CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Shares of ArcelorMittalSouth Africa dropped more than 6 percent on Wednesday after the government said it would tax carbon emissions from 2015, sparking concern heavy polluters could see their earnings hit.
As the continent's top greenhouse gas emitter, South Africa is looking to curb emissions, although it also plans some exemptions to protect industry, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said during his 2013 budget speech.
ArcelorMittal South Africa, a unit of the world's biggest steelmaker and one of the biggest polluters in the country, finished down 6.1 percent at 28.83 rand following the speech, becoming the biggest percentage decliner on Johannesburg's All-share index.
A carbon tax will add to the woes of the steelmaker, which has been struggling with lower domestic sales, high input costs and a fire at one of its plants.
"They have been spending heavily on curbing pollution in recent years, but there's probably still a way to go," said Stephen Meintjes, an analyst at brokerage Imara S.P. Reid in Johannesburg.
The tax, set at 120 rand per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, has been criticised by carbon-intensive companies such as ArcelorMittal and petrochemicals giant Sasol.
Shares of Sasol, the world's top producer of motor fuel from coal and one of the heavyweights on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, fell nearly 2 percent.
Some of the exemptions proposed by the Treasury include a 60 percent tax-free threshold until 2020 on annual emissions for all industries, including electricity, petroleum, iron, steel and aluminium.
Companies will also be able to claim additional relief of up to 10 percent by investing in external green projects to reduce their carbon tax liabilities.
"It is a mixture of the ugly, the good and the uncertain," said Mike Rossouw, chairman of the Energy Intensive Users Group, an industry body.
"The ugly is that the announcement took place when industry is not yet ready to implement and a range of supporting regulatory measures are not in place by government."
South Africa wants to cut emissions by a third over the next decade but has little flexibility to make fast changes with major employers among the top polluters and its cash-strapped power sector almost fully reliant on coal.
Nearly all of South Africa's power is generated by state-utility Eskom's coal-fired plants, making it impossible for companies to choose power from cleaner sources.
South Africa is investing heavily to diversify away from coal but it may take decades before a significant portion of its energy is clean.
Treasury will release an updated carbon tax policy paper for further public consultation at the end of March.
Washington is in panic mode over the so-called sequester?automatic, across-the-board spending cuts set to be triggered March 1 if Congress and the White House can't reach a deficit reduction deal. Just days before the federal budget will be forced to shave less than 3 percent from its annual budget, politicos from President Barack Obama to Republican House Speaker John Boehner are prophesying Armageddon.
But while most lawmakers flail through the nation's capital as if their hair just caught fire, a coalition of conservative groups are urging lawmakers to stop worrying and learn to love the sequester.
Americans for Prosperity, for example, is one of a few organizations hailing the looming budget cuts as a potential victory. The group, backed by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, has dispatched members from its network of activists to visit 10 lawmakers' state offices in Florida, North Carolina, Arkansas and Minnesota urging them to let the across-the-board cuts take their course. The group is also circulating a petition arguing that sequestration is "not enough" and plans to release online ads.
"Just make the cuts," AFP President Tim Phillips told Yahoo News in an interview. "These are modest cuts. It's about 2 cents roughly on every dollar of federal spending."
Meanwhile, AFP is urging its 2.3 million members to flood congressional officers with letters calling on them not to make a deal to avoid the cuts. "Thankfully, Congress and the President have already agreed to cut $85 billion from the budget this year," the form letter reads. "That?s not enough but it?s a good first step. I urge you not to undo those spending cuts."
The sequestration plan, crafted in 2011 as part of deficit reduction negotiations to encourage both Republicans and Democrats to find a compromise, will affect both domestic discretionary spending and the defense budget. Phillips conceded that he felt the defense cuts were "disproportionately tough," but said it was worth it to achieve that level of spending cuts.
"The president and Senate Democrats all agreed to this during the debt limit deal," he said. "They ought to keep their word."
Meanwhile, a group of nearly 50 leaders of conservative organizations signed onto a letter that called for passage of the cuts?even those that affect the Pentagon, an area of government spending the right rarely likes to touch.
"While many conservatives would prefer reprogramming defense cuts to other areas of discretionary spending (dollar for dollar cuts in the same year), the current sequester savings are better than none at all," the letter, signed by Club for Growth President Chris Chocala, former attorney general Edwin Meese, who served under President Ronald Reagan, and others, read.
At least for now, all signs suggest these groups will get their wish. The Senate this week is poised to vote on a Democrat-sponsored deficit-reduction package that mixes spending cuts with tax increases, but Republicans in the House and Senate have refused to approve any measure that increases taxes. Lawmakers have until Friday to secure a deal.
Paul A. Eisenstein , The Detroit Bureau? ? ?2 hrs.
Chrysler is turning to an old name for a brand new Jeep. Say farewell to Liberty. The replacement model that will added to the line-up for 2014 will be rechristened the Jeep Cherokee, reviving a nameplate that helped kick off one of the most dramatic transformations in modern automotive history.
Jeepisn?t saying much beyond describing the 2014 Cherokee as an ?all-new, ?no-compromise?? vehicle that will set ?a new standard with even more best-in-class capability, exemplary on-road driving dynamics, and fuel economy improvements of more than 45% versus the outgoing mid-size SUV model.?
The new mid-size sport-utility vehicle will make its formal debut at the upcoming New York Auto Show. The 2014 Jeep Cherokee will be assembled at Chrysler?s big Toledo Assembly Plant a half-hour south of Detroit, the same factory that produced the old Jeep Liberty.
A quick look at the styling suggests the automaker wanted a more modern and distinctive look, with design cues clearly borrowing from the Jeep brand?s flagship sport-utility model. But this is more than just a ?baby? Grand Cherokee.
(For a look at some spy shots of the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, Click Here.)
Observers and company insiders alike say Jeep is taking a risky approach with the front end, in particular, which features a folded take on the brand?s familiar, 7-slot grille, as well as distinctive split headlight and foglamps.
Company officials have hinted that the new model will focus less on the traditional, go-anywhere capabilities associated with Jeep products, putting more emphasis on the on-road ride and comfort that today?s ute buyers prefer.
