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Saturday, October 10, 2009

Iraqis rally amid Ayatollah's call for open voting

Hundreds of Iraqis have taken to the streets, demanding an open voting system for January parliamentary elections — a call backed by top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani.

Over 1,000 people attended the rally in Baghdad, the northern city of Kirkuk and the southern port of Basra on Saturday to demonstrate against plans by parliamentarian to pass a controversial closed voting system which does not name candidates standing for office, AFP reported Saturday.

The demonstration held in support of a call by Ayatollah Sistani who may urge the country's majority Shias to boycott the ballot if the closed system is adopted.

A closed list was used in national elections in January 2005, the first to take place since the 2003 US-led invasion.

The protest follows the plan of parliamentarians to adopt a closed voting that would list parties contesting the election without disclosing the individuals vying to take up seats in parliament.

"Seeing the names of candidates is important -- we have to know for whom we are going to vote," said Makki Awad, an Iraqi actor at the demonstration.

Based on the report, several hundred protesters gathered in support of Sistani's stance in central Baghdad, carrying Iraqi flags and placards reading "Closed Lists Strengthen Sectarianism and Racism".

"This demonstration was organized to call for an open list, and to give the people a chance to vote for candidates they know and trust," said Sami Hassan Mussa, a writer and political analyst taking part in the rally.

Around 500 others, including political activists and trade unionists, also gathered in central Basra to voice their opposition to the plans and give their backing to an open list system.

Rallies, held in Kirkuk, Baquba, north of Baghdad, and the southern town of Simawa, were organized by the Iraqi Constitutional Party, which is headed by Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=108336§ionid=351020201.

Tehran University moves up among top schools

Tehran University has moved up 117 places in the rankings of top world universities to 368, according to the 2009 world's top university ranking.

According to the list recently released by Times Higher Education (THES) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) website, Tehran University along with Georgia University in the US and Showa University in Japan sits on the 368th place.

Tehran University is also reported to rank 112th for engineering & IT, 298th for life sciences & biomedicine and 183th for social sciences.

Based on the report published by THES/QS, Harvard University has retained the number one place.

Cambridge University followed by Yale University, University College London, Imperial College London, University of Oxford and University of Chicago take the top positions on the universally respected list.

As in previous years, American universities account for the majority of the top universities in the world, indicating that some 87 US universities are within the top 400.

While Harvard University is placed first among life sciences & biomedicine, social sciences as well as arts & humanities universities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is considered first among universities for engineering & IT. Cambridge University, on the other hand, ranked first for natural sciences.

Japan's University of Tokyo (22) and University of Hong Kong (24) have the highest ranks among Asian schools.

Iran plans to produce reactor fuel if talks fail

Ahead of planned nuclear discussions in Vienna, Tehran expresses optimisms that the talks will be fruitful, or else it will enrich uranium to the 20 percent required for its research reactor.

"We will write a letter and announce to the [International Atomic Energy] Agency (IAEA) that Iran would act directly to supply the fuel for the Tehran reactor," if the talks failed, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Shirzadian said Saturday.

Officials from Iran, the United States, Russia, France and the UN nuclear watchdog plan to hold talks in Vienna on October 19 as Tehran weighs its options to supply its research reactor in Tehran with enriched uranium of 20 percent for producing radiomedicine.

At its Natanz enrichment facility, Iran currently enriches uranium to the level of under 5 percent to provide fuel for its under-construction nuclear power plants.

"During Vienna talks, the sides will discuss various ways to supply fuel for the reactor," Shirzadian, who was speaking to the Iranian Students News Agency, said referring to an offer for Iran to buy 20 percent pure uranium from Russia and France in exchange for its 5 percent enriched uranium.

"Iran fully owns the enrichment technology and therefore it will sit at the negotiating table with power," he added.

The spokesman said it would be more economical for Tehran to buy the fuel for the Tehran reactor in bulk, adding, "We have told the agency that the reactor needs around 200 kilograms of 20 percent pure uranium to operate. The IAEA chief [Mohamed ElBaradei] has adopted measures."

Shirzadian said Tehran would enter the Vienna talks as a "technical organization", adding, "If an agreement is reached and then not implemented for any reason, the agency and the (3rd-party) country will be blamed."

"If the United States wants to disturb third-party deals, it is not a matter between Iran and the agency. It is a matter between the agency and the United States," Shirzadian said.

On October 1, Iranian representatives and diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Russia, China, France, Britain and the US — plus Germany (P5+1) held high-level negotiations in Geneva.

The seven-and-a-half hour meeting, based on Iran's package of proposals, paved the way for the sides to continue discussions on global crisis.

Police arrest 18 protestors in Manchester

Police have arrested at least 18 people in the English city of Manchester after about 2,000 protesters took to the streets in two political rallies.

Most of those arrested were accused of public order offenses, Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said in a statement on Saturday.

"Today we've made 18 arrests, many of whom were thought to be agitators and trouble-makers," said Shewan.

"The presence of so many protesters in the city has proved a challenge and while many have turned out to protest peacefully, the police reaction has been necessary in order to prevent the few hell-bent on violent confrontation," he added.

The English Defense League (EDL) staged a protest in Piccadilly Gardens to campaign against Islamic extremists. The rally prompted a planned counter-protest by Unite Against Fascism (UAF).

Both sides faced each other in Piccadilly Gardens but were separated by a line of police officers, dogs and mounted police.

13 killed in Algerian desert

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU
Associated Press Writer

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - Ten suspected Islamists and three soldiers were killed in a fierce gunbattle in the Sahara Desert when a convoy of heavily armed militants was attacked by the Algerian army, officials said Saturday.

The gunmen, in a caravan of several 4-by-4 vehicles crossing the desert, took refuge in remote terrain near the Great Erg - the world's largest sand dune - when they saw they were being trailed by the army and special gendarme police forces in the early hours Friday, the officials said.

They fought off the security forces, killing three and wounding two others, said an elected official in the town of Bechar 985 kilometers (610 miles) southwest of Algiers, the capital.

A security chief in Bechar confirmed the information. He said the security forces, supported by army helicopters, killed 10 militants, including three who appeared not to be Algerian nationals.

The officials gave no reports of arrests. Authorities seized several heavy machine guns and large quantities of ammunition and medicine after the clash, they said.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Algerian emergency laws forbid discussing ongoing security matters.

Several independent Algerian newspapers also reported the clash on Saturday. There was no government comment.

While Islamist militants have claimed multiple bomb attacks in northern Algeria, the south of the country has largely been spared the violence. But many security experts believe that Algeria's al-Qaida-linked militants use the sprawling southern deserts as rear bases and for trafficking weapons, drugs and illegal migrants over the region's porous borders with sub-Saharan African countries such as Mali and Niger.

The militant group, known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb also has been blamed for several kidnappings of Western tourists in the desert over the last few years.

Its fighters are a leftover from a civil war between radical Islamists and government forces that killed up to 200,000 people in Algeria during the 1990s. The group officially merged with al-Qaida in 2006 and has continued to regularly target government forces and foreigners in recent years.

China says time to act on NKorea disarmament talks

By ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING – North Korea appears keen to improve ties with the U.S. and its neighbors in Asia and perhaps rejoin nuclear disarmament talks, China's premier said Saturday, urging fellow leaders not to let the opportunity slip away.

"We need to seize the opportunity and make the most of it," Premier Wen Jiabao told a news conference after a meeting with leaders from Japan and South Korea. "If we miss this opportunity, we might later have to do more than we should."

These were Wen's first public comments on a visit last week to Pyongyang, where he said he met for 10 hours with North Korean leader Kim Jong II. China is reclusive North Korea's chief ally and source of economic aid.

His upbeat remarks are the latest indication that the North is shifting tack after earlier this year pulling out of six-nation disarmament talks and conducting nuclear and missile tests. But the North says it first wants direct talks with the United States before re-entering the multilateral negotiations.

