Iran shipping firm rejects UK allegations

Iran's state shipping company has dismissed as 'sheer lies' Britain's accusations that the company's vessels have transported goods related to Iran's nuclear program.

Britain on Monday said it had ordered financial companies to stop all business with Iran's Bank Mellat and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL).

Bank Mellat said the ban would not lead to the blocking of its assets in Britain.

London accused the two Iranian firms of facilitating Tehran's 'sensitive nuclear and ballistic missile activities in defiance of five UN Security Council Resolutions'.

The UK Treasury said in a statement that the IRISL vessels 'have transported goods for both Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear program'.

“The transfer of nuclear goods by the company [IRISL] is a baseless claim,” the IRISL said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our activities are completely in line with international regulations. The British government has not offered any evidence in this case.”
Iran's state shipping company stressed that the ban would not have any effect on its activities as 'there has already been little cooperation' between the IRISL and British firms.

Bank Mellat also said in a Tuesday statement that the ban 'does not mean sanctions and would not lead to a blocking of the bank's assets' in Britain.

Last year, the United States imposed three Iranian banks — Mellat, Melli and Saderat — accusing them of financing Iran's nuclear activities, which some Western countries claim are aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

Iran has categorically denied the allegation, which runs counter to the UN nuclear watchdog's reports confirming the civilian nature of the country's nuclear program.

Pakistan wary of taking 'obtrusive' US aid package

Pakistani foreign minister has traveled to Washington to convey Islamabad's concerns over accepting a generous but conditional US 'security' aid package.

"I will share concerns of our parliament and political and military leadership, with the US, over the conditions in Kerry-Lugar bill," said Foreign Minister Mehmood Qureshi ahead of the Monday trip, Press TV's Islamabad correspondent Javed Rana reported.

The bill, recently approved by the US Congress, offers USD-7.5-billion in assistance to Islamabad. It, however, insists on controlling the way the money is channeled, expressing distrust of the Pakistani military and intelligence agency.

"Pakistani military or its intelligence agency ceases support to terrorist groups that have conducted attacks against the US or its coalition forces in Afghanistan or the people in neighboring countries," reads one clause in the bill.

The Monday visit by the foreign minister came after the Pakistani opposition and military chiefs cautioned that the aid package may be a pretext for interfering in Pakistan's domestic affairs.

“The offending part of the legislation sets up the country as hired help and puts the military in the dock, presumed guilty on many counts and having to prove its innocence to Washington,” former Pakistani ambassador to Washington Maleeha Lodhi said, quoted by The New York Times.

"Neither would Pakistan compromise on its sovereignty, nor would it allow a micromanagement of our internal affairs,” Qureshi added.

The developments come as the US also considers extending to Pakistan its military campaign in Afghanistan, which, despite bringing about thousands of civilian casualties, has fallen short of arresting or eliminating any key militant leaders.

The current administration has already doubled the number of missile attacks on alleged militant hideouts on the common Pakistan-Afghanistan border causing tens of civilian casualties and conjuring up popular anti-American sentiment.

German envoy summoned over Iran remarks

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned the German charge d'affairs in Tehran to protest a Berlin official's remarks regarding Iran's presidential election.

The Foreign Ministry voiced its protest to the 'unconventional and non-diplomatic' remarks made by the German deputy foreign minister about Iran's presidential vote, IRNA reported.

Iran voiced concern over 'the spread of Islamophobic movements and mounting pressure on Muslim communities in Germany'.

Tehran further called on Germany not to bolster 'extremist thoughts' about the minorities living in the country.

Mehdi Karroubi faces legal action

Top judiciary officials in Iran say defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi may face legal prosecution for making allegations of 'jail rape'.

Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i on Tuesday said the Clerical Court would need to deal with Karroubi's case given that he is a clergyman.

"They [Clerical Court] have been tasked with hearing cases raised against the clergy and [you can] be sure that they will deal with this issue," he told the Keyhan daily.

The subject of 'jail rape' was first mentioned by Karroubi in a letter to Head of the Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani on July 29.

In his letter the reformist cleric claimed that a number of detainees had told him that several of the individuals arrested over the course of post-vote unrest had been 'sexually assaulted' while in detention.

The Parliament (Majlis) conducted a thorough investigation into the allegations and was not able to confirm any instances of detainee abuse.

"The issue of detainees being sexually abused is a lie," said Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani after the conclusion of the investigations.

In similar remarks Tehran's prosecutor general, Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi said a case for the cleric has been opened at Clerical Court.

"The report of the judiciary panel has been given to us and we are investigating it. Some people have been summoned in this regard," ILNA quoted him as saying.

Prosecutor Jafari added that public would be informed "as soon as we have more information."

China's super-rich bounce back from financial crisis

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – China's super-rich have bounced back from the financial crisis with a vengeance, and China now has more known dollar billionaires than any other country bar the United States, according to a new report released on Tuesday.

The annual Hurun Report said China has 130 known dollar billionaires, up from 101 last year. The number in the United States is 359 while Russia has 32 and India 24, according to Forbes magazine.

China's rich are getting richer, with the average wealth on the list $571 million, up almost one-third from last year, said compiler Rupert Hoogewerf.

"With the greatest wealth destruction in the west of the last 70 years, we've seen China buck the trend and the wealth seems to be still growing," Hoogewerf told Reuters on the sidelines of an event to unveil the 2009 rich list.

"They've put the credit crunch behind them," he said. "The key driver has been urbanization. You've got all these cities being built, and that requires property developers, iron and steel manufacturers. The latest thing is cars."

Topping the list was Wang Chuanfu, chairman of electric car and battery maker BYD Co Ltd in which U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett holds a stake, with an estimated personal wealth of $5.1 billion. He was also the fastest riser from last year, up 102 places.

Second place went to Zhang Yin and family, owner of paper recycler Nine Dragons Paper, while in third place was Xu Rongmao and family, owner of Shimao Property Holdings Ltd.

Huang Guangyu, who founded GOME Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd and owns unlisted property businesses, sank to 17th place from the top position he held last year. He is currently being probed for alleged financial irregularities.

Hoogewerf said the actual number of dollar billionaires could be higher than estimated.

"Either they are super-discreet, or perhaps they haven't come to the surface," he said. "Having said that, the transparency of wealth ... is now very much in the open. There's many more listed companies."

Hoogewerf said people who probably should have been listed, but about whose wealth not enough in known, included Liu Chuanzhi, chairman of the world's No. 4 PC maker Lenovo, and Chen Feng, founder of Hainan Airlines.

China's ruling Communist Party once condemned entrepreneurs and private business people as capitalist exploiters, but now welcomes them since late reformist leader Deng Xiaoping began landmark economic reforms in the 1970s.

One third of the people on the 1,000-name rich list are estimated to be Party members, according to the report.

Still, one famous name fell off the list this year -- NBA basketball player Yao Ming, who has struggled with a foot injury for the last few months.

Pakistan puts Waziristan offensive in motion

Ahead of a planned ground operation in Pakistan's lawless northwest, the army says its warplanes have bombarded militant hideouts in South Waziristan, killing six.

The fighter jets on Tuesday pounded assumed militant strongholds in Makeen, Ladha and Nawazkot towns, which had also been targeted on Sunday, the army said.

Intelligence and local government officials confirmed the death toll of six militants, adding that five others were also injured in the attack.

"There were airstrikes on Taliban hideouts while heavy artillery was also being used by the troops to pound militant hideouts," AFP quoted local government official Naseer Ullah as saying.

The planned offensive in South Waziristan is preceded by a hostage siege at an army headquarters near Islamabad, which left 23 people dead on the weekend.

The government and military blamed the incident on pro-Taliban insurgents and vowed to launch an all-out offensive in South Waziristan to hunt down militant leaders.

