IAEA: Iran withholding info on nuke plans
PARIS, May 26 (UPI) -- Much of Iran's nuclear program remains a mystery, a United Nations nuclear watchdog agency said Monday.
Tehran's nuclear plans are "a matter of serious concern" and require "substantial explanations" from Iranian lofficials," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report, The New York Times reported.
The report said Iranian officials have not cooperated with an investigation into whether its nuclear ambitions were for peaceful purposes, as the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said.
The nine-page IAEA report says Western intelligence agencies have documents that indicated the Iranians have ventured into explosives, uranium processing and a missile warhead design, which are ordinarily associated with with building nuclear arms.
"There are certain parts of their nuclear program where the military seems to have played a role," said one senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We want to understand why."
The documents cited by the Western intelligence agencies to make their case against Iran are "forged" or "fabricated," Tehran says.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, said the report vindicated Iran's nuclear activities.
He said another document in the report "shows Iran's entire nuclear activities are peaceful," the Fars News Agency quoted him as saying.
Clinton outlines Cuba policy
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, May 26 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton outlined her position on Cuba, saying she would intensify efforts to support "a civil society" in the country.
Speaking to a Cuban community group in Puerto Rico, the New York senator outlined a position that was more in line with Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, than it was with that her Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, The New York Times reported Monday.
Clinton told the group that she would "redouble our efforts to support civil society" in Cuba, but set conditions on any high-level contacts with the communist government there.
"We must do all we can to make sure the government of Cuba makes the right choice," moving away from "the failed policies of the past and charting a new course," she said.
Obama has said repeatedly that he is willing to meet leaders of adversary states like Cuba "without preconditions," but after lower-level diplomatic contacts.
Clinton said that policy falls short.
"I would certainly reach out a hand in friendship if real change were to take place," she said. "But I will not give away the chance for real change."
She said the government of Raul Castro must "show their good faith" by convoking "free
and competitive elections like you have here," by releasing political prisoners, and by allowing the exercise of free expression and assembly.
Exxon settles with New Orleans residents
NEW ORLEANS, May 26 (UPI) -- Attorneys have reached an agreement with ExxonMobil over claims the oil company exposed a Louisiana community to radioactive waste, settlement papers reveal.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Monday that the case relates to contamination allegedly left from three decades of offshore pipe-cleaning east of the Harvey Canal.
The property is owned by members of the Grefer family, who were awarded $112 million from ExxonMobil because of radioactive contamination that spoiled their land.
After the Grefer case, about 2,500 residents of the area sued for exposure to radioactive waste that they say has led to severe medical aliments.
ExxonMobil has agreed to settle, and pay claimants on a point bases. Each point is worth $968.
A person who simply lives in the area is assigned one point. A property owner also gets a point. But someone suffering from lung cancer, for example, or acute myeloid leukemia is worth 40 points and colon cancer is worth 26 points, settlement papers reveal.
Some residents say the $968 base is a pittance in comparison to the Grefer award.
Grefer "gets that kind of money and they give us chicken change?" said Herbert Adams, 59, who now lives in Tennessee. "I just don't get it."
Only known WWI vet, 107, honored
KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 26 (UPI) -- Frank Woodruff Buckles of West Virginia, at 107 years old, is the only known remaining United States veteran of World War I.
The Kansas City Star reported Monday that Buckles, a Missouri native, is considered the "last surviving link" to the war, ended nearly 90 years ago.
On Saturday, Buckles was awarded the Veterans of Foreign Wars' Gold Medal of Merit In Kansas City, Mo. His photograph will hang in the National World War I Museum, the newspaper reported.
"I am quite pleased with the reception I have received as a representative of World War I," Buckles said at the gathering. "And especially being here in Kansas City because I am among my fellow Missourians."
Buckles was underage when he enlisted in the Army in 1917. He trained at Fort Riley, Kan., and was sent to France, where he drove an ambulance.
He said he remembers well "the joy of the armistice" that came Nov. 11, 1918.
"You wouldn't see a British or Frenchman who did not have a black band on his arm for relatives who were deceased in the war," Buckles said.
After the war, Buckles was part of a unit that escorted German prisoners of war home. He was discharged from the Army in 1919.
