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Sunday, October 25, 2009

Iran warns foreign elements 'behind' terror attack

After more than 40 people, including senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps were killed in a terrorist attack in southeastern Iran, one of the country's senior army officials talks of the involvement of the US, UK, an Arab country and an eastern neighbor in the deadly bombing.

Speaking to Mehr news agency on Sunday, Deputy Head of Iran's armed forces headquarters Brigadier-General Seyyed Massoud Jazayeri said such attempts carried out by the enemy were aimed at causing ethnic strife in Iran.

"Terrorist activities particularly in borderline regions, threats and psychological warfare, soft war and even certain military measures in border regions are attempts at replacing unity with discord in our country." Brig. Gen. Jazayeri said.

The remarks came one week after a number of top IRGC commanders and Shia and Sunni tribal leaders were killed in a suicide bombing in the borderline region of Pishin in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province.

The Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist group, which is believed to be closely affiliated with the al Qaeda organization, has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

When asked about the role of foreign countries in the recent terrorist attempt, the Iranian army official said certain foreign countries had been involved in the bombing.

"The recent terrorist activities in Sistan-Baluchestan were conducted with the help of the Americans, the British, an Arab country and one of our eastern neighbors. We are well aware of such matters and necessary counter-measures will definitely be taken in response to such acts," Brig. Gen. Jazayeri explained.

Earlier condemning the attack, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the criminals would be punished.

"The criminals will soon get a proper response for their anti-human crimes," he was quoted as saying after the bombing.

Libya: Two Swiss in 'good conditions'

Sun Oct 25, 2009

Libya's deputy foreign minister has said two Swiss citizens, who have been barred from leaving the oil-rich country since June last year, are being held in 'good conditions'.

The two businessmen have been caught in the middle of a 14-month-long row between the two countries, sparked after one of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi's son was briefly arrested in Geneva over charges of beating two servants at a luxury hotel.

"The two Swiss have not been kidnapped," Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim was quoted as saying by the Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

The comments come just days after Bern accused Tripoli of having kidnapped the two men.

The Libyan official added that the Swiss nationals were just being held at 'a house' in a safe location, in 'accordingly good circumstances, even if they would rather be in another place'.

On Thursday, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey warned Libya that as diplomatic routes had been exhausted, the Alpine country was considering other options

She further criticized Tripoli's failure to honor former promises.

Last month, the two men, who had taken refuge at the Swiss embassy, were asked by Libyan authorities to undergo a medical check-up to be cleared for leaving the country.

Swiss diplomats and relatives have not had any contact with the two since then.

Despite domestic anger, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz officially apologized to the Libyan people over the arrest of Gadhafi's son.

Hannibal Gadhafi's arrest so enraged the eccentric Libyan leader that he filed a motion with the United Nations, asking for the abolishment of Switzerland as a state and dividing it between neighboring countries. The UN threw out the motion.

Even before the extraordinary request, Gadhafi, who has lead the country for the past four decades, began a chain of retaliatory acts, canceling oil supplies to Switzerland and withdrawing substantial funds from Swiss banks.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109611.html.

Iran protests rights violation in Sweden

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned Swedish Ambassador to Iran Magnus Wernstedt to protest the large scale violation of rights of minorities in Sweden.

The Swedish diplomat, whose country holds the European Union rotating presidency, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Sunday be informed on 'broad and systematic violations of rights of minorities and refugees in Sweden and other EU member countries as well as taking political considerations and dual approaches into human rights issues'.

Wernstedt said he would convey the cases to authorities of his country and other EU member states.

Japan exhibits Sebastiao Salgado's Africa

Sun Oct 25, 2009

The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography has displayed the latest collection of works by Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado.

The event exhibits Africa, which introduces 'the neglected continent' through the eyes of the photo-documentary pioneer.

The event displays about 100 photographs, which include some of Salgado's upcoming collection, Genesis, Artdaily reported.

Genesis, which Salgado refers to as his last major project, is the result of his travels across the globe as well as places never visited by Westerners before.

The project also includes education and tree planting in an effort to demonstrate the Earth's bounty and highlight the history of humankind through a new perspective.

Salgado started photographing Africa in the 1970s and his works reflect the starvation, desertification and endless wars in which the black continent has been entangled with for so long.

Sebastiao Salgado, who started his career as an economist, is best known for his social documentary photography of workers in less developed nations.

Many of his works have been published as books including An Uncertain Grace (1992), Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age (1993), Terra (1997), Migrations (2000), The Children: Refugees and Migrants (2000), Sahel: The End of the Road (2004) and Africa (2007).

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109610.html.

Ankara schools closed over swine flu fears

Soon after Turkish health officials reported the country's first swine flu death, Ankara's governor ordered the closure of all schools in the city.

Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag reported on Saturday that some 958 individuals had tested positive for the virus.

Officials added that the deadly H1N1 virus has claimed the life of a 28-year-old patient, reportedly a cleaner in an Ankara hospital, making him the country's first swine flu victim.

Governor Kemal Onal, later on, announced that the schools would remain closed for the duration of one week starting Monday.

Earlier, dozens of students from different schools in different cities such as Istanbul had tested positive for A/H1N1; many primary and secondary schools, therefore, were closed for a week in regions such as the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

Turkish Minister of Education Nimet Cubukçu stated on Friday that all elementary school students would soon receive a swine flu vaccine.

Health officials stressed that random tests would be performed on the first 500,000 doses of swine flu vaccine received on Monday before starting mass vaccination campaigns in early November.

They added that the country plans to buy a total of 43 million doses sufficient to vaccinate some 28 million individuals in the country.

Medical workers followed by at-risk groups consisting of pregnant women, young children and those suffering from diabetes, heart conditions and immunodeficiency diseases will be among the first to receive the vaccine.

Iraqi searches for brothers in ancient cemetery

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq – The graves stretch some 10 miles into the desert, in what may be the largest cemetery in the world.

Near the center lie the older ones, packed closely together in a jumble of tall clay mounds and blue-domed mausoleums. Here is the final resting ground for those killed during Saddam Hussein's brutal regime or in the war against Iran and other cases and causes that date back centuries.

In the outskirts of the cemetery, the city fades into the background and the graves grow farther apart. This area is for the newly dead, the ones killed in the violence that erupted after the U.S. occupied Iraq in 2003.

It is also for the missing.

For scattered among the marble tombstones are simple stone markers with numbers but no names, to show where the unidentified rest — about 22,000 of them, say cemetery officials. These are the ones who lie unclaimed, who died without a proper burial and ended up at the cemetery without their loved ones ever knowing.

It was here in the Wadi al-Salam, or the Valley of Peace cemetery, that 42-year-old refrigerator repairman Mahdi Jadoua Ahmed came looking for his two missing brothers.

_____

Nobody knows just how many Iraqis went missing during the sectarian warfare that tore the country apart. But at least 17,477 unidentified bodies have been found since May 2005, according to an Associated Press tally based on reports from morgue and police officials.

That figure is only a minimum. Many Iraqis were afraid to report loved ones missing, and many more people may be buried in still-undiscovered mass graves.

Mahdi's search for his two missing brothers began nearly four years ago.

In December 2005, Mahdi's oldest brother Sami, 52, traveled from his hometown of Karbala to Baghdad with the dream of starting a business in Egypt. He planned to spend the night at a hotel and catch a flight to Cairo the next morning. His brother Adnan went along to see him off.

Instead, four men in civilian clothes with police badges showed up at the hotel and told the clerk the Mahdis were being arrested. The two brothers were never heard from again.

It could have been a robbery — Sami had a large sum of money with him for his travels. Or it could have been militiamen loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — Sami used to work in the information office in the Higher Education Ministry and was a member of Saddam's ousted Baath Party. Also, the hotel where the brothers were kidnapped lay in the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah, which was controlled by al-Sadr's forces.

After failing to hear from Sami and Adnan, Mahdi Jadoua Ahmed rushed to the hotel and demanded answers. The clerk said police had led his brothers away.

So Mahdi began looking in the places where the missing were still alive.

He started with the neighborhood police station. There, local officials said they knew nothing about the men's disappearance.

His next stops were the two most notorious prisons in Iraq.

He traveled to the U.S. detention facility known as Camp Bucca in southern Iraq. The American guards said his two brothers were not there. He then went to the Baghdad prison controlled by the Iraqi Interior Ministry and got the same answer.

His hopes of finding his brothers alive were growing dim. He went to the central Baghdad morgue, twice. But each time the morgue was crowded and he never got to see the pictures of dead bodies.

The first time he went late in the day, and was forced to leave when the morgue closed before his turn to view the photos came up. The second time he heard an explosion outside and left in a panic.

His family begged him not to go back, saying they didn't want to lose a third brother.

The search even led to several extortion attempts. One police officer took $1,000 in return for a promise to reveal the whereabouts of the missing men, only to disappear before a scheduled meeting.

The situation seemed hopeless.

____

Thousands of Iraqis disappeared during those years of chaos, either kidnapped for ransom or killed in sectarian warfare. People were snatched from buses, stores and fake checkpoints, often in broad daylight. Dozens of bullet-riddled bodies were found on the streets and in the river every day, lacking any identification because their documents were taken as trophies.

Execution-style killings became the leading cause of death among Iraqi civilians, ahead even of bombings.

At the central morgue in Baghdad, the bodies piled up in the courtyard. Morgue workers did their best to take pictures and assign the bodies numbers.