The old Liberty model was a ?niche part? of an SUV market that has ?moved on? from its original focus on off-roading, said Mike Manley, CEO of the Jeep brand.
The Jeep marque was a major factor in the explosive growth of the sport-utility segment during the 1970s, ?80s and ?90s, the launch of the original Cherokee in 1974 creating a surge in demand as U.S. buyers looked for more enticing alternatives to their traditional sedans and wagons.
The early version ? which remained in production through 2001 ? also helped introduce the concept of four-wheel-drive to a more mainstream audience. Today?s newest all-wheel-drive systems are becoming increasingly common on conventional sedans and even sports cars, as well as SUVs.
The Detroit Bureau: Despite Recent Price Spike, DoE Expects Gas to Level Off, Even Decline
And on the car-based crossover-utility vehicles that have largely supplanted more traditional, truck-based sport-utes. CUVs often sacrifice the off-road capabilities in favor of better on-road manners and improved fuel economy. But the unibody design of the big Jeep Grand Cherokee shows that it is possible to meld off- and on-road capabilities in one vehicle.
The new 2014 Jeep Cherokee is being seen as a critical part of the brand?s global growth plans. Long focused on the North American market, Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has declared the Jeep brand one of a handful of marques that will be sold worldwide.
The reborn Cherokee will likely play a critical part of that, along with the latest updated of the Jeep Patriot and Compass models and an even smaller crossover that the maker plans to produce in Italy. The Grand Cherokee is also getting an early mid-cycle update for 2014, along with the addition of a new, high-mileage diesel engine.
The Detroit Bureau: Ford Looking to Novel Way to Get Back into Compact Pickup Market
But Jeep isn?t focusing only on downsized models. The marque also is rumored to be developing a larger ute that could bring back another once-popular nameplate, that of the old Grand Wagoneer.
With the addition of the Liberty and the Compass and Patriot updates, CEO Marchionne is hoping to boost Jeep sales to around 800,000 by 2014, up from 701,626 in 2012 ? which was the brand?s best year ever.
The grapevine was right, Chrysler is bringing back the Jeep Cherokee.
The mid-size SUV that?ll be called Cherokee ? slotted below the Grand Cherokee in the lineup ? will be unveiled at the New York International Auto Show next month as a 2014 model.
Chrysler says Cherokee will be built at its Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio and will go on sale the third quarter this year.
The Detroit Bureau: Over 250,000 Vehicles Damages, Destroyed By Sandy
Cherokee, a boxy and sturdy utility with off-road credibility, was the brand?s well-known SUV for more than two decades until it was replaced by Liberty in the U.S. starting in the 2002 model year (Chrysler, confusingly, also sold the Liberty under the Cherokee name elsewhere in the world)..
Now the pendulum swings back, and Cherokee will supplant the Liberty here.
No specifics on power, size, price, mileage, but the automaker says it will be a ?no compromise? vehicle and will have mileage improvements of more than 45% vs. the current Liberty.
The explosions, which injured scores of market goers, come amid ongoing tensions in India over its recent execution of convicted terrorist Mohammad Afzal Guru.
By Arthur Bright,?Staff writer / February 21, 2013
Fire fighters extinguish a fire at the site of an explosion in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad February 21, 2013. Two bombs placed on bicycles exploded in a crowded market-place in Hyderabad on Thursday, and the federal home minister said at least 11 people were killed and 50 wounded.
Reuters
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A pair of bicycle bombs rocked a crowded marketplace in Hyderabad today, killing at least 11 people and injuring scores more in the southern Indian city of 6.8 million, a major hub for information technology where Microsoft and Google have a large presence.
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Arthur Bright is the Europe Editor at The Christian Science Monitor.? He has worked for the Monitor in various capacities since 2004, including as the Online News Editor and a regular contributor to the Monitor's Terrorism & Security blog.? He is also a licensed Massachusetts attorney.
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Reuters reports that India has gone on high alert after the explosions, which local television stations report may have killed up to 15 people and wounded at least 50.?The last major bomb attack in India was a blast in September of 2011 outside the high court in New Delhi that killed 13 people.
"Both blasts took place within a radius of 150 meters," federal Home (Interior) Minister Sushil Shinde told reporters, adding the explosives were placed on bicycles parked in the crowded marketplace. "Eight people died at one place, three at the other."
The explosions come less than two weeks after India hanged a Kashmiri man for a militant attack on the country's parliament in 2001 that had sparked violent clashes.
Witnesses told Reuters they heard at least two explosions in the Dilsukh Nagar area of Hyderabad just after dusk but there could have been more.
The Hindustan Times reports that Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters that "it was too early to say anything" about whether it was a terrorist attack, but that the government was investigating. But the Times notes that the country had already been on alert for attacks due to the recent execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru, a convict in the 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament.
The Monitor reported earlier this month that Mr. Afzal Guru's death sentence, though handed down in 2002, was carried out on Feb. 9 without advance warning, and appears to involve a significant political impetus.
The execution is being seen by analysts as the ruling Congress party?s way of regaining public confidence in the wake of several corruption scandals and protests over the recent Delhi gang-rape. Political commentator Seema Mustafa says the sudden decision to execute Afzal Guru, after years of dilly-dallying, is part of a Congress party effort?to improve its position for the 2014 general elections. ?The Congress in its usual cynical manipulation of the votes is trying to eat into the majority constituency with this action,? she says.
Executions had become more rare up until [that of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist in the 2008 Mumbai attacks] ? the first in India in eight years. Like Kasab's hanging in November, Azfal Guru's?came just ahead of a parliament session. ?I would just say it's extremely tragic if Indian democracy is going to survive on executing someone or the other before every Parliament session,? says lawyer Vrinda Grover. Congress party spokesman?Abhishek Manu Singhvi called such suggestions about the timing "irresponsible and childish."
The execution led to days of protest in Kashmir, where Afzal Guru was from.
