Cartel kingpin Chicago's new Public Enemy No. 1

Diplomat confirms Iran nuclear upgrade

VIENNA (AP) — Adding weight to its announcement of a nuclear upgrade, Tehran has shown high-level U.N. officials high-tech equipment positioned at its main uranium enrichment site meant to vastly accelerate output of material that can be used for both reactor fuel and atomic arms, a senior diplomat said Thursday.

The diplomat spoke to The Associated Press shortly after the officials returned from Tehran, acknowledging that their latest in a series of trips to the Iranian capital that began over a year ago again failed to reach a deal to restart an investigation into suspicions thatIran is pursuing nuclear arms.

Herman Naeckerts, who headed the International Atomic Energy Agency team that visited Iran, said "remaining differences" scuttled attempts to finalize an agreement on how such an investigation should be conducted. He declined to say whether there was progress.

The IAEA wants the probe to be open-ended, something strenuously opposed by Tehran, which denies it wants nuclear weapons and says it is interested in the atom only as an energy source and for research.

With expectations for success low even before the start of the latest negotiating attempt, interest focused on Iran's move to install a new generation of centrifuges at Natanz, its main uranium enriching site southeast of Tehran.

Iran announced the start of installations during the IAEA team's one-day visit Wednesday at about the same time that the diplomat said the group was shown "a small number" of the machines at the site. The diplomat said those centrifuges were ready to be installed. The diplomat, who closely follows Iran's nuclear program, demanded anonymity because his information was confidential.

The new-generation centrifuges can enrich uranium four to five times faster than Iran's present working model. Experts say Iran already has enough enriched uranium for several weapons if it is further enriched.

Any move to enrich faster will rile Israel, which sees Iran's nuclear program as an existential threat and has said it would use all means to stop it from reaching weapons capability. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the world has until this summer — at the latest — to keep Iran from building a bomb.

It also is likely to hurt chances of progress at talks in Kazakhstan later this month between Iran and six world powers seeking to blunt Iran's enrichment program. Iran in turns wants an easing of sanctions imposed over its enrichment program before it is ready to reduce it.

The failure of either side to make the initial move has led to a series of failed negotiations. Nonproliferation expert Mark Fitzpatrick said Iran's centrifuge upgrade may be a further signal that it is determined not to blink first.

"Installation of the more efficient centrifuges will probably contribute to Iran's unwillingness to compromise," said Fitzpatrick, a former senior U.S. State Department official now with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "It bolsters Iran's belief that time is on its side and that the West will eventually have to give in to the pressure of Iran's growing enrichment capacity.

"It's a kind of mirror image of the Western belief that Iran will eventually have to give in to the pressure of sanctions, he said. "The race between centrifuges and sanctions continues apace."

In first announcing plans to update last month, Iran indicated that It could add more than 3,000 of the new-generation centrifuges to the more than 10,000 older models it has at Natanz turning out low-enriched, fuel-grade uranium. About 700 of the old machines at Fordo, another site, are churning out higher-enriched material that is still below — but just a technical step away — from weapons-grade uranium. Iran says it needs that higher-enriched level to fuel a research reactor.

Olli Heinonen, the former IAEA deputy director general in charge of Iran, said that the pace of Iran's installation of its older centrifuges "would mean that all 3,000 plus (new) centrifuges could be installed in six to nine months' time," if the assumption was right that Tehran had the material to make the machines.

When Iran announced its intentions last month, Western diplomats downplayed the proclamation's significance, noting Tehran did not say when it would start populating Natanz with the new machines. But signs of an upgrade that has started or is about to are sure to increase international concerns, particularly if the IAEA verifies as expected in a report later this month that officials saw the equipment ready for installation.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Iran to show flexibility when negotiators meet in Kazakhstan.

"These talks can only make progress if the Iranians come to the table determined to make and discuss real offers and engage in a real dialogue," Kerry told reporters, speaking alongside U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Before his meeting with Kerry, Ban expressed hope the Feb. 26 talks with Iran would bring "fruit for progress."

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Eurozone recession deepens as Germany falters

BERLIN (AP) — It was only a matter of time. With many of its debt-ridden euro partners in recession,Germany could only swim against the tide for so long.

Figures Thursday showed that output in Germany, Europe's largest economy, contracted by more than anticipated in the last three months of 2012. And it was the German drop that lay behind a deepening of the recession across the economy of the 17 European Union countries that use the euro.

Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said the eurozone's economic output shrank by 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2012 from the previous three-month period. The decline was bigger than the 0.4 percent drop expected in markets and the steepest fall since 2009, when the global economy was in its deepest recession since World War II.

There are hopes, though, that the fourth quarter of 2012 will mark the low point for the eurozone, and Germany in particular. Many economists are predicting that the eurozone recession may end in the first half of the year.

Nevertheless, Thursday's figures highlight the scale of the problems that have afflicted the single currency zone over the past year. Fears of a break-up, if not a collapse, of the currency dented confidence at a time when many governments were embarked on fairly severe debt-reduction programs.

In 2012 as a whole, the eurozone economy shrank by 0.5 percent, a stark contrast from the 2.2 percent growth recorded in the U.S. and the 1.9 percent in Japan.

"The fourth quarter's bigger-than-expected fall underlined the fact that, while sentiment towards the region has improved, the hard news on the economy remains distinctly weak," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics.

The eurozone has contracted for three straight quarters — a recession is officially defined as two quarters of negative growth. The eurozone is not alone in finding it increasingly tough as the year progressed but the fourth quarter figures confirm the region is struggling worse than others.

If the quarterly rate is annualized, Capital Economics' Loynes said the eurozone would be contracting by around 2.5 percent, much worse than 0.1 percent drop in the U.S. and Japan's 0.4 percent fall. Eurostat does not provide annualized comparisons.

The worry for European policymakers is that output is declining not just in the weaker, debt-laden economies such as Greece and Spain, where governments have been aggressively increasing taxes and cutting spending in order to get a grip on their public finances and relieve the pressure inflicted on them by skeptical investors.

The standout from the quarterly figures was Germany. Its economy shrank by a quarterly rate of 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, more than the 0.4 percent expected, as demand for its exports from its European neighbors were dragged down by the underlying economic malaise.

France, Europe's second-biggest economy, also saw output drop by 0.3 percent. Both economies are now one quarter away from recession.

The Eurostat figures showed that seven eurozone countries were in recession at the end of 2012 — Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Portugal, The Netherlands and Finland. If upcoming figures for Slovenia show it contracted for the third quarter running in the final three months of the year, than that number rises to eight, almost half the eurozone.

ING economist Carsten Brzeski said the German figures were disappointing but that there was "no reason to start singing the blues on the German economy." He noted improving confidence indicators and rising factory orders and industrial production.

"There is increasing evidence that the economy should pick up speed again very quickly," he said.

For the eurozone as a whole there have been some rosier signs of late. In the first few weeks of 2013, some forward-looking business surveys have improved as financial markets have become less concerned about the region's debt woes — thanks, in part, by the promise last summer by the European Central Bank to help out countries struggling with their borrowing costs.

France, however, remains a greater cause for concern as its economy faces a number of problems that don't trouble Germany as much. The French government has to keep a tight leash on its finances, unemployment is around 10 percent and its exporters are struggling, not least in the auto sector, with both Peugeot-Citroen and Renault struggling.

Though many analysts think France's recent structural reforms will help make the economy more competitive, any tangible gains will not be seen for a while.

"Unfortunately, their positive impact on competitiveness, employment and activity will take time to materialize and will do little to mitigate economic pain in the short term," said Herve Goulletquer, an analyst at Credit Agricole CIB.

Alongside the debt-reduction efforts that governments are pursuing across the eurozone, the region's exporters also have to contend with a currency that has been rallying on foreign exchange markets, potentially making their products less competitive in the international marketplace.

Thursday's downbeat figures offered some respite though, as the euro fell sharply against a broad range of currencies. At one point, the currency was 1 percent lower at $1.3316 and down 1.2 percent at 123.85 yen.

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Litany of secrets after papal retirement bombshell

FILE -- In this file photo taken on March 25, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI waves from the popemobile wearing a Mexican sombrero as he arrives to give a Mass in Bicentennial Park near Silao, Mexico. Turin's La Stampa newspaper reported Thursday, Feb. 14, 2014, that Benedict hit his head and bled when he got up in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar bedroom in Leon, Mexico. The report said blood stained his hair, pillow and floor. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi confirmed the incident but said "it was not relevant for the trip, in that it didn't affect it, nor in the decision" to resign. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — For an institution devoted to eternal light, the Vatican has shown itself to be a master of smokescreens sincePope Benedict XVI's shock resignation announcement.

