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Friday, September 25, 2009

Afghan war commander submits troop request

By PAULINE JELINEK and ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon's top military officer flew to Europe to talk to the commander in the Afghanistan war about how many troops he needs to turn around the faltering campaign.

Two defense officials say Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen met Gen. Stanley McChrystal for a half day of talks Friday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The U.S. commanders for NATO and the Middle East region also attended. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation.

The officials say Mullen received McChrystal's report on how many troops he thinks he needs to defeat the insurgency. They declined to confirm what others have said privately for weeks — that McChrystal wants some 40,000 more troops.

The officials say Mullen wanted a face-to-face talk with McChrystal to better understand what the warfront commander wants and why he wants it.

French military teaches recruits about Holocaust

By ANGELA CHARLTON, Associated Press Writer

PARIS – The French official choked on the words he read to a room of Defense Ministry recruits and swallowed back tears as he tried to kick off an unusual program aimed at teaching about the Holocaust.

The reading, from a young girl whose parents were arrested under the Nazi occupation, went straight to the heart of Friday's seminar on French officialdom's role in the Nazi terror.

"There were only French gendarmes. There were no Germans," read Eric Lucas, director of the ministry's historical agency.

"It poses the question of collective responsibility; but also individual," Lucas said.

The session on genocide awareness — which also included a debate, film and tour of the Holocaust Memorial museum in Paris — is to become regular training for new Defense Ministry officials.

Participants on Friday filed past museum walls etched with the names of thousands of French Jews deported to concentration camps during World War II.

Some 76,000 Jews, 11,000 of them children, were deported from France to Nazi concentration camps. Fewer than 3,000 returned alive.

In 1995, President Jacques Chirac broke with the official position that France's Vichy regime was not synonymous with the French state, and said the nation bore some responsibility for deporting Jews in wartime France.

Chirac's move, along with trials of French collaborationists in the 1990s, helped create a "wave effect" that is gradually trickling throughout French government administrations and society, said historian Marc-Olivier Baruch.

"I hope with all my heart that this situation never arrives" parallel to that of the Nazi occupation, he said. If it does, he encouraged participants to remember French Resistance members who defied their government's orders.

Speakers on Friday did not discuss more recent cases of crimes against humanity, such as Rwanda or Darfur. But the participants raised questions about ways to ward against intolerance in government today. One asked how to respond to a superior's demand to report schoolchildren whose parents are illegal immigrants. A debate arose, with no clear conclusion.

The participants visited the "crypt" beneath the museum holding a black marble monument to the 6 million Jews killed in WWII. Upstairs, they walked past two huge screens showing a railway track and the Drancy train depot northeast of Paris, from where many French deportees were sent away.

Serving as a soundtrack were audio testimonies from survivors of the deportations. "I only cried once, when they said my father had been sent to a camp," said one woman. "It didn't do any good to cry."

More than 5,000 people including French police and judges have gone through similar programs at the museum, first launched in 2005, museum director Jacques Fredj said.

For years German soldiers, officers and civilian employees of the Defense Ministry have attended sessions about the Holocaust, often at memorials or former concentration camps in the country, a ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman also said the German armed forces, or the Bundeswehr, was supporting an Israeli army program called "Witnesses In Uniform" that brings Israeli officers to Germany. Together with German officers, the Israelis visit former concentration camps and Holocaust memorials in Germany.

Austria's Defense Ministry leads Holocaust-related briefings and excursions. At the Interior Ministry, police cadets visit the former Mauthausen concentration camp as part of their training. The Education Ministry, which oversees the country's teachers, offers programs that include study trips to Yad Vashem.

Lucas, in closing his emotional reading of deportees' stories, said: "Our goal is not to condemn or to judge. It is to provide a period of reflection for each of you."

Iran says IAEA to monitor new nuclear facility

Iran's nuclear chief confirms that the newly-announced under-construction uranium enrichment facility will be in full compliance with the country's treaty obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Iran declared the construction of a new small uranium enrichment facility to the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on September 21.

"In line with the preservation and enjoyment of its obvious rights to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, in a new and successful step, the Islamic Republic of Iran has moved to construct a semi-industrial-scale plant for the enrichment of nuclear fuel," the director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said in a statement on Friday, Mehr News Agency reported.

"At present, Iran is constructing this facility in compliance with of all aspects, including passive defense," Ali-Akbar Salehi said. "As with Iran's other nuclear facilities, the activities of the facility will be within the framework of the IAEA regulations."

Iran's announcement of the new plant has been seized upon by a number of Western leaders slamming the country of "deception" in its nuclear program.

The announcement comes as Western powers are pressuring Iran in the run-up to talks on October 1 between Iran and the P5+1 -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

The US and a number of its allies have accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, but Iran has repeatedly rejected the charges.

The Tehran government has stated that it seeks nuclear technology for electricity generation and has opened its facilities to inspection by the IAEA.

After years of intrusive inspection, the IAEA declares that it has found no evidence of a diversion of nuclear material from the civilian to military use.

New enrichment site heightens Iran concerns

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer

VIENNA – Western intelligence puts Iran's newly revealed nuclear plant in the arid mountains southwest of Tehran, not far from one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam.

Neither Iran nor the International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed the location or size of the facility. Nor have they given details on its purpose. But diplomats with access to Western intelligence say the plant is about 160 kilometers — 100 miles — from the capital, near Qom, a center of Shiite religious teaching and the site of one of Shiism's most revered shrines.

The U.S. and Israel have not ruled out the possibility of a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities as a last resort if Iran's continues to flout U.N. Security Council demands that it cease uranium enrichment.

But any strike near Qom would likely provoke a backlash among Shiite Muslims across the Middle East.

The intelligence assessment cited by diplomats says the site is meant to house no more than 3,000 enriching centrifuges — much less than the more than 8,000 machines at Iran's Natanz site which is being monitored by the IAEA.

But the plant, which intelligence reports say is set to start operation next year, could be set up for advanced domestically developed centrifuges that enrich uranium at much higher speed and efficiency than the decades old P-1 type centrifuges acquired on the black market and enriching at Natanz.

That means Iran could enrich much more quickly with fewer centrifuges than at Natanz, where it has already accumulated enough low enriched material to turn out enough weapons-grade uranium — enriched to 90 percent and beyond — for one nuclear weapon.

Iran kept the facility hidden from weapons inspectors until a letter it sent to the IAEA on Monday.

Officials said the letter contained no details about the location of the second facility, such as when — or if — it had started operations or the type and number of centrifuges it was running.

But one of the officials, who had access to a review of Western intelligence on the issue, said it was underground about 100 miles southwest of Tehran. It is not yet operational but the U.S. believes it will be by next year, said a U.S. counterproliferation official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

U.S. intelligence believes the facility is on a military base controlled by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, according to a document that the Obama administration sent to U.S. lawmakers. It was provided to The Association Press by an official on condition of anonymity because, though unclassified, it was deemed confidential. The military connection could undermine Iran's contention that the plant was designed for civilian purposes.

Tehran insists the facility is not a threat. Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi suggested Friday that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors will be allowed to visit the previously secret facility.

Salehi, speaking only hours after the existence of the letter was revealed by diplomats, said the facility is a "successful new step in the direction of preserving and enjoying its accepted right for peaceful use of nuclear energy."

"The activities of this facility, like other nuclear facilities in Iran, will be in the framework of the measures of the agency," he said, suggesting that the new facility could be opened to inspectors, like Iran's known enrichment facility, Natanz.

But the fact that Iran disclosed the plant's existence only a few days before it was publicly revealed suggests it may have done so only because it wanted to go on record before being exposed.

At the G-20 summer in Pittsburg, Obama and the leaders of France and Britain declared that the secret nuclear facility puts new pressure on Tehran to quickly disclose all its nuclear efforts — including any moves toward weapons development — "or be held accountable."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded that his nation was keeping nothing from international inspectors and needn't "inform Mr. Obama's administration of every facility that we have."

Northern Afghan violence undercuts US supply route

By LORI HINNANT and AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writers

POL-I-KUMRI, Afghanistan – Growing Taliban influence in northern Afghanistan is threatening a new military supply line painstakingly negotiated by the U.S., as rising violence takes hold on the one-time Silk Road route.

The north has deteriorated over just a few months, showing how quickly Taliban influence is spreading in a once peaceful area. Local officials say the Taliban are establishing a shadow government along the dilapidated road that ultimately could prevent vital supplies carried in hundreds of trucks every week from reaching the military. It also raises the danger that the supplies could end up in militant hands as fodder for suicide attacks.

People in Baghlan and Kunduz provinces complain that international forces, the government in Kabul and aid have passed them by in favor of more troublesome regions. Militants are taking advantage of that resentment, and control by either Afghan or international forces is slipping.

"For the past two to three years, it's deteriorated day by day," said Ahmad Jawid, 43, a car dealer who sat in the shade with a half-dozen friends watching the highway in Baghlan's provincial capital, Pol-i-Kumri. "The people are demoralized."

A young man in the group had an easy smile but spoke bitterly on Wednesday when asked about the Taliban.

"I'm engaged and I can't go to the village of my fiancee," said 23-year-old Farshad, who like many Afghans goes by only one name. The village fell to the Taliban before the wedding could be planned. "I'm going to wait for the situation to get worse or get better. Otherwise I'll have to become a Talib."

Just to the north, Kunduz province is home to the first leg of the highway. The full northern route, which starts in Europe and snakes through Central Asia to Afghanistan, was cobbled together by the U.S. earlier this year after Taliban violence repeatedly disrupted the two main Pakistani routes.

