Cuba Frees Jailed Canadian Businessman
A Canadian businessman who served 2 1/2 years of a 9-year prison sentence in Cuba for corruption has returned to Canada.
Sarkis Yacoubian, president of Tri-Star Caribbean import company, said
Saturday that he's extremely happy and excited to be home in Toronto.
However, he says he is still adjusting after he was given only 24 to 48
hours' notice before his release.
Yacoubian was arrested in 2011 by Cuban authorities but only formally
charged in April 2013 with bribery, tax evasion and "activities damaging
to the economy."
Caitlin Workman, a spokeswoman with Canada's Department of Foreign
Affairs, confirmed that they were aware of his release, saying that he
is home in Canada with his family.
11 Killed, 5 Injured in 2 Albania Car Accidents
Albanian police say 11 people died in two separate accidents in different parts of the country.
Six people died when a speeding minivan carrying 11 people lost control
and hurtled 100 meters (more than 300 feet) down a cliff, killing six
people and seriously injuring the five others.
The second deadly accident involved two cars in a head-on collision that killed all five passengers.
The first crash occurred on the road to Kukes, 180 kilometers (110
miles) northeast of the capital, Tirana, early Saturday. Police said
three people died immediately and three others perished at a hospital.
Police spokesman Jaho Caushi says four of the injured had
life-threatening injuries and were transported to a hospital in Tirana,
while the fifth person also had serious injuries but wasn't in danger of
dying.
The second accident occurred in the afternoon near the southernmost city
of Saranda, 280 kilometers (170 miles) from Tirana, when two cars
crashed with each other leaving all five passengers in them dead.
Police said they were investigating the cause.
Poor infrastructure and rainy weather have made Albanian roads more dangerous than usual.
Iran, UN Focus on Iran's Alleged Nuclear Arms Work
Iran is signaling that it will cooperate this weekend with U.N. experts
visiting the country to investigate alleged nuclear weapons activity it
has steadfastly denied, a potentially promising step in a probe that has
been stalled for six years.
But with Iran still denying any attempt to make such arms, the investigators must tread carefully.
As the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy team arrived in Tehran on
Friday, the state IRNA news agency cited Iranian atomic energy
organization spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying his country is ready
to answer all questions raised by the U.N. agency.
IRNA did not elaborate, and such pledges have been made before. However,
a senior diplomat from an IAEA member nation cited a ranking Iranian
official as telling him and other senior diplomats that Iran was
specifically ready to engage on the weapons program suspicions with the
U.N. experts.
The diplomat demanded anonymity because he wasn't allowed to discuss his private meeting with the Iranian official.
Iran has denied any interest in — or work on — nuclear weapons since the
IAEA started to focus on its atomic activities. Specific attempts to
probe the alleged weapons program first launched in 2007 have made
little progress.
Iran appears to be suggesting it will go into detail on the big topic,
an issue it has previously said was not in the agency's purview or was
based on doctored intelligence. If successful, it will be the first of
what the agency hopes will be a series of increasingly deeper
investigations into the nuclear weapons allegations.
The U.S. and its allies are pushing the IAEA for progress. At the same
time, too much pressure on Iran at the weekend talks between the agency
and Iranian officials could push Tehran back into its shell of secrecy.
That, in turn, may impact negatively on parallel talks between Iran and
six world powers seeking to eliminate fears Tehran may use its nuclear
programs to make weapons. It has agreed to curb its atomic activities in
exchange for sanctions relief.
Those talks are off to a promising start with both sides planning to
meet Feb. 18 to try to translate an interim deal into a permanent
agreement. But Olli Heinonen, who formerly headed the IAEA's Iran probe,
says that — with distrust still high on both sides — a final deal can
be sealed "only if uncertainties over Iran's military nuclear capability
are properly addressed."
Another diplomat said that the IAEA team was carrying a list of alleged
weapons-related experiments that it would present to the Iranian
negotiating team for discussion. Among them, were:
— indications that Iran has conducted high explosives testing and
detonator development to set off a nuclear charge, as well as computer
modeling of a core of a nuclear warhead.
— suspected preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test, and development
of a nuclear payload for Iran's Shahab 3 intermediate range missile — a
weapon that can reach Israel.
—information that Iran went further underground to continue work on
nuclear weapons development past 2003, the year that U.S. intelligence
agencies believe such activity ceased.
Iran has up to now denied the allegations, first published in detail by
the IAEA in November 2011. It has dismissed them as inaccurate or
outright false, based on doctored intelligence from the U.S., Israel and
other Iran adversaries.
The agency is seeking access to individuals, documents and sites linked to these and other alleged nuclear weapons-related work.
The second diplomat, from a Western nation, also demanded anonymity
because he wasn't authorized to share his information. He said the U.S.
and its Western allies had made clear to IAEA chief Yukiya Amano that
they expected progress on clearing up the weapons allegations.
A third diplomat, also from a Western country said agency experts were
planning to allow Iran to ease into cooperation on the weapons
allegations by asking first for less sensitive information. He declined
to give details and demanded anonymity because he wasn't authorized to
discuss confidential negotiating tactics.
In Tehran, meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader urged officials Saturday not
to pin hopes for economic recovery on the sanctions relief from the
nuclear deal reached with world powers.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also called on critics of the interim nuclear
deal achieved on Nov. 24 in Geneva to be fair and give time to President
Hassan Rouhani to pursue his policy of engagement with the outside
world.
"The only solution to the country's economic problems is to employ
(Iran's) infinite domestic capacities, not to pin hopes on the lifting
of sanctions. No expectations from the enemy," Khamenei told army
officers in Tehran.
Khamenei also defended Rouhani against hardliners in Iran who think the deal gives away too much for too little in return,
"No more than a few months have passed since the (Rouhani) government
took office. Authorities should be given the opportunity to push forward
strongly. Critics should show tolerance toward the government," he said
in comments posted on his website, leader.ir.
Khamenei's support is crucial for Rouhani's diplomatic success in
negotiations with the six-nation group — the United States, Russia,
China, Britain, France and Germany.
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Associated Press writer Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
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