LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 14/12

Bible Quotation for today/The Resurrection of Christ
01 Corinthians 15/01-11/ And now I want to remind you, my friends, of the Good News which I preached to you, which you received, and on which your faith stands firm. That is the gospel, the message that I preached to you. You are saved by the gospel if you hold firmly to it—unless it was for nothing that you believed.  I passed on to you what I received, which is of the greatest importance: that Christ died for our sins, as written in the Scriptures; that he was buried and that he was raised to life three days later, as written in the Scriptures; that he appeared to Peter and then to all twelve apostles. Then he appeared to more than five hundred of his followers at once, most of whom are still alive, although some have died. Then he appeared to James, and afterward to all the apostles.Last of all he appeared also to me—even though I am like someone whose birth was abnormal. For I am the least of all the apostles—I do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted God's church. But by God's grace I am what I am, and the grace that he gave me was not without effect. On the contrary, I have worked harder than any of the other apostles, although it was not really my own doing, but God's grace working with me. So then, whether it came from me or from them, this is what we all preach, and this is what you believe.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
The al-Assad regime has succeeded in this/By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 13/12
Syria: Al-Assad's businessmen have defected/By Hussein Shabokshi/Asharq Alawsat/May 13/12
Behind the promise of a new Dahiyeh Looks can be deceiving/By: Angie Nassar and Nadine Elali/May 13/12
An empty court press/By: Michael Young/May 13/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May 13/12
Romney appeals to evangelical voters in speech at Christian university
Hizballah rushes arms to Syria, Iran sets up security cameras in Damascus
Exile group: Iran advancing active nuclear arms program
European Union to slam Israel's actions in West Bank
Clashes rage in northern Syria as opposition groups meet in Turkey
Iran wins release of Turkish journalists captured in Syria, says Turkey FM
Al-Qaida-linked group says it was behind Damascus bombings
Clashes rage in Syria, opposition meets abroad
Ahmadinejad: Cut ties with Zionists
Fragmented Syrian opposition debates leadership
Saudi king dismisses conservative adviser
Hariri says response to Nasrallah will come at the ballot box
Siniora urges Cabinet to stop procrastinating and approve state budget
Geagea to oppose national unity Cabinet if March 14 wins elections
Man kidnapped in northeast Lebanon
March 14 to reorganize, involve nonmembers
Mashnouq: Aoun wants to awaken ‘Christian racism’
Assailants open fire on demonstrators in Lebanon’s Tripoli, two wounded
Aoun: US assisting ‘terrorists’ in Syria
Allouch criticizes Mawlawi’s “gang-style” arrest
Future News: Syrian army enters Lebanon’s Al-Qaa village
Hassan: March 14 obstructing cabinet expenses issue
Siniora calls on cabinet to prepare 2012 budget
Hariri says Nasrallah speech not new
Ahmadinejad: No need for war to “destroy” Israel
Lebanese army frees kidnapped man in Akkar
Gemayel against linking Syrian crisis to 2013 elections
Al-Rahi Urges Officials to Resume Dialogue, Establish New National Charter
March 14, Mustaqbal Reject Nasrallah Claims on Dahiyeh Reconstruction

An empty court press
Michael Young, May 11, 2012
Lawyers for the defense at the STL headquarters in Leidschendam. The entire trial process confirms the absurdity of the proposition that the STL will end impunity for political crimes. (AFP)
Every few days, it seems, I receive another email from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon press office, informing me of some new action or initiative at the institution. Earlier this week, Lebanese academics were in Leidschendam visiting. Such transparency is laudable, but the more urgent question is: When will the trial begin?
Not until later this year, or even 2013, if you believe sources at the tribunal. One cause for the delay is that last March the pretrial judge, Daniel Fransen, rejected the prosecution’s request to amend the indictment, to which the crime of “criminal association” had been added. The term must be clarified by the appeals chamber first.
Yes, trials of this nature take time, we’ve been wearily assured time and again. However, given this fact, does it make any sense whatsoever to continue to argue that the Special Tribunal will end impunity for political crimes in Lebanon? If anything, the entire trial process, and what we anticipate will be a seven- or eight-year delay between the date of the central crime and the beginning of court proceedings, would seem to confirm the absurdity of that proposition.