The morgue has received nearly 30,000 bodies in the past three years, says Dr. Munjid Salahuddin, the director of the Institute for Forensic Medicine. Ninety percent of those received in 2006 were unidentified, compared with 50 percent in 2007 and 15 percent in 2008, he says.

_____

In March, Mahdi Jadoua Ahmed finally felt safe enough to go back to the Baghdad morgue, along with another brother and Adnan's wife.

The halls of the morgue were filled with women shrouded in black and men in traditional white dishdashas, carrying pictures of their loved ones and looking for resolution.

Mahdi registered at the entrance. They walked through the halls smelling of formaldehyde to a small viewing room where pictures of bloodied and bloated bodies flashed across a large screen in a gruesome slideshow.

They sat with a mixture of anticipation and dread.

They flipped through dozens of photos before Adnan's picture appeared, followed moments later by Sami's. Both men had been killed execution-style with a single bullet hole in their heads. Bruising showed Adnan also had been beaten.

When the family members saw the pictures, they started to cry. Adnan's wife beat her chest and head. The other brother fainted.

The bodies were easily recognizable. Morgue officials said they had been found by authorities near Baghdad's main Shiite stronghold of Sadr City only three days after their disappearance.

Morgue officials gave him the numbers of the graves and the caretaker's name and phone number.

_________

The Wadi al-Salam is next to the shrine of the Imam Ali, who was believed by Shiites to be the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad and was killed in the seventh century. It holds the remains of centuries of mostly Shiites who wanted to be buried near one of their holiest saints.

Many mourners unload wooden coffins covered with colorful blankets from the tops of minivans and carry them to the shrine to be blessed, then back to the cemetery to be laid to rest.

The main undertakers for unidentified bodies in Najaf are a father-and-son team. At the height of the violence, they sometimes worked until midnight to bury the scores of bodies brought in weekly in refrigerated trucks — more than 100 a week in 2006 and 2007.

Ali Zayer-Daham, 34, and his father Sadiq washed the bodies according to Islamic custom. But sometimes only a prayer was possible because the remains were so badly decomposed.

The men would then note the location of the graves in small handwritten notebooks filled with scribbled maps and numbers. The books have proven increasingly useful as relatives show up to find their loved ones.

Now the number of bodies coming in is a trickle, down to a total of nearly 40 this year. The men keep busy finding the graves for relatives — about 15 per month now, up from seven per month in past years.

Many of the families are Shiites. Sunnis also are frequently identified among the victims in the 15 sections of unidentified graves, but Zayer-Daham acknowledges that their families are often still too afraid to travel to Najaf because it would require a trip through the Shiite heartland.

Mahdi, a Shiite, met Sadiq Zayer-Dahem at his dust-caked studio, a single room with a bench and stone slabs leaning against the wall, on March 29. They drove about 10 minutes to the graveyard.

There, he knelt for the first time over the simple white stones that marked his brothers' graves — numbers 11233 and 11235. And he wept.

The family is still grieving the loss of two brothers, but finally, there is a kind of peace. Mahdi has returned several times with other family members to light candles and spray rose-scented perfume on the graves, according to tradition.

"To know their fate and where their souls are resting is better than spending our whole life in anxiety," he says. "Their wives and children also can finally claim their inheritance."

Now the family has paid nearly $300 to erect brick tombstones, although the stone markers remain as a memorial.

The new graves are engraved with a Quranic verse, the date of death, addresses and the men's names.

NASA rocket test for manned mission

The US space agency, NASA, has planned to test launch a prototype rocket this week in order to examine the possibility of a manned trip to the Moon and maybe beyond to Mars.

The spectators are going to flock at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 8:00 am (1200 GMT) on Tuesday to watch the Ares I-X rocket blasting off into the air.

"It's going to look pretty spectacular," said Bob Ess, NASA's Ares I-X project manager, according to Space.com.

The Ares I-X will have a short journey of about two-minutes and 30-seconds.

Yet the rocket designed to replace NASA's aging shuttle fleet will send back a stream of information to scientists on earth collected by its 700 built-in sensors.

According to NASA, it is "an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I."

The brand new rocket is the brainchild of NASA scientists who have worked on a human space flight program called Constellation.

The program is going to create 'Orion', the space shuttle's successor that by 2017 would carry astronauts into space in a bid to return to the Moon and later make a first human trip to Mars, AFP has reported.

The rocket measures 327 feet (99.6 meters) — 33 feet (10 meters) taller than the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Colombian footballers found dead in Venezuela

The dead bodies of 10 Colombian soccer players have been found in Venezuela after they were kidnapped two weeks ago, according to police.

The corpses were discovered in the western state of Tachira, on the Colombian border, Federal Police Chief Wilmer Flores said on Saturday.

A number of state authorities and local newspapers are already reporting that the bodies are those of the kidnapped men.

On Oct. 11, unidentified assailants abducted 12 people, including 10 Colombians, a Venezuelan and a Peruvian, while they were playing football.

However, Venezuelan authorities say they are still investigating the matter and cannot confirm the bodies are that of the players.

Tachira's secretary-general Leomagno Flores has blamed the violence on an armed wing of the Columbian left-wing guerrilla group the ELN, led by a guerrilla called El Payaso or 'the clown'.

He said that this has been confirmed by the only survivor of the attack.

"According to information, which we have from the survivor, we know that armed units of ELN were led into Venezuelan territory by their commander Payaso," he said.

Houthis kill top Yemeni commander

Houthi fighters in Yemen say they have killed a top army commander in northern Sa'ada province, where the fighters inflicted heavy losses on government forces.

Brigadier General Amr Ali Mousa Al-Uuzali was killed in an ambush on Sunday, the office of the Houthis' leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, said in a statement.

The body of the commander was taken from Sa'ada to Safa', Yemeni media reported.

Fierce clashes were underway in the area of Razih, where the fighters along with the local residents succeeded to capture two military headquarters.

This is while military sources claimed that a group of Houthis revolted against their leaders and refused to take part in the ongoing battle.

Based on the report, some of the fighters surrendered themselves to the authorities in Sa'ada and Amran provinces.

'Immigrants to Israel feel deceived'

Russian Jews who have immigrated to Israel as part of a project by the Jewish Agency and the Israeli regime say they have found the promises given to them empty.

"In Russia, they kept on promising. The treatment was excellent. They wanted us to immigrate and become part of the successful statistics. Now, no one cares," Igor Rotman, a Russian immigrant, told Ynet.

Based on the report, many immigrants believe they were used by the Jewish Agency and the Absorption Ministry to provide authorities with successful statistics.

The Israeli website added the Russian families who were convinced to immigrate to Israel now complain about offensive attitudes and indifference.

"The Jewish Agency says that they are no longer responsible for us, and the Absorption Ministry claims that they are not responsible for what was promised by the Jewish Agency," Rotman added.

The Jewish Agency had promised the would-be immigrants that they would acquire residence on a kibbutz in the north, as well as higher education, and school for their children.

They were also told that they would be provided with help with their career and academic orientation.

The website said when the Russian families immigrated to Israel, they were told that the government had run out of money to fund the projects that would grant them with advantages.

The Absorption Ministry evaded to give them an answer and told the families it knew nothing about the Agency's promises.

"The conditions for participating in the 'Community Aliyah' program are being under the age of 45 and that one of the spouses hold an academic degree," said Rotman.

"Among other things, we were promised a translation of our degrees into Israeli degrees so that we could start a professional career here or continue in academia. They organized us a bus to Haifa so that we could do this at the Education Ministry, but an hour before the ride from kibbutz, the trip was canceled."

"They brought us here and simply forgot about us. The systems are not coordinated (with one another) and do not work in cooperation."

Israel has seen a wave of negative immigration in recent years with many Jews, mostly young ones, losing faith to the regime as a 'promised heaven'.

Jordan demands Israel stop entering Al-Aqsa

AMMAN - Jordan on Sunday demanded Israeli police stop entering Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, warning that “dangerous provocations” by the Jewish state threaten peace efforts in the Middle East.

Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, is “deeply concerned” about developments in Jerusalem’s flashpoint site, holy to Muslims and Jews, Information Minister Nabil Sharif said.

“Such dangerous provocations obstruct chances for peace and stability in the region,” Sharif, who is also government spokesman, added in a statement.

“They are illegal. They would create more violence and tension.”

Police twice entered Al-Aqsa compound on Sunday after Palestinian demonstrators threw stones at visitors to the holy site, known to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Cyber Resistance

Dahr Jamail

t r u t h o u t , October 24, 2009

If technology has transformed warfare into a spectacle of shock and awe, its contribution to the cause of dissent has been no less remarkable. It has enabled solidarities across borders and facilitated networks and forums dedicated to impartial communication of ground realities beyond the sanitized projection of mainstream news. True, technological advances have not brought an end to either occupation, but it has certainly helped alternative voices and views to be heard.

During the Vietnam War, over 100 underground newspapers, run by soldiers themselves, sprouted across the United States. The modern version of this has taken root within the Internet, largely in the form of blogs.

Many American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been confounded by the wall of censorship they confront, jointly constructed by the military and the corporate media. The Internet offered them a convenient and powerful channel through which to get their stories out to the public. Constrained by slow military mail service from Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention overt attempts by superiors to curtail their interaction with journalists, soldiers have long since taken to blogging, posting photographs and uploading videos online, all related to their experience of the occupations.