Experts warn glaciers in Indian Kashmir melting

By Aijaz Hussain, Associated Press Writer

Experts warn glaciers in Indian Kashmir melting at alarming rate due to climate change

SRINAGAR, India (AP) -- Indian Kashmir's glaciers are melting fast because of rising temperatures, threatening the water supply of millions of people in the Himalayan region, a new study by Indian scientists says.

The study by Kashmir University's geology and geophysics department blamed the effect on climate change, and said it endangered the livelihoods of two-thirds of the region's nearly 10 million people engaged in agriculture, horticulture, livestock rearing and forestry.

The Kolahoi glacier, the biggest in the Indian portion of divided Kashmir, has shrunk to about 4.44 square miles (11.5 square kilometers) from about five square miles (13 square kilometers) in the past 40 years, the study found.

Shakil Romshoo, an associate professor in the department who led to three-year study, described the rate of melting as "alarming." He said Tuesday that Kolahoi had shrunk by 18 percent, and over the same period, other glaciers in the region had shrunk by 16 percent.

The Kolahoi feeds Kashmir's lifeline Jhelum River, which is also vital for agriculture in Pakistan's most populous province of Punjab.

The study was released Monday at a workshop on the impact of shrinking glaciers held in Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir.

Last year, international charity ActionAid also warned that the glaciers in most areas of Kashmir have shrunk. The group said that climate change was affecting rain and snowfall patterns, which was lowering food production.

Prof. Syeed Iqbal Hasnain, head glaciologist at New Delhi-based the Energy and Resources Institute, said the findings show again that "warming of the climate system was unequivocal."

Rajeev Upadhay, an Indian geologist who has studied glaciers since 1995, said the new study was in line with previous ones.

"The study confirms the general trend that about 90 percent of all Himalayan glaciers are receding. Some glaciers are receding at an alarming rate of 44-45 meters (yards) per year," said Upadhay, who was not involved in the Kashmir University study.

He also said the Siachen glacier, where rival Indian and Pakistani troops have been entrenched for 25 years, has melted to half its earlier size.

"The unusual climate change clubbed with other activities at the Siachen Glacier has reduced it to 46 miles (74 kilometers) from 93 miles (150 kilometers) in length," he said.

The Siachen Glacier is often dubbed the world's highest battlefield. The nuclear-armed South Asian nations have competing territorial claims to Siachen and troops have been locked in a standoff there at an altitude of up to 20,000 feet (6,100-meter) since 1984.

India and Pakistani have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since 1947 after they won independence from Britain. Both claim the divided territory in its entirety.

Iraq assembly approves small British troop return

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD – Iraqi lawmakers Tuesday approved the return of a limited number of British troops to Iraq to help protect the country's southern oil ports — an area where Iraq is lagging in its ability to provide security.

Iraq's parliament approved the security agreement with Britain months after the military contingent was forced to pull out because a United Nations mandate allowing British troops to legally operate in the country was expiring.

Under the agreement in parliament Tuesday, about 100 British troops would return for about a year to provide protection to the oil sites and train Iraqi forces. Iraq's president and two vice presidents still must sign off on the agreement.

The deal limits British military operations in Iraq strictly to naval operations at the southern port of Umm Qasr, said Jabir Khalifa Jabir from the parliament's oil and gas committee.

Britain had about 40,000 troops in Iraq following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, but withdrew almost all their forces earlier this year. A contingent of about 100 to 150 troops who were training Iraq's new navy remained, but those forces were moved to Kuwait when Iraq's parliament went on summer break without agreeing to allow the British to stay.

U.S. military officials have repeatedly said Iraq has still not purchased the navy ships and patrol planes it badly needs.

Tuesday's pact drew objections and harsh words from Sadrist lawmakers, who walked out of during the vote. The Sadrist group has about 30 legislators in the 275-member parliament. Their leader, anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, once staged bloody rebellions against U.S.-led troops, and has strongly objected to any remaining foreign troops, including U.S. forces.

"We left parliament when the voting began because we do not believe in this," said Sadrist lawmaker Falah Shanshal. "We wanted our objection recorded."

Meanwhile, Iraqi lawmakers facing a looming deadline resumed talks Tuesday on the election law — a key piece of legislation that may affect the credibility of the country's parliamentary vote in January.

Iraq's electoral commission gave the assembly until Thursday to approve new voting guidelines that would require ballots to list individual candidates rather than just their party blocs.

If the lawmakers miss the deadline, Iraq will revert to voting guidelines used in the 2005 parliamentary elections, in which only party names were listed on the ballots.

Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has threatened to boycott the elections if ballots only carry the names of party blocs. He says listing individual names will encourage voter participation.

Israel to join NATO Mediterranean patrol

JERUSALEM, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- The Israeli navy will join the NATO patrol in the Mediterranean Sea to monitor suspicious vessels in the fight against global terror, Israeli officials said.

The decision was two years in the making, Maariv said Tuesday, and marks the first time the Israeli military and NATO will join forces at an operational level, the newspaper said.

NATO's Operation Action Endeavour is a naval operation in the Mediterranean formed after the terrorist bombings in the United States Sept. 11, 2001, the newspaper said.

The aim of the maritime patrol is to monitor and prevent the movement of terrorists and weapons and enhance security of shipping in the area, the paper said.

Two years ago Israel submitted a request to join the patrol, the paper said.

Adm. Eliezer Marom, the Israeli naval commander, was informed of the decision while visiting the United States last week, the paper said.

In the framework of the deal, an Israeli naval officer will be appointed liaison officer at NATO's naval headquarters in Naples, Italy. In the coming weeks, Israel will dispatch one of its most advanced missile boats to join the maritime force, the paper said.

Russia must prepare for NATO defeat in Afghanistan, ambassador says

Brussels/Paris - NATO is facing defeat in Afghanistan, and Russia and the states of Central Asia must be ready to pick up the pieces, Russia's ambassador to NATO said Tuesday. Discussions at a conference in Paris on the future of Afghanistan run by the East-West Institute think tank "have only further enhanced the impression of NATO's looming capitulation in Afghanistan," Dmitry Rogozin wrote in a Twitter feed from the meeting.

"Russia and its Central Asian partners should be ready for such a dramatic scenario," Rogozin wrote.

NATO currently has some 67,700 troops in Afghanistan operating under United Nations mandate in a bid to stabilize the country.

Russia supports the mission by allowing some NATO supplies to pass through its territory and cooperates with NATO on fighting the Afghan drug trade. However, it has so far ruled out any military participation in the country.

NATO leaders insist that the alliance will stay in Afghanistan for as long as it takes to teach the country's government and army how to run their own country.

But the mission is locked in a bitter battle with Taliban-linked militants. Public support in NATO countries is waning, and doubts are growing over the democratic credentials of the Kabul government, given reports of mass vote-rigging in elections in August.

Rogozin, formerly the head of the nationalist "Motherland" party in Russia, was appointed ambassador to NATO in January 2008.

He quickly made a name for himself as an outspoken critic of some of the alliance's policies, particularly its desire to bring former- Soviet states such as Georgia and Ukraine into the fold.

NATO should only accept Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili if it were prepared to also accept Hitler and Saddam Hussein, Rogozin said at the height of Russia's war in Georgia in August 2008.

On Monday, he accused NATO of "preferring not to notice" a report commissioned by the European Union which said that both Georgia and Russia broke international law in their war.

"For me, this is yet another evidence that Russia was right and NATO was wrong," he wrote on the website Twitter. He will raise the issue at a NATO ambassadorial meeting on Wednesday, he said.

The ambassador joined the Twitter community on Monday in a response to the fact that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen already tweets.

"I have recently discovered the new NATO SecGen's notes on Twitter. I have decided not to be left behind in anything," Rogozin wrote in his first Twitter post.

On September 24, Rasmussen announced on Twitter that Russia's foreign minister had invited him to Moscow.