The wheels of justice move slowly, to repeat an old cliché. But there is a difference between domestic and international courts. It is considerably more difficult to set up a special international judicial body, so that when the process is further loaded down by extensive time lags, there is even less for prospective criminals to fear. What likelihood is there that another special tribunal will be set up in the foreseeable future in the event of fresh assassinations? None.
An associated problem is that the measure of success is rather different for those working at the tribunal than it is for the families of the victims—or simply those who want to see justice done. I recall hearing a lawyer at the Lebanon tribunal arguing that the benchmark of achievement would be the proper functioning of the legal procedure. That’s true in part, but it really must involve more. For most Lebanese, success will be determined by whether the guilty, or a substantial number of the guilty, are identified and convicted.
Then there are the politics. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon has been accused of many bad things, not least of politicizing its accusations. Nonsense, but that doesn’t mean that politics did not play a part in shaping the investigation of the Hariri killing.
When the first commissioner of the United Nations investigative team, Detlev Mehlis, met with Kofi Annan in 2005, before beginning his mission, the then-UN secretary general told him that he did “not want problems.” This showed that Annan was calculating in a political context, perhaps seeking to avert controversy that might split UN member states, even as he did support Mehlis throughout.
On the other hand, if Annan told Mehlis’ Belgian successor, Serge Brammertz, what he told Mehlis, that may help explain why Brammertz was so reluctant to conduct an aggressive investigation. Among his failures was that he never took down a formal witness statement from President Bashar al-Assad, which Mehlis had wanted to do and for which he had secured Security Council backing. Despite spending two years without much advancing the case, Brammertz was promoted to the position of prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Politics were at play there, but not in the way the tribunal’s critics allege.
The Special Tribunal’s spokespersons and supporters in Lebanon have long affirmed that the body represents a qualitatively new and valuable innovation in terms of international justice. Many Lebanese have regarded it as a rare weapon against those holding the guns in their country, above all the Syrian regime and their allies in Beirut. But we have to be honest: The UN investigation did not stop the killing after 2005, and few people seriously believe that the tribunal will make criminals think twice about repeating this in the future.
Look at Bashar al-Assad. Here he is butchering his own population in the full light of day, despite warnings that he may eventually face a trial of some sort. Look at President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court, and who continues to travel without hindrance. They have taken the measure of international justice, and see it wanting. Ending impunity for crimes is a worthy undertaking. Unfortunately it’s difficult to believe that this is what the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will do.
*Michael Young is opinion editor of The Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Behind the promise of a new Dahiyeh Looks can be deceiving
Angie Nassar and Nadine Elali, May 12, 2012
Residents of Dahiyeh celebrated on Friday the completion of the Waad Project to rebuild Beirut’s southern suburb after the 2006 war. (NOW Lebanon)
A month after the 2006 July War, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah famously pledged to rebuild the Beirut southern suburb of Dahiyeh and make it “better than it was before.” By all appearances, he has followed through with that promise.
Indeed, every building surrounding center stage at the rally held Friday night to celebrate the completion of the Waad (Promise) Project to rebuild Dahiyeh looked immaculately new.
Just as he hailed the end of the 2006 war a victory against Israel, Nasrallah, in his signature boastful rhetorical style during his televised speech at the rally, hailed the reconstruction project a fresh triumph, but this time with an important distinction: here was a war not about death and destruction, but renewal and reconstruction.
The goal, says Lebanese analyst Ali al-Amin, is to portray a new image of the Party of God, one that is concerned with improving the basic human needs of the people while also highlighting the state’s failure to do so. “The overall message is that Hezbollah is progressive and a constructive group in the country, not only destructive… that Hezbollah resists Israel but it also rebuilds” and is capable of completing “a huge project that the government couldn’t do.”
But appearances can be deceiving. Another observer, former Al-Hayat journalist Waddah Charara, believes the Dahiyeh achievement is being used as part of an image overhaul to cover up Hezbollah’s shortcomings. He notes how Nasrallah bragged in 2009 that not only could his party manage the country on its own, but it could run a country “one hundred times larger than Lebanon.” But after a year and a half with a Hezbollah-backed government, Charara says Nasrallah has had his chance and yet failed to come “even close to proper management of the country.”
“The image of the Resistance and its power is currently being put to the test. It is fading and weakening on many fronts,” he said. But at face value, Charara contends, “the Waad Project allows the party to claim it has achieved what its opponents couldn’t.”
