Leaked memo: California could face major lawsuits if Schwarzenegger closes state parks

California taxpayers could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages if the Schwarzenegger administration moves ahead with plans to close as many as 100 state parks, according to an internal memo drafted by the state parks department's attorneys.

"It is likely that state parks would be liable for breach of contract" with the 188 agreements the state has signed with private companies that provide concession services, from restaurants to boat rentals to gift shops in parks, the memo concluded.

Those concessions generated $89 million in gross sales last year.

Further, if people enter closed parks and are injured or start fires, the state "can be held responsible for dangerous conditions," the attorneys added, even if the parkgoers were trespassing.

The memo, which was written earlier this month for state parks director Ruth Coleman and distributed to high-level parks managers, was leaked and obtained by a Sacramento-based environmental group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which has posted it on its Web site.

The document is almost certain to increase the growing public and political pressure on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to soften or abandon his plan to close as many as 100 state parks as a budget-saving measure. The parks closure list was expected out this week, but it has been delayed.

"Often we think we are saving money when in fact we are creating new costs and unintended consequences. I take this very seriously," said Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, chairman of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.

Huffman plans to raise the state's potential legal exposure Tuesday at a legislative hearing he will oversee on parks closure.

Roy Stearns, a spokesman for the state parks department, declined to comment Thursday on the specifics in the 11-page leaked legal document.

"We feel it is attorney-client privilege," Stearns said.

There are multiple reasons the closure list has been delayed, he said. State parks leaders are trying to close as few parks as possible, and they are studying visitor numbers, revenue and complex staffing issues, including complying with union seniority guidelines. Stearns acknowledged the legal questions also have taken time.

"It is absolutely common and responsible for us to examine our legal liability for closing parks. We have to do that. It's part of the due process," Stearns said.

Schwarzenegger would become the first governor to close a park for budget reasons in the 108-year history of California's storied state parks system — which includes ancient redwoods, the shores of Lake Tahoe, glimmering beaches and historic sites like Sutter's Fort.

"We've never done this before," Stearns said. "I would hope we could have (the list) out by the end of the month."

Faced with a $24 billion deficit amid plummeting tax revenues, the Legislature cut $8 million from the state parks budget. Last month, Schwarzenegger cut an additional $6.2 million through a line-item veto, for a total of $14.2 million.

Parks director Coleman raised entrance fees and searched for partnerships with counties and cities, without much luck. She announced there was no other way to make ends meet but to close as many as 100 parks, and the governor's office agreed.

The legal headaches spelled out in the memo portray a Gordian knot of potential lawsuits.

"This shows there are no savings. It could cost taxpayers more money, so it raises the question of why are they doing this?" said Karen Schambach, California director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Schambach said her group obtained the leaked memo from a former state parks employee. When Schambach posted it to the Web, Tara Lynch, chief legal counsel for state parks, called her and asked her to remove it, she said. She declined, citing the public interest.

If concessionaires sue over the park closures, the state could potentially have to repay them for lost profits. According to state parks budget documents, gross sales totaled $88.9 million last year. Although exact figures were unavailable Thursday, if they earned moderate profits those totals could outstrip the $14 million the state was trying to save.

"It is likely that state parks would be in breach of contract and (the) concessionaire would be entitled to the profits he or she would have received had the contract been performed for the remaining term of the contract," the memo said.

Jack Harrison, executive director of the California Parks Hospitality Association, which represents companies with concession contracts in parks, said many are anxious.

"We've been following this very closely," he said. "We do have some members who are very concerned."

Most of the companies are small businesses renting horses or tent cabins or running snack stands and gift shops, he said. Together they paid $11.9 million last year in royalties to the state.

Although none have threatened lawsuits, Harrison said, they are already raising the issue of asking the state to renegotiate their contracts.

Other legal problems spelled out in the memo include the Endangered Species Act. The state might face fines by the federal government if poachers kill endangered salmon, condors or other animals on unpatrolled state park property, for example.

Further, the state also could be sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act. State parks settled a 1999 lawsuit by the California Council for the Blind and Californians for Disability Rights in which the agency agreed to make its entrances, paths, signs, restrooms and other facilities accessible to the disabled between June 2009 and 2016. If state parks missed the court-ordered deadlines, the plaintiffs would likely sue, and "it is unlikely state parks could use lack of funding as a defense to making parks accessible," the memo said.

The state may also be in violation of the California Coastal Act if it blocks public access to beaches. It even might be required by a court to write an time-consuming, costly environmental impact statement to close parks, the memo adds.

Obama's decision to abandon missile defence part of greater plans

Moscow, Sep 19 : Former Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze has welcomed US President Barack Obama's decision to shelve plans for deployment of missile shield in Europe, saying it is a part of 'greater plans.' 'Now that the US has canceled its plans to deploy missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, the US and Russia should begin a real reduction of nuclear weapons and the UN has an opportunity to begin a new chapter in world history,' Mr Shevardnadze said in a statement.

''I have always talked about indications of a new Cold War, specifically, the deployment of US radars in the Czech Republic and Poland, because it would immediately be followed by a response from Russia,'' Interfax news agency quoted Mr Shevardnadze as saying.

''Fortunately, US President Obama has met my expectations.

Yesterday, I was very happy that he has given up the plans to deploy missile defense systems in Europe,'' he said.

''Russia will have no choice but to agree,'' he added.

Mr Shevardnadze said he believes Obama's decision is part of his foreign policy strategy.

''This step will be followed by more large-scale actions. I am confident that he has greater plans,'' Mr Shevardnadze stressed.

''The main thing is that Russia should take appropriate steps.

If Russia analyzes the situation correctly, both countries should begin the real process of nuclear weapons reduction, and the peoples of the world will support it,'' the former Georgian President said.

''There is nothing unexpected in my statement because the relations between the Soviet Union and the US changed radically when I was Foreign Minister, which resulted in the halving of both nuclear and conventional weapons,'' Mr Shevardnadze said.

''Obama's step may also be important in terms of regional stability if this process continues,'' he said.

''I think it will be good for Georgia, too,'' he said.

''Also, a lot depends on how the UN General Assembly and Security Council will proceed when this process begins. They are given an opportunity to begin a new stage in world history,'' Mr Shevardnadze said.

Iraq says no progress with Syria over insurgents

Saturday September 19, 2009

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A meeting of Iraqi and Syrian officials over accusations Damascus shelters Iraqi insurgents yielded nothing and further talks were unlikely to do much better, Iraq's government said on Saturday.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said there was a lack of political will on the part of Syria.

The foreign ministers of Iraq and Syria held talks in Istanbul on Thursday, mediated by Turkey, to improve ties in the wake of a row that saw them recall their ambassadors last month.

Baghdad has accused Damascus of supporting or at least turning a blind eye to Sunni militants linked to former ruler Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, whom it blames for a string of bombings, including two huge truck bombs outside Iraqi government ministries on Aug. 19 that killed 95 people.

"The meeting did not achieve results. There is expected to be another meeting in New York but we believe the Syrian side is not showing political will, so these meetings will not offer what Iraq is looking for," Dabbagh said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has asked the U.N. Security Council to launch an inquiry into the bombs. Baghdad says that request may be withdrawn if Syria decides to cooperate.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has called Iraq's accusations "immoral" and demanded Baghdad provide proof to back them up.

Maliki wants Syria to hand over wanted men it blames for masterminding the August bombs and other attacks. The Iraqi government says it has presented Syria with detailed evidence, although it has never made that evidence public.

The countries had only recently begun to improve relations strained since the early days of Saddam.

Source: The Star.
Link: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/19/worldupdates/2009-09-19T172728Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-425724-1&sec=Worldupdates.

Taliban leader tells 'invaders' to study history

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – The Taliban's reclusive leader said in a Muslim holiday message Saturday that the U.S. and NATO should study Afghanistan's long history of war, in a pointed reminder that foreign forces have had limited military success in the country.

The message from Mullah Omar comes less than a month before the eighth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. This year has been the deadliest of the conflict for U.S. and NATO troops, and political support at home for the war is declining.

Taliban attacks have spiked around Afghanistan in the last three years, and the militants now control wide swaths of territory. In his message for the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which ends the fasting month of Ramadan, Omar said the U.S. and NATO should study the history of Alexander the Great, whose forces were defeated by Pashtun tribesmen in the 4th century.

"We would like to point out that we fought against the British invaders for 80 years from 1839 to 1919 and ultimately got independence by defeating" Britain, a statement attributed to Omar said.

"Today we have strong determination, military training and effective weapons. Still more, we have preparedness for a long war and the regional situation is in our favor. Therefore, we will continue to wage jihad until we gain independence and force the invaders to pull out," it said. The statement's authenticity could not be verified but it was posted on a Web site the Taliban frequently uses.

Omar is believed to be in hiding in Pakistan but hasn't been seen in years.

President Barack Obama has increased the U.S. focus on Afghanistan after what critics say were years of neglect under the Bush administration. Obama ordered 21,000 more troops to the country this year, and by year's end the U.S. will have a record 68,000 in the country.

