Posts Tagged ‘happy’
Iran says happy to examine U.S. plot allegations (Reuters)
Last Updated on Monday, 17 October 2011 05:52 Written by admin Monday, 17 October 2011 05:52
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday it would take a look at “seriously and patiently” U.S. allegations it prepared to assassinate a Saudi ambassador and called on Washington to deliver evidence of the plot it has dismissed as baseless propaganda.
“We are well prepared to look at any matter, even if fabricated, significantly and patiently, and we have known as on The usa to submit to us any information in regard to this scenario,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA information company.
U.S. authorities explained very last week they had foiled a plot to destroy Saudi’s ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, and had arrested an Iranian-U.S. joint nationwide — information that raised tensions in between Tehran, its Arab neighbors and the West.
President Barack Obama said the foiled plot must lead to tighter sanctions against Iran — previously beneath numerous rounds of U.N. sanctions above its nuclear program — and repeated that all options are on the table to deal with the Islamic republic, a tacit threat of potential army action.
U.N. Secretary-Common Ban Ki-moon stated on Monday he had passed correspondence about the U.S. suspicions of Iran’s involvement in the alleged plot to the U.N. Security Council.
Tehran says Washington fabricated the plot to divert attention from its own economic difficulties and boost pressure on Iran, which it has lengthy regarded as a supporter of “terrorist” groups with nuclear weapons ambitions.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned the West Iran will counter any “inappropriate measure” taken in opposition to it and stated he had no concern of military or sanctions threats.
“Despite the high army, protection, propaganda and sanctions strain, the Islamic Republic is very pleased not to again down even an iota for the duration of the past 32 many years,” he stated in a televised speech during a tour of Kermanshah province.
“The Iranian nation and its officials will not yield to the enemies’ blackmailing and pressure.”
NUCLEAR Advances
The plot furor appears to have killed any possibility of a rapid return to talks among Tehran and world powers worried about its nuclear course, but Salehi stated Iran continued to make strides in the technologies it states is for purely peaceful ends.
Salehi conceded Iran had at first feared the assassination of a nuclear scientist in Tehran final November — which it blamed on Israel — had dealt a significant blow to a important portion of its atomic work.
“When (Majid) Shahriyari was martyred we have been anxious due to the fact he was the only man or woman who understood about this expert area (enriching uranium to 20 percent purity),” he mentioned.
“But soon after our trip to (the nuclear plant in the town of) Isfahan, I recognized that the graceful martyr had skilled about twenty folks in his workshops. Appropriate now we have several thousand nuclear engineers and there is virtually nothing in the nuclear concern that we want to obtain but can’t.”
Iran’s announcement final year that it had escalated uranium enrichment from the lower level essential for electrical power creation to twenty %, alarmed many international locations that feared it was a crucial phase towards making materials potent enough for a nuclear bomb.
Tehran states the fuel is essential to make isotopes for cancer treatment and preceding nuclear talks targeted on a deal to provide ready-built fuel for its healthcare reactor in trade for some of Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium.
Salehi mentioned in January — forward of the previous spherical of nuclear talks that then stalled — that these kinds of a fuel swap deal was turning out to be much less relevant as Iran would be able to generate its personal fuel plates for the reactor in the very first half of the Iranian yr, which began in March.
With that deadline currently passed, Salehi said on Monday Iran would be creating the medical reactor fuel within the subsequent four to five months. He explained Iran had created nearly 70 kg (a hundred and fifty lb) of twenty % enriched uranium, up from an approximated 40 kg in January.
(Producing by Robin Pomeroy modifying by Philippa Fletcher)
Yahoo! Information: World Information
Tags: allegations, examine, happy, Iran, plot, Reuters, Says, U.s. | Posted under World | No Comments
Qantas passengers ‘happy to be alive’ after engine failure – Telegraph.co.uk
Last Updated on Thursday, 4 November 2010 05:26 Written by admin Thursday, 4 November 2010 05:26
The A380, carrying 433 passengers and 26 crew, circled for an hour dumping
fuel before it landed safely at Changi at 11.45am local time.
Once on the tarmac, it appeared that casing from the aircraft’s number two
engine was missing and parts of the aircraft’s underside were blackened.
The incident has raised safety concerns over the world’s biggest passenger
jet, with Qantas suspending flights of all six of its A380s indefinitely.
Models owned by Air France, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa will
continue to fly.
Lars Sandberg, a DJ from Glasgow, Scotland, who was on the plane said he was “just
happy to be alive”.
He told the BBC website: “Everything was going smoothly in the first 15
minutes and then there was a sharp bang. I thought some metal container fell
down in the cargo area, but the carriage started to vibrate and there was a
bit of smoke.
“I was sitting right next to engine two. People around me were visibly
shaken and we all realised that whatever happened wasn’t normal. There was a
mother with two children who was quite worried.”
He went on: “The landing was quite smooth, although the plane felt a bit
heavy. When we landed there was fuel leaking from the plane, something
ignited and blew the case of the engine.
