Reuters | Top News

Second big snowstorm bears down on East Coast

2010-02-09T20:47:42Z

By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Not again! Residents from northern Virginia to New York braced for a major snowstorm that could bring 12 inches or more of snow just days after a blizzard dumped as much as 3 feet in some areas.

U.S. government offices in Washington closed on Tuesday for a second straight day -- at a cost of roughly $100 million in lost productivity a day -- and the National Weather Service predicted the U.S. capital could get upwards of 14 inches by Wednesday night.

Residents have spent the past few days trying to dig out from the snowfall that dropped 18 inches to 32 inches last weekend from Washington to southern New Jersey, as well as trying to clear fallen trees and re-stock their refrigerators.

The second storm has been dubbed "Snoverkill" and "Snomageddon 2.0" and led some Washington-area schools to call off classes for the rest of the week. Even the battle-tested New York public school system said it would be closed on Wednesday.

"I love it. I can handle one more round," said government lawyer David Kaplan, 50, as he shoveled snow off his roof in Takoma Park, Maryland, just outside Washington. He had spent the past few days sledding and building a luge run in his backyard.

But he also said he spent a fair amount of time shoveling his driveway and his roof. "It's hard work and I hope never to do it again," he said.

There still are more than 10,000 customers without power in the Washington area while subway and bus services were limited. The cold weather also helped push heating oil futures higher.

The U.S. House of Representatives canceled votes for the week and many congressional hearings were also called off.

Beyond the U.S. capital, preparations were under way for 10 to 18 inches in Philadelphia and 8 to 13 inches in New York City, according to the National Weather Service.

Forecasters also were predicting strong winds that could cause additional power outages.

AMR Corp's American Airlines canceled Wednesday flights in and out of Washington's three area airports as well as Philadelphia. Late flights on Tuesday also have been nixed so that planes are not stranded in the snow, the airline said.

Carriers also once again relaxed their ticket policies to allow passengers to change flight plans around the storm. Both moves could cloud the outlook for an industry already hard hit by the battered economy.

US Airways canceled its hourly shuttle service between Washington and New York for Wednesday while Amtrak passenger rail service warned of limited service along its lucrative Northeast corridor.

The storm left a battered Midwest in its wake, with canceled flights in Chicago and up to 17 inches of snow in Iowa, one of the largest hog-producing states. The marketing of hogs was disrupted, helping Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures to rise to their highest level in six months.

"This snowy weather creates miserable conditions for livestock in feedlots," said Harry Hillaker, an Iowa state climatologist. "It is difficult to get feed to them and to keep water lines from freezing."

Livestock traders said the inclement weather has caused cattle to lose substantial weight, with producers having to feed the cattle more just to keep them warm.

"As of two weeks ago the weather damage to feedlot gains converts to a 2 percent drop in beef production. It doesn't include the last couple weeks of southern Plains storms so the current rate (of beef production) is probably even worse," said Rich Nelson, livestock analyst with Allendale Inc.

(Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Takoma Park, Kyle Peterson, Meredith Davis and Jerry Biezsk in Chicago; Editing by Bill Trott)

Google tweaks Gmail to challenge Facebook, Twitter

2010-02-09T20:40:14Z

By Alexei Oreskovic

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) - Google Inc injected social networking features into its popular Web email product as the world's No. 1 search engine seeks to fend off competition from Facebook and Twitter.

Google introduced a new product dubbed Google Buzz on Tuesday that allows users to quickly share messages, Web links and photos with friends and colleagues directly within Gmail, the company's popular email product.

And the company unveiled a handful of new products designed to make the new social networking features suited to mobile devices, like smartphones based on Google's Android operating system.

Google's new social networking technology mimics some of the key features of popular social networking services like Twitter and Facebook, which are increasingly challenging Google for web surfers' online time.

Gmail is the third most popular Web based email in the world, with 176.5 million unique visitors in December, according to comScore. Microsoft Corp's Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo Inc's Mail were No. 1 and No. 2, with 369.2 million unique visitors and 303.7 million unique visitors respectively.