Local officials and analysts say the militants want to show they can control the north and take over the supplies. Taliban militants hijacked two fuel trucks on the highway on Sept. 4, and German forces in Kunduz called in an airstrike by U.S. fighter pilots, saying they feared the trucks could be used in suicide bombings. Thirty civilians and 69 armed Taliban died in the strike, according to a probe by an Afghan presidential commission.

"The mere fact that the trucks were hijacked, the mere fact that we had this level of challenge to the government's control and sovereignty to me shows we need an effort here," U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said in a recent news conference.

Kunduz was among the last Taliban strongholds during the 2001 U.S. invasion that drove the Islamic government from power, and — until this year — had been relatively peaceful, despite a largely Pashtun population sympathetic to the militants. That began to change after the Taliban solidified control in the south as U.S. supply lines from Pakistan came under increasing attack.

The U.S. looked to Afghanistan's north for alternatives. So did militants.

The more than 200-mile (300 kilometer) highway from Kunduz down to the Kabul area is one of four overland lifelines for the supplies that enter Afghanistan every day. By Afghan standards the road is good, but the highway is punctuated every few miles by stretches that are nothing more than rough rock and passes under towering mountains through a crumbling tunnel that is often flooded and barely paved.

Navy Capt. Carl Weiss, of the U.S. Transportation Command, which handles the logistics of supplying American troops, said the northern route, which also includes a train line from Uzbekistan, supplies about 300 containers a week to coalition forces.

"We move the cargo in plain sight. Our containers look like every other container on the road," Weiss said. Because they are unmarked and the U.S. contracts with local transportation companies, he said, they don't draw particular attention.

Paul Quinn-Judge, Central Asian project director for International Crisis Group, suggested the U.S. reliance on the northern route may be a miscalculation.

"I think they are overly sanguine about the amount they can push through Central Asia and you really hope that they're doing some planning. This is one of those situations where things could conceivably go bad very fast," he said.

Meanwhile, Quinn-Judge said, the newly paved highway and bridge leading into Central Asia essentially means "the jihadists' own route has been reopened."

Abdul Razaq Yaqoubi, the Kunduz police chief, said the convoys have made a tenuous situation worse. The Americans, he complained, tell no one when the trucks are coming through or how many to expect and the police forces are understaffed.

In Baghlan, Zalmay Mangal, the province's deputy police chief, said violence worsened right around the same time that the supplies started moving through in large numbers. He does not blame the convoys, but he and the Kunduz police chief said the truck traffic is a tempting target.

"One of the main reasons (for the new insecurity) is the NATO and coalition supply convoys," said Yaqoubi. The other reasons, he added, are poverty and anger at the government.

Mangal said more coalition troops could help; McChrystal and the Germans prefer to emphasize building up local Afghan forces.

"The enemy is not afraid of us," Mangal said of his police force. "They are afraid of our international allies."

Ahmadinejad Stung By Obama's Nuke Revelation

By MASSIMO CALABRESI / WASHINGTON AND BOBBY GHOSH / NEW YORK

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned President Barack Obama against pressing Tehran about new revelations that Iran has been constructing a secret uranium-enrichment plant. "If I were Obama's adviser, I would definitely advise him to refrain making this statement because it is definitely a mistake," Ahmadinejad told TIME in New York on Friday. "It would definitively be a mistake." His comment came as President Obama, speaking at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, made a dramatic announcement that Iran has been constructing a second uranium-enrichment facility whose existence had been kept secret in violation of the non-proliferation agreements to which Tehran is a signatory.

Flanked by Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama warned that Iran would be held accountable if it failed to live up to its international obligations. Fearing imminent disclosure of the plant being built into a mountain near the seminary city of Qom, the Iranians had earlier this week written to the International Atomic Energy Agency to confirm its existence.

But in an exclusive interview with the editors of TIME that coincided with Obama's announcement, Ahmadinejad insisted Iran was not keeping anything from the IAEA. "We have no secrecy, we work within the framework of the IAEA," he said. Still, the Iranian leader seemed nonplussed by the news that Obama was revealing the Qom plant's existence. Ahmadinejad's response meandered from the defensive to the aggressive. "This does not mean we must inform Mr. Obama's administration of every facility that we have," he said, warning that if Obama brings up the uranium facility, it "simply adds to the list of issues to which the United States owes the Iranian nation an apology over." And he boasted that Obama's "mistakes" work in Iran's favor.

Western officials say the site is less extensive than the main enrichment plant at Natanz, containing only 3,000 centrifuges. (Natanz currently has 8,308 installed). And it is still under construction and not yet producing enriched uranium, the officials say. As in the case of Natanz, the second plant's existence was initially kept secret and only acknowledged when Iran was confronted with evidence of its existence.

But Obama's attempt to hold Iran to account may disappoint many who have been closely tracking the U.S. effort to back Tehran away from the nuclear threshold - not because the President showed any lack of resolve, but because the resolve of others remains in question. The British and French leaders were adamant in their support, Sarkozy warning that "If by December there is not an in-depth change by the Iranian leaders," tough new sanctions would be applied. Prime Minister Brown called the new development the greatest challenge facing the international community. But Germany, which has recently shown reticence to expand sanctions without approval from the entire European Union, was inexplicably absent from the event. Obama was left to explain that Chancellor Angela Merkel had a more pressing engagement. More important, after hinting in recent days that Russia might be willing to support broader sanctions against Iran, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev was absent from the rostrum, as was Chinese leader Hu Jintao. Both men are present in Pittsburgh for the G-20. Statements may come from those three countries expressing concern over the new disclosures, but their failure to appear alongside Obama in confronting the Iranians on the secret plant underscores Obama's difficulty in building a coalition to pressure Iran.

Palestinian factions blast Netanyahu UN speech

Palestinians from both Hamas and Fatah factions have criticized the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly as 'bogus and unacceptable'.

"Netanyahu spoke of the Holocaust but Israel committed the largest massacre of the century," Hamas spokesperson, Sami Abu Zuhri, said in reference to Operation Cast Lead which resulted in the death of over 1,500 Palestinians and the injury of about 5,450 people in the impoverished Gaza Strip.

He added the Israeli Prime Minister is seeking to justify the massacres in the blockaded coastal sliver, and that such falsehood cannot reverse confirmed war crimes against Gazans.

Abu Zuhri further highlighted that Palestine is the homeland of the Arabs, the Palestinians and the Muslims, and will never be a Jewish land no matter what.

Hamas legislator Mushier Al Masri, meanwhile, stated that Netanyahu does his utmost to cover up the Gaza manslaughter in the hope to twist the world logic and gain support for 'Zionist terrorism”.

The Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator with Israel, Saib Erekat, also called Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state 'unacceptable'.

During his UN General Assembly speech on Thursday, Netanyahu referred to the Holocaust and the decision to annihilate the Jewish people during the Nazi era. He also reiterated his demands that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish State as a precondition to resuming the stalled peace process.

Puntland 'to assist' NATO anti-piracy mission

Fri Sep 25, 2009

NATO has established a working relationship with authorities in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland in an attempt to uproot piracy off the Horn of Africa.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has identified the move as a measure to target pirates active around the northern territories of Somalia and to help avoid possible clashes with 'honest fishermen.'

"Identifying areas from where pirates may launch their operations is one way to curtail this illegal activity. Once the pirate are at sea in their small skiffs they are difficult to identify from honest fisherman, although working closely with our allies, it has been possible to develop a profile on who they are," the international military alliance headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, said in a statement.

The statement adds that a number of Puntland coastguards in northern Somalia territories have joined two NATO warships, part of alliance's anti-piracy mission in the region that seeks to eliminate the threat of more attacks by sea bandits pestering trade ships in one of the world's business waterways.

"Working with Somali authorities in support of their own resolve to rid their shores of this scourge has shown early signs of success," A Press TV correspondent quoted the statement as saying on Friday.

NATO has recently warned of an increase in piracy around the Gulf of Aden and other coastal regions of the lawless state once the monsoon conditions ease off.

Somali pirates have carried out more than 114 attempted attacks on sea liners since the beginning of 2008, 29 of which ended in the hijacking of the targeted vessels.

Somalia-based pirates have so far obtained millions of dollars in ransom from shipping firms. The bandits claim that they need the money to pay out their tribal expense, while some reports allege that the fortune is amassed to fund anti-government campaigns.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/107083.html.

UK commander quits 'over Afghan strategy'

The resignation of a senior British general extremely critical of the handling of the war in Afghanistan has caused a media frenzy.

Major-General Andrew Mackay, 52, resigned his commission on Thursday "for personal reasons," according to the Ministry of Defense, but it is understood that the commander was unhappy about some aspects of current war strategy.

He is reportedly the most high-ranking commander to resign since the start of the operations in 2001, and the fifth senior officer to leave the Forces prematurely in the space of two years.

With mounting number of casualties hurting the already floundering public support and elections due by June 2010, the series of high-ranking military resignations could not come at a worst time for the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

While the Sun newspaper interpreted Mackay's resignation as "a huge blow" for Brown's government, the Daily Mail denounced it as an "embarrassment".

"Don't be surprised if other senior officers follow his lead between now and the election. It has got to the stage where officers are now prepared to fall on their swords rather than pretend to their soldiers all is well when it is clearly not," a senior military source told the Daily Mirror.

