Iranian-American academic gets 12 years for unrest

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – A special court formed after Iran's post-election unrest has convicted an Iranian-American academic and sentenced him to more than 12 years in prison, state media said Tuesday.

Kian Tajbakhsh was the only American in an ongoing mass trial of alleged Iranian opposition members and reportedly faced charges including espionage, contacting foreign agents and acting against Iran's national security.

Tajbakhsh was arrested July 9 during a crackdown on protesters and Iranian political figures rallying against the disputed presidential elections, which critics claimed were rigged in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Washington has repeatedly denounced Tajbaksh's arrest. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appealed in August for Tajbakhsh's release, and he was specially named in a call by the British rock star Sting to free all political prisoners in Iran.

In 2007, Tajbakhsh, a social scientist and urban planner, spent four months in prison on charges of endangering national security. He denied the charges at the time, and has also denied the post-election allegations against him.

His lawyer, Houshang Azhari, was quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency as confirming Tuesday he received the verdict. The attorney said Tajbakhsh's sentence was "more than 12 years," but that the law prohibits him from divulging further details.

The report came as more than a third of Iran's parliament asked judicial authorities to prosecute opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. According to IRNA, 100 deputies in the 290-member parliament supported the demand in a letter to State Prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi.

The letter, delivered by lawmaker Hamid Rasai, a staunch Ahmadinejad supporter, said Mousavi should be put on trial because his statements and actions had damaged "reputation of the Islamic system."

It's unclear whether authorities would bring charges against Mousavi, who declared himself the rightful winner in June's election. But he has vowed to press ahead with opposition to the government.

Last week, Iranian authorities opened an investigation into another former presidential candidate, Mahdi Karroubi, in a possible first step toward bringing charges.

Besides Tajbakhsh, Iranian authorities hold retired Iranian-American businessman Reza Taghavi and three American hikers: Joshua Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd. Another American, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, is also believed missing in Iran since March 2007.

An Iranian-Canadian journalist for Newsweek Maziar Bahari, who was detained after the election, was released based on a bail last week. Of those held, only the cases of Tajbakhsh and Bahari were linked to the post-election turmoil.

Iranian investigators are still questioning the three American hikers, detained in late July after straying across the border and their fate rests with judicial authorities, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday in a wide-ranging news conference.

Mottaki gave no other details of the probe or a possible timeframe on the case. But his comments suggested that formal charges could still be possible against the Americans, although Ahmadinejad had recently pledged he would request "maximum leniency" for them.

They three have been visited by Swiss diplomats, who oversee U.S. interests in Iran, and earlier this month, their relatives presented a petition to Iran's mission at the United Nations in New York asking for their release.

In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Ahmadinejad said he would ask the country's judiciary to expedite the process and "look at the case with maximum leniency."

The case of the hikers could be complicated by suspicions over the disappearance of an Iranian scientist Shahram Amiri in June while on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Mottaki repeated accusations of a U.S. role in Amiri's disappearance and said the United States "must be held accountable" for information on him, but made no direct connection with the hikers' case.

Amiri reportedly worked at a university linked to the Revolutionary Guard and his wife has said he was researching medical uses of nuclear technology, but was not involved in the country's broader nuclear program.

Mottaki claimed Amiri was "kidnapped" in a plot masterminded by Washington and assisted by Saudi officials.

Saudi officials have made no public comments on the accusations. Earlier this month, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said he had no information about the reported disappearance, adding that "the case is not familiar to us."

Amiri traveled to Saudi Arabia on May 31 for omra, an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, his wife told the semi-official news agency ISNA. The last she heard from him was on June 3, when he called her from the holy city of Medina.

Mottaki also increased pressure on Pakistan to crackdown on Sunni militants after Sunday's suicide attack in the border region that killed 42 people, including top commanders of the powerful Revolutionary Guard. Iran's state television on Tuesday raised the number of Guard members killed in the blast to 15.

Mottaki demanded Pakistan arrest and extradite suspected members of the Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which claimed responsibility for Sunday's suicide attack. He said the bombing had foreign roots and said the group is based in Pakistan and has "links with intelligence services and foreign forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

The Fars news agency reported three arrests linked to the bombing, but gave no other details.

An Iranian delegation was scheduled to go to Pakistan to discuss the case with officials.

Iran claims Pakistan aids and shelters the group, which purports to be fighting for the rights of minority Sunni tribes in southeastern Iran. On Monday, Iranian officials said the United States and Britain also have links to Jundallah — charges denied by both nations.

On Tuesday, IRNA also quoted intelligence minister Heidar Moslehi as saying Tehran has "good evidences in the hand which show Pakistan's intelligence apparatus has a link with the group."

The Guard's acting commandeer, Gen. Hossein Slamai, said the Guards would hunt down the attackers "in any place of the world," signaling possible Iranian plans to raid bases of the group abroad, including in Pakistan.

Pakistani authorities have promised to help Iran fight the militants, but insist there is no high-level backing for the group.

Police say more than 600 foreigners have been detained over the past two days for illegal entrance into Sistan-Baluchistan province, where Sunday's suicide bombing took place. It's unclear if the detentions are related to extra security after the bombing or part of frequent Iranian sweeps against human trafficking and drug smuggling.

Iran arrests three linked to terrorist attack

Iran has arrested three suspects in connection with a terrorist attack in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, Fars News Agency reports.

The provincial governor was quoted as saying by Fars that he could not disclose the identity of the detained individuals 'for security reasons'.

The three suspects were the first to be arrested after Sunday's bombing, which occurred in Pishin, a borderline region in southeastern Iran. The attack left at least 42 people including two senior military commanders dead.

Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Provincial officials said on Tuesday that gunmen killed two police officers in separate attacks in the city of Iranshahr, Mehr News Agency reported.

It is not yet clear whether the killings were in connection with Sunday's suicide attack.

Israel aerospace giant 'hired' espionage scientist

Israeli sources have confirmed that an American scientist who worked for the US government and was arrested for attempted espionage has had deals with Israel Aerospace Industries.

Stewart David Nozette, 52, was detained on Monday after offering to provide national secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer.

According to Israel's Haaretz newspaper, the sources said the former NASA employee, who has also worked for the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, was hired as a consultant to the Israeli company.

Israel Aerospace Industries is the government-owned flagship of Israel's defense industry.

The report was confirmed by US sources. The Israeli company refused to comment on it.

The Justice Department said it has charged Nozette with attempting to "communicate, deliver and transmit classified information to an individual he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer."

Israeli officials have so far kept silence on the issue.

Several US citizens have been arrested in recent years over espionage activities for Israel. They, however, receive light sentences thanks to Tel Aviv's influence in Washington as well as the close ties between the two allies.

Sudan: New Obama strategy not tangible

Tue Oct 20, 2009

The Sudanese Government says the new US carrot-and-stick policy aimed at engaging the largest African nation, lacks practical and tangible steps.

"The strategy lacks practical steps that the American administration can commit to. It has assumed that actions only come from Sudan and Washington's role is only to evaluate," Gazi Salaheddin, Sudan's top presidential adviser said on Monday.

He added that Khartoum hopes that the implementation of the details of the new strategy would turn out better then its theoretical content.

The remarks came hours after the US President Barack Obama said that his country would offer Sudan incentives to end the crisis in Darfur.

Obama has, however, threatened that Washington would increase pressure on the impoverished nation, if the Sudanese government fails to respond.

"Words alone are not enough," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters on Monday, adding that assessments based on "verifiable changes in conditions on the ground" would be taken into consideration as progress.

For example, the Obama administration would watch for 'credible elections,' scheduled for next year under a fragile 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the 22-year civil war in the south.

The elections, which have already been postponed twice, are scheduled for February 2010, while a historic independence referendum is due in 2011.

Obama believes that his new approach will ensure that Sudan does not become a 'safe haven for terrorists' and that the CPA peace deal is fully implemented.

However, aid groups expressed reservations Monday about the new US policy.

"The key issue is what kind of diplomatic energy is the administration putting into this? Is it a piece of paper or a strategy?" Sam Bell, who heads the Genocide Intervention Network, told AFP.

Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition, an umbrella group for more than 100 organizations, has also said that some issues remain unclear in the policy's implementation.

John Prendergast, a co-founder of the 'Enough Project,' an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity, has also said that the outlook for the troubled country "is not optimistic, as the Obama administration announces its new policy".

Analysts believe that the Obama administration, which began a review of its Sudan policy in March, faces a complicated situation over Darfur, and also over an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against President Omar al-Bashir.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109155.html.

Arab League chief may seek Egypt presidency

Tue Oct 20, 2009

Arab League chief and former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa has not ruled out that he might run for presidency to succeed President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for more than 28 years.

In an interview, Moussa said that Gamal Mubarak, the 45-year-old son of Hosni Mubarak, might take office after the 2011 presidential elections.

"It is the right of all citizens with the ability and competency to aspire to a position to participate in serving the homeland, including the top position of president of the republic," Moussa was quoted by Reuters as saying.

He added the rights and obligations of all citizens "hold true for me, for you and also for Gamal Mubarak."

Moussa, however, noted that "taking a decision on this issue (running for presidency) requires several considerations ... and we are somehow still far from the time for taking any decision on this matter."

"I don't have specific thinking on the nomination for the presidency," he said.

The 81-year-old Egyptian president has been in office since 1981, when he took power following the assassination of former Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat.