"Fight to Survive," one of the first soldier blogs from Iraq, had its origin before the bloggers were deployed to the country. The site's mission statement declares, "The E-4 Mafia was a group of soldiers deployed in Iraq between January of 2004 and March of 2005. The posts from this period are an expression of our raw emotions and thoughts while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom II. Since being honorably discharged in the summer of 2005, we've continued to post additional journal entries, poetry, and reflections from our time served and our current lives as veterans as we continue our fight to survive."

Garett Reppenhagen, Jeff Englehart, Ben Schrader and Joe Hatcher were stationed in Germany, where they happened to attend a concert by a band called Bouncing Souls and befriended its members. Post-deployment they were desperate to process the grief, violence and frustration that they were experiencing in Iraq, so they started pouring their emotions into e-mails to the band members. The Bouncing Souls, impressed with the e-mails - which included powerful poetry - began posting them on their own website. In 2004, Hatcher created "Fight to Survive."

Englehart later told a reporter, "We were opposed to the war before we went. And we got together and said, 'You know what we should do? We should write about this shit.'"

Reppenhagen, the first active-duty soldier to have joined Iraq Veterans Against the War, was pulling a shift at Tower Guard in Fort Collins, Colorado, when Truthout phoned him. Tower Guard is an action designed to spread awareness about the occupation of Iraq. Veterans pull together scaffolding, cover it with camouflage and, donning their desert gear, take shifts atop the tower - this one twelve feet high - to maintain a presence where people can ask them questions, and in response they can provide information.

For him, the motivation for the blog had come from having to participate in an occupation he didn't believe in. "We were already against the war before going, and didn't know why we were going, and it didn't look good. There was no resistance to speak of within the military. But I found a purpose with the writing. I didn't want to let my friends down there by not serving, and nobody knew what would happen if you refused to go out, because nobody had done it yet. So the blogging began. As a high-school dropout I wasn't a strong writer," he explains, but I had all these ideas I just couldn't stop, and writing them down was a huge release.... Having people read them was therapeutic. This then became my mission, to have people read about what we were doing. After a while, Joe Hatcher, whom we met in basic training, created the blog website. This was summer of 2004, and I'd never heard of a blog earlier. The idea caught on and sparked something, and as far as I know, ours was the only antiwar blog from soldiers in Iraq at the time. We used aliases; mine was "heretic" or "soldier X," Jeff Englehart was "hEkLe," Joe was "Joe Public." We used these because we were unsure of the consequences of revealing our identities."

Postings from Iraq on "Fight to Survive" ranged in content from asking people to sign petitions against stop-loss, to expressing disbelief at how persistent the military was in trying to get soldiers to renew their contracts, to posting graffiti and commenting on it. An entry posted in September 2004 by heretic titled "My Struggle For Reason" reads:

"Souls, Friends, and Conspirators,

"The temperature dropped to sixty degrees last night while I huddled in a ditch near Diyala Bridge. The breeze off the river crawled into my heart and the sudden chill reflects my current mood. I found out earlier that night that I had been extended an additional two months on top of my previous stretch. It now appears that I will be in the service until July, while my original date of release is supposed to be next month. All this, and my recent two-week taste of the civilian world on leave, is leaving me empty and detached. It is so much easier to live in slavery if you had willingly accepted your fate. I am not sure if my mental fortitude is prepared for a whole extra year in oppression. And, I still don't have a certain time when I will be finished with this war.

"Three soldiers in our unit have been hurt in the last four days and the true number of Army-wide casualties leaving Iraq is unknown. The figures are much higher than what is reported. We get awards and medals that are supposed to make us feel proud about our wicked assignment. We feel privileged when we are given the smallest perk. Like a dog that is beaten everyday and then thankfully adores it's owner when he skips a day of punishment. I have more trust with some of the Iraqi locals than my own command sometimes. I know that my higher chain of command hates me for my political opinions and my moral views.

"I am called a "faggot pink-o" or a "bleeding heart traitor." It doesn't take a liberal to realize the moral wrongs involved with this or any war. Why should I feel ashamed of caring about all of humanity, even the people that ignorantly hate me? Is wanting a better standard of living for all the world so negative? In a way, deeper than sexuality, I love my friends and brothers and for that I am labeled a deviant of some kind. Does everyone buy into this Arnold ideal of fear that they are not strong enough, so they have to over-compensate and become an asshole? I believe that all weapons should be laid down [by] choice of the individual. It is the same fear I have of my bigot neighbor that causes Americans to support a war against a possible US threat. If we are all responsible enough to handle firearms, is it not sensible to allow countries like Iran and N. Korea nuclear weapons? If we think these countries are less responsible than the drunk-driving redneck or the crack-dealing gangster, I think we need to take a longer look at American society. Sure, a nuke can destroy the world, but an automatic weapon can kill my daughter and she is the world to me. I don't believe that taking away people's rights is the proper step to world peace. However, we overspend on national defense and cut education when we need to be more concerned about raising a generation of problem solvers, instead of mindless warriors.

"So I finally find the drive to get out and try to make a difference in the world, and I am stuck freezing in a Middle Eastern desert. What state will the earth be in if I ever escape this combat zone? What little changes I can make, I do through the networks I have built up with my close friends. The Bouncing Souls have given us soldiers a voice and forum to express the hardships and our feelings on the Iraq occupation. All my friends, some new and some old, listen and support our efforts and they have my deepest respect and thanks. I could not survive this in any sane manner without the backing of all of you. I cannot promise that I will have a positive effect on current issues that plague our planet, but I can promise I will never give up, if you never give up on me."

Another moving entry from August 22, 2005, titled "Finding Closure," posted by Jeff Englehardt (hEkLe) after exiting Iraq, reads in part:

"There is nothing that I feel can alleviate the guilt for being directly involved with our illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq. I ask myself from time to time, "Why was I so afraid to resist the order to go to war? Why didn't I object to the whole damned thing?" I have been told many times not to be ashamed for my service to this country, but I can't help a genuine intuition that this war is not designed to promote freedom and our beautiful American way of life, but instead only carried out to proliferate Western imperialism and corporate profits every time a bullet is fired. My guilt is synonymous with the sentiment that I was indeed on the wrong side of the wire."

* * *

As the blogging continued, the audience expanded. Radio personality Randi Rhodes, who at the time brought Air America Radio its largest audience to date, began reading their dispatches on air.

As was to be expected, the military began to crack down on the writers. "It was not difficult for them to track what base and unit the writing was coming from and they were able to narrow it down to me," says Reppenhagen. "My sniper section leader walked into my room and asked if I was writing something stupid on the Internet. I admitted I was posting writings, but whether it was stupid depended on the readers' views, and he told me to report to the colonel who wanted to ask me questions about this shit I was writing."

All along, Reppenhagen felt he was leading a dual existence:

"I was living two lives, going outside the wire, but still writing on the blog, all the time looking over my shoulder. I was afraid of our e-mails being monitored, and there was a lot of isolation." He rarely crossed paths with the other members of the E-4 Mafia, and knew that he would have to deal with the colonel alone. From his perch on the tower, he recounted, "I did the whole thing, saluting him, doing the full pivot, and coming to at-ease, and he has a stack of everything we had written, and copies of personal e-mails I had written. He asked me if I had written it and I said yes. He told me I should stop writing, that I was going to be investigated by Military Intelligence and if found to have violated operational security, I would be tried for treason. I was scared."

Undeterred, he kept blogging and was soon summoned by the colonel once again.

"I told him I had a right to continue. They pulled my computers, tried to limit my access, took me off sniper duty, and put me on guard duty of Iraqis on base. The last two months were lonely and difficult for me. I was afraid I would be court-martialed. In the end, it was determined that nothing I wrote had violated operational security and that I had committed no treason and, since there were no rules prohibiting blogging, I had broken no rules either. But I was continually hazed by my superiors as long as I was there.... They were constantly looking for ways to trap me. I was made to fill sandbags and do other menial jobs. However, I was finally awarded an honorable discharge in May 2005, and gained a lot of respect from most of my fellow soldiers. Many would give me the peace sign as they passed me by."

Reppenhagen dove headlong into activism after being discharged. He took a job with Veterans for America, in Washington, DC, and volunteered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Coming full circle, Reppenhagen had one of his poems set to music by the Bouncing Souls. They called it "Letter from Iraq."

In 2007, he moved to Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, and enrolled in a community college to study to become a history teacher.

He shares his plans: "I continue now to work at helping veterans get the mental and physical health care they deserve. And I want to teach history in high school.... One of my dreams is to teach on a Native American reservation. After coming back from Iraq, I traveled around a lot, and saw many reservations, and saw this grinding poverty there similar to what I saw in Iraq, and decided that that is where I can help the most."

On being discharged, the other E-4 Mafia members also moved to Colorado: Schrader to Fort Collins, Hatcher to Cascade and Englehart to Denver. They continue blogging, alongside antiwar activism.

* * *

Casey J. Porter, a specialist from Austin, Texas, served one year in Iraq and in fall 2008 was on his second deployment after having been stop-lossed. His contract ended January 21, 2008, but he was redeployed on March 9, although diagnosed with PTSD by a civilian doctor. As he says on a YouTube video, "I am making the best of it by making short films about what really goes on over here."

A post from him on a blog called "Soldier Voices" reads: "Some of you might already know me through my films. I am a Stop-Lossed Soldier currently in Iraq." There is a website for his work: http://www.youtube.com/caseyjporter."