The Daily Telegraph said the former brigade commander was shocked at the state of affairs upon arriving in Afghanistan in 2007, and is quoted as having said senior officer were "making it up as we go along."

Since April 2008, he has been critical of the conduct, saying no efforts were made to "retain, gain and win" the trust of the Afghan population and that could mean failure in the long term.

A damming parliamentary report published this August, with his insight and help, concluded that British troops in southern Afghanistan, especially in volatile Helmand province, were let down by senior officers.

The mission there "was undermined by unrealistic planning at senior levels, poor coordination between (government) departments and, crucially, a failure to provide the military with clear direction," the report read.

There are also concerns over the future of a conflict already in its eighth year, and nowhere close to an end, according to senior military commanders of the NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.

Military commanders have called for more troops to back Britain's current 9,000-strong presence, but Brown has recently indicated that he would not deploy any more combat forces amid public anger over mounting fatalities, which has surpassed the country's death toll in Iraq.

This is while the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is expected to link avoiding failure in the war with the deployment of 30,000 more troops in his assessment due next week.

Iran announces nascent nuclear enrichment plant

In line with its guarantee to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for clarity on its nuclear activities, Iran has informed the agency that it is constructing a second plant for uranium enrichment.

"I can confirm that on 21 September, Iran informed the IAEA in a letter that a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction in the country," agency spokesman Marc Vidricaire said Friday.

According to the spokesman, the letter underlined that the enrichment level in the plant would only be up to 5 percent.

The UN nuclear watchdog in its previous reports had confirmed that Iran -- in its first enrichment facility in Natanz -- only managed to enrich uranium-235 to a level "less than 5 percent."

Uranium, the fuel for a nuclear power plant, can be used for military purposes only if enriched to high levels of above 90 percent.

"Iran has assured the agency in the letter that further complementary information will be provided in an appropriate and due time," Vidricaire added.

In reaction, the IAEA has requested that the Tehran government provide detailed information and access to the new nuclear facility as soon as possible.

"This installation is not a secret one, which is why we announced its existence to the IAEA," Ali Akbar Saleri, Iran's nuclear chief, told AFP.

IAEA Safeguards Agreements originally declared that Iran is only obliged to inform the UN nuclear watchdog of the existence of enrichment plants 180 days before the introduction of nuclear materials into the facility.

However, after the establishment of the Natanz uranium enrichment plant stricter safeguards were introduced. Tehran is now obliged to inform the IAEA of the existence and plans for nuclear plants when construction has begun.

While the disclosure has already heightened Western fears about Iranian nuclear activities, the IAEA conceded that Iran has not yet begun any action at the plant.

Vidricaire said providing access to the plant "will allow us to assess safeguard verification requirements for the facility, but we understand that no nuclear material has been introduced as yet."

The nascent nuclear facility, which according to Western officials is located near the holy city of Qom in central Iran, is believed to be capable of housing about 3,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment, the New York Times reported.

Iran's uranium enrichment has been the focus of protracted international debates over the country's nuclear program and is what the world fears might lead to producing bomb-grade material to use for military purposes.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory, gives the country the right to the full nuclear fuel cycle if used for peaceful purposes.

Tehran has denied seeking nuclear weapons and called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction across the globe.

The country, however, is under three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions resolutions for its enrichment work; tougher sanctions are likely to be considered against the country should much-awaited talks in October fail to be fruitful.

UK diplomat convicted for being rude to Israel

British diplomat Rowan Laxton is convicted of 'racial harassment' over his use of strong language in protest at Israel's offensive against the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year.

Laxton reportedly used "offensive language against Israel and Jews" after watching a report about the Gaza war on television, while exercising in a gym on January 27.

The now suspended head of the South Asia desk of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) also said that all Israeli soldiers "should be wiped off the map."

Upon a complaint made by two gym-users to the police, the diplomat was arrested on charges of 'inciting religious hatred' but released on bail until next month.

On Thursday, City of Westminster Magistrates' Court convicted the 48-year-old Laxton of 'aggravated racial harassment' and required him to pay a fine worth 350 pounds.

"A member of FCO staff was convicted... of a public order offense. The FCO takes very seriously any suggestion of inappropriate behavior by its staff," said an FCO spokeswoman.

She said the case would be considered under the FCO's misconduct procedure, but refused to elaborate further.

Laxton, who has already been suspended from his job, could now be sacked. He was also ordered to pay 500 pounds in prosecution costs, but was not ordered to pay compensation.

Fanged frog, 162 other new species found in Mekong

By MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer

BANGKOK – A gecko with leopard-like spots on its body and a fanged frog that eats birds are among 163 new species discovered last year in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, an environmental group said Friday.

WWF International said that scientists in 2008 discovered 100 plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14 amphibians, two mammals and one bird species in the region. That works out to be about three species a week and is in addition to the 1,000 new species catalogued there from 1997 to 2007, the group said.

"After millennia in hiding these species are now finally in the spotlight, and there are clearly more waiting to be discovered," said Stuart Chapman, director of the WWF Greater Mekong Program.

Researchers working for WWF warned that the effects of climate change, including an upsurge in droughts and floods, threaten the diverse habitat that supports these species. That is on top of traditional threats such as poaching, pollution and habitat destruction.

"Some species will be able to adapt to climate change, many will not, potentially resulting in massive extinctions," Chapman said in a statement. "Rare, endangered and endemic species like those newly discovered are especially vulnerable because climate change will further shrink their already restricted habitats."

Among the stars in the new list is a fanged frog in eastern Thailand. Given the scientific name Limnonectes megastomias, the frog lies in wait along streams for prey including birds and insects. Scientists believe it uses its fangs during combat with other males.

Another unusual discovery was the Cat Ba leopard gecko found on Cat Ba Island in northern Vietnam. Named Goniurosaurus catbaensis, it has large, orange-brown catlike eyes and leopard spots down the length of its yellowish brown body.

Lee Grismer, of La Sierra University in California, said he found a tiger-stripped pit viper in Vietnam described in the report while he was attempting to capture a second gecko species.

"We were engrossed in trying to catch a new species of gecko when my son pointed out that my hand was on a rock mere inches away from the head of a pit viper," Grismer said in a statement. "We caught the snake and the gecko and they both proved to be new species."

That gecko species was not included in the WWF report because it hasn't been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet. All the other species listed by the WWF have been described in journals.

Simon Mahood, a conservation adviser for BirdLife International in Indochina, welcomed WWF's attention to the new species and said more could be discovered if additional money is put into conservation and countries make it easier to do field work.

"We are seeing more reports of new discoveries and populations because this region is relatively poorly known, particularly when it comes to cryptic and less fashionable groups like fish and amphibians," said Mahood, whose group this year announced finding the first nest of white-eared night heron in Vietnam and the discovery of a baldheaded song bird in Laos called the barefaced Bulbul Pycnonotus hualon.

On Friday, it announced that it discovered three more sites where the endangered, grey-crowned crocias or Crocias langbianis can be found in Vietnam. The bird has a white underbelly and brown and slate feathers.

Other new species found are a tube-nosed bat named Murina harpioloides that lives in southeastern Vietnam and a new bird species called the Nonggang babbler that favors walking to flying and is found in the karst rainforest on the Chinese-Vietnamese border, an area of limestone fissures, sinkholes and underground streams.

Experts said a range of factors contributed to the upsurge in new species, including better access to regions that have seen decades of war and political unrest and more spending by governments on research to protect and identify plants and animals.

The WWF, which plans to publish yearly tabulations of newly discovered species in the Mekong, called for increased efforts to ensure new species are protected by preserving the large areas of forest and the free-flowing river networks they need to survive.

Iraq detains 109 in jail break investigation

By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD – More than 100 prison officials and guards have been detained after 16 prisoners, including five al-Qaida-linked inmates awaiting execution, made a stunning jailbreak in Saddam Hussein's hometown, a police commander said Friday.

The escape from the makeshift prison in Tikrit was the latest in a string of embarrassing security lapses in Iraq, raising questions about the country's ability to ensure its own security ahead of a planned U.S. withdrawal at the end of 2011.

The entire staff of the jail, including the provincial prison director, have been detained for questioning as part of the investigation into the escape, said police Lt. Col. Ahmed al-Fahal, the director of the anti-riot department for Salahuddin province.

Al-Fahal said that six of the escaped convicts, including three of the al-Qaida linked inmates, had been arrested by late Friday. Security forces continued the manhunt for the remaining fugitives, with the help of U.S. aerial surveillance.

Iraq's government, police and military have been under intense scrutiny since the pull back of American troops from Iraq's cities nearly three months ago as part of a security pact that outlines the U.S. withdrawal.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has built his January re-election campaign on improved security, has been eager to show Iraq can plug any gaps since the U.S. pullback.

But a series of high-profile attacks, including suicide truck bombings last month that targeted the foreign and finance ministries in Baghdad, raised questions about the readiness of Iraq's forces.

The prison escape Wednesday came just before midnight at a jail located on the grounds of one of Saddam's former palaces in Tikrit, some 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad.

Authorities said the prisoners pried open a bathroom window with a pipe wrench to escape, and al-Fahal blamed the jailbreak on the bathroom window's shoddy construction.

Al-Fahal said that no one at the prison appeared to have actively aided in the escape, but stressed that "certainly there was great negligence by the guards."

The jailbreak triggered an immediate backlash in Tikrit against top security officials and a special committee was formed to investigate the escape.

Provincial authorities fired Col. Mohammed Saleh al-Jubouri, the head of the anti-terrorism department for Salahuddin province, where Tikrit is located. Al-Jubouri, who also is the director of the prison, has been detained for questioning, al-Fahal said.