Militant ambushes have become increasingly sophisticated and deadly, and U.S. troops say the Taliban is no longer the ragtag force the military first faced in late 2001. Civilian deaths and a corrupt Afghan government have turned many toward the militants, who have pushed into northern Afghanistan this year for the first time.

The Danish military said Saturday that one of its soldiers was killed after militants fired on troops on patrol in the southern province of Helmand. Denmark has lost 25 soldiers in Afghanistan since it joined the U.S.-led coalition in 2002. Separately, Hungarian officials said a suicide attacker drove a vehicle into a Hungarian convoy in the northern city of Pul-e-Khumri. No troops were killed.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is expected to ask Washington for thousands more troops in coming weeks, but public support for the war is waning, and political leaders are questioning the need for more forces.

Al-Qaida posted a new video this week threatening that if Germans do not push their political parties to withdraw the country's soldiers from Afghanistan, "there will be a rude awakening after the elections." Germany holds national elections Sept. 27.

Omar's message said the international community has "wrongly depicted" the Taliban as a force against education and women's rights. It did not elaborate. Taliban militants force women to wear the all-encompassing burqa and don't allow females outside the home without a male escort.

Division in Muslim Brotherhood?

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Divisions have emerged in the Muslim Brotherhood as a battle for power drags on between conservatives loyal to Hamas and moderates favoring Jordan.

Hamas gained independence from the Jordanian membership in 2006, prompting a decline in the number of its seats on a tribal council from 12 to four.

Pro-Jordanian moderates, meanwhile, want their members in the region to abandon their dual membership with Hamas and Jordan on the council of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Haman Saeed, the leader of the Palestinian faction of the Muslim Brotherhood, said his organization wants its seats back, Emirati newspaper The National reports. Palestinians want the movement to move under the control of Hamas as the representative of the Palestinian diaspora. Moderates, the report says, believe priorities should focus on Jordan.

The dual-membership issue exposed rifts at the latest council meeting in August, with votes delayed over the matter indefinitely.

Analysts say if hardliners gain more control, deeper divisions will emerge in the organization.

Saeed, however, discounted the claims, saying solidarity prevailed when dealing with previous divisions.

"I assure you that the movement has the tools of love, unity, dialogue and decision making thanks to God," he said.

Russia says it won't deploy missiles near Poland

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer



MOSCOW – Russia said Saturday it will scrap a plan to deploy missiles near Poland since Washington has dumped a planned missile shield in Eastern Europe. It also harshly criticized Iran's president for new comments denying the Holocaust.

Neither move, however, represented ceding any significant ground. A plan to place Iskander missiles close to the Polish border was merely a threat. And while the Kremlin has previously criticized Tehran for questioning the reality of the Holocaust, Russian leaders have refused to back Western push for tougher sanctions against Iran.

It still remains unclear whether Moscow will make any significant concessions on Iran and other issues in response to President Barack Obama's move to scrap the Bush-era plan for U.S. missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin told Ekho Moskvy radio Saturday that Obama's move has made the deployment of Iskander short-range missiles in the Kaliningrad region unnecessary.

He described Obama's move as "victory of reason over ambitions."

"Naturally, we will cancel countermeasures which Russia has planned in response, one of which was the deployment of Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region," Popovkin said.

Popovkin's statement was the most explicit declaration yet of Russia's intention to scrap the plan after Obama's decision, which was announced Thursday.

Popovkin later added, however, that the final decision on the subject can only be made by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russian news agencies reported. Medvedev hasn't yet spoken on the issue.

Russia staunchly opposed the plan by the former administration of George W. Bush to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a related radar in the Czech Republic and said if the project went ahead it would respond by deploying the Iskander missiles in its westernmost Baltic Sea region.

Obama's decision to scrap the plan was based largely on a new U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran's effort to build a nuclear-capable long-range missile would take three to five years longer than originally thought, U.S. officials said. The new U.S. missile-defense plan would rely on a network of sensors and interceptor missiles based at sea, on land and in the air as a bulwark against Iranian short- and medium-range missiles.

Medvedev hailed Obama's decision as a "responsible move," but Russian officials have given no indication yet that Moscow could make concessions in other areas, including Iran. Washington is counting on Moscow to help raise pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry harshly criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his Friday's comments in which he again questioned whether the Holocaust was a "real event."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko called the Iranian remarks "absolutely unacceptable" and insulting to the memory of the World War II victims.

"It won't help create a favorable international atmosphere for starting and conducting an efficient dialogue on issues regarding Iran," Nesterenko said in a statement.

Officials from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany are to meet Iranian diplomats in Turkey on Oct.1, for the first time since a 2008 session in Geneva foundered over Iran's refusal to discuss its uranium enrichment program.

Russia, which has close commercial ties with Iran and is building its first nuclear power plant, has condemned similar Ahmadinejad's statements in the past. Saturday's statement didn't necessarily mean that Moscow was prepared to toughen its stance on Iran in response to Obama's move to scrap the missile defense plan.

The U.S., Israel and the EU fear that Iran is using its nuclear program to develop weapons. But Tehran says the program serves purely civilian purposes.

Iran already has defied three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions since 2006 for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment. Russia, which holds veto power on the U.N. Security Council, backed those sanctions but used its clout to water down tougher U.S. proposals. Russian officials have said too much pressure would be counterproductive.

Russian intentions could become more clear after Obama meets with Medvedev at the United Nations and the Group of 20 economic summit in the coming week.

Medvedev's predecessor and mentor, Vladimir Putin, who is widely believed to be continuing to call the shots as Russia's prime minister, has praised Obama's decision but challenged the U.S. to do more by canceling Cold War-era restrictions on trade with Russia and facilitating Moscow's entry into the World Trade Organization.

Palestinian girl sexually assaulted by Israeli prison guard

September 18, 2009

GAZA, (PIC)-- An 18-year-old Palestinian girl, imprisoned at the Israeli occupation jail of Hasharon, was sexually assaulted by an Israeli prison guard, according to a statement by the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners Affairs.

Reyad al-Ashqar, head of the information office of the ministry said on Thursday that the victim was detained six months ago and that she was being held in a solitary cell.

Two weeks ago, an Israeli prison guard called the prisoner at 3:00 in the morning and asked her to get close to the door of the cell because he had an important message for her, as she stood close to the door, he put his hands through the hatch used to pass food for the prisoner and held her hands, pulled her closer to the door and tried to grope her.

The victim tried to free her self from his grip and started shouting forcing him to let her hands free, but he threatened her with sever punishment if she told anyone about the assault and said that he would recommend that she does not leave her solitary cell if she complained.

The girl was frightened and did not make a complaint to the prison's governor.

A convicted prisoner in the same section saw what happened and informed the count officer.

The victim was then called by the prison's authority and was questioned about the incident. She was told that the incident will be investigated and that the concerned prison guard was given leave until the conclusion of the investigation.

Waiting for Another Harsh Winter in Gaza

Karin Friedemann (LETTER FROM AMERICA)

September 18, 2009

Winter is coming, and it will be bitterly cold in Gaza. Many Gazans, whose houses were destroyed by the Israeli Defense Forces, have no shelter and will suffer terribly. Families still live amid the rubble of their homes with no resources to fix the damage.

With the sea blockaded illegally by the Israelis, the people of Gaza are literally imprisoned by these actions. Not only is Israel preventing building supplies from entering Gaza but also coffee, tea, paper, school books, toys for children, and thousands of other items. Palestine is not a poor country, and Palestinians are not a poor people. They are being forced into poverty.

"The blockade, although initiated by Israel, could not be successful if world governments, including Arab governments, were not complicit with Israel. At the Rafah crossing, aid was denied entry by the Egyptian government. Egypt destroyed the food and medicine by setting it on fire. This is proof that the purpose is to ethnically cleanse Gaza, allowing its people to die from starvation and curable disease as in Iraq where approximately 650,000 children died from the results of economic sanctions," says Anisa Abdel Fattah, Chairperson of the Committee to Ban Economic Sanctions, whose conference in Washington, DC is planned for September 29. The continuing failure of the international community to protect the Palestinians demands that we, as private citizens have to directly intervene to solve the crisis.

"When governments fail to protect human rights, civilians must step up. Civilians have a very important role to play, especially when government institutions fail to do their job in upholding the law and human rights," said Huwaida Arraf, Chairperson of the Free Gaza Movement, during a talk at the American University of Beirut. Ms. Arraf described how she was approached by an elderly Gazan man who stopped her in the street.

"He had tears in his eyes. He said you gave us hope that our people, our family outside have not forgotten us."

A year ago, 44 ordinary people from 17 different countries sailed to Gaza from Cyprus in two small wooden boats. They did what our governments would not do: they broke through the Israeli siege. During the last year, the Free Gaza Movement has organized seven more voyages, successfully arriving in Gaza on five separate occasions, bringing in journalists, human rights workers, parliamentarians and other concerned people. They took out dozens of Palestinian students and medical patients, and helped to reunite families separated by the siege. They remain the only ships to sail to Gaza in over forty-two years.