Porter's films feature raw footage coupled with a compelling background score. Scenes include mortar attacks against bases, military personnel running for cover during mortar attacks as explosions echo in the background, gun battles, destroyed Humvees and soldiers talking about their low morale. One film, "Area of Operations," reveals a new weapon of the Iraqi resistance, Lob-Bombs, which are created by cutting open an oxygen tank and packing it with ball bearings, screws and bolts as shrapnel before welding it back together and pressurizing. The film also shows a Lob-Bomb attack that killed two soldiers, which the Associated Press reported as having been caused by small-arms fire. Truthout spoke with Porter by telephone when he was at Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah. He said there were two versions in the military and corporate media reportage of the deaths: "One reported it as small-arms fire and the other as indirect fire. Indirect fire is obviously a very general term, so the Army can say, 'Oh, it is indirect fire, it's not an accurate weapon.' But when the public hears of indirect fire, they think some guy is shooting at you with a machine gun."

There is a clip in the film that has audio recordings from military radios after the attack. It presents a soldier saying, "The K.I.A. [killed in action], I can't tell you who they are, they're in pieces, break ..."

Later in the film, a soldier in Iraq says to the camera, "Would this country be the way it is right now had we done anything close to what we promised before we came over? The Humvees we drive, they are not doing the drive over here as protection ... not even the slightest. The MRAP [mine resistant, ambush protected] still won't stop an EFP [explosively formed penetrator]. But it's a big vehicle and makes a lot of noise and that's what the American people want, apparently." The camera goes on to show Humvees destroyed by roadside bombs, then returns to the soldier who says, "I won't be surprised if they turn this place into a duty station. I mean look at all the nations that we've liberated. Look at Germany, Korea. I'm pretty sure at one time somebody thought, 'Hey, we're only going to be here for a couple of months.'"

Another of Porter's films, "What War Looks Like," shows scenes of destroyed military hardware. Pictures of blown-up tanks and Humvees crushed by roadside bombs are seen flashing across the screen. Other scenes show burnt-out Bradley fighting vehicles atop transport trucks, decomposed bodies of fighters, and then the names and photos of "friends we lost," US soldiers killed in Iraq. After photos of a body being loaded for shipment back to the United States, the screen goes black as the text reads, "It's not politics, it is saving soldiers' lives, bring us home now."

Truthout asked Porter what had made him decide to make the films.

He said, "After coming back from my first tour, I was so against the war that I started speaking out and showing videos I'd made from footage I'd shot during my first deployment. Then when I got stop-lossed, I decided I'm not going to be another American who complains about the situation and then does nothing. Going AWOL wasn't a realistic option for me, so instead of being complacent about something I feel is wrong, I decided to make films to show people what they're not seeing on television, and to show people that I'm not the only soldier that feels this way. Along with very realistic combat footage, I showed real threats facing soldiers, some of the financial traps, and other issues they must deal with during deployment."

Porter talks of the morale in Iraq being poor and more soldiers than ever beginning to question the mission. However, he added, "One thing that disappoints me about American soldiers is the apathy, the 'what can you do?' mentality. But they are more or less speaking their minds by not reenlisting though they are afraid of the consequences of actively speaking up. More of them are doing it, but still not as many as should. The Army seems like such a big giant, and the threat of, well, if you do this we're going to punish you, and we own you, and all this and that. Then this gets into soldiers' heads."

* * *

Iraq war veteran and former Marine Adam Kokesh also maintains a blog, "Revolutionary Patriot" where he has written about being assaulted by undercover FBI agents in Washington, DC, about his thoughts on the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 2008, and about dealing with PTSD.

Not a shy man, Kokesh did not hesitate to upload onto his blog a video of his speech during a march in DC, where he is seen exhorting a boisterous crowd, "The time is now. The threat is clear. The bands of tyranny are tightening around America. It is our duty to resist!"

Kokesh was part of a team of vets who met with Representative John Conyers in July 2008 to push Conyers to file Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush. In a video of the meeting posted on his blog, Kokesh used his time at the microphone to tell Conyers, who was undecided about filing the articles:

"And I get the feeling that what you're doing and what the Democratic Party is doing is telling this country, as we are being bled dry by tyrants, that we're just going to be OK. That the only promises we get from Democrats are Band-Aids over these far deeper wounds that anyone is willing to admit to publicly. I hear one of the arguments against impeachment, that it would harm the Democrats in the upcoming elections. And I hope that you realize, because you didn't communicate this when I asked you the question, that there are real consequences to not impeaching that are far, far worse than not having Democrats in the Congress or Senate, or a Democrat in the White House. You said you've made thousands of decisions, many of them very respectable, many of them very courageous. But by your own admission, it seems that what is holding you back from this one is your own indecision. You said that I might be surprised by your plans. You haven't put forth any. And frankly, I'm not surprised."

Aside from blogging, testifying to representatives, leading marches and getting arrested, Kokesh has participated in Operation First Casualty (OFC), a tactic of street theater in which vets don their camouflage and take to the streets of US cities to carry out public patrols, realistic mock arrests, home raids and tower watches to raise awareness of the occupation. After an OFC action on March 19, 2007, the fourth anniversary of the invasion, he received an e-mail from the Marine Corps Mobilization Command that oversees the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) to which Kokesh reported.

The e-mail accused him of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) by wearing his uniform during a political event. "I was like, wait a second, I'm in the IRR, the UCMJ doesn't apply. This is bullshit." The scathing response that Kokesh sent back is posted on his blog. It concludes:

"I fail to see how reminding me of my 'obligations and responsibilities' helps you achieve either of these. It seems that while accomplishing our mission in Iraq, every corner we turn sends us further down the spiral, but there is still much that you can do to bring our fellow Marines home alive.

"So no, I am not replying to your email in order to acknowledge my understanding of my obligations and responsibilities, but rather to ask you to please, kindly, go fuck yourself."

In the chain of events that followed, the military threatened to give him a less than honorable discharge, which would affect his education benefits, but so far the military has not followed through. His case was helped by appearing on several major media programs, including "Good Morning America."

Kokesh thinks the future of GI resistance holds great possibility for social change. He told Truthout, "It's kind of a battle for the hearts and minds of the troops between resistance and obedience. And if the military power structure keeps fucking up and putting people off, then resistance is going to start winning a lot more hearts and minds, you know, and we're doing what we can to further that." Yet he is realistic.

"The forces at play here are far greater than any organization, bigger even than the military itself. It's social, it's cultural ... and I think it is great in terms of what we can do to foster a broader civilian resistance, and develop a culture of questioning authority.... Whether the GI resistance movement is actually going to be enough to end the war, I don't think you can consider it in those absolute terms. We're building pressure. And there are a lot of forces maintaining pressure to keep the war going. If nothing else, we need to be a countervailing force to those and, who knows, maybe that's going to stop the next war."

Netanyahu insists Israel is only for Jews

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly voiced the Israeli government's plans to expel indigenous Palestinian Arabs from their occupied lands.

Netanyahu stressed that Palestinians should recognize Israel as a Jewish state in order to end their conflict.

"That's right," Netanyahu told The Washington Post when asked if such recognition was needed.

"Israel is not a bi-national state," AFP quoted Netanyahu as saying on Saturday. "It has non-Jews who live here with full, equal rights, but it has two things that assure its special character."

"It's the homeland of any Jew. And there is a very broad consensus in Israel that the Palestinian refugee problem should be resolved outside Israel's borders," he added.

Netanyahu said Palestinians will have to make a final peace deal with "the Jewish state of Israel."

"Jews come here and Palestinians will go there. So choose. That's the basis of a solution," Netanyahu concluded.

Afghans burn Obama effigy to protest Quran burning

Sun Oct 25, 2009

Hundreds of Afghan university students have protested against foreign troops for alleged burning of a copy of Muslim holy book of Quran.

Around 1,000 protesters marched through the streets of the capital city of Kabul before gathering in front of the Afghan Parliament building.

The angry people also set on fire an effigy of US President Barack Obama and a US flag. "Death to America" was heard during Sunday morning's demonstration.

Earlier this month, locals said that international troops burned a copy of Quran during an operation against Taliban militants in the province of Wardak in southern Kabul.

The protesters urged the Afghan government to arrest and punish those soldiers who burned the holy book.

A spokeswoman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told AFP the claims had been investigated and found to be groundless.

Earlier last week, there had been similar rallies but on a smaller scale in the eastern city of Jalalabad and southern Kandahar.

Currently, there are 100,000 US and NATO troops in the war-wrecked country as public support for the US-led eight-year-old war in Afghanistan is waning.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109564.html.

Uruguayans vote in presidential polls

Uruguayans have gone to the polls to elect their president with the ex-guerrilla leader Jose Mujica from the incumbent Broad Front party in the lead.

Mujica, who has promised to keep the economic policies of the country's ruling coalition of President Tabare Vazquez, needs 50 percent of the vote in the first round to avoid a November 29 runoff against either of his main rivals.

“There is a brutal increase of undecided voters, because some people in the center have doubts about the behavior of Mujica in the government,” Ignacio Zuasnabar, an analyst at pollster Equipos Mori, told Bloomberg in a telephone interview.

Next to Mujica comes Luis Lacalle, 68, a conservative former president who represents the National Party.

