The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Washington

US intelligence agencies have concluded that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the threat of international sanctions has worked in compelling the Islamic republic to back away from its pursuit of the bomb.

These judgments were among the key findings of a long-awaited intelligence report in which U.S. spy agencies retreated from earlier assessments that were more hard-line in their view of Iran's nuclear ambitions and intentions. The document, and the nuanced tone it strikes toward Iran, is likely to generate fierce new debate within the U.S. government, challenging the positions of officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, who have urged taking a hard line against Tehran. The report also concludes that Iran "does not currently have a nuclear weapon," and that the country is unlikely to be capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium to make a bomb before 2009 at the earliest.

The findings were included in a National Intelligence Estimate titled "Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities" that represents a consensus view of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.

"We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program," the report says. "We also assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons."

But the intelligence community also acknowledged that emerging evidence has forced analysts to alter their views on Iran's intentions and capabilities. The changes portray Iran as more responsive to international pressure than previously thought.

"Tehran's decisions are guided by a cost-benefit approach rather than a rush to a weapon irrespective of the political, economic and military cost," the report concludes. Overall, the report notes that Iran "is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005."

That finding, in a new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, is a change from two years ago, when U.S. intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear capability and was continuing its weapons development program. It suggests that Iran is susceptible to diplomatic pressure, the officials said. "Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," states the unclassified summary of the secret report, released Monday.

Officials said the new findings suggest that diplomacy has been effective in containing Iran's nuclear ambitions, although President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the risk of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon remains " a serious problem." The estimate suggests that Bush "has the right strategy: intensified international pressure along with a willingness to negotiate a solution that serves Iranian interests, while ensuring that the world will never have to face a nuclear armed Iran," Hadley said. The finding comes at a time of escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, which Bush has labeled part of an "axis of evil," along with Iraq and North Korea. At an Oct. 17 news conference, Bush said "if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistani opposition parties began mapping out on Tuesday a list of demands that President Pervez Musharraf must meet to prevent their boycott of a January general election.

Former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif met in Islamabad on Monday and decided to set a deadline for the government to meet their demands, or else they would "move towards" a boycott of the January 8 vote.

A full opposition boycott would rob the vote of credibility and prolong instability in the nuclear-armed country that is crucial to U.S. efforts to fight al Qaeda and bring peace to neighboring Afghanistan.

Bhutto has previously said her party would reluctantly take part in the vote, while reserving the right to withdraw or to protest against an unfair result.

Sharif has called for a boycott unless judges Musharraf purged when he declared emergency rule on November 3 were reinstated.

Sharif registered to run nonetheless, but his nomination was rejected on Monday because of criminal convictions after his 1999 ouster by Musharraf that Sharif says were politically motivated.

AP, Washington

President Bush and congressional Democrats are locked in a struggle over Iraq spending, with neither side budging and each calculating that their argument will be the one to resonate with voters. For both sides, this rhetorical tug-of-war has become a question of leadership on national security issues and who is more committed to the troops.

"It's unconscionable to deny funds to our troops in harm's way because some in Congress want to force a self-defeating policy, especially when we're seeing the benefits of success," Bush said in a Rose Garden speech on Monday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wasted no time in responding. "We could have already given our troops what they need in Iraq and funded our critical needs at home if not for the stubborn refusal of President Bush and his Republican enablers to work with us," he told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.

AFP, Moscow

Russian newspapers questioned Tuesday whether weekend elections were really the resounding success the Kremlin had hoped for and pointed out that President Vladimir Putin's government could face some turbulent days ahead. The broadsheet newspapers Kommersant and Nezavisimaya both reported that the Kremlin was disappointed with the 64.1 percent received by Putin's United Russia party after Sunday's parliamentary polls, as evidenced, Kommersant said, by Putin's failure to join election night celebrations. The problem, said the newspapers, was that the result -- though high by Western standards -- was lower than the support for Putin registered at the country's last presidential election in 2004. That was disappointing, the papers said, because the elections had been specifically billed by the Kremlin as a referendum on the Russian leader.

AFP, Vatican City

Israel and the Vatican are close to concluding a historic bilateral accord on the legal and financial status of the Roman Catholic Church in Israel, the country's ambassador said Monday. "We are very close to the conclusion of this historic accord," Oded Ben Hur was quoted as saying by Italy's ANSA news agency at a debate organised by a pontifical university in Rome. The text under negotiation is the economic section of the fundamental agreement on relations the Vatican and Israel signed in December 1993. "About 85 percent of the text has been examined and approved by the representatives of Israel and the Vatican," said the ambassador. Negotiations on the text resumed in 2004 after a 10-year hiatus, and Ben Hur said the next round of talks will take place on December 13 in Israel. The two sides are seeking to hammer out an agreement concerning the legal and tax status of Church property in Israel and the commercial activities of Christian communities there.

AFP, Tokyo

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda pleaded Tuesday with the opposition to allow Japan to rejoin the US-led "war on terror," saying that international operations were achieving progress in Afghanistan. The upper house of parliament, which the opposition took over in summer elections, took up debate on the bill to resume Japan's naval mission, which provided fuel and other support on the Indian Ocean to forces in Afghanistan. "We must realise the significance of the refueling activities in the Indian Ocean," Fukuda told the foreign affairs committee of the upper house. But the government faces an uphill battle to change the mind of the opposition, which has insisted that officially pacifist Japan should not be part of "American wars." Japan was forced to call the ships home a month ago after legislation expired due to the deadlock in parliament.

AP, Yangon

Myanmar's military government has granted amnesty to 8,585 prisoners as a gesture to the United Nations and to celebrate progress on its long-awaited constitution, state media said Tuesday.

It was unclear, however, if any of the prisoners released were among those detained when the junta cracked down on anti-government protests in September, sparking global outrage and a flurry of visits by U.N. officials. A dozen political prisoners were among those released, but none of them was detained in connection with the recent protests, said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the opposition National League for Democracy. The junta traditionally frees prisoners on holidays such as Independence Day in January and to mark other occasions. The amnesties were handed out to show "cooperation with the United Nations and the international community" and to hail recent progress in composing a constitution, the Myanma Ahlin newspaper reported.