On Thursday, the Vatican spokesman acknowledged that Benedicthit his head and bled profusely while visiting Mexico in March. Two days earlier the same man acknowledged that Benedict has had a pacemaker for years, and underwent a secret operation to replace its battery three months ago.

And as the Catholic world reeled from shock over the abdication, it soon became clear that Benedict's post-papacy lodgings have been under construction since at least the fall. That in turn put holes in the Holy See's early claims that Benedict kept his decision to himself until he revealed it.

Vatican secrecy is legendary and can have tragic consequences — as the world learned through the church sex abuse scandal in which bishops quietly moved abusive priests without reporting their crimes.

And the secrecy is institutionalized from such weighty matters to the most trivial aspects of Vatican life.

"You have to understand that actually every Vatican employee and official takes an oath of secrecy when they assume their job," said John Thavis, author of "The Vatican Diaries," an investigation into the workings of the Holy See. "And this isn't something that is taken lightly. They swear to keep secret any office matters and anything pertaining to the pope."

One of the most famous cases of Vatican secrecy was the Holy See's efforts to cover up the fact thatPope John Paul I's dead body was discovered by a nun. The eventual revelation helped fuel conspiracy theories over the death of the pope who ruled for only 33 days in 1978.

The Vatican is so obsessed with secrecy that the first and only official confirmation that John Paul II had Parkinson's disease was in his death certificate.

The Vatican justifies itself by arguing that its officials are holders of the divine truth, unaccountable to worldly laws. In particular, the pope's word is the final say on any issue — infallible on some doctrinal matters. But groups representing sex abuse victims, and other Catholics angered by the scandal, have been demanding modern standards of accountability and calling for reforms.

The Vatican brushed aside criticism for keeping quiet about the pope's December pacemaker procedure, on grounds it was "routine." One Vatican official said making the operation public would simply have led to a big and unnecessary commotion about the pope's health. "You can imagine the satellite dishes in St. Peter's square," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

The front-man for the church's dance of concealment and disclosure: Vatican spokesman The Rev. Federico Lombardi. In his briefings, Lombardi has been forced into the uncomfortable situation of keeping silent on aspects of the pope's health and future, only to backpedal when confronted with reports in Italian newspapers.

In the latest disclosure, Turin's La Stampa newspaper reported Thursday that Benedict hit his head on a sink and bled profusely when he got up in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar bedroom in Leon, Mexico. The report said papal blood stained Benedict's hair, his pillow and the floor.

Lombardi confirmed the incident but denied it played any role in the pope's resignation. Still, suspicions are bound to be whetted, since the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported this week that Benedict had taken the decision to resign after the Mexico-Cuba trip, which was physically exhausting for the 85-year-old pope.

Then there's the question of how many people knew of Benedict's decision to retire.

On the day of the announcement the Vatican cast it as a bolt from the blue, saying almost nobody knew but Benedict himself. Soon, however, prominent clergymen — one not even Catholic — began changing the tone and saying they were not surprised.

"Knowing the pope well, there was something in the air that this decision of the pope was possible," said Archbishop Piero Marini, master of papal ceremonies under Pope John Paul II. "So it was not a shock."

Even the retired Arcbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Rowan Williams, says that based on his last meeting with Benedict a year ago he was not surprise at the decision to step down.

"Because of our last conversation I was very conscious that he was recognizing his own frailty and it did cross my mind to wonder whether this was a step he might think about," Williams told Vatican Radio.

Renovation work on a convent previously occupied by cloistered nuns has been going on in secret since at least last fall, an issue apparently causing grumbling among cardinals about the choice of arrangements and whether Benedict's presence on Vatican grounds will allow the retired pope to wield too much influence on his successor.

"I don't think there was a consultation of the College of the Cardinals about this," Lombardi said Wednesday, deflecting questions about Benedict's living arrangements. "The decision and the process of the decision was very limited in the number of persons involved."

That points to another aspect of Vatican secrecy: The habit of different wings of the Holy See jealously concealing information from one another.

"There is very little cross communication within Vatican departments," Thavis said, "so one department may know something but that does not mean that the Curia office down the hall knows about it as well."

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AP writer Daniela Petroff and AP Video Producer Tricia Thomas contributed.