The North's nuclear program was a key topic as Wen, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met in Beijing for an annual summit Saturday. The East Asian nations agreed to work together on the nuclear issue and jointly tackle other challenges, such as climate change and expanding trade and investment ties as they move toward closer regional integration.

Wen said his deepest impression after his talks with Kim was that the North wants to improve relations with the United States as well as Japan and South Korea.

Kim told Wen the North might return to six-nation nuclear talks — which also include China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States — depending on its hoped-for negotiations with Washington.

"The North Korean side showed flexibility. It said it is not opposed to the six-party talks, and it is willing to resolve the relevant issues through bilateral and multilateral talks," Wen said.

North Korea has long sought a direct dialogue with the U.S. American officials have said such talks may be possible if they are part of the six-party negotiations.

A decision is still pending on whether to let North Korea's deputy nuclear envoy, Ri Gun, attend a private security forum in the U.S. later this month, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said Friday.

News of the planned trip has raised speculation that Ri might meet with U.S. officials to lay the groundwork for possible direct talks with Washington.

Despite the show of unity in Beijing, the North's three neighbors have long had differing approaches in dealing with Pyongyang. As host of the nuclear talks and a long-time supplier of fuel and food to the impoverished North, China is viewed as having greater influence.

After their three-way talks, Wen did not respond directly to an agreement Friday by the Japanese and South Korean leaders that the North should not be given aid until it begins to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

He said China's assistance to the North, its longtime communist ally, was meant to aid the country's development and "improvement of people's livelihood."

U.N. sanctions imposed after the isolated country's rocket launch and nuclear tests appear nonetheless to be helping push the North toward dialogue, Japanese officials say.

The isolated country, meanwhile, marked the 64th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party with calls to unite around leader Kim — though there was no mention of the nuclear standoff.

Apart from the North Korea issue, Wen and his counterparts discussed climate change, the world financial crisis and moves to deepen already close economic and trade ties.

Japan's Hatoyama said cutting back on economic stimulus measures could derail the still feeble recovery from the financial crisis.

"It may be too early to consider exit strategies," he said.

Hatoyama, who took office last month, appears to have won favor with Japan's closest neighbors by emphasizing his desire to assuage sensitivities over Tokyo's history of invasion and occupation in the region before and during World War II.

"We have agreed we will seek common ground and shelve our differences," Wen said.

The three leaders endorsed the idea of working, albeit gradually, toward a regional economic community, agreeing to begin research on a possible free trade agreement.

While officials emphasized that the vision for a regional community is a long-term and inclusive one, the shift toward a sharper focus on more cooperation within Asia was clear.

"Until now, we have tended to be too reliant on the United States," Hatoyama told reporters after the summit.

"The Japan-U.S. alliance remains to be important, but as a member of Asia, I would like to develop policies that focus more on Asia," he said.

Afghan official: foreigners bolstering Taliban

By RAHIM FAIEZ and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – Thousands of foreign fighters have poured into Afghanistan to bolster the Taliban insurgency, the country's defense minister said Saturday as he called for more international troops.

The remarks come as the U.S. debates whether to substantially increase its forces in Afghanistan or to conduct a more limited campaign focused on targeting al-Qaida figures — most of whom are believed to be in neighboring Pakistan.

The minister's comments hit on a key worry of the United States — that not sending enough troops to Afghanistan will open the door back up to al-Qaida. They also suggest that the Afghan government is nervous about the U.S. commitment amid talk of changing the strategy and a surge in violence in recent months.

An American and two Polish troops were killed by bombs in the latest violence reported by NATO forces.

"The enemy has changed. Their number has increased," Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak told lawmakers in a speech. He said about 4,000 fighters, mostly from Chechnya, North Africa and Pakistan "have joined with them and they are involved in the fighting in Afghanistan."

He gave no timeframe for the supposed increase in foreign fighters.

Wardak said Afghan intelligence services had asked for more international forces to cope with the foreign threat, and the minister's spokesman said Wardak backed the call.

U.S. military officials said they could not immediately comment on the claim of a recent influx of foreign fighters.

Afghanistan's interior minister, who also spoke to parliament, endorsed a strategy promoted by the top U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal to focus on protecting civilians rather than simply killing insurgents.

"If the target of this fight is only killing the Taliban, we will not win this war. If it is saving the Afghan people, then we have a possibility," Interior Minister Hanif Atmar said.

The strategy debate in the U.S. has been complicated by the still-undecided Afghan presidential election, which has raised doubts about whether there will be reliable, credible Afghan leadership to cement any military gains by the U.S. and its allies. Results from the disputed August vote have been delayed because of widespread allegations of fraud.

A U.N.-backed fraud investigation panel was analyzing data Saturday from an audit and recount of polling stations with suspect results. Results from about 13 percent of the country's polling stations hang in the balance — enough to swing the result from an outright win by President Hamid Karzai to a forced runoff between the top two finishers.

Election officials have said they expect to announce final results by the end of next week.

The weeks of waiting have been dogged by accusations of wrongdoing between candidates and even within the U.N., which has advised on the vote and whose appointees dominate the fraud investigation panel.

The second-in-command at the U.N. in Afghanistan was fired this month after a dispute with his boss about how to investigate alleged fraud. The official, American Peter Galbraith, has since accused the U.N. of trying to cover up fraud to avoid a runoff vote. Kai Eide, the top U.N. envoy to Afghanistan, has denied the charges.

An Afghan election official said Saturday that the U.N. dispute is further damaging the credibility of an election already seen as marred by fraud.

"This kind of controversy will of course have an impact on the wider perception of the election inside and outside Afghanistan," said Zekria Barakzai, a deputy chief electoral officer with the government-appointed Independent Election Commission. "It is a negative impact."

The U.S. service member died Saturday of wounds suffered in a bombing in southern Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.

The Polish soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in eastern Wardak province on Friday, Poland's Defense Ministry said. Four others were wounded.

Also Saturday, Afghan officials said nine Taliban were killed the day before in a gunfight in Wardak.

Two Afghan policemen and a district official were killed Friday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Paktika province, which borders Pakistan.

Solar power outshining Colorado's gas industry

By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer

DURANGO, Colo. – The sun had just crested the distant ridge of the Rocky Mountains, but already it was producing enough power for the electric meter on the side of the Smiley Building to spin backward.

For the Shaw brothers, who converted the downtown arts building and community center into a miniature solar power plant two years ago, each reverse rotation subtracts from their monthly electric bill. It also means the building at that moment is producing more electricity from the sun than it needs.

"Backward is good," said John Shaw, who now runs Shaw Solar and Energy Conservation, a local solar installation company.

Good for whom?

As La Plata County in southwestern Colorado looks to shift to cleaner sources of energy, solar is becoming the power source of choice even though it still produces only a small fraction of the region's electricity. It's being nudged along by tax credits and rebates, a growing concern about the gases heating up the planet, and the region's plentiful sunshine.

The natural gas industry, which produces more gas here than nearly every other county in Colorado, has been relegated to the shadows.

Tougher state environmental regulations and lower natural gas prices have slowed many new drilling permits. As a result, production — and the jobs that come with it — have leveled off.

With the county and city drawing up plans to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming and Congress weighing the first mandatory limits, the industry once again finds itself on the losing side of the debate.

A recent greenhouse-gas inventory of La Plata County found that the thousands of natural gas pumps and processing plants dotting the landscape are the single largest source of heat-trapping pollution locally.

That has the industry bracing for a hit on two fronts if federal legislation passes.

First, it will have to reduce emissions from its production equipment to meet pollution limits, which will drive up costs. Second, as the county's largest consumer of electricity, gas companies probably will see energy bills rise as the local power cooperative is forced to cut gases released from its coal-fired power plants or purchase credits from other companies that reduce emissions.

