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☆ Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan martial ruler in 9/11 wars, dies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has died in Dubai aged 79 after a long illness, the army said on February 5, 2023. By Sept. 12, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Musharraf that Pakistan would either be "with us or against us." They regrouped and the offshoot Pakistani Taliban emerged, beginning a yearslong insurgency in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Though Pakistan under Musharraf launched these operations, the militants still thrived as billions of American dollars flowed into the nation. Born Aug. 11, 1943, in New Delhi, India, Musharraf was the middle son of a diplomat.

☆ IAEA chides Iran for undeclared change to Fordow uranium enrichment setup
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Francois Murphy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The International Atomic Energy Agency found the change during an unannounced inspection on Jan. 21 at the Fordow Fuel enrichment Plant (FFEP), a site dug into a mountain where inspectors are stepping up checks after Iran said it would dramatically expand enrichment. Fordow is so sensitive that the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers banned enrichment there. Since the United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions against Iran, the Islamic Republic has breached many of the deal's restrictions on its nuclear activities. The IAEA has had regular access to Fordow to carry out verification activities like inspections and it is in talks with Iran on stepping up those activities, the report said. However, some other safeguards measures are still required and are being discussed with Iran," the report added.

☆ Iran expands uranium enrichment at underground nuclear site amid violent crackdown on protesters
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Dan De Luce | Dan De Luce Is A Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Iran has started expanding uranium enrichment to 60 percent purity at an underground site in Fordow days after foreign governments accused Tehran of failing to cooperate with a U.N. investigation into its past nuclear work. Iran last year already embarked on enrichment up to 60 percent elsewhere at an above ground site in Natanz. The 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was designed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. It imposed limits on Iran’s nuclear program in return for an easing of U.S. and international sanctions on Iran. As Iran defied the provisions of the 2015 nuclear deal, it faced renewed international criticism over its response to a wave of anti-regime protests that erupted in September.

DUBAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Iran has begun enriching uranium to 60% purity at its underground Fordow nuclear site, the government's nuclear chief said on Tuesday, a move that may irk Western powers pushing Tehran to roll back its nuclear work by reviving a 2015 pact. "We had said that Iran will seriously react to any resolution and political pressure ... that is why Iran has started enriching uranium to 60% purity from Monday at the Fordow site," said Mohammad Eslami, according to Iranian media. The semi-official ISNA news agency reported Iran had informed the agency in a letter about the decision to use "IR-6 advanced centrifuges to produce 60% enriched uranium" at Fordow, a site buried inside a mountain. In June, Reuters reported that Tehran was enhancing its uranium enrichment further by preparing to use IR-6 centrifuges, which can easily switch between enrichment levels, at the Fordow site. "Iran has also started the process of injecting gas into two cascades of IR-2m and IR-4 advanced centrifuges at the Natanz site," state TV reported.

☆ Iran to enrich uranium to 60% purity at Fordow nuclear site - TV
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Iran has started enriching uranium to 60% purity at its underground Fordow nuclear site, according to state media on Tuesday, which described the action as a response to the U.N. nuclear watchdog's demand for more cooperation from Tehran. "In a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has informed the agency that it has started enriching uranium to 60% purity at Fordow site," the semi-official ISNA news agency reported, adding that it was a "strong response" to the agency's latest resolution. Iran's SNN network said Tehran will also be building a new set of centrifuges at its Natanz and Fordow nuclear sites. In June, Reuters reported that Tehran was escalating its uranium enrichment further by preparing to use advanced IR-6 centrifuges at the Fordow site, which can easily switch between enrichment levels. The IAEA resolution is the second this year targeting Iran over the investigation, which has become an obstacle to talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal because Iran has demanded the probe be ended.

☆ No push for Iran nuclear talks, U.S. envoy says, due to protests, drone sales
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Talks to revive a 2015 accord between Iran and world powers have been at a stalemate since September. Western states accuse Iran of making unreasonable demands after all sides appeared to be nearing a deal. "If these negotiations are not happening, it's because of Iran's position and everything that has happened since (September)," Malley said. The EU, the United States, Canada and Britain have imposed sanctions over human rights abuses in Iran as well as for its drone sales to Moscow. Iran began breaching those terms in 2019 in response to a U.S. withdrawal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump.

