Australia floods larger than France strand 200,000

Associated Press

AP – A wallaby stands on a large round hay bail trapped by rising flood waters outside the town of Dalby in …

BRISBANE, Australia – Military aircraft dropped supplies to towns cut off by floods in northeastern Australia as the prime minister promised new assistance Friday to the 200,000 people affected by waters covering an area larger than France and Germany combined.

Residents were stocking up on food or evacuating their homes as rising rivers inundated or isolated 22 towns in the state of Queensland.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard toured an evacuation center in the flood-stricken town of Bundaberg on Friday and announced that families whose homes had been flooded or damaged would be eligible for disaster relief payments of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child.

"My concern is for the people in these very difficult times," Gillard said.

A day earlier, she pledged $1 million Australian dollars (about $1 million) in federal aid to match a relief fund already set up by the state government.

Bundaberg resident Sandy Kiddle told Gillard she lost cherished items after floodwaters surged through her house. She said may not be able to return home for a week.

"It was just a sea of water, and I thought the beach would never come to our house," she told Gillard, who gave her a hug.

Officials say half of Queensland's 715,305 square miles (1,852,642 square kilometers) is affected by the relentless flooding, which began last week after days of pounding rain caused swollen rivers to overflow. The flood zone covers an area larger than France and Germany combined and bigger than the state of Texas.

While the rain has stopped, the rivers are still surging to new heights and overflowing into low-lying towns as the water makes its way toward the sea.

The muddy water inundating thousands of homes and businesses has led to a shortage of drinking water and raised fears of mosquito-borne disease.

"This is without a doubt a tragedy on an unprecedented scale," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Bligh warned that drenched communities could be stuck underwater for more than a week, and cleanup efforts were expected to cost billions of dollars.

The Department of Community Safety said supplies of food and bedding were delivered by road and by military aircraft Friday to the towns of Rockhampton, Emerald, Springsure and Blackwater in central-east Queensland.

Northeastern Australia often sees heavy rains and flooding during the Southern Hemisphere summer, but the scope of the damage from the recent downpours is unusual.

The entire population of two towns has already been forced to evacuate as water swamped their communities, cutting off roads and devastating crops. The next city in the water's path — Rockhampton, near the coast — is bracing for flood levels forecast at 31 feet (9.4 meters) by Monday or Tuesday.

Roads and railway lines were expected to be cut off by Saturday, and the city's airport planned to shut down over the weekend.

"This is a very serious situation," said Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter, saying that level would affect up to 40 percent of the city. "Police are ordering people in affected areas to leave their homes."

Officials were evacuating residents on Friday, starting with the elderly and those living in low-lying areas.

There were concerns over food supplies in the city, with many stores already sold out of bread, milk and fresh meat, Carter said.

Gary Boyer, regional manager of supermarket chain Woolworths, said the company was sending 43 trucks full of supplies into Rockhampton on Friday.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes this week. In the central Queensland town of Emerald, about 1,000 people were evacuated in the last 24 hours.

The town was facing food shortages, power outages and sewage-contaminated floodwaters, county mayor Peter Maguire said. Three evacuation centers have been set up to help displaced residents.

Vatican sets up watchdog to combat money laundering

30 December 2010 Last updated at 12:34 GMT
The new rules bring the Vatican in line with international regulations

The Vatican has set up a new financial authority to fight money laundering and make its financial operations more transparent.

The Pope has signed into law new rules to bring the Vatican's banking regulations in line with international efforts to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The move comes ahead of an EU deadline.

It follows accusations the Vatican had been contravening international rules on money laundering.

In September, Rome prosecutors formally put the director of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and his deputy under criminal investigation after receiving a tip-off from the Bank of Italy about possible money laundering.

The Italian justice authorities seized 23m euros ($30m; £19m) which the Vatican had deposited at a branch of an Italian commercial bank near Saint Peter's Square, allegedly without properly identifying either the depositor or the recipient.

The Vatican said there had been a misunderstanding and there had been no wrongdoing by their bank or its employees.