"Being able to put solar systems on homes is great, you take something off the grid, it is as good as conserving," said Christi Zeller, the executive director of the La Plata Energy Council, a trade group representing about two dozen companies that produce the methane gas trapped within coal buried underground.

"But the reality is we still need natural gas, so embrace our industry like you are embracing wind, solar and the renewables," she said.

It's a refrain echoed on the national level, where the industry, displeased with the climate bill passed by the House this summer, is trying to raise its profile as the Senate works on its version of the legislation.

In March, about two dozen of the largest independent gas producers started America's Natural Gas Alliance. In ads in major publications in 32 states, the group has pressed the case that natural gas is a cleaner-burning alternative to coal and can help bridge the transition from fossil fuels to pollution-free sources such as wind and solar.

"Every industry thinks every other industry is getting all the breaks. All of us are concerned that we are not getting any consideration at all from people claiming they are trying to reduce the carbon footprint," said Bob Zahradnik, the operating director for the Southern Ute tribe's business arm, which includes the tribes' gas and oil production companies. None is in the alliance.

Politicians from energy-diverse states such as Colorado are trying to avoid getting caught in the middle. They're working to make sure that the final bill doesn't favor some types of energy produced back home over others.

At a town hall meeting in Durango in late August, Sen. Mark Udall, who described himself as one of the biggest proponents of renewable energy, assured the crowd that natural gas wouldn't be forgotten.

"Renewables are our future ... but we also need to continue to invest in natural gas," said Udall, D-Colo.

Much more than energy is at stake. Local and state governments across the country also depend on taxes paid by natural gas companies to fund schools, repair roads and pay other bills.

In La Plata County alone, the industry is responsible for hundreds of jobs and pays for more than half of the property taxes. In addition, about 6,000 residents who own the mineral rights beneath their property get a monthly royalty check from the companies harvesting oil and gas.

"Solar cannot do that. Wind cannot do that," said Zeller, whose mother is one of the royalty recipients. In July, she received a check for $458.92, far less than the $1,787.30 she was paid the same month last year, when natural gas prices were much higher.

Solar, by contrast, costs money.

Earlier this year, the city of Durango scaled back the amount of green power it was purchasing from the local electric cooperative because of the price. The additional $65,000 it was paying for power helped the cooperative, which is largely reliant on coal, to invest in solar power and other renewables.

"It is a premium. It is an additional cost," said Greg Caton, the assistant city manager.

Instead, the city decided to use the money to develop its own solar projects at its water treatment plant and public swimming pool. The effort will reduce the amount of power it gets from sources that contribute to global warming and make the city eligible for a $3,000 rebate from the La Plata Electric Association.

Yes, the power company will pay the city to use less of its power. That's because the solar will count toward a state mandate to boost renewable energy production.

"In the typical business model, it doesn't work," said Greg Munro, the cooperative's executive director. "Why would I give rebates to somebody buying someone else's shoes?"

The same upfront costs have prevented homeowners from jumping on the solar bandwagon despite the tax credits, rebates and lower electricity bills.

Most of Shaw's customers can't afford to install enough solar to cover 100 percent of their homes' electricity needs, which is one reason why solar supplies just a fraction of the power the county needs.

The higher fossil-fuel prices that could come with climate legislation would make it more competitive.

"You can't drive an industry on people doing the right thing. The best thing for this country is if gas were $10 a gallon," said Shaw, as he watched two of his three full-time workers install the last solar panels on a barn outside town.

The private residence, nestled in a remote canyon, probably will produce more power from the sun than it will use, causing its meter to spin in reverse like the Smiley Building's. The cost, however, is steep: more than $500,000.

In Yemen, Houthi leader seeks dialogue

The leader of Yemeni fighters in the north, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, says he is ready to engage with opposition leaders to put an end to 'corruption and injustice' in the country.

"We are ready for dialogue, to respond positively to all national initiatives and to stand alongside all honorable people wanting to save the country from corruption and injustice," al-Houthi said in a statement Saturday.

The leader, however, did not specifically mention the possibility of dialogue with the government, which launched 'Operation Scorched Earth' on August 11 against the Houthis in northern provinces, AFP reported.

The government accuses Houthi fighters of seeking to restore a religious leadership, an allegation which has been repeatedly denied by the fighters.

Citing Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdessalam, AFP reported that the fighters would accept "Yemeni or Arab" mediation "for a dialogue with all political parties in Yemen including the government."

"We have no objection to neutral mediation," said Abdessalem, adding that it is up to the "government to decide to continue or to halt the war."

He also vowed that the group "will respond to all aggression with the resources we have available."

Mohammad al-Sabri, a member of the opposition alliance, meanwhile said a ceasefire must precede the start of talks. "We cannot start dialogue while the war is continuing," he said.

The government has so far announced two separate ceasefires, both of which lasted for a few hours.

Hamas: Egypt offers new proposal for reconciliation pact - Summary

Gaza/Cairo - Egypt offered a new proposal for Hamas after the Palestinian movement refused to sign a reconciliation pact with rival movement Fatah following the results of a UN report on Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip, the group said in a statement. Without giving details about the new proposal, Gaza-based Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Egyptian officials presented the proposal to a high-ranking Hamas delegation in Cairo.

"Egypt handed Hamas delegation the new proposal that overcomes the dispute over the scheduled date for signing the reconciliation deal," said Barhoum, adding that "Hamas would give Egypt its answer soon after studying the proposal."

Barhoum's statement came after a delegation headed by Hamas politburo deputy chief, Moussa Abu Marzooq, met with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to set up a new date for signing a Palestinian reconciliation pact.

On Wednesday, Hamas asked Cairo to postpone the signing of a pact with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, two days after Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit announced that an agreement between the two feuding Palestinian factions was to be signed in Cairo on October 25.

Hamas said no deal would be cemented until Abbas apologized for agreeing to delay a debate on the United Nation's report, authored by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, which says that Israel as well as Hamas committed war crimes during the December-January Israeli offensive on the enclave.

"The Egyptian side understood Hamas request to postpone the signing of the reconciliation agreement, therefore they presented a new proposal to overcome this obstacle," senior Hamas member in Gaza Salah el-Bardawil told reporters.

He added that the movement's delegation, which is scheduled to return to Damascus later on Saturday night, promised to study the Egyptian proposal and bring an answer back within the coming few days.

Meanwhile, senior West Bank Fatah leader Azzam al-Ahmed told reporters on Saturday that Fatah is waiting for a final official response from Egypt on setting a date to sign the reconciliation agreement.

Hamas and its secular rival Fatah have been at odds since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, and ousted security forces of Fatah group.

Egyptian intelligence officials have been trying to broker an agreement between Hamas and Fatah, which controls Palestinian- administered areas of the West Bank.

Hezbollah, Druze leaders urge unity government

In a rare meeting, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has held talks with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt over the formation of a national unity government in Lebanon.

The two sides discussed national and regional issues as well as calling for a speedy formation of a unity government, Lebanese media reported Saturday.

"Both sides agreed on the need to overcome as soon as possible the obstacles hindering the formation of a new government," the two heavyweight politicians said in a joint statement.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has been trying to form a national unity government since June, when his Western-backed March 14 Alliance won a parliamentary election.

His first bid — with the 15-10-5 formula, which gives the ruling majority 15 portfolios, the opposition 10 and the president 5 — failed to secure support from the opposition who insists on having a say in who heads each ministry.

Hariri is expected to present a new cabinet lineup to President Michel Suleiman; who is unlikely to approve any proposal that does not have opposition support, Xinhua reported.

Citing a source close to Hariri, the report said the former cabinet lineup is still a possibility. The source, however, did not provide details on the upcoming proposal.

Jumblatt and Nasrallah urge Lebanon unity govt

BEIRUT - Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanon’s opposition movement Hezbollah, and Walid Jumblatt from the Western-backed majority on Saturday urged the formation of a unity government “as soon as possible.”