☆ Exclusive: U.S., EU powers push IAEA board to order Iran to cooperate urgently
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Francois Murphy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The draft resolution was sent to other countries on the 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors on Friday ahead of a quarterly meeting that starts on Wednesday. It also comes the day after the IAEA issued a report, also seen by Reuters, on the years-long investigation into the traces. Iran has agreed to hold a meeting with IAEA officials in Tehran after next week's board meeting to make progress in the stalled inquiry. The draft resolution referred to Thursday's IAEA report, which said IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi was "seriously concerned that there has still been no progress". The board passed a similar resolution in June, when only China and Russia opposed it.

☆ Iran sets up meeting on U.N. nuclear inquiry as diplomatic clash looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Francois Murphy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. The IAEA has said it will not yield to political pressure and its job is to account for all nuclear material. The E3 and the United States will hold talks in Paris on Monday to discuss Iran ahead of the board meeting, two diplomats said. Iran has recently installed hundreds more advanced centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, at its underground plants at Natanz and Fordow. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear technology is solely for civil purposes.

That means vineyards - which have for centuries transplanted cuttings to ensure robust and flavourful fruit - are now looking for grape types that are more resistant to climate change. It has determined that vines aged 35 years and older appear to cope better with climate change because they are more genetically diverse. The lab's ultimate goal is to ensure winemakers plant specific vines proven to be "more adaptable to climate change conditions", said Carbonell. "We are very worried about climate change," said Iñigo Torres, director of Grupo Rioja, an association representing 60 wineries that together account for 80% of sales. The grapevines were transplanted after being carefully selected from another vineyard where RODA studies the behaviour of old vines - some up to 110 years old.

☆ Iran is an ever more 'relevant' problem, nuclear watchdog chief says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VIENNA, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Iran is a problem that is ever more "relevant", the U.N. nuclear watchdog's chief, Rafael Grossi, said on Friday, in an apparent reference to the growing number of advanced centrifuges the Islamic Republic is using to enrich uranium. Asked in an on-stage discussion in Washington how he sees the world today, Grossi started with Iran rather than Ukraine and said it "continues to be a problem". "I see every day through my inspectors how this problem is getting more and more relevant, and I'm choosing a word which is neutral. It's an even more relevant problem every day," Grossi told the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference, without elaborating. He added later that he would not cave to political pressure over his investigation of the uranium traces and his efforts to obtain explanations from Iran on how they came to be there.

☆ Exclusive: Iran racing to expand enrichment at underground plant, IAEA report shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Francois Murphy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

These machines are far more efficient than the first-generation IR-1, the only centrifuge that the deal lets Iran use to grow its stock of enriched uranium. Iran has been adding them particularly at two underground sites at Natanz and Fordow that may be designed to withstand potential aerial bombardment. Those seven cascades, one of IR-4 centrifuges and six of IR-2m machines, were fully installed but not yet enriching, Monday's report said. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran deal and re-imposed sanctions against Iran that the deal had lifted. If the deal is revived Iran will have to put its advanced centrifuges into storage, diplomats say.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi addresses the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 21, 2022. After a meeting with Raisi on Tuesday in New York, French President Emmanuel Macron said that "the ball on reaching a nuclear deal with Iran is now in Tehran's camp". The agreement limited Iran’s uranium enrichment activity to make it harder for Tehran to develop nuclear arms, in return for lifting international sanctions. Biden cannot provide such ironclad assurances because the deal is a political understanding rather than a legally binding treaty. Western diplomats have said they will not back down on this issue and it is up to Iran to make the right choice.

☆ We visited Chris Sacca-backed Epoch Biodesign's London HQ. The startup wants to clamp down on pollution with plastic eating enzymes.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Epoch Biodesign, a startup converting plastic to chemicals using enzymes, has raised $14.5 million. Epoch Biodesign uses plastic-eating enzymes as a base and scientifically alters them to produce a specific chemical from the consumed plastic. Epoch Biodesign is also developing enabling technologies to do this cheaper, faster, better, and at greater scale. This is a colony picker, one the machines used test and select Epoch Biodesign's enzymes in the lab. In the long run, Epoch Biodesign expects to license out its technology so it isn't running facilities itself.

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