DDMA Headline Animator

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Tehran condemns AP for distorting Iran flag

In an “immature” act of insolence, the Associated Press (AP) has circulated a doctored photograph depicting the Iranian interior minister, sitting next to a disfigured Iranian flag with inverted colors.

Iran's Interior Ministry lashed out at the news agency over the digitally-altered photo, which was taken during a recent meeting between Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik and his Iranian counterpart Mostafa Mohammad Najjar in Islamabad, calling it "seriously out of line."

"This move was unprofessional and unethical," read a statement published on the Interior Ministry's website on Wednesday.

"The American news agency clearly resorted to using graphics editing softwares, such as Photoshop, to distort the colors of the country's flag," the statement added.

Three equal horizontal stripes of green, white and red are shown upside-down.

According to the statement, there are a number of elements that prove the photograph is a fake, including the absence of a translator in the meeting and the existence of a different photograph of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The photograph has been seen in the country as a deliberate act of desecration to insult the Iranian nation.

MET agrees to return Pharoanic relic to Egypt

Wed Oct 28, 2009

Egyptian authorities say New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has agreed to return an ancient Pharoanic relic to its homeland.

According to Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, the red granite shrine piece was purchased from a New York antiquities collector last October to be returned.

The piece belongs to the naos honoring the 12th Dynasty King Amenemhat I, who ruled 4,000 years ago, which is now in the Ptah temple of Karnak in Luxor, Artdaily reported.

Head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, referred to the act as a "great deed," saying that it was the first time a museum bought an item only to return it.

"It is also a kind gesture from the newly appointed Met director Thomas Campbell," he said

Hawass started to recover Egyptian antiquities since he took the helm of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities in 2002.

The bust of Queen Nefertiti in Berlin's Neues Museum and the Rosetta stone at London's British Museum have been among his top priorities to reacquire.

Egypt suspended its cooperation with the Louvre in early October, after the museum refused to return what the country believed to be stolen artifacts.

The country restored the Louvre's excavations in Egypt only after the French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand agreed to return the fragments.

Hawass also cut ties with the St. Louis Art Museum over a 3,200-year-old golden burial mask that the museum refused to return.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109865.html.

Russian space chief proposes nuclear spaceship

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer - Wed Oct 28, 2009

MOSCOW - Russia's space agency is planning to build a new spaceship with a nuclear engine, its chief said Wednesday.

Anatoly Perminov told a government meeting Wednesday that the preliminary design could be ready by 2012. He said it will then take nine more years and 17 billion rubles ($600 million, 400 million euros) to build the ship.

"The implementation of this project will allow us to reach a new technological level surpassing foreign developments," Perminov told a meeting which focused on communications and space technologies.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged the Cabinet to consider providing the necessary funding.

"It's a very serious project," Medvedev said. "We need to find the money."

Perminov's ambitious statement contrasted with the current state of the Russian space program, and sounded more like a plea for extra government funds than a detailed proposal.

Russia is using 40-year old Soyuz booster rockets and capsules to send crews to the International Space Station. Development of a replacement rocket and a prospective spaceship with a conventional propellant has dragged on with no end in sight.

Perminov described the proposed spaceship as a "unique breakthrough project," but offered few details.

He said that the ship will have a megawatt-class nuclear reactor, as opposed to small nuclear reactors that powered Soviet satellites. The Cold-War era Soviet spy satellites had reactors which produced just a few kilowatts of power and had a lifespan of just about a year.

Perminov didn't say what the new spaceship will be used for.

He and other officials have said that Russia needs a new spaceship to replace the old Soyuz for missions in Earth orbit, but they only have talked about a ship powered by a conventional rocket fuel so far.

Russian space agency also has mulled over prospective future missions to the moon and Mars, but hasn't yet set a specific time frame yet.

Polisario threatens to quit Western Sahara talks

2009-10-28

Western Sahara's independence movement wants its activists freed from Moroccan jails.

ALGIERS - Western Sahara's Polisario Front independence movement on Tuesday threatened to pull out of negotiations with Morocco unless seven detained activists were freed, its Algiers representative said.

"The detention of the seven Sahrawi activists and human rights abuses in the occupied Sahrawi territories are a threat to peace and to the negotiations with Morocco," Ibrahim Ghali told a press conference.

Morocco "has since the start of October been waging a campaign of arrests of Sahrawi activists" in the Western Sahara, according to Ghali. The territory was annexed by Morocco after Spanish settlers left in 1975.

Seven Sahrawi human rights activists were arrested on October 8 when they got off a plane at Casablanca airport in western Morocco, coming from the Sahrawi refugee camps at Tindouf in southeast Algeria.

The prosecutor in Casablanca said that during their visit to Tindouf, the seven "made contact with parties hostile to Morocco, thus threatening the best interests of the nation" and ordered that they face legal proceedings.

UN-backed talks on the future of the Western Sahara are currently stalled. Four rounds of negotiations on the territory held in Manhasset, a suburb of New York, could not bridge the gap between Morocco, which claims sovereignty over the Western Sahara, and the separatist Polisario Front.

An informal bid to unblock negotiations took place on August 10 in Vienna.

Morocco offers considerable autonomy to the Sahrawi people. The Polisario Front wants a referendum on self-determination, with independence as one of the options.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=35315.

Unconventional Wisdom

Hamas still attracts nationalists in the West Bank alongside Islamic support and is not as extremist as projected by Israel and the West, notes Terry Lacey.