Iran: Probe opens into opposition leader Karroubi

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian authorities have opened an investigation into former presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi, a report said Tuesday, in a possible first step toward unleashing the hard-line judiciary on the opposition's top leaders.

No formal charges have been filed, but the probe signals that Iran's Islamic leadership could use the courts against the most senior dissenters — whose claims include widespread vote fraud in June's disputed presidential elections and abuses by security forces against protesters in the violent aftermath.

The powerful Revolutionary Guard and other pro-regime groups have urged for charges against the top opposition figures, including Karroubi, fellow reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and former President Mohammad Khatami. More than 100 activists and political figures have already been tried on charges that include seeking to overthrow the Islamic system.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying an investigative file has been opened on Karroubi and the case is under review by a special cleric court.

Dolatabadi said "some individuals have already been summoned" as part of the inquest in Karroubi — a Shiite cleric and former parliament speaker — and added that 10 more people would go on trial on charges related to the post-election turmoil. But the report gave no names or further details.

Iran's judiciary is firmly under control of the ruling

Judicial authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.

But it's likely the investigation would include Karroubi's explosive accusations of abuses by security forces. Karroubi has led claims of rape and torture against protesters detained during the demonstrations and clashes following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election.

Karroubi has demanded high-level investigations into the abuse claims. Karroubi's newspaper, Etemad-e-Melli, was banned by authorities in August.

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has denied the allegations of rape and abuses by security forces, saying a parliament probe into the allegations had found no truth in the reports.

The judicial probe could be an attempt at further pressure to muzzle opposition. Any effort to bring charges would open a new front by authorities to destroy the top ranks of the opposition movement with possible serious charges of "propagating against Islamic system" — which can bring long prison terms.

The Special Cleric Court operates in heavy secrecy and its proceedings are closed to the public.

Iranian authorities have faced international condemnation for the crackdowns following the June election, but attention has greatly shifted to the regime's negotiations with Western powers over its nuclear program. Another round of talks is planned for later this month.

Turkish foreign minister travels to Syria as relations warm

Istanbul - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Tuesday traveled to Syria for the first meeting of a high-level strategic council the two countries recently established. Davutoglu, who is being accompanied by 10 cabinet members, would also sign an agreement with his Syrian counterpart to abolish visa requirements between the two countries.

His visit is part of a marked warming in relations between Turkey and Syria, who almost went to war in the late 1990s, after Ankara accused Damascus of providing support to the banned separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

As part of a new foreign policy approach, which seeks to reduce problems with its neighbors and to engage more with the Middle East, Ankara has worked to quickly strengthen its ties with Damascus.

Turkey, which has a long-standing relationship with Israel, also helped broker several meetings last year between Syrian and Israeli officials.

Mock court accuses Abbas of treason

JERUSALEM, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A mock children's court in Gaza ousted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from office and sentenced him to life for inaction on a U.N. Gaza war crimes report.

The mock trial was conducted by Gaza schoolchildren of the Palestinian Child Parliament, said to be linked to Hamas, the Maan news agency said Tuesday.

The Palestinian Authority leader has been sharply criticized for failing to endorse the United Nations report that accused Israel of committing war crimes in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza earlier this year when it was first published.

Abbas was charged with high treason to the Palestinian people's interests by the "prosecutor," who told the court the Palestinian leader had refused to support the U.N. report even though 33 countries had, the news agency said. Another child who portrayed Abbas at the trial had little to say in his defense, the agency said.

Among those who testified before the mock court were children who portrayed Pakistan's delegate at the United Nations in Geneva, and the Palestinian envoy to the U.N., the report said. A young girl who represented the victims of the Gaza offensive accused the Palestinian leader of stabbing the victims in the back, the agency said.

Hamas spokesman accuses Egypt of torturing brother to death

Gaza/Cairo (Earth Times - dpa) - Hamas' Gaza Strip spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri charged Tuesday that Egypt had tortured his brother to death. Yousef Abu Zuhri died Monday while in Egyptian custody.

In a statement sent to the media, Sami Abu Zuhri said that his 38- year-old brother "died in one of the Egyptian hospitals dues to severe and barbarian torture practiced by Egyptian security officers."

"Due to heavy torture, my brother suffered severe bleeding, but security officers refused to take him to hospital. When his conditions deteriorated, on Saturday, he was taken briefly to a private hospital for first aid and then was brought back to prison," Abu Zuhri said.

He said Yousef kept suffering "until he died in prison on Monday night without any announcement by the Egyptian authorities."

He added that he demanded an honest investigation into the circumstances of his brother's death.

Fawzi Barhoum, another Hamas spokesman, said in a statement sent to the media that Hamas has asked Egypt to clarify the circumstances surrounding the death of Yosef Abu Zhuri.

Abu Zuhri was arrested by Egyptian security forces in the city of al-Arish about six months ago. He had entered Egyptian territory through a tunnel dug under the Gaza-Sinai border.

The Egyptian Ministry of the Interior confirmed the death, but had no further comment.

Hamas member 'tortured to death' in Egypt prison

Tue Oct 13, 2009

A senior Hamas member dies in an Egyptian prison of injuries sustained during 'torture', Palestinian sources have reported.

Yousef Abu Zuhri, brother of prominent Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, was arrested in the city of Al-Arish near Egypt's border with Gaza in April on suspicion of entering the country illegally through an underground tunnel.

According to Al-Aqsa TV --the official Hamas-run television channel-- Yousef Abu Zuhri had been tortured to death.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/108558.html.

Russian FM: threat of sanctions counterproductive

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that the threat of sanctions against Iran would be counterproductive, resisting U.S. efforts to win agreement for measures if Iran fails to prove its nuclear program is peaceful.

Lavrov spoke following talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is trying to gauge Moscow's willingness to join the U.S. in imposing sanctions if Iran fails to come clean on its nuclear activities.

Lavrov said Russia's position is that under current conditions even the threat of sanctions against Iran would be counterproductive.

Clinton said the U.S. agreed it was important to pursue diplomacy with Iran.

"At the same time ... we have always looked at the potential of sanctions in the event we are not successful" in persuading Iran to comply, she said at a joint news conference.

Iran insists it has the right to a full domestic nuclear enrichment program and maintains it is only for peaceful purposes, such as energy production.

Clinton's visit to Moscow is her first since becoming America's top diplomat and since President Barack Obama — who visited Russia in July — vowed to "reset" U.S.-Russia relations. She was to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev later Tuesday.

Beyond Iran, Lavrov said the U.S. and Russia have made "considerable" progress toward reaching agreement on a new strategic arms treaty.

The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires in December and negotiators have been racing to reach agreement on a successor.

The two diplomats also discussed a recent Obama administration decision to scale back a Bush-era proposal for an anti-missile shield in Europe.

Also on the agenda are Afghanistan, nuclear-armed North Korea, NATO expansion, the situation in Georgia after its conflict with Russia last year, human rights and arms control.

Pakistani jets bomb militants near Afghan border

By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD, Associated Press Writer

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Pakistani jets bombed militant targets in the main insurgent stronghold along the Afghan border Tuesday ahead of an expected ground offensive there, an official said.

The army says 80 percent of the militant attacks plaguing the nuclear-armed country are planned from South Waziristan, while the United States says insurgent leaders blamed for spiraling violence in Afghanistan are also based in the lawless, remote area.

The army and the government have agreed to launch what is expected to a bloody and difficult ground operation in the mountainous region to clear it of militants. An army spokesman Monday declined to say when the operation would begin, but there has been speculation it could be imminent.

Ahead of the offensive, jets have been bombing targets, and the military has been attempting to cut off militant supply and communication lines. Authorities are also trying to secure the support of militant factions that in the past have agreed not to attack Pakistani troops.