On three occasions, including the most recent attempt in June, the boats were blocked from entering by the Israeli navy.

Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories declared, "The landing of two wooden boats carrying human rights activists in Gaza is an important symbolic victory ... Above all, what is being tested is whether the imaginative engagement of dedicated private citizens can influence the struggle of a beleaguered people for basic human rights, and whether their courage and commitment can awaken the conscience of humanity to an unfolding tragedy."

Former Malaysian prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who met members of the Free Gaza Movement in Cyprus, was shocked at how tiny was the only fishing boat that they still have for future trips to Gaza. "Yet 25 people dared to sail in this tiny boat, sleeping on the open deck, being seasick, without proper food, and being made to face Israeli attacks… I don’t think I would be able to endure the kind of discomfort and dangers faced by the activists of the Free Gaza Movement. All I can do is give moral support to them…"

There is definitely urgency in raising funds for the purchase of the vessel because with winter approaching, the people of Palestine will be affected. "We want to carry building materials as we need to rebuild houses, because they (Palestinians) are now living in tents and when winter comes, it will be terrible for the old, sick and children. Many of them may die because of the winter." Ms. Abdulla, a banker from Bahrain who traveled by sea to Gaza with the group in 2008, said, "I think Arabs in particular should go. At the very least they should support the movement financially. Everyone is obliged to do something to stop this tragedy." Those who want to help the cause can visit www.freegaza.org.

Regardless of Israeli threats and intimidation, Free Gaza volunteers will continue to directly challenge the Israeli military with their small boats, concretely demonstrating that this siege has nothing whatsoever to do with security and is simply an illegal act of collective punishment.

UN body urges Israel to allow nuclear inspection

September 18, 2009

Arab states in the United Nations nuclear assembly on Friday won narrow approval of a resolution urging Israel to put all its atomic sites under the world body's inspection and join the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Israel deplored the measure for singling it out while many of its neighbors remained hostile to its existence, and said it would not cooperate with it.

The non-binding resolution, which passed for the first time in 18 years of attempts thanks to more developing nation votes, voiced concern about "Israeli nuclear capabilities" and urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to tackle the issue.

Israel is one of only three countries worldwide along with India and Pakistan outside the nuclear NPT and is widely assumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, though it has never confirmed or denied this.

Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh, whose country's disputed nuclear program is under IAEA investigation, told reporters Friday's vote was a "glorious moment" and "a triumph for the oppressed nation of Palestine".

UN Security Council members Russia and China also backed the resolution, which passed by 49 votes to 45 against in a floor vote at the IAEA's annual member states conference.

The vote split along Western and developing nation lines. There were 16 abstentions.

"Israel will not cooperate in any matter with this resolution which is only aiming at reinforcing political hostilities and lines of division in the Middle East region," chief Israeli delegate David Danieli told the chamber.

Western states said it was unfair and counterproductive to isolate one member state. They said an IAEA resolution passed on Thursday, urging all Middle East nations to foreswear atomic bombs, included Israel and made Friday's proposal unnecessary.

Arab nations said Israel had brought the resolution on itself by having never signed the 40-year-old NPT.

Before the vote, U.S. Ambassador Glyn Davies said the resolution was "redundant ... Such an approach is highly politicized and does not address the complexities at play regarding crucial nuclear-related issues in the Middle East."

Calling the resolution "unbalanced", Canada tried to block a vote on the floor with a "no-action motion". But the procedural maneuver lost by an eight-vote margin. The same motion prevailed in 2007 and 2008.

A senior diplomat from the non-aligned movement of developing nations said times had changed.

"People and countries are bolder now, willing to call a spade a spade. You cannot hide or ignore the truth, the double standards, of Israel's nuclear capability forever," he said.

"The new U.S. [Obama] administration has certainly helped this thinking with its commitment to universal nuclear disarmament and nuclear weapons-free zones," they said.

The measure was last voted on in 1991 when it passed by 39-31 with 13 abstentions when IAEA membership was much smaller.

Since then there have only been official summaries of debate on this item or successful motions for adjournment or no action.

Afghanistan: Where Empires Go to Die

Dahr Jamail

t r u t h o u t, September 18, 2009

On September 7 the Swedish aid agency Swedish Committee for Afghanistan reported that the previous week US soldiers raided one of its hospitals. According to the director of the aid agency, Anders Fange, troops stormed through both the men's and women's wards, where they frantically searched for wounded Taliban fighters.

Soldiers demanded that hospital administrators inform the military of any incoming patients who might be insurgents, after which the military would then decide if said patients would be admitted or not. Fange called the incident "not only a clear violation of globally recognized humanitarian principles about the sanctity of health facilities and staff in areas of conflict, but also a clear breach of the civil-military agreement" between nongovernmental organizations and international forces.

Fange said that US troops broke down doors and tied up visitors and hospital staff.

Impeding operations at medical facilities in Afghanistan directly violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which strictly forbids attacks on emergency vehicles and the obstruction of medical operations during wartime.

Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, a public affairs officer for the US Navy, confirmed the raid, and told The Associated Press, "Complaints like this are rare."

Despite Sidenstricker's claim that "complaints like this" are rare in Afghanistan, they are, in fact, common. Just as they are in Iraq, the other occupation. A desperate conventional military, when losing a guerilla war, tends to toss international law out the window. Yet even more so when the entire occupation itself is a violation of international law.

Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild and also a Truthout contributor, is very clear about the overall illegality of the invasion and ongoing occupation of Afghanistan by the United States.

"The UN Charter is a treaty ratified by the United States and thus part of US law," Cohn, who is also a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and recently co-authored the book "Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent" said, "Under the charter, a country can use armed force against another country only in self-defense or when the Security Council approves. Neither of those conditions was met before the United States invaded Afghanistan. The Taliban did not attack us on 9/11. Nineteen men - 15 from Saudi Arabia - did, and there was no imminent threat that Afghanistan would attack the US or another UN member country. The council did not authorize the United States or any other country to use military force against Afghanistan. The US war in Afghanistan is illegal."

Thus, the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, along with the ongoing slaughter of Afghan civilians and raiding hospitals, are in violation of international law as well as the US Constitution.

And of course the same applies for Iraq.

Let us recall November 8, 2004, when the US military launched its siege of Fallujah. The first thing done by the US military was to invade and occupy Fallujah General Hospital. Then, too, like this recent incident in Afghanistan, doctors, patients and visitors alike had their hands tied and they were laid on the ground, oftentimes face down, and held at gunpoint.

During my first four trips to Iraq, I commonly encountered hospital staff who reported US military raids on their facilities. US soldiers regularly entered hospitals to search for wounded resistance fighters.

Doctors from Fallujah General Hospital, as well as others who worked in clinics throughout the city during both US sieges of Fallujah in 2004, reported that US Marines obstructed their services and that US snipers intentionally targeted their clinics and ambulances.

"The Marines have said they didn't close the hospital, but essentially they did," Dr. Abdulla, an orthopedic surgeon at Fallujah General Hospital who spoke on condition of using a different name, told Truthout in May 2004 of his experiences in the hospital. "They closed the bridge which connects us to the city [and] closed our road ... the area in front of our hospital was full of their soldiers and vehicles."

He added that this prevented countless patients who desperately needed medical care from receiving medical care. "Who knows how many of them died that we could have saved," said Dr. Abdulla. He also blamed the military for shooting at civilian ambulances, as well as shooting near the clinic at which he worked. "Some days we couldn't leave, or even go near the door because of the snipers," he said, "They were shooting at the front door of the clinic!"

Dr. Abdulla also said that US snipers shot and killed one of the ambulance drivers of the clinic where he worked during the fighting.

Dr. Ahmed, who also asked that only his first name be used because he feared US military reprisals, said, "The Americans shot out the lights in the front of our hospital. They prevented doctors from reaching the emergency unit at the hospital, and we quickly began to run out of supplies and much-needed medications." He also stated that several times Marines kept the physicians in the residence building, thereby intentionally prohibiting them from entering the hospital to treat patients.

"All the time they came in, searched rooms and wandered around," said Dr. Ahmed, while explaining how US troops often entered the hospital in order to search for resistance fighters. Both he and Dr. Abdulla said the US troops never offered any medicine or supplies to assist the hospital when they carried out their incursions. Describing a situation that has occurred in other hospitals, he added, "Most of our patients left the hospital because they were afraid."

Dr. Abdulla said that one of their ambulance drivers was shot and killed by US snipers while he was attempting to collect the wounded near another clinic inside the city.

"The major problem we found were the American snipers," said Dr. Rashid, who worked at another clinic in the Jumaria Quarter of Falluja. "We saw them on top of the buildings near the mayor's office."

Dr. Rashid told of another incident in which a US sniper shot an ambulance driver in the leg. The ambulance driver survived, but a man who came to his rescue was shot by a US sniper and died on the operating table after Dr. Rashid and others had worked to save him. "He was a volunteer working on the ambulance to help collect the wounded," Dr. Rashid said sadly.