In addition to the Buzz features for Gmail, Google said it is launching a special mobile application for Buzz, as well as weaving Buzz technology into the mobile versions of its flagship Web site and its maps products.

Google has tried to ride the social networking wave before, launching the Orkut social network in 2004. But while Orkut is big in certain overseas markets, like Brazil, it has failed to attract as many users as social giants like Facebook and MySpace in the United States.

In building a social network on top of an email product, Google is following in the footsteps of Yahoo, which has taken a similar approach in efforts to keep up with Facebook.

(Additional reporting by Ian Sherr, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Ukraine's Tymoshenko girds to contest result

2010-02-09T19:26:51Z

By Richard Balmforth and Matt Robinson

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko launched action on Tuesday to call rival Viktor Yanukovich's election into question, ignoring international endorsement of the poll and threatening a lengthy legal battle.

Her refusal to accept the result of Sunday's presidential poll kept political tension high and could deny the former Soviet republic, battered by economic crisis, a swift return to stability.

But there was no sign of people taking to the streets in support of the fiery premier, co-architect of the Orange Revolution that overturned Yanukovich's victory in a rigged election in 2004.

Her supporters in parliament announced organized action to try to prove "cynical" fraud by the Yanukovich camp.

But there was also some unease among her supporters over the challenge, which flew in the face of international monitors. Some Tymoshenko loyalists privately expressed doubts they could prove a case of fraud against the Yanukovich camp.

Observers on Monday hailed the election as an "impressive display" of democracy and urged her to shake hands with Yanukovich.

Russia and the United States added their weight to international recognition of the election. Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev sent congratulations to Yanukovich and the U.S. Embassy in Kiev endorsed the vote as a step "in the consolidation of Ukraine's democracy."

Tymoshenko lawmaker Andriy Shkil said they would contest the vote count. "Under question is the validity of votes at over 1,000 polling stations," he said in parliament.

His colleague, Serhiy Sobolev, told parliament: "Voting day displayed a cynical violation of Ukrainian law by the teams of Yanukovich, pressure on the electors and a broad arsenal of falsification by (Yanukovich's) Regions Party."

"Consequently, the Tymoshenko bloc announces that we will defend in the courts your right, our citizens, to honest and transparent elections," he said.

With 99.99 percent of votes counted, Yanukovich led by 3.48 percentage points or almost 887,000 votes.

SILENCE

Yields on Ukrainian sovereign bonds jumped early on Tuesday, indicating negative sentiment toward Ukraine. The cost of insuring against state default also jumped as a resumption of International Monetary Fund lending seemed likely to be delayed.

The Ukrainska Pravda newspaper said on its website that Tymoshenko had instructed her lawyers to prepare a court challenge.

"I will never recognize the legitimacy of Yanukovich's victory with such elections," the paper quoted the charismatic premier as telling a party meeting on Monday.

Tymoshenko herself remained uncharacteristically silent on Tuesday. Announcement of a re-scheduled news conference was removed from her website and she stayed out of the public eye for a second straight day.

Yanukovich said Tymoshenko only risked damaging her own standing.

"If Tymoshenko does not accept the will of the people, does not recognize the election results, and continues leading Ukraine into political chaos, she risks turning from the heroine of the Orange Revolution into its executioner," his party quoted him as telling CNN.

The official result signaled a remarkable comeback for Yanukovich, a rough-hewn ex-mechanic who tapped widespread disillusionment with the Orange democracy movement that delivered years of infighting instead of prosperity and stability.

His party is an ally of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia and he is expected to tilt Ukraine more toward Russia, ending a deep chill in relations under the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko.

Yanukovich's camp denied there was any legal basis for challenging the result and ruled out any third round as in 2004.

"NO NEW MAIDAN"

The Orange Revolution, in which tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Independence Square -- commonly known as Maidan -- brought current President Yushchenko to power. Now an enemy of Tymoshenko, he crashed to a humiliating defeat in a first round vote on January 17.

