Iran's nuclear negotiator replaced
TEHRAN, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Iran's chief nuclear negotiator has been replaced with a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the BBC reported Saturday.
Ali Larijani has been replaced by deputy foreign minister Saeed Jalili, who favors the president's hard-line approach to negotiations with the West over Iran's uranium enrichment program, the BBC said.
Larijani, who had repeatedly offered his resignation, favored further negotiations with the West and differed with Ahmadinejad on future proceedings.
Ahmadinejad has insisted Iran's nuclear program is intended to supply energy while western countries fear Iran is building a nuclear weapons program.
Jalili is to meet Tuesday with European Union foreign policy head Javier Solana. Jalili's appointment comes days after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iran and expressed qualified support for Iran's right to a peaceful nuclear program.
Bhutto says she will contest elections
KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto has told the BBC she will contest elections in January despite the Karachi blasts which killed 139 people.
In an interview reported Saturday, two days after her homecoming from eight years of self-imposed exile was overtaken by the Karachi horror, Bhutto said she will never surrender to militants.
She did not rule further such attacks in the future but said she and her Pakistan People’s Party will fight in the January parliamentary elections. She had earlier claimed former army officials were behind the attacks.
She did not blame the government of President Pervez Musharraf.
She told the BBC she had been warned prior to her return to Pakistan of threats from four militant groups, but she still chose to return.
“I've been having a party meeting and, believe me, the spirit amongst the party is one that I'm so proud of because they say we can't let the militants dictate to us what's going to happen, and that we have to try and save Pakistan by saving democracy. So my supporters are ready,” she was quoted as saying.
Chertoff promises U.S. plan for IEDs
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, at a meeting Friday, promised a plan for countering the threat of homemade bombs in the United States.
The Homeland Security Department issued a draft report this year that found a lack of coordination among law enforcement agencies. As one example, federal agencies have different methods for training bomb-sniffing dogs, so they cannot work together.
Critics say the Bush administration has been slow to respond to the threat that terrorists could begin to use improvised explosive devices in the United States, The Washington Post reported. In Iraq, IEDs have killed or wounded more U.S. soldiers than any other means.
David Heyman, director of the homeland security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the United States has "fallen way behind" in meeting the domestic threat.
Chertoff, addressing Heyman's group, said government agencies should try to prevent IEDs from being used by keeping terrorists out of the country or learning of their plans.
"The better we hone our intelligence, the better we are in having a focused, less disruptive and less costly intervention to prevent an IED from detonating," he said.
Sarkozy stands firm amid rail strikes
PARIS, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said pension reforms are to proceed despite massive rail strikes by angry transportation workers.
"I am committed to this reform. It will happen," Sarkozy said Friday.
The strikes continued for a third day Saturday as an estimated 75 percent of rail workers protested Sarkozy's plan to end retirement benefits which let some workers retire at 50 with full pensions, the BBC reported.
On Friday, two of Paris' main train lines were severely disrupted while Eurostar's connections with London were operating as usual, the BBC said. Only one Parisian Metro train in 10 was running on most lines.
Union leaders are to meet Monday to decide on more large-scale strikes. Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac tried to abolish the special pension benefits in 1995, but backed down after three weeks of strikes.
