Captain of the Costa Concordia detained on allegations of manslaughter and abandoning his ship

By CHRISTOPHER LEAKE and POLLY DUNBAR

Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia, was held last night along with his first mate over allegations of manslaughter and abandoning his ship

The captain of a cruise liner that ran aground with 4,000 passengers on board has been detained along with his first mate on allegations of manslaughter and abandoning his ship.

Francesco Schettino was at least four miles off course when the Costa Concordia struck rocks off the island of Giglio, Tuscany, despite Italy's well-mapped sea lanes.

One passenger has accused the captain of drinking in one of the ship's bars on the night the vessel ran aground, before taking control after the crash.

Monique Maurek, 41, from the Netherlands, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'What scandalised me most was when I saw the captain spending much of the evening before we hit the rocks drinking in the bar with a beautiful woman on his arm.

'Most people didn't even have any idea of what the evacuation warning sound would be.

'It was only because some of us had already been on a cruise that we recognised that seven blasts of the horn was a signal to abandon ship.'

Phil Metcalf, whose daughter Rose was one of the last people off the ship, said she had revealed the captain allegedly abandoned ship in the early stages of the evacuation, leaving his staff onboard.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'Since the captain had left there was nobody, so everybody was left to their own devices hence some of the chaos, so obviously the crew took it upon themselves and decided in the absence of the captain to organise and try and help people.'

Schettino told maritime investigators that charts showed he was in water deep enough to navigate and that he had struck an unidentified rocky outcrop of the island.

Once the 52-year-old realised the extent of the damage he immediately tried to change route and head for the safety of Giglio harbour.

But within minutes the vessel, owned by Costa Cruises, began to list dramatically reaching an angle of 20 degrees in just two hours.

Off course: Investigators said the cruise ship was four miles from the normal shipping lanes when it struck a rocky outcrop off Giglio, Tuscany

The captain and his first office Ciro Ambrosio were detained last night at the police station in Porto Santo Stefano.

Prosecutors are investigating possible charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning the ship while passengers were still in danger.

Schettino was quoted by Italian news sources as saying: 'The area was safe, the water was deep enough. We struck a stretch of rock that was not marked on the charts.

'As far as I am concerned we were in perfectly navigable waters.'

Francesco Verusio, chief prosecutor in the Tuscan city of Grosseto, told ANSA news agency the captain 'very ineptly got close to Giglio'.

'The ship struck a reef that got stuck inside the left side, making it (the ship) lean over and take on a lot of water in the space of two, three minutes,' he said.

Sources have said the captain, from Naples, had abandoned the ship at around 11.30pm local time - an hour after it struck a rocky outcrop and started taking on water - while the last passengers were not taken to safety until 3am yesterday morning.

Schettino's lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, said: 'I'd like to say that several hundred people owed their life to the expertise that the commander of the Costa Concordia showed during the emergency.'

He was taken to Grosseto's jail, where he will be held until next week when a judge will decide whether he should be released or formally put under arrest.

In Italy, suspects can be held without charge for a few days for investigation. A judge must either validate the jailing, putting the suspect under arrest, or declare him free to go.

Investigation: Sources have claimed the captain abandoned his ship hours before the last passengers were recovered from the vessel

Experts have said the captain may have been correct in his belief that his ship met its fate because of a power failure.

Passengers rescued from the stricken liner reported there had been a power blackout and a large booming noise, which indicated the vessel may have suffered an engine room explosion.

Last night Malcolm Latarche, editor of the global shipping magazine IHS Fairplay Solutions, said the problem may have been caused by a phenomenon known as 'harmonic interference'.

Mr Latarche said it was possible the cruise liner experienced the same problem that saw the Queen Mary 2 lose power in September 2010 as she was approaching Barcelona. On that occasion, the QM2 was able to carry on into open sea.

The expert said the harmonic interference – a type of power surge – could have caused a malfunction in the generators feeding the ship's six diesel electric engines with which the back-up systems could not cope.

This would have caused the ship to lose navigational power and steering control and veer off course, he said.