Vatican Bank

• Set up by Pope Pius XII in 1942
• Based in Vatican City, has no other branches, operates as offshore institution outside EU rules
• Headed by professional banker overseen by commission of cardinals
• No shareholders, no policy-making functions
• All profits set aside for charitable or religious works

On Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI signed the documents, saying the Vatican wanted to join other countries in cracking down on legal loopholes that have allowed criminals to exploit the financial sector.

The Vatican is acting ahead of a 31 December deadline to create a compliance authority to oversee all its financial operations, which is required by the EU and other international organisations.

The Vatican's centuries-old secrecy over the way it handles its money will no longer be an excuse to avoid its obligations under international and Italian criminal law to combat money-laundering operations by third parties, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

Exempt

The Vatican Bank - known officially as the Institute for Works of Religion - has hitherto exempted itself from international banking regulations on the grounds that it is not a real bank in the normal sense of the word, our correspondent says.

It handles accounts for the Pope, his cardinals and religious orders, and has only one branch inside the apostolic palace in Rome.

The new laws are due to come into effect by 1 April, after the new authority is set up and its members chosen, the Vatican said.

It will take some time, however, for the Vatican to be put on the so-called "white list" of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, our correspondent adds. The list identifies countries that have agreed to share tax information and crack down on tax havens.

Source: BBC News (www.bbc.com)

US aid worker Paul Waggoner freed from Haitian prison

Paul Waggoner was arrested after a Haitian man accused him of kidnapping his son from a hospital

A US aid worker has been freed from a prison in Haiti after a judge declined to charge him over claims he kidnapped a baby from a hospital where he worked.

A Haitian man had accused Paul Waggoner of kidnapping his 15-month-old son in February from the Haitian Community Hospital in Petionville.

The aid worker spent 18 days in the notoriously overcrowded National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince.

The court was shown evidence that the baby in question had died in hospital.

Mr Waggoner received medical treatment on Wednesday, according to the Materials Management Relief Corps, the aid group which Mr Waggoner co-founded after the 12 January earthquake in the country.

Supporters had previously expressed concerns Mr Waggoner could contract cholera or other illnesses in the prison, which has been widely criticised by human rights groups as providing inhumane conditions.

He was imprisoned after being arrested earlier this month.

Extortion claims

Judge Lionel Dimanche freed Mr Waggoner after the aid worker's legal team submitted the infant's death certificate to the judge, lawyer Gary Lisade told the Associated Press news agency.

An affidavit from the American doctor who treated the 15-month-old boy in hospital was also presented to the court.

Mr Waggoner said earlier this month the infant's father had brought his son to the hospital in February and was trying to extort money from him after refusing to believe the boy had died and his body been cremated.

"It went from kidnapping to selling him to selling him into the United States for adoption to a priest saying that he was still alive," the aid worker told the CNN news network upon his release.

A justice official in Haiti said that although Mr Waggoner had been released, the investigation was still ongoing.

Source: BBC World (www.bbc.com)

Sister's Kidney Donation Condition Of Mississippi Parole

by The Associated Press

December 30, 2010

For 16 years, sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott have shared a life behind bars for their part in an $11 armed robbery. To share freedom, they must also share a kidney.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour suspended the sisters' life sentences on Wednesday, but 36-year-old Gladys Scott's release is contingent on her giving a kidney to Jamie, her 38-year-old sister, who requires daily dialysis.

The sisters were convicted in 1994 of leading two men into an ambush in central Mississippi the year before. Three teenagers hit each man in the head with a shotgun and took their wallets - making off with only $11, court records said.

Jamie and Gladys Scott were each convicted of two counts of armed robbery and sentenced to two life sentences.

"I think it's a victory," said the sisters' attorney, Chokwe Lumumba. "I talked to Gladys and she's elated about the news. I'm sure Jamie is, too."

Civil rights advocates have for years called for their release, saying the sentences were excessive. Those demands gained traction when Barbour asked the Mississippi Parole Board to take another look at the case.

The Scott sisters are eligible for parole in 2014, but Barbour said prison officials no longer think they are a threat to society and Jamie's medical condition is costing the state a lot of money.

Lumumba said he has no problem with the governor requiring Gladys to offer up her organ because "Gladys actually volunteered that as part of her petition."