During Truthout's visit to the hospital in May 2004, two ambulances in the parking lot sat with bullet holes in their windshields, while others had bullet holes in their back doors and sides.

"I remember once we sent an ambulance to evacuate a family that was bombed by an aircraft," said Dr. Abdulla while continuing to speak about the US snipers, "The ambulance was sniped - one of the family died, and three were injured by the firing."

Neither Dr. Abdulla nor Dr. Rashid said they knew of any medical aid being provided to their hospital or clinics by the US military. On this topic, Dr. Rashid said flatly, "They send only bombs, not medicine."

Chuwader General Hospital in Sadr City also reported similar findings to Truthout, as did other hospitals throughout Baghdad.

Dr. Abdul Ali, the ex-chief surgeon at Al-Noman Hospital, admitted that US soldiers had come to the hospital asking for information about resistance fighters. To this he said, "My policy is not to give my patients to the Americans. I deny information for the sake of the patient."

During an interview in April 2004, he admitted this intrusion occurred fairly regularly and interfered with patients receiving medical treatment. He noted, "Ten days ago this happened - this occurred after people began to come in from Fallujah, even though most of them were children, women and elderly."

A doctor at Al-Kerkh Hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, shared a similar experience of the problem that appears to be rampant throughout much of the country: "We hear of Americans removing wounded Iraqis from hospitals. They are always coming here and asking us if we have injured fighters."

Speaking about the US military raid of the hospital in Afghanistan, UN spokesman Aleem Siddique said he was not aware of the details of the particular incident, but that international law requires the military to avoid operations in medical facilities.

"The rules are that medical facilities are not combat areas. It's unacceptable for a medical facility to become an area of active combat operations," he said. "The only exception to that under the Geneva Conventions is if a risk is being posed to people."

"There is the Hippocratic oath," Fange added, "If anyone is wounded, sick or in need of treatment ... if they are a human being, then they are received and treated as they should be by international law."

These are all indications of a US Empire in decline. Another recent sign of US desperation in Afghanistan was the bombing of two fuel tanker trucks that the Taliban had captured from NATO. US warplanes bombed the vehicles, from which impoverished local villagers were taking free gas, incinerating as many as 150 civilians, according to reports from villagers.

The United States Empire is following a long line of empires and conquerors that have met their end in Afghanistan. The Median and Persian Empires, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids, the Indo-Greeks, Turks, Mongols, British and Soviets all met the end of their ambitions in Afghanistan.

And today, the US Empire is on the fast track of its demise. A recent article by Tom Englehardt provides us more key indicators of this:

# In 2002 there were 5,200 US soldiers in Afghanistan. By December of this year, there will be 68,000.
# Compared to the same period in 2008, Taliban attacks on coalition forces using Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) has risen 114 percent.
# Compared to the same period in 2008, coalition deaths from IED attacks have increased sixfold.
# Overall Taliban attacks on coalition forces in the first five months of 2009, compared to the same period last year, have increased 59 percent.

Genghis Khan could not hold onto Afghanistan.

Neither will the United States, particularly when in its desperation to continue its illegal occupation, it tosses aside international law, along with its own Constitution.

Mars turned red due to grinding rocks, not water

LONDON: Recent laboratory studies have shown that Mars is not red due to the rocks being rusted by the water that once flooded the planet, but due to the ongoing grinding of surface rocks, which forms the red dust.

These findings, which open up the debate about the history of water on Mars and whether it has ever been habitable, have been presented at the European Planetary Science Congress by Dr Jonathan Merrison.

"Mars should really look blackish, between its white polar caps, because most of the rocks at mid-latitudes are basalt. For decades, we assumed that the reddish regions on Mars are related to the water-rich early history of the planet and that, at least in some areas, water-bearing heavily oxidized iron minerals are present," said Dr Merrison, of the Aarhus Mars Simulation Laboratory, Denmark.

Fine red dust covers Mars's surface and is even present in the planet's atmosphere, dominating the weather and sometimes becoming so thick that it plunges the planet into darkness.

Even though dust is ubiquitous, we do not fully understand its physical, chemical, and geological properties.

In their recent laboratory study, scientists at the Mars Simulation Laboratory have pioneered a novel technique to simulate the sand transport on Mars.

They hermetically sealed sand (quartz) samples in glass flasks and mechanically "tumbled" them for several months, turning each flask ten million times.

After gently tumbling pure quartz sand for seven months, almost 10% of the sand had been reduced to dust.

When scientists added powdered magnetite, an iron oxide present in Martian basalt, to the flasks, they were surprised to see it getting redder as the flasks were tumbled.

"Reddish-orange material deposits, which resemble mineral mantles known as desert varnish, started appearing on the tumbled flasks. Subsequent analysis of the flask material and dust has shown that the magnetite was transformed into the red mineral hematite, through a completely mechanical process without the presence of water at any stage of this process," said Dr Merrison.

The scientists suspect that, as the quartz sand grains are tumbled around, they get quickly eroded and an alteration of minerals through contact ensues.

The first experiments show that this process occurs not only in air, but also in a dried carbon dioxide (CO2) atmosphere, that is, in conditions that perfectly resemble those occurring on Mars.

It may also imply that the reddish Martian dust is geologically recent.

EU urges Israel to end all settlement activities

The European Union on Friday repeated its call to Israel to stop all settlement activities and open crossings for the flow of people to and from Palestinian-controlled Gaza.

"We urge Israel to immediately end all settlement activities, including in East Jerusalem," said Sweden, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, in a statement.

The EU also called for an immediate and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza, the statement said.

"We strongly support the United States' vigorous pursuit of a two-state solution and call on the parties to fully engage in resumed negotiations to create a viable Palestinian state on the basis of the June 1967 borders," the statement added.

'Al-Shabaab plans more raids on AMISOM'

Sat Sep 19, 2009

The Somali Defense Ministry claims it has information that more suicide attacks have been planned to be carried out on 8 bomb-laden vehicles carrying UN logo.

In a press conference in southern Mogadishu, the ministry confirmed that the Somali government has been informed about al-Shabaab's plans for conducting new suicide attacks on AMISOM troops inside Somalia by using eight stolen cars belonging to the United Nations, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The Somali government has tightened the security measures ahead of planned attacks on AMISOM troops.

In the meantime, a senior al-Shabaab member said that false information have been given to the Somali government.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/106602.html.

Ahmadinejad: We do not need nuclear weapons

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country doesn't 'need nuclear weapons', adding that Iran is 'very much able to defend' itself without them.

In an interview with US network NBC, Ahmadinejad said nuclear arms were not 'part of Iran's programs', while stressing that Tehran would not abandon its uranium enrichment activities.

When asked by NBC host Ann Curry if there was 'a condition under which Iran would weaponize', Ahmadinejad said, "We don't have such a need for nuclear weapons. We don't need nuclear weapons. Without such weapons, we are very much able to defend ourselves."

"If you are talking about the enrichment of uranium for peaceful purposes, this will never be closed down here in Iran. But if you are talking about weapons, we don't need such a weapon. It's not a part of our any - of our programs and plans."

Iran has repeatedly denied Western allegations that it is developing nuclear weapons under the cover of its uranium enrichment activities. Tehran has called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction across the globe.

On Israel's threat of an attack on Iran, Ahmadinejad said Tel Aviv was not capable of doing so, but said Iran's reaction to a strike, if it were to happen, is 'decisive'.

The Iranian president welcomed a US decision to abandon its missile defense system in Europe, saying it was a 'sign leading to change'.

Asked if he has a message for US President Barack Obama, Ahmadinejad said the 'military policy of various US administrations has failed' and thus a change in the world order was required.

"We think that the world needs to be governed using new methods. We are hoping that real change will happen. We are also ready to assist with that."

He added that Iran was ready to help the United States alter the existing conditions.

"If Mr. Obama seriously is looking to bring about change, we will assist the gentleman. And we are hoping that he will succeed."

Ahmadinejad stressed that the policies of 'a handful of countries', including Britain and the US are threatening the Middle East with an arms race.

"First the nuclear arsenals in the US and Britain need to be destroyed, dismantled. And then no one would doubt the good will of the US around the world," he said.

On the recent June 12 presidential election, Ahmadinejad said the election was 'fair and legal', adding that 'Iran's government has been legitimate' all through the thirty years following the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

It was natural that a candidate won over other contenders during an election, the president said, maintaining that differences of opinion were a common issue in any political system.

"Elections are organized so that people, different parties, do not think that their point of view is the only prevailing one. It's very clear…that different people, different parties will have different points of view".

Pakistan police raid US-contracted security firm

By MUNIR AHMAD and NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writers

ISLAMABAD – Pakistani police raided a local security firm contracted by the U.S. Embassy on Saturday, officials said, seizing dozens of allegedly unlicensed weapons at a time when American use of private contractors is under unusual scrutiny here.