Asked for his assessment of the incident, Mr Latarche said: 'I would say power failure caused by harmonic interference and then it can't propel straight or navigate and it hit rocks.'

He added that once a ship experienced problems with the electrical supply to its main propulsion motors, it could lead to a problem with steering.

Mr Latarche said: 'It seems that this may have happened quite close to land, in shallow water. When you can't steer you are going to run aground and hit rocks at some point.'

The Costa Concordia, built in 2005, was designed to standards comparable with ocean liners.

Even though it had a rounded hull compared to the stronger V-shaped hull fitted to the Cunard flagship QM2, experts say it was capable of crossing the rough seas of the Atlantic.

Mr Latarche added: 'Although the damage caused to the ship was severe, there are many safeguards in the design of a state-of-the-art cruise ship to prevent it turning over.

'There is a second hull within the outer hull. Inside the inner hull there is a steel structure like an ice tray to contain the water and prevent it spreading through the ship.

'In this case, the Master rightly attempted to return it to the shore, but it seems to have keeled over because it hit shallow water on the coast. 

'An ocean cruise ship is not designed to float in 20ft of water. It needs much more than that to remain upright.'

Disaster: Experts have said the cruise liner may have suffered power failure - caused by a power surge - causing it to veer off course

According to Mr Latarche, the fact that the average tonnage of cruise ships has doubled in the past decade makes a full-scale evacuation while at sea almost impossible.

Under regulations introduced by the International Maritime Organisation in 2010, the very latest ships are now designed to be able to return to port even in the event of a major fire or loss of power on board, in order to make evacuation unnecessary.

The Concordia was commissioned five years prior to the new rules but Mr Latarche said: 'Even if the most sophisticated ship in the world went into shallow water, the likelihood is it would turn on its side. 

'This was a unique situation in which a number of circumstances all came together.'

Last night, Italian investigators trying to establish the cause of the accident arrested the Captain, Francesco Schettino, and were considering bringing manslaughter charges. 

The investigators will study repair log books and fault reports for the vessel dating back several years. 

They will also examine the experience of the officers and crew and examine the roles played by everyone on the day that the liner came to grief.

Since the Eighties the cruise industry has experienced a boom. More than 19 million passengers took a cruise last year and nine or more cruise ships of 100,000 tons or more have been built every year for the past decade.

Although cruise ships appear to be top-heavy, most of their weight is at the bottom, while the structure towards the top is designed to be comparatively light.

Traditionally, the vast majority of cruises have been taken by Americans to the Caribbean islands, but the Mediterranean market is rapidly expanding, with Italy the prime destination. 

Cruise liners are designed for pleasure voyages, in which the surroundings and the luxurious amenities are the major focus of the experience, rather than the transportation itself.

As an industry, cruising has a safety record generally regarded as excellent. Over the past two decades, an estimated 90 million passengers have enjoyed a cruise without major incident. 

The overwhelming majority of deaths on cruise ships are from natural causes or suicides. 

Passenger ships – defined as any ship carrying more than 12 passengers – must comply with International Maritime Organisation regulations, which cover every aspect of the construction and operation.

Authorities question Italian captain of cruise ship that ran aground, killing 3

By the CNN Wire Staff
The Costa Concordia, owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises, ran aground on a sand bank off the island of Giglio on Friday, January 13.

(CNN) -- Italian authorities were questioning Saturday the captain of a cruise ship that ran aground, knocking the vessel on its side and killing at least three people, with dozens more missing, officials said.

The Italian captain, Francesco Schettino, was being interviewed by investigators in Porto Santo Stefano on what happened when the 4,200-passenger Costa Concordia, owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises, struck shallow water off Italy's western coast, said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno.

Authorities are looking at why the ship didn't hail a mayday during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, officials said.

"At the moment we can't exclude that the ship had some kind of technical problem, and for this reason moved towards the coast in order to save the passengers, the crew and the ship. But they didn't send a mayday. The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing," Del Santo said.

"Fear and panic are comprehensible in a ship long over 300 meters with over 4000 passengers," Del Santo said. "We can confirm that the ship has a breach on the hull of about 90 meters, and that the right side of it is completely under water."

