News Headlines - 14 April 2012

▽Iran Begins Nuclear Talks With Six Nations - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/world/europe/iran-begins-nuclear-talks-with-six-nations.html?_r=1
Talks between Iran and six world powers about the aims of its nuclear-enrichment program began on Saturday morning with a plenary session of all parties. European and American officials suggested that a serious commitment from Iran to negotiate may be enough to continue the talks at another round in late May, possibly in Baghdad, as Iran has suggested.

▽Syrians forces open fire on protesters, opposition activists say - CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/14/world/meast/syria-unrest/
Syrian forces targeted opposition neighborhoods Saturday, activists said, days into a fragile cease-fire aimed at ending a bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters.

▽Diary: Skintland? Alex Salmond is quick to rise to the bait - The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/diary/diary-skintland-alex-salmond-is-quick-to-rise-to-the-bait-7644002.html
The current issue of The Economist magazine carries a warning to Scotland of the potential cost of independence, illustrated on the front cover by a spoof map of "Skintland", with its capital renamed "Edinborrow" and the islands to the north "Orkward" and "Shutland".
This has drawn furious condemnation from Alex Salmond who claimed that "it insults every single community in Scotland" – ignoring the point that it is a warning of what Scotland would be like, rather than a comment on Scotland as it is now.

▽Royal Mail limits supply of stamps ahead of price rise - Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-mail/9201272/Royal-Mail-limits-supply-of-stamps-ahead-of-price-rise.html
Some of the biggest high street chains and post offices said on Thursday that they were running out of stamps as people began stockpiling them.
Royal Mail confirmed on Thursday that it had imposed a cap on the number of stamps every shop could buy.
Retailers said it was refusing to restock them when they exceeded their allocation.

▽Windfarms do not cause long-term damage to bird populations, study finds - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/12/windfarms-damage-bird-populations?newsfeed=true
A major new study has quashed fears that onshore windfarms are causing long-term damage to bird populations, but found new evidence that some species are harmed when windfarms are built.