Worldwatch

Opening The Door
After months of wrangling, Iran agreed to allow a team of nuclear inspectors to visit its remote Parchin military facility, which the U.S. says is part of a clandestine nuclear weapons program. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog headed by Mohamed ElBaradei, will this month start gathering environmental samples and interviewing engineering personnel at the highly restricted site in southeastern Iran. U.S. officials have charged that Iran is using Parchin to study ways to weaponize a nuclear device. Tehran says the site is not connected to its nuclear program, which it maintains is for civilian purposes only, and only agreed to allow access as a confidence-building measure.

While the IAEA says it has no intelligence supporting the U.S. claims, a diplomat familiar with the inspection process told TIME that the visit should help to nail them down — or dispel them. The latest sampling techniques employed by the agency can pick up traces of nuclear material even after a site has been meticulously scrubbed down, he said. As if to prove that point, diplomats also revealed that the IAEA has uncovered evidence that Egyptian scientists may have dabbled in experiments to prepare uranium for enrichment in the 1980s and ’90s. Those efforts “do not represent a serious proliferation concern,” one diplomat told TIME. They rank “a notch or two below” the recent revelations about South Korea’s nuclear program, he added, “more like a case of sloppiness

DAVID SILVERMAN/GETTY IMAGES

Israeli settlers protest Sharon’s withdrawal plans

in failing to report activities to the IAEA than concealment.” — By Andrew Purvis

Terror Trial
FRANCE Six suspected al-Qaeda operatives accused of plotting to attack U.S. targets in France in 2001 went on trial in Paris. Police said that alleged ringleader Djamel Beghal had confessed to planning to blow up the U.S. embassy; Beghal later retracted his confession and, along with his co-defendants, now denies the charges against him. A verdict is expected Feb. 16.

Inside Job?
PAKISTAN A suspect under arrest for conspiring to blow up President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003 has escaped from a high-security prison in the port city of Karachi, senior security sources told TIME. The sources said that the escapee, known as Mushtaq Ahmad, “disappeared” after “a security lapse” at the prison around the New Year holiday, prompting a so-far secret nationwide manhunt. The military-controlled regime of Musharraf, who has survived at least three attempts on his life, is expected to investigate whether insiders were involved in Ahmad’s escape.

Warming Trend
CUBA The European Union cautiously welcomed Havana’s announcement that it was resuming diplomatic ties with eight E.U. member states, including Britain, France and Germany. Cuba froze relations with most E.U. nations in 2003 after the bloc decided to invite dissidents to embassy functions in Cuba, in protest at a crackdown on opponents of the regime. In December, the E.U. advised dropping that policy after a number of jailed dissidents were released.

Slow Justice
CHILE The Supreme Court upheld an indictment on charges of kidnap and murder against former dictator Augusto Pinochet, relating to his 1973-1990 period in office.

MEANWHILE IN SPAIN…
E.U.-1, Skeptics-0
The government kicked off a campaign to publicize the proposed European constitution ahead of a national referendum in February — by giving a copy of the text to every fan attending the weekend’s local football derby between archrivals Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. Celebrities will also read extracts of the constitution on TV, in an effort to educate the 90% of Spaniards who say they know very little about it. Polls show that most of them intend to vote ‘yes’ anyway.