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius leaves the Boschkop police station, east of Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 en route to appear in court charged with murder. Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was taken into custody and was expected to appear in court Thursday, after a 30-year-old woman who was believed to be his girlfriend was shot dead at his home in South Africa's capital, Pretoria. (AP Photo/Chris Collingridge) SOUTH AFRICA OUT
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius leaves the Boschkop police station, east of Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 en route to appear in court charged with murder. Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was taken into custody and was expected to appear in court Thursday, after a 30-year-old woman who was believed to be his girlfriend was shot dead at his home in South Africa's capital, Pretoria. (AP Photo/Chris Collingridge) SOUTH AFRICA OUT
In this photo taken Friday July 13, 2012, Associated Press Sports Writer Gerald Imray, left, is shown by Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, mobile images of his bloodied limbs after extensive training at an athletics training camp in Gemona, Italy. Pistorius trained in Gemona before competing as an able-bodied competitor at the London Olympics. (AP Photo/Paolo Giovannini)
Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius , in court Friday Feb. 22, 2013 in Pretoria, South Africa, for his bail hearing charged with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The defense and prosecution both completed their arguments with the magistrate soon to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he must stay behind bars pending trial) (AP Photo)
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius stands in the dock during his bail hearing at the magistrates court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. The fourth and likely final day of Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing opened on Friday, with the magistrate then to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he has to remain in custody over the shooting death of his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius , in court Friday Feb. 22, 2013 in Pretoria, South Africa, for his bail hearing charged with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The defense and prosecution both completed their arguments with the magistrate soon to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he must stay behind bars pending trial. (AP Photo)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? His head shrouded by a sports hoodie, the young man walked unnoticed through a bustling crowd outside the gates of the Olympic village in London last year. When he got close, I saw a familiar face smiling at me.
It was Oscar Pistorius. "Gerald!" he called and then raised both hands for a double high-five greeting followed by a hug.
On Feb. 14, I saw Pistorius in a hood again, and this time he stared straight at the ground, hands thrust into the pockets of a gray sports jacket. He was flanked by officers as he left a police station. Hours earlier, he'd been charged with killing his girlfriend.
It is hard to reconcile the easygoing, charismatic man I interviewed on several occasions with the man accused of premeditated murder in the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp in his South African home. Prosecutors painted him as a man prone to anger and violence, though he had no prior criminal record. The Olympian says he shot Steenkamp by mistake, thinking she was a nighttime intruder, while prosecutors allege he intentionally shot her after the couple argued.
Who is Oscar Pistorius? I thought I had some idea, and in a sense, so did the millions around the world who cheered the double-amputee athlete as a symbol of determination over adversity.
Now he is as much of a mystery as whatever happened in his home in the early hours of Valentine's Day.
My meeting with Pistorius in London was one of several in the three years I have been covering his remarkable story for The Associated Press, from South Africa to Italy to London ? and last week to Courtroom C on the first floor of the red-bricked and gray-walled Pretoria Magistrate's Court in the South African capital.
On reflection, Pistorius' narrative is partly an exploration of how hard it is to truly know someone who lives so much in the public eye. Journalists witnessed or heard reports of occasional flashes of anger ? with hindsight, do they loom as potentially more meaningful? At the time the outbursts passed largely unnoticed.
What I do know is that the public Pistorius seemed to have a soft spot.
Weeks before his debut at the Olympics, he stopped an interview with me to talk to a little girl who walked up to give him a strawberry from the gardens of the rural hotel at his training base in Gemona, in northern Italy.
"Oscar, Oscar," the little girl said, holding out the berry. Behind her, a woman called the child away to stop her from bothering Pistorius.
"Ciao, baba. Grazie," Pistorius replied with a smile, unfazed by the interruption, showing off his Italian and pretending to eat the strawberry.
"She brings me something to eat every night," he told me delightedly, pointing up to the windows of his hotel room.
Now the world knows Pistorius owns a 9 mm Parabellum pistol, licensed for self-defense, and that he applied for licenses to own six more guns ? listed for his private collection ? weeks before the shooting death of Steenkamp.
His relationships with women have been spread over the gossip pages in South Africa.
We spoke about his running, his love of sneakers and nice clothes but also about his history with fast cars and motorbikes and the high-speed boat crash in 2009 that left him in a serious condition in the hospital with head wounds. He conceded that the crash caused him to rethink how he lived.
"I just realized that I need to make some changes and some of them need to be with my lifestyle," Pistorius told me last year in that interview in northern Italy. "I was messing around a lot with motorbikes and just playing around and taking unnecessary risks."
Again with hindsight, was he grappling with anything deeper than just the high spirits and penchant for thrills of many young men flushed with success and money to burn?
Covering Pistorius' track career, he became more comfortable with me, remembering my name and shouting it when he would see me among a pack of journalists.
During his Olympic preparations in Italy, Pistorius pulled out his cellphone to show me pictures of his bleeding leg stumps, rubbed raw from the friction of pounding around the track on his blades.
It was around the time when people were again questioning whether he should be allowed to run in the 400 meters against able-bodied athletes. The message in showing these graphic photos was: Do you still think I have an unfair advantage?
Until that moment, I hadn't fully realized what Pistorius went through every time he slipped on his prosthetic blades to compete or train. Not many people had, I guess.
It was rare for Pistorius to show images of his amputated limbs, but he grinned and shrugged. He said it was just part of the job.
It took a long time for him to get used to people filming and taking photographs of him putting on his carbon-fiber blades. He used to ask people not to film him without his prosthetics.
When he finished a race at the South African national championships last year, he quickly disappeared to a secluded part of the track to swap his blades for artificial legs, complete with sponsored sneakers that his agent was holding for him. It was his regular post-race routine. He then came bounding back to give me an interview.
He often apologized when he had to end an interview because he was running out of time. It always seemed people wanted more of his time than he could give. After we talked in London, Pistorius stayed a little longer to pose for photographs with Olympic security staff, even convincing one shy lady to get into one of the pictures.
Then he popped on his identity-concealing hood and, on his prosthetic legs, he walked off, anonymous in the crowd.
___
Follow Gerald Imray at http://twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP
Do you remember the song "You'll Be In My Heart" by Phil Collins? It was from Tarzan and it won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1999 (beating out Aimee Mann's "Save Me" from Magnolia for Christ's sake). Anyway, do you remember that "Tarzan" song over, say, The Who's "A Quick One While He's Away" from Wes Anderson's Rushmore the year before? That Phil Collins song was a hit, I know, but I'm going to say at this point, you, cinema lover, might not remember that tune. Phil Collins probably doesn't even remember "You'll Be In My Heart" over The Who. Or The Creation. Or The Faces. Or Cat Stevens. Or The Rolling Stones. Or the entire Rushmore soundtrack.