“Both sides agreed on the need to overcome as soon as possible the obstacles hindering the formation of a new government,” they said in a joint statement after a rare meeting on Friday night.

The two leaders last met on June 19, their first encounter for three years.

Militants from the Shiite movement Hezbollah and supporters of Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) fought deadly clashes in the Druze mountains in May 2008 during nationwide strife between the majority and minority blocs.

Druze leader Jumblatt announced in August that he was “leaving the majority” in parliament, but changed his mind 24 hours later.

Analysts say his action complicated efforts by prime minister-designate Saad Hariri to form a government.

Hariri has tried without success to form a national unity government since June, when his US- and Saudi-backed coalition clinched victory in a general election over a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.

The plea for unity by Nasrallah and Jumblatt comes after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah buried the hatchet over Lebanon on Thursday and called for a unity government.

At the end of a landmark two-day visit to Damascus by the Saudi monarch, the leaders stressed “the importance of the agreement amongst the Lebanese, who (are likely to) find common ground to form a government of national unity,” Syria’s state news agency SANA reported.

New Iran sanctions could strengthen Rev. Guard

By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer

CAIRO – Tougher sanctions against Iran that the U.S. and its allies are considering to pressure it over its nuclear program might only strengthen its hard-line president and the Revolutionary Guard, boosting the elite force's economic and political muscle, experts warn.

The Revolutionary Guard has already worked its way into virtually all aspects of Iran's economy, from banks to manufacturing to the oil sector, and it is believed to have a hand in the country's black market. Isolation under sanctions could push even more of the economy into the corps' hands.

"A lot of companies that have invested in the economy are linked to the Revolutionary Guard," said Alireza Nader, an Iran expert with the RAND Corp. "You can make the argument that if you scare away foreign investors, you are strengthening the Guard."

The Revolutionary Guard was created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution as an ideological bulwark to defend Iran's clerical rule. The 120,000-strong elite force controls Iran's missile program and has its own ground, naval and air units.

The United States and European countries have warned of tougher sanctions if negotiations with Iran that began this month do not bring progress. Calls are also mounting from the U.S. Congress for more sanctions, including possibly a ban on exports of gasoline to Iran.

Sanctions would likely hurt the Revolutionary Guard's businesses, but they could also fuel the corps' expansion in the economy. Amid a privatization campaign in Iran in past years, Guard-linked companies have won tens of billions in no-bid government contracts under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, himself an alumnus.

Most recently, a consortium linked to the Revolutionary Guard, Etemad-e-Mobin, bought a 50 percent stake in the country's newly privatized telecommunications company. The deal was valued at $7.8 billion.

The corps' engineering arm, Khatam al-Anbia, is one of the country's largest enterprises with stakes in mining, telecommunications, dam construction and the oil and gas sector.

Also, the corps controls numerous jetties and ports, and much of the smuggling of goods already banned by the U.S. into Iran — as well as alcohol and drugs for the black market — is run with at least implicit approval of the force, experts say. Under sanctions, the underground economy would increase and funnel more money to them.

"They will gain further control of who gets what inside Iran. And that will empower them," said Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economist at Virginia Tech and a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution.

Greater power for the Revolutionary Guard would have a political impact as well.

Its increasingly dominant role has already brought criticism from some in the traditional clerical leadership that Iran is moving away from its Islamic Republic ideals toward a more militaristic society. The country's turmoil after the disputed June 12 presidential election has highlighted the split, as some in the clergy have backed reformists against the Revolutionary Guard-supported Ahmadinejad.

"The divisions you see within Iran right now are particularly motivated by clergy apprehension about the Guards," said Nader, pointing to economic competition between the traditional elite and a new elite dominated by the Revolutionary Guard.

Washington and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, a claim Iran denies. They are threatening to seek U.N. sanctions if Iran does not make concessions, though heavy sanctions could be blocked by Russia and China. If that happens, the U.S. would likely impose its own sanctions and try to bring as many of its allies as possible on board.

Analysts question whether such steps would push Iran to compromise on its nuclear ambitions, saying past sanctions regimes imposed by Washington and the United Nations on Libya and Iraq, for example, largely failed to do more than strengthen nationalist and anti-Western sentiment. Iran presents an even bigger challenge. Its economy is larger and more diversified than those of Iraq and Libya.

U.S. officials say they know sanctions must be carefully targeted to avoid boosting the Revolutionary Guard. In a briefing to a U.S. Senate committee, Treasury Undersecretary Stewart Levey said the corps "seeks to monopolize black-market trade of popular items, funneling the proceeds from these transactions through a patronage system and using them to help subsidize the government's support for terror groups."

Members of Congress have floated ideas including sanctioning companies that export gasoline to Iran, tightening financial restrictions and imposing travel bans on Iranian officials.

The gasoline sanction and the financial restrictions are the most likely to hurt Iran.

Iran, though one of the world's top oil exporters, lacks refining capacity to meet domestic demand and must import over 30 percent of its fuel needs. Ahmadinejad's government has had to ration gasoline and take other steps to cut consumption, sparking riots in 2007.

This week, Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said the government was considering cutting the allotment of gas Iranians get at subsidized prices to 55 liters (14 gallons) a month, down from 100 liters (26 gallons), the ISNA news agency reported. Such a move would likely further anger Iranians, already struggling in a faltering economy.

RAND's Nader said fuel import sanctions "could seriously hurt Iran and its economy" but cast doubt on whether that would force the regime to back down.

"This is a government that has shown it can handle great pressure by resorting to intimidation and violence," he said, referring to the government's fierce postelection crackdown on opposition protests.

New financial restrictions would build on existing U.S. sanctions that seek to cut off Iran's access to outside financing and banks.

Those sanctions have so far been the most effective. The Iranian Labor News Agency reported last month that the debt of the country's 11 state-run banks to the Central Bank surged tenfold over the past four years, hitting over $32 billion. That indicates these banks, which include the Revolutionary Guard-linked Bank Melli, are being forced to shoulder a bigger burden as access to foreign capital grows tougher.

"The overall purpose is not to totally isolate Iran," said Michael Jacobsen, a sanctions expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "The overall purpose is to raise the costs of doing business. That's a more realistic goal, a more achievable goal."

Gunmen hold hostages in Pakistan army headquarters

By ASIF SHAHZAD, Associated Press Writer

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan – Militants were holding several security officers hostage inside Pakistan's army headquarters Saturday after they and others attacked the complex in an audacious assault on the country's most powerful institution.

The attack, which left at least 10 people dead, was the third major militant strike in Pakistan in a week and came as the government was planning an imminent offensive against Islamist militants in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan.

It showed that the militants retain the ability to strike at the very heart of Pakistan's security apparatus despite recent military operations against their forces and the killing of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack in August.

An army statement said more than two terrorists were holding several officers hostage in a "security office building" inside the heavily fortified complex close to the capital.

The whereabouts of military chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was not known. Separate army statements said he had attended meetings at the headquarters and at the president's office in nearby Islamabad during the day.

Gaza militants say Hamas stops their rocket fire

GAZA - A Palestinian armed group accused the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers on Saturday of preventing its men from firing rockets at Israel, a sensitive allegation for the Islamist faction as it pursues mediated deals with the Jewish state.

Hamas police intercepted Islamic Jihad rocket crews on three occasions over the past month, a group official said, foiling their bids to avenge Israeli fire on Gaza and to show solidarity with Palestinian protests over a contested Jerusalem shrine.

“We have been prevented from launching attacks,” the Islamic Jihad official told Reuters, adding that Hamas had also scrapped a planned rally by the group and arrested two of its members in a dispute over control of a mosque in northern Gaza.