Pedro Bordaberry, 49, is the third presidential contender who is from the Colorado Party. He is the son of the country's 1973-1975 dictator, Juan Maria Bordaberry.

Mujica, nicknamed 'Pepe', enjoys 45 percent of support among voters, compared to 29 percent owned by Lacalle, according to an October 21 poll by Montevideo-based Grupo Radar.

As a former guerrilla leader, the 74-year-old Mujica has been shot nine times and have escaped prison twice during the military dictatorship.

Mujica's possible win is seen by many as the vindication for his long suffering under the dictatorship.

About 2.6 million Uruguayans have registered to cast their ballots in Sunday's election.

Polls are due to close at 7:30 pm (2130 GMT) with first unofficial exit survey results expected to be announced after 8:30 pm (2230 GMT).

Dutch filmfest awards Iran child actor‎

Iranian actor Ali Shadman has been awarded at the 2009 edition of Cinekid Film, Television and New Media Festival in the Netherlands.

The successful child actor received the festival's Special Mention for "his extraordinary performance" as a spastic boy in A Time to Love directed by Ebrahim Forouzesh.

According to the festival's website, Shadman was highly praised when it turned out that he was absolutely healthy and normal in real life.

His brilliant performance also won Shadman the Golden Butterfly award for the Best Performance by an Actor at the 22nd International Festival of Films for Children and Young Adults in Hamadan, Iran.

The 23rd Cinekid Film, Television and New Media Festival presented film, television and new media productions from Oct. 20 to 23.

Gene therapy improves eyesight in LCA

Experimental gene therapy has shown promising results in improving eyesight in patients suffering from a rare eye disease known as Leber congenital amaurosis.

LCA is an inherited retinal degenerative disease characterized by severe loss of vision at birth, which may lead to total blindness by the age of 40.

The condition is associated with other eye-related abnormalities such as roving eye movements (nystagmus), deep-set eyes and sensitivity to bright light.

There is no effective treatment for the condition.

According to a report presented at the joint meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology in San Francisco, simple gene therapy improved eyesight in twelve LCA patients.

"All 12 patients given gene therapy in one eye showed improvement in retinal function," said lead researcher Katherine High, adding that it did not restore normal eyesight in either one of the patients.

In this method, an adeno-associated virus is adopted to carry the corrective gene called RPE65 -- a mutated variant of the gene is found in some 16 percent of LCA patients -- directly into the eyes, restoring the light-sensitive pigments in the retina.

The report to be published in The Lancet stated that the younger the patient is when treated with the therapy, the better the effects would be.

It further states that 'the efficacy will be improved if treatment is applied before retinal degeneration has progressed'.

Scientists hope their findings will not only pave the way for treating LCA patients but also for those with more common retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=109584§ionid=3510210.

Turkish premier in 3-day Pakistan visit

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has arrived in Islamabad on a three-day visit to discuss security, trade and the economy with Pakistani leaders.

Erdogan, accompanied by Members of his Cabinet, Parliamentarians and senior government officials arrived in Islamabad late on Saturday.

He will meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the official visit, addressing a joint session of the parliament, specially convened for Monday.

The two countries will discuss measures for better cooperation on regional and global issues during the talks.

CEO's Forum of Pakistani and Turkish entrepreneurs will start work during the high ranking official visit.

Ministry of Planning to launch Jordan Aid Information Management System

AMMAN (JT) -- Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation will soon launch the Jordan Aid Information Management System to provide a platform on all ongoing development projects and programmes funded through foreign aid.

According to a statement from the ministry, donors, international organizations and financing institutions will have access to a transparent system on the financial and technical assistance they provide, which ensures that there is no duplication of efforts in projects funded by them.

The new system was developed with the support of the European Union and UNDP, as well as donor missions in Jordan.

During the first annual conference of the International Aid Transparency Initiative, which was held in The Hague on October 20-21, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Suhair Al-Ali highlighted the ministry's efforts in boosting transparency on donor assistance, saying that establishing effective dialogue with the donor community has helped donors to understand Jordan's development priorities and the key challenges that the country is facing.

"In order to achieve more dialogue, the ministry established government-donor coordination working groups in 10 priority sectors, where relevant ministries and donors meet to discuss developments in these sectors and the financial and technical support needed ," Al-Ali said.

Stating that Jordan was to attract large amounts of foreign aid to the national budget, she attributed the increasing aid to donors' recognition of the progress the Kingdom has made in developing its management capacity and financial accountability.

According to ministry figures, around 46 per cent of the grants committed by donors in 2009 is in the form of direct budget support, standing at JD259 million ($365 million).

Al-Ali, a key speaker at "The Demand for Aid Information", stressed the importance of aid transparency and predictability for both recipient and donor countries, saying that it is crucial for donor countries to accommodate recipient countries' national priorities, and respond to their needs.

"Governments need to be in the driver seat as far as national priorities are concerned, an ensure that aid is channeled to priority areas," she said.

The International Aid Transparency Initiative was launched at the Accra High Level Forum in September 2008 and is regarded as a further step in responding to the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness objectives of accountability and predictability.

The initiative aims at making information about aid more transparent to better track what aid is being used for and what it is achieving.

IDB grants $552m for development projects

JEDDAH: The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has approved new grants totaling $552 million for a number of new development projects, some of which are in Albania, Jordan, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Burkina Faso and Benin.

Of the total sum, seven are grants from the Waqf Fund and were approved by IDB President Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali for projects in Uganda and six other Muslim communities of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Netherlands, Tanzania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the UK and Ethiopia.

In addition, Indonesia was given $30.5 million for use in rehabilitation of areas affected by the recent earthquake.

From the total, one million was given as a grant in order to provide emergency relief to those still suffering from the earthquake.

An emergency grant of $2.3 million was approved for victims of the floods that swept through West Africa affecting more than 600,000, particularly in Burkina Faso. A fixed annual grant was approved for allocations to distinguished scientists and researchers in member countries.

In accordance with IDB's keenness in promoting Islamic finance, it approved some $3.9 million as a contribution to the paid-up capital of Sri Lanka's first Islamic commercial bank.

Other approvals made by Ali for new development projects included development projects allocating $30 million to Albania for Istisna's financing of the country's reconstruction of road projects; $140 million was given to Pakistan for financing the railway development project currently in its third phase; and $200 million to Azerbaijan for financing the Janub Power Plant.

Other technical assistance projects were also approved by IDB president. These include a $310,000 grant for research given to Indonesia as well as a grant of the same amount to Kazakhstan for the rehabilitation and modernization of Bartogay Water Reservoir and the Greater Almaty Canal.

Scholarship program

In a related development, IDB has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Nottingham, UK, for a joint scholarship program. The program," Islamic Development Bank-University of Nottingham International Scholarship Program," will come within the scope of the IDB Merit Scholarship Program and the University of Nottingham Developing Solutions.

Signing the MoU at the IDB premises was Birama Boubacar, IDB vice president (operations), and Professor Nidal Hilal, director of the Center of Clean Water Technologies at the University of Nottingham. The joint program was agreed upon with the aim of placing talented and meritorious students from IDB member countries for study and research at the post-graduate level, mainly for 3-year Ph.D. programs.

On the occasion of the signing ceremony, Boubacar praised the university and said, "I hope that this program will produce a relationship between the institutions not only in promoting education but also in other fields of development."

A source at the IDB said, "The MoU brings an opportunity for IDB selected candidates from member countries to study at this university through a cost-sharing, common objective basis. This will enable IDB to place a greater number of students in the institution. Also the association with the university will enable the IDB Scholarship Programme to attract the best candidates."

The source also explained that an annual allocation of five places has already been filled for 2009-2010 by qualifying Ph.D. students who were selected by IDB the previous year. IDB has been conducting the program for the past 16 years with the objective of developing the human resources of its member countries in science and high-technology sectors

By Sarah Abdullah

Abdullah urges top ECC officials to quit

Sun Oct 25, 2009

Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah has called on top election officials to step down before an upcoming run-off vote in the war-torn country.

On Sunday, Abdullah said the officers should be removed, but warned: "This would not be enough, this would not suffice for free and fair elections," adding that extra measures should be taken to avoid vote rigging in the second round.

Abdullah's campaign has accused several officials of rigging the first round of voting in favor of incumbent President Hamid Karzai.

Afghanistan's first round of presidential elections, which was held on August 20, was marred after the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) reported massive fraud.

Up to 1.3 million votes were discarded as fraudulent, around one million of them for Karzai, whose share fell below the 50 percent needed for victory as a result.

Officials have warned that providing full security for the second round may not be possible, as Taliban has called for a boycott of the vote, threatening to act violently against those who participate.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109559.html.

Israel increasing military build-up near Lebanon

Israel is sharply increasing its military build-up at its bases near the border with Lebanon while putting Israeli troops on alert.

Israel has increased its military patrols near the border with Lebanon, including the Golan Heights, IRNA reported on Saturday.

The Israeli forces held military exercises on Saturday in the region and in most of the southern parts of Lebanon explosions due to the exercises could be heard.

Over the past week, Israeli forces have repeatedly violated Lebanon's air space, land and sea territories.

This is while the Lebanese army has taken necessary precautions to confront any Israeli aggression.

In 2006, Israel launched a disproportionate offensive on Lebanon, but the attack was strongly repelled by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

US guided-missile drones fly over Indian Ocean

The US military says it has deployed its drones capable of carrying missiles to patrol waters off Somalia in a move to clamp down on piracy.

