international community has serious concerns about the regime's nuclear ambitions," McClellan said. "This is a regime that needs to be building confidence with the international community. Instead they're moving the wrong direction."
Prodi declared winner in Italian elections
ROME, April 11 (UPI) -- Center-left challenger Romano Prodi was declared the winner Tuesday by a razor-thin margin in Italy's parliamentary election.
The official tally gives Prodi 158 seats in the upper house of Parliament to 156 for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the BBC reported. In the lower house, Prodi won by a 25,000-vote margin, under a system in which the overall winner gets 55 percent of the seats.
Berlusconi refused to concede the election, charging there were problems with the voting and demanding a recount.
Votes from expatriate Italians gave Prodi the upper house. Before those votes were counted, Berlusconi was ahead by one seat.
The close vote has raised doubts about Prodi's ability to govern the country. Before the final count, some political leaders from both sides said that if neither side wins control of both houses, a new election should be held.
Chinese President Hu to visit 5 countries
BEIJING, April 11 (UPI) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay state visits to the United States, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya next month, officials announced Tuesday.
Beginning April 18, Hu will fly to Seattle, then to Washington, and will give a speech at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
Hu will meet with U.S. President George Bush on April 20, for talks on a number of trade issues, Voice of America reported.
The U.S. government has been pressuring China for two years to revalue its currency, further open its markets to foreign goods and to crack down on software piracy.
It will be Hu's second visit to the United States since he became Chinese president in 2003.
France retracts youth-worker law
PARIS, April 11 (UPI) -- Students in France Tuesday celebrated the defeat of a law allowing employers to fire workers 26 and younger in their first two years, without explanation.
While President Jacques Chirac said the measure was designed to help underprivileged young people find jobs, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin admitted misjudging public sentiment in imposing the law that led to weeks of protests by students and unions across France, the BBC reported.
"While the (Contrat Premiere Embauche or First Employment Contract) is a measure designed to reduce job insecurity ... it became a symbol of greater job insecurity," de Villepin said during a French TV interview.
Chirac and other government leaders Monday said the law would be replaced with a new one offering state support for employers who give jobs to young people.
Students said they will be watching.
"I think that we'll have to be extremely vigilant as to the content of the new law which will be proposed by the government," student leader Nabila Randani told the BBC.
