Iran launches rocket into space as nuclear talks continue

Iran has launched a satellite carrier rocket bearing three research devices into space, according to state media, as difficult negotiations over its tattered nuclear deal with world powers continue in Vienna.

The reports on Thursday did not say when the launch was conducted, nor what devices the carrier brought with it. It was unclear whether any of the objects entered orbit around the Earth.

Previous launches have drawn rebukes from the United States, which unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions against Iran.

America

 "America" is an American history book by Victor Kiernan first published in 1978. The book analyzes how this country was formed and how it became one of the greatest empires of the twentieth century. An epilogue is added to the 2015 edition by John Trumpbour that updates events between these two dates.

What Do Iranians Think? Not Much of America, Thanks to Donald Trump

 by Doug Bandow Posted onDecember 22, 2021

Negotiations over restoring the nuclear agreement with Iran aren’t quite moribund, but the Biden administration has begun to sound a bit like its predecessor in muttering threats of military action. War with Iran would be a catastrophe, much worse than with Iraq. And sending in bombers would only delay, not halt, construction of nuclear weapons, if that became Tehran’s objective.

  

The Year In Picture 2021

 NY Times: The Year in Pictures 2021 - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

 

Visions of a Volatile World

By Meaghan Looram, Director of Photography

The year 2021 opened with the promise of vaccines, and the belief that we would all return to “normal” after the tumultuous year of the pandemic. But the year instead took off with an insurrection in the U.S. Capitol, and saw a summer of carefree gatherings derailed by a fast-spreading virus. Governments fell, democracies were challenged, and climate-related destruction was unleashed, all while the casualties of the pandemic continued to amass. The vaccine saved some lives, but human passions, hopes and fears did their usual work to create a year that was anything but calm, and is ending with the prospect of a new variant upending plans once again.