Observers believe Mubarak is seeking to bring his son to power.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109168.html.

Iran to launch sports channel

Iran's Physical Education Organization (PEO) is in talks with the country's state broadcaster to launch a sports channel.

PEO head Ali Saeidlou said that once the organization reaches an agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), efforts would begin to launch the sports channel.

He made the remarks in a Tuesday meeting with the managers and players of Iran's national futsal team.

Saeidlou said the opening of the channel, which is scheduled to air sports matches and sports-related programs round-the-clock, is expected to initially cost about $100 million.

Tchogha Zanbil burial ritual to be revived

Iranian cultural officials have planned to renovate an ancient Elamite tomb in a bid to introduce the traditional royal burial ritual in the country.

Located in world recognized heritage Tchogha Zanbil, the renovated tomb belongs to the Elamite era, whose emergence of written records goes back to around 3000 BC also parallels Mesopotamian history.

“A ten-year management program has been planned for restoration and preservation of the site and clay artifacts in the property,” said Mohammad Hassan Talebian, Director of the World Heritage property of Tchogha Zanbil.

“The program aims to make people familiar with the ancient architectural structures of the site. Such initiatives are a part of a plan to preserve a world recognized property,” Talebian added.

Tchogha Zanbil was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. The ruins of the holy city of the Kingdom of Elam, surrounded by three huge concentric walls, are found at Tchogha Zanbil.

Founded in 1250 BC, the city remained unfinished after it was invaded by Ashurbanipal, as shown by the thousands of unused bricks left at the site.

Somali pirates threaten to kill Chinese crew

Tue Oct 20, 2009

Somali pirates have threatened to kill 25 Chinese crew members on board a hijacked Chinese bulk career if any rescue operation is attempted.

After a brief lull in attacks, the 'De Xin Hai', which the pirates say is loaded with coal, was seized on Monday 550 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 700 nautical miles east of the Horn of Africa.

"We tell China not to endanger the lives of their people with any rescue operation," an associate of the pirates told Reuters by phone on Tuesday.

"If they try then we will execute the whole crew ... we tell them to change their mind regarding any rescue, otherwise they will regret it. We know what they are planning to do," he warned.

The pirates were referring to an earlier announcement by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu who had said his government had "actively started rescue operations" for the ship.

On Monday the European Union's counter-piracy force said an EU maritime patrol aircraft had located the vessel and counted at least four pirates on the deck. It was heading for Somalia.

Piracy along the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, is common place.

Dozens of multinational warships are currently patrolling the waters under a UN mandate to deter pirate attacks but the sea gangs sometimes carry out attacks right under the watchful eyes of international fleets.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109142.html.

Belarus registers new Iranian bank

The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) has registered a second bank in the country with Iranian capital, an official at NBB says.

The new Iranian bank, which was registered last week as "Honor Bank", will provide financial services for foreign trade relations between Iran and Belarus, said the head of banking supervision at NBB, Sergei Dubkov.
He was speaking at a conference on cross-border cooperation, organized by the International Reserve Bank.

Dubkov added that the authorized capital of the new banking institution is 11.5 million euros.

According to another informed source, the new bank will not only focus on Iran-Belarus joint investments, but also act as mediator between Belarus and the Arab market.

Last year, Iran's Tejarat bank and Belarus' Lada OMS Holding set up a new bank in Belarus with an authorized fund of more than 5 million euros, with Tejarat owning more than 96 percent of the shares.

Jordan’s King Tells Repubblica He’s Pessimistic on Middle East

By Flavia Krause-Jackson

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Jordan’s King Abdullah Bin Hussein II told Italian daily la Repubblica in an interview he’s pessimistic about the prospects for peace in the Middle East.

“If by 2010 Israel doesn’t believe in two states, the possibility of a Palestinian state will vanish,” Abdullah said on the eve of a visit to Italy. “The most often-repeated question in the Arab world today is, does Israel really want peace?”

Asked about efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to carve out an agreement in the region, Abdullah said, “I will be honest, I was expecting more, and in less time.”

King of Jordan: Palestinian-Israeli Conflict a Priority

ROME, October 19, 2009 (WAFA)- King of Abdullah II called on the international community, especially the United States and Europe to make an immediate and effective effort to launch negotiations to achieve comprehensive peace, noting that Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a priority.

In an interview with Italian daily la republica published Monday, the King stressed that failure to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution and within a regional and comprehensive context is the most serious threat to peace and stability in the Middle East region and the Mediterranean.

In response to a question about whether the Palestinian issue or the Iranian nuclear problem is the priority as Israel maintains, the King said the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the root cause of conflict in the region, adding that the region will never enjoy regional peace and stability until it is resolved on the basis of the two-state solution.

He noted that when he was in the United States around six months ago there were some voices that focused on 'Iran, Iran, Iran' in an attempt to make Iran a priority, but the King's response was to repeat 'Palestine, Palestine, Palestine.”

' Failure to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and achieve Arab-Israeli peace is the most serious threat to peace and to stability in the region, including in the Mediterranean, King Abdullah added. That must be the priority.

He warned against a human catastrophe in Gaza, where the suffering will increase as the winter season approaches and called on the international community to move faster to end the blockade.

He commended efforts by the US President Barack Obama, noting that Obama began the first 24 hours of his mandate with a serious effort to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The King was asked if he was disappointed over failure to achieve a breakthrough even after seven missions by US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell, He responded, 'I was expecting more, and more quickly. I was expecting more of a dramatic breakthrough in early summer. But there has definitely been a delay.”

He said that Israel's failure to stop the construction of settlements constitutes a major obstacle to efforts to relaunch negotiations. “The settlements are illegal and the international community also considers them illegal.”

“If Israel really believes in a two-state solution, then it knows that those settlements inside the Palestinian territories will become Palestinian property,” he noted. “Stopping the settlements is vital as proof that Israel’s commitment to peace is sincere.”

The interpretation across the Arab world is that Israel does not want peace, King Abdullah said.

He warned against Israeli unilateral actions that seek to change the identity of Jerusalem and threaten its Muslim and Christian holy sites, noting that Israeli attempts to change realities on the ground in East Jerusalem, which is part of Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.

King Abdullah added that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Amman that Jerusalem is of tremendous importance for Jordan and is a red line that cannot be crossed.

The sanctity of Jerusalem must be understood, as well as the dangers posed by excavations that undermine the foundations of the Al Aqsa Mosque, he warned.

King Abdullah said these measures that also include encroachments on Muslim and Christian property are extremely provocative to the followers of the two monotheistic religions.

Jerusalem should be a symbol of harmony and should be open to the three monotheistic faiths, the King said.

In response to a question about why the establishment of a Palestinian state is an issue of national security for Jordan, the King said, 'Because, without that, the whole region will never enjoy the peace and stability it deserves.”

' Israel will not reach peace and acceptance in the region unless the Palestinians achieve their independent state,” he stressed. “It is the ideal solution within a comprehensive peace that solves the problem between the Israelis and 57 Arab and Muslim states that do not recognize Israel.”

The King said the status quo is unacceptable and will lead to more conflict, warning that the window of opportunity to achieve peace is very limited. 'If we find ourselves, a year or two from now, still asking the same questions, then I fear that our generation will not see peace.”

The King called on the United States and Europe to intensify efforts to achieve peace, stressing that Israel must decide either to integrate itself in the region through comprehensive peace or continue to stay fortress Israel and live with the resulting dangers.

In response to a question about Netanyahu's call for economic peace, King Abdullah rejected such calls, stressing that the only means to achieve peace is to fulfill the Palestinians' right to establish their independent state.

Asked about his experience with Netanyahu , the King said, 'My first experience was not a very pleasant one. We had major crisis between Jordan and Israel, the worst since the peace process.”

He also referred to his last meeting with Netanyahu in Amman in May during which the Israeli prime minister 'made promises of pursuing peace, but since then Israel has not moved on those promises.

Karzai 'will heed IEC ruling over vote'

The Afghan President's campaign team says Hamid Karzai will heed a ruling from election authorities despite earlier protests of western manipulation of the recount process.

"We have to wait for the final announcement through legal channels, which is the Independent Election Commission (IEC), and once the IEC announces the results then we are bound to accept it, based on the law," Karzai campaign spokesman, Waheed Omar said on Tuesday.

The statement came after the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) delivered a report Monday on investigations into ballot-stuffing. According to US monitors, nearly one million of Karzai's votes were fraudulent.

The report by the UN-backed Afghan watchdog shook Karzai's win in the key presidential elections by slashing his votes to 48 percent, lower than the 50 percent threshold necessary for unquestioned victory.

The ECC report would raise Abdullah's share of the vote to 31.5 percent and remove around 200,000 of Karzai's votes due to fraud, US-based Democracy International said.

This could mean the war-torn country needs to either persuade the rival camps to form a unity government to end two months of political chaos or hold a run-off between Karzai and his main rival, former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah within two weeks.

Omar's remarks are in contrast to his Saturday comments in which he accused foreigners of trying to manipulate the recount process, saying the new results would not be acceptable.

The Afghan president has been at loggerheads with Western powers over their handling of war in the violence-wracked country, blaming the US and NATO-led forces for causing a high civilian toll due to indiscriminate attacks against the alleged militants.

Karzai has also been under pressure over revelations regarding the foreign powers' role in expanding the insurgency throughout the country, including alleged shipments of Taliban insurgents by British choppers.