A curfew was lifted Friday morning in Tikrit, though the number of police checkpoints were increased overnight.

Meanwhile, Iraqi authorities were examining how a controlled explosion of weapons confiscated by the Iraqi military went awry Friday, killing 15 soldiers, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said.

The blast took place in an area where American and Iraqi forces routinely carry out controlled explosions to destroy weapons seized during raids in and around the northern city of Mosul, which the U.S. military has called the last stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq.

The blast occurred while the soldiers were preparing the materials for detonation just east of Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) north of Baghdad, two military officials said.

An Iraqi military official said at least 15 soldiers were killed in the blast. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Army Maj. Derrick Cheng, a U.S. military spokesman, said the 15 Iraqi soldiers were conducting a controlled explosion of a car bomb and other weaponry when it "accidentally detonated."

Najib: OIC can show true Islam

KUALA LUMPUR: The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) is not only a platform for cooperation among the ummah, but also a stage to launch a defense against extremism and Islamophobia at international level, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Prime Minister said that the growing negative perceptions and insults against Islam had exacerbated hostilities against Muslims, especially those living in the West.

“It is for the ummah to project and promote the true image of Islam by highlighting the universal values, the rich heritage and achievements of this sacred religion that teaches its followers tolerance and respect for others,” he said in his message released here yesterday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the OIC today.

Najib also said that after 40 years, the OIC had evolved into a body that served and safeguarded the interests of the ummah.

“For the OIC to remain relevant in the globalized, technological and a borderless world, it must move with the times,” he said.

“As the world moves on, we cannot afford to be left behind. Joint and concerted efforts are needed to remove the shackles of poverty still afflicting millions of our fellow Muslims around the world,” he said.

On Malaysia’s role in the OIC, Najib said as a founding member, Malaysia played an important role in its establishment.

He added that while holding the OIC chairmanship from Oct 2003 until March 2008, Malaysia had re-oriented the focus of the organization from solely deliberating on political issues to one that also emphasized on economic issues.

“To this effect, Malaysia re-mains committed to enhancing economic cooperation among OIC member states and promoting intra-OIC trade,” he said.

US, UK, French heads demand Iran nuke site opened

By BEN FELLER and GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writers

PITTSBURGH – Armed with the disclosure of a secret Iranian nuclear facility, President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain demanded Friday that Tehran fully disclose its nuclear ambitions "or be held accountable" to an impatient world community.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Iran has until December to comply or face new sanctions. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused Iran of "serial deception."

Said Obama: "Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow."

Their dramatic joint statement opened the G-20 economic summit.

Obama urged the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate the site.

Iran has kept the facility, 100 miles southwest of Tehran, hidden from weapons inspectors, but the U.S. has long known of its existence, a senior White House official told The Associated Press. Obama decided to go public with the revelation after Iran learned that Western intelligence agencies were aware of the project, the official said before the joint statement.

The officials spoke on grounds of anonymity so as not to pre-empt Obama.

Obama hopes the disclosure will increase pressure on the global community to impose new sanctions on Iran if it refuses to stop its nuclear program. Beyond sanctions, the leaders' options are limited and perilous; military action by the United States or an ally such as Israel could set off a dangerous chain of events in the Islamic world.

In addition, Iran's facilities are spread around the country and well hidden, making an effective military response difficult.

The disclosure comes on the heels of a U.N. General Assembly meeting at which Obama saw a glimmer of success in his push to rally the world against Iranian nuclear ambitions. And it comes days before Iran and six world powers are scheduled to discuss a range of issues including Tehran's nuclear program.

The U.S. has long avoided direct talks with Tehran over its nuclear program.

"The Iranian government must now demonstrate through deeds its peaceful intentions or be held accountable to international standards and international law," Obama said.

In setting the December deadline, Sarkozy said, "Everything, everything must be put on the table now."

Sarkozy and Brown struck a more defiant tone than their U.S. counterpart.

"The level of deception by the Iranian government ... will shock and anger the whole international community, and it will harden our resolve," Brown declared, adding that it's time "to draw a line in the sand."

Hours before the joint appearance, a diplomat in Vienna and another European government official told The Associated Press that Tehran has informed the IAEA of a previously undeclared uranium enriching facility.

Those officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information was confidential, said Iran revealed its existence in a letter sent Monday to Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the atomic energy agency.

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made no mention of the facility this week while attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York, but said that his country had fully cooperated with international nuclear inspectors.

Also at the U.N. meeting, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev opened the door to backing potential new sanctions against Iran as a reward to Obama's decision to scale back a U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe.

Iran is under three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment at what had been its single publicly known enrichment plant, which is being monitored by the IAEA.

The officials in Europe said Iran's letter contained no details about the location of the second facility, when — or if — it had started operations or the type and number of centrifuges it was running.

But one of the officials, who had access to a review of Western intelligence on the issue, said it was about 100 miles southwest of Tehran and was the site of 3,000 centrifuges that could be operational by next year.

Iranian semiofficial new agency ISNA on Friday confirmed reports on the country's second enrichment plant.

Iranian officials had previously acknowledged having only the one plant, under IAEA monitoring, and had denied allegations of undeclared nuclear activities.

An August IAEA report said Iran had set up more than 8,000 centrifuges to produce enriched uranium at its underground facility outside the southern city of Natanz. The report said that only about 4,600 centrifuges were fully active.

Iran says it has the right to enrich uranium for a nationwide chain of nuclear reactors. But because enrichment can also produce weapons-grade uranium, the international community fears Tehran will make fissile material for nuclear warheads.

The revelation of a secret plant further hinders the chances of progress in scheduled Oct. 1 talks between Iran and six world powers.

Election Call From Former Aide

A former Party aide calls on Chinese to push for democracy as National Day approaches.

HONG KONG—A former top official in China's Communist Party has called on patriotic Chinese to "return power to the people" and push for full democracy ahead of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic.

Sixty years after peasant leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China from Tiananmen Square on Oct. 1, 1949, former top Party aide Bao Tong said the Party has never admitted its mistakes.

"All of the great mistakes at a national level with far-reaching consequences were committed under the planning and leadership of the Communist Party," wrote Bao, a former aide to disgraced late Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang.

"The People's Republic of China is not a republic at all. This is a sort of pathology," he said.

"It consists in the systemic erosion of the rights of citizens to all sorts of things, including elections and private property, by the Party leadership over the last 60 years."

'Progress' under the Party

In an essay penned from his Beijing home, where Bao has been held under house arrest since returning from a seven-year jail term in the wake of the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement, Bao poured scorn on the wave of official praise for China's progress under the Party.

"Hidden troubles shouldn't be allowed to remain packaged up in talk of 'great and mighty results,' for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all their descendants," he wrote.

Behind the talk of "prosperity" and "the rise of China" lies rampant official corruption and an ever-widening gap between rich and poor, Bao said.

"Behind the words 'hard reasoning of development' lies the plunder of natural resources and the laying waste of the environment," he added.

He delineated a "collapse of personal freedoms, religious freedom, ethnic autonomy, and freedoms of speech, protest and demonstration" behind the government's emphasis on stability.

Call for elections

"How should a patriot show their love and concern for their country?" Bao wrote.

"By returning power to the people and building a republic," said Bao, who called on Chinese people to educate themselves about what full, direct elections actually mean.

"If we are to cash in on [promises of] democracy, openness, competition and meritocracy, universal direct elections are inevitable," he wrote.

"Otherwise that particular check will undoubtedly bounce."

"China is in dire need of a period of education and enlightenment about what is really meant by a 'republic' and what is really meant by 'universal, direct elections.'"

Bao said that no political party should be given the right to field an approved list of candidates, or to interfere with the right of any candidate to enter the field or to take up their post if they are elected.

"The legitimacy of a republic rests on universal, direct elections. It is the sacred duty of every patriotic citizen to promote universal, direct elections in which there is true competition between candidates," Bao wrote.

Chinese authorities are implementing a nationwide security clampdown ahead of the Oct. 1 National Day celebrations, closing key Web sites and discussion boards, and detaining people who try to lodge complaints in Beijing about local governments.

The anniversary comes as Beijing struggles to quell ethnic tensions in China's northwest and to silence outspoken dissidents, petitioners, and civil rights lawyers, who have been warned not to use the occasion to protest against the government.

Solar power for 27 Jammu and Kashmir villages

Solar energy-powered electrical lighting systems came online Friday in about 3,900 households in 27 remote villages of Gurez tehsil in Jammu and Kashmir, as part of the government's Remote Village Electrification (RVE) Programme.

Dedicating the project to about 30,000 people living in these villages, New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah said projects have been sanctioned for extending basic lighting facility to 145 of the 284 un-electrified villages and 28 hamlets in the state.

The RVE programme aims to provide renewable energy-based lighting and electricity solutions to all those villages in the country where grid will not be able to reach in the near future due to technical or economic reasons.

Of the total Rs.5 crore cost of the Gurez tehsil project, the ministry contributed around Rs.4.5 crore, while the balance Rs.50 lakh was given by the state government.

The ministry finances up to 90 percent of the cost and more than 9,400 remote villages in 24 states have been taken up so far under the programme.

For the 11th plan period, the government has recently approved an allocation of Rs.867 crore for coverage of 10,000 remote villages and hamlets.