Lumumba said it's not clear what caused the kidney failure, but it's likely a combination of different illnesses over the years.

Barbour spokesman Dan Turner told The Associated Press that Jamie Scott was released because she needs the transplant. He said Gladys Scott will be released if she agrees to donate her kidney because of the significant risk and recovery time.

"She wanted to do it," Turner said. "That wasn't something we introduced."

Barbour is a Republican in his second term who has been mentioned as a possible presidential contender in 2012. He said the parole board agreed with the indefinite suspension of their sentences, which is different from a pardon or commutation because it comes with conditions.

An "indefinite suspension of sentence" can be reversed if the conditions are not followed, but those requirements are usually things like meeting with a parole officer.

The Scott sisters have received significant public support from advocacy groups, including the NAACP, which called for their release. Hundreds of people marched through downtown Jackson from the state capital to the governor's mansion in September, chanting in unison that the women should be freed.

Still, their release won't be immediate.

Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said late Wednesday that he had not received the order. He also said the women want to live with relatives in Florida, which requires approval from officials in that state.

In general, that process takes 45 days.

Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson said the Scott sisters' release will be "a great victory for the state of Mississippi for two individuals who received an excessive sentence" and he has no problem with the kidney donation requirement because Gladys Scott volunteered.

"I think it's encouraging that she's willing to share a kidney so her sister can have a better quality life," Johnson said.

National NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said the suspension of the sentences represents the good that can come with the power of governors.

"It's again proof that when people get engaged, keep the faith, we can win," Jealous said.

Barbour has used his power sparingly to free prisoners over the years, but some of his decisions have created a backlash.

Barbour outraged the family and friends of Jean Elizabeth Gillies, a University of Mississippi student who was raped, sodomized and strangled in 1986, when he granted a suspended sentence for her killer, Douglas Hodgkin.

Ariel Sharon: Former Israeli prime minister moved home

Ariel Sharon, the former Israeli prime minister, has been moved from a hospital to his home.

The 82-year-old has been in a coma since 2006, when he suffered a massive stroke.

Doctors say the hope is that he will eventually be able to remain at his house with a full medical team to care for him.

The medics said the process of moving him permanently to his home - a farm in southern Israel - was a gradual one.

The former prime minister was taken in an ambulance at dawn on Friday from the Sheba Hospital near Tel Aviv to the family's ranch.

"Today, in 2010, the aspiration of any patient, our aspiration in the hospital, is to ensure that any chronic patient, when possible, is with his community, at home," Dr Shlomo Noy, director of rehabilitation at the hospital, told Israel Radio.

"Clearly what's behind this move home is the hope that his situation will get better. But the improvements that we talk about in such situations are not great improvements, not dramatic improvements," he added.

Mr Sharon is expected to be returned to hospital for regular check-ups.

"It's a gradual process, when a hospital discharges a chronic patient to his home," Dr Noy said. "It's a structured process, whereby you check that the support and medical environment in which the patient is to be placed permanently is suitable."

'Political shadow'

On this first, carefully rehearsed, journey from the hospital the former leader was accompanied by the medical team, and all the necessary respiratory machinery to keep him alive.

Ariel Sharon has been in a coma since 2006, when he suffered a massive stroke

Security personnel erected screens at the hospital and the ranch so that he would not be visible when he was taken in and out of the ambulance.

BBC Jerusalem correspondent Wyre Davies says that even though he is in a permanent coma and is likely to never recover, Ariel Sharon still casts a shadow over Israeli politics.

Mr Sharon was admired by many Israelis as a great military leader, but reviled by Palestinians.

He was elected prime minister in 2001, pledging to achieve "security and true peace".

He was a keen promoter of the expansion of the state and initiated the construction of the security barrier around the West Bank.

But despite fierce opposition in Israel, he ordered Jewish settlers to leave Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank.

As defence minister, Mr Sharon masterminded Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. During the invasion, Lebanese Christian militiamen allied to Israel massacred hundreds of Palestinians in two refugee camps under Israeli control.

12 November 2010,

Source BBC News.

