美大使:与伊朗谈判同时也考虑制裁可能
白宫表示,最近一轮有关伊朗核争端的多方会谈有良好的开端。官员们说,他们现在正在等待观望伊朗是否遵守星期四在日内瓦作出的承诺。赖斯说:“如果德黑兰不遵守诺言,时间不等人。我们不会为了会谈而会谈。我们对无止境的谈判不感兴趣。他们务必彻底展现自己的核项目是为和平目的的。”
赖斯明确表示,参与和伊朗谈判的国家,即联合国安理会五个常任理事国加上德国,正在复审向伊朗当局施压的其它选择途径。她说,进一步制裁在考虑范围内。赖斯说:“我们可能采用的某些选择是在安理会的范围内进行多层次施压,我们还可能采取的另一些选择是在安理会的架构之外与欧洲及其它地区的盟友共同施压。然后还可能选择我们单方施压。”
北韩对到访中国总理表示愿意进行核谈判
北韩总理金英日星期日在平壤对温家宝说,北韩从来没有放弃实现朝鲜半岛无核化的目标,并且它愿意通过双边和多边对话来达到这一目标。但平壤还没有作出明确的承诺,恢复参加在4月退出的六方会谈。
温家宝今天可能会与金正日举行会谈
正在对朝鲜进行正式友好访问的中国总理温家宝,今天可能会与朝鲜国防委员长金正日举行会谈,商讨朝核和朝中关系等问题。金正日与温家宝的会谈,尤其是两人对于双边和多边对话的具体表态,成为了国际社会关注的焦点。
此间外交界的消息认为,金正日在金温会晤上有可能会发布弃核意志,以及相关的具体方案。在此之前于4日举行的温家宝与朝鲜总理金英日的朝中总理会谈上,双方曾商讨朝核问题和两国关系发展方向等议题,并签署了合作协议。
金英日在该会谈后表示:“实现无核化是已故主席金日成的遗训。”“朝鲜从未放弃过通过双边和多边对话实现无核化的目标。”由此表现了将会出席双边和多边协商的立场。分析认为,金正日将会做出比金英日更进一步的、更为具体的立场表态。
达赖喇嘛造访华盛顿但无缘会见奥巴马
达赖喇嘛本星期将访问美国首都华盛顿,但他不会与美国总统奥巴马会面。达赖将在国会会见一些议员,并在华盛顿出席其它活动。上个月,一个美国代表团在印度拜访了达赖喇嘛,并确认在奥巴马定于11月对北京的正式访问之前不会会见达赖喇嘛。这是自1991年以来达赖喇嘛首次没有会见美国总统的华盛顿之行。西藏的支持者将拒绝会见达赖喇嘛视为奥巴马政府的一种怠慢,奥巴马政府正在争取改善与中国的关系。
联合国报告称移民利大于弊 建议发达国放宽限制
联合国开发计划署(UNDP)5日公布的2009年版《人类发展报告》称,移民和移居劳动者带给社会及经济的利大于弊,建议日本等发达国家放宽接纳外国人限制。该报告称,全球约有2.14亿离开祖国移居外国的移民和移居劳动者。虽然经常被认为移民会争抢工作岗位,给移居国带来消极影响,但实际上有助于经济增长,为增加该国的税收和工作岗位做出了贡献。移民对其祖国也有益处,例如他们从移居国汇款,提高了留在祖国家人的生活质量。报告建议称“为实现移民、移居带来的利益,有必要推出大胆的政策”。
印度粮价高涨 穷人日食一餐
印度发生30多年来最严重的旱灾,当地白米、蔗糖和马铃薯等农作物歉收。商人操纵市场,粮食价格暴涨。穷人叫苦连天,有些人甚至一天只吃一餐。印度的人工灌溉农田面积只占总数的40%,其余的60%则得取决于老天的脸色。一旦发生旱灾,农作物歉收的问题就更显严重。
上周公布的数据显示,随著蔬菜的价格上升50%,食品价格也上扬超过16%。其中,马铃薯的价格激增81%、蔗糖涨44%、白米则起了19%。当地数以万计的较贫困民众陷入困境,生物能源与粮食安全论坛主席沙马指出,有些穷人只能把两餐当作一餐来吃,或是根本没有食物吃。
为了保护印度2亿3500万名农夫的利益,印度政府调高了农作物的“最低支持价格”,不过,这项措施也是造成粮食价格高涨的原因之一。此外,政府也分派粮食给贫困人民。但由于贪污问题过于猖獗,粮食还没送到穷人手中,就已经少了一大部分。
世行行长:美国经济实力正在减弱
世界银行行长佐利克说,受金融危机的冲击,美国经济实力正在减弱。他说,美国经济陷入衰退已经持续了几乎两年。同时,新兴经济体系包括中国和巴西等,经济却保持增长。这有可能促进长远期内世界经济的重新平衡,而一个更少地依赖于美国消费者的多极经济体制也将是一个更稳定的世界经济体制。
亚行:今年第四季度中国出口可能出现小幅正增长
亚洲开发银行日前发布的更新版《亚洲发展展望2009》指出,今年以来中国政府采取的一系列刺激出口措施将在下半年继续发挥作用,第四季度中国出口可能会出现小幅正增长。
报告指出,中国商品出口自2008年11月开始大幅下滑,今年前7个月同比下降了约22%,出口的最低值出现在今年5月。商品进口也一路走低,但到今年6月,进口价值量降幅随著工业生产的快速复苏有所收窄,进口实物量的降幅要小于其价值量,这反映了全球原材料价格在大幅下滑。
海关总署数据显示,今年8月份中国出口同比下降了23.4%,降幅比上月扩大了0.4个百分点。亚行报告认为,从全年看,今年中国商品出口预计会同比下降17.5%,但明年中国的出口可能同比增长8.0%左右。报告还指出,今年中国商品贸易顺差将有所减少,预计明年商品贸易顺差将会重拾升势。
Iran Agrees to Allow Inspectors on Oct. 25
The chief of the world’s nuclear inspection agency said during a visit
to Tehran on Sunday that the Iranian government had agreed to allow
access to a newly disclosed nuclear enrichment facility on Oct. 25, and
Iran said it would enter talks earlier about temporarily exporting much
of its low-enriched uranium to be converted into nuclear reactor fuel.