The action announced by her parliamentary faction could delay official publication of the final election results and hold up any inauguration of a new president. This normally takes place within 30 days of publication of results.

Some of Tymoshenko's supporters privately said that, unlike 2004, attempts to prove fraud against the Yanukovich camp might only delay the inevitable.

"One should not overdramatize the situation if we become an opposition -- this will give us a chance to grow popular support for Tymoshenko in local elections on May 30 from today's almost 12 million people," said Tymoshenko ally Serhiy Mishchenko.

Ukraine has been battered by economic crisis and badly needs to restart talks with the IMF on a $16.4 billion bail-out package derailed by broken promises of fiscal restraint.

Former economy minister and presidential candidate Sergey Tigipko said the Orange Revolution would not be repeated. "Of course, Yulia Tymoshenko's team will go to the courts, but there will be no new Maidan," he was quoted as saying.

Q+A: How dangerous is Iran's uranium enrichment plan?

2010-02-09T19:22:11Z

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran says it has begun work to enrich uranium to a higher level, adding to concerns that it wants to stockpile potential material for nuclear weapons.

The following looks at the dangers of Iran's move:

WHAT ARE IRAN'S MOTIVES?

Iran said it had acted in frustration at the collapse of a U.N.-brokered plan for big powers to provide it with fuel rods made from low-enriched uranium for a medical reactor.

The powers accused Iran of reneging on an agreement to ship out two-thirds of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) reserve to be turned into fuel rods for the medical reactor. This would have prevented Iran retaining enough of the material to fuel a nuclear weapon, if it were refined to about 90 percent purity.

WHAT IS IRAN'S PLAN?

Iran's LEU production continues around the clock, albeit at a pace well below full capacity to minimize the breakdowns that have afflicted its 1970s-vintage centrifuges.

Iran holds around 1.8 tonnes of LEU, enriched to the 3.5 percent level typically needed to run civilian power plants.

It says it will refine some of this stock up to 20 percent, the concentration needed by the Tehran medical reactor, producing up to 3-5 kg per month. It says it has tweaked 164 of its estimated 4,000 operating centrifuge machines to do this.

The reactor, which makes isotopes to treat more than 850,000 cancer patients, is expected later this year to use up the last of the 115 kg of fuel that Iran imported from Argentina in 1993.

IS THERE A PROLIFERATION RISK?

Yes, depending on Iran's ultimate intentions. Iran now has enough LEU for 1-2 bombs if highly enriched. No one knows yet how much of this it plans to enrich further. But once at the 20 percent mark, Iran could advance to the 90 percent weapons-grade level in mere months since low-level enrichment is the most time-consuming and difficult stage of the process.

WHY IS THE WEST SUSPICIOUS?

With Iran's history of nuclear secrecy and restricting U.N. inspections, just enriching to 3.5 percent has stirred mistrust abroad since Iran will not have any operating nuclear power plants using LEU for many years, despite plans on the table.

Iran also lacks the technical ability to make 20-percent pure uranium into the fuel rods needed for the Tehran reactor, and might need years to develop it. This means Iran would not be able to preserve an uninterrupted fuel supply to the reactor.

Only France, one party to the U.N. draft deal, and Argentina are known to possess the technology. So analysts ask why Iran would enrich uranium well above its needs, except to lay the groundwork for producing bomb-grade uranium.

"I think Iran all along intended to enrich to 20 percent, ostensibly to supply the research reactor but also to gain experience enriching to higher levels that would prove useful for weapons production," said Mark Fitzpatrick, proliferation expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Another cause for skepticism is that Iran's targeted monthly output of 20 percent uranium is at least double the medical reactor's projected needs, according to David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington.

On the other hand, given that Iran's centrifuges have often malfunctioned before, Iran may not be able to produce a notable amount of higher-grade material in the coming year, he said.

