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Iran demands that IAEA end surveillance of its nuclear program

Shortly after ending its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the government of Iran has now ordered the IAEA to discontinue surveillance of their developing nuclear program. Tehran has also asked the agency to remove any and all signage from their nuclear sites by the end of next week.

The demands come in response to the Saturday resolution by the IAEA to report Iran to the United Nations Security Council. By a vote of 27 to 3 (with five abstentions), the IAEA recommended that the matter of the Iranian nuclear program be brought before the Security Council.

The recommendation states there are serious concerns about Iranian nuclear aims, and the agency is not confident in claims that their program is intended solely for civilian or other non-military use. Mohamed ElBaradei, chairman of the IAEA, will prepare a list of "steps Iran needs to take to dispel suspicions about its nuclear ambitions" by March 6, when he will declare the results of his full report.

The IAEA's resolution calls for Iran to reinstate a freeze on its nuclear programs, consider ending construction of a plutonium-producing heavy water reactor, and to continue allowing the IAEA's purposes and actions in Iran. However, the council will not implement any further action until ElBaradei makes his full report on March 6.

ElBaradei also reported to the IAEA Monday that Iran would also demand a reduction in the amount of facilities inspections from the agency, and that they would discontinue their agreement to the so-called "Additional Protocol" of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) regarding IAEA weapons inspectors if the agency reported Iran to the Security Council. This protocol entitles the IAEA to hold unannounced inspections of facilities, increased surveillance capability, and placing IAEA seals on nuclear equipment.

Other diplomatic ventures are being planned. On February 16, Iranian officials will meet with the Russian government in Moscow to discuss the possibility of Russia enriching uranium for export to Iran in exchange for a halting of its nuclear program. And Wang Guangya, China's ambassador to the UN, said Monday that "Even with the adoption of this IAEA resolution, it is the belief of most of the members there that a diplomatic solution is the way out within the framework of the IAEA."

9/11 conspirator Moussaoui ejected from court

Zacarias Moussaoui, the only member of the U.S. September 11, 2001 attacks to be brought to trial, was removed four times from a Monday court session in Alexandria, Virginia where jury selection is underway for the penalty phase of the trial over his guilty pleas to conspiracy. Moussaoui disrupted the proceeding with verbal outbursts directed at the judge.

Appearing before the U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema at the Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse, the citizen of France Moussaoui began calmly by saying with a heavy French accent that, "I want to be heard by this court before the proceedings start."

Judge Brinkema warned Moussaoui that it was not the proper time for him to speak. But Moussaoui, 37, who was unrestrained by shackles and wearing a green jump suit labeled with the word "PRISONER" across the back, said "These lawyers are not my lawyers," referring to the defense team led by federal public defender Gerald Zerkin. "Everybody here know that these people do not represent me."

The unsolicited comments prompted the judge to dismiss him. Moussaoui offered no resistence as he was led away by marshals, but shouted over his shoulder to the judge, "I don't want them to represent. I'm al-Qaida; they are American. They are my enemies." He said of the proceeding, "This trial is a circus."

A jury pool of 18 members, six of whom will serve as alternates, will be selected from the group of 500 potential jurors who appeared Monday. Four court sessions were convened that day to begin sorting through the candidates, and Judge Brinkema allowed Moussaoui to return for each of the three remaining sessions. She instructed potential jurors, "If any of you feel that that outburst or the way he conducted himself might affect the way in which you would go about judging this case, you need to clearly put that statement on the jury questionnaire."

These instructions were repeated to each group of potential jurors after Moussaoui conducted similar outbursts during the remaining sessions.

Moussaoui, in a surprise, pleaded guilty in April to six conspiracy charges of terrorism, leading to yesterday’s start of the jury selection to decide whether he will spend the rest of his life behind bars, or be executed for his involvement in the 9/11 attacks.

Moussaoui was arrested on immigration charges three weeks prior to the attacks. The prosecution contends the he could have prevented the attacks by alerting authorities to the Al-Qaeda plans while he was jailed in Minnesota after his arrest.

Wikinews investigates Wikipedia vandalism by United States Senate staff members

Senate staffers, using IP addresses assigned to their Senators, have been editing Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia that allows any of its users to edit its content. In some cases, they have removed negative facts about their Senator from the articles.

Using the public history of edits on Wikipedia, Wikinews reporters collected every Senate IP which had ever edited on Wikipedia, as of Feb. 3 and examined where the IPs came from, what they edited, and of what those edits consisted. IP, or Internet Protocol, addresses are unique numbers electronic devices use to communicate with each other on an individual basis.

The investigation showed the vast majority of edits to Wikipedia from Senate IPs were beneficial, helpful edits. Examples Include the creation of the article on Click Back America, which organizes students to promote microfinance in the developing world, and Washington's Tomb, which was originally designed to hold the body of first U.S. President George Washington within the White House Capitol building, and significantly expanding the article on closed sessions of the United States Senate in November. Dozens of small corrections to grammar, spelling, or small facts—many of them related to the Senate—show Senate Wikipedia users have sharp eyes for details and help improve Wikipedia's accuracy.

Senator's staff have sometimes had to fight to correct inaccuracies. An edit to Jay Rockefeller's article by his staff removed information which may have been biased or untrue. The staff member who edited said, "Apologies, I was new to using Wikipedia, and I didn't fully realize the workings of the website," after other users continuously reinserted the information. The staffer removed the suspect paragraphs twelve times until another Wikipedia user finally removed the information. This was followed by the founder of Wikipedia, Jimbo Wales, getting involved four days later after the page had continually shifted between versions.

A few edits were found to be egregious in their efforts to remove negative facts regarding Senators. Some of the most overt attempts to "spin" Wikipedia articles originated from IP addresses reserved for the Senators those articles referred to. Each of the Senator's offices were contacted prior to the publication of this article, but none had responded by publication time.

Hamshari newspaper plans cartoon response

The Iranian newspaper Hamshari daily has stated that it will publish anti-Semitic cartoons in response to the Danish "Mohammad cartoons". The Tehran-city-council owned newspaper says that the anti-Semitic cartoons will lampoon the Holocaust, following denials by the Iranian government that the Holocaust even happened. The newspaper has launched an international competition to find the most suitable caricatures about the Holocaust.

Farid Mortazavi, the paper's graphics editor, said to the Guardian newspaper that "The western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let's see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons."

Mr Mortazavi said that the February 8 edition of the paper would invite cartoonists to enter the competition, with gold coins as prizes for the 12 winning artists -- the same number of cartoons that appeared in the conservative Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten lighting the touchpaper for fury which has swept around the Islamic world. According to the article alongside the original "Mohammad cartoons" in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in late September 2005, the cartoons were intended to show that:

The modern, secular society is rejected by some Muslims. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their own religious feelings. It is incompatible with contemporary democracy and freedom of speech, where you must be ready to put up with insults, mockery and ridicule. It is certainly not always equally attractive and nice to look at, and it does not mean that religious feelings should be made fun of at any price, but that is less important in this context. [...] we are on our way to a slippery slope where no-one can tell how the self-censorship will end. That is why Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten has invited members of the Danish editorial cartoonists union to draw Muhammad as they see him. [...] [1]

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticised the argument of freedom of speech employed by European newspapers to justify publication of the cartoons.

If your newspapers are free why do not they publish anything about the innocence of the Palestinians and protest against the crimes committed by the Zionists? the Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.

Anti-Semitic cartoons will be chosen rather than anti-secular or anti-Christian cartoons for the response to the Danish newspaper despite the fact that Denmark has only a small Jewish population of between 6000 and 7000.