Vienna - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Wednesday it had not been able to make any progress on clarifying whether Iran had conducted research that was related to developing nuclear bombs.

In his latest report on Iran to IAEA member states, Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said that "regrettably, as a result of the lack of cooperation by Iran in connection with the alleged studies and other associated key remaining issues of serious concern, the Ageny has not been able to make substantive progress on these issues."

Washington, Nov 19: A former US Congress who has penned a “9/11 report” has said that the world could not afford to have Pakistan as a “failed state” replete with nuclear weapons, ethnic tensions, Taliban sympathisers and even Osama Bin Laden residing in its territory.

In an article published in the Indianapolis Star, Lee Hamilton writes that Pakistan’s underlying economic weaknesses and the global financial crisis had devastated the country.

Washington, Nov 18: Commenting on the recent troops-withdrawal pact between the Iraqi cabinet and the US, American top military officer Admiral Michael Mullen has said that the timing of that withdrawal should be based on “security conditions on the ground”.

Though, he added that the US military would require two to three years to remove its roughly 150,000 troops and “awful lot” of equipment from Iraq safely.

He said there were some logistical hurdles to a US troop withdrawal along a fixed timeframe.

Bonn, Germany - Industrialized countries are continuing to emit more greenhouse gasses despite goals set by the Kyoto agreement to curb carbon pollution, a UN body said Monday.

The UN Climate Change Secretariat said planet-warming gases released by 40 industrial states that signed up the Kyoto framework increased an average 2.3 per cent between 2000-2006.

Vienna

London, Nov 17 : Internet crooks are selling complete financial identities for just 80 pounds in Britain, according to an online safety group.

The Get Safe Online group, which is backed by police, government and banks, has revealed that Britons are losing their names, addresses, passport numbers and confidential financial data like credit card numbers to internet fraudsters, willing to make money as soon as possible.

According to Serious Organised Crime Agency, fraudsters are selling personal information for as little as five pounds per piece of data or 80 pounds for an entire package.

Branding it a serious problem, the online safety group calls for new ways to protect identities online.