The deputy commander for the US Africa Command, Vice Adm. Robert Moeller, said unmanned planes called MQ-9 Reapers were stationed on the island nation of Seychelles.

The drones are being deployed to patrol the Indian Ocean in search of pirates, the commander said in an interview with the Associated Press.

The patrols began this week, according to military officials.

The drones are capable of carrying a dozen guided bombs and missiles. They would not immediately be fitted with weaponry, but military officials did not rule out doing so in the future.

Moeller said the aircraft would primarily be used against pirates, adding that they could also be used for other missions.

Washington says the deployment is a response to the rising piracy in a country that is without an effective government since the overthrow of the last military rule under Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.

Earlier reports had said that US operatives were expected to fly unmanned surveillance aircrafts from American ships off its coast to spy on the Somali pirates.

The developments come as the White House seeks grounds to establish a major military presence in Africa.

Peter Chalk, an expert on piracy at the Washington-based RAND Corp., said he believed the new drones would be "largely irrelevant" in bringing an end to the lawlessness because problems with Somalia's government need to be addressed first. Otherwise, piracy will persist, he added.

Soltaniyeh: Iran can enrich uranium up to 20 percent

Iran says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had set no deadline for responding to the draft of the nuclear fuel agreement discussed in Vienna.

“There was no deadline. [IAEA Chief Mohamed] ElBaradei just asked the participating countries to announce their decision on the draft by Friday. It was just a request,” Iran's envoy to the watchdog Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh said in a Saturday interview.

On Friday, Soltaniyeh informed the Agency that Iran wants to examine the draft of the agreement more closely before giving its final answer.

In a Friday statement, the IAEA said that Iran needs more time to consider a nuclear fuel agreement the watchdog drew up following last week's talks in the Austrian capital between diplomats from Tehran, Washington, Paris and Moscow.

“[Iran is] considering the proposal in depth and in a favorable light, but it needs until the middle of next week to provide a response,” the IAEA said in a statement.

“The Director General [Mohamed ElBaradei] hopes that Iran's response will equally be positive, since approval of this agreement will signal a new era of cooperation,” it added, indicating that the other side had accepted the deal.

The agreement concerns the purchase of fuel for the Tehran nuclear reactor, which produces medical radioisotopes for therapeutic and diagnostic procedures.

Tehran plans to buy the 20 percent enriched uranium that the reactor needs to run from one of the three states. Iran says the offer is in line with the country's transparency policy and is a measure aimed at confidence-building over its peaceful nuclear activities.

“Tehran has simply preferred to purchase the fuel, despite having the expertise to process uranium to a level of 20 percent. This is while Iran has made a great deal of progress in acquiring peaceful nuclear technology and can itself enrich uranium up to 20 percent,” Soltaniyeh added.

Iran's enrichment facility in the central city of Natanz processes uranium up to 3.5 percent for use in nuclear power generation plants.

Turkey will go ahead with Iran gas agreement

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yilldiz says his country plans to go ahead with its $3.5 billion natural gas development plans in Iran.

The plan includes development of phases 22, 23 and 24 in Iran's South Pars gas field.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan will discuss the issue during his upcoming trip to Tehran, Reuters reported.

The Turkish and Iranian governments agreed in July 2007 that Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) would produce 20.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas annually from three development phases of Iran's South Pars gas field, but the deal has been delayed.

Iran has given 30 days deadline to TPAO to finalize the agreement on the development plan.

Previously, the Managing director of Iran's Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) Ali Vakili had warned that if TPAO refrains from signing the contract during this period, talks will begin with domestic and foreign firms.

During a visit by the Turkish delegation in November 2008, plans for the construction of an 1800-kilometer pipeline for transferring natural gas from Assaluyeh to the Turkish border was discussed.

The objective was to increase the volume of Iran's gas exports to Turkey, and the transit of natural gas to Europe.

Iran currently exports 50 million cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey daily. More than 23 million cubic meters of natural gas would be added to that figure by the implementation of the development plan.

Israeli police invade Al-Aqsa Mosque again

Israeli police have invaded the al-Aqsa mosque for the second time in recent weeks, which has prompted clashes with Arab worshipers, Israeli and Palestinian officials have said.

Hundreds of Israeli forces have been deployed to seal off the compound confining hundreds of worshipers inside the holy mosque.

Israeli Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 12 arrests were made in and around the compound.

Reports say police threw stun grenades and canisters at worshipers, injuring at least fifteen Palestinians.

Rosenfeld however claimed that Arab youth prompted the clashes after throwing stones and a petrol bomb at Israeli police.

Over the past month, tensions have been high and the compound has been the scene of fighting after Israeli extremist tried to enter the mosque and clashed with Palestinian worshipers.

Israeli police denied Palestinian access to the mosque compound for several days.

The blockade was followed by demonstrations across the Middle East which resulted in the re-opening of the mosque two weeks ago.

The al-Aqsa foundation, in a press release earlier this week, has declared that Israeli fundamentalist groups are calling on their supporters to break into the al-Aqsa Mosque in the old city of Jerusalem (Al-Quds).

The foundation had revealed that radical Israeli groups are planning a ceremony on Sunday evening, dedicated to the "Temple Mount" day, during which they would call for breaking into the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah has earlier this month called on Islamic nations to support Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“Islamic nations should fulfill their moral and religious duties to support al-Aqsa Mosque,” Iranian Students' Haniya said..

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

Maliki: Gov't, parliament risks losing legitimacy

Iraq's prime minister has warned that the government and parliament may lose their "legitimacy" as a result of a deadlock over stalled election law.

"If it is postponed from the current date, the government will lose its legitimacy and parliament will have lost its legitimacy," Maliki said in a speech Saturday.

"We will be forced to go back to square one, returning to sectarianism. ... Therefore, our voices must unite to hold the election at its present date," AFP quoted Maliki as saying.

The deadlock threatens the poll as the electoral law is supposed to be in place 90 days before voting. Constitutionally, the election must be held by January 31.

At issue are proposed changes to the law that would oblige the Iraqi political parties to publish full lists of their candidates rather than simply the name of their electoral list.

The lack of agreement on the fate of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk is another major hurdle.

Kurds have long demanded the province as part of their autonomous region in the north, but they have faced strong opposition from Arabs and Turkmen in the province.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=109549§ionid=351020201.

Israel wants free warships from Germany

In a request that has caught the Berlin government off guard, Israel has asked for the delivery of two expensive German-made warships "free of charge".

The German daily Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Saturday that Tel Aviv has asked Germany to help bolster its defenses by providing a pair of MEKO corvettes that would probably cost hundreds of millions of euros.

Built at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, the ships feature advanced radar-evading capabilities and are exclusively designed to carry US-made missile systems.

Israel receives much of its military funding and equipment from the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, US military aid to Israel will total $2.55 billion in 2009.

Tel Aviv has also received assistance from Germany over the years.

The Kiel shipyard Howaldtswerken Deutsche Werft had earlier delivered three submarines between 1999 and 2000.

In addition, two more submarines are currently being built in Kiel, costing at least 500 million euros apiece, for which Germany is to pay a third. They are slated to be delivered to Israel by 2012.

Berlin has not yet responded to the request, but according to the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, "influential politicians in northern Germany" are secretly supporting the deal, claiming it will help German shipyards weather the global economic downturn.

LRA attacks Darfuri refugee camp in Sudan

Sun Oct 25, 2009

Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army have attacked a camp for Darfur displaced persons in south Sudan, killing at least five people and wounding several others.

A Sudanese army spokesman confirmed on Saturday that the attack happened in Western Bahr al-Ghazal state, which has a long border with Darfur.

"The attack happened on the 21st (of October) ... targeting the displaced people from Darfur in a camp," the Reuters news agency quoted Kuol Diem Kuol as saying.

Military sources said three police guarding the camp and two Darfuris were killed in the attack.

The attackers from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) also abducted a number of people in the region during the ambush.

The LRA rebels, in desperate need of supplies, often raid southern Sudanese border villages.

The LRA became active in northern Uganda in 1988 and is categorized as one of the most brutal guerrilla movements in the world.

It is currently engaged in an armed rebellion against Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and some other African governments in what is now one of Africa's longest-running conflicts.

The movement, led by its ruthless leader Joseph Kony, is spread out in Congo, south Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109547.html.

25 die in train collision in Egypt

Sun Oct 25, 2009

A collision between two passenger trains near the Egyptian capital Cairo has left 25 people dead and 55 others injured.

Two trains collided on Saturday at Al-Ayyat in Giza, 50km (31 miles) south of Cairo.

The death toll could rise as some of the injured were said to be in a critical condition.

Al-Ayyat was the scene of Egypt's worst rail disaster in 2002 when fire ripped through an overcrowded passenger train, killing at least 360 people.

Train accidents are common in Egypt. A series of rail accidents across the country in recent years has triggered an outcry over the government's handling of transport safety.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109545.html.

Russia to build aircraft maintenance center in Bolivia

President Evo Morales has announced that Moscow plans to build a "maintenance center for Russian planes that fly in South America" in Bolivia.

On Saturday, Morales said the center would be set up at an airport in Chimore, a coca-producing region of the Andean nation that he said previously served as a base for US anti-narcotics operations.

It was not clear if the facility would be used for Russian military aircraft.

Venezuela has been the region's most notable buyer of Russian aircraft in recent years, purchasing a string of MiG fighters and Mi-28 helicopters.

