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Tehran, Iran (CNN) — Iran has sent an “initial response” to a proposal designed to break the deadlock over its nuclear program, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday.

The IAEA did not say what Iran’s response was.

The deal could reduce the amount of material Iran has to make a nuclear bomb. The United States and its allies fear Tehran’s goal is to make a bomb. Iran denies it.

Under the proposal, Iran would send low-enriched uranium abroad to be turned into material for use in medical research and treatment at a reactor in Tehran.

Iran’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad struck a rare conciliatory note Thursday, saying that the Islamic republic was ready for nuclear cooperation with Western powers.

Ahmadinejad, speaking to crowds in the northeastern city of Mashhad, (more…)

Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) invented by

Swiss engineer Karl Muller, in a visit to Korea, he found walking barefoot in the paddy fields alleviated his back

pain. Back in Switzerland, Karl Muller set out to develop a barefoot technology, must be hard for city people walking

on the ground to create a similar South Korean paddy fields or the East African savannah state of soft ground is not

flat, after years of painstaking research and development, MBT shoes Finally in 1996 the market. Currently sold in over

20 countries have annual sales of this revolutionary product is about one million pairs. MBT shoes, want to help people

around the world have a more healthy, active and happy life. MBT believe that human fitness and health to a large

extent affected by the walk way, this view has been confirmed by a number of scientific studies. Therefore, attempts

through the dissemination of MBT shoes, MBT fitness ideas and concepts to awaken and strengthen the people’s right in

line with physiological understanding of the way on foot and in a direct, simple way would be consistent with the right

physiological benefits of us all on foot.

How to improve the health of MBT shoes: You

can lead the body movements. Encourage the use of neglected muscle; to improve posture and gait; to adjust and get in

shape; to help improve the back, buttocks, legs and foot problems; help joints, muscles, ligaments and tendon injury

recovery; reduce knee and bone joints pressure.

MBT shoes cheap unique sole

structure, and makes the wearer is in a natural non-steady state, but can balance the movement, that is by increasing

muscle activity, be removed. Studies, wearing MBT walking to reduce the pressure on the knee will be 19% (Nigg2004).

When walking, legs stretched before direct contact with the ground, and then stretched through the knee to stimulate

the muscles around the joint, MBT can effectively alleviate the knee problem.

Most of the hip problem is caused by imbalance in the muscles around the hip due. To maintain the same posture for

too long (such as white-collar workers), and the daily life and movement in unilateral pressure and tension will lead

to shortened hip flexors, resulting in a balanced muscle recession. Back pain is a common disease. One in every two

people who have back pain symptoms. Lack of exercise, unilateral stress or strain, standing or sitting for too long and

that led to the shoulder / neck and back tension in the common factors will cause pain.

Wearing MBT walking, straight

trunk is higher than wearing traditional shoes increased by 10%, more conducive to a good hip, back and other avatars

of the shape, the hip muscle exercise to increase 9%, from the beginning of each step to lead a healthy lifestyle.

MBT’s natural does not force the torso at all times maintain a stable balance between the body and stimulate the small

muscles around the spinal joints to protect it from shocks. As therapeutic tools and fitness equipment, MBT can

effectively alleviate the non-specific back pain, disc prolapse, lower back pain, low back pain and spinal paramere.

Wearing MBT walking can effectively exercise the small muscles around the joints, enhance muscle strength, burn more

fat, the joy of walking experience and training benefits to be effective in the treatment of obesity. Meanwhile, the

heel height of 5 cm or so, you can achieve the effect of increased hidden.

Some pension schemes are failing to give enough information to their members when they are about to retire, the Pensions Regulator has said.

Some defined contribution (DC) schemes were not briefing members properly on how to use the cash from their schemes to buy a pension, a survey found.

A survey of literature from 97 DC schemes found that 30% were in breach of pension regulations.

A small minority of schemes, 6%, needed “substantial changes” to their advice.

(more…)

Defence firm Qinetiq has said its chief executive is stepping down, a day after it was criticised in connection with a fatal Nimrod aircraft crash in 2006.

The company said Graham Love is standing down with immediate effect after eight years with the group.

