---

Early results from Iran's presidential election put the reformist-backed candidate, Hassan Rouhani, in the lead.

Official figures give him 51% of the five million ballots counted so far - well ahead of second-placed Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf on 17%.

If Mr Rouhani maintains that margin, he will be able to avoid a run-off vote.

Electoral officials said turnout was high among the 50 million Iranians eligible to vote on Friday for a successor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

His eight years in power have been characterised by economic turmoil and Western sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.

Joint statement
The interior ministry began releasing preliminary figures early on Saturday after a delay of several hours.

Voting was extended until 23:00 local time (18:30 GMT) on Friday to allow more people to cast their ballots. Iranian Press TV reported that turnout was 80%.


Voting was extended by five hours to accommodate the long queues of people who turned out to cast their ballot, as Kasra Naji reports
It is unclear when the final results will be known.

Although all six candidates are seen as conservatives, analysts say Mr Rouhani - a 64-year-old cleric often described as "moderate" who has held several parliamentary posts and served as chief nuclear negotiator - has been reaching out to reformists in recent days.

The surge of support for him came after Mohammad Reza Aref, the only reformist candidate in the race, announced on Tuesday that he was withdrawing on the advice of pro-reform ex-President Mohammad Khatami.

Mr Rouhani therefore went into polling day with the endorsement of two ex-presidents - Mr Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was disqualified from the race by the powerful Guardian Council, a 12-member body of theologians and jurists.


However, Mr Rouhani faced a tough challenge from hardline candidates, including Mr Qalibaf - who is seen as a pragmatic conservative - and nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili - who is said to be very close to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The other three candidates are Mohsen Rezai, a former head of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and former Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Gharazi.

As polls closed, representatives of all six candidates issued a joint statement urging their supporters to remain calm until the official results were known.

"We ask people not to pay attention to rumours of victory parades being organised and to avoid gathering before the official results," the statement said.

Earlier, Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar told state TV that any presidential candidates unhappy with the results would have three days to lodge complaints to the Guardian Council.

President Ahmadinejad cast his ballot in Tehran accompanied by Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and government spokesman Gholam Hoseyn Elham, Fars news agency reported.

'Intimidation'
Millions of Iranians took to the streets to demand a re-run after the last presidential election in June 2009, when the supreme leader dismissed claims by the three defeated candidates of widespread fraud.

Two of them, former Prime Minister Mir Hussein Mousavi and senior cleric Mehdi Karroubi, became leaders of a nationwide opposition known as the Green Movement, after its signature colour.

They were placed under house arrested in February 2011 when they applied to stage a protest in support of the anti-government uprisings which were sweeping the Arab world. They are still being detained.

No foreign observers monitored this year's election and there have also been concerns that media coverage in the run-up has been unfair.

Many reformist newspapers have been shut down, access to the internet and foreign broadcasters has been restricted, and journalists have been detained.

On Thursday, the BBC accused the Iranian authorities of "unprecedented levels of intimidation" of BBC employees' families.

It said Iran had warned the families of 15 BBC Persian Service staff that they must stop working for the BBC or their lives in London would be endangered.

Tehran has so far made no comment on the allegation.

---

---

Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces have reported a successful launch of a next-generation ICBM that can supposedly pierce any anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system. The test came after the US announced it would resume its ABM program in Europe.

The test missile launched from a mobile pad at 9:45pm (17:45 GMT) on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said Friday. The test was carried out in the Astrakhan region, deep inside Russian territory, and the prototype’s payload successfully hit the Balkhash range in Kazakhstan.

“The test launch was a success as the [simulated] warhead hit a designated target within the set timeframe,” the Russian Defense Ministry statement said. “This test launch was intended to confirm technical characteristics of the missile, as well as to check the safety of the launch procedures and equipment.”

The launch was the fourth successful test of the prototype ICBM. The development of a new solid-fuel ICBM was officially announced in 2012, and is set to gradually replace the existing Topol-M and later the recently developed Yars missile complex.