My point? Why not an Oscar category for?Best Soundtrack? Or, rather, the best use of pre-existing music??
Though obviously Best Original Song should remain, and there's plenty of now iconic Best Originals, like "The Way You Look Tonight" (from Swing Time, 1936) or "Over the Rainbow" (from The Wizard of Oz, 1939), often the Best Original Song is NOT the song we remember. Why did?Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" show up on an ad for a cruise line? (They better have good drugs on that cruise.)
The ability to create a meaningful, visceral, powerfully?edited?soundtrack (and working with songs so damn?perfectly and often songs not usually heard in movies,?like the not one, but two songs by the band Love in Bottle Rocket, or Dignan running from the cops, tuned perfectly to The Stones' "2000 Man") is a specific talent that, thanks to Music Supervisors and the editors and directors who work with them (*note: a good question a commenter raised is, based on the collaborative nature of the process, who would win the award?) has created moments in movies so iconic, that we often can't imagine the song without the scene.
I can't even listen to "Born to Be Wild" unless I'm watching Easy Rider (as much as I love Steppenwolf), and The Byrds' "Wasn't Born to Follow" remains one of my favorite moments in that picture. And then there's the opening credits of Mean Streets?scored to The Ronettes' "Be My Baby," the Stealers Wheel "Stuck in the Middle With You" ear severing in Reservoir Dogs, Margot Tennenbaum walking off the Green Line bus to Nico's "These Days," Billy Batts meeting his demise to Donovan's "Atlantis," and more and more and more.
From American Graffiti to Casino?to Dazed and Confused to Crooklyn to?Boogie Nights to 2001 to Dead Presidents to?Pulp Fiction to Velvet Goldmine to Trainspotting to Candy, to Harold and Maude (even as some of the songs were written for the movie, other were on Stevens' "Mona Bone Jakon" and "Tea for the Tillerman") to Floyd Mutrux's Dusty and Sweets McGee, to every freaking Wes Anderson movie (this year's Moonrise Kingdom gives us Fran?oise?Hardy, Hank Willams and Benjamin Britten)?-- I don't even know why I'm listing them. You know these movies. And their songs.
There should be an award. If this category existed, we might have been allowed the pleasure of watching Rodriguez sing one of his beautiful, soul wrenching songs at the ceremony, from the Oscar-winning documentary Searching For Sugarman.?
Musical supervisors deserve some Oscars, Martin Scorsese deserves a lifetime achievement award for the Goodfellas?helicopter sequence alone and The Coen Brothers should win some kind of trophy for making us remember how cool Kenny Rogers used to be via Lebowski's?dream scored to "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)." Think about it Oscar. And listen.
From my Criticwire Survery answer to:?What new category should the Academy add to the Oscars?
Read more Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun.
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Ability of brain to protect itself from damage revealedPublic release date: 24-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: University of Oxford press office press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk 44-186-528-0530 University of Oxford
The origin of an innate ability the brain has to protect itself from damage that occurs in stroke has been explained for the first time.
The Oxford University researchers hope that harnessing this inbuilt biological mechanism, identified in rats, could help in treating stroke and preventing other neurodegenerative diseases in the future.
'We have shown for the first time that the brain has mechanisms that it can use to protect itself and keep brain cells alive,' says Professor Alastair Buchan, Head of the Medical Sciences Division and Dean of the Medical School at Oxford University, who led the work.
The researchers report their findings in the journal Nature Medicine and were funded by the UK Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research.
Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the UK. Every year around 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke.
It occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. When this happens, brain cells are deprived of the oxygen and nutrients they need to function properly, and they begin to die.
'Time is brain, and the clock has started immediately after the onset of a stroke. Cells will start to die somewhere from minutes to at most 1 or 2 hours after the stroke,' says Professor Buchan.
This explains why treatment for stroke is so dependent on speed. The faster someone can reach hospital, be scanned and have drugs administered to dissolve any blood clot and get the blood flow re-started, the less damage to brain cells there will be.
It has also motivated a so-far unsuccessful search for 'neuroprotectants': drugs that can buy time and help the brain cells, or neurons, cope with damage and recover afterwards.
The Oxford University research group have now identified the first example of the brain having its own built-in form of neuroprotection, so-called 'endogenous neuroprotection'.
They did this by going back to an observation first made over 85 years ago. It has been known since 1926 that neurons in one area of the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls memory, are able to survive being starved of oxygen, while others in a different area of the hippocampus die. But what protected that one set of cells from damage had remained a puzzle until now.
'Previous studies have focused on understanding how cells die after being depleted of oxygen and glucose. We considered a more direct approach by investigating the endogenous mechanisms that have evolved to make these cells in the hippocampus resistant,' explains first author Dr Michalis Papadakis, Scientific Director of the Laboratory of Cerebral Ischaemia at Oxford University.
Working in rats, the researchers found that production of a specific protein called hamartin allowed the cells to survive being starved of oxygen and glucose, as would happen after a stroke.
They showed that the neurons die in the other part of the hippocampus because of a lack of the hamartin response.
The team was then able to show that stimulating production of hamartin offered greater protection for the neurons.
Professor Buchan says: 'This is causally related to cell survival. If we block hamartin, the neurons die when blood flow is stopped. If we put hamartin back, the cells survive once more.'
Finally, the researchers were able to identify the biological pathway through which hamartin acts to enable the nerve cells to cope with damage when starved of energy and oxygen.
The group points out that knowing the natural biological mechanism that leads to neuroprotection opens up the possibility of developing drugs that mimic hamartin's effect.
Professor Buchan says: 'There is a great deal of work ahead if this is to be translated into the clinic, but we now have a neuroprotective strategy for the first time. Our next steps will be to see if we can find small molecule drug candidates that mimic what hamartin does and keep brain cells alive.
'While we are focussing on stroke, neuroprotective drugs may also be of interest in other conditions that see early death of brain cells including Alzheimer's and motor neurone disease,' he suggests.