Kashmiri separatists hail Kadhafi's UN marathon

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) - A marathon UN diatribe by Libya's Moamer Kadhafi may have been too much for other world leaders in the audience, but in Indian Kashmir it seems to have won him an enthusiastic fan base.

Kadhafi berated Western powers for an hour and 35 minutes from the General Assembly podium on Wednesday in a speech covering issues as diverse as John F. Kennedy's assassination, swine flu and his support for Kashmiri independence.

While a number of delegates found themselves unable to sit through the entire performance, separatist leaders far away in Indian Kashmir were united in praise for his ringing endorsement of their struggle.

"Kashmir should be an independent state, not Indian, not Pakistani. We should end this conflict," Kadhafi told the assembly.

His remarks were splashed over the front pages of Kashmir's leading dailies on Friday, as separatist leaders applauded.

"We hail this brave and valiant leader for his bold advocacy of Kashmiris' wishes and aspirations," said Yasin Malik, head of pro-independence political party the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front.

"Such statements from international leaders provide solace and satisfaction to the oppressed people of Kashmir," said Malik.

Seen as one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints, Kashmir has been the trigger for two wars between India and Pakistan, who control divided portions of the region and claim the territory in full.

A 20-year armed separatist insurgency in the Indian-administered section has claimed 47,000 lives.

While some of the most powerful militant groups favor accession to Pakistan, the majority of Muslims in Indian Kashmir support independence from both the South Asian rivals.

"Independence is the only viable solution," said separatist leader Javed Mir.

Syed Ali Geelani, a hardline separatist, said the Libyan leader had set an example for others to follow.

"Not only Kadhafi, but the world leaders, especially those from Muslim nations, should play an active role in the resolution of the Kashmir issue," Geelani said.

Jammu and Kashmir to have two Central Universities

New Delhi, Sept 25 : In view of the special status of State of Jammu and Kashmir, the Central Government has decided to establish, as a special dispensation, two appropriate Central Universities in the State - one in Jammu region and another in the Kashmir Valley.

It is expected that this will meet the regional aspirations in the State.

The Government proposes to undertake appropriate legislative measures in this regard shortly.

The two Central Universities will have instructional and research facilities in emerging branches of learning like information technology, biotechnology, nanosciences, setting exemplary standards of education for the other universities in the State to emulate.

However, in view of the constraints of resources and greater demand for a second Central University in Jammu and Kashmir State, it has been decided to drop the proposal for the establishment of an Indian Institute of Management in Jammu and Kashmir and instead use the savings for the establishment of a second appropriate Central University in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

Water Ice Exposed in Mars Craters

By Andrea Thompson

Craters gouged into the ruddy Martian terrain have revealed subsurface water ice closer to the red planet's equator than would be expected, new orbiter images show.

The ice also seems to be 99 percent pure, instead of the dirty dust and ice mixture some scientists expected to see, scientists said today.

And while numerous surface features on Mars suggest that water once flowed on the red planet in the past, the new discovery - detailed in the Sept. 25 issue of the journal Science - adds to the evidence that has been piling up in recent years that water exists on present-day Mars, in the form of subsurface ice. It also gives scientists a way to further probe the Martian surface for signs of water ice.

"We were able to conclude that this ice is a relic of a previously wetter climate," said research team member Shane Byrne of the University of Arizona in a Thursday teleconference.

Because water is essential to life as we know it, any findings of potentially once-liquid water has implications for the search for evidence of possible past Martian life.

The new observations indicate the presence of vast sheets of ice buried beneath the Martian surface left over from when the planet's ice caps covered more of the planet, researchers said. They ice averages about a meter thick and contains about the same amount of frozen water as the Greenland ice sheet on Earth, science team member Ken Edgett added.

"These buried ice sheets that extend from the poles all the way down to 45 degrees [latitude] or so don't quite cover half of the planet, but come close to covering half the planet," Byrne said. "So we're talking about maybe about a million cubic kilometers of ice in total."

The Mars ice finding comes just one day after scientists announced new evidence for water ice on Earth's moon.

Found just in time

In August 2008, members of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's (MRO) Context camera team examined images of the northern Martian mid-latitudes taken by the camera for any dark spots or other changes not seen in earlier images. These dark marks are signs of meteorites that have recently crashed into the dust-covered Martian terrain.

They found several, and the following month, members of MRO's HiRISE camera team followed up by snapping high-resolution images of these suspected impact craters.

"We saw something very unusual when we followed up on the first of these impact craters," said Byrne, a HiRISE team member, "and that was this bright blue material poking up from the bottom of the crater. It looked a lot like water ice."

A few days later, MRO's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) was used to take the spectrum of the material and, sure enough, it found the spectral signature of water ice.

"It was just crystal clear, no doubt about it, water ice," said Selby Cull, a CRISM science team member at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., of one such signal.

The behavior of the material over the ensuing days also helped clinch its identity: "When we started monitoring the material, it faded away like you'd expect water ice to fade, because water ice is unstable on Mars' surface and turns directly into water vapor in the atmosphere," Byrne explained.

The craters are small, about the size of a small office room, with the exposed ice patches themselves about the size of a desk, researchers said. They're shallow too.

"So these are quite small, small features," Byrne told reporters Thursday. "If you were standing in one of these craters, they would only be about knee deep or so."

The relatively quick disappearance of the ice means the MRO teams were fortunate to have spotted the craters when they did.

"All of this had to happen very quickly because 200 days after we first saw the ice, it was gone, it was the color of dirt," Byrne said. "If we had taken HiRISE images just a few months later, we wouldn't have noticed anything unusual. This discovery would have just passed us by."

Further evidence

The evidence of these ice layers exposed by meteorite impacts stacks on top of other recently uncovered clues, including the excavation of a shallow water ice layer by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander last year.

But Phoenix was at a more northerly locale than the new craters, so this fresh evidence shows that the subsurface water ice extends further south than previously thought.

"We knew there was ice below the surface at high latitudes of Mars, but we find that it extends far closer to the equator than you would think," Byrne said.

Also surprising was how clean the water ice was (something Phoenix also observed, along with the gradual sublimation of exposed ice). Mars researchers expected there to be a 50-50 mix of Martian dirt and ice. What they found from MRO, however, was a mix that was just 1 percent dirt and 99 percent ice.

"There's not a lot of dirt mixed in," Cull said. "It's pretty much solid ice."

"The thinking before was that ice accumulates below the surface between soil grains, so there would be a 50-50 mix of dirt and ice," Byrne said. "We were able to figure out, given how long it took that ice to fade from view, that the mixture is about one percent dirt and 99 percent ice."

The craters are about 12 feet (, which ranged from 1.5 to 8 feet (about 0.5 to 2.4 meters) deep, were located at five Martian sites.

Though the MRO researchers had identified 80 to 90 craters around the Martian globe before, this was the first time the spotted ice in the bottoms, likely because most of the others were more southerly and outside of the likely area of subsurface water ice.

Byrne told SPACE.com that it was surprising to the team to find the bluish ice, though "in retrospect maybe it shouldn't have been." Scientists knew of the existence of underground ice and had been monitoring craters as they formed, but "I guess we didn't put the two together," he said.

Several of the craters were also near the landing site of the Viking Lander 2. Viking also looked for water ice on Mars, but was only able to dig down about 6 inches (15 cm) below the surface — about 4 inches (10 cm) shy of where Byrne and his colleagues think the ice table sits.

"It's a shame that didn't happen," Byrne said. "You might have been having this conversation 30 years ago."

How the ice got there

There are several theories as to how such pure ice could form under the Martian surface. Byrne thinks that one of the most promising explanations is that the ice formed in the same way that so-called pure ice lenses form on Earth.

"That's where you have very thin films of liquid water around ice grains and soil grains and they migrate around to form clear ice lenses on top of the ice table, even at temperatures well below zero," he explained. "This process is called 'frost heave' on Earth, and it's considered a nuisance in most places because it cracks up roads and tilts walls and destroys the foundations of houses."

However the water ice got there, it tells scientists something about Mars recent climate. The ice is essentially "a remnant of a previous climate," Byrne said, one which likely existed around 10,000 years ago.

As the climate changes and becomes drier, the ice is expected to retreat, though based on estimates of its current extent, it hasn't done so quite as quickly as expected.

"The climate has changes but the ice is still there," Byrne said. Just why that is isn't clear yet.

These ice lenses are likely to be a source of interest to those studying the possibility of life on Mars as well, though Byrne said he's "not entirely sure if this is enough water to be interesting to a microbe."

Byrne and his colleagues suggest that fresh impact craters can be used as a new tool to probe the depth and extent of Mars' subsurface water ice.

"These impacts are really very useful," Byrne said.

And this time around, Byrne and the rest of the MRO team will be ready. Mars' northern hemisphere is heading into summer, and Byrne hopes to see about 10 more craters over this a subsequent seasons, building up a map of where known subsurface ice exists. Of course, the observations depend on MRO's successful reboot out of its current safe mode, which has temporarily suspended all science operations.

"This is I hope the start of a promising new method" of looking for water ice, he said.

Somalia: Kismayo Islamists Reject Uganda Leader's Plans

23 September 2009

Kismayo — Somali Islamists who control the Horn of Africa country's southern port of Kismayo have rejected comments attributed to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Radio Garowe reports.

Sheikh Hassan Yakub, spokesman for Al Shabaab administrators in Kismayo, told reporters Wednesday that the Ugandan leader's plan to deploy African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) to Kismayo and Baidoa is aimed at "misleading" the international community.