SO IS IRAN CLOSING IN ON A NUCLEAR WEAPON?

Not yet. Significant technical and practical hurdles remain.

Iran pledged anew to keep all enrichment work including the 20 percent project under International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring. So any illicit attempt to escalate to 90 percent enrichment would not escape notice, unless done at a secret site, for which Western intelligence services have their eyes peeled. Last year they unearthed a second embryonic Iranian enrichment site at Qom, not yet operational, that had been hidden from the IAEA since 2006.

Once Iran has produced highly-enriched uranium (HEU), it would have to be transformed from gaseous into metal form, fitted with reflectors and a trigger system, then miniaturized to squeeze into the nose cone of a Shahab-3 ballistic missile.

All of these steps could take two or more years for Iran to master, analysts estimate. U.S. intelligence chief Dennis Blair director has assessed that Iran will not be technically able to "weaponize" nuclear material before 2013.

Another factor slowing Iran's advances may be U.N. sanctions banning trade that would benefit its nuclear program. It has been forced to rely increasingly on indigenously manufactured components likely to be of inferior quality.

However, Blair reported on February 2: "Iran's technical advancement strengthens our ... assessment that it has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons, making the central issue its political will to do so."

WHAT ABOUT THE PLAN FOR 10 MORE ENRICHMENT PLANTS?

Iran says it will build 10 more enrichment sites over the next year, thumbing its nose anew at U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding a nuclear suspension to foster talks.

But, given that Iran needed a good decade to hone limited enrichment capacity at one site, Natanz, diplomats and analysts believe there is no way Tehran can get 10 more up and running in the short term. "Iran can certainly break ground for 10, but outfitting them is far-fetched," Albright said.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Obama says working on new sanctions against Iran

2010-02-09T19:16:46Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday a new push toward international sanctions against Iran is moving along fairly quickly and should be completed in the next few weeks.

In an impromptu news conference, Obama provided his most extensive comments about Iran in weeks, saying that despite Tehran's denials it is clear to him that Iran is pursuing a path toward "nuclear weaponization."

He said the international community is looking at a significant regime of sanctions that will provide a "variety of ways" to apply pressure to Iran's government, without detailing them.

Obama said the United States is confident the world is "unified around Iran's misbehavior in this area."

Of two allies who have been reluctant to approve new U.N. sanctions in the past, Russia and China, Obama said he was pleased by how Russia has been "forward-leaning" lately but was uncertain about China.

"How China operates at the Security Council as we pursue sanctions is something we're going to have to see," he said.

Obama said it was unclear who actually speaks for the Iranian government, saying it was giving "mixed signals."

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Caren Bohan, editing by Anthony Boadle and Bill Trott)

U.S. unveils offer to help Iran get medical isotopes

2010-02-09T18:59:29Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The international community is willing to help Iran procure medical isotopes from abroad, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said he hoped the offer would help to "build some confidence" and aimed to show that Iran's plan to enrich uranium to 20-percent purity for a reactor making isotopes for cancer patients was "unnecessary."

(Reporting by Andrew Quinn, editing by Anthony Boadle)

Timeline: Toyota's rise and run-up to its recall crisis

2010-02-09T18:05:45Z

DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has issued a string of recalls covering more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide including its flagship Camry sedan and the Prius hybrid.

Following are milestones leading to the largest recall in Toyota's history, a series of events that has hit the automaker's reputation and results:

* 2000: Toyota launches program known as "Construction of Cost Competitiveness for the 21st Century" with the aim of cutting costs of 180 key car parts by 30 percent, saving nearly $10 billion by 2005.

* 2004: In cooperation with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA,) Toyota narrows the scope of investigations into unintended acceleration by eliminating incidents lasting more than a few seconds or those where the driver applied the brake.

* 2006: Following a surge in global recalls, Toyota head Katsuaki Watanabe apologizes for "quality glitches." Toyota delays some new models by up to half a year.

* March 2007: NHTSA opens investigation into pedal entrapment in some Toyota vehicles. That leads to recall of 55,000 floormats in September.