Two employees of the Inter-Risk company were arrested, Islamabad police official Rana Akram told a news conference. Reporters were shown the disputed weapons — 61 assault rifles and nine pistols.

He said police were searching for the owner of the firm, which has been mentioned recently in local media reports that have been trying to establish the types of private security firms that American diplomats use in Pakistan.

In particular, Pakistani reporters, bloggers and others have suggested that the U.S. may be using the American firm formerly known as Blackwater, which was refused an operating license by Iraq's government early this year amid continued outrage over a lethal 2007 firefight involving some of its employees in Baghdad.

The U.S. Embassy denies it uses Blackwater — now known as Xe Services — in Pakistan, but the accusations have been part of a deepening sense of anti-Americanism in a country where that feeling is already pervasive.

Much of it hinges on U.S. plans to expand its embassy, adding hundreds more staff and more land in what it says is a move to allow it to disburse billions of dollars more in humanitarian aid to Pakistan.

Akram said police are investigating whether any other private security firms are using illegal weapons.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Rick Snelsire confirmed that the embassy signed a contract with Inter-Risk last year and that it took effect at the start of 2009. It is believed to be the first contract the local firm has signed with the U.S., said Snelsire, who did not have a figure for the contract's worth.

"Our understanding is they obtained licenses with whatever they brought into the country to meet the contractual needs," Snelsire said. "We told the government that we had a contract with Inter-Risk, that Inter-Risk would be providing security at the embassy and our consulates."

Hezbollah leader vows never to recognize Israel

BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah vowed on Friday that his Shiite militant group will never recognize Israel and that no Arab state has the right to do so either.

Hassan Nasrallah spoke in a televised address to ceremonies marking Quds Day, an annual occasion created by Hezbollah’s ally Iran to show support for the Palestinians. Quds is Arabic for Jerusalem.

“No one has the right to recognize this entity (Israel) or approve its legitimacy,” the black-turbaned Nasrallah said in a speech broadcast through a giant screen from a secret location to thousands of supporters who gathered in the group’s stronghold south of Beirut.

Nasrallah’s comments came hours after President Barack Obama’s special Mideast envoy was unable to bridge wide gaps between Israelis and Palestinians on the terms of renewing peace talks. Mitchell had urged the Arab world to take steps toward normalizing relations with Israel as he pressed Israel to halt construction of settlements in the West Bank.

The Hezbollah leader called Israel an “illegitimate cancerous entity” that should be “eliminated.” He added that “we will not recognize, deal or normalize with Israel even if the whole world recognize it.”

Nasrallah repeated his warning to Israel not to launch a war against his group saying the Israeli military will be “crushed” by his guerrillas. Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in the summer of 2006 that devastated much of south Lebanon. Since then, Hezbollah has refrained from firing rockets into northern Israel.

In neighboring Syria, some 5,000 people marked “Jerusalem Day” at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in the capital Damascus.

The head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command Ahmed Jibril told the gathering that the participation in the rally is a call “for liberating Jerusalem.”

Family calls Afghan war 'useless'

MONTREAL -- Heart-wrenching comments from relatives of a soldier killed in Afghanistan -- saying his death was pointless -- tossed the grieving family into the midst of a national debate on the war.

As his 23-year-old body was being airlifted home yesterday, the brother and sister-in-law of Pte. Jonathan Couturier lambasted the mission and said the young soldier lost his life for a cause he considered hopeless.

"That war over there, he found it a bit useless -- that they were wasting their time over there," Nicolas Couturier was quoted as saying in Le Soleil.

The comments from the Couturier family produced a chorus of sympathy -- but discordant opinions about whether they were correct.

Even within the family there were divergent opinions. Couturier's brother said the soldier considered the mission "useless," his sister-in-law said he expressed being "fed up," but his mother said he enjoyed his career choice to become a soldier.

Amongst politicians, the Bloc Quebecois agreed with family members' skepticism.

As for supporters of the mission, one prominent military booster downplayed the family's negative reaction as marginal.

"The fact is that it's totally and absolutely unique to date in the mission," retired major general Lewis MacKenzie said.

Ramadan brings out Egypt's split personality

By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO – The holy month of Ramadan has brought out Egypt's raging case of cultural schizophrenia, twisting Egyptians into knots over whether their society is secular, Muslim or a muddled mix.

Two furious debates have been raging through the season in the Arab world's most populous nation. On one hand, rumors that police arrested Egyptians violating the daily Ramadan fast raised dire warnings from secularists that a Taliban-like rule by Islamic law is taking over.

On the other, Ramadan TV talk shows on state-sponsored television featuring racily dressed female hosts discussing intimate sex secrets with celebrities have sparked outrage from conservatives, denouncing what they call the decadence that is sweeping the nation.

So is Egypt being taken over by sinners or saints? Egyptians have always been a boisterous combination — priding themselves on their piety, while determined to have a good time.

Ramadan, the final day of which is Saturday in most of the Islamic world, shows the contradictions. Egyptians widely adhere to the dawn-to-dusk fast, in which the faithful abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex from dawn until dusk. After sunset, while some pray into the night, many Egyptians party with large meals and a heavy dose of TV entertainment produced specially for the month.

But the confusion comes from the government as well. It has often promoted strict Islamic principles in an attempt to co-opt conservatives and undercut extremists whom the state has been battling for decades. But it also increasingly dominated by businessmen who this year are more heavily than ever promoting Western-style secular culture.

There is no explicit law in Egypt to punish those not abiding by the fast, nor are there religious police to enforce Islamic rules as in Saudi Arabia. Many restaurants still serve during the day, and coffee shops can be seen with their doors cracked open, patrons hidden inside sipping tea or smoking water pipes.

But independent newspapers reported this month that police arrested more than 150 people for openly violating the fast.

Most of the reports have been unconfirmed. But Ahmed, a 27-year old fruit vendor, told The Associated Press he and 15 other people were arrested in a market in the southern town of Aswan on Sept. 5, for smoking in public.

"I was slapped, kicked around," Ahmed said, refusing to give his last name fearing further police harassment. "They asked me why I am not fasting ... They insulted me and used foul language."

Ahmed said he was kept in the police station for nearly six hours, then let go. "Now I am fasting, I swear," he said.

Police officials refused to confirm if Ahmed and others were arrested for not fasting, saying only they were rounded up for investigation.

The reports sparked criticism from Egyptian human rights activists, who called the crackdown unconstitutional. Activists said it appeared some police were acting individually to enforce the fast, a sign of increasing conservatism in the Interior Ministry. Some critics argued that adherence to the fast is traditionally a matter between each individual Muslim and God.

The Interior Ministry didn't deny or confirm the reports, but a ministry spokesman was quoted in the press last week insisting the security forces have a right to crack down on violators of the fast.

Bilal Fadl, a popular satirical columnist, said the ministry is mimicking "big sister Saudi Arabia," adding, "can we be so demanding from the sheiks in the Interior Ministry and ask them to postpone their campaign to defend (Islam) ... and start with implementing religious laws that fight corruption?"

An Egyptian blogger who goes by the pseudonym "Kalb Baladi" (Stray Dog) warned, "once we start going down the slippery slope of religious fascism, Egypt will become another Afghanistan in no time."

But the campaign appeared to have backers among the public. One woman who called into a popular talk show, Al-Qahira Al-Yom (Cairo Today), said fast-breakers were "looking for trouble" and should be jailed.

Television talk shows and soap operas produced especially for Ramadan have sparked their own debates.

State television and private channels owned by businessmen close to the government flooded the airwaves with new programs that liberally discussed taboo subjects like extramarital relationships, polygamy, divorce and sex education. Most featured stylish female hosts and often veered into titillation.

Ramadan is supposed to be a time of piety and religious reflection. Open talk of sex on TV is frowned upon throughout the year — but it's outright shocking during the holy month, when Muslims believe Islam's holy book the Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

Gehad Auda, a political analyst and member of the ruling party, said the government was intentionally trying to challenge religious extremists by opening the doors to more daring topics on TV.

"There is a new television logic, not only with images, but also through dialogue, without fear by breaking taboos surrounding many issues" to raise social awareness, Auda said.

In one espoused of a talk show called "The Daring One," the host — a famous female film director with a penchant for short skirts — kept pressing her actress guest about what she and her boyfriend liked to do when they're alone.

On the same show, another actress confessed she once had an abortion — which is illegal in Egypt and strictly forbidden by Islamic law. A male guest admitted to extramarital affairs.

The barrage of provocative shows has unleashed heavy criticism.

"We should boycott all this absurdity and obscenity and read the Quran," Mahmoud Ashour, an official with al-Azhar, the highest institution of Sunni learning in the Muslim world, told a gathering.

Columnist Ahmed Gamal Badawi wrote in the liberal opposition daily Al-Wafd that the government policy to "besiege" Islamists with "obscenity" would backfire and only add "millions to their ranks."

Wael Abdel Fattah, a producer of one of the new talk shows but also a government critic, said the conflicting messages of arresting fast-breakers while challenging religious sensitivities just show the state's determination to impose its power on all sides.