Bombing runs Tuesday destroyed around 15 houses in the Makeen, Ladha and Barwand regions of South Waziristan, a local intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief to the media.

The militant threat to Pakistan has been highlighted by four major terrorist attacks over the last nine days, including a suicide attack on a U.N. office in the capital that killed five staffers and a 22-hour siege on the army's headquarters over the weekend.

Palestinian memo says hopes in Obama 'evaporated'

JERUSALEM—An internal document circulated among members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' political party says all hopes placed in the Obama administration "have evaporated" because of alleged White House backtracking on key issues to the Palestinians.

The Fatah Party memorandum, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, accuses the United States of backing off from its demands that Israel freeze settlement construction and failing to set a clear agenda for new Mideast peace talks.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the Oct. 12 document reflected Abbas' views or was intended to be leaked as Fatah's attempt to pressure President Barack Obama to bear down harder on Israel.

The document said the Palestinians have lost hope in Obama and accused the American leader of caving in to pressure from pro-Israel lobbyists in Washington.

"All hopes placed in the new U.S. administration and President Obama have evaporated," said the document issued by Fatah's Office of Mobilization and Organization. The department is headed Fatah's No. 2, Mohammed Ghneim.

Obama, it claimed, "couldn't withstand the pressure of the Zionist lobby, which led to a retreat from his previous positions on halting settlement construction and defining an agenda for the negotiations and peace."

Abbas' aides had no comment on the memorandum, and Ghneim couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The Palestinians were encouraged by Obama's election and expected his much-publicized outreach to the Muslim world would soften the strongly pro-Israel positions of his predecessors such as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

The Fatah document also restated the group's stance that Israel must freeze settlement construction and agree to a clear agenda for talks before negotiations can resume.

The U.S. says it hasn't abandoned these objectives but officials have indicated Washington does not see them as conditions for resuming talks.

Obama's personal intervention last month, when he summoned Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a three-way meeting in New York, failed to break the impasse.

The document echoes sentiments expressed by other Fatah officials. On Sunday, former Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan said the party "feels very disappointed and worried by the U.S. administration retreat."

The latest round of negotiations broke down late last year with no breakthroughs on the main issues dividing the two sides: final borders, the status of disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinians who lost homes and other property in Israel after it achieved statehood in 1948.

But the dispute over settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem has blocked all efforts to get the sides to talk, let alone solve the intractable conflict.

Netanyahu says some settlement construction must continue to accommodate growth of existing settler populations. He also says all of Jerusalem will remain in Israeli hands, although Israel's annexation of the eastern part of the city and its sensitive holy sites has never been internationally recognized.

The memo comes at a time of great unrest in Fatah over Abbas' short-lived decision to suspend efforts to bring Israel before a U.N. war crimes tribunal in connection with the winter war in the Gaza Strip.

Internally, the Palestinians are as divided as ever, with reconciliation talks between Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and the Islamic militant Hamas group that rules Gaza, on ice.

Iran grabs Futsal Confederations Cup

Iran's national futsal squad has crushed Libya in the Futsal Confederations Cup in Tripoli, Libya to win the championship title.

The Asian champions Iran have clinched their victory in the Futsal Confederations Cup by winning over the African champions with a goal from Ehsan Zahmatkesh.

The Asian champions, coached by Hossein Shams, defeated Libya 1-0. Iran's Vahid Shamsaei also won the Best Player title.

The Iranian faced Guatemala in their first match and defeated the team 4-2. Uruguay was the second match of the tournament. The Iranian outfit overpowered Uruguay 4-2 on Friday evening.

Hosts Libya, Iran, Guatemala, Uruguay, Solomon Islands and Spain took part in the event held from 5 to 11 October 2009.

The winner of the tournament is to receive $50,000 while the bottom-placed team will walk away with $10,000.

Yorkshire owl project success

They might be known as barn owls, but they are equally at home in nesting boxes.

Barn owls are so happy with their new riverside accommodation in West and South Yorkshire that they have now started producing families.

Nesting boxes for barn owls were set up at 16 points along the lower River Aire and River Don last year, and have proved very popular.

Thirteen of the boxes were used for roosting and nine of those for breeding in the 2009 nesting season. In all, seven families of owl chicks were successfully raised, a total of 20 chicks.

The project depends on careful management of river banks by the Environment Agency and the support and co-operation of landowners, to reduce the amount of grass mowing.

US wants bunker-buster fast, denies Iran is reason

By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is speeding up delivery of a colossal bomb designed to destroy hidden weapons bunkers buried underground and shielded by 10,000 pounds of reinforced concrete.

Call it Plan B for dealing with Iran, which recently revealed a long-suspected nuclear site deep inside a mountain near the holy city of Qom.

The 15-ton behemoth — called the "massive ordnance penetrator," or MOP — will be the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal and will carry 5,300 pounds of explosives. The bomb is about 10 times more powerful than the weapon it is designed to replace.

The Pentagon has awarded a nearly $52 million contract to speed up placement of the bomb aboard the B-2 Stealth bomber, and officials say the bomb could be fielded as soon as next summer.

Pentagon officials acknowledge that the new bomb is intended to blow up fortified sites like those used by Iran and North Korea for their nuclear programs, but they deny there is a specific target in mind.

"I don't think anybody can divine potential targets," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. "This is just a capability that we think is necessary given the world we live in."

The Obama administration has struggled to counter suspicions lingering from George W. Bush's presidency that the United States is either planning to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities itself or would look the other way if Israel did the same.

The administration has been careful not to take military action off the table even as it reaches out to Iran with historic talks this month. Tougher sanctions are the immediate backup if diplomacy fails to stop what the West fears is a drive for a nuclear weapon.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently said a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would probably only buy time. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen has called a strike an option he doesn't want to use.

The new U.S. bomb would be the culmination of planning begun in the Bush years. The Obama administration's plans to bring the bomb on line more quickly indicate that the weapon is still part of the long-range backup plan.

"Without going into any intelligence, there are countries that have used technology to go further underground and to take those facilities and make them hardened," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. "This is not a new phenomenon, but it is a growing one."

After testing began in 2007, development of the bomb was slowed by about two years because of budgetary issues, Whitman said, and the administration moved last summer to return to the previous schedule.

North Korea, led by Kim Jong Il, is a known nuclear weapons state and has exploded working devices underground. The United States and other countries have offered to buy out the country's weapons program. The Obama administration is trying to lure Pyongyang back to the bargaining table after a walkout last year.

Iran is a more complex case, for both diplomatic and technical reasons. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claims its nuclear program is peaceful and meant only to produce energy, but the West suspects a covert bomb program that may be only a year or so away from fruition.

"I don't really see it as a near-term indication of anything being planned. I think certainly down the road it has a certain deterrent factor," said Kenneth Katzman, a specialist on Iran and the Middle East at the Congressional Research Service. "It adds to the calculus, let's say, of Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il."

Details about Iran's once-secret program have come out slowly and often under duress, as with last month's surprise confirmation of the hidden underground development site near Qom.

That revelation came a month after the Pentagon had asked Congress to shift money to speed up the MOP program, although U.S. and other intelligence agencies had suspected for years that Iran was still hiding at least one nuclear development site.

The MOP could, in theory, take out bunkers such as those Saddam Hussein had begun to construct for weapons programs in Iraq, or flatten the kind of cave and tunnel networks that allowed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to escape U.S. assault in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, shortly after the U.S. invasion in 2001.

The precision-guided bomb is designed to drill through earth and almost any underground encasement to reach weapons depots, labs or hideouts.

Gazprom strikes preliminary gas deal with China

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING – The head of Russia's Gazprom said Tuesday a preliminary deal had been reached to supply energy-hungry China with natural gas.

Gazprom's chief executive Alexei Miller said the agreement between Russia's state-run natural gas monopoly and China National Petroleum Corp. calls for the supply of 70 billion cubic meters of gas a year. A price had not been set and no contract signed yet.