Hamas, which fired hundreds of short-range rockets into Israel during a December-January war but has since privately called for the salvos to stop for the sake of repairing Gaza’s ravaged infrastructure, denied Islamic Jihad’s allegation.

“There is no truce with the occupation (Israel), whose crimes against our people are continuing, and therefore we have not and we will not block resistance,” said Ehab Al-Ghsain, spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.

Islamic Jihad’s complaint could not be independently verified — not least as, by its own account, its rocketeers had been only briefly detained by Hamas police.

Gazan rocket attacks on Israel have tapered off since the war, and Israeli defense officials have credited Hamas, saying it sought calm in order both to avoid another conflict and to improve its standing among Palestinians and abroad.

Like Islamic Jihad, Hamas is deeply conservative and rules out coexistence with Israel, a position that helped trigger a schism with U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who holds sway in the West Bank and wants a Middle East peace pact.

Yet Hamas has signaled willingness to enter a long-term truce with Israel and, through Egypt and Germany, is negotiating the exchange of an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza for hundreds of jailed Palestinians.

Egypt is also trying to mend the rift between Hamas and the secular Fatah faction of Abbas, who has often accused the Islamists of jeopardizing Palestinian national aspirations with “pointless” violence against Israel.

25 killed in clashes between Somali rebel groups

Sat Oct 10, 2009

Fresh clashes between one-time Somali rebel allies, al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, over a strategic port town has left at least 25 people dead.

The fighting erupted less then 48 hours after the warring sides signed a fragile ceasefire.

In the past two weeks, fighters from both groups have clashed over strongholds in Somalia's southern port of Kismayo, 500 km from the capital Mogadishu, which was formerly shared by the two.

Last week, al-Shabaab finally seized control of the town and appointed its own government there.

However on Saturday, Hizbul Islam militants launched an offensive on the al-Shabaab positions in a pre-dawn attack, triggering intense fighting that left at least 25 people dead and more then 41 others injured, Press TV correspondent reported on Saturday.

The fresh spate of attacks has forced hundreds of families to flee their homes, worsening the humanitarian crisis in the region.

Relations between the two groups -- which had joined forces against the new UN-backed government in Mogadishu and had managed to take control of Kismayo -- soured after the rotating six-month rule they had agreed on failed upon al-Shabaab's refusal to relinquish administration.

Meanwhile, after a brief lull in the fighting with the UN-backed government, massive explosions and heavy artillery fire have once again rattled the war-wracked capital, claiming an unknown number of lives.

According to witnesses, the attacks mainly targeted African Union (AU) and Somali government bases in Mogadishu.

Though no group has yet claimed responsibility; police warned on Thursday that al-Shabaab was planning more attacks on AU troops.

The 5,100-strong AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which began its operations in March 2007, is made up of soldiers from Burundi and Uganda and is mandated to guard strategic sites in the volatile Somali capital.

The mission also provides backup to government forces fighting the violent insurgency.

Mogadishu has witnessed fierce fighting and attacks on a daily basis since May, when rebel forces launched a major offensive against President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's interim government.

The mission is the only foreign force currently present in Somalia, a country which has been mired in civil war since 1991.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/108312.html.

Bombings kill 1, injure 14 in Chechnya

Two explosions in Chechnya's capital Grozny have left at least one policeman dead and 14 others wounded, as lethal attacks on security officials intensify in the restive region.

The remote-controlled bombs were detonated late on Friday, nearly ten minutes apart, police officials said.

"First one explosive device detonated and when people gathered around, another followed," Colonel Apti Aluvdinov told AFP early on Saturday.

The incident left at least one policeman dead and 14 others -- including three civilians -- injured. Two of the wounded are said to be in serious condition.

Insurgents in Chechnya have recently stepped up their anti-federal campaigns and spread violence into the neighboring provinces, in what is seen as a significant spillover of conflict in Russian territories.

The surge follows Moscow's recent decision to officially end a decade-long 'counter-terror' operation in Chechnya, where separatists fought two full-scale wars with the central government in Russia, during the 1990s.

Haniya urges support for Al-Aqsa Mosque

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya has called on Islamic nations to support Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (Al-Quds).

“Islamic nations should fulfill their moral and religious duties to support Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) quoted Haniya as saying after the Friday prayers.

“The real Al-Aqsa Mosque fight has started and Arab and Islamic nations should feel responsible for what's going on,” he added.

“They (Islamic nations) shouldn't leave the Palestinians and Al-Aqsa Mosque alone,” he explained.

Haniya further pointed out that what's happening in Jerusalem (Al-Quds) is beyond all dangers normally facing the Palestinians.

“We will never neglect Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem (Al-Quds) and will sacrifice our lives and wealth to safeguard the holy place,” he asserted.

Tensions flared after Israeli police allowed Jewish extremists to enter the grounds of al-Aqsa Mosque last Sunday and then shielded them during their fights with Palestinians defending the sacred place.

After the eviction of the settlers by Muslim worshipers, the occupation forces turned on the crowds. About 16 Palestinians and several Israeli police were injured in the clashes.

Commenting on , the US President Barack Obama's wining Nobel Peace Prize the premier said the move would be meaningless unless real and deep-rooted changes were made in American policy toward recognizing the rights of the Palestinian people.

"We are in need of actions, not sayings," Haniya said. "If there is no fundamental and true change in American policies toward the acknowledgment of the rights of the Palestinian people, I think this prize won't move us forward or backward."

Congress set to act to keep abuse photos hidden

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors from the public, a move intended to end a legal fight over the photographs' release that has reached the Supreme Court.

Federal courts have so far rejected the government's arguments against the release of 21 color photographs showing prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq being abused by Americans.

The Obama administration believes giving the imminent grant of authority over the release of such pictures to the defense secretary would short-circuit a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act.

The White House is asking the justices to put off consideration of the case until after a vote on the measure in the House and Senate, as early as next week. The provision is part of a larger homeland security spending bill and would allow the defense secretary to withhold photographs relating to detainees by certifying their release would endanger soldiers or other government workers.

The ACLU said the court should not disturb a ruling by the federal appeals court in New York ordering the photographs' release. The pending congressional action "does not supply any reason for delay," Jameel Jaffer, director of ACLU's national security project, told the court.

The dispute is on a list of cases the Supreme Court could act on Tuesday.

Lower courts have ruled that a provision of FOIA allows documents to be withheld from the public for security reasons only in instances where there are specific threats against individuals.

President Barack Obama initially indicated he would not fight the release of the photographs. He reversed course in May and authorized an appeal to the high court.

The president said he was persuaded that disclosure could further incite violence in Afghanistan and Iraq and endanger U.S. troops there.

The photographs at issue were taken by service members in Iraq and Afghanistan and were part of criminal investigations of alleged abuse. Some pictures show "soldiers pointing pistols or rifles at the heads of hooded and handcuffed detainees," Solicitor General Elena Kagan said in the appeal to the high court.

In one, "a soldier holds a broom as if 'sticking its end into the rectum of a restrained detainee,'" Kagan said, quoting from an investigation report prepared by the Pentagon. Two investigations led to criminal charges and convictions, she said.

Kagan said the military has identified more than two dozen additional pictures that could be affected by the court's ruling.

The government made much the same argument to prevent the release of 87 photographs and other images of detainees at detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

International outrage resulted when photographs from the Iraqi prison showing physical abuse and sexual humiliation of inmates that took place under the Bush administration were revealed. One picture showed a naked, hooded prisoner on a box with wires fastened to his hands and genitals.

The government dropped its appeal related to those photographs after they were made public and posted on the Internet.

The ACLU, in seeking the other pictures, said the government had long argued that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was isolated and was an aberration. The new photos would show that the abuse was more widespread, the ACLU said.

6 survivors pulled from Philippine landslides

By OLIVER TEVES, Associated Press Writer

MANILA, Philippines – Rescuers dug out six survivors and more bodies buried under landslides that killed nearly 200 people in the storm-soaked northern Philippines, as workers rushed Saturday to clear mountain roads to aid relief efforts.