Iran urges ECO states to promote Silk Road tourism

Iran has tabled a new set of initiatives to promote tourism in the region, including a multi-year action plan to revive the ancient Silk Road.

Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization Deputy Director Reza Mousavi said member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization should make the most of the vast tourism potential of the region.

"ECO member states have a population of over 400 million with a variety of races and ethnicities," Mousavi said on Saturday at a meeting of ECO tourism ministers in Antalya, Turkey.

"Therefore they have a good chance of improving tourism, not only among themselves but also with other countries," he added.

He went on to say that ECO is a "regional organization that helps eliminate regional poverty" because of its significant role in developing tourism and creating jobs for women and the youth.

Mousavi urged ECO members to establish a tourism convention as well as a global TV network to promote better understanding of cultural issues and to attract tourists to the region.

He also called for the revival of the Silk Road, saying it would lead to a tourism boom in the coming years.

The Silk Road, which links China to the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the oldest and most historically important trade routes in the world.

The Economic Cooperation Organization is a trade bloc comprised of Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

Iran, Pakistan agree on joint anti-terrorism mechanism

Sat Oct 24, 2009

In the wake of the bloody attack in southeastern Iran carried out by the the Pakistan-based Jundallah terrorist group, Tehran and Islamabad have agreed to adopt joint measures to fight terrorism.

"A golden era will open in strategic cooperation between the two countries through the eradication of terrorism," Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said in a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday.

At least 41 people, including seven senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, were killed in a bombing on October 18 during a gathering of Shia and Sunni tribal leaders in the town of Pishin on the Iran-Pakistan border. Jundallah claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

Najjar called his talks with Pakistani authorities on efforts to arrest Jundallah members constructive, adding, "The two countries reached promising agreements."

Gilani stated that Pakistan would not allow terrorists to use its territory as a base.

Tehran and Islamabad should boost security on their border as soon as possible, the Pakistani prime minister added.

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

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

Abdulhamid Rigi said that at just one of his meetings with the US operatives, Rigi had received $100,000 to foment sectarian strife in Iran.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109533.html.

CAUCASUS EMIRATE. Jihad or Daawa?

23 October 2009

Islamic website Tawba.info published an appeal made by Amir of "Bulgar" Jamaat, Isa Dag1istani (Shaheed insha Allah), to supporters of "peaceful preaching", which we present without abbreviations:

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds! We commend him praise, ask Him for help and forgiveness, and resort to Allah from the evil of our souls and our evil deeds. I bear witness that there is no god except Allah alone, who has no companions, and I bear witness that Muhammad - His slave and His Messenger, and may God bless him, his family, his Companions and those who followed them with a pure heart, and may Allah bestow His mercy upon them all.

Many Muslims today are asking themselves, what is most important: to engage in Jihad or Preaching? And to prove their conclusions about the "non-requirement of Jihad", they refer to the fact that the Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, in Mecca along with his Companions did not do jihad, but were only engaged in Preaching. They divided the spread of Islam into two periods - Meccan and Medina.

They say that while the Prophet, may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, and Muslims were under the kuffar rule, and today, they say Muslims are in the same situation. In their view, our actions today must be the same as of the Prophet(pbuh), and the Sahaba in times when they lived in Mecca. May Allah lead them to the straight path.

If we look at what they say, then we wonder why is it that today you adhere to the prohibition of temporary marriage, when at that time in Mecca, it was not forbidden? AstaghfiruLlah!

And yet the Muslims of Mecca had no prohibition on the use of alcoholic beverages. Why, then, those who divide Islam into periods, bans afford it today? Astag1firuLlah!

We, the followers of Ahli Sunnah wal Jamaa believe, that these supporters of the division into periods, are profoundly mistaken. You can not take one part of Scripture and the Sunna of the Prophet, pbuh, and leave another. Allah Almighty said about this in the Quran:

"Do you then believe in a part of the Book and disbelieve in the other? What then is the re ward of such among you as do this but disgrace in the life of this world, and on the day of resurrection they shall be sent back to the most grievous chastisement, and Allah is not at all heedless of what you do."
(Sura Al-Baqara, aya 85)

Also, Allah Almighty says in the Quran:

"This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion; but whoever is compelled by hunger, not inclining willfully to sin, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."
(Sura Al-Maaida, aya 3)

From these verses we see that Allah has completed His revelation to us and this is our Guide, up to the Day of Judgment. What He has sent down to us - is the Truth and we must believe and obey the Truth without any question, and it imposes on us a serious commitment. First and foremost is the glorification of the word of Allah through the Jihad.

It is compulsory up to the Day of Judgment. The Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, said:

"A group of my Ummah will not stop fighting in the way of Allah up to the Day of Judgment. (Al-Bukhari) Therefore, when they tell us that a Daawa must be carried out, we do not disagree on this issue. We say "YES!" - Daawa is obligatory, and Allah says in the Quran:

"Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and have disputations with them in the best manner....."
(Sura Al-Nahl, aya 125)

Allah Himself commands us to do Daawa, we do not deny that, on the contrary, wherever we are, we are engaged in Daawa, but herewith we do not leave Jihad. By His Grace, we carry out our responsibilities.

Now, some say that Daawa must be carried out, and Islam is divided into stages, i.e., they have taken some orders of Allah and even misrepresented them discarded others, and do not want to notice them. Not only that they are lost themselves, moreover the knock other from the true path, preventing those to whom Allah has recently opened the heart to Islam, to understand what is the truth!

But, people don't lead, it is Allah who leads and this should always be remembered. Allah Almighty says in the Quran:

"And whomsoever Allah guides, he is the follower of the right way, and whomsoever He causes to err, you shall not find for him guardians besides Him"
(Sura Al-Israa, aya 97)

Therefore, the path that Muslims must hold on to, is the way of the Prophet (pbuh), and his Sahaba, and they fulfill all the orders of Allah, without exception, and did not argue about them, what to fulfill out of the orders and what not to. Today Islam is in complete form. Therefore, our duty to fully respect the laws of Almighty Allah.

There is a Sharia rule - "That, what leads to the binding, is mandatory itself". In other words, we must live by the laws of Allah, so, its obligatory to do Jihad in order to glorify His word.

Infidels we will not give up power peacefully, and had never done so. And it is foolish to hope, as we see what is happening in the world today. Infidels use every effort to humiliate Islam, they encroached on the sacred - insult the Prophet (pbuh), and scoff at the Holy Quran. And brothers say that we need to do Daawa to them.

Infidels kill Muslims, throw them into prison, brothers and sisters are being tortured, raped, and our sisters give birth on the infidels, the are asking for help from brothers, and we meanwhile "Daawa must be carried out..." come and exhort them, "hey listen, don't do that, it is not good, accept Islam is a good religion, the religion of kindness and peace." Yes, Islam is the religion of kindness, no one argues, but we need to understand what is "good". "Good" in Sharia is what pleases Allah. Is He pleased with what is happening to the Ummah, is He pleased by the state of the Ummah? May Allah forgive us and lead to the right way.

According to Sharia, if one Muslim is a captive of infidels, it is our duty to release him in any way permitted by Allah. To help your brother - is the duty of every Muslim, even if they are in different cities. Reproduced in the Sahih of Imam alBuhari from Ibn Umar, that the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, said:

"A Muslim is a brother to other Muslims. He does not oppress them or turn them over to the enemy. Whoever meets a need of his Muslim brother, Allah will meet his need. Whoever relieves a Muslim from difficulty, Allah will relieve one of his difficulties on Doomsday. Whoever covers up a Muslim's fault, Allah will cover his fault on Doomsday."

Darul Kutny from "Aza ibn Amuru, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated a hadith in which the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and welcomed, said:

"Islam is at the highest level and nothing is above it."

Abdul Kadir Ibn Abdul Aziz (may Allah free him from prison) concluded: "A Muslim should not be in humiliation and no one should be above him." The book "The basis of preparation of forces to fight in the way of Allah."

But today the prison is overcrowded by Muslims in the world, yet we are told "is not the time for Jihad", it is necessary to do Daawa to infidels. NO! Daawa alone in not enough, we should all take up arms and liberate our brothers and sisters, liberate our lands, which kuffar govern now. To liberate our territories, to set Shariah of Allah there and then do Daawa to the people, as the early Muslims did who conquered and then settled down among the conquered, and made them Daawa. And spread religion of Allah to across the globe. May Allah help us.

Dear brothers Do not just sit there and look for excuses not to join the brothers, leading a victorious Jihad in the path of Allah, and no matter on what territory you are - Allah will grant us victory. Allah says in the Quran:

"...and fight the polytheists all together as they fight you all together; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil)."
(Sura At-Tawba, aya 36)

Allah also says:

"Go forth light and heavy, and strive hard in Allah\'s way with your property and your persons; this is better for you, if you know."
(Sura At-Tawba, aya 41)

The blessing of Almighty Allah, and peace to the Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, his family and all his companions. Ameen.

ISRO gets new chief

Thrissur, Kerala: K Radhakrishnan, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, was yesterday named the next chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Immediately after his appointment Radhakrishnan, who takes over from G Madhavan Nair, visited the famed Sree Krishna Temple Guruvayoor yesterday evening.

“Religion and science go hand-in-hand. And when the two join it is nice,” said Radhakrishnan.

He takes over from Nair on October 31.

