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IRAN AND WORLD powers have agreed on the framework of a potentially historic deal aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear drive after marathon talks in Switzerland.
It marks a major breakthrough in a 12-year standoff between Iran and the West, which has long feared Tehran wants to build a nuclear bomb.
US President Barack Obama welcomed the “historic understanding” with Iran but cautioned more work needed to be done.
“If Iran cheats, the world will know it,” he said in a televised address from the White House.
After eight days of talks that sometimes went through the night, Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of punishing sanctions, said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
The main outlines agreed at the negotiations in the Swiss city of Lausanne now have to be finalised in a highly complex agreement by June 30.
Big Day
US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed a “big day”, saying on Twitter that the global powers and Iran “now have parameters to resolve major issues on nuclear program. Back to work soon on a final deal”.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the drafting of a full agreement would begin immediately with the aim of completing it by the June 30 deadline.
Iranian media said the deal will include Iran slashing by two-thirds, to 6,000 from 19,000, the number of centrifuges, which can make fuel for nuclear power but also the core of a nuclear bomb.
Mogherini said the United States and the EU will lift all nuclear-related sanctions on Iran once the UN atomic agency has verified that Tehran has stuck to the ground-breaking deal.
Mogherini, in a joint press statement with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, also said that the design of a new reactor will be changed so that no weapons-grade plutonium can be produced.
The Fordo facility, built deep into a mountain, will remain open but will not be used for enrichment but for research and development.
Weapons
The so-called P5+1 group — the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia plus Germany — hope that the deal will make it virtually impossible for Iran to make nuclear weapons under the guise of its civilian programme.
France warned that the sanctions could be reimposed if Tehran does not fully keep its side of the bargain.
“Sanctions that are lifted can be reimposed if the deal is not applied,” the office of President Francois Hollande said in a statement, adding that Paris would watch closely to ensure a “credible” and “verifiable” final agreement that prevents Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
A successful implementation could put Iran and the United States on the road to better relations after 35 years of animosity.
In addition, the powers and Iran hope will finally silence all talk of military action by the United States and Israel against Iran.
Military option
Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, whose country is widely assumed to have the bomb, warned before today’s announcement that the “military option is on the table”.
Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan, the Iranian defence minister, said that similar comments on Tuesday by Pentagon chief Ashton Carter were “designed to affect the rational atmosphere” of the nuclear talks.
The White House had said overnight that it was prepared to walk away from the talks in Lausanne.
Iranian negotiators had been under pressure from domestic hardliners not to give too much away — while also delivering on Rouhani’s promise to win the lifting of sanctions.
Obama needs a deal which he can sell to hostile Republicans in Congress, who remain sceptical of Iran’s pledges and are threatening to push for new sanctions from April 14.
Republicans and US allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia fear that if too much of Iran’s nuclear programme is left intact, it will still have the ability to obtain a nuclear bomb.
The sanctions sent the economy of OPEC member state Iran into recession but it is now reporting growth again.
With the world’s fourth biggest oil and second biggest gas reserves, the energy industry is the cornerstone of Iran’s economy, but it was hit hard by the American and European embargo imposed in 2012.
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How many girls watched ‘The Little Mermaid’ and grew up wanting to be half fish half human.
I’m a merman.
My entire junior infants class wanted to be mermaids after that movie came out so that argument doesn’t really hold lol.
In fairness I’m actually currently undergoing surgery to make myself look more like a ninja turtle.
Some women smell like half fish. Does that count?
I don’t think any kind of beauty should exist any more. It just makes other people feel bad
You should drop in here more often stephen…
A consumer society cannot exist unless people feel miserable and that is from the man who constructed and invented the consumer society; Edward Bernays.
Yeah before this chap came along nobody desired material wealth
Ah, let it go, will ya.
Next they’ll say that Mickey Mouse is a poor role model for mice because he wears shorts.
Donald where’s your trousers?
Females (Young and old) are clever enough to figure out that a 2d kids character is not actually real, give us some credit!. Sick of this PC crap.
I must have been a stupid kid then. I wanted a waist like a Disney princess when I was younger.
But you knew they weren’t real at some point right?
But the Kim Kardashian ppl are making it really for young girls…forget Disney…Have you seen the Kylie lip challenge?
Real*
I knew they were drawings by they still had that feminine curviness that I really wanted. And when they all look like that you start to think that’s how girls should look. It’s weird though that people think this way of figures represented in the media rather than everyday people in real life.
Why is there never any concern for the ‘unrealistic ideals’ the likes of Action-Man or He-man set for young boys? I don’t believe in any of it to be honest, but it’s almost as if girls are expected to not be able to make that distinction between fantasy and reality, bit sexist in itself.