The three persons dead were two French tourists and a crew member from Peru, Port authorities in Livorno said.

Giuseppe Orsina, a spokesman with the local civil protection agency, said 43 to 51 persons were missing, though authorities are reviewing passenger lists to confirm the exact figure.

"These people could be still on the island of Giglio, in private houses or in hospitals," Orsina said.

The coast guard said 50 to 70 people could be missing.

One surviving crew member, Rosalyn Rincon, 30, of Blackpool, England, said she wanted to know why the cruise ship was sailing so close to shore. She described a harrowing grounding of the vessel, whose tilting and rising water evoked the film "Titanic," she said.

"I'm pretty much angry, and I want to know why we were so close to the coast," said Rincon, who works as a dancer on the ship and was entertaining passengers by performing a trick inside a box with a magician when the accident occurred.

Rincon has sailed the itinerary the last three months, she said.

"I've never thought something like this could happen," Rincon added.

 Rescue teams worked through the night to evacuate more than 4,000 people from the Costa Concordia, owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises, after it ran aground off of Italy's western coast.

See high-res images of the rescue

Authorities said earlier Saturday they believed everyone was accounted for, but that they did not have a definitive list of names.

The huge ship, which was lying on its side in shallow water Saturday evening, was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground at about dinner time.

Initial reports suggested as many as six people had been killed, but it was unclear why the number dropped. An additional 14 people were injured, Adm. Ilarione Dell'Anna, head of coastal authorities for the port city of Livorno, told CNN.

Passengers described how the lights went out and it then became clear the ship had hit something, prompting scenes of chaos.

Fear and panic aboard crippled ship

Laurie Willits from Ontario, who was watching a magic show with her husband at that moment, told CNN: "We heard a scraping noise to the left of the ship and then my husband said 'we're sliding off our seats.'"

The couple ran to their cabin to get coats and life jackets before making their way to a lifeboat. Emergency instructions in English were hard to hear, Willits said.

Panic spread as people scrambled to find lifeboats in the dark as the ship quickly leaned to one side. Access to some lifeboats was hampered by the ship's tilt into the water, adding to the confusion.

Willits and her husband, who managed to get into a lifeboat about an hour to 90 minutes after the alarm was raised, watched from a pier on the island as the ship slowly sank until it was at an almost 90 degree angle in the water.
Map: Giglio, ItalyMap: Giglio, Italy

"I'm exhausted, I haven't had any sleep, I'm hungry," Willits said, but added that she was relieved to have been able to call her family thanks to the help of people on the island.

The civil protection agency in the town of Grosseto, the provincial capital, said Saturday morning that the emergency operation was still ongoing and parts of the ship remained underwater.

The coast guard said three helicopters were used to rescue some passengers from the ship.

Evacuation efforts started promptly but were made "extremely difficult" by the position of the ship, according to a statement on Costa's website. Some passengers fell into the chilly waters during the rescue, Italy's ANSA news agency reported.

Dell'Anna said an investigation is under way.

"There has probably been a technical blackout," he said. "The ship was dangerously near the coast. We worked all night in a state of maximum emergency.

"Fortunately the sea conditions have helped us, otherwise -- given the high number of people to rescue, 4,231 -- we could have had a completely different scenario: a real tragedy."

Many of those rescued in the early hours were taken to small churches and other buildings around the island for shelter.

Some were still wearing the pajamas and slippers they had on as the ship went down, as they waited for help Saturday morning at reception centers set up on the island.

One of the victims was a 65-year-old woman who died of a heart attack, according to authorities.

Costa said it was focusing on the final stages of the emergency operation and helping passengers and crew return home.

"It is a tragedy that deeply affects our company. Our first thoughts go to the victims and we would like to express our condolences and our closeness to their families and friends," Costa said on its website.

The Concordia, built in 2006, was on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo, according to the cruise line. It was unclear how far into the cruise the grounding occurred.

Most of the passengers on board were Italian, as well as some French and German citizens. CNN affiliate America Noticias, in Peru, said a group of 32 Peruvians were also onboard.

The United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office was working with Italian authorities to identify British nationals on the cruise, a spokesman said.