Chinese media reports have said the agreement is expected to be a gas-for-loans deal similar to a $25 billion oil-for-loans deal that was completed earlier this year.

Russia and China are increasingly overcoming traditional mistrust to push ahead on mutual economic interests.

Russia's cash-strapped energy companies need Chinese funding, while Beijing has welcomed the chance to further diversify sources for energy needed to fuel its fast-growing economy. The global economic crisis and changing market conditions have further spurred cooperation as lower demand from Europe has spurred Russia to diversify markets for its oil and gas.

Miller said the gas agreement will be formally signed in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao later Tuesday.

"The document we drafted will say that a contract will include a price formula and principles of setting the price which will be based on Gazprom's experience in gas exports and principles of international trade," Miller told reporters.

"Gazprom will independently build gas transportation facilities on the Russian territory," he said when asked if China could invest in building gas pipelines. He added Gazprom may welcome Chinese investments in building gas-processing facilities.

He also said an agreement was possible on supplying liquefied natural gas to China from Sakhalin Island in Russia's far east but did not elaborate. "We also have agreed to conduct talks on possible deliveries of LNG to China. We are looking into the possibility of starting LNG supplies to China already next year."

Miller said the gas agreement envisages two possible routes for supplying China — one from fields in western Siberia and another from fields in eastern Siberia and Sakhalin.

The western route can be put in place "very quickly" as Gazprom has ready-to-tap gas fields and all the necessary infrastructure there, Miller said.

The eastern route would require the creation of gas-processing facilities since the gas in the region contains precious chemicals that need to be extracted first, he said. That would require further negotiations on jointly creating the facilities and selling those products in other markets.

Russia and China earlier signed agreements worth $3.5 billion. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov told reporters that Russian and Chinese businessmen and officials signed the agreements, including $500 million loans each from the China Development Bank to its Russian equivalent VEB, and from the Agricultural Bank of China to the state-controlled VTB bank.

Other deals included Chinese companies making investments in construction industry facilities in Russia, Zhukov said. "Naturally, the Chinese are interested in getting (ownership) stakes," he said without giving any details.

Zhukov said the two sides signed an agreement on advance notification for planned ballistic missile launches by either country. He did not give details.

Pyongyang okays working-level talks with Seoul

The North Korean government has agreed to hold talks with Seoul in a bid to soothe mounting cross-border tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Seoul's Unification Ministry said on Tuesday that Pyongyang has agreed to a request for working-level talks on flood prevention and humanitarian issues, including family reunions.

The decision is generally viewed as signaling Pyongyang's desire to improve bilateral ties with the South despite its latest test fire of five short-range missiles on Monday.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry criticized the launches on Tuesday for breaching UN Security Council resolutions banning ballistic missile tests, and urged the North not to repeat them.

While sources in Seoul predict the North might be preparing to launch more short-range missiles, analysts say the move could be part of routine military drills. Japan's coast guard also said the North had warned of 'firing exercises' day and night until October 25 in the Yellow Sea.

Against all odds, the two Koreas seem to be moving out of a months-long standoff following a number of conciliatory moves from Pyongyang aimed at breaking the ice with both Seoul and its ally, Washington.

The North freed five South Korean detainees, eased curbs on the operations of a joint industrial estate and sent envoys for talks with the South's President, Lee Myung-Bak. It also resumed a stalled reunion program for families split by the 1950-53 war.

Meanwhile, the South is reportedly considering resuming its food aid to the impoverished North, where the UN says one-third of the women and children are already malnourished. The program had been suspended after President Lee took office in 2008.

The unification ministry, however, ruled out any decision before the results of the inter-Korean talks later this week were studied.

Spanish PM booed amidst deep recession

Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has been met with jeers in Madrid, as his popularity slides even further amidst a worsening financial decline.

Cheers turned into jeers on Monday as the Spanish leader arrived at a military parade, where some 4,200 servicemen marched through the Spanish capital.

The Spanish royal family was also present at the parade.

"We don't want you - out", "Resign", a crowd of onlookers yelled at the premier.

This comes as a new poll published in the pro-government newspaper Publico, showed on Monday that only 38 percent of Spaniards back Zapatero's ruling Socialist Party.

Forty three percent of those questioned have meanwhile said that they would vote for the country's conservative opposition, the Popular Party (PP).

A high unemployment rate of 17.92 percent -- the highest in the European Union and twice the Eurozone average -- and the government's inability to recover from a deep recession are among the main reasons behind the plummeting support for the ruling party.

The presence of Spanish troops in Afghanistan, specifically after a Spanish soldier's death a few days ago, has also led to Zapatero's unpopularity.

Jordan, Azerbaijan urge intensive efforts to launch Mideast peace talks

King Abdullah II of Jordan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev urged intensified efforts Monday to jump-start peace talks to end the decade-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The two leaders said resolving the conflict should be in line with the two-state solution that envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state that lives side by side with Israel, Jordan's official Petra news agency reported.

Adopted by Arab countries in Beirut in 2002, the peace plan entails offering full normal ties between the Arab countries and Israel in return for the latter's withdrawal from Arab territories it occupied in 1967.

At a meeting on Monday, the Jordanian leader warned against the repercussions of unilateral Israeli measures in Jerusalem on efforts to achieve Middle East peace.

The king emphasized that Jordan rejects any attempts that threaten the Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem and seek to change the identity of the city.

The Azerbaijani leader arrived in Amman Monday on a two-day visit to the kingdom, during which officials from both countries will discuss means to bolster bilateral relations.

India enhances contribution for Palestinian refugees

New Delhi, Oct 12 : India has decided to increase to $1 million its contribution to the United Nations agency working with Palestinian refugees.

A statement of the ministry of external affairs said that increase in contribution was "keeping with India's consistent and principled support for the people of Palestine."

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor had written to the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Karen AbuZayd, conveying the Indian government decision to enhance contribution.

Earlier this year, India had made a special assistance of $1 million for relief work in Gaza in response to an appeal from UNRWA in January.

Afghan leader accused of meddling in fraud probe

By RAHIM FAIEZ and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writers

KABUL – Afghan President Hamid Karzai's top challenger in disputed elections alleged Tuesday the embattled head of state engineered the resignation of a chief fraud investigator to cast doubt over a process that may force a runoff vote.

Results from the Aug. 20 elections have been delayed by more than a month because of massive fraud allegations. A five-member, U.N.-backed panel is investigating the charges, and its decision on how many votes to throw out will determine whether Karzai wins outright — as preliminary results show — or if a runoff is required.

One of the two Afghans on the Electoral Complaints Commission, Maulavi Mustafa Barakzai, resigned Monday because, he said, the three foreigners on the panel — one American, one Canadian and one Dutch — were "making all decisions on their own."

A deputy campaign manager for former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai's top challenger, called the resignation a move by the Karzai campaign to call into question the validity of the fraud investigations.

"Barakzai's resignation has direct connection to Karzai. It was Karzai's idea," Saleh Mohammad Registani said. "Karzai is trying to bring the work of the ECC into question."

He said Barakzai was widely considered to be biased toward Karzai.

Representatives for Karzai could not immediately be reached for comment.

Barakzai was appointed by the Afghan Supreme Court, whose judges were named to their posts by the president.

Barakzai has held a number of government posts, but none overtly political. He has served as the head of the Supreme Court's Islamic verdict department and its documentation department. During 2005 elections, he headed the Media Complaint Commission, overseeing coverage of the election.

The operating procedures of the panel allow it to continue working and even issuing decisions with fewer than five members. The group needs only a quorum of three people — one of them Afghan — to meet and issue rulings.

Registani argued that even the appearance of an injustice could be used to undermine the credibility of the commission.