Nobody praises He-Man for his looks though O_o
Trust me, women do not find He-Man attractive. =P
Really? I thought the tiny pants and furry boots look was a good one!
Journal, too cheap to pay for a picture of Elsa?
They couldn’t take the risk in case any little girls are reading the article
Hilarious!
For goodness sake, what next??, of course dolls are pretty, they’re supposed to be, what little girl wants to play with an ugly doll??, dolls have been with us for centuries, every little girl remembers her favourite doll, not because it was pretty but because she got hours of enjoyment out of it, this is all that is wrong in our world, analysing and over analysing our children!, ever heard the term doll face??, , it frightens me all this gender neutral business, let little girls be little girls and little boys be little boys, the natural order of things, there would be a lot less wrong in our world if we could go back to basics and to a time where children were allowed to be children and plain speaking and a no nonsense attitude were the order of the day!
Hear hear kate.
Kate- very well said.
He is entirely correct. How many women do you know that can shoot ice or build an ice palace from nothing? Completely unattainable!
Disney and realism aren’t compatible. Take the real story about the extremely young native American Indian girl getting carted off by some fat old fella, that became something completely different in Pocahontas.
I’ve never seen Frozen, I know the song but not the movie. I feel like I’ve let everyone down.
Teddington , do you feel left out now ? You should watch it over the weekend . great movie !
Reality is often quite far from expectation. Teach them that and don’t fret so much.
I know several women that fit into the size zero category naturally.They’re sick and tired of articles telling them they’re unhealthy and unnatural.They eat well and exercise regularly.One was bullied throughout her school days and nicknamed the sardine can because of her of her physique developing an eating disorder where she’d periodically stuff her self with food to the point of being hospitalized for a near ruptured stomach.The point being that this unhealthy obsession with others appearance can cut both ways. Just teach kids to be healthy and happy and stop the bloody moaning if you yourself can’t be arsed to be the same.
If people really learned not to depend on unattainable looks for their self-esteem, the guy would be out of a job or removing warts and scars for a living.
I thought I was Steve Mcgarrott, when I wore a pair of checkered trousers, watch the original Hawaii five O, and you’ll see I’m not such a weirdo.
What’s even worse is the real life girls on Facebook who photo enhancing apps to make their eyes bigger, whiter in the whites than they really are, their wastes smaller, their lips bigger, their baps bigger…..the list goes on. Thousands of people are living lies every day. I think it starts with not telling your little girl she is a beautiful little princess every day or else she will grow up thinking her sole purpose is to be beautiful, make her see she has other qualities and while being pretty, while it can be nice or fun, is not a trait worth her entire self esteem.
Yup. Definitely want to minimise those ‘wastes’ alright!
Sorry Michael, yes, waists of course. Glad to see you got so much out of that, jog on.
She’s a cartoon, you morons – of course it’s unattainable.
The film is not a true story so why would it based on real looks Disney deal in fantasy not reality
More bollocks!
Headline should read: “Plastic Surgeon Keeps it Real”, with sub head, “#Isn’t it ironic”.
The only realistic looking Disney female I’ve ever seen was in Lilo and Stitch. Nani was a reasonable body shape. And she is the most beautiful female Disney has ever produced, in my opinion.
unless we start having Disney films all look like lilo and stitch, we won’t get realistic looking women. And having only one style of drawing in films will not be interesting at all. Do they want Disney to stick with animals, monsters and cars as their main stories so they are PC enough?
You’re kidding right? A cartoon is bad for little girls while the models and actresses aren’t? Her eyes are unrealistically too big, yes, but because she’s an ANIMATION! And little girls are smart enough to realise that as they also know that most girls don’t look like the emotions from Inside Out.
Whats the betting that if it were possible to alter the female appearance to mimic this cartoon character then the plastic surgeon wouldn’t have an issue with it.
I really don’t think anybody who’s job it is to carry out a lot of unnecessary cosmetic surgery is really in a position to say what or who can be considered a good role model.
Dying to see how Tom Burke swings this one to be about abortion.
I had a thing for Wilma Flintstone, when I was a young fella.
He’s quite right. I for one am disappointed plastic surfpgery can’t make me absorbent, yellow and porous, or allow me to live in a pineapple under the sea. Cartoons LIE!!!
Another RTE transcript…
I can see where he was coming from… I saw The Incredibles when I was younger, very pissed that I wasn’t going to attain superpowers
……………”that’s nice” ………
Irish plastic surgeon says Frozen’s Elsa is not a good role model for little girls…
Tron might be better then lol.
have your say