###
Notes to Editors
* The paper 'TSC1 (hamartin) confers neuroprotection against ischemia by inducing autophagy' by Michalis Papadakis and colleagues is to be published in the journal Nature Medicine with an embargo of 18:00 UK time / 13:00 US Eastern time on Sunday 24 February 2013.
* The main funders of the study were the UK Medical Research Council and the UK National Institute for Health Research.
* The Medical Research Council has been at the forefront of scientific discovery to improve human health. Founded in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis, the MRC now invests taxpayers' money in some of the best medical research in the world across every area of health. Twenty-nine MRC-funded researchers have won Nobel prizes in a wide range of disciplines, and MRC scientists have been behind such diverse discoveries as vitamins, the structure of DNA and the link between smoking and cancer, as well as achievements such as pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials, the invention of MRI scanning, and the development of a group of antibodies used in the making of some of the most successful drugs ever developed. Today, MRC-funded scientists tackle some of the greatest health problems facing humanity in the 21st century, from the rising tide of chronic diseases associated with ageing to the threats posed by rapidly mutating micro-organisms. www.mrc.ac.uk
The MRC Centenary Timeline chronicles 100 years of life-changing discoveries and shows how our research has had a lasting influence on healthcare and wellbeing in the UK and globally, right up to the present day. www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk
* The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funded by the Department of Health to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. Since its establishment in April 2006, the NIHR has transformed research in the NHS. It has increased the volume of applied health research for the benefit of patients and the public, driven faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits for patients and the economy, and developed and supported the people who conduct and contribute to applied health research. The NIHR plays a key role in the Government's strategy for economic growth, attracting investment by the life-sciences industries through its world-class infrastructure for health research. Together, the NIHR people, programmes, centres of excellence and systems represent the most integrated health research system in the world. For further information, visit the NIHR website.
* Oxford University's Medical Sciences Division is one of the largest biomedical research centres in Europe, with over 2,500 people involved in research and more than 2,800 students. The University is rated the best in the world for medicine, and it is home to the UK's top-ranked medical school.
From the genetic and molecular basis of disease to the latest advances in neuroscience, Oxford is at the forefront of medical research. It has one of the largest clinical trial portfolios in the UK and great expertise in taking discoveries from the lab into the clinic. Partnerships with the local NHS Trusts enable patients to benefit from close links between medical research and healthcare delivery.
A great strength of Oxford medicine is its long-standing network of clinical research units in Asia and Africa, enabling world-leading research on the most pressing global health challenges such as malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS and flu. Oxford is also renowned for its large-scale studies which examine the role of factors such as smoking, alcohol and diet on cancer, heart disease and other conditions.
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Ability of brain to protect itself from damage revealedPublic release date: 24-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: University of Oxford press office press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk 44-186-528-0530 University of Oxford
The origin of an innate ability the brain has to protect itself from damage that occurs in stroke has been explained for the first time.
The Oxford University researchers hope that harnessing this inbuilt biological mechanism, identified in rats, could help in treating stroke and preventing other neurodegenerative diseases in the future.
'We have shown for the first time that the brain has mechanisms that it can use to protect itself and keep brain cells alive,' says Professor Alastair Buchan, Head of the Medical Sciences Division and Dean of the Medical School at Oxford University, who led the work.
The researchers report their findings in the journal Nature Medicine and were funded by the UK Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research.
Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the UK. Every year around 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke.
It occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. When this happens, brain cells are deprived of the oxygen and nutrients they need to function properly, and they begin to die.
'Time is brain, and the clock has started immediately after the onset of a stroke. Cells will start to die somewhere from minutes to at most 1 or 2 hours after the stroke,' says Professor Buchan.
This explains why treatment for stroke is so dependent on speed. The faster someone can reach hospital, be scanned and have drugs administered to dissolve any blood clot and get the blood flow re-started, the less damage to brain cells there will be.
It has also motivated a so-far unsuccessful search for 'neuroprotectants': drugs that can buy time and help the brain cells, or neurons, cope with damage and recover afterwards.
The Oxford University research group have now identified the first example of the brain having its own built-in form of neuroprotection, so-called 'endogenous neuroprotection'.
They did this by going back to an observation first made over 85 years ago. It has been known since 1926 that neurons in one area of the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls memory, are able to survive being starved of oxygen, while others in a different area of the hippocampus die. But what protected that one set of cells from damage had remained a puzzle until now.
'Previous studies have focused on understanding how cells die after being depleted of oxygen and glucose. We considered a more direct approach by investigating the endogenous mechanisms that have evolved to make these cells in the hippocampus resistant,' explains first author Dr Michalis Papadakis, Scientific Director of the Laboratory of Cerebral Ischaemia at Oxford University.
Working in rats, the researchers found that production of a specific protein called hamartin allowed the cells to survive being starved of oxygen and glucose, as would happen after a stroke.
They showed that the neurons die in the other part of the hippocampus because of a lack of the hamartin response.
The team was then able to show that stimulating production of hamartin offered greater protection for the neurons.
Professor Buchan says: 'This is causally related to cell survival. If we block hamartin, the neurons die when blood flow is stopped. If we put hamartin back, the cells survive once more.'
Finally, the researchers were able to identify the biological pathway through which hamartin acts to enable the nerve cells to cope with damage when starved of energy and oxygen.
The group points out that knowing the natural biological mechanism that leads to neuroprotection opens up the possibility of developing drugs that mimic hamartin's effect.
Professor Buchan says: 'There is a great deal of work ahead if this is to be translated into the clinic, but we now have a neuroprotective strategy for the first time. Our next steps will be to see if we can find small molecule drug candidates that mimic what hamartin does and keep brain cells alive.
'While we are focussing on stroke, neuroprotective drugs may also be of interest in other conditions that see early death of brain cells including Alzheimer's and motor neurone disease,' he suggests.
###
Notes to Editors
* The paper 'TSC1 (hamartin) confers neuroprotection against ischemia by inducing autophagy' by Michalis Papadakis and colleagues is to be published in the journal Nature Medicine with an embargo of 18:00 UK time / 13:00 US Eastern time on Sunday 24 February 2013.