Karzai led the preliminary results with about 55 percent of the vote, while Abdullah came in second with an approximate 28 percent.

PKK rebels surrender to Turkey in support of peace

A group of Kurdish separatist rebels have turned themselves in to Turkish authorities in a sign of support for Ankara's peace efforts.

In a major breakthrough in the decades-long conflict between the Turkish state and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), eight members of the outlawed group crossed into Turkey from their refuge in Iraq on Monday in a gesture of support for the government's bid to resolve the conflict through democratic reform.

On their way, they were joined by 26 other Kurds and PKK supporters, including women and children, from a refugee camp in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq. Thousands of supporters waving PKK flags welcomed them in the town of Silopi as they crossed the border.

The refugees and militants were taken in for questioning upon arrival to determine whether they had committed any crimes.

The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), Turkey's only legal Kurdish party, said their surrender "shows that the PKK is insisting on peace not war."

The symbolic move by the PKK militants came in line with the government's efforts to end a 25-year conflict with the rebels (who want autonomy in southeast Turkey), by giving greater freedom to the 12-million-strong Kurdish minority in the region.

Ankara has promised to deal leniently with those willing to give up the armed struggle.

The PKK, based in northern Iraq, took up arms against Ankara in 1984. More than 45,000 people have lost their lives in the decades-long conflict.

Bush shoe thrower gets hero's welcome in EU

Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at the former US President George W. Bush, receives a 'hero's' welcome in Europe.

The 30-year-old journalist was warmly received on Monday during his visit to the Geneva press club in Switzerland.

During a press conference held upon his visit, al-Zeidi defended his 2008 iconic move (in which he targeted the ex-US president with his shoes), denouncing Washington's previous administration for killing around a million Iraqis in six-and-a-half years.

He also said that he was tortured while serving his nine-month prison term for attacking the former US president.

"I am one of the victims of the occupation," noted al-Zeidi.

The young journalist pledged to create a humanitarian foundation in Geneva to support victims of the war in his home country, AP reported.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=109118§ionid=351020201.

UN, Venezuela condemn terrorist attack in Iran

The United Nations and Venezuela have condemned a bloody terrorist attack, which killed dozens in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.

At least 42 people, including senior commanders from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Nour-Ali Shoushtari and Rajab-Ali Mohammadzadeh, were killed in a Sunday morning bombing carried out by the Pakistan-based Jundullah separatist group in Pishin, a borderline region in southeastern Iran.

"The secretary-general strongly condemns yesterday's terrorist attacks in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of Iran which resulted in the death of a large number of people and many injured," UN chief Ban Ki-moon's office said in a statement on Monday.

Venezuela also denounced the Sunday terror act, saying the South American government was a "revolutionary brother" of Iran.

A Venezuelan foreign ministry statement said that Caracas "energetically and decisively condemns the attack carried out against a meeting of community leaders and a group of commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps".

Britain, Pakistan and the US also have all condemned the terrorist attack and denied any involvement in the bombing, in which dozens were also injured.

Iran, however, says it has evidence that the deadly attack was launched from Pakistan and that the US and Britain aided the Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, said the presence of terrorist elements in Pakistan was 'unjustifiable' and urged Islamabad to 'quickly confront' the Jundullah terrorists.

The ring has been behind a torrent of bombings and terrorist attacks in Iran.

Iran urges Europe to revise past policies

Iran says Europe can establish better ties with the Islamic Republic by revising past approaches and adopting an independent strategy.

"Europe can revise its past attitudes (toward Iran) and adopt foreign policy independent (of the United States) to witness different relations (with Tehran) in the coming four years," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.

Mottaki says fair and constructive talks with Europe are in the best interests of both sides.

The Iranian foreign minister added that chilly relations between Iran and Europe have only served to the disadvantage of Europe, because Iran cut back on its trade volume with the continent.

Europe's alignment with US foreign policy has no future for the European Union, "because Iran reduced its trade volume with Europe and made great progress in its peaceful nuclear industry," he said.

US hints readiness for talks with North Korea

The United States has hinted willingness to hold direct discussions with North Korea in a bid to resume denuclearization of the communist state.

The US State Department's under-Secretary for East Asia, Kurt Campbell says that America seeks dialogue with the North Korean government, provided that Pyongyang "rapidly" returns to the six-nation talks.

"I think we were very clear that we would be prepared for, in the right circumstances at some point, some initial interaction that would lead rapidly to a six-party framework," noted the US official at a convention of America's influential foreign policy think tank, Council on Foreign Relations.

The announcement comes after an early October declaration by North Korea leader, Kim Jong-II who had expressed interest in US's direct participation in the country's nuclear negotiations.

The six-nation talks intended to dissuade North Korea from its nuclear status pursuit involved Russia, China, Japan, the Koreas and the United States.

However, Pyongyang has repeatedly demanded international recognition of its nuclear capabilities and tested two nuclear devices in the past two years in an order to demonstrate its membership in the so-called nuclear club of nations.

North Korea pulled out of the six-nation talks in April following a United Nations condemnation of the country's medium-range missile program and the imposition of economic sanctions on the North.

Pakistan cuts deal with anti-American militants

Amid an assault on Pakistan's pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda strongholds, the country's military has apparently reached a deal with two powerful anti-US tribal chiefs to stay out of the battle.

Under the agreement, the pro-Taliban chiefs, Mowlavi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur will stay neutral in parts of South Waziristan controlled by Pakistani militants. They will also let the army to move unrestricted through areas in their control, giving the military additional fronts and boosting chances of a victory.

The army in return will ease patrols and bombings in areas controlled by Nazir and Bahadur, the Associated Press quoted two Pakistani intelligence officials based in the region as saying.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said there was no agreement with the two men, but vaguely commented that "there is an understanding with them that they will not interfere in this war."

US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday he was unaware of such an agreement, but other US officials said the strategy is not surprising.

30,000 Pakistani troops are battling an estimated 11,500 pro-Taliban militants.

Iran holds funeral for terror victims

Iran has held a funeral ceremony for those killed in a terrorist attack in the south-eastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.

At least 42 people, including senior commanders from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Nour-Ali Shoushtari and Rajab-Ali Mohammadzadeh, were killed in a Sunday morning bombing during a gathering of Shia and Sunni tribal leaders in the borderline region of Pishin.

Iranians have taken to the streets of Zahedan city to bid the victims of the terrorist attack farewell.

The attack was carried out by the Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist group, which is led by Abdolmalik Rigi.

The head of the IRGC said on Monday that an Iranian delegation would head for Pakistan to present "proof" of US, Britain and Pakistan's involvement in the attack.

"Our security bodies have found evidence that proves the Rigi group is supported by American and British intelligence services and unfortunately the Pakistani intelligence service," said General Mohammad-Ali Jafari.

"He [Rigi] undoubtedly acts under their orders," he said, adding that the Iranian delegation would ask for Rigi to be handed over.

Britain, Pakistan and the US have all condemned the terrorist attack and denied any involvement in the bombing in which dozens were also injured.

India-US air force exercise begins in Agra

India and the United States' Air Forces begin a five-day exercise at India's Taj Mahal base demonstrating evidence of growing ties between the two militaries.

The exercise being conducted in Agra and code-named COPE-India-09', involves seven Indian planes and five US transport planes. The practice involves various techniques including airdrops and joint land to air missions.

The two countries planes taking part in the exercise are three C-130H Hercules, one C-17 Globemaster III, and one C-130J aircraft while the IAF (Indian Air Force) will field one IL-76 Gajraj, four AN-32 Sutlej, two MI-17 Pratap, and one Chetak Alouette III aircraft.

"The IAF Garuds (elite units) will train along with the US Air Force Special Operations force to validate concepts and interoperability for executing special operations in a simulated hostile environment," said Air Commodore Shouvik Roy, who is in overall charge of the Cope India exercise that concludes on Oct 24.

"The Garuds would be exposed to new fields such as para-rescue and combat search and rescue operations. This would help the Garuds to shape their future operational philosophy and training format and upgrade their equipment profile," he added.

Erdogan defends Iran's nuclear right

The Turkish prime minister defends Iran's right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology, saying that Iran's right is not 'questionable'.

Speaking at an Istanbul forum, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Tehran's nuclear activities should not be the only one under focus.

“Iran's nuclear program should not be the only one under focus, other countries possessing nuclear weapons should be questioned as well,” Hurriyet Daily News quoted Erdogan as saying.

He also called on the international community to ease its concern about Iran's nuclear program.

“I firmly believe that the international community's concern over Iran's nuclear program should be eased,” the premier added.

He also stressed Turkey's willingness to improve relations with Iran, saying his country will spare no efforts to help remove concerns over Iran's nuclear case.

Iran says it needs nuclear energy as solely aimed at producing electricity, and rejects Western allegations that the country is after atomic weapons.

“Yet, Iran's right for nuclear power with peaceful purposes should not be questioned either. We have a clear position on nuclear armament," he went on saying.

Erdogan appealed for a nuclear-free Middle East saying, "We do not want nuclear arms in our region. We don't want weapons of mass destruction in our region.”

Experts estimate that Israel has at least between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads, largely based on information leaked to the Sunday Times newspaper in the 1980s by Mordechai Vanunu, a former worker at the country's Dimona nuclear reactor.