"If anything comes out of this that is against Karzai's interests, then Karzai will say the Supreme Court member was not present at the last crucial meetings, so all these decisions were made by foreigners," Registani said.

Abdullah's camp says its is confident the election will go to a second round.

Abdul Malik Kamawi, a Supreme Court justice, said the court was ready to appoint another commissioner, but only if Barakzai submitted an official resignation.

The Electoral Complaints Commission has not yet received a formal resignation from Barakzai, said Nellika Little, a spokeswoman for the group.

In some of the latest violence reported in the troubled nation, Afghan forces killed 15 insurgents in southern Kandahar province during fighting Monday that also left one police officer dead, the Interior Ministry said.

The ministry also said five Taliban fighters were killed Monday in Zabul province's Arghandab district.

In neighboring Shahjoy district, the NATO-led coalition said a joint Afghan-international force killed several suspected militants in a vehicle it had stopped after they "moved with hostile intent." The coalition said it found bomb-making materials in the vehicle along with grenades, rifles and ammunition.

UK has 'worst quality of life' in Europe

Despite having the highest incomes, people in Britain have the worst quality of life in Europe, a study shows.

According to the uSwitch.com European Quality of Life Index, Britons have longer working hours, lower holiday entitlement and a higher cost of living than their counterparts in other European countries, placing them at the bottom of the list in survey.

The UK also has the highest net household income at £35,730 ($56,000) a year, more than £10,000 ($16,000) above the European average.

But much of this is eaten up by the higher cost of living on the British Isles.

"We earn substantially more than our European neighbors, but this level of income is needed just to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table and our homes warm," Ann Robinson, head of consumer policy at the British firm said.

Britain is also the second most expensive country in Europe for unleaded petrol, where diesel costs 20 percent more then the European average. Food prices are also higher there.

When it comes to health and education spending, Britain ranks near the bottom of the list again and has a below average life expectancy.

By contrast, the French and the Spaniards have the best quality of life out of Europe's biggest countries -- including Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Italy, Sweden, Ireland and Britain.

They retire earlier, live longer and have more paid holidays than the average, and while they earn less, they have some of the lowest food, electricity and gas prices.

"There is more to good living than money and this report shows why so many Brits are giving up on the UK and heading to France and Spain," Robinson said.

The report also warned that Britain's quality of life was likely to fall further because of the recession, which has pushed unemployment to nearly 2.5 million and will likely result in public spending cuts.

Riyadh tight-lipped about missing Iran researcher

Nearly four months after the disappearance of an Iranian Umrah pilgrim in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh still refuses to take an official stance on the issue.

In June, Shahram Amiri, a researcher at Tehran's Malek Ashtar University, went missing on the third day of his trip to Saudi Arabia for the Umrah Hajj.

According to his wife, the missing pilgrim has not contacted his family except for a few phone calls he made at the beginning of his trip.

Despite Iran's call on the Saudi government to provide a 'clear' response, Riyadh is yet to officially adopt a stance on the issue.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said in September that 'according to consulate conventions, Saudi Arabia is responsible for the fate of the Iranian pilgrim.'

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said the US is also accountable for the disappearance of the pilgrim.

"We have found documents that prove US interference in the disappearance of the Iranian pilgrim Shahram Amiri in Saudi Arabia," Mottaki told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey D. Feltman denied any US involvement in the disappearance of the Iranian pilgrim.

The mystery still surrounds the issue while several media reports have speculated that Saudi's intelligence and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have colluded in the disappearance.

The reports cite Amiri's cooperation as a researcher with Iran's nuclear work as the reason behind the disappearance.

His wife however has dismissed the reports, saying that he was 'only a researcher and did not hold any government posts.'

"His research was in the field of physics as it was his specialized subject," she said, adding that since he reached Saudi Arabia, 'the Saudi government must be held responsible for his disappearance.'

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=108545§ionid=351020101.

Chinese filmfest screens two Iranian films

Token and Face to Face has been scheduled to be presented in the 18th edition of Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival in China.

The six-day Chinese film festival, scheduled from October 13 to 18 in Nanchang, China's Jiangxi Province, will screen Token by Fereydoun Hassanpour and Face to Face by Ali Jekan.

Token, which experiences its 7th international screening, tells the story of Ali, a young Iranian boy living in an orphanage. Ali accidentally finds information about his parents.

Ali leaves the orphanage to search for his parents and his friend gives him a token so that as a last resort Ali could pawn the token in case he runs out of money.

Jekan's Face to Face is a crime drama movie that reveals the true faces of the various characters.

'Unknown' choppers carry Afghan militants to north

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his administration is looking into reports of 'unknown' army helicopters carrying gunmen to the north of the country, amid increasing militancy in the area.

Karzai said investigations were underway to decide whether the reports are related to the mounting insurgency in the north, the BBC Persian reported. He added that authorities have received similar inquiries in the northwest as well.

Reports say the choppers were 'American.' Press TV has not been able to confirm these reports.

The issue has raised serious questions about the security in Afghanistan as analysts question the unprecedented growth of militants in northern parts of the country, despite of the presence of thousands of foreign forces in the south, who are tasked with keeping the militants at bay.

The Afghan president added that according to the reports, the helicopters have been taking gunmen to Baghlan, Kunduz and Samangan provinces overnight for about five months now.

Iran asserts importance of unity for Palestine

Influential Iranian cleric and politician Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani has urged the Muslim world to strengthen unity in support of the Palestinian people.

"The Zionist regime [Israel] and its supporters seek to plot and sow discord among Muslims and Palestinians aimed at taking advantage of disunity," Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council said in a meeting with Palestinian Ambassador to Iran Salah Zawawi on Monday.

Rafsanjani made the remark a day after US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, told head of Egyptian Intelligence, Omar Suleiman that the proposed plan to settle differences between Fatah and Hamas undermines Palestinian negotiations with Israel and must be stopped, reported.

Washington has specified that any reconciliation deal must include recognition of Israel as a "Jewish state", a condition strongly rejected by Palestinian factions including Fatah and Hamas.

The Iranian cleric called on the Palestinian people to maintain their integrity and prevent internal division and said, "Resistance is the way that will lead to victory for the Palestinians."

Rafsanjani said that international organizations shoulder the responsibility in pursuing Israel's criminal acts in the Gaza Strip.

"Muslims across the world call for putting an end to Israel's anti human rights measures and restoring the rights of the Palestinian people," he added.

George Mitchell opposes Palestinian unity

The United States has expressed opposition to an Egyptian-proposed initiative to heal rifts among Palestinian factions.

US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, told head of Egyptian Intelligence, Omar Suleiman on Tuesday that the proposed plan to settle differences between Fatah and Hamas undermines Palestinian negotiations with Israel and must be stopped, reported.

Washington has specified that any reconciliation deal must include recognition of Israel as a "Jewish state", a condition strongly rejected by Palestinian factions including Fatah and Hamas.

The democratically-elected government of Hamas in Gaza and the Fatah movement of acting Palestinian chief, Mahmoud Abbas, which have been divided since 2007, were to sign the Egyptian-proposed reconciliation deal later this month.

But the relations between the two factions hit another setback following Abbas' controversial decision to withdraw support for a motion that could result in bringing senior Israeli officials to trial in an international criminal court for war crimes purportedly committed last December in Gaza.

Hamas maintains that the Palestinian Authority has betrayed the victims of the three-week war by bowing to US and Israeli pressure and called for a delay in the signing of the agreement with Fatah.

Some Hamas officials believe the PA's decision proves the allegations that Abbas' Western-backed government had cooperated with Tel Aviv during its offensive on Gaza, which left nearly 1,400 Palestinians dead.

Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Abul Gheit has also criticized Abbas over the move, saying his decision shows that he does not care about unity among Palestinian factions.

Fatah, which rules the West Bank, has already agreed to the Egyptian proposal, which calls for the formation of an advisory committee to oversee Gaza's security and the release of political prisoners. The initiative also calls for holding presidential and parliamentary elections in 2010.