* The main funders of the study were the UK Medical Research Council and the UK National Institute for Health Research.
* The Medical Research Council has been at the forefront of scientific discovery to improve human health. Founded in 1913 to tackle tuberculosis, the MRC now invests taxpayers' money in some of the best medical research in the world across every area of health. Twenty-nine MRC-funded researchers have won Nobel prizes in a wide range of disciplines, and MRC scientists have been behind such diverse discoveries as vitamins, the structure of DNA and the link between smoking and cancer, as well as achievements such as pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials, the invention of MRI scanning, and the development of a group of antibodies used in the making of some of the most successful drugs ever developed. Today, MRC-funded scientists tackle some of the greatest health problems facing humanity in the 21st century, from the rising tide of chronic diseases associated with ageing to the threats posed by rapidly mutating micro-organisms. www.mrc.ac.uk
The MRC Centenary Timeline chronicles 100 years of life-changing discoveries and shows how our research has had a lasting influence on healthcare and wellbeing in the UK and globally, right up to the present day. www.centenary.mrc.ac.uk
* The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funded by the Department of Health to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. Since its establishment in April 2006, the NIHR has transformed research in the NHS. It has increased the volume of applied health research for the benefit of patients and the public, driven faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits for patients and the economy, and developed and supported the people who conduct and contribute to applied health research. The NIHR plays a key role in the Government's strategy for economic growth, attracting investment by the life-sciences industries through its world-class infrastructure for health research. Together, the NIHR people, programmes, centres of excellence and systems represent the most integrated health research system in the world. For further information, visit the NIHR website.
* Oxford University's Medical Sciences Division is one of the largest biomedical research centres in Europe, with over 2,500 people involved in research and more than 2,800 students. The University is rated the best in the world for medicine, and it is home to the UK's top-ranked medical school.
From the genetic and molecular basis of disease to the latest advances in neuroscience, Oxford is at the forefront of medical research. It has one of the largest clinical trial portfolios in the UK and great expertise in taking discoveries from the lab into the clinic. Partnerships with the local NHS Trusts enable patients to benefit from close links between medical research and healthcare delivery.
A great strength of Oxford medicine is its long-standing network of clinical research units in Asia and Africa, enabling world-leading research on the most pressing global health challenges such as malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS and flu. Oxford is also renowned for its large-scale studies which examine the role of factors such as smoking, alcohol and diet on cancer, heart disease and other conditions.
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LONDON (Reuters) - Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Sunday denied covering up allegations of sexual misconduct by a former senior member of his Liberal Democrat party, already floundering in opinion polls.
Allegations of sexual impropriety by former party chief executive Chris Rennard threaten to engulf Clegg and further undermine the Lib Dems, the junior member of Britain's coalition government.
The latest furore comes at a bad time for the party, after the resignation of cabinet minister Chris Huhne this month who admitted he had asked his then wife to accept a penalty for a 2003 speeding offence he had committed.
A local election to replace Huhne is to be held on February 28.
Rennard, the mastermind behind the party's election strategy before quitting in 2009, was accused in a report by Britain's Channel 4 television channel on Thursday of inappropriately touching female party members and activists several years ago.
The report has since triggered a flurry of similar allegations in the British media.
Lawyers for Rennard, a member of parliament's upper house, said after the Channel 4 report that he was "deeply shocked by and strongly disputes" the allegations made against him.
Media reports have since then accused Clegg of knowing of the allegations long ago but not investigating them.
"I am angry and outraged at the suggestion that I would not have acted if these allegations had been put to me," Clegg said late on Sunday, rejecting suggestions of a "cover up".
He said was made aware of "indirect and non-specific concerns" about Rennard in 2008, and had acted on them, but there was a limit to how far the party could take the matter given sources of the concerns were indirect and anonymous.
The Lib Dems have announced two internal inquiries since more detail has come to light, one into how the party handled the allegations, and another into the allegations themselves. Clegg said they would reveal the truth of what happened.
"But in the meantime, I will not stand by and allow my party to be subject to a show trial of innuendo, half-truths and slurs," Clegg said.
Britain's opposition Labour party demanded an independent investigation.
"This series of allegations are too serious to allow the Lib Dems to investigate themselves," said Labour lawmaker Bridget Phillipson.
"Nick Clegg and other senior Liberal Democrat lawmakers and officials must come clean about what they knew and what action was taken about these serious allegations," she added.
(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Stephen Powell)
Kyle Larson's car (32) gets airborne during a multi-car wreck on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/David Graham)
Kyle Larson's car (32) gets airborne during a multi-car wreck on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/David Graham)
Kyle Larson (32) goes airborne into the catch fence in a multi-car crash including Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88), Parker Kilgerman (77), Justin Allgaier (31) and Brian Scott (2) during the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Kyle Larson's car is on fire as he slides down the track with Regan Smith after being involved in a crash at the conclusion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Kyle Larson climbs out of his car after being involved in a crash at the conclusion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Track workers repair the safety fence along on the front grandstands, where Kyle Larson's car hit it on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? The risks of racing extend beyond the drivers.
Fans can wind up in the danger zone, too.
A horrifying crash on the last lap of a race at Daytona International Speedway injured at least 30 fans Saturday and provided another stark reminder of what can happen when a car going nearly 200 mph is suddenly launched toward the spectator areas.
The victims were sprayed with large chunks of debris ? including a tire ? after rookie Kyle Larson's machine careened into the fencing that is designed to protect the massive grandstands lining NASCAR's most famous track.
"I love the sport," said Shannan Devine, who witnessed the carnage from her 19th-row seat, about 250 feet away. "But no one wants to get hurt over it."
The fencing served its primary purpose, catapulting what was left of Larson's car back onto the track. But it didn't keep potentially lethal shards from flying into the stands.
"There was absolute shock," Devine said. "People were saying, 'I can't believe it, I can't believe it. I've never seen this happen, I've never seen this happen. Did the car through the fence?' It was just shock and awe. Grown men were reaching out and grabbing someone, saying, 'Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!' It was just disbelief, absolute disbelief."
From Daytona to Le Mans to a rural road in Ireland, auto racing spectators have long been too close to the action when parts start flying. The crash in the second-tier Nationwide race follows a long list of accidents that have left fans dead or injured.