Russia will put the new strategic missile complex on combat alert by the end of the year, and deployment of the first regiment will start in 2014, announced the Head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Joint Staff Colonel-General, Vladimir Zarudnitsky.

He made the remarks during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin about assigning officers to higher military ranks.

"In the framework of the approved plan of development of the armed forces of the Russian Federation last night we conducted a test launch of the perspective intercontinental ballistic missile complex Rubezh (‘frontier’) with increased accuracy," Zarudnitsky said, adding that the test launch was ordered to work out "the new combat equipment."

"We assess the launch results as successful, all the blocks (warheads) hit their targets. To complete the tests one more launch is needed, it is scheduled to take place by the end of the year. Then ‘Rubezh’ system will be adopted by the strategic missile forces," Zarudnitsky said.

He also revealed that infrastructure preparations are underway for the new complex, as is personnel training and the coordination of combat crews.

"The new missile complex will have a significantly improved, compared with the existing complexes, maneuvering characteristics that significantly enhance the potential of Russia's nuclear forces to ensure strategic deterrence," Zarudnitsky concluded.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin welcomed the test, calling the new ICBM a “missile defense killer... Neither current nor future American missile defense systems will be able to prevent that missile from hitting a target dead on.”

Russia maintains at least 58 silo-based Soviet-made P36M ('SS-18 Satan' NATO classification) ballistic missiles, believed to be the most powerful in the world with up to 10 megaton-class warheads. The Strategic Missile Forces have 160 mobile Topol-M ('SS-25 Sickle') missile systems, 50 silo-based and 18 road-mobile Topol-M ('SS-27 Sickle B') systems, and 18 RS-24 Yars systems.

In recent years, two missile divisions were rearmed with the newest Topol-M and Yars systems, and more will follow in 2013. The Defense Ministry is also preparing to introduce the latest automated battle management system (ASBU), enabling rapid retargeting of ICBMs.

Russia sped up development of new intercontinental ballistic missile systems after the US announced plans to continue deploying its missile defense system in Eastern Europe, near Russian borders.

The issue of the US missile shield in Europe has become a major stumbling block in Russia-US relations. Moscow has demanded legal guarantees from Washington that missile defense systems deployed in Europe would not target Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence capabilities. But Washington refused, citing a need to protect Europe from ‘rogue states' like Iran and North Korea.

In mid-March of 2013, Washington attempted to engage Moscow in new talks about further nuclear arms reduction, after presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev agreed to reduce their nuclear stocks with the New START arms reduction treaty. The US said it would no longer deploy SM-3 IIB ballistic missile interceptors in Poland until 2022.

Nevertheless, Moscow still demands legally binding guarantees from Washington that the system's intentions are peaceful.

On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Polish Foreign Minister, and committed to deploy missile defenses in Poland by 2018 as planned. “We are on track to deploy a missile defense site in Poland by 2018 as part of NATO’s modernized approach to our security,” Kerry said.

---

---

Russia Tests ‘Missile Defense Killer’

MOSCOW, June 7 (RIA Novosti) – The US missile defense system is no match for the new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that Russia tested this week, a senior Russian official said Friday.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defense industry, hailed Thursday’s tests as a success and dubbed the new ICBM a “missile defense killer.”

“Neither current nor future American missile defense systems will be able to prevent that missile from hitting a target dead on,” he said, during an event organized by the ruling United Russia party.

The Russian Defense Ministry was more modest in its appraisal of the test, carried out by the Strategic Missile Forces at the Kapustin Yar testing site, between Volgograd and Astrakhan, on Thursday.

“The test launch was a success as the [simulated] warhead hit a designated target within the set time frame,” said a Defense Ministry statement issued Thursday.

The US missile defense system in Europe, which NATO and the US say is aimed at countering threats from North Korea and Iran, has been a particular source of friction in US-Russian relations for a number of years.

Russia and NATO formally agreed to cooperate over the European missile defense system at the 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon, but talks foundered, in part over Russian demands for legal guarantees that the system would not target its strategic nuclear deterrent.
In mid-March, the US announced that it was modifying its planned missile defense deployment to Poland, dropping plans to station SM-3 IIB interceptors in the country by 2022.

