Iran, U.S. trade blame over failed nuke deal
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Iran and the United States on Monday blamed each other for the failure to reach agreement on a deal to limit Iran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for an easing of Western sanctions.
In spite of the accusations, there was some diplomatic progress as Iran promised to offer more information and expanded access to U.N. nuclear inspectors – including more openings at a planned reactor and uranium site.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Iranian envoys had backed away from a wider deal this weekend seeking to ease Western concerns that Tehran could one day develop atomic weapons.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, countered by criticizing Kerry’s remarks, telling an Iranian TV talk show that the American’s “conflicting statements” damaged confidence in the process, adding that “considerable progress was made” in Geneva.
China, Russia in line for UN human rights body
UNITED NATIONS – China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam are among the nations running unopposed for seats on the Human Rights Council, the U.N.’s highest rights watchdog body, a prospect that has independent human-rights groups crying foul.
On Tuesday, the General Assembly will elect 14 new members to the 47-seat, Geneva-based council, which can shine a spotlight of publicity and censure on rights abuses by adopting resolutions – when it chooses to do so. It also has dozens of special monitors watching problem countries and major issues ranging from executions to drone strikes.
New York-based Human Rights Watch pointed out that five of the candidates – China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Algeria – have refused to let independent U.N. human rights monitors visit to investigate alleged abuses.
Police: NYC shooter was dumped from band
NEW YORK – A gunman who killed three Iranian indie rock musicians and injured a fourth person inside a Brooklyn apartment on Monday before killing himself was upset because he had been kicked out of another band last year, police said.
Ali Akbar Mahammadi Rafie killed himself on the roof after struggling with a member of his former band, the Free Keys, police said. Investigators believe a guitar case found on an adjoining roof may have been used to carry the assault rifle used in the attack.
Rafie, 29, “was upset that he wasn’t in the band anymore,” said New York Police Department spokesman John McCarthy. Investigators suspect the shooter and his former Free Keys band mates may have had an argument over money, he added.
Two of Rafie’s victims were brothers and members of the Yellow Dogs, a band that came to the U.S. from Iran three years ago after appearing in a film about the underground music scene there, according to band manager Ali Salehezadeh. The third person killed was a musician but not in the Yellow Dogs band, Salehezadeh said. The person injured was an artist, he said.
It wasn’t immediately clear why Rafie opened fire on members of another band, although musicians in both groups knew each other and some lived in the same building, Salehezadeh said.
Associated Press
