8A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
INTERNATIONAL
THURSDAY. DECEMBER 3. 2009
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Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian government approved a plan to build 10 uranium enrichment facilities. Uranium can be used for fuel or for weapons.
Iran to expand nuclear program
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VIENNA — In a defiant speech, Iran's president declared Wednesday that his country will enrich uranium to a much higher level — a fresh rejection of an international plan to curb Tehran's nuclear program.
Experts said that could put Tehran on the road to making the material needed to arm a warhead within months.
"I declare here that with the grace of God, the iranian nation will produce 20 percent fuel and anything it needs itself," Ahmadinejad told a cheering crowd in the central
city of Isfahan.
Iran denies any interest in developing nuclear arms, and Iranian President Mlah b m o u d Almadinejad's speech made no suggestion the Islamic Republic was planning to
turn its enriched uranium stockpile into material that could be used in nuclear warheads.
"If you want to give us the fuel, we'll take it. If not, then fine and goodbye."
Almadinejad said Tehran was ready to further enrich some of its present stockpile — now at 3.5 percent — to 20 percent, the grade needed to create fuel for a small medical research reactor in the Iranian capital.
Uranium enriched at low levels can be used as fuel for nuclear energy, but when enriched to 90 percent and above, it can be used as material for a weapon. The
United States and five other world powers have been trying to win Iran's acceptance of a deal under which Tehran would ship most of its low-ourriched uranium stockpile abroad to be processed into
MAHAMOUD
AHMADINEJAD
Iranian president
"We told them, 'Give us the 20 percent fuel' needed for the research reactor in an exchange the Iranian leader said in Isfahan. "But then they started adding conditions."
"So we said. 'If you want to give us the fuel, we'll take it. If not, then fine and goodwe.'
Some 33 to 66 pounds of uranium enriched to levels above 90 percent would be needed to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran currently has around 3,300 pounds of 3.5 percent, or low-enriched
fuel rods for use in the research reactor.
uranium — enough to produce highly enriched material for two such weapons.
David Albright of the Washingtonbased Institute for Science and International Security, which has tracked Iran for
On Wednesday, Ahmadinejad
On Wednesday, Ahmadinejad went a step further, vowing Iran would enrich the uranium needed for the research reactor itself.
signs of covert proliferation, said the process of moving from low-enriched to 20 percent enriched uranium would take months, but the next stage — enriching to weapons grade — would require only an additional "couple of weeks."
That would leave Iran — at least temporarily — without enough entrenched uranium to produce a bomb. However, after signaling in October that it would accept the proposal, Iran has since balked, presenting counterproposals that would keep the stockleader in Iran.
"They're 90 percent on the way toward weapons-grade uranium once they have enriched to 20 percent, Albright said.
A nuclear expert familiar with Iran's atomic activities said Iran could be enriching to higher levels
within months after reconfiguring and testing its centrifuges, the machines that spin uranium gas into enriched material. The expert — a government official from one of the five permanent U.N. Security Council nations —
demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the issue.
Ahmadinejad's comments were the latest in a string of defiant statements by the Islamic Republic in a furious reaction to criticism by the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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STUDY ABROAD The University of Kansas
POLITICS
New York rejects gay marriage bill
New York state Sen. Ruben Diaz, D-Bronx, debates same-sex marriage in the New York Senate Wednesday at the Capitol in Albany. New York lawmakers rejected a bill to legalize gay marriage.
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The New York measure failed by a wider-than-expected margin, falling 12 votes short in a 24-38 decision by the state Senate. The Assembly had earlier approved the bill, and Gov. David Paterson, perhaps the bill's strongest advocate, had pledged to sign it.
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New York also doesn't allow civil unions, but has several laws, executive orders and court decisions that grant many of the rights to gays long enjoyed by married couples.
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York law-makers rejected a bill Wednesday that would have made their state the sixth to allow gay marriage, disheartening advocates already stung by a similar decision by Maine voters just last month.