"He [Ugandan President] wants to gain project funds from the international community," said Sheikh Yakub, who was speaking at a press conference in Kismayo.

According to the spokesman, the Al Shabaab administration in Kismayo has formally changed its name to the "Islamic Walaayah of Jubba."

It is not clear whether or not all armed factions in Kismayo agree with this new name, but a political dispute has been brewing over the administration of Kismayo in recent months.

Kismayo was seized in Aug. 2008 by a coalition of clan militias and Islamist fighters, including Al Shabaab, Ras Kamboni and Anole. While Ras Kamboni and Anole merged with other factions to form Hizbul Islam in early 2009, Al Shabaab has remained fiercely independent and has maintained an iron-grip control in Kismayo.

Inside sources say Hizbul Islam political leaders have been attempting to mediate between Al Shabaab and the Ras Kamboni-Anole alliance.

While Al Shabaab is a multi-clan faction that primarily draws support from the outside, Ras Kamboni and Anole draw support from the local Darod clans in Middle Jubba and Lower Jubba regions.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200909240715.html.

Chinese Author Banned From Attending German Book Fair

Chinese author and political dissident Liao Yiwu, who was due to attend an event in Berlin, Germany, connected with the Frankfurt Book Fair, has been banned from traveling to Germany just weeks after the fair's organizers revoked invitations for two other Chinese writers.

Chinese author Liao Yiwu, who is also a reporter, musician and poet, has been banned by the Beijing regime from traveling to Germany, he told reporters on Wednesday.

"Chinese state security officials told me that I will not be allowed to fly to Germany," Liao told the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, adding that he had received a formal invitation from Germany and also had a valid passport, but now would have to stay in China after all.

Berlin's Haus der Kulturen der Welt - or House of World Cultures - a showcase for exhibitions of non-European cultures - had invited the 50-year-old author, who served a prison sentence between 1990 and 1994 for his opposition to the Beijing regime.

Together with other Chinese authors, Liao was due to take part in a podium discussion on Oct. 10 in Berlin, organized in connection with the Frankfurt Book Fair, which will feature China as its guest country during its Oct. 14-18 run.

Is It Too Early for China to Be a Guest of Honor?

The news comes just two weeks after organizers of the fair revoked invitations for Chinese writers Bei Ling and Dai Qing to appear at a symposium on guest nation China in the run-up to the fair, conceding they had done so at the request of the Chinese organizing committee.

The two authors, who are known critics of the regime, had already traveled to Frankfurt at their own expense, by the time the announcement had been made. Their appearance at a symposium prior to the opening of the world's largest publishing trade fair triggered fierce debate during which the official Chinese delegation left the room in protest. Some would later question whether it had been appropriate to invite China as a guest nation to the prestigious event.

Earlier this month, Herbert Wiesner, the head of the German chapter of the prestigious PEN association of writers argued in an interview with Berlin's RBB public radio that Germany should not allow itself to be blackmailed by China at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair and that it had been too early to give the country an invitation to the event. "We could have learned that from the Olympics," he said. "I think it's a bit overhasty. In many respects, China is very mature, but obviously not in this one."

Book Fair chief Juergen Boos, however, recently defended the decision in a Spiegel interview, saying if anything, the fair had been "too late" in extending the invitation to Beijing. "When a country is undergoing such a massive transformation, then you cannot be too early," he said. He added that critical issues surrounding China would also be raised in Frankfurt and that "it would have a positive effect on the latitude for discussions in China. Of course things never go quickly enough for us in the West. But we need to take every opportunity to get even a millimeter closer. Five years ago, there wasn't a single independent bookstore in Beijing, but now there is; and it's a place where intellectuals and writers meet and discuss virtually every issue with each other. Despite all criticism about the speed at which this transformation is happening, there is progress."

Venezuela opens 'peace base' in response to U.S. military plans

HAVANA, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuela has opened a "peace base" in the Cuban capital Havana as a response to the deployment of U.S. troops in Colombia, Venezuela's ambassador to Cuba said.

"The 'peace base' has only one purpose - to promote the ideas of peace in all possible formats: meetings, conferences, video demonstrations, discussions. It is a kind of response to the deployment of U.S. military bases in South America," Ronald Blanco de la Cruz said on Thursday.

The United States and Colombia have agreed a security treaty under which U.S. troops will be deployed at seven military bases in Colombia as part of efforts to combat international terrorism and drug trafficking.

Colombian authorities insist that the deal, which has yet to be signed, concerns "practical aid" in measures against drug trafficking and domestic insurgents, primarily the leftist guerrilla movement the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), but Venezuela sees them as a threat to its national security.

"It is evident for us that the deployment of these bases would bring a lot of trouble to the neighboring countries," the diplomat said.

Similar "peace bases" are already operating on the border between Venezuela and Colombia, in Mexico and in Venezuela's capital, Caracas.

Chavez promotes closer Africa-South America ties

By Ian James
Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela—President Hugo Chavez says Libya's Moammar Gadhafi is more than welcome to pitch his tent in Venezuela as the two of them make a diplomatic push for closer ties between Africa and South America at a weekend summit.

The Libyan leader caused an uproar in the New York City suburbs over his insistence on putting up a tent this week while attending the U.N. General Assembly meeting. But in Venezuela, Chavez says it's perfectly fine and that Gadhafi "travels with the tent."

The two-day summit starting Saturday on Venezuela's Margarita Island gives Chavez an opportunity to strengthen a growing web of "South-South" alliances and attempt a greater leadership role while critiquing U.S. influence internationally.

Nine South American presidents and more than 20 African leaders are expected to attend, ranging from Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to Bolivia's Evo Morales.

Chavez is particularly close to Gadhafi, whom he calls a "brilliant" revolutionary, and attended anniversary celebrations in Libya marking Gadhafi's 40-year rule earlier this month. Chavez has praised Gadhafi as a "tireless gladiator" in pressing for African unity -- and said the two continents should now take that a step further.

Gadhafi made waves at the U.N. General Assembly this week when he chastised the world body, calling the Security Council the "Terror Council" for failing to prevent dozens of wars.

Strong criticisms of the U.N., the U.S. and other world powers will likely be voiced at the summit in Venezuela. Chavez will also probably use the meeting to argue that Africa's poverty shows the failures of the capitalist system, and to promote a host of efforts to open up political and economic channels between the regions.

"We want to link up with Africa," the president told a news conference at the United Nations on Thursday. He said the summit will focus on efforts to "unite both continents."

Adam Isacson, a Latin America expert at the Washington-based Center for International Policy, says even controversial African leaders such as Gadhafi and Mugabe represent an opportunity for Chavez.

"Chavez, who is quite popular in many African countries, is continuing to round up countries that have poor relations with the United States, regardless of their leaders' reputation, in an attempt to outweigh U.S. influence," Isacson said. "He clearly believes there's strength in numbers, and sees Africa as a way to add to his numbers."

Chavez told leaders at an African Union summit in Libya last month that "the empire doesn't want us to unite," referring to the United States.

Chavez has had cool, critical words for President Barack Obama lately, and questioned his policies on Thursday at the United Nations saying: "Who are you?"

Yet his critiques may have a limited echo in many African countries that maintain friendly relations with Washington, and Obama's African heritage has made him a point of pride not only in Kenya, his father's birthplace, but across the continent.

Leaders at the Venezuelan meeting will discuss plans to increase cooperation in energy, trade, finance, regional security, agriculture, mining and development projects. Chavez called it "a summit of great importance for the struggles of the South."

A first, smaller gathering of African and Latin American leaders was held in Nigeria in 2006. The timing this year -- immediately after the U.N. General Assembly in New York and G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh -- suggests it may turn out to be a forum for many non-G-20 nations to respond and to focus on poorer countries' concerns.

Chavez has in recent years drawn close to many nations at odds with Washington, including Iran, Syria and Russia. He also has friendly ties with Mugabe, who has been condemned by the U.S. and European countries for his autocratic rule in Zimbabwe, and with Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Al-Bashir, who still enjoys the support of other African leaders, was not among the confirmed attendees.

But Mugabe will take any opportunity to attend a summit because he gets invited to few nowadays and "wants to maintain some amount of presence internationally" to mobilize more support for his shaky government, said Siphamandla Zondi, head of the Africa program at the Institute for Global Dialogue in South Africa.

Chavez has been working to strengthen ties with African nations for years and in November established diplomatic relations with the latest, Madagascar. Venezuela said last year it had opened 11 embassies in Africa in less than four years, bringing its total to 18.

Earlier this month, Chavez announced that Venezuela may help build an oil refinery in Mauritania that could process 30,000 to 40,000 barrels per day and supply fuel to Mali, Niger and Gambia. It is unclear whether the plan will actually get off the ground and how much Venezuela is prepared to invest since it is coping with a sharp drop in its key oil income.

Still, Chavez would like to see Venezuela play more of a direct role in Africa the way Cuba has in the past. Cuba, for instance, sent troops to Angola between 1975 and 1988 to help defeat U.S.-supported rebels and South African troops, and has also sent teachers and doctors.

Chavez, for his part, took up the cause of Western Sahara this week during his Sunday TV and radio program, telling a group of visiting African students that the disputed region should be free and not under Morocco's rule.

Among the other leaders expected to attend the summit are Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Joseph Kabila of Congo.

Militant says Pakistani Taliban stronger than ever

By RASOOL DAWAR, Associated Press Writer

MIR ALI, Pakistan – Pakistan's Taliban movement is stronger than ever despite the killing of its top commander and will stage more suicide attacks if the army launches another offensive against it, a top militant told The Associated Press.