Abu Dhabi Metro to be ready by October 2015

(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) The first segment of the metro railway line Abu Dhabi will be ready by October 2015, according to Dr Abdelgader Elshabani, Senior Transportation Planning Specialist at the Department of Transport, or 
DoT of Abu Dhabi.

The Metro railway will be about 150 km long and will go around the main island of Abu Dhabi, Dr Abdelgader disclosed while making a presentation at the MEED's Middle East Rail 
Projects Conference.

Preliminary studies have already been completed on the project and detailed study will begin later this year.

Dr Abdelgader however declined to give the estimated cost of the project saying that the detailed study was expected to go into the cost of the project also.

DoT was also planning light rail and water transport networks in the capital emirate. Studies for finalizing the light train transport network will be launched in 2010 and for water transport network later this year.

The studies will decide how much portion of the metro will be underground. He said launch of metro rail and water projects will be part of the transport master plan for the capital city.

The plan envisages other forms of interventions to regulate the flow of private vehicles on the road and to promote the use of public transport.

Increasing fuel prices, imposing area-wise parking fees and congestion fees, introducing alternate working hours and encouraging measures like car pooling are some of the measures envisaged in the policy.

Emphasizing the need for launching metro railway in Abu Dhabi Dr Abdelgader said the growth in the number of vehicles will be at such high levels in the capital city that even a 50-lane road will not be able avoid traffic congestion.

Source: Middle East North Africa Financial News (MENAFN).
Link: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093276469.

Jordan's first swine flu death reported

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The first H1N1 (swine) flu death was confirmed in Jordan on Monday, according to top health authorities.

Minister of Health Nayef Fayez said the first swine flu-related fatality in Jordan was a 26-year-old man, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The man, according to the minister, also suffered from tuberculosis (TB) and a severe lung infection that weakened his immune system.

A medical source at Prince Hamzah Hospital told The Jordan Times that the young man died late Sunday after he was transferred from a private hospital in Amman, where he was receiving treatment for the lung infection and the TB.

The minister said the young man was taken to Prince Hamzah Hospital after suspicion that he suffered from swine flu.

According to the Health Ministry, a total of 850 H1N1 cases have been reported in Jordan since the first two cases were detected in mid-June.

As of October 4, 2009, there have been more than 375,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 worldwide, and over 4,500 deaths reported to the World Health Organization, according to the organization's website.

Under a new strategy adopted by the Health Ministry that went into effect Monday, some swine flu patients will receive treatment at home, especially those who have slight symptoms of the disease.

Those over the age of 65, children under the age of five and pregnant women will be admitted to the hospital for treatment, especially those suffering from chronic diseases such as heart disease.

By Mohammad Ghazal

Uighur chief: Chinese executions set to 'enrage'

Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer Tuesday said a Chinese court's decision to sentence six Uighurs to death over July unrest would serve only to "further enrage" her people.

"This is not going to create peace and stability in the region, this will further enrage the Uighur people," she said while on a visit to New Zealand, a day after the sentences in the Xinjiang regional capital Urumqi.

"For the Uighur people around the world this is a very sad day, a day of mourning," Kadeer told Auckland student radio station 95bFM via an interpreter.

Source: Brisbane Times.
Link: http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/uighur-chief-chinese-executions-set-to-enrage-20091013-gvgu.html.

Israelis flatten Palestinian home

Israeli authorities have demolished two Palestinian-owned structures in East Jerusalem, in defiance of international calls to stop such actions.

Palestinian reports say a family of five was forcibly evicted from their home in the Beit Hanina district before the building was demolished.

Israeli bulldozers then destroyed the foundations of another building nearby.

UN officials say such demolitions violate international law and raise serious humanitarian concerns.

Israel says buildings subject to demolition orders have been built without permits.

Palestinians say it is virtually impossible to obtain the necessary approval from Israel's municipal authorities in Jerusalem.

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, says the authorities have demolished about 420 Palestinian-owned houses in East Jerusalem since 2004 saying they were built without permits.

Israel occupied the territory in the 1967 war and annexed it soon afterward in a move that has not been recognized internationally.

Pirates urge Spain to free pair

Somali pirates holding a Spanish fishing boat and its crew hostage have said they will only negotiate their release if colleagues are freed.

On Monday, two Somalis suspected of involvement in seizing the boat arrived in Madrid to face piracy charges.

The Alakrana vessel was seized in early October in the Indian Ocean and taken to the Somali port town of Harardere, the hub of piracy in the region.

The two Somali men were captured by the Spanish navy after they left the boat.

"Our friends must be freed for us to begin discussing the fate of the boat and the hostages," one of the pirates, Abdi Mohammed, told Agence-France Presse.

The crew - including members from Spain, Ghana, Indonesia, Madagascar, Senegal and the Seychelles - are reported to be in good health.

The two men seized by the navy are due to appear before a Spanish court on Tuesday.

Many pirates have escaped prosecution because of doubts about the borders of jurisdiction. In May, a court in Spain surrendered a group of Somali pirates to Kenya after trying to bring them to Spain.

Last year, the crew of another Spanish boat was freed by pirates in the same area after a ransom of a reported $1.2m (£750,000) was paid, according to Somali officials.

Switzerland hails Geneva talks, defends Iran gas deal

A high-ranking Swiss official has described the Geneva talks between Tehran and the P5+1 as a success, while terming as crucial the alpine country's gas deal with Iran.

Michael Ambuhl, State Secretary at the Swiss Foreign Ministry, who is on an official visit to Iran said on Monday that Bern attached much importance to the deal with Iran.

The deal has been criticized by Israel and a number of Western countries, who seek international pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.

Saeed Jalili, Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, in his meeting with the visiting Swiss official thanked the country for hosting the Geneva talks.

He added that Tehran was ready for more talks to address the concerns about Iran's nuclear program.

Jalili also conveyed Tehran's recognition of the Swiss efforts, a statement by the council read.

The Geneva talks on October 1 saw Iranian representatives and high-ranking diplomats from the five permanent UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and Germany hold talks on global crisis.

Ambuhl, who hailed the talks as "successful," highlighted his country's interest in more ties with Iran as the two officials examined ways for better economic cooperation, the statement added.

Tehran and Bern penned a strategic gas contract worth USD 13 billion in March 2008.

According to the 25-year deal, Iran is obliged to deliver 5.5 billion cubic meters of gas to the European country per year, as Switzerland seeks to reduce its dependency on Russian gas.

International probe into Israel organ theft called for

Freelance Swedish journalist Donald Bostrom has reportedly demanded an international war crimes investigation into claims that Israeli soldiers harvest organs of dead Palestinians.

Six weeks after he caused a political storm over his article "Our sons plundered for their organs", the veteran photojournalist called for an investigation and urged the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other competent tribunals to undertake a thorough and impartial investigation into the allegations that Israelis have unlawfully removed organs from Palestinians.

Bostrom garnered international attention on August 17, after his article was published in Aftonbladet, Sweden's largest circulation daily.

The article suggests that the Israeli army kidnapped and killed young Palestinians to harvest their organs. It shed light on the case of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem, a 19-year-old Palestinian man, who was shot dead in 1992 by Israeli forces in the West Bank village of Imatin.

Bostrom said Ghanem's body was abducted following the shooting and was returned at midnight — during an imposed curfew — several days later by the Israeli military with a cut from the stomach to the neck that had been stitched up.

The Swedish argued that an autopsy could have been necessary only if the cause of death was not apparent, while in this case it was clear that Bilal was shot dead.

Following the incident, at least 20 Palestinian families told Bostrom that they suspected the Israeli military had taken the organs of their sons after they had been killed by Israeli forces and their bodies had been taken away.