Another Costa ship was involved in a deadly 2010 accident when the Costa Europa crashed into a pier in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh during stormy weather, killing three crew members.


CNN's Marilia Brocchetto, Livia Borghese, Michael Martinez and journalist Barbie Nadeau contributed to this report.

Eddie Van Halen donates 75 guitars

STUDIO CITY, CA - JANUARY 09: Musician Eddie Van Halen donates 75 electric guitars from his personal collection to Felice Mancini, Executive Director The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports music education in public schools across the country, on January 9, 2012 in Studio City, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

University Of Mary's Gary Tharaldson School of Business announces new program

The University of Mary’s Gary Tharaldson School of Business has registered with Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. to provide a new financial planning undergraduate degree program.

The University of Mary’s Financial Services and Banking program in the Gary Tharaldson School of Business is one of only two in North Dakota and one of only a handful in the five-state region (North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota and Wyoming) to be CFP registered.

Those interested in the program should send inquires to:

Shanda Traiser at (701) 355-8160 

 straiser@umary.edu

Feng Jiao, University of Mary assistant professor in the GTSB, at (701) 355-8351/ fjiao@umary.edu.

Disney: Ricky Strauss named Marketing Chief

Strauss will replace MT Carney, the controversial executive who joined Disney in April 2010 with no prior experience in the film industry and announced her resignation earlier this week.


Ricky Strauss, the president of Participant Media, has been tapped as Disney's new head of worldwide marketing.

Strauss will replace MT Carney, the controversial executive who joined Disney in April 2010 with no prior experience in the film industry and announced her resignation earlier this week. With the choice, Disney chief Rich Ross is selecting a seasoned executive who has worked on The Help, the DreamWorks and Participant-produced drama that Disney distributed in 2011 with much success.

“I am happy to welcome Ricky Strauss to The Walt Disney Studios family," Ross said in a statement. "With 25 years of industry experience, he brings a deep understanding of all aspects of the film business as well as incredible skill in branding and cutting-edge marketing. He will undoubtedly raise the studios’ creative bar as we enter 2012 and look ahead at showcasing a spectacular slate of films to audiences around the world.”

The selection of Strauss ends one of the most active guessing games in town. Industry insiders ran virtually every conceivable name up the flagpole only to have it shot down again. As recently as yesterday, rumors flooded Disney that former New Regency executive Bob Harper was joining the studio.

Disney had been openly looking for a replacement for Carney for months. Some have speculated that she finally departed simply because she was tired of the open search for a replacement. But others believed that War Horse's disappointing performance upset director Steven Spielberg and that the timing of her departure was related to his displeasure. The hiring of Strauss, who was involved in marketing DreamWorks’s one stand-out hit, The Help, and is close with DreamWorks' Stacey Snider, gives some weight to the latter theory (Snyder and Strauss worked together at TriStar).

Some executives currently or formerly associated with Disney have yearned for an experienced hand to guide the marketing department after watching with dismay as Ross, himself inexperienced in movies, terminated many seasoned staffers.

"MT could perhaps have worked out if Rich hadn't fired everyone else," says one. "Other outsiders have been welcomed and flourished." Alluding to an anecdote about Carney in a New York Times article that chronicled her downfall, this observer says, "MT didn’t fail because she wore white pants and wasn’t welcomed into the club. Rich took off the entire top level of management there and then put in a novice and let her flail." (Among those who departed Disney were distribution veterans Mark Zoradi and Chuck Viane, who retired; distribution exec Bob Chapek was promoted to consumer products.)

Disney faces big challenges in the coming months. The studio will release the pricey sci-fi action adventure John Carter in March, and this summer brings The Avengers, the first Marvel Studios picture to be marketed and released by Disney since the company purchased Marvel.

Some insiders have expressed surprise that Strauss would take the job given the situation of the studio. "I don't get it. I have no skin in it but what's in it for him? I would be too scared to do it," says one industry observer.

Bern Gropp's latest product: The Easy Portable Kitchen

Easy Portable Kitchen (EPK) is a portable, sanitary prep station.  Made of quality materials from top to bottom.   