For Shia activist Lokman Slim, Friday night was “one big PR party.” Slim says Nasrallah is trying to model himself as the “Rafik Hariri of the Resistance.” You have the former prime minister known for his role as the “rebuilder of Beirut, versus Nasrallah, the rebuilder of the Dahiyeh,” he said.
The total cost of the Dahiyeh redevelopment plan reached an estimated $400 million. While Hezbollah has been quick to take most of the credit for the project, Hassan Jeishi, the general manager at Waad, said the Lebanese government provided 33.4 percent of the total amount. The rest of the money came from Hezbollah’s reconstruction arm, Jihad al-Bina, along with donations from various Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. Notably, among these countries, only Iran was explicitly mentioned for its financial support during Nasrallah’s speech on Friday.
Initially, Waad promised to rebuild Dahiyeh in less than two years. But Jeishi admits there were difficulties along the way that prolonged the nearly five-year process launched in May 2007. That same year, the US blacklisted Jihad al-Bina, which receives funding from Iran, for allegedly sponsoring terrorism activities. Its involvement with the Waad Project meant various financial backers pulled out amid fears they too might be blacklisted.
In the end, Waad helped coordinate the construction of 270 new buildings, including 5,700 apartment units and stores. There were minor alterations to Dahiyeh’s urban landscape during reconstruction, but for the most part, the geography has not changed. Indeed, to a certain extent, the changes benefit the state.
“People had built illegally during the civil war, taking too much space from public areas or coming closer to roads than they should,” said Amin. “Waad limited these violations and ensured the legality of the buildings in the reconstruction process.”
But, the analyst warns, the public cannot ignore the underlying danger implicit in Hezbollah’s effort to rebuild Beirut’s southern suburbs. The Waad Project wasn’t just about building new apartments and infrastructure for the people of Dahiyeh; it was also a deliberate, politically motivated decision to seize sole leadership of reconstruction in an effort to cement the Shia community’s dependency on Hezbollah at the expense of the people’s allegiance to the state. “Although the destruction was from a Hezbollah war, the message is that Hezbollah is the one who rebuilds Shia homes. This strengthens the idea that the Shia’s lives, their destiny and their future, lies within Hezbollah as opposed to the failing Lebanese state,” said Amin. Dahiyeh was rebuilt, and loyalty to Hezbollah was built even stronger, a sentiment made almost tangible when the crowd erupted in exuberant cheers Friday night as Nasrallah proclaimed that the people of Dahiyeh will “stay here, live here and die here.”

The al-Assad regime has succeeded in this
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
The twin bombings in Damascus on Thursday indicate that the al-Assad regime has succeeded in its deception this time, and what a deceptive regime it is! Its deception has been on-going for years, and not just since the outbreak of the revolution. After the international community was shocked by the attempt to target the international observer delegation in Deraa, we now witness the twin bombings in Damascus to completely draw attention away from this! It is sufficient to observe how the tyrant of Damascus’s international representative attacked all other states – Arab, regional and international – in New York recently. If we consider this carefully, then it is clear that this is a laughable attack, for the Syrian UN envoy is accusing Arab states and the international community of colluding with the Al Qaeda organization, and this is an extremely pathetic accusation. However unfortunately we have also noticed the Syrian opposition and certain media outlet’s current state of disconcertion and this is something that exists even on the international stage. This is after it became clear that everybody has practically forgotten about the attempted attack on the international observer delegation in Deraa, which occurred just one day prior to the Damascus explosion. This was also the incident that prompted Mr. Kofi Annan to appear frustrated in his speech before the UN Security Council on Wednesday night, just hours before the Damascus bombings. In addition to this, we also have the statements by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in which he said that the targeting of the observer delegation in Deraa may lead to the UN reassessing the entire observer mission!
Therefore we say that the al-Assad regime has succeeded in distracting everybody – whether we are talking about the Syrian opposition or the international community – thanks to the Damascus bombings. However the reality is that the reason for this state of confusion or distraction is very surprising, for if the al-Assad regime regrets the deaths of the 55 Syrians killed in the Damascus twin blasts, then the question that must be asked here is: what about the nearly 12,000 Syrians who were killed in one year at the hands of the regime? Throughout the Syrian revolution, the world has witnessed the deaths of an average of 50 Syrians per day, so why is the regime now rushing to claim that it cares about the Syrian blood, and why have some people been confused by a regime that only understands the language of assassinations, explosions, and murder? One western source also recently informed me that numerous western political circles are now convinced that this regime will not hesitate to continue its daily killings, and that it is playing a numbers game with regards to the daily death toll!