The state "is now dressing up in fashion, wearing a suit and tie, talking elegantly, showing pretty pictures but it is still very much in control ... it all fits the traditional tools of oppression," he said.

Yemen offers cease-fire to Shiite insurgents

By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press Writer

SAN'A, Yemen – Yemen offered a conditional cease-fire on Saturday to the Shiite rebels it is battling in the north, following international concern over a deadly airstrike against civilians displaced from the war zones.

The government decision comes after both the U.N. and the U.S. urged a cease-fire to allow food supplies and medical aid to reach the tens of thousands of civilians that have fled weeks of fighting between the rebels and the army.

Rebels responded cautiously to the offer, which comes right before the Eid al-Fitr holiday ending the fasting month of Ramadan, and told the Associated Press they would monitor the situation on the ground first.

On Wednesday government jets bombed a makeshift camp packed with displaced people near the front-line town of Harf Sufyan, witnesses put the death toll at 87, most of them women and children.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the U.S. embassy in San'a expressed concern over the strikes Friday and called for an end to the fighting.

In their statement on the cease-fire, the government said the move was in response to the international calls. This is second cease-fire in two weeks, the last one fell apart in a matter of hours.

While the rebels have said they would welcome any unconditional cease-fire, the government has set down five conditions for the end of hostilities, including removing road blocks and barricades, withdrawal of rebel forces, release of detained military personnel and property, and abiding by the constitution and law.

The Shiite tribesmen, led by Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi, have so far refused to hand over their weapons or release any war prisoners. They accuse the government of not fulfilling its obligations under previous cease-fire agreements, including freeing rebel detainees, paying compensation to victims and rebuilding villages ravaged by fighting.

AFGHANISTAN: Overstretched health services in Kandahar Province

KANDAHAR, 17 September 2009 (IRIN) - As the van passed along the bumpy road, groans could be heard coming from the three wounded passengers, but once on asphalt near Kandahar city, southern Afghanistan, only one person was still murmuring; the two others (teenagers) had passed away.

The three were injured in an air strike on their village in Shah Wali Kot District, Kandahar Province, earlier this month, according to Abdul Aleem, the surviving injured man.

"There is no clinic or doctor in our district so they brought me here," he told IRIN from his bed in a hospital in Kandahar. "I was in terrible pain on the road here."

Next to Aleem's bed is Juma Gol, 13, who said he was wounded in a roadside explosion in Kandahar's Panjwaye District. Gol endured three hours tied to the back of a motorcycle driven by his elder brother until they found a car to take him to the city for treatment.

"When I got wounded I did not feel much pain but I felt terrible pain when I was on the motorcycle," Gol said.

Bringing a patient from rural areas to Kandahar is not only difficult and risky but very expensive. Several patients and their relatives complained about improvised roadside explosions, demands for cash from insurgents and apparently indiscriminate shooting by international forces.

"In an emergency private drivers demand several times more money than usual," said Shir Mohammad, from Maiwand District.

Constant fighting and threats to health workers have forced the closure of at least 11 of the 38 health facilities across the province, the population of which is estimated at over one million, according to provincial health officials.

Women at greatest risk

The absence of health providers in rural areas makes things especially difficult for women who already have limited access to work and education.

Bibi Nanye, an elderly woman from Khakriz District in Kandahar, said: "Many women die during pregnancy and child delivery and from other diseases because men cannot, and do not, take them to hospital in the city."

Her concerns were acknowledged by Abdul Qayum Pokhla, the director of Kandahar's health department. "Women and children suffer more than anyone else from the lack of access to health care."

Afghanistan has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world: 1,600 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to UN agencies.

Influx of patients

Rapid population growth and lack of access to health services particularly in insecure rural areas have contributed to an influx of patients to the provincial capital, health officials said.

"We receive patients not only from all over Kandahar but also from [neighbouring] Helmand, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces," Daud Farhad, director of Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar city, told IRIN, adding that from March to August 2009 over 67,000 patients had been treated at the hospital.

Established in 1978 initially with 250 beds, the hospital's capacity has now been increased to 354 beds in order to meet increasing demand.

"Sometimes we give one bed to three patients with minor ailments because of space limits," Farhad said.

Lack of medical personnel

The shortage of qualified medical personnel and equipment is also affecting the hospital's response capacity.

"For the 180-bed surgery unit we should have 36 surgeons but currently we only have 18," said Farhad. "Although it's a main regional hospital we don't have equipment such as CT [computerized tomography] and MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] scans."

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) supports Mirwais Hospital with medical supplies, equipment, training and maintenance because it is a major health facility in the volatile south.

"Mirwais regional hospital is admitting more and more children with ailments that could easily be treated locally if only health posts and clinics were functioning. Patients with severe trauma are also on the rise. The number of civilians injured by improvised explosive devices is a cause for alarm," ICRC said in an operational update in July.

Security the key

Provincial health officials say there is an urgent need for the expansion of rural healthcare facilities and the establishment of a new hospital in Kandahar Province.

"We need a new 500-bed hospital in order to be able to respond to growing needs here," said Pokhla.

More qualified health workers are also critically needed in the province, he added.

However, officials concede that everything hinges on one important issue - security. "We can re-open the closed clinics and build new ones if only we had security," Pokhla said.

Taliban insurgents are believed to be present throughout the province, according to a report by the International Council on Security and Development.

Blackwater Offers Training to 'Faith Based Organizations'

Jeremy Scahill

September 17, 2009

This is not a story from The Onion.

In its ever-evolving re-branding campaign, Blackwater has created a new alter-ego for part of the company’s business. Meet the "Personal Security Awareness" program, which appears to be an off-shoot of Erik Prince’s Greystone, Ltd., a classic mercenary operation registered offshore in Barbados. On its website, which was registered on February 20, 2009 and went live recently, the "program" is described as "a multi-phase course which is designed to assist Non-Government Organizations, Faith Based Organizations and Commercial Businesses by providing individual personal awareness and driver training for their personnel when deployed to unfamiliar environments." It adds: "Greystone recognizes the importance of "preparation by doing" and looks forward to you joining us for this exciting training!"

Blackwater, of course, works for such organizations as the International Republican Institute, but "Faith Based Organizations?" Are they serious? I’m sure there are just scores of Islamic aid groups just lining up to take courses from Blackwater, Xe, US Training Center, Greystone, Personal Security Awareness. Moreover, any legitimate "faith based organization" that wants harmony with other faiths would be insane to work with this company. One of the courses offered is described as teaching "persons traveling to foreign environments how to remain safe during their travels in a vehicle." This truly is surreal. What would seem more appropriate would be a company offering courses on how to "remain safe" in a vehicle when going anywhere near Blackwater forces. Remember how those unarmed Iraqi civilians were blown up in their car by Blackwater operatives at Nisour Square? Or the Afghan civilians allegedly killed in their car by Blackwater operatives in Afghanistan in May?

Also, lets remember that Blackwater—headed by a man described in a sworn statement by a former employee as "view[ing] himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe"— is itself a twisted faith-based organization—and a very violent one at that.

Then there is this course in Session III: "Teaches rules of the road and includes specific driving techniques for a specific region." I can just imagine what goes on during this course: If you are trying to convert Muslims in a Muslim country and some Muslims happen to come near you, "'lay [the] Hajiis out on cardboard’ as 'payback for 9/11.’"

In Session I there is a course that purportedly "Describes the criminal mindset." Well, that’s something Blackwater knows a lot about. I hope they assign, as part of the curriculum, the US Justice Department’s 34-count indictment of Blackwater forces for the Nisour Square massacre.

Poor Kabulis survive by eating domestic animals food

By Ayoub Arwin, BBC Persian (Translated by RAWA)

RAWA - September 17, 2009

At the moment my children only eat dry and hard bread, their last wish is to eat soft bread. They only think about bread.

Poverty in the month of Ramadan shows itself with much harsher face in the dinning cloth of most of the families in Kabul city.

In spite the sloping of billions of aid from the international community to Afghanistan, a number of families says they are still unable to fill their hungry stomachs. A number of these families have to eat the stored dried bread for the domesticated animals.

Marzia is the guardian of one of these families. Marzia with her sick husband and seven children is living in a rent room in a mountain slope in west of Kabul. The rent of her room is 500 Afghani (around US$10) per month, but her uncle, who is the owner of her house hasn’t taken the rent money for the last six years for the regard of her state because she is unable to pay it.

The monthly income of Marzia is 1,500 Afghanis equivalent to 30 dollars which she takes from the government as her husband's pension. Once her husband has been a worker of municipality but now extremely needs to be cured and this money is even not enough for the cost of his sickness. This man already was paralyzed and now he is also suffering from mental problem and is always needs someone to take care of him.

Non of Marzia's children has the ability to work, Sakhie, her eldest son studied till fifth class nut hunger dragged him towards the television workshop. His salary is only 200 Afghanis equivalent to 4 dollars per week. He hopes one day he himself could repair television and earn a good income.

