Students rally to support Iran's nuclear procedures
By wire services
Published August 17, 2005
ISFAHAN, Iran - Hundreds of Iranian students formed a human chain Tuesday outside the uranium conversion plant here, demanding the government brush aside U.S.-led efforts to shut down its contentious nuclear program.
Under close police scrutiny, hard-line bearded male students and women wearing traditional black cloaks gathered under searing sunshine as speakers urged officials to not cave in to European Union pressure, and to continue the uranium reprocessing activities restarted last week in the central city of Isfahan.
"Nuclear energy is our obvious right!" and "Restarting the Isfahan plant is our first step!" chanted the students as speakers blared nationalistic songs from a makeshift stage, over which hung a banner reading "Europe, do not be a slave to Zionism."
The rally - which brought students from universities in at least three Iranian cities - was the latest sign that the country is hardening its stance in talks with the EU. On Monday, Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appointed hard-line former military commander Ali Larijani to head the agency overseeing nuclear talks with the EU.
EU leaders want Tehran to halt its enrichment activities in return for various economic, technological and political incentives.
Pope seeks immunity in Texas sex abuse lawsuit
VATICAN CITY - Lawyers for Pope Benedict XVI have asked President Bush to declare the pontiff immune from liability in a lawsuit that accuses him of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys by a seminarian in Texas, court records show.
The Vatican's embassy in Washington sent a diplomatic memo to the State Department on May 20 requesting the U.S. government grant the pope immunity because he is a head of state, according to a May 26 motion submitted by the pope's lawyers in U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Texas in Houston.
Joseph Ratzinger is named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit. Now Benedict XVI, he's accused of conspiring with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to cover up the abuse during the mid 1990s. The suit is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Gerry Keener, said Tuesday that the pope already is considered a head of state and automatically has diplomatic immunity. Keener said Benedict doesn't have to ask for immunity and Bush doesn't have to grant it.
Irene gains strength, moves into open Atlantic
MIAMI - Hurricane Irene found a spurt of strength Tuesday but remained a threat only to shipping as it moved eastward into the Atlantic south of Newfoundland.
The Category 2 hurricane had top sustained winds of near 100 mph. Irene was moving east at about 9 mph, and a turn to the east-northeast was expected by Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Irene reached hurricane strength Sunday but was never more than a threat to marine interests, forecasters said.