The reality is that the Damascus explosions represent new evidence regarding the necessity of al-Assad leaving power before it is too late, particularly as this regime will not hesitate to burn all of Syria to the ground in order to cling to power, indeed it will even spread this destruction to neighbouring countries as well, if this is what is required to remain in power! Here we see the envoy of the tyrant of Damascus in New York issuing accusations against everybody, even threatening that the al-Assad regime will retaliate against states or regimes that it has accused of supporting the Syrian revolutionaries; these threats were clearly aimed at the Gulf States, particularly Saudi Arabia, as well as Turkey and others. Indeed the al-Assad envoy to the UN even issued accusations and threats against United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon [UNIFIL]; it is also important to remember the operation that targeted UNIFIL in Lebanon last year.
Therefore, all indications point to the fact that the longer al-Assad’s departure from power is delayed, the greater the cost the Syrian people will pay. There can be no doubt that the tyrant is outgoing, however the more this is delayed, the more this will cost everybody, and the Damascus bombings, and prior to this the targeting of international observers in Deraa, represents the best evidence of this.

Syria: Al-Assad's businessmen have defected
By Hussein Shabokshi/Asharq Alawsat
Successive news reports have been leaked about the meeting that was held in the Damascus presidential palace and chaired by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the presence of his brother-in-law and Syrian Deputy Defense Minister, Assef Shawkat, and a carefully selected group of the most prominent businessmen in Syria. This was an extremely tense and stormy meeting which represented a humiliation of the Syrian businessmen who were subject to explicit violent threats that required no interpretation, namely that either these businessmen and merchants clearly and explicitly support the regime and comprehensively refuse to support or finance the revolution or face the consequences!
Dire threats of the complete destruction of Damascus were issued. The threats included the historical and commercial district of al-Hamaidiya and the well-known Gates of Damascus, which would all be destroyed and levelled to the ground in the same manner as the Baba Amr district of Homs, and in the same manner that the famous district of Kelaniya was destroyed and witnessed horrible and bloody massacres in the 1980s.
The al-Assad regime had established strong, sensitive, precise, strategic and long-lasting relations with Syria’s businessmen and industrial sector whereby the regime was keen to offer them "benefits" in order to secure their support for the future.
The regime knew that the Syrian character has been one that is "based" and indeed completely "absorbed" in trade from time immemorial. In fact, trade is a primary part of the character, identity and history of the Syrian people, and so a Syrian person anywhere - whether at home or overseas - is known for his excessively pragmatic handling of issues in certain situations and whenever necessary. Hence, al-Assad, both the father and the son, have exploited this idea and skilfully drawn upon it. They would often bring businessmen into their inner circle, urging them to benefit from Syria’s closed market economy in order to make substantial profits. This all was happening in a climate where genuine competition was absent, whilst employment and other business issues could be fixed or resolved by government intervention. Yet, this state of affairs cost these businessmen dearly, whether in the form of funding and supporting numerous prominent influential figures and their lifestyle, or in the form of funding government officials’ private projects for unknown security and intelligence purposes.
It is well known that illustrious and prominent Syrian merchants and businessmen are working - behind their amiable facades - to the advantage of well-known officials, in what can be seen as marriage of convenience, however a marriage that lacks customs, laws and system because for these businessmen, the end justifies the means. This is why al-Assad is today witnessing an increasing number of businessmen defecting from the regime; a phenomenon that did not receive the same media coverage given to the defections from the al-Assad regime's army.
Businessmen, merchants and manufacturers now are backing the revolution and are offering financial and spiritual aid, whilst others have fled the country and are attempting to pressure the regime, either via media appearances or by publicly siding with the governments championing the Syrian revolution. Others have preferred to work secretly from outside the country, continuing to serve as a useful aid to the revolution in a number of different ways.
Capital, by its very nature, searches for a partner in government that can guarantee its safety. Yet, we must not overlook the fact that any situation must have a category of beneficiaries, and so the danger, insults, humiliation and the exorbitant cost which the Syrian business sector have had to pay – especially when considering this category as one that is accustomed to "calculating" issues beforehand – have all caused businessmen to discover that they are now facing a losing proposition. Hence, for them, the entire issue needs to be reconsidered. This was a good reason for the regime’s current “hysteria”, for it is now receiving blows from all sides, both domestically and abroad. Aleppo and Damascus - the most important economic bases in Syria – have also risen against the regime after the agricultural sector and villagers in Homs, Hamah, Deraa and Deir al-Zour previously did so.