Qari Hussain Mehsud, known for training Taliban suicide bombers, met with an AP reporter Thursday at a secret location in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, just hours before a U.S. missile strike hit the tribal region and killed 12 people.

The U.S. has launched dozens of missiles to take out top Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan's northwest over the past year. Although Pakistan routinely protests the strikes, it is widely believed to secretly cooperate with them.

One such missile strike in August killed Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, and Qari Hussain Mehsud's comments appeared to be the latest attempt by militants to end speculation of a rift among insurgent commanders following the killing.

"Our movement has gained more strength after the martyrdom of Baitullah Mehsud," he said. "We are united."

The militant commander, who looked to be in his 40s and had a curly black beard and mustache, was surrounded by dozens of other militants and local residents. At one point, he assured those gathered that Islam allowed suicide bombings.

The AP was given the interview on condition it not reveal the meeting's exact location and wait a day before publishing the remarks.

The commander said he had been appointed the latest spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban's new chief, Hakimullah Mehsud. He also acknowledged that he was leading a group of suicide bombers known as the "Fidayeen-e-Islam," and said the attackers were ready to give their lives if Pakistan proceeds with offensives in the tribal areas.

"We have enough suicide bombers, and they are asking me to let them sacrifice their lives in the name of Islam, but we will send suicide bombers only if the government acts against us," he said.

Pakistan's northwest region bordering Afghanistan has provided Islamist militants with safe havens from which to plan attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. In particular, the mountainous, lawless tribal regions — where the government wields little control — are favored breeding grounds for insurgents, who have also attacked Pakistani government workers and security forces.

Pakistan has launched multiple offensives in its tribal regions and other parts of the northwest to root out the militants.

It was supposed to launch an offensive in South Waziristan aimed at taking out Baitullah Mehsud earlier this year. But now the army appears content to keep its operations in that region limited since the U.S. missile strike that felled the Pakistani Taliban chief.

Qari Hussain Mehsud also praised al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and Afghan Taliban head Mullah Omar as heroes of Islam. Bin Laden is rumored to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal belt, while Omar is believed to be in Quetta, a city in southwest Baluchistan province.

The latest missile strike took place late Thursday in the village of Dande Darpa Khel in North Waziristan, two intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters on the record.

Twelve people died, though it was unclear who they were. The village is a reputed stronghold of Jalaluddin Haqqani, an insurgent commander blamed for many of the most deadly attacks on US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Officials tell AP Iran has second enrichment plant

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer

VIENNA – Iran has revealed the existence of a secret uranium-enrichment plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday, a development that could heighten fears about Tehran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon and escalate its diplomatic confrontation with the West.

President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain plan to accuse Iran of hiding the facility in an address at the opening of the G-20 economic summit Friday, a senior White House official told the AP.

The official said Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will demand Tehran open the covert facility to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran is under three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment at what had been its single known enrichment plant, which is being monitored by the IAEA.

Two officials told the AP that Iran revealed the existence of the second plant in a letter sent Monday to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire confirmed receipt of the letter, saying the agency was informed "that a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction." The letter said that the plant would not enrich uranium beyond the 5 percent level suitable for civilian energy production. That would be substantially below the threshold of 90 percent or more needed for a weapon.

Iran told the agency "that no nuclear material has been introduced into the facility," he said. "In response, the IAEA has requested Iran to provide specific information and access to the facility as soon as possible."

The officials said that Iran's letter contained no details about the location of the second facility, when — or if — it had started operations or the type and number of centrifuges it was running.

But one of the officials, who had access to a review of Western intelligence on the issue, said it was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Tehran and was the site of 3,000 centrifuges that could be operational by next year.

The officials who spoke to the AP — one from a European government with access to IAEA information and the other a diplomat in Vienna from a country accredited to the IAEA — demanded anonymity Friday because their information was confidential. One said he had seen the Iranian letter. The other told the AP that he had been informed about it by a U.N. official.

Iranian officials had previously acknowledged having only one plant — which is under IAEA monitoring — and had denied allegations of undeclared nuclear activities.

An August IAEA report said Iran had set up more than 8,000 centrifuges to churn out enriched uranium at its cavernous underground facility outside the southern city of Natanz. The report said that only about 4,600 centrifuges were fully active.

Iran says it has the right to enrich uranium for a nationwide chain of nuclear reactors. But because enrichment can also produce weapons-grade uranium, the international community fears Tehran will make fissile material for nuclear warheads.

The IAEA says Iran has amassed more than a ton of uranium from its older Natanz centrifuges that is less than 5-percent enriched and unsuitable for weapons use. But through further enrichment, that amount would give Tehran more than enough material to produce enough weapons-grade uranium — enriched to 90 percent and beyond — for one nuclear weapon.

U.N. officials familiar with IAEA monitoring of Iran's nuclear activities have previously told the AP they suspected Iran may have undeclared enrichment plants with the state-of-the-art centrifuges that enrich more quickly and efficiently than Iran's mainstay P-1, a decades-old model based on Chinese technology.

The revelation of a secret plant further hinders the chances of progress in scheduled Oct. 1 talks between Iran and six world powers.

At that meeting — the first in more than a year — the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany plan to press Iran to scale back on its enrichment activities. But Tehran has declared that it will not bargain on enrichment Iran's nuclear negotiator dismissed the threat of new sanctions in an interview released Friday.

Saeed Jalili said that Iran has "the right to uranium enrichment, and we will never give up this right," the German weekly Der Spiegel reported.

"We have lived with sanctions for 30 years, and they cannot force a great nation like the Iranian one to its knees," Jalili told Der Spiegel. "They do not scare us. On the contrary: we welcome new sanctions."

Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow for nonproliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, suggested that Iran had little choice about disclosing the secret site ahead of the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh.

"Iran undoubtedly announced it to the to the IAEA because they were afraid it would become known to the U.S. and others," he said.

Fitzpatrick said the disclosure "will add to the momentum behind a push for stronger sanctions on Iran" should the Oct. 1 talks in Geneva fail.

Jalili is to meet with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns and representatives from Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

On Thursday, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the Group of Eight is giving Iran until the end of the year to commit to ending uranium enrichment — a process that can produce fissile material for the core of a nuclear weapon — and avoid new sanctions.

The existence of a secret Iranian enrichment program built on black-market technology was revealed seven years ago. Since then, the country has continued to expand the program with only a few interruptions as it works toward its aspirations of a 50,000-centrifuge enrichment facility at Natanz.

Russia: Chechen Leader Taps Successor

By ELLEN BARRY

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed president of the Russian republic of Chechnya, said in an interview that he had chosen and trained his own successor as president: Adam S. Delimkhanov, a member of Parliament who was accused this spring of killing one of Mr. Kadyrov’s rivals in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Mr. Delimkhanov denied any role in the killing. In an interview with Zavtra, an ultranationalist newspaper, Mr. Kadyrov, above, said that even if he was not in power, “the Kadyrov cause” would continue. Mr. Kadyrov, 32, is now in the second year of a five-year term.

Activists: Keep Kadyrov out of Europe

Several prominent human rights activists have expressed grave concern over the plan of Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov to open so-called Chechen Cultural Centres in several countries in the EU. The regime in Grozny, with Moscow’s acquiescence, intends to open such centres in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and Poland, each home to a large Chechen diaspora.

The human rights activists remind the EU states of the reason that such sizable diaspora of Chechens have come into being: the establishment of a totalitarian regime based on violence, fear, and denunciation. The activists call on the EU states not to allow the establishment of Kadyrov’s semi-embassies in their territory.

The signatories of the appeal are US human rights activist Nadezhda Banchik; Mayrbek Taramov, chairman of the Chechen Human Rights Centre in Sweden; Viktoria Pupko, president of the Boston Committee against Ethnic Cleansing; Said-Emin Ibragimov, chairman of the French-based Peace and Human Rights association; and Yelena Maglevannaya, journalist and human rights activist currently residing in Finland.

“All independent sources report that Moscow’s puppet ruler, Ramzan Kadyrov, has created a regime of totalitarian regime aimed at the devastation of yet another generation of Chechens through physical terror and moral corruption,” the signatories write. They ask whether EU states wish for such a regime to spread its influence and culture of violence on their territory.

Kadyrov’s so-called cultural centres would only serve the purpose of destabilizing Chechen diasporas in Europe, killing politically active Chechen refugees, pressuring EU countries not to accept more Chechen refugees, and intimidating those who have managed to flee to return, the signatories say.

Japan launches probe of secret pacts with US

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO – Japan's new government launched an investigation Friday into whether previous administrations entered secret security pacts with Washington, including one said to endorse U.S. nuclear-armed ships despite a policy of barring such weapons.

The Democratic Party of Japan, which unseated the long-ruling Liberal Democrats in parliamentary elections last month, has vowed to improve transparency in government as well as review military ties with the U.S.

Japan's previous governments have always denied secret deals, but some bureaucrats have recently said that long-standing speculation that they existed is correct, prompting new Foreign Minister Katsuya Okadato to launch an inquiry.

"We will reveal everything we find," Okada told reporters in New York, according to Kyodo news agency.

Four alleged pacts are subject to the investigation, including one between the two allies in 1960 giving tacit approval of port calls by U.S. military aircraft and warships carrying nuclear weapons.

Nuclear arms are a sensitive topic for Japan, the world's only country to have suffered nuclear attacks. Tokyo since 1967 has maintained principles of not possessing, producing or allowing nuclear weapons into the country.