The most tragic incident occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, when two cars collided near the main stands. The wreck sent debris hurtling into the crowd, while one of the cars flipped upside down and exploded in a giant fireball.
Eighty-three spectators and driver Pierre Levegh were killed, and 120 fans were injured.
The Daytona crash began as the field approached the checkered flag and leader Regan Smith attempted to block Brad Keselowski. That triggered a chain reaction, and rookie Kyle Larson hit the cars in front of him and went airborne into the fence.
The entire front end was sheared off Larson's car, and his burning engine wedged through a gaping hole in the fence. Chunks of debris from the car were thrown into the stands, including a tire that cleared the top of the fence and landed midway up the spectator section closest to the track.
"I thought the car went through the fence," Devine said. "I didn't know if there was a car on top of people. I didn't know what to think. I'm an emotional person. I immediately started to cry. It was very scary, absolutely scary. I love the speed of the sport. But it's so dangerous."
The fencing used to protect seating areas and prevent cars from hurtling out of tracks has long been part of the debate over how to improve safety.
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti lost close friend Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas in the 2011 IndyCar season finale, when Wheldon's car catapulted into the fencing and his head struck a support post. Since his death, IndyCar drivers have called for studies on how to improve the safety barriers.
Franchitti renewed the pleas on Twitter after the Daytona crash, writing "it's time (at)Indycar (at)nascar other sanctioning bodies & promoters work on an alternative to catch fencing. There has to be a better solution."
Another fan who witnessed the crash said he's long worried that sizable gaps in the fencing increase the chances of debris getting through to the stands.
"I've always thought the netting was very wide and pieces could fly through," said Lenny Brown, who was attending races at Daytona for the fourth time.
Among the most frightening accidents involving fans:
? In 1987, Bobby Allison's car lifted off the track at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama while running over 200 mph, careening into the steel-cable fence and scattering debris into the crowd. That crash led to the use of horsepower-sapping restrictor plates at Talladega and its sister track in Daytona, NASCAR's fastest layouts. As a result, the cars all run nearly the same speed, and the field is typically bunched tightly together ? which plenty of drivers have warned is actually a more dangerous scenario than higher speeds.
? That same year, at the Indianapolis 500, a fan was killed when struck by a tire that came off Tony Bettenhausen's car. The tire bounced off the front of Roberto Guerrero's car and flew to the top row of the grandstand.
? In 1998, three fans were killed and six others were injured in CART's IndyCar race at Michigan International Speedway when Adrian Fernandez crashed, sending a tire and other parts into the stands.
? The following year, three fans were killed at Charlotte Motor Speedway during an Indy Racing League event when debris from an accident flew into the stands. The track never held another IndyCar race.
? In 2009, Talladega was the scene of another scary crash during a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Carl Edwards' car sailed upside-down into the front-stretch fence on a furious dash to the finish line, showering the stands with debris. Seven fans sustained minor injuries.
? In 2010 at a National Hot Rod Association event in Chandler, Ariz., a woman was killed by a tire that flew off Antron Brown's crashing dragster at Firebird International Raceway. The wheel bounced a couple of times and soared over the grandstands ? missing the bulk of the spectators ? before it hit the woman.
? Also in 2010, at an off-road racing event in the Southern California desert, a truck flew off a jump and landed on a group of spectators, sending bodies flying. Eight were killed, 10 injured. There also have been deaths at the Baja 1000 and Dakar Rally, the two most famous off-road races, though multiple-death crashes into the crowd like the one in the Mojave Desert are rare.
? Last year, in a rally car race in Ireland, a car went out of control on a rural road and crashed into a crowd of about 30 spectators, killing two people and seriously injuring seven. Witnesses said the car crashed through a fence and into the onlookers before coming to rest on its side beside a home.
At Daytona, workers scurried to patch up the damaged fencing and left little doubt that the biggest race of the weekend, Sunday's Daytona 500, would go on as planned.
Brown, who saw the crash from his 38th-row seat in the Petty grandstand, said he would be back in the same section for the season-opening Sprint Cup event. He has no qualms about his safety, sitting so high up, but said he would think twice about the seats he had for the race two years ago.
"The last time I was here, we were only about six rows up," Brown said. "I had even told some people before the crash, 'I would never sit that close to the track ever again.'"
But someone surely will ? mindful of the risks but eager to be among more than 100,000 fans cheering on stock car racing's biggest stars.
"Here we are, paying money to sit next to cars going 195 mph," Devine said. "We do it because we love it. That's what we expect."
___
Associated Press writer Jerome Minerva in Daytona Beach contributed to this report.
by AWR Hawkins 23 Feb 2013, 12:00 PM PDT post a comment
The force of 32,000 gives Afghan officials time to hold their presidential elections. "Once those elections are completed," Panetta said "we will then begin the final drawdown."
Panetta spoke highly of the Afghan military and police forces: "There is a strong consensus that our mission is succeeding... on the ground because of the growing role and capabilities all of us have seen in the Afghan national security forces."
The Obama admin is currently talking with U.S. allies in Europe to decide how many troops will stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Pentagon press secretary George Little said a force of "8,000 to 12,000 has been discussed," but no decision has been made.?
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Expectations for a breakthrough at the talks are low. The P5+1 appears to be offering little new and an IAEA report shows Iran has made steady nuclear progress since talks stalled last spring.
By Scott Peterson,?Staff writer / February 22, 2013
An anti-aircraft gun position is seen at Iran's nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran, in 2007. Iran will sit down next week with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (known as the P5+1) to find ways to cap Iran?s nuclear progress.
Hasan Sarbakhshian/AP/File
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Iran is continuing to advance its nuclear program, according to a new report by United Nations inspectors, gaining bargaining chips on the eve of a new round of talks with six world powers in Kazakhstan.
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After an eight-month hiatus, Iran will sit down on Feb. 26 with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (known as the P5+1) to find ways to cap Iran?s nuclear progress.
After three failed rounds of talks last spring, P5+1 diplomats now say they will make a ?substantial and serious offer? to Iran in an effort to convince it to give up sensitive nuclear work that could lead to a bomb.