5,500 attend Connecticut gun control rally

Jillian Soto, sister of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Victoria Soto, left, speaks as her cousin Heather Cronk, right, holding photograph of Soto, listens, during a rally at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. Thousands of people turned out to call on lawmakers to toughen gun laws in light of the December elementary school shooting in Newtown that left 26 students and educators dead. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

People hold signs during a rally at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. Thousands of people turned out to call on lawmakers to toughen gun laws in light of the December elementary school shooting in Newtown that left 26 students and educators dead. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Thousands of people, including some first-time activists moved by the deadly shooting atSandy Hook Elementary School, rallied atConnecticut's state Capitol on Thursday demanding lawmakers toughen gun laws.

Holding signs that read: "We are Sandy Hook. We deserve change" and "Let's get this done," many in crowd — estimated by the state Capitol Police at 5,500 — said they wanted to make sure their opinions were heard. They said they did not want them overshadowed by vocal gun rights advocates who've successfully defeated gun control measures in Connecticut in the past, such as limits on the size of ammunition magazines.

"We have reached a tipping point Connecticut. Our hearts are broken," said Nancy Lefkowitz, one of two mothers who formed the grassroots organization March for Change and helped organize the Valentine's Day rally.

The rally came exactly two months after a man went on a shooting rampage at the elementary school in Newtown before taking his own life.

Twenty-four-year-old Jillian Soto pleaded with policymakers to not forget the six educators and 20 first-graders who were killed and immediately pass gun reform legislation. Her sister, Victoria Soto, was one of the teachers killed. She said no one else needs to lose a family member.

"It's not about political party or hidden agendas. It's about life," she said. "And my life and the lives of so many are now changed forever because of what guns can do in the wrong hands."

In an interview before the rally, Soto said she felt the need to publicly come forward on her sister's behalf, keeping her memory alive and demanding a change in gun laws.

"She fought to save her children in her classroom," Soto said. "And I'm here fighting for the same thing, to save everybody's lives here, because we need to do something to change."

Thursday's event, one of the larger state Capitol rallies in recent years, comes as a special bipartisan task force created by the General Assembly attempts to reach consensus on possible law and policy changes affecting guns, mental health and school security. Legislators hope to vote on a package of recommendations later this month or early March.

While both Democratic and Republican state politicians appeared at the rally, including Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, it's not a given there will be bipartisan support for many of the proposals pushed by rally attendees. They include a ban on high-capacity magazines and all military-style assault weapons, annual registration renewals for handguns, universal background checks and mandatory safe storage of weapons.

One key GOP leader, House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero Jr., a member of the bipartisan task force, declined to attend, saying he felt it was inappropriate to appear at any rally touting a specific legislative agenda as the task force is still deliberating. Republican Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, whose district includes Newtown, has not committed his support to the March for Change group's agenda. He was interrupted by shouts of "pass the law" when he spoke generally about the importance of choosing love instead of a culture of violence in society.

"Democracy is great thing. People can come and march on their Capitol and their elected representatives and say what they say. If people want to heckle, that's fine," McKinney said afterward. "It is an example, though, of why sometimes laws don't get passed. Because people aren't willing to sit down and listen to perhaps another side or other sides and talk with one another."

Julius Magyari of Stamford, a gun rights advocate who quietly sat in a lawn chair at the back of the rally, said there are some common sense responses to the Newtown shooting, such as improving mental health screening and requiring gun safety classes. But Magayari, who competes in shooting events, is concerned lawmakers are being swayed by the emotions of the Newtown shooting and will pass laws that won't work or will harm lawful gun owners.

Magyari also attended a recent gun rights rally at the Capitol that drew more than 2,000 people and a daylong legislative hearing on guns. He said he has doubts lawmakers will pass a truly bipartisan plan and believes many already have made up their minds.

"The people who are against it, are against it," he said, referring to gun rights. "They're not listening to who is coming in."

Ron Pinciaro, executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence, said he is optimistic state lawmakers will reach a bipartisan deal on gun control measures because of public pressure to act. He said much of that pressure is coming from people who've never gotten involved in the political process before.

"Maybe they've voted, but really not much more than that. But they're moved. They're very moved and they want something done," he said. "And at the end of the day, I think the legislators have to listen, will listen. And it's a bipartisan thing because we're talking about our children now."