Possible Iran deal in works

The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Monday a deal on Iran’s suspect nuclear program could be only days away, making U.N. Security Council action unneeded.

Mohamed ElBaradei’s optimism was believed to be linked to a confidential Russian proposal to allow Iran to enrich some uranium domestically, diplomats said. But the plan was expected to meet strong resistance from the U.S., which opposes any enrichment on Iranian soil.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns underlined U.S. determination, saying in Washington that “unless Iran does a dramatic about-face,” he expected the issue to be taken up by the U.N. Security Council.

KATMANDU, Nepal

At least 13 dead in rebel attacks

Hundreds of communist rebels attacked security bases and bombed government buildings in a mountain town in eastern Nepal, sparking battles that left at least 13 people dead, officials said Monday.

The rebels also attacked the jail in Illam, freeing more than 100 inmates, including suspected guerrillas.

The rebels blocked the only highway into the town, about 345 miles east of the capital, Katmandu, before launching the overnight attack, said the chief officer of the district, Krishna Prasad Poudel.

Soldiers recovered the bodies of eight rebels, an army official, a policeman and two civilians caught in the crossfire, he said. One policeman later died of his injuries.

The rebels have escalated attacks since withdrawing from a four-month unilateral cease-fire this year because the government refused to join the truce.

MOSCOW

Contested pipeline gets go-ahead

Russia’s environmental agency gave final approval Monday to a much-criticized plan to build an oil pipeline past the world’s largest by volume, a spokesman said.

Alexei Afonin, spokesman for the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision, or Rostekhnadzor, said the agency had signed off on the route for the 2,550-mile Siberian oil pipeline.

The pipeline is an important geopolitical tool for President Vladimir Putin’s government, allowing Russia to increase its oil exports to the energy-hungry economies of China, Japan and South Korea.

But environmentalists have long railed against the more than $11 billion project, warning that a rupture could cause irreparable damage to protected Lake Baikal, less than half a mile away.

Experts on Monday reiterated ecological concerns and claims that state officials had manipulated the environmental agency’s expert panel. They vowed to challenge the approval in court.

Compiled from wire reports