On Marzias breaking fast cloth there is potato sauce, but she says most of the time her family eat tea and bread. The bread that they eat is cooked by Marzia which is made from very low quality flour.

On her dinning cloth there was a type of bread which was white in color and was send by her husband's brother. This was a valuable gift which was sent to this family especially for the breaking fast.

Three fingers sacrificed for a ring

Marzia can't work properly due to her three cutoff fingers. According to her in 1996 during the internal fighting of mujahideen, armed men raided her house, they killed her nine years old son and cut her three fingers for a gold ring.

Marzia said: "They asked where is your gold jewelry? I said I don’t have. (Pointing towards the gold ring) they said what is this? I said it can not be removed from my finger. They said we will remove it. They attacked with a gun knife and cut three of my fingers."

According to her these people also fired three bullets at her which injured her foot.

While Marzia was showing the picture of her killed son, she said I presented my destitution to the president Hamid Karzai, but I didn't get any help.

She said: "During the war, because of war I had no good life, after the war because of poverty and illness of my husband I had to find money for his treatment. I became a borrower until some one sent me a little help from Denmark."

Marzia says she wanted to give her small daughter for adoption in return for twelve thousand Afghanis, but her eldest son stopped her from doing that. According to her, she has been thinking about doing so a number of times.

Soft bread, the last wish

Marzia is not the only one who spends her life like this, in the poor areas of Kabul a lot of families spend their days searching for a piece of bread and for many nights sleep with empty stomachs.

In Kabul some people say they eat the dry bread which is stored for domesticated animals. They buy seven kilos of this bread for forty Afghanis and eat it with cold water.

The guardian of one of these families said: At the moment my children only eat dry and hard bread, their last wish is to eat soft bread. They only think about bread.

But not all the Kabulis are like this. Some families spend a lot of money inviting guests for Iftar to expensive hotels and their expense of one night is equivalent to the expenses of few months of Marzias family.

Afghanistan: Tragic Fate of Bombing Survivor

A year after her family died in an airstrike, a young girl still lives in the same village, alone and constantly in fear.
By Mustafa Saber in Azizabad

Seven-year-old Zahra looks like a typical Afghan girl in her traditional long dress and scarf, her short black hair peeking out from her head covering. She sticks close to home, seldom venturing far from her house. But it is not tradition that keeps her home but fear.

On the night of August 22 2008, all of Zahra’s immediate family was killed by American bombs. In pursuit of Taleban commander Mullah Siddiq, United States Special Forces and the Afghan army launched an airstrike on the village of Azizabad in Shindand district of Herat. An investigation by the United Nations said that 90 people, 60 children and 30 adults, died.

The American military initially denied that any civilians were harmed in the attack. Only after prolonged pressure, in October of last year, did they acknowledge that the strike killed 33 civilians.

Zahra’s father, mother, sister and two brothers died that night. She is the only survivor, together with her grandmother, Maryam, known in the village as Pori. One year later the two traumatized females, one seven years old the other 75, are still living in Azizabad, in a small, dirty, three-room house donated to them by a kind-hearted neighbor.

The house the pair inhabit has no doors and no windows. Inside it is dark and dusty – the floor is carpeted with old sacks. It looks more like a dirty storeroom than a place where people live. There are some teacups, two buckets full of water, three small pots and three threadbare blankets. Every day Zahra cleans and arranges the few items they possess.

The rest of the time she sits alone, staring into the void.

"I loved my family very much," she said, tears in her dark eyes. "Every moment I hear the voices of my mother, father, sister and brothers calling me, but I can’t see them. We had a good life. I used to play with my brothers and sister on the street. My father was Abdurrashid, my mother was Khumari, my sister was Huma and my brothers were Halim and Salim. The Americans killed them and now I am alone."

Suddenly bitter, she adds, "The American killed everyone in the village. They killed my friends and other children. I hate them."

She recalls the events of that terrifying day. "Explosions woke me up in the night. I ran to the desert, where I drifted off to sleep again. When I awoke, I ran home and I saw parts of human bodies scattered all around, and heard the cries of survivors," she said.

"I don’t remember who told me that my family were all dead dead. At first I didn’t believe it, so I went to see if it was really true. Then I saw their bodies, all mixed with blood and dirt. When they took all the martyrs to the graveyard to be buried, I was all alone and neighbors took me to their home. Then my grandmother learned of what happened, and now I am with her."

Now every time a plane passes Zahra cries and throws herself into her grandmother’s arms.

"I love my granddaughter," Maryam said. "I see my son in her soul. But when a plane passes overhead, she clings to me so tightly, and her body shakes so much, that I am afraid one day she will die. Then I will lose the last race of my son."

But Maryam may not be able to give Zahra the support that she needs. The older woman seems mentally unstable, constantly murmuring to herself and repeating everything she says many times.

Maryam, though, is resisting attempts by an aid organization to relocate her and her granddaughter to Herat city.

Soraya Pakzad from Neda-e-Zan, an organization that assists Afghan women in trouble, says that they had arranged accommodations for both Zahra and Maryam, but the latter refuses to leave Shindand.

"She does not want to leave the place where her son lived," Pakzad said. "When we showed them the accommodation we had prepared for them, the grandmother tried to get away as soon as possible, saying, 'The government wants to imprison us’."

She added that Zahra clung to her grandmother, fearful of strangers and crying easily, "Both Zahra and her grandmother are unstable."

Pakzad is worried about the Zahra’s future and is trying to raise money from other national and international charity organizations. "We are concerned that the grandmother will marry her off to somebody at a young age, and thereby make things even worse for Zahra," she said.

Zahra is not alone. Abdurrashid, 45, a resident of Azizabad, told IWPR that the people of Shindand district would never forget the events of August 22, 2008.

"The Americans massacred our people and then said that we were all taleban," he said bitterly. "This inhuman act will always be remembered, by people in our area and all over the country."

In the meantime, he and others try to help Zahra and Maryam as much as possible.

Others have also offered assistance. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said she would help the girl after she heard about her plight on Radio Liberty. Also a politician who was thinking of running for president, Dr Dawood Mirakai, looked up Zahra during a visit to Azizabad and gave her some money.

But for now Zahra is still living in her broken house, in the same village, relying on occasional assistance from neighbors. She has two friends, Amina and Hangama, with whom she goes to school. She doesn’t learn much, she says.

"Other children have parents who help them. I have no parents," said Zahra. Then she began to cry. "I cannot talk any more," she said. "I must go now."

AU urges more weapons for Somalia

The African Union has called on the international community to send weapons to the UN-backed Somali government to help it fight Islamist militants.

The AU envoy to Somalia made the plea in the wake of the suicide attacks in Mogadishu in which 17 AU peacekeepers were blown up by the al-Shabab group.

"If we go after Shabab, we'd destroy them in no time," said Nicolas Bwakira.

He said the attacks should not deter countries from keeping to their promises to bolster the AU force.

The force currently operates with 5,000 soldiers, instead of an intended 8,000. Nigeria and Ghana have promised troops, but so far these pledges remain unfulfilled.

The UN has also said it will take over the mission - at an unspecified date.

Arms embargo

Mr Bwakira told journalists in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, that the deadly attack has not demoralized the force, despite more threats from al-Shabab.

"Peacekeepers do not come to play football or go to the beach - there is a risk to peacekeeping."

But he said the transitional government needed help to fight its "enemies".

"To be fighting with enemies, they need arms - arms which are superior to the capacity of Shabab's."

The BBC's Anne Waithera in Nairobi says there is currently an arms embargo on Somalia, but the United States has been supplying arms to the government after seeking an exemption from the UN.

Our reporter says those injured in Thursday's blasts are still being airlifted to neighboring Kenya for treatment.

Nine peacekeepers were flown to Nairobi on the day of the attack and an additional 20 arrived on Friday morning.

The deputy commander of the AU force in Somalia died in the attack when two vehicles with UN logos, packed with explosives, were driven into a peacekeeping base by the airport.

Shelling after the double bombing on Thursday left at least 13 people dead, mostly civilians, witnesses say.

"We do not run away when the situation worsens," said Lt Col Felix Kulayigye, a spokesman for the Ugandan military, which contributes about half of the 5,000-strong AU force.

Burundi, the only other country to have sent peacekeepers to Somalia, has declared five days of national mourning for the 12 of its peacekeepers who died.

But a Burundian government spokesman said it would not pull out.

Black smoke

The Islamist al-Shabab group said the attacks were revenge for a US raid on Monday.

This reportedly killed Kenyan-born al-Qaeda suspect Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who was wanted by the US for attacks in Kenya.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the blast in the "strongest terms".

It is believed Nabhan fled to Somalia after the attacks and was working with al-Shabab, which the US sees as al-Qaeda's proxy in Somalia.

Al-Shabab and its allies control most of southern and central Somalia, while the government, helped by the AU force, just runs parts of Mogadishu.

The country has not had a functioning central government since 1991, leading to a complete breakdown of law and order both on land and in recent years in Somali waters.