* Late 2007: Insurer State Farm tells NHTSA of a "significant increase" in Toyota-related accidents involving its policyholders.

* September 2007: Former Toyota attorney Dimitrios Biller signs a severance agreement with the automaker. He claims he found "numerous" cases where the company concealed evidence from the courts and the U.S. government. Toyota "strongly disputes" this claim.

* October 2007: Consumer Reports influential vehicle quality survey drops three Toyota vehicles, including a version of the Camry, from its recommended list. The verdict: "After years of sterling reliability, Toyota is showing cracks in its armor."

* December 2007: Toyota's U.S. sales for 2007 hit 2.6 million units. It has displaced Ford Motor Co as No. 2 in the U.S. market and is on the cusp of unseating General Motors Co as No. 1 on a global basis.

* June 2009: Akio Toyoda, 53, grandson of Toyota's founder, is named president, replacing Watanabe, 67. Toyota executive Yoshi Inaba is called out of retirement and dispatched to the United States to head operations in the automaker's largest market.

* November 26, 2009: Toyota recalls 4.2 million vehicles in the United States to address the risk that floormats can come loose and trap the accelerator pedal.

* December 15, 2009: NHTSA officials meet Toyota executives in Japan seeking prompt action on safety issues. Toyota commits to improving its responsiveness.

* January 16, 2010: Toyota informs NHTSA that accelerator pedals made by supplier CTS Corp may have a dangerous "sticking" defect.

* January 19: At meeting in Washington including Inaba and U.S. sales chief Jim Lentz, NHTSA asks Toyota to take prompt action. Hours later Toyota tells NHTSA it will issue a recall.

* January 21: Toyota announces recall for about 2.3 million Toyota models to fix sticky pedals.

* January 25: NHTSA informs Toyota it is legally obliged to stop selling vehicles even if it does not have a remedy.

* January 26: Toyota halts U.S. sales of eight models involved in the recall, including its best-selling Camry and Corolla sedans, and says it will halt production for first week of February.

* January 27: At urging of NHTSA, Toyota recalls an additional 1.1 million vehicles due to the risk that a loose floormat could trap the accelerator in an open position. That adds to the recall of 4.2 million vehicles announced in November 2009.

* January 28: Toyota meets with NHTSA to review its pedal fix. NHTSA says it has no objections to the fix.

* January 29: NHTSA opens investigation into CTS pedals. NHTSA asks CTS if it sold pedal to other carmakers and when it discovered reports of problems.

* February 2: Toyota reports a 16 percent drop in January U.S. sales. Monthly U.S. sales drop below 100,000 for the first time in more than a decade and Toyota's U.S. market share falls to its lowest level since January 2006.

* February 2: NHTSA renews investigation into Toyota's electronic throttle control system. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says, "While Toyota is taking responsible action now, it unfortunately took an enormous effort to get to this point." Toyota says it will fully cooperate with NHTSA probe.

* February 3: LaHood warns recalled Toyota owners to stop driving, then withdraws his remarks, saying it was a misstatement. Toyota says it is examining braking complaints about its 2010 model Prius hybrid.

* February 4: NHTSA opens investigation into at least 124 consumer complaints about brakes on Toyota Prius hybrids.

* February 5: After keeping a low profile for nearly two weeks, President Akio Toyoda appears at a news conference to apologize for safety problems. He announces plans to bring in a task force, including outside analysts to review quality. Toyota considers a recall for Prius braking issue.

* February 9: Toyota announces recall of nearly 500,000 new Prius and Lexus-brand hybrid cars globally for braking problems. Akio Toyoda says he may visit the United States in the third week of February.

(Reporting by Reuters Detroit bureau, compiled by Soyoung Kim, editing by Claudia Parsons)

John Murtha, defense appropriations chair, dies

2010-02-09T17:07:56Z

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Representative John Murtha, chairman of the House of Representatives defense appropriations subcommittee who exercised enormous influence on defense issues, died on Monday.

