Free Republic

“I had the hormonal urges,” said Prof Camille Parmesan, a leading climate scientist based in France. “Oh my gosh, it was very strong. But it was: ‘Do I really want to bring a child into this world that we’re creating?’ Even 30 years ago, it was very clear the world was going to hell in a handbasket. I’m 62 now and I’m actually really glad I did not have children.” Parmesan is not alone. An exclusive Guardian survey has found that almost a fifth of the female climate experts who responded have chosen to have no children, or fewer children,...

LOS ANGELES – A relative of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and one of his former cabinet secretaries are part of a private investment group that could score a lucrative payoff if regulators approve a sprawling solar-energy complex near the Mojave Desert Preserve. The personal connections have raised questions about possible favorable treatment for a project being touted as a breakthrough in the development of solar power. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime environmental activist who is the cousin of first lady Maria Shriver, and former state Environmental Protection Secretary Terry Tamminen were named senior advisers at VantagePoint Venture Partners last year....

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Friday that Iran has "weeks not months" to respond to a U.S.-backed offer aimed at containing Iran's nuclear ambitions and said Tehran needs to suspend uranium enrichment. Bush said if Iran does not suspend enrichment, "there must be a consequence" and that it would be action taken in the U.N. Security Council. "We have given the Iranians a limited period of time, weeks not months," to respond to an offer for an incentives package for Iran to ensure it does not pursue nuclear weapons, said Bush.

US offer would allow Teheran to enrich uranium in Russia By Philip Sherwell in New York (Filed: 20/11/2005) President George W Bush has backed a plan to allow Iran to enrich uranium in Russia. The sudden change in tactics over Teheran's controversial nuclear programme has angered hawks in Washington and surprised European diplomats. Mr Bush, who met President Vladimir Putin at a Pacific Rim summit on Friday, told him he would support Moscow's plan to offer Iran the chance to conduct nuclear enrichment at facilities in Russia. The US was previously against any deal that would allow Iran to enrich...

The U.N. nuclear agency said Friday it will hold an emergency executive meeting next week to persuade Iran to continue negotiations with European powers on an incentive package aimed at getting Iran to halt some of its nuclear activities. The meeting comes as Tehran is threatening to restart processing of some nuclear materials. IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said the 35-nation board is acting at the request of Britain, France and Germany, the three countries negotiating a deal to induce Iran to scale back its nuclear ambitions. "Three countries of the EU have called for a special session of the board...

Washington DC—According to a 2 August 2005 Washington Post article, a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) projects that Iran is a decade away from manufacturing a key ingredient for a nuclear weapon, roughly doubling the previous estimate of five years, according to government sources with first-hand knowledge of the new analysis. The intelligence estimate is contradictory—reflecting disagreement within the community. On one hand, the estimate is reassuring: Iran is alleged to be about ten years away from getting the bomb. On the other hand, the estimate is worrisome: “It is the judgment of the intelligence community that, left to its own...

IRAN is defying the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) while engaging in an "unrelenting push toward nuclear weapons capability", the US said today. "It should come as no surprise that Iran has defied the board (of the IAEA) once again and announced it is producing uranium hexafluoride, the material for centrifuge enrichment," said Kurtis Cooper, a State Department spokesman. "Although Iran has repeatedly asserted that its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes and its pursuit of uranium enrichment technologies are to fuel a planned civilian power program, Iran will have no peaceful use for enriched uranium for many,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Raising new alarms about Iran, the Bush administration concluded Wednesday that the country is getting ready to produce enough enriched uranium for four nuclear weapons. Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton, the administration's point man on nuclear proliferation threats, said "we view with great concern" revelations in a classified report circulated among member governments by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran is about to convert 37 tons of "yellowcake" uranium into uranium hexafluoride gas. Bolton said that move combined with Iran's recent announcement that it intends to test its gas centrifuges "are further strong evidence...