Switzerland condemns deadly Iran bombing

Switzerland has condemned Sunday's terrorist attack in Iran that killed at least 41 people, including seven senior military commanders, in a southeastern borderline region.

The terrorist attack targeted a gathering of Shia and Sunni tribal leaders. It was carried out by the Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist group in Pishin.

Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Monday, saying the country "deplores the loss of human lives and presents its condolences to the members of the victims' families."

The ministry also appealed "for differences of opinion to be resolved by means of dialogue and not by violence."

Two senior commanders from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Nour-Ali Shoushtari and Rajab-Ali Mohammadzadeh, were among those killed in the atrocity. 28 people remain wounded and in critical condition.

Iran has vowed to deliver a crushing response to the culprits who carried out the attack. Britain, Pakistan and the US have denied having involvements in the terrorist act.

US scientist nabbed over attempted 'spying' for Israel

An American scientist with military and aerospace industry know-how has been arrested over charges of 'espionage' for Israel.

The US Department of Justice announced the arrest of former National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Department of Defense scientist, Stewart David Nozette, for his "attempts" to hand over Pentagon papers to an unnamed Israeli secret service agent.

In a Monday statement, the Justice Department confirmed the 52-year-old scientist's detention for "attempted espionage for knowingly and willfully attempting to communicate, deliver, and transmit classified information relating to the national defense of the United States to an individual that Nozette believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer," AFP reported.

"From 1989 through 2006, Nozette held security clearances as high as top secret and had regular, frequent access to classified information and documents related to the US national defense," the statement read.

Nozette offered to "answer questions about this information in exchange for money," the report adds.

"In addition, Nozette allegedly offered to reveal additional classified information that directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, and other major weapons systems," the US legal body noted in the statement.

Meanwhile, David Kris, a legal official for US national security deemed the behavior as a serious offense and said, "The conduct alleged in this complaint is serious and should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider compromising our nation's secrets for profit," AFP quoted him as saying.

Nozette was detained in Washington on Monday and is due to stand trial on Tuesday.

The accused scientist, who also worked on a NASA moon project and accessed the Department of Energy's documents on atomic materials, might get a life sentence if convicted.

US drone shot down over Somalia: Report

Mon Oct 19, 2009

Al-Shabaab militants say they have shot down an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flying over Somalia's southern port of Kismayu.

The group's spokesman said on Monday that the American drone was conducting "spy operations" and was shot down. "We think the plane fell into the sea", said Sheikh Hassan Yacqub, and added they were searching for the wreckage.

Kismayu residents routinely report suspected US drones flying over the port. The drones are believed to be launched from warships in the Indian Ocean.

However, a spokesman for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, rejected the al-Shabaab report saying all its unmanned aerial vehicles had been safely recovered but could not give further details, Reuters reported.

Al-Shabaab controls much of the southern and central parts of Somalia, where it is waging an insurgency against the fragile UN-backed government.

Domestic clashes in Somalia have killed 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007, and have made some 1.5 million homeless.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109095.html.

Libya eyes Russian fighter jets with $1b deal

Mon Oct 19, 2009

Libya is reportedly eying to purchase over 20 military aircraft, including fighter jets, from Russia in a deal estimated to be worth around one billion dollars.

Russia's Interfax news agency quotes an unnamed official on Monday as saying that following preliminary agreements, the complete deal is likely to be signed by 2010.

"Libya is planning to buy 12 to 15 Su-35 multi-purpose fighters, four Su-30s and six Yak-130 combat training planes from Russia," AFP quoted the source as saying, citing the Russian news agency.

The deal is said to have been put forth by North African state's leader Muammar Gadhafi during his visit to Moscow late last year.

"Many of the contracts are already fairly well worked out from a technical viewpoint and are practically ready for signing. The financial aspects still need to be resolved," the source added.

Earlier in October, Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said the country has five ongoing military contracts with Libya.

"The contracts involve military equipment for the Ground Forces and the Navy, including the modernization of T-72 tanks, and the general supply of spare parts for the above-mentioned branches of the Armed Forces," official RIA Novosti news agency quoted Alexander Mikheyev, deputy general director of the exporter, as saying.

The oil-rich Libya, which has had decades of arms and military cooperation with Russia, built its military arsenal with significant purchases from the Soviet Union in the last year of the Cold War.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109086.html.

Iranian films got to Bulgarian festival

The 2009 edition of the Filmini International Short Film Festival has screened short films and animations by Iranian directors.

Mehdi Torfi's Cinema Azadi, Merhdad Sheikhan's Solitude, Omid Abdulah's Between Two Dreams, Mahmoud Mahmani's Zero-degree Orbit, Ahmad Saraf-Yazd's Rain, Roqavveh Tavakkolis's Party and Kazem Ismaili-Dehkordi's My Time Melodies were screened in the Focuses section.

The Bulgarian festival includes competition and non-competition film programs, retrospectives and tributes aiming to contribute to the promotion and production of artistic short films.

Fiction, animation, fiction-animation, fiction-experimental and animation-experimental productions completed after Jan. 1st 2008 and less than 20 minutes long participated in the festival.

The third edition of the Filmini International Short Film Festival kicked off on Oct. 14 and will close on Oct. 18 in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

Karzai may face run-off vote with Abdullah

The chance of a run-off to end Afghanistan's political crisis has increased after Electoral Complaints Commission shows that almost 1.3 million votes are invalid.

The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) fraud watchdog submitted a long-awaited ruling on voting irregularities in the Afghan August poll on Monday, calling for the invalidation of ballots from 210 polling stations.

Democracy International, a US election monitor, noted that based on the figures released by the ECC, Karzai's share of the vote, from about 55 percent in the preliminary results, has been trimmed to 48 percent, below the threshold for an outright victory.

The ECC said in a statement that the Afghan election authorities were now "responsible for adjusting candidates' vote totals, in accordance with the ECC decision, before certifying the final result."

Preliminary figures by Afghanistan's own Independent Election Commission gave President Hamid Karzai 54.6 percent of the votes and Abdullah Abdullah 28 percent.

Under the Afghan law, the Independent Election Commission must accept the ECC findings, adjust the election tally, and announce the concluding outcome.

The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan had earlier voiced reservations about the interference of foreign nations and the UN in the election process of the country, insisting that the Afghan Commission is well able to sort out the voting irregularities and come up with an accurate count.

It is widely believed that Western nations, which have deployed their forces in Afghanistan as part of the NATO force, favor Abdullah Abdullah for the Afghan presidency and have insisted on second round elections ever since the tallies pointed to a Karzai victory.

A number of Western leaders have recently visited Afghanistan to ensure that the Karzai government won't resist a second round election, a difficult and risky task amid worsening weather conditions in the rugged territories of the country, not to mention the deteriorating security situation.

ElBaradei says Vienna talks 'constructive'

Talks between Iran and world powers on a uranium supply deal 'got off to a good start' and were 'constructive', the head of the UN nuclear watchdog says.

“We're off to a good start. We have had a constructive meeting. Most technical issues have been discussed. We will continue the meeting at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday),” Mohamed ElBaradei said on Monday after a meeting between delegations from Iran, France, Russia and the US at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna.

The talks were centered on the terms of a deal to supply highly-enriched uranium for an Iranian research reactor.

Earlier reports said France had been removed from the list of potential suppliers of highly enriched uranium for Iran due to Paris' failure to 'deliver its nuclear materials (to Iran) in the past'.

Iran's envoy to the IAEA Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, who headed the Iranian delegation in the talks, did not comment on the reports.

"I endorse what the DG (Director General ElBaradei) said," Soltaniyeh said after the meeting, which ended just before 6 pm (1600 GMT).

Top ETA leader arrested in France

French police say they have nabbed two senior members of the outlawed Basque separatist group, ETA, including a senior 'joint political leader,' amid stepped up operations in France and Spain.

One of the couples detained on Monday in the town of Carnac, on the northwestern coast, is Aitor Elizaran Aguilar, whom police officials regard as the co-leader of the political arm of the group, a Spanish anti-terrorism source told AFP.

He was arrested along with another suspected senior member, Oihana San Vicente, in a car. Both men were armed at the time of their arrest.

Spain and France have joint forces and made several high-profile arrests since last year, when the group's number one, Francisco Javier Lopez Pena, known as Thierry, was arrested in May.

Both European courtiers are seeking to put an end to the 41-year campaign by the Basque rebels, who have been blamed for terrorist attacks and more than 820 deaths.

Aguilar is thought to have been "elevated" to ETA political leadership following Pena's arrest, anti-terror sources told Spanish news agency Efe.

Some 10 senior members of the ETA's banned political wing, Batasuna, were arrested in Spain last week.

In 2008 police in France arrested ETA's suspected military leader, Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, and two of his suspected successors were detained in France within the space of a few weeks.

Recent peace talks with the group that is fighting for a separate Basque state comprising four northern Spanish provinces and three provinces in south-west France have failed.

France removed from Iran uranium suppliers

France has been removed from the list of potential suppliers of highly enriched uranium for Iran, as talks are underway in Vienna between Tehran and three world powers.

Press TV had been earlier informed by sources close to the meeting that Iran might remove France from the list of bidders as Paris has failed 'to deliver its nuclear materials in the past'.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei opened the meeting earlier on Monday in which delegations from Moscow, Paris, Tehran and Washington and the IAEA experts are present to discuss a deal to supply highly-enriched uranium for an Iranian research reactor.