Blast rips police facility in Karachi; 15 dead, police say

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- At least 15 people died and more than 100 were injured in a suicide car bomb attack on a police facility in the Pakistani city of Karachi, police said Thursday.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told CNN that the Taliban carried out the attack, which police say targeted building that housed a Crime Investigation Department facility.

"We will continue such attacks as long as military operations continue against us," Tariq said. Pakistani security forces have been battling the group in the country's tribal region, which borders Afghanistan.

The blast occurred in a high-security area, near government buildings and major hotels, such as the Pearl Continental and the Sheraton. The U.S. consulate is in the general vicinity but was not considered the target.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said U.S. consulate operations were not affected and officials are not aware of any U.S. casualties.

A Pakistani government official told CNN that about five gunmen on foot cleared the way for the suicide car bomber by firing on security personnel manning a security check post.

The official said that once the vehicle cleared the check post it raced toward the police facility and rammed into the building.

The official, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, doesn't know the whereabouts of the gunmen.

Local TV showed footage of a three- or four-story building with significant damage and ambulances rushing the injured from the scene.

By Reza Sayah, CNN

November 12, 2010 1:56 a.m. EST

Source: CNN news.

UK inflation rate remains at 3.1%

Rises in the price of bread, cereals and vegetables helped to keep the inflation rate high

UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation remained unchanged in August at 3.1%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It means the rate remains well above the Bank of England's 2% target, and it brings to an end a three-month period during which the rate had been falling.

The unexpectedly high rate was boosted by strong rises in air fares, clothing and food. Fuel prices fell.

Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation slowed to 4.7%, down from 4.8% in July.

CPI is used for the Bank of England's target. However, RPI - which includes more housing costs - is important for wage negotiations, and is used to calculate certain benefit increases and mortgage payments.

Economists had forecast lower rates of inflation for August, with CPI expected at 2.9% and RPI at 4.6%.

The news could strengthen the position of Andrew Sentance, the member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee who broke ranks over the summer to vote in favour of an interest rate increase.

The pound jumped 0.6% against the dollar on the news, to $1.544, as markets priced in the probability that UK interest rates may rise sooner than previously expected.

Food prices:

Air fares, which tend to rise during the summer holiday months, jumped 16% in August - their sharpest rise for the month on record.

Clothing and footwear prices rose at their fastest monthly rate for an August since 2001, although prices remain below their level of a year ago.

The news follows a warning from department store Debenhams, who said on Tuesday that the entire UK clothes retail industry faced higher prices, thanks to the rising cost of cotton and the weak pound.

The warning was echoed comments by retailer Primark on Monday that rising costs may eat into its profit margins over the coming year.

Summer sales discounts happened earlier in the year than usual, meaning that discounting had a relatively smaller impact on the August data than usual.

Food costs continued to rise, with bread, cereals and vegetables leading the way.

Wheat prices hit a 22-month high in August after rising more than 50% since the end of June.

Target missed

More worryingly for economists, the core inflation rate rose to 2.8%, from 2.6% in July.

Core inflation strips out volatile food and energy prices, and is used to gauge the underlying longer-term inflation trend.

The CPI inflation rate has now remained above the Bank of England's target for nine months.

Mervyn King, the Bank's governor, is likely to be disappointed that the rate has remained outside the government's 1%-3% tolerance range for another month.

Last month, he had to write a letter to the chancellor of the exchequer explaining why the rate was still more than one percentage point above its 2% target.

He blamed temporary factors, including the return of VAT in January to 17.5%, past rises in oil prices and higher import prices as a result of the depreciation in the pound since the middle of 2007.

However, he said "there remains a significant probability that I will need to write further open letters to you in the coming months".

VAT is set to rise again, to 20%, in January next year, giving a further boost to headline inflation figures.

Eroding savings:

The continuing high rate of inflation will be bad news for savers.

With interest rates at record lows, the real value of savings is being steadily weakened.

"Inflation is a stealthy enemy that quietly erodes the spending power of a saver's hard-earned nest egg," said Darren Cook of the financial information service Moneyfacts.

He points out that a basic rate taxpayer needs to find an account paying 3.88%, while a higher rate tax payer needs to find an account offering 5.17%, in order to maintain the real value of their savings.