Radhakrishnan got his electrical engineering degree from Kerala University in 1970. He also holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore and a doctorate from the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur.

“A huge responsibility has been placed on me and at this moment I would like to thank all my gurus (teachers) and among them are Nair and other former ISRO chairmen like Kasturi Rangan and U R Rao,” Radhakrishnan said.

Pakistan must review its partnership with the US war on terror which has already turned into a war of terror for Pakistan

By Javed I. Chaudry

Countercurrents.org, October 24, 2009

Pakistan Can Help Obama To Earn His Nobel Peace Prize

It is highly unlikely that Obama can deliver peace for which he won the Nobel prize merely on the basis of his oratories and the political rhetoric. But, Pakistan can help him achieve exactly that by distancing itself from the so called war on terror. By now it is clear that the world at large has no illusions about the American war on terror which is basically a metaphor for the American geo-political interests in the region to pave the way for its pipeline to tap into the future energy resources of the Central Asia.

It is an open secret that Pakistan was coerced into taking part in the American invasion of Afghanistan following the events of September 11, 2001. Gen. Musharraf had little choice but to comply or risk getting Pakistan bombed back to the stone age. That was then, when very little was known about American geo-political plans and the term 'war on terror’ had just been coined, the scope and boundaries of which are still not fully understood by many.

The last 8 years of war on terror has caused plenty of death and destruction in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA). The war has now been pushed into the interior of Pakistan proper. For the US and other NATO countries, this war is a business investment. For them, it is similar to speculative expenses of drilling oil wells, some bear fruit, and others don’t. But for Pakistan, the participation in the American war is a suicidal mission, the luxury which it cannot afford. Whatever the outcome of the Afghanistan invasion, the Americans and other NATO countries will eventually pick up the pieces and head home. But Pakistan’s socio-economic losses will be astronomical from which it will not be able recover for decades. During the next 5 years, Pakistan’s losses in term of its economy, social and industrial development will be many times more than 7.5 billion dollars it can expect to receive as the US aid after accepting the controversial Kerry-Lugar Bill.

It is not only the home grown insurgency from FATA region that is responsible for pushing the war into Pakistan. Based upon the information obtained from the captured insurgents and judging from their equipment it is obvious that they are getting a major support from NATO controlled Afghanistan as well as other powers possibly supporting a proxy war against Pakistan. Some of the insurgency can also be attributed to the radical elements advancing the ideology created with the help of American and Saudi money used with logistics provided by Pakistan during the 1980s to fight against the Soviets. From the stand point of the ideology of fighting against the invaders, the insurgents of the AfPak region are only doing what they were trained to do; they are fighting against the invaders and their allies. Pakistan being an ally now has to bear the brunt along with the US, the invader.

Can the American invasion of Afghanistan deliver any benefits to Pakistan? Considering all the issues involved, the answer will have to be a resounding, No. Under the circumstance, the only logical path to take for Pakistan is to distance itself from the American war on terror. The war is not about fighting terror, it is all about creating it. Pakistan, at a minimum, must withdraw itself from being an active participant in this American geo-political endeavor. After getting off the war on terror bandwagon, sending troops to FATA could become redundant.

The benefits of attacking Waziristan, if any, will only be short lived. For the long run it will create ethnic divide within the country that may be hurtful for years to come. Pakistan can ill afford this exercise notwithstanding that there is already ethnic strife in Baluchistan at the behest of several outside powers. The Balochistan problem is another important chapter of the political and economic aspirations of some foreign powers for the region. Pakistan does not have resources to fight on so many fronts while many of the enemies are engaged in covert operations to cause slow but a steady destabilization.

There are strong indications that the NATO forces will eventually face same humiliation as did the Soviets. Pakistan’s participation in the war is only prolonging the misery for all involved, the Afghans, the NATO forces and the safety and security of Pakistan itself. If, by some remote chance, the Americans ever manage to gain full control of Afghanistan (as they have full control over Iraq), then it would be quite logical to assume that the US will certainly like to have permanent control over Pakistan’s south west region, Baluchistan, to have a permanent and independent corridor for easy access to Afghanistan. This factor should be taken into advisement by Pakistan as a natural and logical corollary of any such eventuality.

It is high time for the authorities of Pakistan to review its policy of partnership with the US war on terror which has already turned into a war of terror for Pakistan. Pakistan’s correct decision at this juncture will become a major mile stone for its own political and economic independence. Pakistan can stop the war almost overnight, providing Obama with an opportunity to earn his Nobel peace prize. Without the use of Pakistan’s territory, the American war will come to a screeching halt. The right decision will also provide an enhancement and strength to Pakistan’s fledgling democracy which has so far, only demonstrated its inaptness and incompetence. The time has come for Pakistan to show political and diplomatic maturity, independence, initiative and courage by doing the right thing by saying 'No’ to the American war on terror and save itself from undue war of terror. It is time for Pakistan to stand up and be counted as a self respecting nation.

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=59309&s2=24.

Apostates announced that their ringleaders were nearly blown up

23 October 2009

Occupation sources announced that in the capital of Nokhchicho Province (Ichkeria) Jokhar, Mujahid nearly blew up the ringleader of Chechen apostates Ramzan Kadyrov and his personal executioner, Adam Delimkhanov, wanted by Interpol.

Allegedly, a man in a car tried to break into the area, where the assassin Delimkhanov was waiting for Kadyrov to arrive, but was killed by counter shots.

Russia's mass media stated that all this was happening on the prospectus of Kirov in Avtorhanov (formerly Lenin) region of city of Jokhar.

According to the explanation of puppets, a metallic container with plastic explosives and RDX was found in the car

Later it was said that the Emir of Urus-Martan, Bislan Bashtaev, was the one who tried to blow up Kadyrov, and that the barrel contained around 200 kg of explosives.

Actually the commander of Urus-Martan Sector South-West Front of the Caucasus Emirate is Amir Abdul-Malik.

Germany's incoming coalition wants to phase out Lebanon mission

Berlin - Germany's incoming government plans to phase out German naval deployment off the coast of Lebanon, according to the new coalition agreement unveiled Saturday. No date for the implementation was set out in the document drafted by Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the business-oriented Free Democrats (FDP).

"Within the scope of the United Nations we will work towards a phased reduction of our German contribution to the Maritime Task Force of UNIFIL (UN Interim Force in Lebanon) with the aim of terminating it," the two parties said.

The lower house of the German parliament is due to vote this year on an extension of the Lebanon mandate, which expires on December 15.

When it was in opposition, the FDP voted against prolonging the mission last year, arguing that civilian aid to Lebanon was better than a military contribution.

The Martime Task Force Mission began operating in October 2006, after Israel's invasion of Lebanon. Its main task is to prevent the smuggling of arms to Lebanon's radical Hezbollah militia.

Parliament allows Germany to deploy up to 1,200 members of the armed forces for the mission. At present some 230 naval personnel are in Lebanese waters.

Some 28,000 vessels have been checked by the mission, but only a fraction of them were escorted to Lebanese ports to be searched for weapons.

Heaping helping of hummus earns Lebanon Guinness World Record

Beirut - Working together to concoct the largest bowl of hummus ever recorded, a group of Lebanese chefs earned a Guinness World Record Saturday. The chefs mixed over two tons of the chickpea-based dip in a three-hour event in downtown Lebanon under the watchful eye of a Guinness representative.

Some 250 Lebanese Chefs participated in the event. They poured 1,350 kilograms of mashed chickpeas and 400 litres of lemon juice and garlic into a mega-sized pottery dish on their way to the prize.

Hummus is a dip of ground chickpeas mixed with sesame paste, garlic and olive oil. It is very popular in Lebanon.

After winning the record, the chefs gathered around their dish and sang the Lebanese national anthem and joined hands in a traditional Lebanese dance, called "dabke," in celebration.

Last year, hummus became the subject of a heated battle between Lebanese foodies, who claim the dish as their own, and Israeli companies marketing the dishes with great success in European shops.

The Association of Lebanese Industrialists protested to the European Commission to seek protected status for the dish as uniquely Lebanese. Similar protection was sought for fried chickpea balls and other traditional dishes.

"What the Lebanese were trying to do is what the Greeks have done with feta cheese," said the association's president, Fadi Abboud, referring to a 2002 European Commission decision that gave Greece sole rights to the name feta cheese.

Canada Marks United Nations Day

OTTAWA, OTTAWA -- 10/24/09 -- (No. 314 - October 24, 2009 - 11:00 a.m. EDT) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement commemorating the 64th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations:

"The creation of the United Nations and its 64-year history are a vibrant testament to our interdependence as peoples and nations.

"The issues facing us today-the economic crisis, threats to peace, security, human rights and the environment-require the collective action of the entire international community.

"In such an increasingly interconnected world, the role of the UN in fostering international cooperation is paramount. As regional issues become global concerns, the UN provides a forum to develop international solutions to common challenges ranging from the protection of human rights to climate change.

"Since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, more than 100,000 Canadians have served in UN missions in Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. Canada's ongoing contributions to peace and security missions in Afghanistan, Haiti and Sudan exemplify our continuing commitment to global progress and stability.

"Canada has long supported efforts to make the UN work more effectively, and will continue to promote reforms to make the organization more efficient, accountable and responsive to today's global challenges.

"Canada looks forward to continuing to play an integral role at the UN, by, among other things, working with UN bodies to achieve our shared goals of promoting freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law."