“When we got off and saw the engine itself and the back casing burnt off,
that was pretty scary. It was a nerve-wracking experience and I feel a
little bit shaken up. I’m just happy to be alive and safe in the terminal
building.”
Singapore-based businessman Mr Waschbusch posted a message on social
networking site Twitter shortly after landing which read: “Just emergency
landed back in Singapore after engine blew up at take-off and parts ripped
through wings. Damn.”
He told Daybreak that passengers were shouting and crying with relief when the
jet landed safely.
He explained: “There was immediately rapture, shouting and crying – it was an
amazing sight.
“We didn’t quite feel safe at the moment of touchdown because you’ve got
rolling all the way till the end of the runway, we then parked at the end of
the runway and we were still leaking fuel from the engine, so fire-fighters
came and had to take care of the fuel leak.
“The (engine) one on the left hand side kept running and they weren’t able to
turn off that engine – so we were still half an hour or so when we were on
the ground and still sceptical about what was going on and we just wanted to
exit.”
When the Airbus was unveiled in 2005, it was hailed as the beginning of a new
era in long haul air travel. Each double-decker A380 can carry up to 500
passengers and cut travel times from London to Sydney by several hours.
There have been no fatal incidents involving A380s since they were launched as
the greenest, quietest – as well as the biggest – jetliner in the world.
However, earlier this year one of the planes operated by Qantas burst two
tyres when landing in Sydney, and in September 2009 an A380 was forced to
turn around in mid-flight and return to Paris.
The latest incident comes just days before Qantas was due to celebrate its
90th anniversary.
Alan Joyce, the chief executive of Australia’s national carrier, said the
airline had opened an investigation into what went wrong but in the meantime
was taking no risks.
“We have decided that we will suspend all A380 take-offs until we’re
fully comfortable that sufficient information has been obtained about QF32,”
he said in Sydney.
“The A380 is a fantastic aircraft. This issue of an engine failure is
one we have not seen before. We are obviously taking this very seriously,
because it was a significant engine failure.”
Rolls-Royce, which manufactures the engines, would be involved in the
investigation, he said.
However, Mr Joyce said the incident would not affect pending orders for the
aircraft.
“We have orders for over 20 aircraft. Those aircraft will continue to
arrive,” he said.
There are 37 A380s in service around the world, flying 26 routes.
Aviation experts have said that despite the fact that no one was injured
during the incident, it was very serious.
Péter Marosszéky, senior visiting fellow in the Department of Aviation at the
University of New South Wales, said it was “a fairly massive internal
failure”.
“This type of incident has been seen previously but it was a long time
ago and with much older planes than the A380,” he said.
“This is probably the most serious incident involving the A380 since it
began flying in commercial service,” said aviation expert Tom
Ballantyne, chief correspondent of Orient Aviation magazine.
There was initial confusion after early reports said that the A380 Airbus had
crashed in a western Indonesian town.
Witnesses said that they had heard a loud explosion as a Qantas aircraft flew
overhead and pieces of fuselage were found on the ground.
Pictures of metal, some the size of a door bearing the red and white of the “flying
kangaroo” logo, flashed on MetroTV, with people milling around.
“I heard a big explosion at around 9:15am and saw a commercial passenger
plane flying low in the distance with smoke on one of its wings,”
Rusdi, a local resident, told MetroTV.
“The debris started falling on my house.”
However, the Australian national carrier quickly denied that any of its planes
had crashed, saying that QF32 had suffered engine problems and had been
forced to turn around.
Qantas has never had a fatal jetliner accident in its 90-year history.
The incident took place as it emerged that Jetstar, Qantas’s budget airline,
had to divert one of its aircraft into Changi Airport earlier this week.
Jetstar Flight JQ 28 from Phuket to Sydney, operated by an Airbus A330-200
aircraft, was diverted without incident into Singapore Changi because of a
problem with the autopilot.
Jetstar said that the aircraft, which was carrying 288 passengers, had “a
normal landing” into Singapore.
The A330-200 aircraft is undergoing inspection by Jetstar engineers based in
Singapore.
A spokesman for Lufthansa said it had no plans to ground its three A380
aircraft but that it would do so if advised of any concerns by the
manufacturer.
An Airbus spokesman said the company would assist Singaporean authorities with
their investigation.
Tags: after, Alive, Engine, Failure, happy, passengers, Qantas, Telegraph.co.uk | Posted under World | No Comments
Qantas landing: ‘Happy to be alive’ – BBC News
Last Updated on Thursday, 4 November 2010 02:26 Written by admin Thursday, 4 November 2010 02:26
4 November 2010
Last updated at 04:28 ET
An Australian Airbus A380 superjumbo has made an emergency landing in Singapore after experiencing engine trouble following take-off.
Lars Sandberg, a DJ from Glasgow, was on the plane. He describes what happened.
“Everything was going smoothly in the first 15 minutes and then there was a sharp bang. I thought some metal container fell down in the cargo area, but the carriage started to vibrate and there was a bit of a smoke.
