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Pritzker likely to decline Cabinet post

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Sources say Penny Pritzker, who chaired Barack Obama's campaign financing operation, will drop out of contention for the job of U.S. Commerce Secretary.

The Washington Post said Wednesday that the feeling within the president-elect's camp is that Pritzker, a billionaire heiress, has too many business dealings and not enough government experience to win confirmation for the post.

CNN said Pritzker was ready to accept the nomination. However, the Post said she would instead remove her name from contention sometime this week.

"The issue is whether she ultimately wants to do this, and it may be -- and probably will be -- possible that for business reasons, she probably can't do it," said a Democratic source familiar with Obama's Cabinet selection process told the Post.

Pritzker seems to have an eye for business. She oversaw a financing organization that set records and is heiress to a Hyatt hotel fortune that has made her a billionaire at 49.

Iran could build one nuke, analysts say

TEHRAN, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Iran has produced enough material to make one nuclear weapon, said nuclear experts analyzing a report by international inspectors.

Information detailing Iran's progress was in an update from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been conducting inspections of Iran's main nuclear facility at Natanz. The report concluded that, as of earlier in November, Iran produced about 1,390 pounds of low-enriched uranium, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Several experts told the Times that amount was enough for a bomb, adding that more work was needed to actually create the weapon. Not only would Tehran have to renege on its agreements and boot inspectors, it also would have to further purify the fuel and put it in a warhead design.

"They clearly have enough material for a bomb," Richard L. Garwin, a nuclear physicist who helped invent the hydrogen bomb and has advised U.S. officials, told the Times. "They know how to do the enrichment. Whether they know how to design a bomb, well, that's another matter."

Iran has maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, many Western nations say they suspect the true purpose is to gain nuclear weapons-making capability.

The IAEA said Iran was avoiding questions about its suspected work on nuclear warheads. The report also said In the Natanz plant was feeding uranium into about 3,800 centrifuges, the same number as in the agency's September quarterly report.

Somali pirates demand $25M for Saudi ship

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Somali pirates demanded $25 million in ransom for the hijacked Saudi-owned supertanker Sirius Star and set a 10-day deadline, authorities said Thursday.

"We do not want long-term discussions to resolve the matter," one of the pirates, identified as Mohamed Said, told The Times of London in a telephone interview from the ship anchored off the Somali coast.

"The Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous."

The Sirius Star, with a cargo of 2 million barrels of oil, was seized last weekend in the Indian Ocean some 500 miles off the coast of Kenya, the farthest from Somalia of any of the recent hijackings.

Officials said the ship is anchored at the Somali pirate lair of Harardhere. It has a crew of 25.

Palestinians nab terror suspects

HEBRON, West Bank, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A U.S.-trained battalion of Palestinian police officers has arrested more than 250 Hamas-affiliated terror suspects in Hebron, officials report.

Additionally, more than 140 Palestinians described as "criminal suspects" in a wide range of criminal activity were arrested, The Jerusalem Post said.

The police force was deployed in Hebron in late October after U.S.-directed military training in Jordan, in an effort to crack down on Hamas attacks in the West Bank.

Tulkarm and Kalkilya were reported likely to be next for anti-Hamas deployment.

Warrants sought in peacekeeper attacks

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The International Criminal Court prosecutor requested arrest warrants Thursday for rebel leaders in the deadly attacks on Darfur international peacekeepers.

The request for warrants, the first for killing peacekeepers, arise from an attack in September by rebel forces on an African Union base in which 12 peacekeepers and civilian police officers from the AU mission in Sudan died, Human Rights Watch said in a news release.

Laws of war and the statute of the International Criminal Court, seated at The Hague, Netherlands, prohibit attacks against international peacekeeping missions as long as the missions aren't directly involved in hostilities.

"Civilians rely on peacekeepers for protection and any hope for restoring security for civilians in Darfur depends on peacekeepers being able to do their job," Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, said in the release. "These warrant requests send a strong message that such crimes will not be tolerated."

The war crimes charged against the suspects include murder and causing severe injury to peacekeepers; intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a peacekeeping mission; and pillaging, the human rights organization said.

Russian hate crimes kill 114 this year

MOSCOW, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- More than 100 people have died in Russia this year in incidents considered hate crimes, the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights said.

The nongovernmental group said it has documented 269 hate crimes in Russia through Nov. 15 and those attacks have resulted in 114 deaths and 357 people being injured, The Moscow Times said Thursday.

Bureau for Human Rights analyst Semyon Charny said the current economic crisis gripping most of the world could potentially increase hate crimes if unemployment rises dramatically in Russia. He told the Times some Russian citizens could blame immigrants for taking Russian jobs and respond with violence.

Charny's warning echoed that of Russian Holocaust Foundation head Alla Gerber, who said on Nov. 10 that economic hardship can significantly increase resentment among a country's residents, the Times reported.

"It's very easy to find an enemy when there are any economic difficulties and a loss of ideology," Gerber said.