Okada has assigned a 15-member team to sift through more than 3,200 files at the Foreign Ministry, as well as 400 files stored at the Japanese Embassy in Washington. The team will report their findings in late November, the ministry said.

They will also look into an alleged secret deal in 1960 regarding the use of U.S. military bases if there is war on the Korean peninsula. The other two pacts are related to the entry of nuclear weapons onto the southern island of Okinawa in times of emergency and the cost burdens associated with the 1972 handover of Okinawa back to Japan from U.S. control.

Okada has said that if the secret pacts are confirmed, he does not intend to punish Foreign Ministry officials who may have been involved in any cover-up.

But any new revelations are likely to spark new debate about Japan's relationship with the United States, which the Democrats hope to modify. Okada supports more equal relations between Tokyo and Washington, and has said he wants to review the status of the nearly 50,000 U.S. troops deployed across Japan under a post-World War II bilateral security pact.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government also wants to end Japan's naval refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of the U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Separated Koreans prepare for family reunions

By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – Lee Sun-ok fled from North to South Korea to escape chaotic fighting during the Korean War, boarding a ship along with thousands of other people in December 1950. There was no time to say goodbye to her loved ones.

Now, the 80-year-old widow will return to North Korea on Saturday to meet two younger sisters and one younger brother for the first time in 60 years.

"I never thought I could see them again," an emotional Lee said in an interview Wednesday. "I can die after visiting the North with no regrets."

Lee is among about 200 families from both sides scheduled to hold six days of reunions with relatives they have not seen since the war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, in 1953, leaving the countries divided.

Millions of families remain separated following the Korean peninsula's division in 1945 and the ensuing civil war. There are no mail, telephone or e-mail exchanges between ordinary citizens from the two Koreas. Nor can they travel to the other side of the peninsula without government approval.

Family reunions began in 2000 following a landmark inter-Korean summit, but North Korea cut off most such programs after South Korea's conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office last year with a get-tough policy of holding North Korea accountable to its nuclear disarmament pledges.

North Korea agreed last month to resume the reunions as part of moves to reach out to South Korea and the United States after months of tension over its nuclear and missile programs.

The meetings will take place at the North's Diamond Mountain resort on the peninsula's east coast. So far, more than 16,200 Koreans have held temporary face-to-face reunions with relatives since they began. Some 3,740 others have seen relatives in video reunions.

The reunions come amid growing international pressure on the communist regime in Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programs and return to stalled disarmament talks.

North Korea boycotted the six-nation nuclear talks in April to protest world criticism of a rocket launch it carried out, but its leader Kim Jong Il has reportedly expressed interest in "bilateral and multilateral talks," indicating the North could rejoin the nuclear negotiations involving the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

President Barack Obama told a U.N. General Assembly session Wednesday that North Korea "must be held accountable" if it continues to put its pursuit of nuclear weapons ahead of international security.

The reunions last through Oct. 1 and it remains unclear when they may be held again.

The meetings are a highly emotional issue in the Koreas. Most of those applying for the chance to see their long lost loved ones are in their 70s or older, and are eager for a reunion before they die.

Of 127,400 South Koreans who have applied over the year, nearly 40,000 have already died, according to South Korea's Red Cross.

South Korea wants to stage more family reunions on a regular basis and allow divided families to confirm whether their long-lost kin are still alive, but the North has balked at the request.

Lee Sun-ok married in South Korea, had two children and worked selling clothes in her own small shop. Still, she longed to see her loved ones in the North.

"I am fortunate to meet (my brother and sisters) before I die," she said. "They are always in my heart."

Flash floods kill five in Turkey

Flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rain have killed five people in northeastern Turkey overnight, according to local media reports.

The casualties included three members of one family who died when their house was crushed by a landslide on Wednesday night near the border with Georgia, Anatolia news agency reported.

A five-story building in the town of Kale collapsed and several buildings and a mosque in Demiciler were heavily damaged, DPA reported.

The flash floods come only two weeks after more than 30 people were killed in flooding around Istanbul, when Turkey experienced its worst flooding in over 80 years.

The Governor of Artvin province Mustafa Yemlihalioglu said the number of casualties were not high because many areas had already been evacuated as rain began to pour.

Dialogue key to resolving Kashmir issue: Pakistan

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani says dialogue is the only way that can resolve all outstanding issues between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Speaking to reporters in the eastern city of Multan, Gilani said that Kashmir is the core issue and without resolving it no durable peace can be achieved in the region, local NNI news agency reported on Thursday.

The Pakistani premier pointed out that he will focus on the Kashmir issue during the next round of talks with Indian officials.

According to Gilani, the world has recognized Pakistan's capability in dealing with terrorists. He said that the onus was on the international community to come forward and provide support to Pakistan to completely eradicate terrorism.

Gilani referred to the water and energy crises as other outstanding issues that his government has to deal with. He said efforts were underway to overcome these issues in the minimum possible time.

Israel planning new settlement in al-Quds

Despite mounting international pressure, Israel is planning to construct yet another settlement in Ras Amud, in east Jerusalem (al-Quds).

The Ras Amud settlement plan has been submitted to Jerusalem Municipality's Planning Department for approval, said Ir Amin, an Israeli NGO, on Thursday. Ras Amud is a Palestinian neighborhood that borders Mount Olives cemetery.

The plan aims at linking Maale Adumim settlements with east Jerusalem (al-Quds) by annexing Palestinian lands in that area, Ir Amin said. He added that 104 "luxurious" housing units, including other facilities such as a kindergarten, a synagogue, a country club with swimming pool and a huge parking lot, are planned for the settlers.

It would later be connected to the existing Maale Zeitim illegal settlement in east Jerusalem (al-Quds). The two settlements would bring comfort to 1,000 Israeli families at the expense of Palestinian homes.

The settlements are usually constructed on Palestinian land illegally confiscated by the Israeli government.

Ir Amin concluded that said that such issues are a threat to any possibility for achieving peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Israeli settlers, troops break into Ibrahimi Mosque

Around 150 Israeli settlers, backed by Israeli soldiers, break into the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Ishakiyya area in al-Khalil (Hebron), in the West Bank.

Zeid al-Ja'bary, Head of the Waqf and Endowment department, said on Thursday that this was the first time the settlers had entered the mosque since the massacre carried out by Baroach Goldstein in 1994, killing 29 Muslim worshipers and wounding 150 others.

Al-Ja'bary warned that extremist settlers are trying to bar the Muslims from entering the Ibrahimi Mosque and are trying to transform it into a synagogue.

He added that since last week, the Israeli authorities have prohibited the Muslims from using loud speakers to call for prayers.

Israeli authorities had also closed the mosque on Saturday and Sunday, which was Eid al-Fitr, barring Muslims from performing prayers following a month of fasting in Ramadan.

Rival Islamist rebels face off in Somalia

September 25, 2009

Al-Shabaab, Hizbul Islam battle for control of southern port

Abdi Guled

Reuters

MOGADISHU: Rival Islamist insurgents are squaring up for a fight over southern Somalia’s strategic port of Kismayu after hardline Al-Shabaab rebels unilaterally named a new administration to run the area. Animosity has been growing between Al-Shabaab, which the United States says is Al-Qaeda’s proxy in Somalia, and another rebel militia, Hizbul Islam.

The growing rift between the south’s two main rebel groups – which both oppose the fragile UN-backed government – only points to more violence in the country, where fighting has killed more than 18,000 civilians since the start of 2007. Another 1.5 million have been driven from their homes. Aid officials say at least 60 percent of those in need of help live in areas controlled by the insurgent militias.

Both groups want to control Kismayu, which is a lucrative source of taxes and other income for their fighters, and until this week they controlled the port in an uneasy alliance.

Then on Wednesday, Al-Shabaab named its own local governing council, excluding all their Hizbul Islam rivals.

Residents say both sides are rushing in reinforcements in anticipation of battle, and on Thursday a senior Hizbul Islam leader said they would not recognize the new authority.

“The men who call themselves Al-Shabaab have formed an administration with disregard to the other mujahideen,” Sheikh Hassan Turki, Hizbul Islam’s deputy leader and the commander of southern Somalia’s Ras Kamboni militant group, told reporters.

“No one should claim total control of the city. There should be mediation before there is bloodshed … they broke a promise about forming the town’s administration and should fear Allah.”

Leaflets denouncing the Al-Shabaab militants, widely thought to have been printed by the Kamboni group, have been circulating in Kismayu in recent weeks, locals say, raising fears of a confrontation.

Security experts say Somalia is a safe haven for wanted militants, including foreign jihadists. On Wednesday the European Union’s aid chief warned it risked becoming “the new Afghanistan” unless Western donors helped its government stop Al-Qaeda gaining a foothold in the region.

In the latest violence in the capital Mogadishu, clashes killed at least 12 people on Wednesday after insurgents attacked government forces and peacekeeping troops from a 5,000-strong African Union peacekeeping mission, AMISOM.

In their biggest attack on the peacekeepers so far, the rebels hit AMISOM’s headquarters in the city with twin suicide car bombs a week ago, killing 17 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda, including the force’s deputy commander.

Al-Shabaab said it carried out the strike in revenge for the killing days earlier of one of Africa’s most wanted Al-Qaeda suspects by US special forces in the rebel-held south.

Hizbul Islam’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, justified the use of suicide bombings and called for more such attacks on Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmad’s government.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/Sep/25/Rival-Islamist-rebels-face-off-in-Somalia.ashx.