Russian officials responded by saying that this did nothing to allay their concerns over US missile defense in Eastern Europe, and reiterated their demand for legally binding agreements guaranteeing that Russia’s strategic nuclear forces would not be targeted.

Although analysts were quick to interpret the US change in plan as a concession to Russia, possibly intended to pave the way for further bilateral talks on nuclear arms reduction, US officials repeatedly refuted this suggestion.

Speaking after a bilateral meeting with the Polish foreign minister on Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry stressed the United States’ continued commitment to that element of the missile defense system.

“We are on track to deploy a missile defense site in Poland by 2018 as part of NATO’s modernized approach to our security,” Kerry said.

---

---

The Rosenberg Diary recovered
Jun 13, 2013

WILMINGTON, Del. - ICE Director John Morton, along with Charles M. Oberly III, U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware, and Henry Mayer, a representative of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, announced the recovery of a long-lost piece of history Thursday June 13, 2013, the "Rosenberg Diary". This recovery is the result of the collaboration of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Written by Alfred Rosenberg, one of the Third Reich's and the Nazi Party's most notorious members, the Rosenberg Diary consists of the personal accounts of Rosenberg. The diary could potentially hold a wealth of knowledge for scholars regarding Rosenberg's assistance/ planning of the mass murder of the Jewish people, the Nazi radical state, the planning and conduct of World War 2 and the Germany's occupation of Soviet territory. Alfred Rosenberg was the head of the Nazi Foreign affairs department and as the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. As the Reich Minister of the Occupied Eastern Territories, Rosenberg was responsible for the mass murder of the Jewish populace of that area, an area that consisted of the Baltic States, Ukraine and portions of Belorusia. He also created a special taskforce, known as the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg or Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce, whose purpose was to loot cultural property from all over Europe. Rosenberg was found guilty in the Nuremberg Trials of conspiring to commit aggressive warfare, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was hung later that year on October 16, 1946.

---

---

U.K. girl uses her toy unicorn’s fake passport to get through Turkish customs: report

A Turkish customs official waved Emily Harris through customs at Antalya airport—after stamping a passport identifying her as a unicorn. Mom Nicky Harris, from Cwmbran, South Wales, said: ‘The passport doesn’t even look real—it’s got gold teddy bears on the front.’


Emily Harris managed to pass through customs at Antalya Airport on her stuffed unicorn Lily’s passport.

A couple were left stunned after their nine-year-old daughter managed to pass through Turkish customs officers - with a passport identifying her as a UNICORN.

Emily Harris had taken a toy passport she had made for her toy unicorn, Lily, on holiday with her.

And when the family passed through customs at Antalya airport to start their one-week holiday, flustered mum Nicky accidentally handed over the toy's passport instead of Emily's.

But they were stunned when they later realised their mistake - and discovered passport officials had even STAMPED the unicorn's passport, granting it access to the country.


The fake passport came with Emily’s Design-A-Bear toy.

Nicky, 43, from Cwmbran, South Wales, said: "I didn't realise until I was putting the passports away. There was a moment of panic when I thought someone would come chasing after us, but nothing.

"The passport doesn't even look real - it's got gold teddy bears on the front and was a completely different size from mine and my husband, Allen's.

"The man even asked Emily how old she was, and she told him nine, before he stamped it."


The Turkish customs official allegedly asked Emily her age then stamped her unicorn’s passport.

It was only when they got outside that Nicky realised that instead of handing in Emily's passport, she had shown her daughter's Bear Factory passport for a Unicorn toy called Lily Harris.

"The picture ID wasn't even of Emily, it was of a pink unicorn.

"And to make it worse, the unicorn wasn't even on holiday with us.

"We saw the funny side, and laughed at the fact that the officer had even stamped the passport.

"But at the same time, it's a worry to any parent, how easy it would be to smuggle a child through customs and into another country."

---