Iran's IAEA envoy Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh will head the Tehran delegation in the talks, which are expected to run into Tuesday.

Western countries have proposed that Tehran exchange its low-level uranium with higher level.

However, Iran wants to directly buy highly-enriched uranium without sending its own low-level uranium out of the country.

The Vienna meeting follows agreements between Iran and the world's six major powers on October 1, when Iran agreed to discuss the purchase of highly-enriched uranium.

Iran, however, has warned that should the Vienna talks fail, it will opt to enrich uranium to the 20 percent it needs for the research reactor in Tehran.

Russia ready to join Iran anti-terror fight

After Jundallah terrorist ring carried out a bloody attack in southeastern Iran, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed readiness to help Iran fight "terrorism".

"The fight against the threat of terrorism and the extremism wherever it comes from requires all countries to join their forces," Medvedev said in a letter of condolence to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday.

"We are ready to cooperate with the Islamic Republic of Iran to counter these threats," he added.

Medvedev said the attack quivered him with "indignation" and condemned "this new evildoing by extremists".

His remarks came after at least 42 people, including senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed by an explosion in the borderline city of Pishin in Sistan-Baluchistan on Sunday.

The Pakistan-based terrorist group Jundallah, a closely affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda organization, accepted responsibility for the deadly attack which occurred during a unity conference between Sunni and Shia tribal leaders.

The ring, led by Abdolmalik Rigi, has staged a torrent of bombings and terrorist attacks in Iran.

The Asia Times reported in May that al-Qaeda militants sought to establish an alliance with the exiled Jundallah to fulfill longstanding plans of creating a strategic corridor in the region and lay the foundation for joint regional operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.

Another report posted by the US-based ABC News also revealed that the US officials had advised Jundallah to 'stage deadly guerrilla raids inside the Islamic Republic, kidnap Iranian officials and execute them on camera', all as part of a systematic objective to overthrow the Iranian government'.

In a recent interview with Press TV, Rigi's brother, Abdulhamid, confirmed that the Jundallah leader had established links with the US agents.

His brother said that in just one of his meetings with the US operatives, Rigi had received $100,000 to fuel sectarianism in Iran.

Saudi fire 'hits' market in north Yemen

Shia fighters in Yemen say Saudi forces have fired into a northern border town in support of the government's offensive against them.

The fighters say the Saudi forces hit a market full of people in Hasama with heavy weapons. The alleged attack signals increasing Saudi interference in south of its borders.

The Yemeni government, which is accused of receiving military support from Saudi Arabia by the fighters, launched an operation against the Houthis in August.

The massive operation near the border with Saudi Arabia seeks to crush the Houthis who accuse the government of neglect and discrimination against the Shia minority in the country, accounting for almost 30 percent of the country's population.

The fighting has displaced thousands of civilians in the area.

A Yemini-based UN refugee officer, Andrew Knight, said about 65,000 displaced people are in the northwestern province of Hajjah and an estimated 55,000 people are still living in Saada, mostly in abandoned buildings, in the mountains and on roadsides in the war zone.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=109085§ionid=351020206.

'US uses oil to change China's stance on Iran'

The US administration is pressing key Arab states to export more oil to China to gain Beijing's support for sanctions on Iran, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

According to an article appearing in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, the initiative aims to lessen China's dependence on Iranian energy and trim Chinese resistance to tougher sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program.

The newspaper claims US President Barack Obama hopes to get Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to boost their oil exports to China in order to convince Beijing to distance itself from Tehran both politically and economically.

The Wall Street Journal has quoted unnamed US and Emirati officials as saying that the UAE has recently agreed, in a move coordinated with Washington, to boost its oil exports to China to between 150,000 and 200,000 barrels a day, while Saudi Arabia is apparently prepared to offer China more oil.

Meanwhile, the newspaper says many diplomats and Middle East analysts are doubtful that the US and the Arab states will succeed over the long term in breaking Beijing's dependence on Iranian oil and gas.

The experts argue that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are both obliged to export oil by quotas established by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). They question how the two countries could significantly boost exports to China without surpassing the set quotas.

Beijing is the second-largest buyer of Iranian oil. The Asian giant has pledged tens of billions of dollars in new investment in Iran's oil and gas infrastructure in coming years.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao scaled down US hopes for broad cooperation on Iran last week following a meeting last week with Iranian First Vice President Reza Rahimi.

China is willing "to maintain high-level contacts with Iran, encourage mutual understanding and confidence, promote practical cooperation between the two sides and close coordination in international affairs," Wen said in Beijing on Thursday.

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly rejected Western allegations that it has a secret nuclear weapons program.

UN General Assembly debates Israel war crimes

After the UN Human Rights Council's endorsement of a report accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza, the UN General Assembly announced plans to debate the issue.

A UN spokesman said Monday that assembly president, Ali Triki has decided to hold a session to discuss a report by international war crimes prosecutor, Richard Goldstone, this year.

"Triki will conduct consultations with the concerned parties and the chairs of the regional and other groups in order to set the appropriate date for the Assembly to consider the report," said Jean-Victor Nkolo.

The decision was made after the 47-member UNHRC adopted a resolution last week endorsing the Goldstone report, which accuses the Israeli army of deliberately killing Palestinian civilians and using disproportionate force during the three-week Gaza war, despite efforts by Israeli officials to block the motion.

Twenty-five countries voted for the resolution, while six, including the US, were against. Eleven countries abstained, including the UK and France.

The report calls for the prosecution of senior Israeli officials in the International Criminal Court at The Hague if Tel Aviv fails to launch its own investigations into the Gaza war under international scrutiny within six months.

Tel Aviv has condemned the resolution, claiming the Goldstone report was one-sided and biased against Israel.

More than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed during Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" at the beginning of the year, according to UN figures.

US rebuffs Japan's request over military pact

The US insists on maintaining its 2006 military agreement with the previous Japanese administration despite Tokyo's request for a review of the deal on the presence of US forces.

"There are really, as far as we're concerned, no alternatives to the arrangement that was negotiated," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters on his plane bound for Tokyo.

Under the accord, the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Base would be closed and a new US base built in a coastal area of Okinawa by 2014, with about 8,000 Marines transferred off the island to Guam.

"We've looked over the years at all of these alternatives and they are either politically untenable or operationally unworkable," Gates said ahead of his two-day visit on Tuesday.

Japan's new center-left government that came to power last month has struck a more independent stance towards Washington.

Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said that the two countries should maintain flexibility on the 2006 agreement.

Japanese people and authorities have been infuriated with crimes committed by US service personnel on the southern island of Okinawa, host to a huge US military presence.

In mid February 2008, 38-year-old US Marine, Tyrone Hadnott, was arrested over the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl on the island. The news, reminding another similar case in 1995, jolted the US-Japan alliance.

Okinawa hosts more than half of the 47,000 American troops stationed in Japan.

In another move to show independence from its old ally, Washington, Tokyo has also announced it would no longer carry out a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of the controversial war in Afghanistan.

Hatoyama's party, which has spoken out against abetting "American wars," had long opposed the mission and the premier has suggested Tokyo will find other non-military means to contribute to the eight-year-old conflict.

Indonesia's Yudhoyono sworn in for 2nd term

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been sworn in for another five-year term following his sweeping victory at the polls in July.

"By Allah I swear I will adhere to the constitution as faithfully as possible, and will commit myself to the country and the people," Yudhoyono said on Tuesday during a ceremony at the House of Representatives' building in Jakarta.

The event, which was held in the capital amid tight security, was attended by the leaders of Australia, Brunei, East Timor, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as senior officials from around the world.

Yudhoyono took power in 2004 after beating former President, Megawati Sukarnoputri.

He repeated his victory in the July 8 presidential vote by securing 34 percent more than his opponent, Sukarnoputri, who ran against him as chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

The 60-year-old head of the world's most populous Muslim state, who has earned a reputation for his fight against corruption, is now facing the need to enact bureaucratic reforms, fix infrastructure, amend labor laws, and attract investment.

He has also vowed to steer Southeast Asia's biggest economy -- third only to China and India in the G20 club of rich and developing countries -- through the global recession.

Moderate Yudhoyono, whose 34-seat cabinet is widely expected to see a broad coalition of secular and Islamic parties, is scheduled to announce the line-up on Wednesday.

Mottaki: Foreign spy agencies cause Iran attacks

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said that sporadic conflicts in eastern parts of the country are caused by foreign agents.

"They are resident in Pakistan but violate border [regulations] of Iran and Pakistan," said Mottaki in a press conference on Tuesday.

"They have links with intelligence services which are settled in the regional countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan," he added.

At least 41 people, including seven ranking commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), were killed in an explosion during a unity conference between Sunni and Shia tribal leaders in the borderline city of Pishin in southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan Province on Sunday.

The Pakistan-based terrorist group Jundallah, a closely affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda organization, accepted responsibility for the deadly attack.

Mottaki said terrorists are moving in the same path they pursued in Iraq's Basra.

"In Basra, British forces were in contact with certain terrorist groups and hold [training] courses for them," he said.

"When Iranian authorities presented evidence about the issue, the British forces were forced to cut their links with terrorists in southern Iraq and left the area," the Iranian minister said.

Mottaki advised British forces " not to repeat their mistakes in southern Iraq in eastern parts of Iran."