Yet expectations are low for a breakthrough in the Kazakh city of Almaty.
News reports indicate only slight changes to the last P5+1 offer Iran rejected, which required Iran to take key irreversible steps before any possibility of significant sanctions relief. Iran?s June presidential election also makes any deal unlikely now.
Toeing the 'red line'
The report yesterday by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shows that Iran is moving forward deliberately, yet carefully: Making advances while nuclear talks have been stalled, but not so much progress that it triggers the military strikes threatened by Israel and the US.
The IAEA report details an expansion of Iran?s ability to enrich uranium ? the process that produces nuclear fuel and?at a higher level serves as the raw material for nuclear weapons ? and the first-time installation of a new generation of centrifuge for more efficient enrichment.
Yet the IAEA also reports that Iran?s stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium ? the material that most concerns Israel and the West, because it is a few technical steps from bomb-grade ? grew slower than expected.
That stockpile now stands at 167kg, below the 240kg declared by Israel as its ?red line? because that amount ??by Israel?s count, at least ??is enough to make a single weapon if enriched further.
The stockpile grew slowly because Iran converted nearly two-thirds of its newly made 20 percent enriched uranium to a form for fuel use, rendering it unsuitable for use in weapons.
All of Iran?s declared nuclear facilities are under IAEA surveillance and frequent inspection. But the IAEA scolded Iran for lack of cooperation and failure to agree on a ?structured? plan to clarify unresolved issues and for access to the military site at Parchin, which is not a declared nuclear facility but is suspected of being a site of implosion experiments a decade ago.
The IAEA stated that it is therefore ?unable?to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.?
A softening of stance?
In Kazakhstan, the P5+1 will reiterate demands that Iran stop all 20 percent enrichment, shut its deeply buried facility at Fordow, and ship out of the country all its 20-percent enriched uranium stockpile, as well as accept measures that will make it forever impossible for Iran to go for a bomb, if it chose to do so. Though being touted as a "serious" new and updated offer, "the next proposal is remarkably close to the old one," and is "a way to test whether they are serious or not," one P5+1 official told Reuters.?
Iran says it rejects nuclear weapons as un-Islamic, but demands recognition of its right to peaceful nuclear technology ? as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ? and wants sanctions lifted that have helped cripple its economy.
?The mood is shifting?. We?ve heard about an ?upgraded and credible offer,?? says Shashank Joshi, a research fellow at Britain?s Royal United Services Institute.
?When you talk to [P5+1 officials and diplomats], you clearly see the movement in the direction of, ?We need to put some sanctions relief on the table, for a meaningful stop-shut-and-ship-style deal,?? says Mr. Joshi. ?They?re not saying it, but they are saying, ?We made a mistake,? even though none of them will admit to that.?
Past incentives such as airplane parts for Iran?s aging fleet were ?pathetic,? though they did technically qualify as ?sanctions relief,? says Joshi, author of ?The Permanent Crisis: Iran?s Nuclear Trajectory.?
?Are we on the same page [as the Iranians] to what ?upgraded? means, and to what ?meaningful? means?? adds Joshi. ?The challenge for the Europeans and the Americans is this: How do you craft a form of sanctions relief that is sufficient to elicit Iranian cooperation, without so easing the pressure on Iran that it sees no need to cooperate in other areas of dispute??
Stated White House policy toward Iran has had two tracks: applying pressure while pursuing diplomacy.
According to Vali Nasr, a Pakistan and Iran expert who worked inside the Obama administration for two years, in reality the strategy on Iran was ?not even dual. It relied on one track, and that was pressure,? he writes in a new book due out in April, as quoted by Roger Cohen in The New York Times this week.
?Engagement was a cover for a coercive campaign of sabotage, economic pressure and cyberwarfare,? writes Mr. Nasr. ?Pressure has become an end in itself.?
Chances of a step-by-step process seemed to fade and Washington?s lack of interest would have been clear to Iran, because ?the sum total of three major rounds of diplomatic negotiation was that America would give some bits and bobs of old aircraft in exchange for Iran?s nuclear program,? Nasr writes.
Technological problems
Senior Iranian officials have dismissed that carrot-and-stick approach as suitable only for donkeys. Iran?s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 7 also nixed direct US-Iran talks for the time being, blaming sanctions ? which the US Congress has tightened further in recent weeks ? and clandestine actions against Iran.
?You [Americans] are pointing the gun at Iran and say either negotiate or we will shoot,? Khamenei said, adding that Iran ?will not be frightened by the threats.?
The IAEA reported that in the past three months, Iran installed 2,255 more of its 1970s model IR-1 centrifuge, making the total 12,669 at its primary Natanz facility. Only about two-thirds are currently working.
The IAEA also said that Iran had started installation of 180 centrifuges of a new IR-2 model, which can enrich five times faster. Yet there has been no change in the past nine months of the number of centrifuges enriching to 20 percent at both Fordow and Natanz.?
The manufacture of so many new centrifuges and the steady upward trend of Iran?s enrichment over the years indicate that sanctions, sabotage, and computer viruses have had little strategic impact on Iran?s nuclear progress.
But centrifuges continue to produce less today and throughout 2012 at Natanz, after peaking in 2010.
?This consistently lower enrichment output likely indicates that Iran is continuing to have trouble with the IR-1 centrifuges,? notes an analysis of the IAEA report by the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called the IR-2 installation "yet another provocative step" by Iran, and a "further escalation." UN Security Council resolutions require that Iran halt all enrichment activities until it clears up remaining questions about alleged past weapons-related work.
One of Iran's goals in continuing to enrich to 20 percent could be "its usefulness as a bargaining chip," writes Yousaf Butt, a nuclear physicist at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, in the National Interest.
"What are perceived in the West as being provocative steps towards a nuclear weapons capability may just be negotiating strategy to get the draconian sanctions removed," Mr. Butt writes.
The P5+1 should put ?serious sanctions relief on the table,? says Butt, though such a step is unlikely next week in Kazakhstan.
"There appears to be a striking cognitive dissonance between the pronouncements of the alleged mortal threat posed by Iran's nuclear program and the foot-dragging approach to doing something about it in negotiations," adds Butt.
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