"The average instant access savings rate is still at rock bottom at a rate of only 0.77%," said Mr Cook.

"Only 91 out of a possible 1,020 accounts allow a basic rate tax payer to just break even at 3.88%."

The average savings pot of a basic rate tax payer is in effect being eroded by 2.48% per year.

Source: BBC News.

Rafael Nadal plays down comparisons with Roger Federer

Archive - Nadal wins first Grand Slam at 2005 French Open

Rafael Nadal was quick to play down talk of him overtaking Roger Federer's record haul of 16 Grand Slams after winning his first US Open title.

The Spaniard, 24, beat Novak Djokovic 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2 in New York to earn his ninth Grand Slam crown and complete his set of winning all four major titles.

Asked about Federer's tally of 16 Slams, he said: "It's very far. For me, it's too far to think about that.

"I think talk about if I am better or worse than Roger is stupid."

Nadal joins Federer, Andre Agassi, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Don Budge and Fred Perry in having won all four Grand Slams and also becomes the first man since Laver swept the board in 1969 to win the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in the same year.

And at five years younger than Federer, the Majorcan has time on his side in the pursuit of more major victories.

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Nadal is the best - Djokovic

"The titles say he's much better than me, so that's true at the moment," stated Nadal. "I think it will be true all my life."

"For me, always Roger was an example, especially because he improved his tennis I think during all his career, and that's a good thing that you can copy, no?"

"So I try to copy this and I know Roger and me are different, much different styles. Being better than Roger - I don't think it's the right moment to talk about that because I don't think that."

Nadal has now won five French Opens, two Wimbledon, one Australian and one US Open, as well as an Olympic gold medal and the Davis Cup.

And he admitted that the one significant title for him still to win is the end-of-year ATP World Tour Finals, played indoors at London's O2 Arena in November.

MEN'S CAREER GRAND SLAMS Fred Perry (GB) 1933-1935 Don Budge (US) 1937-1938 Rod Laver (Aus) 1960-1962 Roy Emerson (Aus) 1961-1964 Andre Agassi (US) 1992-1999 Roger Federer (Swiss) 2003-2009 Rafael Nadal (Spain) 2005-2010

"My goal remains the Tour Finals, it's probably the last big tournament that I didn't win," added Nadal.

"That's true it's the most difficult title for me to win because we play it indoors on a very quick surface, so it's always going to be very difficult if we don't change that."

"But at the same time it's a challenge for me to keep improving to have the chance to play well there and to have the chance to win. So that's what I'm going to try this year."

Djokovic, also the US Open runner-up in 2007, said of Nadal: "He's so mentally strong and dedicated to this sport. He has all the capabilities, everything he needs, in order to be the biggest ever.

"He has the game now for each surface and he has won each major. He has proven to the world that he's the best in this moment, so there is no question about it."

The Serb put on a brave face in the immediate aftermath of his defeat but later conceded: "I cannot hide the disappointment. I'm not going to cry or complain about that. It's just the way it is.

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Federer's record better than mine - Nadal

"Of course I'm feeling bad about my loss. I wanted that trophy and I know I gave my maximum to get it but tomorrow I will wake up as a new man. I will continue on working hard and waiting for the next chance to come."

The 23-year-old said that Nadal was simply too strong in the closing stages as he became the first left-hander to win the US Open since John McEnroe in 1984 and the first Spaniard since Manuel Orantes in 1975.

"I don't think I played a bad match overall," commented Djokovic. "It was very good performance from my side but whenever it was important, he was the one who was playing just too good."

Djokovic, the 2008 Australian Open champion, will move up to number two in the new world rankings, ahead of Roger Federer after defeating the Swiss in a dramatic five-set semi-final.

"I've played the best tennis, certainly in the last seven, eight months, maybe the whole year," he said.

"From Wimbledon up to this point, I feel much more comfortable on the court, more confident and getting this aggressive game back and the game that I need to have in order to stay at the top, a game that has been part of me always.

"It's a good sign. I will continue on working, as I said, and hope that I can keep that performance."

And Djokovic will get the chance to shake off his disappointment this coming weekend as he returns to Serbia for the Davis Cup semi-final against the Czech Republic.

