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Official says talks needed, not threats

By Times wires
Published February 25, 2007

IRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Saturday that the United States was in no position for another war, and maintained that negotiations - not threats - were the only way to resolve the standoff over its nuclear activities. Mottaki was responding to Vice President Dick Cheney, who renewed Washington's warning to Iran earlier Saturday that "all options" were on the table if Tehran continues to defy U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment. Mottaki said the United States could not afford to settle its differences with Iran by launching a third war after Afghanistan and Iraq.

Spacecraft makes crucial maneuver

GERMANY - A European spacecraft executed a close flyby of Mars today, a crucial maneuver in its meandering, 10-year voyage through the solar system to make the first soft landing on a comet. The Rosetta craft passed barely 150 miles from Mars, using the planet's gravity to change course and head toward similar flybys of Earth later this year and in 2009. The momentum gained from the flyby is expected to sling the spacecraft toward its rendezvous with the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014, according to controllers at the European Space Agency's mission control center in Darmstadt in western Germany.

Opposition leader warns of reversal

UKRAINE - Ukraine's main opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, warned Saturday that the former Soviet republic is at risk of sliding back under the influence of Russia. Tymoshenko, on the eve of a trip to the United States, said she will reassure U.S. leaders that the Orange Revolution team that set Ukraine on its pro-Western path in 2004 has reunited and will provide tough opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's Russian-leaning government.

New spy satellite is sent into orbit

JAPAN - Japan launched its fourth spy satellite into orbit on Saturday, increasing its ability to independently gather intelligence. An H-2A rocket carrying the satellite lifted off from a base on the southern island of Tanegashima, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said. The fourth satellite will allow Japan to monitor any point on Earth once a day. Japan, which has traditionally relied on the United States for intelligence, initiated the spy satellite program after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan in 1998. Japan also expressed concern after China shot down a satellite in January with a ballistic missile.

Lawmakers show their hip-hop flair

SINGAPORE - Clad in military-style pants, bright T-shirts and dangling chains, 12 Singapore lawmakers grooved to hip-hop music in the city-state's largest annual street parade Saturday, part of efforts by the ruling People's Action Party to ditch its authoritarian and conservative image. The ministers, most of whom won Parliament seats in last year's election, were joined by 300 dancers as they showed their moves at the Chingay parade. Some 18,000 people crowded the sidewalks of the Orchard Road shopping district, which was ablaze with lights and pyrotechnics. "We enjoyed it," said civil servant Kok Ping Soon, 36, who attended with his family. "It was good to see them dancing, to see that they are part of the community."

[Last modified February 25, 2007, 00:56:27]