World Powers

WASHINGTON - In what would be a significant concession, Obama administration officials say they could support allowing Iran to maintain a crucial element of its disputed nuclear program if Tehran took other major steps to curb its ability to develop a nuclear bomb. U.S. officials said they might agree to let Iran continue enriching uranium up to 5% purity, which is the upper end of the range for most civilian uses, if its government agrees to the unrestricted inspections, strict oversight and numerous safeguards that the United Nations has long demanded.

BAGHDAD — Hopes for quick progress on Iran's disputed nuclear program faded rapidly Wednesday, as diplomats from six world powers and Iran collided bitterly in daylong talks intended to resolve their long-standing differences over an effort many nations fear is aimed at building a nuclear bomb. In their second high-level meeting in as many months, representatives of the two sides offered packages of proposals designed to open a path to what is expected to be a long and difficult negotiation.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Iran and six world powers took a modest step toward resolving their dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, agreeing to negotiate their differences and to meet again next month in Baghdad. The much-anticipated daylong discussion, however, appeared to leave the two sides far from even an interim agreement on how to overcome the dispute, which has raised fear of a spiraling war in the Middle East. Yet Western officials said Iran's agreement to even talk should be counted as progress, as the Islamic Republic has repeatedly walked away from attempts to force it to negotiate curbs on its nuclear program.

WASHINGTON - In what would be a significant concession, Obama administration officials say they could support allowing Iran to maintain a crucial element of its disputed nuclear program if Tehran took other major steps to curb its ability to develop a nuclear bomb. U.S. officials said they might agree to let Iran continue enriching uranium up to 5% purity, which is the upper end of the range for most civilian uses, if its government agrees to the unrestricted inspections, strict oversight and numerous safeguards that the United Nations has long demanded.

The head of the world's atomic energy watchdog said Iran and world powers have until Friday to approve a proposed deal to transfer most of Iran's nuclear material abroad to be reformatted for medical purposes. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei disclosed no details about the draft deal, hammered out over 2 1/2 days of talks between Iranian, American, French and Russian diplomats in Vienna. But he said that it reflected a "balanced approach" that would help Iran fuel a medical research reactor for diagnosing and treating cancer while building confidence to resolve long-standing suspicions about the nature of Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

In the city where the current peace process was born 11 years ago, a quartet of world powers called Wednesday for an immediate end to Israel's military operation in the West Bank and for both Israelis and Palestinians to stop "this senseless confrontation."

World powers agreed Friday to try to bring Iran to the nuclear bargaining table with a repackaged set of incentives to accompany the possibility of new sanctions. Diplomats said the offer was meant to remind Tehran that talks were still an option. Although the new offer contained only a few sweeteners, diplomats in Washington said they hoped it would be enough to elicit a fresh look at a time when economic sanctions appeared to be exacting a greater toll on Iran. A Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with protocol, said the offer was a "slightly refreshed and updated version."

ISTANBUL, Turkey - The stakes will be high when diplomats from six world powers meet with Iranian officials here over the weekend to discuss the Islamic Republic's nuclear program: War or peace, the global economic recovery and a U.S. presidential election may ride on the outcome. Expectations are much lower. It will be enough for the diplomats if there is sufficient common ground with Iran to keep talking. As recently as a week ago, there were doubts that the long-delayed talks would even take place.

A high-stakes international standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions came no closer a resolution Saturday as the latest round of talks aimed at curtailing the controversial program ended in failure in Turkey. The two-day meeting in Istanbul between Iran and six world powers was in effect stalled from the very start, with Tehran insisting that it has the right to continue enriching uranium and demanding an end to United Nations sanctions. The United States and its allies believe that Iran is intent on acquiring nuclear weapons.