Getting inspectors inside Qum is the top priority on the Obama
administration’s Iran agenda, officials said. The administration had
demanded that the facility be opened within two weeks of their meeting
with Iran on Oct. 1. Instead, Iran has offered a date 24 days later, and
exactly a month after President Obama, President Nicolas Sarkozy of
France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain stood together to
announce that their intelligence services had seen evidence Iran was
putting equipment into the site, tunneled under a mountain and inside a
Revolutionary Guards base.
A few days before the leaders spoke, Iran had sought to pre-empt them by
declaring the site to the atomic agency, years after it had begun
building.
Agency inspectors are concerned that a month is sufficient time for Iran
to remove some of the equipment. “The longer you wait, the less you
learn,” a senior European official familiar with inspections said last
week.
One of the important tests of Iran’s attitude, officials said Sunday,
will be willingness to ship its stock of low-enriched uranium, produced
in recent years at a declared nuclear enrichment site at Natanz, to
Russia and France for conversion to reactor fuel and shipment back to
Iran.
In Tehran, Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s top nuclear official, said at a news
conference that he would take part in a meeting on Oct. 19 with the
United States, France and Russia to discuss the details of an agreement
for Iran to get enriched uranium for a research reactor in Tehran. That
material is supposed to be processed in Russia and France, turned into a
kind of fuel difficult to use in nuclear weapons, and returned. But the
state-run Press TV in Tehran reported Sunday that Iranian officials had
“rejected reports that they had reached a deal with world powers to ship
its enriched uranium abroad for processing.” The report said “the
purchase” of 20 percent uranium would be discussed on Oct. 19.
Iran says Geneva talks 'national success'
After Iran held wide-ranging talks with the West based on its latest
package of proposals, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi
hails the meeting as a "national success".
"We achieved the outcome of Iran's resistance [to foreign pressure over
its nuclear program] in Geneva talks," Qashqavi told reporters at his
weekly press conference Monday.
Iranian representatives and diplomats from the five permanent members of
the UN Security Council -- Russia, China, France, Britain and the US -
plus Germany (P5+1) held high-level negotiations in Geneva on October 1.
In what appears to be an effort to downplay Iran's achievements in its
wide-ranging talks with P5+1 group, Susan Rice said Washington and its
veto-holding allies are already studying the sanction options if Iran
does not prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.
The seven-and-a-half hour Geneva meeting had Iran's points of views on
global issues and the country's mutual concerns with the West top on the
agenda with six party members refusing to insist on Iran to halt its
nuclear activities.
The sides also agreed to continue the talks through October.
"During the Geneva meeting, the sides held no talks on Iran's nuclear
rights. The Islamic Republic has previously announced that it will never
give up its nuclear rights based on regulations of the
[Non-Proliferation Treaty] NPT."
The spokesman pointed to the recent visit by the IAEA chief to Tehran
and said Mohamed ElBaradei was full of praise for Iran's cooperation
over its nuclear program.
"ElBaradei praised Iran's cooperation," Qashqavi said.
In line with the country's transparency policy over its nuclear
activities, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali-Akbar
Salehi invited ElBaradei to Tehran to set a date for the UN atomic
watchdog to inspect the under-construction Fordo nuclear facility.
ElBaradei said in Tehran on Sunday that the agency's inspectors will
visit Fordo site, some 160 Kilometers south of Tehran, on October 25.
"At present we are shifting from confrontation to cooperation and I am
asking Iran to continue its transparency," he said.
"We are now on an appropriate path. The agency and the international
community and Iran have started constructive talks".
Qashqavi touched upon a trilateral meeting between Iran, the IAEA and
countries which are ready for talks set for October 19 to discuss the
fuel of Tehran research reactor.
"There is one reactor in Tehran which produces nuclear isotopes for
medical applications. Fuel of this reactor needs 20 percent enriched
uranium," Qashqavi said.
"There is no covert issue about the reactor," he added.
The Tehran research reactor which produces radiomedicine for cancer
patients runs on uranium that is some 20 percent U-235 - an enrichment
level higher than what is currently produced at Iran's Natanz enrichment
facility.
The activities in the research reactor, located in Tehran's northern
Amirabad, is just a small part of Iran's nuclear program and the issue
has nothing to do with Iran's wide-ranging talks with group P5+1 which
are based on Iran's proposal package presented to Western powers.