The economic defections will serve as a new source of pressure against the regime and will thwart its ability to manage the economy. This represents a genuine dilemma for the Syrian regime whose options are disappearing and whose support base is shrinking.
In the early months of the revolution, the regime attempted to seriously "reassure" its economic base by granting them unprecedented privileges, turning a blind eye to all the fines and sanctions in order to shore up support. However it was the Syrian working class who had been harmed by the regime, and who were responsible for inciting this revolution. Many of them were killed, injured or detained, and this ultimately made it impossible for Syria’s businessmen to continue aiding the regime and they have therefore chosen to side with the revolution. This is another nail in the coffin of a regime that should have been put to rest long ago!

Hizballah rushes arms to Syria, Iran sets up security cameras in Damascus
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report May 11, 2012/The shocking impact of the twin explosions which killed 55 people and injured almost 400 in Damascus Thursday, May 10, galvanized Bashar Assad’s allies, starting with Iran, into frenetic activity. Within hours, Tehran had ordered its Lebanese proxy Hizballah to open up its arms stores and run quantities of weapons and military equipment across the border to the Syrian army – a striking reversal of the routine direction of arms supplies. Thursday night, Washington quietly asked Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to put a stop to the traffic.
While the Syrian opposition and Assad regime blamed each other – or al Qaeda - for the worst attack Damascus has seen in the 14-month uprising, it was obvious to both that it must have been the work of a major and very professional undercover agency.
In Tehran, Moscow and Beirut, the scale of the bombing attacks which leveled a key Syrian security headquarters was judged a sharp escalation in the offensive for President Assad’s overthrow - more intense even than the NATO campaign which last year removed the Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi. debkafile’s sources in Moscow say the event has consequently cast a dark shadow over relations between the Obama administration and Vladimir Putin at the outset of his third term as Russian president. This week, Putin pointedly declined to attend the G-8 summit of world leaders meeting next week at the US presidential retreat of Camp David. He decided to send Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev over in his place.The Russian president has three large bones to pick with Washington: a) He suspects American hands of stirring up opposition demonstrations against him during his election campaign; b) He is flat against the US missile shield going up in Europe and the Middle East to intercept Iran’s ballistic missiles; and c) He is solidly behind the Assad regime which he accuses the US of seeking to overthrow.
In its message to Beirut, the US reminded the Lebanese president that the transfer of war materials by Hizballah to Syria was a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the 206 Lebanon war between the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group and Israel. Arms transfers between Syria and Lebanon were banned in both directions. But his prohibition was never upheld. Regular arms consignments have been crossing into Lebanon for Hizballah from and via Syria for the past six years without any interference by the United Nations force UNIFIL stationed in South Lebanon.
Washington knows perfectly well that no one in Lebanon will stop the arms flow to Syria either. But the request to President Suleiman is intended to lay the ground for expanded international and US intervention in the Syrian conflict. Another step Tehran took straight after the Damascus bombings to firm up the Assad regime was to start organizing a network of closed circuit security cameras to be installed in all parts of Damascus and its exits and entries for three functions:
1. Opponents of the regime will have less freedom of movement in the capital;
2. The army and security forces can economize on manpower for securing the city. Patrols will fan out after cameras register hostile or suspicion movements.
3. Syrian and allied intelligence services can keep track of UN monitors’ movements. The UN mission is regarded by Syria, Iran and Russia as “the eyes and ears of the West.”
 

Exile group: Iran advancing active nuclear arms program
By Reuters/A top U.S. nuclear expert said the NCRI report, like previous ones, should be treated with great skepticism.An exiled Iranian opposition group said on Saturday that Iran has some 60 scientists and engineers involved in a concerted and expanding program to develop nuclear weapons under defense ministry auspices.
However, diplomats say the National Council of Resistance of Iran has had a spotty record with allegations about Iran's nuclear work since exposing a secret uranium enrichment plant at Natanz in 2002. A top U.S. nuclear expert said the NCRI report, like previous ones, should be treated with great skepticism.Its latest report, whose details could not be verified, appeared timed to encourage a tougher line at talks with Iran the UN nuclear watchdog will have in Vienna on Monday and Tuesday and six world powers will hold in Baghdad on May 23.