He pointed to steps taken by the Pakistani government in improving relations with Tehran over the past year and said, "Extradition of the arrested criminals to Iran was the beginning of this trend while a number of others are still kept in prison (in Pakistan)."

In June 2008, Pakistani authorities handed over Abdolhamid Rigi, brother of the notorious terrorist leader Abdolmalek Rigi, to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari agreed on Monday to set a timetable for adopting "effective" measures regarding the criminals and their leaders.

President Ahmadinejad, in a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart, said the presence of terrorist elements in Pakistan was 'unjustifiable' and urged Islamabad to 'quickly confront' Jundallah terrorists.

Mottaki said an Iranian delegation will be dispatched to Pakistan to discuss ways to "cut the hands of rioters and their allies."

The Jundallah ring, led by Abdolmalik Rigi, has staged a torrent of bombings and terrorist attacks in Iran.

In a recent interview with Press TV, Rigi's brother, Abdulhamid, confirmed that the Jundallah leader had established links with the US agents.

His brother said that in just one of his meetings with the US operatives, Rigi had received $100,000 to fuel sectarianism in Iran.

Twin blasts strike Islamabad univeristy

Two explosions have ripped through a university building in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, leaving at least one person killed and 13 others injured.

The blasts took place within a few minutes at the Islamic International University in the east of the Pakistani capital, AFP quoted officials for the emergency response department as saying.

Pakistan's state PTV reported that the attack killed one and injured 13 others.

The incident comes amid a military offensive against the Taliban-linked insurgents in South Waziristan province where more than 25,000 security forces have been deployed to weed out militancy.

Por-Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants are often blamed for terror attacks and bombings across the violence-stricken country.

Nuclear scientist among Hizb-ut-Tahrir members arrested in Islamabad

Islamabad, Oct. 20 : A Pakistani nuclear scientist is among 32 members of banned terror organization Hizb- ut-Tahrir who were arrested from Islamabad on Sunday.

Rizwan Aleem, a nuclear scientist and a PhD student at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology is currently being interrogated by the Islamabad Police.

According to Daily Times, the arrested activists also include a USAID official and an environmental scientist.

Abid Mehmood is an officer of a United States Agency for International Development while Aman Hamza is an environmental scientist.

According to sources, all the members are likely to be handed over to intelligence agencies for further interrogation.

Nearly, all the 32 are highly qualified persons such as computer engineers, telecom engineers, environment scientists, civil engineers, businessman and an officer of US-Aid project.

They have been booked under Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

Hate literature and other objectionable materials were also recovered during the raid on Sunday.

"The government had banned the outfit and barred its activities but the organization was working secretly and creating unrest among the public through the SMS and statements. The arrested activists have been charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act," Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Syed Kaleem Imam had said.

Study reveals how 'world's toughest bacterium' survives lethal radiation

Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as "the world's toughest bacterium," Deinococcus radiodurans can withstand extreme temperatures and drought conditions, lack of nutrients and a thousand times more radiation than a human being.

A new study by Cornell researchers reveals that nitric oxide -- a gas molecule used in many metabolic processes in animals and a pollutant in the atmosphere that leads to smog -- plays a key role in D. radiodurans' recovery when exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UV).

The study, appearing online Oct. 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may have implications for why and how nitric oxides act as signals in mammals for cell-to-cell communication, dilation of the vascular system and activating the immune system; in bacterial responses to antibiotic treatments; and in food safety efforts as D. radiodurans appears in some canned foods. The organism is also studied for use in environmental cleanup of sites contaminated with radiation and toxic chemicals.

Brian Crane, a Cornell associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology, and colleagues, discovered a gene in D. radiodurans that, when exposed to UV radiation, increases production of an enzyme responsible for creating nitric oxide. They then engineered bacteria without this gene. When zapped by radiation, the engineered bacteria repaired themselves but failed to grow and proliferate.

"Bacteria are much more sensitive to radiation damage when nitric oxide is not there," said Crane, the paper's senior author. Bhumit Patel, a graduate student in Crane's lab, is the paper's first author. "If you block the nitric oxide signal, the cell will repair but [will] not divide," Crane added.

In addition, the researchers were surprised to find that removing nitric oxide increased sensitivity to radiation but had no effect on the bacteria's ability to withstand other stressors, including exposure to oxidative damage that leads to toxic free radicals.

They also found that under normal circumstances there is a time lag in the process, where radiation exposure induces the cell to repair itself, but it takes a few hours for these bacteria to produce nitric oxide, which then activates a gene involved in cell proliferation and stress responses. "Nitric oxide seems to coordinate this growth response, but it's curious that the bacteria will wait to grow until they have repaired themselves," said Crane. "We don't know why it works this way, but there are analogies in human cells [for other processes]. There may be related pathways for controlling cell growth in animal cells."

Former ambassador criticises Israeli response to Goldstone report

Osnabrueck - Israel's former ambassador to Germany, Avi Primor, criticised his country's response to the Goldstone report on the Gaza conflict in a newspaper interview Monday. The Israeli government was wrong to boycott the investigation led by South African war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, Primor told German daily Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.

"We should submit our position, our arguments and not stay away," Primor said.

The Goldstone report accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes against civilians during this year's 22-day conflict that ended January 18.

The former diplomat said that, while everybody in Israel rejected the report, nobody dared to ignore it. "People speak out vehemently against it, but know it can't be disregarded," he told the paper.

Primor said that Goldstone also took the wrong approach in his report, presented to the UN Human Rights Council.

"(Goldstone) would more likely be accepted in Israel if he had tried to be more balanced," Primor said, adding that Hamas had unleashed the Gaza war by firing missiles Israel for weeks on end.

"If Mr Goldstone had described Hamas as war criminals and then criticized the way that Israel conducted this war, it would have been received differently by us," Primor added.

He said a Middle East peace deal was possible, but not realistic in coming years, since "Palestinians and Israelis are far too weak to dare to make concessions."

The only way a peace deal could be implemented was if the international community became involved to a far greater extent than it had done to date, Primor said.

India's tough visa policy upsets Russia

A recent decision by the Home Ministry to get tough on visas for foreign workers was meant to target the thousands of unskilled Chinese workers who came on business visas, but the move has hit other countries as well.

Sources say that Russia is especially upset since thousands of Russian workers come to India and the Ministry of External Affairs is now locked in a tussle with the Home Ministry to get the rules relaxed.

As per the sources, the move affects Russians who come to work in various fields from defense to nuclear power plants, like the Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu.

Russia is a very important strategic partner for India, which is why the foreign office is pushing its case.

Moon mission scientists 'blown away' by data

NASA | Team analyzing results of spacecraft's impact

LOS ANGELES -- NASA's much-hyped mission to hurl a spacecraft into the moon yielded some worthwhile data after all, scientists said.

New images show a mile-high plume of lunar debris from the Cabeus crater shortly after the space agency's Centaur rocket struck Oct. 9.

"We were blown away by the data returned," Anthony Colaprete, the mission's chief scientist, said Friday from the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., which managed the launch. "The team is working hard on the analysis, and the data appear to be of very high quality."

In media coverage before the impact, many observers said they were disappointed at the lack of spectacle.

But scientists said the mission was carried out for "a scientific purpose, not to put on a fireworks display for the public," said space consultant Alan Stern, a former NASA associate administrator for science.

By creating the debris cloud, scientists were able to use the $79 million Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite to sample and study the dust.

But Michio Kaku, a professor at the City College of New York and host of "Sci Q Sundays" on the Science Channel, said NASA may be jumping the gun in calling the results "a smashing success."

"To be a spectacular success, we had to find large quantities of underground ice," Kaku said Saturday.

Finding significant amounts of water on the moon would be a major discovery, making eventual colonization easier.

Lebanon’s president begins three-day state visit to Spain

MADRID - Lebanon’s President Michel Sleiman began Monday a three-day state visit to Spain with a meeting with Spanish King Juan Carlos.

Sleiman will on Monday meet with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who wrapped up a tour of the Middle East on Friday with a stop in Lebanon that included talks with the Lebanese president.

He will wrap up his visit Wednesday with a visit to the future headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona, which represents over 40 nations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Sleiman, who is accompanied by Lebanon’s defense, tourism and foreign ministers, is to discuss the Middle East peace process and bilateral relations with Spanish officials during his visit.

About one thousand Spanish soldiers are deployed with the United Nations Interim Forces in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL).

UNIFIL, which was set up in 1978 to monitor the border between Israel and southern Lebanon, was considerably beefed up in the wake of the 2006 war between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas.

It currently has 13,000 soldiers from various nationalities and it is headed by Italian General Claudio Graziano. Spain is seeking to take the helm of the force in February 2010.

China projects Kashmir as a separate country

KATHMANDU: Besides issuing separate visas to Indian passport holders from Jammu and Kashmir, China is also projecting the disputed territory as an independent country in other ways.

Visitors to Tibet, especially journalists invited by the Chinese government, are given handouts where Kashmir is indicated as a country separate from India.

Media kits providing "basic information" about Tibet - which China attacked and annexed in the 1950s - says Tibet "borders with India, Nepal, Myanmar and Kashmir area".

Except the "Kashmir area", the other three are sovereign countries.

Maps too, available in China, Myanmar and Nepal, show an India denuded of Kashmir.

Also, China's policy of extending assistance to only the government of a country indicates it considers India's nuclear rival and neighbor Pakistan to be in control of Pakistan-administered Kashmir by offering financial assistance to build a dam on the Indus river there.