U.S. military helicopters were on standby to help the Philippine air force deliver aid to areas cut off by road as flooded highways hampered the search for people trapped in houses buried by mud. Several choppers flew over areas Saturday where U.S. troops planned to conduct medical missions and deliver supplies.

The rain-triggered landslides late Thursday and early Friday were the latest natural disaster to hit the Philippines, bringing to nearly 600 the total death toll of back-to-back storms that began pummeling the main island of Luzon Sept. 26, causing the worst flooding in more than 40 years.

Rescue operations were centered on two vast areas — the severely flooded Pangasinan province northwest of Manila, and a swath covering the worst landslide-hit provinces of Benguet, Mountain Province and the resort city of Baguio, where most of the deaths occurred.

A 17-year-old boy was rescued from the rubble in his home in Baguio late Friday, and five others were pulled out alive in Mountain Province, said regional civil defense official Olive Luces.

"We are positive that we can still recover live victims. We don't think of the negatives," Luces said. "However difficult it is, our volunteers do not lose hope."

Luces said 120 bodies have been recovered in Benguet, 62 in Baguio and 15 in Mountain Province in the country's Cordillera region on the main Philippine island of Luzon after landslides hit the area Thursday.

Aside from the 197 who died in the landslides late Thursday and early Friday, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said 51 people from eight other provinces also were killed after Typhoon Parma made landfall Oct. 3, weakened into a tropical depression and dumped more rain as it lingered over the northern region for about 10 days.

A week earlier, Tropical Storm Ketsana left 337 people dead in the worst floods to hit Manila and nearby provinces in four decades.

The sun was peeking through the clouds over Baguio and volunteers, mostly miners, were taking advantage of the relatively good weather to step up the search for survivors, Luces said. She also called on local communities to help clear debris blocking the roads.

Army engineers were trying to remove mounds of mud and boulders on one road to Baguio. The regional center has been isolated since Thursday's landslides. The Public Works Department was clearing debris on another highway to the city, but an 82-foot (25-meter section) of that mountain road had been washed away, cutting off all traffic, she said.

Mayor Artemio Galwan of La Trinidad township in Benguet province said 78 bodies have been recovered there. He appealed for shovels and other tools as well as portable spotlights to allow volunteers to continue digging at night.

He said the rains and landslides devastated crops in his area, regarded as the country's "salad bowl" for its vegetable farms and strawberry fields.

Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan told ABS-CBN television his province needed more embalmers and caskets for the large number of dead.

Water was receding from low-lying provinces south of the Cordillera region, but most of the rice-growing province of Pangasinan northwest of Manila was still submerged. In the provincial capital of Dagupan, floodwater was about waist deep.

The USS Harpers Ferry and USS Tortuga were anchored in the Lingayen Gulf in Pangasinan, where more than 200 Marines and sailors were ready to deploy for rescue and relief operations, U.S. Marine Capt. Jorge Escatell said.

U.S. troops trucked tons of food from the U.N. World Food Program from Manila to a Philippine military camp in Tarlac province adjacent to Pangasinan for distribution by American troops on Sunday, said Escatell from Houston, Texas.

Marine CH-46 helicopters also flew over the flood-ravaged region to assess the damage and find locations for a medical mission and food distribution. Heavy equipment also will be brought in to help clear the roads littered with debris, he said.

"The focus is on the Cordillera," said Philippine military spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner. "The roads are impassable and the only way to reach Baguio is through air."

He said the helicopters will try to penetrate the fog-shrouded mountains to drop off supplies at the Baguio airport, from where they can be distributed by land.

Lebanon's majority MPs urge UN to condemn Israel on al-Aqsa incident

A bloc of Lebanon's majority members of Parliament delivered a memorandum to UN coordinator on Friday, urging UN Secretary General to take necessary measures and condemn the "Israeli aggression" on al-Aqsa mosque, the local Now Lebanon News reported.

The memorandum, which was made by five MPs belonging to the majority Future Movement, was delivered to UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams during a demonstration on Friday. It was also delivered to Lebanon's caretaker PM Fouad Siniora.

The bloc said Williams has promised to submit the document to Ban Ki-moon on Friday morning, New York time.

The memorandum stresses the bloc's support for implementing all international resolutions, especially UN Security Council Resolution 194 related to the Palestinian right of return.

Clashes erupted on September 27 between Palestinians in the eastern part of Jerusalem and the Israeli police, as a group of Jewish radicals broke into the yard of al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine to Muslims. About 16 Palestinians and several Israeli police were injured in the clashes, according to media reports.

Libya threatens to cut ties with UNESCO over new chief

CAIRO, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Libya said on Saturday it will cut all forms of cooperation with the United Nations agency for culture and education (UNESCO) if a Bulgarian nominee is confirmed as the UNESCO new director general.

Irina Bokova, Bulgaria's permanent representative to UNESCO, has been chosen by the body's executive after five rounds of voting. Her nomination will be put to the UNESCO General Conference on October 15, when she is expected to be confirmed the first woman to head the organization.

"Libya does not agree with the election of a Bulgarian citizen to the post of the UNESCO director general and is planning to stop all cooperation with this organization and pull out from all UNESCO committees," Libya's JANA news agency quoted Abdelkebir Fakhri, the head of the Libyan General People's committee on education and scientific research.

Bokova, 57, beat out front-runner Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, whose candidacy had caused outrage over a comment last year in which he said he would burn any Israeli book he found in Egypt's Library of Alexandria, Austria's Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European commissioner for external relations and European neighborhood policy, and another two candidates.

The longtime Bulgarian diplomat, who in the past served as the country's foreign minister, studied at the prestigious Moscow State Institute for International Relations.

Experts have linked Libya's tough stance on the Bokova issue with a scandal involving five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who were found guilty of infecting more than 400 children with the deadly HIV virus in a Bengazi hospital in the late 1990s.

The medics were found guilty and sentenced to death twice, first in 2004 and then in 2006 after a court appeal.

Bulgaria, the European Union and the United States insisted that the defendants were being used as scapegoats to deflect attention from the poor state of Libya's health service.

Foreign experts, backed up by international scientific reports, testified in court that the infections began before the medics' arrival, and were caused by poor hygiene in the Bengazi hospital.

Libya's Supreme Court overturned the last possible appeal in July 2007, upholding the death sentences, but the Libyan High Judicial Council's ruling later commuted the foreign nationals' sentences to life imprisonment, and Libyan authorities suggested that deportation to Bulgaria was a possibility.

Bulgaria made an official request for Tripoli to repatriate the medics to serve their sentences in Bulgaria. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov pardoned the medics immediately upon their arrival in the country.

Compensation totaling $1 million for each infected child has been paid to the 460 children's families. Fifty-six of the children have died. The cash was raised by an international fund financed mainly by the EU and the U.S.

Source: RIA Novosti.
Link: http://en.rian.ru/world/20091010/156415957.html.

Hamas slams awarding Noble Peace Prize to Obama

The Islamic Resistance Movement of Hamas has said US President Barack Obama did not deserve to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Obama has a long way to go still and lots of work to do before he can deserve a reward," said Hamas spokesman, Samir Abu Zuhri on Friday.

According to Abu Zuhri, the US president has only made promises and has failed to make any tangible contributions to world peace.

"He did not do anything for the Palestinians except make promises," he went on to say.

"At the same time, he is giving his absolute support for the (Israeli) occupation," he further explained, adding that Obama "has not done anything to ensure justice for the sake of Arab and Muslim causes."

The first African-American President of the United States was named a surprise winner of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

The 48-year-old Obama is the third senior US Democrat to win the award this decade, after former president Jimmy Carter and former vice president Al Gore won the prize in 2002 and 2007 respectively.