In the six-page report shown to Reuters, the NCRI cited sources in the Iranian government and military as saying some 60 scientists were pursuing bomb-relevant research in 11 agencies operating clandestinely under defense ministry control.
"Information ... shows that the clerical regime has expanded the organization responsible for nuclear weapons development," the report said. "This finding reveals a complete and elaborate, and highly ... secret research structure and a network for procurement of the required parts and equipment.
"So far, the identities of 60 directors and experts working in various parts of the New Defense Research Organization and 11 institutions and companies affiliated with it have been detailed," the report went on. It featured diagrams said to lay out the disguised command structure and named scientists and engineers involved.
The NCRI, an umbrella bloc of five opposition groups in exile that seek an end to Shi'ite Muslim clerical rule in Iran, urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to launch a "robust probe" into Iran's nuclear program and all personnel involved. Iran says it is stockpiling enriched uranium for a future network of nuclear power plants. But the world's No. 5 oil exporter has stonewalled an almost decade-old IAEA investigation into suspected military dimensions to its atomic activity.
World powers trying to rein in Iran's nuclear activity via negotiations want to halt a spiral towards confrontation that has stoked fear of a new Middle East war, with Israel mooting last-resort air strikes on the nuclear sites of its arch-enemy. But Western leaders have rejected Iranian calls for an end to UN sanctions against it as a precondition for any deal.
No "smoking gun" In its last quarterly report on Iran issued in February, the IAEA cited generally credible information indicating Iran had carried out activities relevant to developing a nuclear explosive, but without evidence of actual weaponization.
The NCRI is the political wing of the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), which the United States classifies the PMOI as a terrorist organization.
David Albright, head of an influential Washington-based think tank that tracks Iran's nuclear work and has access to sensitive intelligence, said "we have to be extremely skeptical of whatever they (the NCRI) say. "(They are) an activist group with a huge incentive to say there is a nuclear weapons program that is making great progress, " Albright said when asked about the report.
"We know this organization exists," he said, referring to the command structure cited by the NCRI. "We know the (NCRI) receives intelligence information from countries so sometimes it is good, but the trouble is, they fill in details ...(without) evidence. You just don't know whether it's true or not."
Albright said the best available evidence was that Iran "doesn't have a structured, coherent, active nuclear weapons program ... Most of their effort is really focused on developing the capability to make nuclear explosive material...
"The real bottleneck in their program is the lack of any ability to make weapons-grade uranium quickly."
Refined uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants, which is Iran's stated aim, or provide the core for a bomb if enriched to a much higher degree of fissile purity.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton referred without qualification to Iran's "nuclear weapons program" on Friday. But her language went beyond that of Western security officials who are more plugged in to Iran's activities, describing them as an attempt to advance towards a nuclear weapons capability.
In January, U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper said Iran was keeping the option open to develop a bomb but U.S. intelligence agencies did not know whether it would eventually decide to build one.
At the Vienna talks next week, the IAEA will once again try to get Iran to address suspicions about military aspects to its nuclear work. Atop the IAEA's agenda will be gaining access to a military site that they fear Iran may be "sanitizing" to remove incriminating evidence of tests relevant to nuclear weapons.
The following week, the six big powers - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - will seek gestures from Iran that would evolve into guarantees that it is not after atomic bombs. These could include much more intrusive IAEA inspections and limits on Iranian capacity to refine uranium

Romney appeals to evangelical voters in speech at Christian university
By The Associated Press | The Canadian Press
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Mitt Romney sought to win over evangelical voters Saturday in a speech at a conservative Christian university in which he declared his opposition to gay marriage but barely mentioned the Mormon faith that has shaped his life.
Romney spoke Saturday on commencement day at Liberty University, which was founded in 1971 by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, a prominent conservative evangelical leader.
Liberty University has become a destination for Republican politicians looking to speak to the religious right. Romney's campaign team — planning the speech long before gay marriage became a central issue — viewed it as an opportunity to address the kind of socially conservative audience that had been wary of him during the prolonged Republican primary fight.
