WASHINGTON — The White House says it is prepared to talk one-on-one with Iran to find a diplomatic settlement to the impasse over Tehran’s reported pursuit of nuclear weapons, but there’s no agreement now to meet.
White House
prepared to meet
one-on-one with Iran
WASHINGTON — The White House says it is prepared to talk one-on-one with Iran to find a diplomatic settlement to the impasse over Tehran’s reported pursuit of nuclear weapons, but there’s no agreement now to meet.
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Saturday that President Barack Obama has made clear he will prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and will do whatever’s necessary to prevent that from happening. Vietor said Iran must come in line with its obligations, or else face increased pressure.
“The onus is on the Iranians to do so, otherwise they will continue to face crippling sanctions and increased pressure,” Vietor said in a statement. He noted that efforts to get Iran back to the table with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany — the so-called “P5+1” — continue.
Iran has been a recurring issue in the presidential election campaign and Vietor’s statement was released shortly after The New York Times reported Saturday that the U.S. and Iran have agreed in principle for the first time to negotiations. The paper said Iran has insisted the talks wait until after the Nov. 6 election.
Vietor denied that any such agreement had been reached.
Pregnant woman
found slain day
before wedding
NEW YORK — A woman who was 8 months pregnant was found stabbed to death Saturday in her apartment, the day before her wedding, police said.
Vindalee Smith, 38, was found in the basement of her apartment in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn with a gaping wound in her neck. It wasn’t clear how long she’d been dead before the body was discovered. Her baby boy did not survive.
There was no sign of forced entry, and no weapon was recovered, police said. Investigators are looking for a possible suspect. They interviewed her friends and family and were looking to speak to her bridegroom, though he has not been named as a suspect.
“I can’t even begin to imagine who would want to do that,” her friend, Sybil Samuel, told local newspapers. “It would be the devil to kill a woman with a child in her stomach. They killed two people.”
Smith had four other children who were staying with relatives ahead of the wedding, friends said. A baby shower had been planned for Saturday evening, followed by a small wedding today.
Israeli navy
intercepts Gaza-bound protest ship
JERUSALEM — Israeli navy commandos Saturday intercepted a ship carrying about 30 pro-Palestinian activists as it tried to break through a maritime blockade of the impoverished Gaza Strip.
Israeli military officials said after the ship refused to alter its course toward Gaza, soldiers took control of the vessel and directed it toward the Israeli port of Ashdod.
No injuries were reported.
The mission of the ship, the Estelle, was the latest attempt by activists to bring attention to Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. The boat carried cement and other supplies Israel restricts from entering Gaza because it says they could be used to build military bunkers or weapons. Among the passengers were parliament members from Greece, Norway, Sweden and Spain, activists said.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed nine activists aboard a Turkish vessel on a similar mission when passengers violently resisted being taken over.
The Israeli government has called the protest ships a provocation and defended its naval blockade as necessary to ensure that militant groups in Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist organization Hamas, do not receive weapons.
Rights group:
Yemen security
forces raid hospitals
SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni security forces have raided hospitals in Aden in search of suspected militants, threatening health care in the southern port city, an international rights group said Saturday.
Human Rights Watch also said government forces have stormed two hospitals in Aden at least five times this year, and on one occasion dragged a seriously wounded patient from intensive care after removing drainage tubes. The raids have forced one hospital to suspend its operations and others to turn patients away in fear of violence, the group said in a statement.
Hong Kong seizes $3.4M in illegal ivory
HONG KONG — Hong Kong customs officers have confiscated nearly 4 tons of ivory worth $3.4 million in their biggest ever seizure of endangered species products, authorities said on Saturday.
Acting on a tip from customs officials in neighboring Guangdong province in mainland China, Hong Kong officials found the ivory tusks and ornaments in two containers shipped from Tanzania and Kenya.
Officers on Tuesday found nearly 1,000 pieces of ivory tusks weighing more than 4,188 pounds as well as 3 pounds of ivory ornaments in a container from Tanzania. The ivory was hidden in bags of plastic scrap.
A day later, officers found 237 pieces of ivory tusks weighing about 4,188 pounds in a shipment from Kenya.
Authorities in China have arrested seven people, including one from Hong Kong.
By wire sources