President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist and former insurgent, was chosen in January after UN-brokered peace talks.

He has vowed to implement Sharia but al-Shabab accuses him of being a Western puppet.

Years of fighting and anarchy have left some three million people - half the population - needing food aid.

Ahmadinejad says Holocaust a lie, Israel has no future

By Parisa Hafezi and Firouz Sedarat

TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a lie on Friday, raising the stakes against Israel just as world powers try to decide how to deal with the nuclear ambitions of an Iran in political turmoil.

"The pretext (Holocaust) for the creation of the Zionist regime (Israel) is false ... It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim," he told worshipers at Tehran University at the end of an annual anti-Israel "Qods (Jerusalem) Day" rally.

"Confronting the Zionist regime is a national and religious duty."

Ahmadinejad's anti-Western comments on the Holocaust have caused international outcry and isolated Iran, which is at loggerheads with the West over its nuclear programme.

The hardline president warned leaders of Western-allied Arab and Muslim countries about dealing with Israel.

"This regime (Israel) will not last long. Do not tie your fate to it ... This regime has no future. Its life has come to an end," he said in a speech broadcast live on state radio.

Germany said Ahmadinejad was a "disgrace to his country".

"This sheer anti-Semitism demands our collective condemnation. We will continue to confront it decisively in the future," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Ahmadinejad's comment "only serves to isolate Iran further from the world".

Ahmadinejad won support from Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah which fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006. "Our belief and creed ... remain that Israel is an illegal entity, a cancerous tumour, that must cease to exist," Nasrallah said in a televised address.

Ahmadinejad will appear next week at the United Nations General Assembly and Tehran will hold talks on Oct. 1 with major powers worried about the Islamic Republic's nuclear strategy.

Western powers are concerned by what they have called Tehran's defiance and "point-blank refusal" to suspend uranium enrichment and address the issue as demanded by U.N. Security Council resolutions since 2006.

Instead of directly addressing those demands, Iran handed world powers this month a proposal that spoke generally of talks on political, security, international and economic issues but was silent on its nuclear programme.

Diplomats familiar with the Iranian proposal said it was vague and did not appear to pass "the smell test".

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was time Iran showed it is serious about addressing international concern. "There will be accompanying costs for Iran's continued defiance: more isolation and economic pressure," she said.

NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

Ahmadinejad repeated on Thursday that Iran would "never" abandon its disputed nuclear programme to appease critics.

In an NBC-TV interview, he also offered no direct response when asked whether there were any conditions under which Iran would develop a nuclear weapon.

"We don't need nuclear weapons," Ahmadinejad said, speaking through an interpreter. "We do not see any need for such weapons. And the conditions around the world are moving to favor our ideas," he added.

The major powers suspect Iran's uranium enrichment programme is a cover for developing nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly said it is enriching uranium only to generate electricity, not for fissile bomb material, although it has no nuclear power plants to use low-level enriched uranium.

Next month's major powers talks with Iran offer no clear relief to Israel, which wants world powers to be prepared to penalize Iran's vulnerable energy imports but sees Russia and China blocking any such resolution at the U.N. Security Council.

The major powers, which include permanent U.N. Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States as well as Germany, offered Iran trade and diplomatic incentives in 2006 in exchange for halt to uranium enrichment.

They improved the offer last year but retained the demand that Iran suspend uranium enrichment, something Tehran has ruled out as a precondition.

President Barack Obama, who came to office pledging to engage with Iran, has suggested Tehran may face harsher sanctions, possibly targeting its gasoline imports, if it does not accept good-faith talks by the end of September.

But Russia, which has veto power in the U.N. Security Council, last week ruled out oil sanctions against Iran.

Iran, the world's fifth-biggest crude producer, is seen as vulnerable to oil sanctions because it imports 40 percent of its gasoline to supply the cheap fuel Iranians see as a birthright.

TURMOIL AT HOME

At home, Ahmadinejad is facing strong opposition which erupted into unrest following his disputed re-election in June.

On Friday, Iranian security forces clashed with supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi and arrested at least 10 of them during annual anti-Israel rallies in Tehran.

Thousands of supporters of Mousavi, wearing green wristbands or shawls, were among crowds marching in the "Qods Day" rallies.

The state news agency IRNA said Mousavi and reformist cleric Mehdi Karoubi, both defeated candidates in June, had been forced to leave the rallies after being attacked by "angry people".

Reformist former president Mohammad Khatami took part in the rally, but was attacked by hardliners and had to leave after his robe was ripped and his turban fell to the ground, an ally of Khatami who accompanied him told Reuters.

The June vote, which was followed by huge opposition protests, plunged Iran into its worst political crisis in three decades and revealed deepening rifts within its ruling elites.

Opposition leaders say the poll was rigged to secure Ahmadinejad's re-election. The authorities deny it.

The opposition says 70 people died during protests after the vote. It contradicts the official death toll of 36 people.

2 more Uighur detainees at Gitmo heading to Palau

By JONATHAN KAMINSKY, Associated Press Writer

KOROR, Palau – Two more Chinese Muslim detainees held at Guantanamo Bay have agreed to be relocated to the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, their lawyer said Saturday, bringing to six the total who will resettle.

Palau has offered 13 ethnic Uighurs held at the U.S. military prison in Cuba a chance to move there — an arrangement that would ease President Barack Obama's plans to close the contentious facility.

The men have been held by the U.S. since their capture in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001. The Pentagon determined last year they were not "enemy combatants" but they have been in legal limbo ever since. China regards the Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurs) as terrorist suspects and wants them returned.

But Uighur activists claim the detainees face persecution or death if they are returned there, and U.S. officials have struggled to find a country to take them in.

"Two more of our clients have agreed to go to Palau as the U.S. continues to look for a permanent home for them," Eric Tirschwell, the U.S.-based lawyer for four of the detainees, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Their acceptance means six of the detained Chinese Muslims have now decided to move to the mid-Pacific state, which offered in early June to take in the Turkic Muslims from far western China.

That same month, four Uighur detainees were resettled in Bermuda.

Five of the detainees have declined even to meet with Palau officials.

The relocation agreements need U.S. Congressional approval, a process that is expected to take about two weeks.

"We are hopeful that this long overdue move to freedom will happen as quickly as possible and are doing whatever we can to make that happen," Tirschwell said in an e-mail.

There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Palauan officials or from the U.S. State Department.

Palau is a developing country of 20,000 that is dependent on U.S. development funds.

No Uighurs currently live on Palau, which has a Muslim population of about 400, mostly migrant workers from Bangladesh.

Made up of eight main islands plus more than 250 islets, Palau is best known for diving and tourism and is located some 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of the Philippines in the Pacific Ocean.

Indonesia police: DNA test confirms Noordin death

By ALEX KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia – DNA tests have confirmed it was Southeast Asia terrorist leader Noordin Top who was killed days ago in a shootout with police, Indonesian police said Saturday.

Police used fingerprints to identify Noordin's body after a gun battle at a safe house in central Java on Thursday. DNA tests have confirmed those findings, National Police spokesman Nanan Sukarna said.

"There's no longer any doubt," Sukarna said.

Last month, authorities initially believed a terror suspect killed by police was Noordin, but DNA tests proved otherwise.

Police say Noordin, a Malaysian national, planned the 2002 and 2005 suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali and the July 17 attacks on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta. In all, he is thought to be responsible for the deaths of 222 people, mostly foreigners.

Sukarna said Indonesian officials were coordinating with Noordin's family in Malaysia to send his body back there "as soon as possible," but he did not specify a date.

Regional leaders have cheered Noordin's demise and were optimistic his death could help undermine terror groups throughout Southeast Asia.

"This is a very significant result," Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in an interview Friday on Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

"This man has been a mass murderer," he said. "He's been responsible for the murder of Australians."

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also congratulated Indonesia on Friday.

Strong quake hits Indonesia's Bali

JAKARTA (AFP) – A strong 6.4 quake rattled Indonesia's Bali island on Saturday, hours after a quake struck Sulawesi island, but there were no immediate reports of major damage or serious casualties from either.

The Bali quake hit at 6:06 am (2306 Friday GMT), at a depth of 36 kilometers (22 miles), according to Indonesian geophysics agency.

The epicenter was 101 kilometers southeast of Nusa Dua, an enclave of resorts located in the southern part of the holiday island.

"There are no indications that the tide in Kuta is rising. So it's pretty safe here," Kuta district police chief Dody Prawira Negara said.

Health ministry crisis center head Rustam Pakaya said that eight people suffered fractured bones and a pregnant woman was taken to hospital.

"There are no deaths or major damages, only cracks in several buildings," Pakaya said.

A 5.8-magnitude quake hit Sulawesi island several hours earlier, seismologists said.

The tremor struck at 3:34 am (1834 Friday GMT), at a depth of 103 kilometers, according to a revised report by the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The epicenter was 110 kilometers north-northwest of Ternate in the Moluccas and 260 kilometers east of Manado on Sulawesi.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not release a tsunami warning for either event.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.