A review of the Nimrod crash by the MoD, BAE Systems and Qinetiq was called “lamentable” by an independent review.

A Qinetiq spokesman told the BBC that Mr Love’s resignation was “not related at all” to the Nimrod review.

The crash killed 14 service personnel when the plane blew up after air-to-air refuelling over Afghanistan, when leaking fuel made contact with a hot air pipe.

Mr Love will remain a consultant to Qinetiq.

Leo Quinn, the former head of currency printer De La Rue, will take over as chief executive from 16 November.

“The board has been in succession planning for over a year,” the Qinetiq spokesman said.

Qinetiq was formerly part of a UK government defence and research agency, spun off in 2001 with the government holding a minority stake.

The firm will announce its results for the six months to September on 25 November.

Lloyds Banking Group has said it is looking to raise capital, as a way of avoiding entering the UK government’s insurance scheme for riskier assets.

It planned to put £260bn of loans and investments into the Government Asset Protection Scheme (GAPS) in return for taxpayers taking a larger Lloyds stake.

The bank is now reconsidering, pointing to better economic conditions and a stronger performance of its loans.

But Lloyds, 43%-owned by the taxpayer, said “all options remain open”.

The High Street lender is “in advanced discussions” with the Treasury, the Financial Services Authority and UK Financial Investments - which manages the UK government’s stakes in bailed-out banks - over its potential participation in GAPS.

It has been in talks since the scheme was announced in March.

“Lloyds believes that any alternative proposals to GAPS would be likely to include a substantial capital raising,” it said.

It said the capital raising would come either through a rights issue or through the “exchange of certain existing group capital securities”, or both.

“There can be no certainty at this stage that any alternative to GAPS will proceed,” Lloyds said.

GAPS details

Under GAPS, the government insures - for a price - some of the expected future losses on past investments made by our banks.

If those losses crystallised, some of them would in effect be transferred to the taxpayer.

However, if they did not, the taxpayer might make a profit on the premiums that the government will have charged.

One reason Lloyds is keen to minimise its use of GAPS is that it feels the fee it is charged by the Treasury is too expensive.

Even if it does not enter GAPS, Lloyds will have to pay a fee to the Treasury.

The bank said that this was “in recognition of the value of the implicit guarantee Lloyds has benefited from since the announcement of its intended participation”.

Since the end of March, Lloyds shares have surged 65%.

Lloyds also confirmed that it was in talks with the European Commission over its state aid.

“Based on the discussions to date it is confident that the final terms of its restructuring plan, including any required divestments of assets, will not have a will not have a material impact on the group,” it said.

Lloyds has been struggling since it bought HBOS last September. HBOS made a record loss in 2008 of almost £11bn.

“It’s good to have the economy growing again,” said Brian Bethune, economist at IHS Global Insight.
“But we don’t think that rate of growth is sustainable because it is distorted by all the government stimulus.

“The challenge here is to get organic growth - growth that isn’t helped by fiscal steroids.”

Analysts cautious about the slow nature of the US economic recovery point to the fact that the unemployment rate currently stands at 9.8%, and that the labour market traditionally lags behind any wider economic recovery.

They also highlight the fact that the big car firms have already reported a sharp fall in September sales following the conclusion of the popular $3bn cash for clunkers scheme at the end of August.

“You can say that the recession is over, but it sure won’t feel like that,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the Centre for Economic Policy Research.

“There is a lot of downward momentum that isn’t going to go.”

BBC chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym said the 3.5% annualised growth rate was better than had been expected by most commentators.

“The sheer scale of the stimulus in the US has made a big difference, it was much bigger in percentage terms than that in the UK,” he said.

It is the first time US economy has last expanded since the second quarter of 2008, when it grew at an annual pace of 2.4%.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner stressed times were still hard for millions.

“Unemployment remains unacceptably high for every person out of work, for every family facing foreclosure, for every small business facing a credit crunch, the recession remains alive and acute,” he said.

Official confirmation of whether the US is in or out of recession will come from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the agency which considers a number of factors in coming to its decision.