Murtha, 77, died peacefully at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington with his family by his side, a statement from his office said. He had been hospitalized recently with complications related to gallbladder surgery.

As the top Democrat on the House panel that oversaw defense appropriations, Murtha wielded big clout in the Democratic-majority Congress, making decisions affecting billions of dollars in Pentagon spending.

But he also stunned his fellow hawks in 2005 by urging a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, transforming the debate over the 2003 invasion launched during the administration of former President George W. Bush and making opposition to the war a respectable conservative position.

Murtha, a former Marine, had served in the House since 1974, when voters in working-class Johnstown, Pennsylvania, made him the first Vietnam war veteran elected to the chamber.

He was a close associate of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and his impact on U.S. military matters was noted on Monday by President Barack Obama and Pentagon chief Robert Gates.

But analysts said his party could have problems retaining the seat in November's election now that Murtha is gone.

"This is going to be a difficult hold for Democrats," said David Wasserman with The Cook Political Report. The district is closely divided between Democratic and Republican voters, "but it has been moving in the Republican direction," he said.

A social conservative, foreign policy hawk and classic old-school politician, Murtha was chummy with lobbyists.

The gruff pro-labor Democrat worked to funnel defense projects to his district and those of his friends in the House, a practice that got him dubbed "King of Pork" in the media.

But this nickname did not seem to bother him much. He once reportedly referred to proposed ethics reforms as "total crap." Earlier, in 1980, he was an unindicted co-conspirator in an FBI corruption sting known as Abscam; a House ethics committee cleared him of any wrongdoing.

WEAPONS PROGRAMS

His death increases the chances that the Obama administration could succeed in killing two weapons programs that Murtha helped Congress to resurrect last year -- the Boeing C-17 transport plane and a second engine for the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter.

"There's no question that Jack Murtha was an institution and it's going to take time to adjust to his passing," said Loren Thompson, defense analyst with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute.

Thomson said major defense companies might not be able to lean as heavily on Murtha's likely successor on the defense spending panel, Norm Dicks, a Democrat from Washington state, although Dicks is a strong backer of defense programs.

The Standard & Poor's Aerospace & Defense Index fell 1.1 percent on Monday as major defense company shares were mixed.

Obama, in a statement, said Murtha had been a "respected voice" on issues of national security. Gates said he had worked with Murtha for over 20 years, "starting back in the Reagan administration when I was at CIA.

"I will always remember and be grateful for Congressman Murtha's personal efforts on behalf of the Afghan resistance fighting the Soviets - efforts that helped bring about the end of the Cold War," Gates said in a statement.

Back then Murtha worked with congressman Charlie Wilson to secretly provide funding for the CIA to supply arms to Afghan fighters against the Soviet Union, Murtha's website said.

House Appropriations Chairman Dave Obey said Murtha was a friend to the military who "understood the misery of war."

Last year Murtha, Obey and several other influential Democrats urged a surtax to pay for the continuing conflict in Afghanistan. Murtha said that war was exhausting the U.S. military, along with the years spent in Iraq.

Murtha was unable to parley his ties with Pelosi into a top leadership role. He was soundly beaten by Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer in the race for House majority leader in 2006.

(Additional reporting by Tom Ferraro, Andrea Shalal-Esa, Adam Entous and Karen Jacobs in Atlanta; editing by Mohammad Zargham and Cynthia Osterman)

U.S. weather roundup: Monster snowstorm to hit Northeast

2010-02-09T16:21:38Z

(Reuters) - A major snowstorm will hit the Midwest and Great Lakes on Tuesday and then gather even more force and sweep into the Northeast, dumping heavy amounts of snow. Winter storm warnings were in effect throughout the upper South.

Unseasonably cold weather to settle over the Midwest and Northeast this week, according to forecasters.

For the latest forecasts and maps please click below.