China, now locked in a row with India, is also asking for the tightening of the open border between India and Nepal that, it says, is abetting anti-China activities and demonstrations by Tibetans crossing into Nepal from India.

Beijing is also indirectly asking for the closure of the seat of the Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of the Tibetans, in Dharamshala in India, hinting that such a step would improve India-China relations.

China, which fought a war with India in 1962, says Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it. India says it is an integral and inalienable part of India.

On the eve of the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh in November, China has been hurrying Nepal to deploy armed security forces along the border between northern Nepal and Tibet.

Both Nepal's Home Minister Bhim Rawal and Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal recently visited Mustang, the northernmost district in Nepal to assess the security plan.

Mustang was once both part of an ancient Tibetan kingdom and later the base of anti-China guerrilla attacks by Tibet's Khampa warriors.

Fire ants rise to surface in Dallas

DALLAS, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The Dallas area is swarming with fire ants, forced up from their subterranean homes by unusually wet weather lately, parks department officials said.

The number of fire ant mounds, containing hundreds of thousands of the insects, increased markedly in the past week, The Dallas Morning News reported Saturday.

The department was unable to treat the area for ants earlier because of the bad weather, which included hail storms, said Dave Strueber, the department's assistant director.

"Even in the driest weather, they can be really nasty, but this brings out the worst in them," Strueber said.

Fire ant swarms can cover part of a person's body undetected and then, all together, grasp the skin by biting down -- and they sting, the newspaper said.

The imported ants came to the United States more than 50 years ago in soil used as ballast in cargo ships from South America.

Texas has been especially hard hit by the ants, which can destroy crops and speed soil erosion.

American farmers spend almost $9 billion a year on pesticides to fight the ants, the U.S. Census Bureau says.

Fatah hits out at Hamas over stalled unity deal

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’ Fatah party lashed out at the Islamist Hamas movement on Monday, blaming it for the failure of an Egypt-proposed Palestinian unity agreement.

The vitriol came as Abbas prepared to leave for Egypt later on Monday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday on the reconciliation process.

“Hamas has a bigger stock of lies than Netanyahu,” Mohammed Dahlan, a senior Fatah official, told reporters in Ramallah, referring to the right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“They got everything they asked for in the Egyptian document, and we in Fatah knew that our position would draw fire from the sons of Fatah... But despite all this we agreed to it,” he said.

“Hamas has thwarted all efforts. They have frustrated us and Egypt.”

Egypt has been struggling to broker a reconciliation agreement between the two main Palestinian factions for months and this month proposed an agreement that would see new elections held in June.

Fatah has signed the agreement while Hamas has repeatedly postponed its official response, saying it needs more time to mull the deal.

Dahlan insisted that in the absence of a deal Abbas would call elections for January in accordance with the constitution.

“We have taken our final decision to go to elections at the constitutionally appointed time... because we respect the law,” he said.

The bitter divisions between Fatah and Hamas go back to the start of limited Palestinian self-rule in the 1990s, when Fatah strongmen cracked down on the Islamist militant group.

Their divisions boiled over in June 2007 when Hamas — which had won parliamentary elections a year before — drove Abbas’ loyalists from Gaza in a week of bloody clashes, seizing control of the impoverished territory.

Top operative of Al-Qaeda in north Africa killed

2009-10-19

Louzai killed by Algerian forces in operation close to town of El Bayadh, southwest Algeria.

ALGIERS - An armed Islamist killed by government forces earlier this month in southwest Algeria has been identified as Mourad Louzai, a commander of Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch, a security source said Sunday.

Louzai, 43, was killed by Algerian forces on October 7 in an operation close to the town of El Bayadh, some 600 kilometers (400 miles) from the capital of Algiers.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which sees itself as the north African wing of Osama bin Laden's network, emerged out of the Algerian fundamentalist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.

The Islamist fighters have sought to extend their range into nations on the southern edge of the Sahara and have claimed several attacks in the region.

On June 18, they claimed to have carried out an attack at Bordj Bou Arreridj, southeast of Algiers, killing 18 police officers and one civilian.

It was one of the biggest to date by Islamists in Algeria since the suicide bombing of a police academy killed 48 people in August 2008.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=35075.

U.S. Navy pushes green fleet

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Navy officials laid out a series of initiatives intended to change the way the force uses energy, including the increased use of renewable resources.

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus unveiled a series of measures at an energy forum in Virginia. The measures include a shift toward long-term energy savings, the increased use of hybrid and electric vehicles and the creation of a so-called Green Strike Group composed of nuclear- and biofuel-powered vessels.

The U.S. Department of Defense is the largest consumer of petroleum products in the United States, using roughly 330,000 barrels of oil per day. The U.S. Navy is the second-largest consumer in the Department of Defense, while the majority of energy transports fall within its security objectives.

The Office of Naval Research and the Navy's Task Force Energy organized the event to review energy strategies as part of a push toward environmentally friendly and cost-efficient methods.

"We have led the world in the adoption of new energy strategies in the past," said Mabus. "This is our legacy."

Somalia: Eritrea's Negative Role is Unacceptable

18 October 2009

Often, the Ethiopian government is blamed for its military interventions in parts of Somalia. Rightfully so, since Ethiopian troops occupied Mogadishu in a period (2007-2008) marked by some of the worst violence witnessed during the ongoing Somali civil war. The Ethiopian government has a genuine stake in Somali affairs, given that flames from a neighbor's burning house affects the overall political stability of the Horn of Africa region.

For Eritrea, a tiny country with 3.5 million people, the motivations for interventionism in Somalia are different and so are the tactics. That Horn of Africa rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea are fighting a "proxy war" inside Somali borders - and thereby contributing to the misery of the Somali people - is an undeniable fact. While Ethiopia supports the "secular" Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia, the Eritrean government has actively armed, trained and financed Somali insurgent factions claiming to fight for an "Islamist" cause.

The recent history of Somali Islamists has been tarnished by political sub-divisions, diverse interpretation of Islamic teachings, and an overall bloodthirsty attitude that radically transformed them from the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) heroes of 2006 to today's homicidal maniacs who exact extreme punishments for small crimes and fight over land and resources, just like the clan militias of yesteryear.

When the TFG changed and new President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed came to power in Jan. 2009, Ethiopia changed its strategic support for the TFG in Mogadishu and has resumed tacit support for independent militias, most notably the Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a militia faction that has emerged as a military power in central Somalia, particularly Galgadud region. Ethiopia is threatened by the outward expansion of Islamist hardliners, especially Al Shabaab guerrillas, and support for groups such as Ahlu Sunnah is a way of neutralizing Al Shabaab.

But Eritrea has not changed its strategy and continues to regard the TFG as a Western plot, with Ethiopian endorsement, to take charge of Somalia and to install a pro-West regime. For Eritrea, supporting the Somali insurgents to keep its Ethiopian enemy on edge is part of a wider war with Ethiopia over control of a small border town. Publicly, the Eritrean government's message of aiming to "liberate" Somalia resonate well with most Somalis, who are disappointed with the catastrophic failures of the TFG leadership in Mogadishu. But realistically, Eritrea is playing a negative role to keep Somalia embroiled in a devastating war - which is a shame really, since the Somali government helped Eritrean rebels during their 30-year liberation war against Ethiopia.

The international community should send a strong signal to Eritrea, that fomenting wars in Somalia and supporting anti-government elements is unacceptable, since Eritrea's negative role is contrary to international efforts to help restore national order in Somalia.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200910191626.html.

Jordan to float tender for $5bn rail network

The Jordanian Minister of Transport has said that a tender will be floated next year for a $5bn national railway network, the Jordan Times has reported. The network aims to place Jordan as a regional logistics centre and connect the kingdom with neighboring countries and develop trade, he said.

Lebanon receives Egypt gas to run Deir Ammar plant

BEIRUT: Caretaker Energy and Water Minister Alain Tabourian announced on Monday that Egypt has started delivering natural gas to Deir Ammar power station in the north, stressing that this move will allow Lebanon to save up to $240 million on its energy bill alone each year. Speaking at a press conference, Tabourian said that the first unit in the station is now operational and President Michel Sleiman and several Arab ministers will officially inaugurate the gas-fired station in a month and half.

“After we made sure of the safety of the gas pipeline, the Egyptian natural gas was finally siphoned to Deir Ammar station,” the minister said.

Tabourian indicated that after a 14-year hiatus, Deir Ammar plant is now operating on gas and this has several important aspects such as better protection of the environment and above all the cost is much cheaper.

Nearly all of the country’s power stations run on gas and fuel oil, adding an enormous financial burden on the cash-strapped treasury.

The Finance Ministry complains that the deficit of Electricite du Liban (EDL) is more than $1.2 billion a year, representing the third-largest spending item after the cost of debt servicing and salary of public staff.

“I am proud that as energy minister we were able to achieve one of the main goals in the ministerial statement,” Tabourian said.

But the minister stressed that the Egyptian gas does not mean that the electricity capacity will increase.

“This has nothing to do with increasing capacity. It will only reduce cost,” he explained.

He added that if the price of a barrel of oil stood at $75 then Lebanon can save $240 million.

Tabourian added that if Lebanon managed to transform another plant into gas then the savings will be even greater.

