Iran on Monday celebrated the one-year anniversary of the country‘s first success in enriching uranium, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepared to announce new progress in the key process that the United Nations has demanded Iran halt.

The U.N. has imposed limited sanctions on Iran until it suspends enrichment a key process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the basis of a warhead. The United States and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons, a claim the country denies.

Gen. Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, who is also deputy interior minister for security affairs, was quoted on the state TV Web site as saying that his six-day journey to Moscow, which ended Monday, showed "the ineffectiveness of the resolution."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Krivtsov confirmed that Zolqadr visited Russia. He told The Associated Press that the resolution does not prohibit visits by the listed individuals, instead calling for heightened vigilance and attention, and that "this vigilance is directed first of all at people who are directly related to nuclear programs," suggesting that Zolqadr was not.

Tensions are also high between Iran and the West following the 13-day detention of 15 British sailors by Iran. The sailors, who were seized by Revolutionary Guards off the Iraqi coast, were released on Wednesday, but since then have said they were put under psychological pressure by their captors to force them to "confess" to being in Iranian waters when captured, angering many in Britain.

Diplomats from developing nations were attending Monday‘s celebrations at Natanz, but diplomats from European Union boycotted to protest Iran‘s refusal of the U.N. demands, said the Foreign Ministry in Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency.

Cline tried to sue Ashland Inc., Chevron Phillips Chemical, and ExxonMobil Corp., which produced the benzene he believed caused his disease. The judge presiding over the case ruled in favor of the defendants, stating that Cline waited too long to sue.

The judge’s ruling was based on a 1979 precedent that held that the two-year statute of limitations begins on the date of the last incidence of chemical exposure.

In Alabama, another precedent allows lawsuits only by persons who can show “manifest harm” or demonstrable injury. But because Cline’s illness was not diagnosed until 1999—four years after his last exposure—there was no allowable time period during which he could have sued, according to both precedents.

Cline’s lawyer, Leslie Brueckner, is arguing that the state ruling violated the 14th amendment, denying Cline due process of law.

If the U.S. Supreme Court accepts the case, oral arguments should begin sometime in the fall or winter.

The report, which was adopted after a five-day set of discussions between scientific experts and government delegates from more than 120 countries, broke down its findings into regions for the first time.

Africa, a continent mainly composed of less developed countries, will be the hardest hit by the adverse effects of global warming, according to the report.

"New studies confirm that Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low adaptive capacity," experts said in a 21-page summary of the whole report for policy makers.

By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people in Africa are projected to be exposed to an increase in water shortages, the report said.

As a result of climate change, the area suitable for agriculture, the length of growing seasons and yield potential are expected to decrease, which will further adversely affect food production in the continent as it was already suffering from malnutrition.

In some countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 percent by 2020, the report warned.

The poverty-inflicted continent may also have to spend at least five to ten percent of their gross domestic products to cover the cost of adaptation to climate change, the report said.

Two lawyers from Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. were among 17 people recognized as outstanding volunteers by The Milwaukee 7 at its recent advisory council meeting: Christine Liu McLaughlin, shareholder and member of the Labor & Employment Practice Group in the firm’s Milwaukee and Waukesha offices, and Mark C. Witt, shareholder and member of the Corporate Practice Group in the firm’s Milwaukee office. The awards were presented in appreciation of McLaughlin’s and Witt’s professional connections that helped open the door to many CEOs during the Milwaukee 7 CEO Call Program.

The Milwaukee 7, launched in September 2005, was formed to create a regional, cooperative economic development platform for the seven counties of southeastern Wisconsin: Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Waukesha and Washington. The CEO Call Program includes a team of 135 volunteers who have visited with the CEOs of 450 companies to aggregate information for a more systematic understanding of the business climate and address concerns to help attract, retain and grow diverse businesses and talent.

Christine Liu McLaughlin
McLaughlin provides counsel on an array of issues including hiring, discipline and termination; family and medical leave; federal and state disability discrimination; federal and state civil rights and fair employment; sexual and other unlawful harassment; workplace violence; contingent workforce; and affirmative action and compliance. She has conducted workshops and seminars on these and other employment law topics in Wisconsin as well as nationally. Additionally, McLaughlin was instrumental in the creation and implementation of Legal Resource Training, Godfrey & Kahn’s interactive training service initiated as a proactive tool to help clients avoid employment litigation.

McLaughlin is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the Human Resource Management Association of Southeastern Wisconsin.