BAGHDAD — Hopes for quick progress on Iran's disputed nuclear program faded rapidly Wednesday, as diplomats from six world powers and Iran collided bitterly in daylong talks intended to resolve their long-standing differences over an effort many nations fear is aimed at building a nuclear bomb. In their second high-level meeting in as many months, representatives of the two sides offered packages of proposals designed to open a path to what is expected to be a long and difficult negotiation.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Iran and six world powers took a modest step toward resolving their dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, agreeing to negotiate their differences and to meet again next month in Baghdad. The much-anticipated daylong discussion, however, appeared to leave the two sides far from even an interim agreement on how to overcome the dispute, which has raised fear of a spiraling war in the Middle East. Yet Western officials said Iran's agreement to even talk should be counted as progress, as the Islamic Republic has repeatedly walked away from attempts to force it to negotiate curbs on its nuclear program.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - The stakes will be high when diplomats from six world powers meet with Iranian officials here over the weekend to discuss the Islamic Republic's nuclear program: War or peace, the global economic recovery and a U.S. presidential election may ride on the outcome. Expectations are much lower. It will be enough for the diplomats if there is sufficient common ground with Iran to keep talking. As recently as a week ago, there were doubts that the long-delayed talks would even take place.

The San Gabriel Valley Badminton Club was born eight months ago in a nondescript industrial park off the 57 Freeway in Pomona. If you're looking for fancy bells and whistles — or, for that matter, heat — this isn't your place, with 19 simple badminton courts and a small, no-frills workout room packed into a chilly warehouse about the size of a hockey rink. Yet Tony Gunawan, a former world and Olympic champion who has visited elaborate arenas all over the globe, can't think of anywhere else he'd rather be. Next summer's London Olympics mark what he promises will be the end of a long playing career, and the 36-year-old has a new muse — coaching the U.S. into a badminton power.

With the capture and death of Moammar Kadafi, NATO's aerial assault on Libya essentially ended the same way it began: with warplanes raining down bombs on him in the name of a U.N. mandate to protect civilians from his loyalists, while helping Kadafi's enemies run him to ground. Throughout the seven-month operation, the alliance in essence served as the anti-Kadafi fighters' air force, crippling the strongman's forces and installations with relentless sorties that at times came close to killing him as well.

A sprawling hangar to house the assembly of the world's most powerful rocket and a launchpad capable of handling the earthshaking blast is being developed northwest of Santa Barbara at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Hawthorne-based rocket venture SpaceX said it was investing $30 million at the base's Space Launch Complex 4-East for its upcoming 22-story Falcon Heavy rocket. The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., hopes to use the launchpad for the first time at the end of next year in a demonstration flight of the 27-engine rocket for the U.S. government.

Google Inc. is investing $55 million in a large Mojave Desert wind farm, pumping fresh air into California's struggling wind power industry. The Internet search giant made the announcement in Anaheim at the industry's largest gathering, where wind farm developers and turbine makers said the investment could be a key step in California's efforts to regain its once enviable title as the world's capital for wind power. "We just fell off a cliff," said Gary Polakovic, a consultant for San Diego wind energy developer EnXco Inc. "But all eyes are on California now. It's our chance to do this right.

The Obama administration signaled its intention Friday to push for new sanctions against Iran, warning that tough new measures are likely now and urging reluctant nations not to circumvent them. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who is visiting Iraq, said world powers soon would agree on "significant additional sanctions." Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, meanwhile, warned in Washington that Latin American countries, in particular, will face "consequences" if they "flirt" with the Islamic Republic.

In unusually direct language, the outgoing chief of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency on Thursday took Tehran to task for failing to resolve unanswered questions about its nuclear program and lamented a "dead end" in resolving the standoff between the Islamic Republic and world powers. Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said world powers had made no progress over the last year in settling concerns about Iran's nuclear program, which the West worries is meant to ultimately produce weapons but Tehran insists is for civilian purposes only.

Breaking news update: U.S. launches missile strike on Libyan air defenses, Pentagon says. --AP (12:29 p.m.) French President Nicolas Sarkozy signaled the start of military action against Libya Saturday after an emergency summit in Paris of world powers. Jets from an international force were flying missions over Libya, hours after Moammar Kadafi dispatched troops, tanks and warplanes to the heart of the 5-week-old uprising against his rule in a decisive strike on the first city seized by rebels.

A high-stakes international standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions came no closer a resolution Saturday as the latest round of talks aimed at curtailing the controversial program ended in failure in Turkey. The two-day meeting in Istanbul between Iran and six world powers was in effect stalled from the very start, with Tehran insisting that it has the right to continue enriching uranium and demanding an end to United Nations sanctions. The United States and its allies believe that Iran is intent on acquiring nuclear weapons.