TurkmenPost

Iran has successfully enriched uranium for the first time, a landmark in its quest to develop nuclear fuel, hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday. He insisted, however, that his country does not aim to develop nuclear weapons.

In a nationally televised speech, Ahmadinejad called on the West "not to cause an everlasting hatred in the hearts of Iranians" by trying to force Iran to abandon uranium enrichment.

"At this historic moment, with the blessings of God almighty and the efforts made by our scientists, I declare here that the laboratory-scale nuclear fuel cycle has been completed and young scientists produced enriched uranium needed to the degree for nuclear power plants Sunday," Ahmadinejad said.

"I formally declare that Iran has joined the club of nuclear countries," he told an audience that included top military commanders and clerics in the northwestern holy city of Mashhad. The crowd broke into cheers of "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!" Some stood and thrust their fists in the air.

The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran stop all uranium enrichment activity by April 28. Iran has rejected the demand, saying it has a right to develop the process. The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, is due in Iran this week for talks to try to resolve the standoff.

The White House denounced the latest comments from Iranian officials, with spokesman Scott McClellan saying they "continue to show that Iran is moving in the wrong direction."

Ahmadinejad said Iran "relies on the sublime beliefs that lie within the Iranian and Islamic culture. Our nation does not get its strength from nuclear arsenals."

He said Iran wanted to operate its nuclear program under supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency and within its rights and regulations under the regulations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Associated Press

Proof, a member of the rap group D12 and a close friend of Eminem, was killed in a shooting at a nightclub along Eight Mile Road early Tuesday.

The death of Proof — whose real name is Deshaun Holton — was confirmed by Dennis Dennehy, the publicist for D12’s label, Interscope Records.

"Memorial service arrangements are still being made, and his friends and family would appreciate privacy during this difficult time," Dennehy said in a statement.

Proof was the best man at Eminem’s wedding in January and often appeared alongside the superstar rapper at concerts and public appearances. Proof also appeared in the film 8 Mile.

Detroit police would not confirm that Proof was killed, but did say that two people were shot in the head — one fatally — early Tuesday at a nightclub on Eight Mile.

An argument at the CCC nightclub escalated into gunshots, Detroit police spokesman James Tate said.

Wende Berry, a spokeswoman for St. John Health System, said Holton was dead on arrival at St. John Conner Creek, an outpatient treatment facility.

Berry confirmed that he had a gunshot wound and said that when he was dropped off he was identified as the rapper Proof to staff at Conner Creek, which is located near the site of the shooting.

Berry didn’t know whether he was taken to Connor Creek by ambulance or dropped off by someone else.

via usatoday.

The slim wars rage on with Samsung entering the battle with its as-yet-unreleased X828 handset. How slim is it? Try 6.9 mm, beating out the KTF Technologies EV-K100 by a millimeter. Put that in the context of an 6.85mm-thick iPod nano. Now that’s thin.

Even though it’s so small, it still has a 2-megapixel camera, 80MB of internal memory, Bluetooth, an MP3 player and 262k color screen. How much thinner can these phones get?

via gizmodo.

Japan’s TDK has started shipping blank Blu-ray discs to retailers, and they cost about as much as a first run movie on DVD.

A 25GB recordable disc costs $19.95, according to the Blu-ray Disc Association, the trade group behind the next-generation format. Recordable-rewritable versions of the 25GB disc cost $24.95.

Later this year, TDK will come out with a Blu-ray disc that records on both sides and holds 50GB. The recordable version will sell for $47.99, while the recordable-rewritable version will go for $59.95. TDK began to supply manufacturers with samples in December.

Prices, though, will decline as more manufacturers and manufacturing facilities for the new format come out. Blu-ray players won’t hit shelves until later this year.

via C|NET.

ABC will offer four prime-time shows including "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" on its Web site for free for two months beginning in May as it continues to expand the ways consumers can watch TV online.

The shows will include advertising that cannot be skipped over during viewing. ABC, which is owned by The Walt Disney Co., already offers ad-free episodes for $1.99 each on Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes store.

The offerings on the ABC.com Web site will also include current episodes of "Commander in Chief," as well as the entire season of "Alias," and will be available through June. New episodes will be available online the day after they run on ABC.

via newsvine.