The fiberglass basin is covered with a durable gelcoat finish and features an inset of marine grade starboard cutting surface. The EPK is supported by sturdy, aluminum, collapsable and adjustable legs to compensate for the physical needs of each user. Two large portholes fitted with bio-degradable plastic bags allow the user to easily dispose of waste. The EPK fitted with gravity feed plastic bags filled with water making food prep and final cleanup a breeze. Field tests with tailgaters, outdoorsmen and back yard party hosts has shown an overwhelming appreciation for this product who's time has come!

Bomb Kills Iranian nuclear scientist

By Ramin Mostafavi and Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN

(Reuters) - An Iranian nuclear scientist was blown up in his car by a motorbike hitman on Wednesday, prompting Tehran to blame Israeli and U.S. agents but insist the killing would not derail a nuclear program that has raised fears of war and threatened world oil supplies.

The fifth daylight attack on technical experts in two years, the magnetic bomb delivered a targeted blast to the door of 32-year-old Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan's silver sedan as he was driven down a busy street near a Tehran university during the morning rush hour. The chemical engineer's driver also died, Iranian media said, and a passer-by was slightly hurt.

Israel, whose military chief said on Tuesday that Iran could expect to suffer more mysterious mishaps, declined comment. The White House, struggling for Chinese and Russian help on economic sanctions, denied any U.S. role and condemned the attack.

While Israeli or Western involvement seemed eminently plausible to independent analysts, a role for local Iranian factions or other regional interests engaged in a deadly shadow war of bluff and sabotage could not be ruled out.

The killing, which left debris hanging in trees and body parts on the road, came in a week of heightened tension:

Iran has started an underground uranium enrichment plant and sentenced an American to death for spying; Washington and Europe have stepped up efforts to cripple Iran's oil exports for its refusal to halt work that the West says betrays an ambition to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful.

Tehran has threatened to choke the West's supply of Gulf oil if its exports are hit by sanctions, drawing a U.S. warning that its navy was ready to open fire to prevent any blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which 35 percent of the world's seaborne traded oil passes.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Iran's threats to close the strait were "provocative and dangerous" and repeated the White House denial of any U.S. involvement in the killing of Ahmadi-Roshan.

Analysts saw the latest assassination, which would have taken no little expertise, as less a reaction to recent events than part of a longer-running, covert effort to thwart Iran's nuclear development program that has also included suspected computer viruses and mystery explosions.

While fears of war have forced up oil prices, the region has seen periods of saber-rattling and limited bloodshed before without reaching all-out conflict. But a willingness in Israel, which sees an imminent Iranian atom bomb as a threat to its existence, to attack Iranian nuclear sites, with or without U.S. backing, has heightened the sense that a crisis is coming.

"HEINOUS ACT"

The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, which has failed to persuade the West that its quest for nuclear power has no hidden military goal, said the killing of Ahmadi-Roshan would not deter it: "We will continue our path without any doubt ... Our path is irreversible," it said in a statement carried on television.

"The heinous acts of America and the criminal Zionist regime will not disrupt our glorious path ... The more you kill us, the more our nation will awake."

First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, quoted by IRNA news agency, said: "Iran's enemies should know they cannot prevent Iran's progress by carrying out such terrorist acts."

Iran's leaders, preparing for the first national election since a disputed presidential vote in 2009 brought street protests against 32 years of clerical rule, are struggling to contain internal tensions. Defiance of Israel and Western powers plays well with many who will vote in March.

In Washington, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "The United States had absolutely nothing to do with this ... We strongly condemn all acts of violence, including acts of violence like what is being reported today."

Israel, which has a history of covert killings abroad, declined comment, though army spokesman Yoav Mordechai wrote on Facebook: "I don't know who settled the score with the Iranian scientist, but I am definitely not shedding any tears."

On Tuesday, Israeli armed forces chief Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz was quoted as telling members of parliament: "For Iran, 2012 is a critical year in combining the continuation of its nuclearisation, internal changes in the Iranian leadership, continuing and growing pressure from the international community and things which take place in an unnatural manner."