He is also the third sitting US president to receive the Nobel Peace prize.

The prize, worth 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.4 million), will be handed over in Oslo on December 10.

UN police guard plane crash site after 11 die

By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer

FONDS-PARISIEN, Haiti – Crews battling rough, remote terrain hope to remove the bodies of 11 military personnel Saturday, a day after their U.N. surveillance plane slammed into a mountain in Haiti, killing everyone on board.

U.N. police stood guard at the crash site overnight after ambulances were ordered back to their bases late Friday. One driver said they would return in the morning.

The Uruguayan CASA212 aircraft went down Friday afternoon near the border with the Dominican Republic, 30 miles (45 kilometers) from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, according to U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas in New York.

"The aircraft was on a regular reconnaissance flight," she said in a statement.

The victims were Uruguayan and Jordanian troops serving with the 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force that has been in Haiti since a 2004 rebellion ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Montas said.

Through Montas, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon extended "his heartfelt condolences to the family members, friends and colleagues of these brave peacekeepers who lost their lives in the service of peace."

Dozens of U.N. vehicles were parked Friday night near a highway between Port-au-Prince and the Dominican border. With no roads near the crash site, access was tricky and rescuers had to clamber overland to reach it and confirm there were no survivors.

Haitian police officer David Charles told The Associated Press that personnel from his convoy walked about two hours up the mountain but were not able to reach the crash site because it was on the other side of a ridge and a river.

Charles said he saw the white plane in the distance and a large piece had broken off.

The United Nations has begun an investigation, Montas said.

It was unclear why the plane was doing surveillance near the border or how often such surveillance flights take place. The U.N. peacekeeping mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Massive expansions of US-NATO “counterinsurgency” in Afghanistan

McChrystal demands bloodshed
by Larry Chin

Global Research - October 9, 2009

US and NATO commander Stanley A. McChrystal is demanding a massive expansion of "counterinsurgency" operations in Afghanistan that, according to classified documents, would require 500 thousand troops over the next five years.

While bellicose new calls for the Obama administration and NATO to exponentially deepen the "war on terrorism" are being repeated endlessly, McChrystal and his own horrific crimes have received scant notice in the corporate propaganda media.

Murderer

McChrystal is a cold-blooded killer, who spearheads the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which writer Seymour Hersh identified as an executive assassination wing of the White house---a death squad.

As noted in Steve Lendman’s "Afghantistan's Operation Phoenix":

"McChrystal is a hired gun, an assassin, a man known for committing war crime atrocities as head of the Pentagon's infamous Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) - established in 1980 and comprised of the Army's Delta Force and Navy Seals, de facto death squads writer Seymour Hersh described post-9/11 as an "executive assassination wing" operating out of Dick Cheney's office.

"A 2006 Newsweek profile called JSOC 'part of what Vice President Dick Cheney was referring to when he said America would have to 'work on the dark side' after 9/11’…

"In his May 17 article titled 'Obama's Animal Farm: Bigger, Bloodier Wars Equal Peace and Justice", James Petras called him a 'notorious psychopath’ in describing him this way:

" 'His rise through the ranks was 'marked by his central role in directing special operations teams engaged in extrajudicial assassinations, systematic torture, bombing of civilian communities and search and destroy missions. He is the very embodiment of the brutality and gore that accompanies military-driven empire building.’"

"…JSOC's assignment was (and still is) to capture or kill 'high-value’ combatants, including Saddam Hussein, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, and many hundreds of Iraqis targeted in sweeping capture and extermination missions that include lots of collateral killings and destruction."

Deception and propaganda

In addition to his role as a leading hit man for both the Bush-Cheney and Obama administrations, McChrystal has also spearheaded the official cover-ups of notorious black ops, including the manufactured "capture" of Saddam Hussein, to a host of deceptions surrounding the "kill" of Musab Zarqawi, which the Pentagon has admitted was a fabrication and a psy-op.

It was also McChrystal who personally led the cover-up of the friendly fire murder of Pat Tillman.

Torturer

McChrystal and his thugs are enthusiastic proponents of sadistic torture, as noted by Lendman, "committing endless atrocities Baghdad's Camp Nama (an acronym for Nasty-Ass Military Area) and elsewhere in Iraq.

"Through most of 2003 and 2004, detainees were held at interrogation facilities like Camp Nama at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP). With good reason, it was off-limits to the ICRC and most US military personnel. In summer 2004, it was moved to a new location near Balad and also had facilities in Fallujah, Ramadi and Kirkuk.

US personnel and former detainees reported torture and abuse as common practice, including beatings, confinement in shipping containers for 24 hours in extreme heat, exposure to extreme cold, death threats, humiliation, psychological stress, and much more."

Hell’s warden

What the world is witnessing in McChrystal’s skyrocketing public profile and political power is yet another instance in which a murderous psychopath is not where he belongs (in a high security prison, or institutionalized), but in command of US and NATO forces, virtually dictating the course of world events.

There is little doubt that the Obama administration, already an enthusiastic proponent of the "war on terrorism" deception, will follow McChrystal deeper in the abyss of death, horror and genocide. Throughout the years of imperial set-up into the 9/11 operation and the world war that ensued thereafter, Afghanistan today remains the key geostrategic hub for oil and gas pipelines and transit routes, opium and narco-trafficking, and military control of the Eurasian sub-continent. Obama’s vaunted promise to withdraw troops from Iraq is nothing more than a transfer of operations into Afghanistan (and Pakistan, Iran, etc.)

Seasoned observers of history, particularly the atrocities of the US wars in Vietnam and Latin America, are too familiar with the word "counterinsurgency"; what the code word means, how it will be used as a pretext, and what will happen next.

A world-class killer, assassin and spook will lead the charge.

Taliban suggest "Nobel violence prize" for Obama

October 9, 2009

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban mocked the award of a Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday, saying he should get a Nobel prize for violence instead.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said it was absurd to give a peace award to a man who had sent 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan to escalate a war.

"The Nobel prize for peace? Obama should have won the 'Nobel Prize for escalating violence and killing civilians'," he told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"When Obama replaced President Bush, the Afghan people thought that he would not follow in Bush's footsteps. Unfortunately, Obama actually even went one step further."

In awarding the Nobel Prize to Obama, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said he had "created a new climate in international politics" and praised his promotion of multi-lateral diplomacy and advocacy for arms control.

"For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman," it said.

Obama ordered 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan this year, continuing a strategy of dramatically ramping up forces that began in the final months of the presidency of his predecessor George W. Bush.

There are now more than 100,000 Western troops in Afghanistan, two thirds of them American. In July, thousands of newly arrived U.S. Marines launched the biggest offensive of the eight-year-old war.

The United Nations says 1,500 civilians have died so far this year, with insurgents killing three times as many as Western and government forces.

The new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has asked for 40,000 more troops to implement an overhauled counter-insurgency strategy.

The White House is still deciding how to respond, and Obama has described himself as a sceptical audience for the case.

1,000 Jordanians to be recruited into agricultural sector

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The Ministry of Labor and the Jordan Valley Company on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to recruit more Jordanians to the agricultural sector.

Under the agreement, the company will gradually hire 1,000 Jordanians for the agricultural sector in accordance with the Kingdom's needs, providing workers with JD150 monthly salaries as well as social security, health insurance and transportation.

"The MoU comes in accordance with His Majesty King Abdullah announcing 2009 as the year for agriculture," said Minister of Labour Ghazi Shbeikat at the signing ceremony.

He added that the ministry will be committed to cover the workers' subscription expenses in the Social Security Corporation for five years after recruiting the first batch.

Another MoU was also signed between the Vocational Training Corporation (VTC) and Spanish MAKIBER S.A. Company on Thursday to design and implement a model vocational training centre in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone.

Under the agreement, MAKIBER will assist the VTC in managing the centre to provide top-quality vocational training, said MAKIBER Middle East Manager Philippe Chateau.

