Iran's foreign minister says nuclear enrichment is not negotiable

WASHINGTON, Sept 29 | Sun Sep 29, 2013 2:45pm EDT

WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister said on Sunday the country's right to peaceful nuclear enrichment was not negotiable in talks with the United States but it does not need to enrich uranium to military-grade levels.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran was willing to open its nuclear facilities to international inspections but the United States must end economic sanctions as part of any deal on Iran's nuclear program.

Speaking in the midst of an intensified effort to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program, Zarif said he could see a "real chance" for agreement with the United States.

"Negotiations are on the table to discuss various aspects of Iran's enrichment program. Our right to enrich is non-negotiable," Zarif told ABC's "This Week" program.

Iran consistently has defended its right to enrich uranium as part of a civilian nuclear energy and medicine program, but the United States and its allies have sought an end to higher-grade uranium enrichment that could be a step away from the production of weapons-grade material.

"We do not need military-grade uranium. That's a certainty and we will not move in that direction," Zarif said. "Having an Iran that does not have nuclear weapons, is not just your goal, it's first and foremost our goal."

U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke by telephone on Friday in the highest-level contact between the two countries in three decades. It was the culmination of a recent, dramatic shift in tone between Iran and the United States, which cut diplomatic relations a year after the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Obama has said for years he was willing to have direct contact with Iran while also stressing that all options - including military strikes - were on the table to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb.

But Zarif said Iran was willing to have its facilities visited by international inspectors to prove it was not seeking a nuclear bomb.

"If the United States is ready to recognize Iran's rights, to respect Iran's rights and move from that perspective, then we have a real chance," Zarif said.

"We are willing to engage in negotiations. The United States also needs to do things very rapidly. One is to dismantle its illegal sanctions against Iran," he said.

Zarif said there has been 34 years of "mutual distrust" between Iran and the United States but both sides should begin removing some of that distrust through talks.

(Reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by Eric Beech)

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British minister calls for greater BBC scrutiny after funding row

1 of 4. A man talks on a mobile phone inside the BBC headquarters in London November 21, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Andrew Winning

By Paul Sandle

CAMBRIDGE, England | Wed Sep 11, 2013 2:13pm EDT

CAMBRIDGE, England (Reuters) - The British government believes the BBC needs to come under greater scrutiny after generous severance payments made to departing executives raised "serious questions" about the management of the publicly funded broadcaster.

Former BBC Director General Mark Thompson, who quit the BBC last year to become chief executive of the New York Times Company, and six other senior executives were grilled by British lawmakers on Monday over payments made beyond contractual obligations during the last three years of Thompson's 2004-2012 watch.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller was due to tell television executives attending the Royal Television Society Conference on Wednesday that the questioning, which saw BBC executives past and present arguing over who sanctioned the payments, was a "grim day" for the BBC's senior management and for British households who fund the broadcaster through license fees.

The BBC said it would launch a review of its internal governance systems, structures and cultures and examine the relationship between the executive management of the corporation and the BBC Trust, which regulates the broadcaster.

"The corporate dramas of the BBC should never eclipse its actual drama," Miller would tell the conference in Cambridge, according to an advance copy of her speech.

"Ultimately, license fee payers rely not only upon the right structures and governance being in place but also upon the BBC's executive management using their good judgment. And I think serious questions were raised about that judgment by the scale of the severance payments made."

She said under the leadership of Tony Hall, who assumed the role of director general in April this year, significant changes were being made at the broadcaster.

The government had already opened the BBC's accounts to scrutiny by the National Audit Office (NAO) to ensure license fee payers could see where their money was spent.

But she said she wanted the auditors to get quicker access to BBC accounts.

"The NAO's work has been pivotal in bringing issues to light so I want us to strengthen its role further," she said. "I want a system where the NAO can look at any area of concern without hindrance or delay."

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Sierra Leone minister arrested after accused of raping student

FREETOWN | Wed Sep 11, 2013 2:16pm EDT

FREETOWN (Reuters) - A deputy minister in Sierra Leone has been sacked and arrested after he was accused of raping a student in his office, state radio said on Wednesday, citing a statement from the president's office.

Mamoudu Tarrawali, deputy minister for education, science and technology, was arrested in Freetown after the incident late on Tuesday, the radio said in a report announcing his sacking.

According to the radio station, the minister's security detail heard shouting coming from Tarrawali's office on Tuesday evening and they found him and a 16-year-old girl fighting.

She later filed a complaint at a police station near Tarrawali's ministry, the radio reported.

Tarrawali has not commented on the accusations.

Sierra Leone is recovering from years of war, during which fighters were accused of raping thousands of women and girls.

(Reporting by Christo Johnson; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Alison Williams)

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