For Romney, the challenge is twofold. His past policy positions, including support for abortion rights, don't sit well. But his personal faith is also an issue because many evangelicals don't consider Mormons to be fellow Christians. Evangelicals are a critical segment of the Republican base; many of those voters backed his Republican rivals like former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in the prolonged primary.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee had one sustained applause line in a 20-minute speech delivered days after President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to embrace gay marriage.
"Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman," Romney said to a cheering crowd of students who have to follow a strict code of conduct that considers sex out of wedlock and homosexuality to be sins.
Romney barely touched on hot-button social issues, instead offering a broad-based defence of values like family and hard work. He discussed his own family and offered a defence of Christianity, saying that "there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action."
Still, he was inclusive: "Men and women of every faith, and good people with none at all, sincerely strive to do right and lead a purpose-driven life," Romney told graduates gathered in the football stadium on Liberty University's campus in the Virginia mountains.
On Saturday, Obama was not seeking to revisit the issue of gay marriage. In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president didn't mention his history-making endorsement. Instead, he repeated his call for congressional lawmakers to take up a "to-do list" of tax breaks, mortgage relief and other initiatives that he insists will create jobs and help middle-class families struggling in the sluggish economy.
Having spent part of the week on the West Coast raising money for his re-election effort, Obama appeared in the Rose Garden of the White House to honour award-winning law enforcement officers.
It was Obama's first joint appearance with Vice-President Joe Biden after Biden, according to aides, apologized to the president for pushing gay marriage to the forefront of the presidential campaign and inadvertently pressuring Obama to declare his support for same-sex unions.
Obama and Biden were all smiles as they walked to the sun-splashed ceremony together. Introducing Obama, Biden credited the president's commitment to law enforcement and the two quickly embraced before Obama spoke.
When he locks in the Republican presidential nomination, Romney will make history himself as the first Mormon nominee from a major party. His faith is central to him and to his family — he spent two years in France as a missionary. When he returned home, he attended Brigham Young University, a Mormon school, and married his wife, Ann, who had converted to Mormonism. As they built a life in Boston, Romney took on a significant leadership role in the church, serving as a lay pastor, fighting to build a temple in town and counselling families in need.
But he's mostly avoided talking about it on the campaign trail, largely avoiding religious forums and events throughout the primary season.
And at arguably the most religious venue he's addressed during the campaign — since announcing his bid, Romney hasn't made a public appearance in a church of any kind — he continued to keep his own faith in the background.
"This isn't a speech about Mormonism," senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told reporters Friday on a conference call. Fehrnstrom pointed to the speech Romney gave in Texas in 2007 outlining his faith and defending religious freedom — the last time the former Massachusetts governor has addressed his faith in any detail.
Still, it was clear the campaign was keenly aware of the overtones. Romney was introduced by Mark DeMoss, an evangelical who has repeatedly defended Romney's faith on the campaign trail. "I suspect I won't agree with Mitt Romney on everything, but I will tell you this: I trust him. I trust him to do the right thing," said DeMoss, who went on with a lengthy testament to Romney's values.
Despite the concern, surveys have shown for months now that whatever reservations Republican evangelicals have about Romney's faith, they are likely to back him in a general election. Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage is likely to further coalesce support for Romney among Republican social conservatives.
As governor of Massachusetts, Romney championed a state constitutional amendment to bar gay marriage. He says he supports a federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
Still, Romney has a history of supporting certain gay rights. He is in favour of allowing states to give same-sex couples certain domestic partnership benefits, including adoption.
Romney's views on gay marriage and other social issues are shaped by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormon doctrine defines marriage as between a man and a woman and considers sexual activity outside of marriage a sin.
Romney's selection as commencement speaker was an issue for some students who graduated from Liberty this weekend. When the school announced Romney as commencement speaker, hundreds of angry comments were posted on Liberty's Facebook page by people who said they were students or alumni, objecting to giving a Mormon a platform. The school responded by affirming its welcome to Romney.
"There was some concern in my family, yes," because of Romney's Mormonism, said Robert Maginnis, a retired Army colonel whose nephew is a member of the 2012 class.
A spokesman for Liberty, Johnnie Moore, said that Romney was not the first Mormon to speak at a university commencement.
Ahead of Romney's remarks, University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said the school's invitation to him should not be considered an endorsement. He noted that his father, the school's founder, said that Christians should vote for the candidate who shares their political positions "not the candidate that shares his or her faith or theology."
**Zoll reported from New York. Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report