Hezbollah lauds Israeli spy finds

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Hezbollah declared a major victory for its resistance movement against Israel following the discovery of Israeli spy devices in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah said it "managed to uncover a spy device" in south Lebanon that it claimed Israel planted following the 34-day conflict with militants in the Shiite resistance movement in 2006.

"The spying gear was planted on a telecommunication cable that was placed after the 2006 July war," Hezbollah said in statements on its al-Manar news network. "Right after the device was discovered, the Israeli enemy remotely destroyed the gear."

Hezbollah said it was upset with language issued by the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon saying the devices were "apparently" placed by Israeli forces. Hezbollah lawmakers said that suggested UNIFIL was taking sides on the issue.

Hezbollah last week said it had evidence to counter Israeli footage from a surveillance drone showing Lebanese men "removing dozens of rockets" from an explosion site.

In its own account of the events on the ground, Hezbollah said it has video showing a delivery truck removing a sliding door and furniture, but no weapons.

Tensions along the border between Israel and Lebanon intensified during the summer. Lebanon filed a series of complaints with the United Nations regarding Israeli violations of its territory while Israel accused Hezbollah of amassing weapons along the border.

The Sad State Of Turkish-Israeli Relations

Turkey has recently sought to secure a new role as Middle East mediator. But fallout from postponed military exercises has seen it move further from Israel and closer to Syria. Israelis are concerned, Syrians are celebrating and the Turks are guardedly diplomatic.

It was a good week for Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem. Last Tuesday, he was part of a group of Syrian and Turkish politicians that met at Oncupinar, a border crossing between Syria and Turkey, to mark the removal of entry visa requirements between the two countries.

It was a big step. As recently as the late 1990s, the two neighbors were on the verge of conflict due to Syrian support for Kurdish resistance fighters in Turkey. Parts of the Turkish-Syrian border are still mined. Times, though, have changed: These days, the two countries cooperate on joint military maneuvers and have created a High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

A 'Spectacular' New Relationship Between Turkey And Syria

Indeed the fact that Ankara and Damascus are planning to work together militarily shortly after signing the visa exemption agreement is nothing short of spectacular. It is also a sign of just the sort of neighborly relationship that the European Union likes to see from its membership candidates. Still, the gathering on the Turkish-Syrian border would likely have generated little attention were it not for the news that immediately preceded it: Israel, a sworn enemy of Syria, was uninvited from a planned international military exercise on Turkish territory.

The reaction was prompt. Both the U.S. and Italy immediately canceled their participation in the maneuver, code-named Anatolian Eagle. Turkey tried to put a brave face on things, saying merely that the "international elements" of the exercise had been canceled and tried to explain it away as being the result of "technical problems."

Later, though, it was rumored that the Turks were angry with the Israelis because of the late delivery of unmanned Heron surveillance planes. And then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined the fray, indicating that the exclusion of the Israelis was indeed politically motivated - a response to Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip. Turkey, Erdogan said in an interview on the television channel al-Arabiya, was merely acting "in accordance with his people's conscience." His people, Erdogan assured viewers, "were rejecting Israel's participation." Additionally Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu noted that Turkey cannot afford to be seen as Israel's military partner at a time when there are no efforts being made for peace.

These are strong words - and cause for unease in Israel. Israel is too small to conduct air force exercises of its own, and the relationship with Turkey - Israel's only Muslim ally in the region - is vital. "Our relationship with Turkey is long-standing, important and strategic in nature," the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday in an attempt to downplay the crisis.

Israel Has Betrayed Turkish Trust More Than Once

Still, the Turkish-Israeli relationship is worse now than it has been in a long time. Ankara remains piqued that Israeli troops marched into the Gaza Strip late last year - just as Turkey was trying to mediate indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria. Just a few days prior to the attack, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly told Erdogan that no offensive was planned.

The Turkish prime minister did not hide his annoyance. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, Erdogan referred to the Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip as "barbaric" during a podium discussion with Israeli President Shimon Peres. He then stormed off the stage in anger, claiming the moderator had not given him as much time to speak as Peres.

Erdogan has used this argument, about "the voice of the (Turkish) people," before. And when it comes to the presence of Israeli military forces in Turkey, it is not terribly far-fetched. Particularly since the Gaza offensive, the appetite for Israeli armed forces in Turkey is minimal, even beyond religious-conservative circles. Erdogan's decision to uninvite Israel has all the characteristics of an about-face.

There is more behind Turkey's Israel policy than just Erdogan's vanity and populist tendencies. Retired Turkish General Haldun Solmazturk says that the Turkish military - the Kemalist antipode to Erdogan's conservative-Islamic politics - has also become increasingly dissatisfied with its Israeli counterparts. A primary cause for the distrust is the 2007 Israeli air attacks on suspected Syrian nuclear plants - strikes flown from Turkish territory. Israel, though, says Solmazturk, never bothered to inform the Turks.

"Unreliable trade relations" when it comes to military equipment is another reason, says Solmazturk. Only two of the 10 Heron surveillance drones ordered have been delivered to Turkey, he says - and they both crashed during test flights. Still, Solmazturk doesn't see any major reason to end the "traditional partnership" with Israel. He criticizes Erdogan's conservative-Muslim administration for adopting the wrong tone.

Syria Praises New Turkish Attitude Toward Israel

Under Foreign Minister Davutoglu, though, Turkey has tried to strike more of a balance between its Western allies and its Middle Eastern neighbors. Davutoglu is the spiritual godfather of a new, more multi-dimensional foreign policy for Turkey, one he hopes will make the country more influential on the world stage.

Part of that is the forging of stronger relationships with their Muslim neighbors. Davutoglu says he has "fundamental misgivings" about Israel's current foreign policy. "When these doubts are taken seriously," he says, then the peace process can be quickly re-started.

It is a position which has been well received in Syria. "We very much welcome that decision," Reuters news agency reported al-Moualem saying. "This decision is based on Turkey's approach towards Israel and reflects the way Turkey regards the Israeli attack in Gaza."

And, Syria has indicated, Turkey won't have to look long in the search for new partners with whom to conduct military exercises. After one successful maneuver conducted by Turkish and Syrian troops in April, the Syrians have indicated that another will soon follow.

Khaddafy Returns Son To Power

CAIRO [MENL] -- Libyan leader Moammar Khaddafy has returned his eldest son to power.

Libyan sources said Khaddafy appointed his son, Seif Al Islam, to head the Popular Leadership Committees, a position regarded as the second most powerful in the North African state. Under the appointment, Seif would coordinate the government with tribes, politicians and industrialists.

Algeria Tightens Security Amid AQIM Drive

CAIRO [MENL] -- Algeria has reported an Al Qaida threat at the nation's border terminals.

Officials said Algeria has detected a plot by the Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb to attack airports or sea ports over the next year. They said AQIM wants to torpedo the flow of Western contractors and goods into the North African state.

Israel kidnaps Palestinian journalist in Al-Khalil

October 19, 2009

AL-KHALIL, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped Sunday a Palestinian journalist called Iyad Sorour from Al-Khalil city, south of the West Bank, only one month after his release from the Palestinian Authority’s jails.

The forum of Palestinian journalists said in a press release that a large number of IOF troops stormed the house of Sorour in the city and took him to an unknown destination.

The forum affirmed that Sorour spent 10 months in the PA intelligence’s jail and was released a month ago, adding that he was detained for 14 months in Israeli jails in 2002.

The forum appealed to the international federation of journalists, the organization of reporters without borders and the union of Arab journalists to intervene and pressure Israel to release immediately all journalists in its jails.

It also called on Mahmoud Abbas to instruct his militias in the West Bank to release journalists detained in his jails and end restrictions imposed on their freedom.

Nine other Palestinian citizens have been also kidnapped at dawn Monday during raids carried out by IOF troops on homes in different West Bank areas.

In another context, the lawyer of the Palestinian prisoners' society reported Sunday that the Ofer prison administration imposed a number of punitive measures on Palestinian prisoners in section nine at the pretext of tampering with the section’s door lock, the thing which was denied by prisoners.

The lawyer added that the prison administration deprived prisoners from visits and the canteen for one month and a half as of 18 October.

He also said that the prisoners complained about the Red Cross’s neglect of their needs, saying that they did not receive yet what they asked the Red Cross representatives to bring with them, including books and clothes, because they had not visited the prison for four months.

PFLP: Egyptian plan has holes, may deepen division

October 19, 2009

Gaza – Ma’an – There are "real obstacles ahead if the conciliation agreement goes forward," member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Jamil Mezher warned on Sunday.

"There are some important issues that were not included in the proposal and not even taken into consideration," he said, noting the right of return and the right of resistance as key points missing from the document.

While the PFLP never got an official copy of the Egyptian proposal, Mezher said party members got a good idea of what it included via media reports and other parties. In addition to missing comments on the right of return, the official said the issue of elections needed to be further thought out.

He put forward the following demand for the PFLP, "we demand elections be held using a full proportional representative system for the Legislative Council with a 1.5% pass threshold and a delay in the holding of elections to 28 June 2010."

Around the issue of the joint committee that would govern until elections are held, "it might delegitimize division," Mezher said, also taking issue with the fact that Hamas and Fatah would name the members of the committee, which he said was a violation of earlier agreements. He said the committee would be strengthened with members of other parties on it.

"Forming a national unity government with a specific mission to unify the Palestinian authority, build what was destroyed and pave the way for elections is the only way to go forward," he said.

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=59095&s2=20.