The vote comes after months of delays and arm twisting of lawmakers sympathetic to the bill but representing conservative districts. It also follows a referendum in Maine that struck down a gay marriage law before it took effect.
Immediately after the vote, gay rights advocates chanted: "Equal rights now!" Many said they weren't surprised by the decision. Most, including Paterson, said they at least wanted a floor debate and vote.
Senate sponsor Thomas Duane, a Manhattan Democrat and the Legislature's first openly gay member, vowed not to give up his life's goal.
"I'm like a dog with a bone."
said Duane in his closing remarks on the floor, when defeat was becoming clear. "I wouldn't let go of anyone . . . Because I don't give up. I don't know how to!"
said gay marriage opponent Sen. Ruben Diaz, a conservative minister from the Bronx. "You should carry your Bible all the time."
Gay marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont. A New Hampshire law takes effect Jan. 1.
Clinton's senior adviser on gay rights issues. "I'm surprised that it was not closer. We'll have to take a hard look at what went wrong."
Sen. Eric Adams, D-Brooklyn, challenged lawmakers to set aside their personal religious beliefs. He asked them to remember that once even slavery was legal.
"It's certainly disappointing," said Richard Socarides, a 55-year-old Manhattan lawyer and resident and former President Bill
"When I walk through these doors, my Bible stays out," Adams said.
Diaz was the only opponent among the 38 to speak. Eighteen senators gave impassioned speeches, often about family members who survived the Holocaust and discrimination and would want gays to be equal under law.
"That's the wrong statement."
INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Honduras pressured to reinstate ex-president
Supporters of Honduras 'ousted President Manuel Zelaya try on hats in the likeness of Zeyala's signature cowboy hat outside Congress in Tequigalpa Tuesday. Congress is scheduled Wednesday to discuss whether to instate Zelaya, who was removed from office in a coup.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduran lawmakers debated ousted President Manuel Zelaya's future Wednesday under international pressure to reinstate him or face more isolation, despite an election that has chosen his successor.
It's unlikely to make a difference. The interim administration has already resisted months of diplomatic arm-twisting, and has long predicted Sunday's election would weaken demands for Zelaya's return.
Lawmakers who already voted once to support Zelaya's overthrow insist they won't be swayed. And Zelaya himself, who listened to the proceedings Wednesday from his refuge in the Brazilian Embassy, says he won't return for a token two months even if asked.
Still, many Latin American governments warn they will not restore ties with the incoming administration of Porfirio Lobo unless Zelaya is allowed to finish his term, which ends Jan. 27.
A lawmaker from Lobo's conservative National Party introduced a motion during Wednesday's debate
to ratify the decision Congress made on June 28, when lawmakers voted to kick Zelaya out of office. That decision came hours after soldiers stormed into Zelaya's residence and flew him into exile in his pajamas.
Ninety-two lawmakers signed the motion, an easy majority in the members of the 128-seat, single house Congress. Only 75 votes are needed to reaffirm Zelaya's ouster.
"We stand by our position that Zelaya can't be restored because he violated the constitution," Rodolfo Irias, the congressional president of the National Party, said during the debate.
Alfredo Saavedra, of the Liberal Party, insisted he felt no pressure from abroad, saying he had met with diplomats of many countries and none had suggested he vote one way or the other.
"Congress has not been the object of pressure of any nature," Saveadra told Channel 5. "Nobody, absolutely nobody, has dared to insinuate what the route should be."
Outside congress, 300 Zelaya supporters protested behind police lines.
Lobo, a wealthy rancher, won the regularly scheduled presidential vote that Honduras' interim leaders insist shows their country's democracy is intact.
Congress is dominated by Zelaya's Liberal Party, which largely turned against him in a dispute over changing the constitution.
Many Latin American countries say recognizing the election would amount to legitimizing Central America's first coup in 20 years.
Congressional President Jose
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