Numerous boosts

The figures from the Commerce Department showed that a number of factors helped to lift the economy during the third quarter.

Spending on durable manufactured products soared at an annualised rate of 22.3%, the highest quarterly amount since 2001, led primarily by the impact of the cash for clunkers scheme lifting car sales.

The housing market also improved, with spending on housing products up 23.4%, its largest quarterly jump in 23 years.

Analysts said this big leap was sparked by the government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time house buyers.

Meanwhile, total government spending was up 7.9%, as the wider stimulus spending continued to take effect.

In addition, exports were also up strongly, increasing 21.4%, the biggest rise since 1996.

The US economy grew at an annual pace of 3.5% between July and September, its first expansion in more than a year.

The growth was helped by a substantial government spending plan, including a scrappage scheme to boost car sales.

The official figures indicate recession has ended, but some economists think there could be further setbacks.

The White House said it was “a welcome milestone”, but stressed it would be some time before the economy made a full recovery.

Compared with the previous three months, the US economy grew by 0.9%. In the same period, and on the same measure, the UK economy unexpectedly stayed in recession after it shrank by 0.4%.

Japan, China, Germany and France have recently climbed out of recession.

A man has told how he and his wife were kidnapped by armed pirates while the pair slept aboard their yacht in the Indian Ocean.

Paul Chandler, of Kent, speaking by phone to ITV news, said: “I was asleep and men with guns came aboard.”

Searches for Mr Chandler, 59, and his wife, Rachel, 55, began on Friday, after the pair sent a distress signal.

Their yacht was discovered during counter-piracy operations on Wednesday, but the couple were not on board.

‘No ransom demand’

Mr Chandler, from Tunbridge Wells, said the raid had come in the early hours.

He said: “I was off watch. I was asleep and men with guns came aboard. It was on Friday last week at 0230.”

The kidnapped man’s brother-in-law, Stephen Collett, 58, of Ixworth, Suffolk, has confirmed that the voice in the phone call was that of Mr Chandler.

Paul and Rachel are blameless tourists

Foreign Office
The armed pirates forced the pair to sail towards Somalia after their boat was captured.

Mr Chandler said the pair were being held hostage on a Singapore-registered container ship called the Kota Wajah. He was speaking from the captain’s cabin at 1100 GMT (1400 local time).

He said their captors had not officially asked for a ransom.

“They kept asking for money and took everything of value on the boat,” he added.

(more…)

The judge said Rennie, a trained teacher who was found guilty of 14 charges, was at the heart of the conspiracy to abuse youngsters, and likened him to a spider weaving an electronic web to bring about his crime.

The mother of Rennie’s victim, known as Child F, told BBC Scotland of the “pain and torment” the case had put their family through.

She called for a “global strategy” between internet providers and government to prevent the distribution of abuse images.

“However, for those involved in paedophile behaviour to identify it in themselves and know where to seek help, society must be prepared to discuss this issue”, she added.

“We need to allow an openness within society of where to seek help, just as alcoholics go to AA and gamblers go to GA.

“Clearly the protection of children must take precedence, but if individuals could have been stopped or deterred, we as a family may not have found ourselves in this situation.”

Rennie had circulated pictures of the abuse and offered a boy to other paedophiles - an offer taken up by Strachan.

Both will remain under close supervision for the rest of their lives after the parole board sees fit to free them.

Co-accused Colin Slaven, 23, from Edinburgh; Neil Campbell, 46, John Milligan, 40, and John Murphy, 44, all from Glasgow; Ross Webber, 27, from North Berwick in East Lothian; and Craig Boath, 24, from Dundee, were also convicted of various offences.

They were given prison sentences of between two and 17 years.

The men had been arrested during the Operation Algebra police investigation, which uncovered nearly 125,000 indecent images of children.

Operation Algebra also uncovered dozens more suspects around the country and worldwide, many of whom have already been charged.

The investigation was sparked by a single indecent image of a naked 11-year-old which was found on paint company engineer Strachan’s computer when it was sent for repair.

Detectives discovered that Strachan and Rennie had filmed themselves sexually abusing children before distributing the images over the internet.