WEATHER CHANNEL http://www.weather.com/newscenter/nationalforecast/index.html

MAP http://image.weather.com/images/maps/special/norm_dep_low_600x405.jpg

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MAP http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/noaa/noaa.gif

QT WEATHER MAPS http://www.qtweather.com/newsletter/latest.html

Timeline: Iran's nuclear program

2010-02-09T14:25:11Z

(Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Tuesday that the United States wanted a U.N. Security Council resolution "within weeks" to tackle Iran's nuclear program as Iran said it had begun making higher-grade nuclear fuel.

Here is a timeline of Iran and its nuclear program in the last year:

March 20, 2009 - After years of U.S. attempts to isolate Iran, newly installed President Barack Obama calls for "engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect." Iran cautiously welcomes the overture, but wants practical steps.

April 9 - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran has mastered the nuclear fuel cycle and also tested more advanced machines for enriching uranium. He inaugurates the country's first atomic fuel fabrication plant near Isfahan.

June 5 - A quarterly report by U.N. nuclear watchdog IAEA says Iran has 7,231 centrifuge enrichment machines installed, a 25 percent increase in potential capacity since March.

June 12 - Ahmadinejad is re-elected president. Protests break out by moderates who say the result was fixed.

September 2 - IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei says Iran is not going to produce a nuclear weapon in the near future and the threat posed has been exaggerated.

September 24 - China dampens expectations of further sanctions against Iran, telling major powers more pressure will not persuade Tehran to halt its nuclear program.

-- In contrast, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown tells the United Nations the world should consider tougher sanctions.

September 25 - The IAEA says Iran has told it about a second uranium enrichment plant being built. Construction of the plant, near the city of Qom, began in 2006.

October 1 - Iran meets six world powers in Geneva. Iran accepts a plan at the talks to send 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France. There it would be made into special fuel for a Tehran reactor making medical materials.

October 21 - IAEA presents draft deal to reduce Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium.

October 25 - U.N. nuclear experts inspect the newly disclosed centrifuge plant being built near the Shi'ite holy city of Qom. The site will refine uranium for civilian nuclear energy.

October 30 - Iran tells IAEA it wants fresh nuclear fuel for a reactor in Tehran before it will agree to ship some enriched uranium stocks to Russia and France, according to the U.N.

November 18 - Iran says that Tehran will not send its enriched uranium abroad for further processing but would consider swapping it for nuclear fuel within its borders.

November 19 - Obama issues a strong warning to Iran of consequences of its failure to respond to the nuclear deal.

November 24 - World powers have drafted an IAEA resolution urging Iran to clarify the purpose of its previously secret uranium enrichment site, diplomats say.

-- Iran could consider sending its low-enriched uranium abroad, the Foreign Ministry says, apparently softening its opposition to a U.N. plan.

November 26 - ElBaradei criticizes Iran's blockage of a plan to divest it of possible nuclear bomb material as "disappointing."

November 27 - The IAEA votes -- by a 25-3 margin with six abstentions -- to censure Iran for developing the Fordow uranium enrichment plant near Qom in secret and demand Iran freezes the project.

November 29 - Iran announces plans to build 10 more nuclear sites in a swipe at growing pressure to rein in its atomic work.

January 19, 2010 - Diplomats say Iran has formally rejected key parts of the deal to send abroad for processing most of its material that could be used to make nuclear arms.

January 21 - Russia says it will start up the reactor at Iran's long-delayed Bushehr nuclear power plant.

February 2 - Ahmadinejad announces Iran is ready to send its enriched uranium abroad in what appears to be an easing of its position. The next day it launches a Kavoshgar-3 rocket capable of carrying a satellite, a move Washington describes as a "provocative act."

February 4 - China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, says during a visit to France, Tehran's negotiating position is evolving and he wants to see more direct talks with Iran.

February 9 - Iran begins making higher-grade nuclear fuel, enriched to a level of 20 percent, at its Natanz facility. Iran announced its intentions on February 7 and the IAEA confirmed Iran's plans the next day.