I was sitting right next to engine two. People around me were visibly shaken and we all realised that whatever happened wasn’t normal. There was a mother with two children who was quite worried.
I travel by plane every weekend and I was surprised by that noise. The captain admitted there was a problem, but he kept reassuring us, almost every couple of minutes, that they are looking into it and that things are OK.
We started slowing down. We were told that we needed to circle around for a bit, to burn some of the fuel, as the plane was too heavy to land.
The landing was quite smooth, although the plane felt a bit heavy. When we landed there was fuel leaking from the plane, something ignited and blew the case of the engine.
When we got off and saw the engine itself and the back casing burnt off, that was pretty scary.
“Start Quote
I’m just happy to be alive and safe in the terminal building”
End Quote
It was a nerve-wracking experience and I feel a little bit shaken up. I was at first annoyed that I can’t get to Brisbane for my tour, but now I am relieved I am still here.
The captain did the right checks – everything by the book and we are all here because of that.
We are now sitting back in the terminal where we were gathered to get on the plane. We missed the next plane to Australia, so they are going to put us in a hotel.
The atmosphere is easygoing, people are watching television – we’ve been on the news. There’ve been reporters taking photos of us. Passengers were also taking photos of the plane after we landed, as a memento.
I’m just happy to be alive and safe in the terminal building.”
Trade and Tea Party: Not exactly a happy couple – CNNMoney
Last Updated on Monday, 1 November 2010 08:05 Written by admin Monday, 1 November 2010 08:05
FORTUNE — Big business interests are hopeful that a Republican takeover of the House — now looking more likely than not — will thaw free-trade deals that have languished since President Obama took office. Those agreements are on a short list of priorities the White House has in common with GOP leaders.
But a rising protectionist tide brought about by the sour economy is threatening to complicate the task. And business groups in Washington are already preparing for the possibility that a new Republican majority stocked with populists from Rust Belt districts and beyond will present a less receptive audience than they once anticipated.
“We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” says Christopher Wenk, the senior director of international policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Even under the current Congress, Republicans have proven more inclined to register protectionist sentiment. That was on stark display in late September, when 99 Republicans joined 249 Democrats in approving a measure to strengthen the administration’s hand in pushing the Chinese to let their currency rise.
It’s unclear how an expected influx of Tea Party-affiliated Republicans will shake out on the issue next year. Leaders of some of the groups that have helped organize the movement — Americans for Prosperity, for example — are free-trade boosters.
But the Tea Party’s grassroots members are more hostile to trade agreements than the broader population. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that 61% of those who identified themselves as supporters of the movement believe the deals have hurt the U.S., while 53% of all respondents held the same view.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an economist and former Congressional Budget Office director who advised Sen. John McCain during his presidential run, calls the issue a “wild card.” Research from his consulting firm finds that Republican voters are more likely than Democratic voters to support new tariffs on Chinese imports to offset U.S. losses due to an undervalued Yuan. He says it’s no longer taken for granted that Republicans embrace open trade and open international market, at the least at the voter level.
“The question is how will newly elected Republicans behave?” Holtz-Eakin says. “The leadership and think tanks in Washington may support free trade and open markets, but if you go out to real America, it’s not there.”
Indeed, House Republicans included a call for Congress to quickly approve trade deals with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea among the eight planks of their “No Cost Jobs Plan” earlier this year. And a senior House GOP aide says Republican leaders remain “extremely strong” proponents of free trade.
No united Republican front
Out on the trail, there is far less unanimity among Republican candidates. Ohioan Rob Portman, who served as President Bush’s trade representative, is ahead in his Senate bid. But up in Wisconsin, Tea Party-backed Sean Duffy, favored in his House race, talks about the need for “fair trade.” A recent survey cited by the newsletter Inside U.S. Trade found the “vast majority” of self-identified Tea Party candidates have yet to take a firm position on the matter. That review found that out of 129 competitive Tea Party candidates for the House, 86 have not made their stance known.
Lobbyists for big business are gearing up to make their case to scores of freshly minted lawmakers. “Campaigning is one thing and actually being a member of Congress is another,” Wenk says. “But we’re going to do aggressive outreach to them across the board. We’re not taking anything for granted. These folks are going to have to hear from the business community and their constituents about why trade is important.”
Obama has yet to submit a free trade agreement to Congress for approval. But White House negotiators have stepped up efforts with their Korean counterparts to work through remaining issues on that deal ahead of the Group of 20 meeting in Seoul later this month.
Business lobbyists hope the agreement could get the green light from Congress early next year, followed in short order by the Panama and Colombia deals. Not so fast, says Alan Tonelson of the U.S. Business and Industry Council, which lobbies for smaller American manufacturers. “All we can say with certainty,” he said, “is that as long as the economy remains slumping and job creation remains so dismal, it’s going to be very difficult for either party to push through more trade agreements of the type we’ve seen over the last ten years.” 