"Davis Cup is very important," he added. "It's one of the crucial matches, semi-finals for the first time, and there is a lot of interest for the match in our country.

"I don't think it's going to affect me too much. I'm physically fit."

Rafael Nadal wins 2010 Wimbledon title

Source: BBC Sports

American hiker released from Iranian prison, lawyer says

By the CNN Wire Staff

September 14, 2010 -- Updated 1336 GMT

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Sarah Shourd, one of three American hikers detained for more than a year in Iran, has been released from prison, her lawyer told CNN on Tuesday.

Attorney Massoud Shafii, who is representing the hikers, had said everything was in place for Shourd's release once bail of $500,000 was submitted to the Iranian judiciary.

Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told state-run television that "representatives" of Shourd paid her bail to an Iranian bank in Muscat, Oman, after which a judge ordered her release Tuesday.

"She can leave Iran if she wants to," Dolatabadi said.

A diplomat at the Swiss embassy told Press TV that Shourd would be leaving Iran later Tuesday.

Shourd, 32; Shane Bauer, 28; and Josh Fattal, 28, were detained July 31, 2009, after they allegedly strayed across an unmarked border into Iran while hiking in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Tehran has accused the three hikers of spying.

As the news of Shourd's release unfolded, a spokeswoman for the families of the hikers, Samantha Topping, said the families had heard nothing officially.

"We don't have any confirmation of Sarah's release. The families are watching news reports," she said.

A judge decided to allow Shourd to be released on bail because of her medical condition, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Sunday, citing Tehran Prosecutor General Dolatabadi.

Shourd had a pre-existing gynecological problem, and her family says she now also has a lump in her breast, according to Shafii.

Iranian officials have apparently changed their stance on Shourd's release several times since last week.

Iranian officials had announced Thursday that Shourd would be released on Saturday, at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. But state media announced Friday that the release had been called off because legal procedures had not yet been resolved.

On Sunday, Dolatabadi announced the country's "readiness for the conditional release of one of the three U.S. citizens arrested for illegally entering the country," state-run Press TV said.

"It's hard to say what's behind the twists and turns of this," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Monday. "Our focus is on getting the hikers home, as it has been for more than a year."

Gary Sick, a professor at Columbia University and a former National Security Council Iran analyst, said it was not a coincidence that the latest news came just as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is about to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting later this month.

"I think President Ahmadinejad really wanted to use this as a way of building up a store of goodwill just before he comes to New York," Sick said. "It didn't work that way, and I think that his plans were really screwed up by that fact that all of these hard-liners in Iran, the conservatives that are supposed to be his friends, are all attacking him left and right."

Dolatabadi said Sunday that authorities had completed investigations on espionage charges against the three Americans over the past several days and the indictments have already been issued by the judge in charge of the case, IRNA reported.

But Crowley said Monday that the United States remains firm in its belief that the hikers are innocent.

"We do not believe that they are guilty of any crime. Iran has had more than enough time to investigate and satisfy its questions about why these three individuals crossed an unmarked border," he said. "We want to see this resolved. We are grateful to the Swiss and other countries that are working these issues on our behalf."

The Swiss have been representing American interests in the case in the absence of formal U.S.-Iran diplomatic relations.

The hikers' families' website, freethehikers.org, said Shourd had been in solitary confinement and had been able to meet for only two 30-minute periods per day with Bauer, who is her fiancé, and Fattal. The two men share a cell.

The site also includes an August 10 letter -- signed by the mothers of all three hikers -- urging Iranian officials to release them.

"Shane, Sarah and Josh are spending their second Ramadan in detention. Today is also Sarah's birthday -- her second in solitary confinement. Sarah has a serious medical condition and we are gravely concerned for her physical and emotional welfare, for which Iran's leaders are responsible," the letter says. "We urgently call on the Iranian authorities to end her isolation and provide her with adequate care."

On Monday, Shafii had said he was waiting for the Swiss Embassy to deposit the bail money, the semi-official Iran Students' News Agency reported.

"During my meeting with the client's family, we agreed to take measures for her release as soon as the money is provided," he said, according to the agency.

CNN's Mary Snow, Reza Sayah and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.

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