In Russia, Clinton seeks collusion against Iran

The US secretary of state is expected to discuss prospects of further sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program during her talks with Russian officials.

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived in Moscow late on Monday, will ask "what specific forms of pressure Russia would be prepared to join us and our other allies if Iran fails to live up to its obligations," an official with the US State Department was quoted by AFP as saying.

The two-day visit came after the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany held talks with Iran on October 1 in Geneva on the issue of mutual concerns and global crises.

Although the participants at the meeting called the talks positive, Clinton on Sunday warned Iran of further punitive measures if Tehran fails to fulfill "its international obligations" over its nuclear drive.

The west accuses Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of pursuing atomic weapons — a charged Tehran has repeatedly denied.

The claim came as Iran's nuclear program has been under close inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has confirmed the civilian nature of Iran's nuclear activities.

Moreover, the United States, France and the United Kingdom have been violating "article 6 of the NPT for the past 40 years," Iran's ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh has said.

Clinton, who will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Dmitry Medvedev, is also expected to discuss a proposal by Iran to buy 20-percent enriched uranium for research purposes.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that "our experts will discuss the purchase of 20-percent enriched uranium for producing radiomedicine in Tehran research reactor with them (representatives of P5+1) next Monday" during the next round of talks.

Abbas, inept to lead Palestinians: Mashaal

The political bureau chairman of Hamas, Khalid Mashaal, says the acting Palestinian Authority chief, Mahmoud Abbas, is unfit and ineligible to lead the Palestinian nation.

During a speech in Damascus on Sunday evening, Mashaal referred to Mahmoud Abbas as "an illegitimate leader" whose tenure came to an end in January 2009.

The political leader of Hamas meanwhile made references to the Goldstone Report, saying that all those responsible for any sort of delay in voting on the report should be held accountable.

A United Nations inquiry, led by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone, detailed what investigators called Israeli actions "amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," during Israel's winter offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza.

"For the first time an international report is condemning Israel for its aggression on the Palestinians. A Palestinian group, however, objected to the report; protected Israel and saved it from international condemnation," Mashaal underlined.

The 575-page report by Goldstone and three other investigators asserts seven incidents in which Palestinian civilians were shot while leaving their homes, trying to run for safety or waving white flags. The report says Israel targeted a mosque at prayer time, killing 15 people, and shelled a Gaza City house where soldiers had forced Palestinian civilians to assemble. These attacks constituted as war crimes, the report says.

The probe also found that Israel violated international humanitarian law in several ways. Dozens of Palestinian policemen were killed at the start of the Gaza onslaught when Israel bombed their stations. The security agents were not involved in the hostilities and should have been treated as civilians. Palestinians, in addition, were used as human shields and were forced to walk ahead of the Israeli soldiers who were searching civilian neighborhoods.

Thousands of Palestinians were killed during three weeks of Israel's land, sea and air assault, during Operation Cast Lead, in the impoverished coastal sliver. The offensive also inflicted USD 1.6 billion of damage upon Gaza's economy.

UN backs debate on Goldstone's Gaza report

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon backs a Palestinian bid to re-launch the debate on the Goldstone report, which accuses Israel of war crimes as well as crimes against humanity during its weeks-long onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

Ban's spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said on Monday that the UN chief pledged the acting Palestinian Authority chief, Mahmoud Abbas, his support for the matter during a Sunday telephone conversation.

A United Nations inquiry, led by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone, detailed what investigators called Israeli actions "amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," during Israel's winter offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza.

The 575-page report by Goldstone and three other investigators asserts seven incidents in which Palestinian civilians were shot while leaving their homes, trying to run for safety or waving white flags. The report says Israel targeted a mosque at prayer time, killing 15 people, and shelled a Gaza City house where soldiers had forced Palestinian civilians to assemble. These attacks constituted war crimes, the report says.

The probe also found that Israel violated international humanitarian law in several ways. Dozens of Palestinian policemen were killed at the start of the Gaza onslaught when Israel bombed their stations. The security agents were not involved in the hostilities and should have been treated as civilians. Palestinians, in addition, were used as human shields and were forced to walk ahead of the Israeli soldiers searching civilian neighborhoods.

Israeli authorities, meanwhile, have branded the investigation as 'not an independent or professional' one, but a collection of claims brought forward by Hamas to the members of the UN fact-finding mission.

Thousands of Palestinians were killed during three weeks of Israel's land, sea and air assault, during Operation Cast Lead, in the impoverished coastal sliver. The offensive also inflicted USD 1.6 billion of damage upon Gaza's economy.

Iran constructs two plants in Venezuela

Iranian engineers have planned and constructed two new factories in Venezuela, as Tehran further enhances ties with Caracas.

The two factories — a dairy production plant and an industrial unit producing corn flour — were both launched on Monday in the presence of Venezuela's science and technology minister Jesse Chacon and governor of Barinas state Adan Chavez, the Venezuelan president's eldest brother.

Chacon praised Iran's assistance in setting up the plants, saying the dairy production factory has a daily capacity to process 18,000 liters (635.6 cubic ft) of milk into products such as cheese, yogurt and cream.

The report added that the second factory is capable of producing 46 tons of corn flour per day, IRIB reported.

The two countries signed several agreements on oil and gas cooperation during Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's visit to Iran in September.

US approves 13,000 troops for Afghan war

Washington will send an additional 13,000 US troops to Afghanistan in addition to the 21,000 President Barack Obama announced publicly in March, a report says.

The Washington Post reported on Monday the extra troops are primarily support forces, such as engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police, bringing the total buildup the president has approved to 34,000.

"Obama authorized the whole thing. The only thing you saw announced in a press release was the 21,000," a defense official, familiar with the process, told the paper.

This is while Obama is mulling a request from the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for more combat, training and support troops, with several options including one for 40,000 more soldiers.

However, the report noted that the maximum number of US service members expected in Afghanistan by the year's end - 68,000 - would remain the same.

Major deployments of "support troops" have not been publicized by the Pentagon and the White House in the past. When ex-president George W. Bush announced a surge in Iraq, he only mentioned 20,000 combat troops and not the accompanying 8,000 support forces.

The troop increase approved by Obama will bring the number of US 'boots on the ground' in both Iraq and Afghanistan to a greater total than could be found during the peak of the late 2007-thru-early-2008 Iraq surge.

In fact, some 65,000 US forces are currently in Afghanistan and about 124,000 in Iraq, compared to around 26,000 in Afghanistan and 160,000 in Iraq at the height of the Iraq surge, according to a troop count conducted at the start of the current month.

Less than a year into Nobel peace prize winner Obama's tenure, there are 189,000 US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan compared to the Bush Administration's peak of 186,000 in both theaters of war.

Russian riot police clamp down on protesters

Russian riot police have dispersed a protest by opposition groups against the country's municipal elections, which have led to the domination of the ruling party.

Police in riot gear clashed with demonstrators in Moscow on Monday after the protesters staged an 'unauthorized' rally in the Russian capital following the local election results, which revealed a sweeping victory for the leading United Russia party, security services said.

Around 50 people have been detained in the protests triggered by allegations of vote-rigging.

The weekend ballot showed that the incumbent United Russia party under Prime Minister Vladimir Putin obtained 66.3 percent of the votes, while the Communist party gained 13.3 percent of the votes for the country's legislature, the Duma.

With almost all the ballots counted, Putin's party won 107 out of 135 seats in the regional councils and 189 out of 235 seats in the municipal legislatures, an election authority said.

The news of conservatives' win drew ire from the defeated Yabloko liberals as the political factions' supporters took to the streets and "burned ballot papers" over 'vote fraud.'

Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, however, ruled out charges of widespread manipulation of votes by the United Russia party and said, "Today the party has proved that it has not only the moral, but the legal right to form executive power in the regions."

Around 30 million voters in 75 municipal elections went to the polls on Sunday amid tight security in Russia.