MOTORCYCLE HITMAN

The attack bore some of the hallmarks of sophisticated intelligence agencies capable of circumventing Iran's own extensive security apparatus and apparently taking care to limit the harm to passers-by.

While witnesses spoke of a frighteningly loud explosion at 8:20 a.m. (3:20 am EST) and parts of the Peugeot 405 ended up in the branches of the trees lining Gol Nabi Street, much of the car was left intact. This suggested a charge designed to be sure of both killing the occupants and preventing serious injury to others.

Witnesses said the motorcycle, from which the rear pillion passenger reached out to stick the device to the side of the car, made off into the heavy commuter traffic.

Though the scientist killed -- the fourth in five such attacks since January 2010 -- was only 32, Iranian media described him as having a role overseeing uranium enrichment at Natanz underground site. The semi-official news agency Mehr said Ahmadi-Roshan had recently met officials of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

At the IAEA in Vienna, where a spokeswoman condemned the killing, officials could not confirm knowing of him.

Analysts say that killing scientists -- especially those whose lack of personal protection suggests a relatively junior role -- is unlikely to have much direct impact on Iran's nuclear program, which Western governments allege is seeking to enrich enough uranium highly enough to let it build weapons.

COVERT WAR

Sabotage -- like mysterious reported explosions at military facilities or the Stuxnet computer virus widely suspected to have been deployed by Israel and the United States to disrupt nuclear facilities in 2010 -- may have had more direct effects.

However, assassinations may be intended to discourage Iranians with nuclear expertise from working on the program.

An Israel official said Mossad agents called that "virtual defection": "It's not that we've been seeing mass resignations, but rather a sense of spreading paranoia," the official, who has extensive Iran expertise, told Reuters.

"It means they have to take more precautions, including, perhaps, being a little less keen to stand out for excellence in their nuclear work. That slows things down."

Bruno Tertrais from France's Strategic Research Foundation said: "It certainly has a psychological effect on scientists working on the nuclear program."

He cautioned, however, against assuming that Israel, the United States or both were behind the latest attack.

Trita Parsi, a U.S.-based expert on Iran, said the killing might, along with the heightened rhetoric of recent weeks, be part of a pattern ahead of a possible resumption of negotiations on Iran's nuclear program; some parties may want to improve their bargaining position, others may see violence as a way of thwarting renewed negotiations altogether, Parsi said.

Last month, Iran signaled a willingness to return to a negotiating process which stalled a year ago, though Western officials say a new round of talks is far from certain yet.

SANCTIONS CAMPAIGN

Iran's decision to carry out enrichment work deep underground in the once undeclared plant at Fordow, near the holy Shi'ite city of Qom, could make it harder for U.S. or Israeli forces to carry out veiled threats to use force against Iranian nuclear facilities. The move to Fordow could reduce the time available for diplomacy to avert any attack.

The announcement on Monday that enrichment -- a necessary step to make uranium into nuclear weapons -- had begun at Fordow has given added impetus to Western efforts to impose an oil export embargo intended to pressure Tehran to halt enrichment.

Iran, a signatory to the treaty banning the spread of nuclear weapons, complains it is entitled to conduct peaceful research and denies any military nuclear aims. Its adversaries say its failure to take up their offers of help with civilian technology undermine the credibility of its position.

Oil prices have firmed 5 percent since U.S. President Barack Obama moved on New Year's Eve to block bank payments for oil to Iran. The European Union is expected this month to impose a ban on its states buying oil from Tehran, and other major customers have been looking for alternative supplies.

In Iran, the new U.S. sanctions have started to bite.

The rial currency has lost 20 percent of its value against the dollar in the past week and Iran has threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, visiting Beijing, appealed for Chinese cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation, but Chinese officials made clear that they still opposed the U.S. sanctions and would go on buying Iranian oil.

Russia, too, came out against the U.S.-led oil embargo.

(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi, Robin Pomeroy and Mitra Amiri in Tehran, Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Fredrik Dahl in Vienna, Lucy Hornby in Beijing and Andrew Quinn in Washington; Writing by Alastair Macdonald editing by Tim Pearce)