"Aqaba is the right place for this project as it is growing and attracting investments," Chateau noted.

"We seek to benefit from the Spanish experience in vocational training," said Shbeikat, adding that the centre must be up to international standards to ensure that graduates remain in high demand.

By Wafa Samara

France to return Egyptian relics

France decided yesterday to return to Egypt five relics stolen from Luxor’s Valley of the Kings and sold to the Louvre, two days after Cairo severed ties with the Paris museum in protest.

A special commission of the French museums agency decided unanimously to hand over the five painted wall fragments after ruling that they were indeed stolen in the 1980s before ending up at the Louvre in 2000 and 2003.

Egypt on Wednesday severed all ties with the Louvre to press demands that the Paris museum return the artifacts.

The French government has said the Louvre acted in good faith when it purchased the relics and that doubts were only raised in November after archaeologists discovered the tomb and the missing fragments.

Egyptian Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said in Cairo that he believed the Paris museum had bought the antiquities even though its curators knew they were stolen.

“The purchase of stolen steles is a sign that some museums are prepared to encourage the destruction and theft of Egyptian antiquities,” said Hawass.

The five small relics were chipped away from the wall painting of an ancient Egyptian tomb dating back to the 18th dynasty and are currently in storage at the Louvre.

Museum curators purchased four of the five fragments in 2000 from the collection of French archaeologist Gaston Maspero and a fifth piece was bought in 2003 during a public sale at the Drouot auction house.

Egypt’s decision to suspend co-operation put a hold on conferences organized with the museum, as well as work carried out by the Louvre on the Pharaonic necropolis of Saqqara, south of the capital Cairo.

But within hours of Cairo’s announcement, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand declared that France was ready to return the antiquities if they were indeed stolen.

Louvre to return Egyptian frescos

The Louvre museum in Paris will return five ancient fresco fragments to Egypt within weeks, France's government says.

The announcement comes two days after the head of antiquities in Cairo said he would cease all co-operation with the museum until they were sent back.

The Egyptians say the Louvre bought the Pharaonic steles in 2000 even though it knew they had been stolen in the 1980s.

They are believed to be from a 3,200-year-old tomb of the cleric, Tetaki, in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor.

The steles, which are each only 15cm (5.9in) wide and 30cm (11.8in) high, are currently part of the Louvre's reserve collection.

'Acquired in good faith'

The decision to return the disputed fragments came after the French Culture Minister, Frederic Mitterrand, convened a special meeting of a national committee empowered to rule on restitution.

Somali anger at Ethiopia 'raid'

Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland has protested to Ethiopia, accusing its forces of carrying out a cross-border undercover operation.

Puntland's security minister told the BBC two people were in hospital after Ethiopian forces entered Galkayo town at night and raided a house.

He said Ethiopian officers had shot one man and abducted another, later dumping him by road with a bullet wound.

Ethiopian forces were in southern Somalia until they withdrew in January.

Puntland Security Minister Abdullahi Said Samatar said the forces must have crossed over from Ethiopia's Somali region, also known as the Ogaden, where rebels are fighting the government.

But he said until a police investigation was finished it was not possible to say if it was connected to the unrest in the Ogaden.

"Our relationship with Ethiopia has always been good, but we cannot accept security forces intervening in this way," he told the BBC's Somali Service.

Rebels seeking independence for the Somali-speaking population in Ethiopia have operated in the Ogaden since 1984.

Correspondents say they seemed to get a new lease of life when Ethiopia troops went into Somalia to oust the Islamist administration from Mogadishu in late 2006.

Earlier this year, Ethiopia withdrew but Islamist groups now dominate much of southern and central Somalia, with a UN-backed government restricted to parts of the capital.

Puntland has been an ally of Ethiopia since it broke away to run its own affairs in 1998, seven years after Somalia descended into clan warfare.

Iran reacts to Obama Nobel surprise

After a surprise decision to award US President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says the designation was 'overly premature'.

“This decision was made in haste and the prize was awarded prematurely,” said Mottaki on Saturday. “However, we will support and welcome the move if it helps promote peace and harmony in war-wary countries,” he said.

Mottaki said the appropriate time for giving this award is when Palestinian rights are respected d and occupation forces fully withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a move that drew criticism as well as praise, the Norwegian Nobel Committee named Obama as the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize earlier on Friday.

The committee said Obama won the award because of his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and promote nuclear disarmament.

"Very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said in a citation.

The decision to bestow one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months into his first term, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, has received mixed reviews in the international community.

Some former Nobel Peace laureates, such as IAEA Chief Mohammed ElBaradei who received the prize in 2005, have congratulated Obama on his big win.

“I cannot think of anyone today more deserving of this honor,” he said. “In less than a year in office, he has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself,” said ElBaradei

Others, such as Lech Walesa, Poland's president (1990-1995) and the 1983 peace prize winner were not as welcoming when they heard the news.

“Who, Obama? So fast? Too fast - he hasn't had the time to do anything yet …For the time being Obama's just making proposals.” said Walesa.

US media outlets have also remained skeptical with some going as far as claiming that the Nobel committee “has embarrassed Obama, and diminished the credibility of the prize itself”.

Canada to pull troops out of Afghanistan by 2011

Amid deepening rift over the handling of the NATO war in Afghanistan, Premier Stephen Harper has reaffirmed that Canadian troops would leave the war-ravaged county in 2011.

"Canada's military mission in Afghanistan will end in 2011," Harper told reporters in Ottawa.

"We will have been in Afghanistan longer than we will have been in both world wars Combined."

Harper has vowed that Ottawa wouldn't take part in any further military mission in Afghanistan. "And we will not be extending the military mission, period."

Canada currently has about 2,800 soldiers fighting the Taliban-linked insurgents in the troubled Southern provinces of the war-ravaged country, where insurgency has skyrocketed over the past few months.

The United States has called for troop reinforcements in response to the escalating Taliban insurgency, which is at its highest level since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Canada and several European countries seem to oppose further commitments to the mission in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the mounting number of Western soldiers coming home in body bags has sent support for the war plummeting in Europe, Canada, and the United States.

The current year has been the deadliest for foreign forces, as well as Afghan civilians.

Ahmadinejad: Universities generate reforms

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that universities are the centers for generating reform strategies for different sectors.

In a meeting with a group of professors of Tehran universities on Thursday night, President Ahmadinejad said universities should provide the society with a clear vision in developing toward a favorable destination.

"University students should not underestimate their capabilities, and the professors are duty-bound to help the students boost their self-esteem," Ahmadinejad said.

He described heavy reliance on the oil revenue as a major problem while reiterating that universities are the institutions where solutions to such issues can be presented.

"We should try to build our country and not get disillusioned when comparing ourselves with other countries," said the president.

He pointed out that before establishing a clear path toward development, the destinations and objectives should be specified.

"We have to make important decisions in different areas, especially in the economic sector. We have come to realize that the existing system of subsidies is the main cause of the country's economic inefficiencies," added the president.

Four hostages released in southern Iran

Four Tehran citizens, held hostage for 110 days in the southern Iranian city of Iranshahr, were eventually released by police forces, a senior police official says.

Commander of Sistan-Baluchestan provincial police said that they were held hostage near Iranshahr in Sistan-Baluchestan province in June.

Brigadier-General Gholamali Nekouei stated that the hostages had been deceived by hostage-takers on the pretext of signing a business contract with them on export of carpets.

"Police forces managed to locate the place where the hostages were held captive in the mountainous regions of Iranshahr," he said.

Brigadier-General Nekouei pointed out that all of the three hostage-takers have been arrested.

Nekouei said that the hostage-takers had asked for $2 million for releasing each hostage, but then they reduced their ransom amount to $1.5 million.

Iranshahr is located 325 kilometers to the south of provincial capital, Zahedan.