Mark C. Witt
Witt’s practice is focused on business law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, private equity and venture capital. Mark has been involved in numerous public and private business transactions as counsel to buyers, sellers, lenders and investors. He also is experienced in international business transactions and restructurings, including private equity and hedge fund investments in Asia. He assisted with the creation of Godfrey & Kahn's Shanghai office.

Witt serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the YMCA Holton Youth Center, and is a member of the Advisory Board of WIN-Milwaukee, and the Board of Directors of the Milwaukee Curling Club.

Founded in 1957, Godfrey & Kahn maintains offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton, Green Bay, and Waukesha, WI; Washington, DC; and Shanghai, PRC. With more than 190 attorneys, Godfrey & Kahn provides legal and business advice to clients ranging from small businesses and governmental entities to large privately and publicly held national and international companies.

http://www.gklaw.com

South Korea plans to start free trade agreement (FTA) talks with the European Union (EU) as early as next month with the goal of striking an accord by 2008.

"Should the EU members reach an internal consensus by the end of this month, Korea and the EU could hold the first round of FTA talks in Seoul in early May,'' said Kim Han-soo, a director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT).

The EU is the second largest market for Korean exports following China. Last year Korea's exports to the European economic bloc reached $49.2 billion, exceeding $43.2 billion to the United States.

Days after Korea concluded its free trade talks with the U.S. on April. 2, Seoul officials began to stress the necessity of signing pacts with other economic superpowers such as China and the EU.

The EU also has been showing eagerness to establish an FTA with Korea since the latter started bilateral negotiations with the U.S. last June.

Korea and the U.S. held negotiations in 19 sectors but the number of negotiation sectors with the EU is expected to remain at about 10, government officials said.

About 50 Korean negotiators are expected to engage in the talks with the EU, compared with 150-180 in talks with the U.S.

Despite the smaller scale, the negotiation period could be longer than the KORUS FTA talks which were wrapped up in 10 months after the first round of talks in June 2006.

The two sides have the goal of concluding the talks by the end of 2008. But unlike the Korea-U.S. agreement in which the U.S. struggled to end the talks three months before George W. Bush's trade promotion authority (TPA) _ granted by the U.S. Congress _ expires on July 1, 2007, there is no time limit in the coming Korea-EU FTA talks.

They are likely to engage in heated debates in opening such sectors as the automobiles, agriculture and pharmaceuticals markets.

European countries including Germany, France and the United Kingdom will focus on the Korean automobile and agricultural markets while Korea will set its sights on electronic products and motor vehicles.

Effects from the removal of tariff barriers will be relatively high given the average tariff imposed on Korean products by EU members reaches 4.2 percent compared with about 3 percent by the U.S.

In 2005, the EU's gross domestic product reached $13.5 trillion, compared with $12.5 trillion of the U.S. and $4.6 trillion of Japan.

"Following the FTA with the U.S., now we expect to strike a deal with the EU quickly,'' Minister of Finance and Economy Kwon O-kyu told reporters last Wednesday. He also said it is very important to sign a deal with China.

Last August, Lee Hee-beom, chairman of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), said he wants Korea to push for an FTA with the EU if the European economic bloc wishes to negotiate one.

The EU is also moving to hold free trade talks with other countries including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). But its FTA targets do not involve the U.S. or Japan.

Only two developed nations _ Canada and Australia _ have signed FTAs with the U.S.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang blasted a new human rights report released by the US Department of State as being inconsistent with "basic facts" Saturday, characterizing it as unsubstantiated and slanderous to the human rights conditions in China. The annual report on US efforts to support human rights and democracy abroad was delivered to Congress Thursday in compliance with the FY 03 Foreign Relations Authorization Act.

The report criticized the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) for suppressing the human rights of those "perceived to threaten the legitimacy or authority" of the party; Qin responded that China has received international acclaim for its protection of human rights, freedom of expression and fundamental liberties of all of its various ethnic groups. Qin noted that there is a consensus amongst the international community that the "United States is not in the position to depict itself as a human rights watchdog," and that the United States should examine its own human rights practices, and refrain from applying double or multiple standards as a pretext to intervene in the domestic affairs of states. Qin stated that doing so would remove the barriers between serious interstate dialogue concerning human rights.

The report, the fifth annual submission, is intended to complement the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which highlight and publicize foreign rights abuses. Since 1998, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has published a responsive annual report titled the Human Rights Record of the United States.