Alisdair Lyon wrote recently from Beirut on Obama’s peace initiative floundering in the quicksand of the Middle East, whilst Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran clamor for his attention. He concluded this goal has eluded several US presidents “even though conventional wisdom holds that the inevitable outlines of a two-state solution are now well known”. (The Jakarta Post 24.10.09).

So maybe what is needed is a little unconventional wisdom.

Everything in the Middle East depends on perspective, and the perspective of the West may not be the perspective that is best.

Since spending more than a decade in Israel and Palestine, much of it in the Gaza Strip and West Bank and having watched the rise of Hamas and collapse of the Oslo peace process, I have never, since then, thought that the twin state solution would be adopted.

Instead I conclude the Israelis and Palestinians will, after long prevarication, agree to a unitary state with cantons, or strong regions, or to a confederation or Middle Eastern Economic Union, on the lines of the EU.

Of course a right wing Israeli government says it will never make a deal with Hamas, never agree to one state or a confederation, and never share Jerusalem.

But never say never in the land of miracles.

Despite a security clamp down in the West Bank by the Palestinian Administration Hamas still attracts nationalists in the West Bank alongside Islamic support and is not as extremist as projected by Israel and the West. The Hamas offer of a long truce to Israel in return for an end to the Gaza blockade is convergent with underlying Israeli positions to delay final political talks and consider economic cooperation.

If the PA attempts to hold half an election in the West Bank and not Gaza this will not reinforce Palestinian Unity and Hamas may hold a separate election in Gaza. It is Israel and the West which rejected the 2006 election results when Hamas won democratically in all of Palestine.

My unconventional wisdom that there will be no twin state solution cannot be explained simply by over-proximity to Palestinian or Israeli hospitality, although local knowledge was only arrived at through many lunches and dinners and discussions far into the night, often in unlikely places, in a society where people still hanker to sit out in the cold under the stars to get a clear view of things.

As my father-in-law would have found on the road from Gaza to Damascus with Allenby against the Turks, and as my mother-in-law found two decades later when she came ashore with Toscanini to help form the Palestine Orchestra.

And as my fathers’ fellow marine commandos would have also found in the desert air in Mandate Palestine where they fought the Irgun and the Stern Gang up to 1948, and in the Canal Zone in 1956 where they fired the final shots of the British Empire whilst fought to a standstill by Egyptian fedayeen, when the Anglo-French imperialists made their last stand in Egypt, with the support of Israel, but not that of the United States.

So when the US said it was time to go, they went.

Even as a British schoolboy in my colonial Mediterranean school, I understood the world was changing and we had had our day. The sun had set on the British Empire, just as every political hegemony comes to an end.

So how is it possible to see contemporary Israel and Palestine and reach such different conclusions from the conventional wisdom?

One cold night under the stars some Palestinians told me a story.

The elephant and the fly wanted to get married. But people were prejudiced against it, so they had to go and see a judge to settle the matter in court. The judge was inclined not to allow such an odd union. But eventually the elephant and the fly asked if they could come forward to the bench to relate a pertinent private matter, which would explain everything. The judge then surprisingly agreed to the unlikely marriage.

The reason of course, was that the fly had got the elephant pregnant.

On one level the elephant and the fly can be Israel and Palestine. And perversely it may be true that one day they will have to get married, especially if Israeli hardliners persistently reject all other solutions.

On another level the fly and the elephant could be the United States with declining power attempting to force movement upon an Israel which is not inclined to budge.

Of course you have to work out which is the elephant and which is the fly. And that is not always so obvious.

If I am right, their delayed but lovely bouncing baby may eventually be rather different from how a lot of people imagined. And it may be Hamas that helps decide to keep the family together, and not to support ultimate separation, but of course on different terms from now.

Iran resistant to foreign attacks: Leader

Following comments by Western governments about Iran's presidential election, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution says the Iranian establishment has become resistant against the continuous meddling of foreign powers.

"The reality is that the Islamic establishment in the course of events in the past thirty years and as a result of resistance against unprecedented, wide-ranging, constant attacks launched by propaganda, media, political and security powers has become a powerful system immune to [such attacks]," Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Wednesday.

The Leader described enemy plots against Iran as an irrefutable reality and pointed to the fact that those involved in such conspiracies would not realize the true nature of their actions.

Ayatollah Khamenei urged the nation to engage in logical debates to pick the finest of thoughts and speeches but warned against getting carried away by such activities or enemy encouragements.

"[If this matter takes place] one should await incidents and unrest [in the country] as such was the case of the unrest before the election which led to the unrest after the election, particularly when foreign hands were at work as well,” the Leader warned.

Ayatollah Khamenei explained that in the case of Iran's presidential election, the election itself and the massive turnout were the most essential matters and other issues were only "marginal".

The Leader slammed efforts to cast doubts on the presidential election as a great offense and criticized the reckless disregard of certain figures for the gravity of this matter.

"On the day after the Election Day certain people described this great election as a lie without proof; is that a minor offense?" the Leader questioned.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the enemy took advantage of this situation and with the support of certain figures inside the country, who opposed an Islamic establishment from the very beginning, set the sequence of events following the election in motion.

Explaining about certain issues which had taken place behind closed doors, the Leader said in the early hours after the election a confidential message from his part was sent to 'directing elements' of the unrest.

"I sent them a message in the very early hours after the election, saying that it is possible that you might be the igniters of matters which others would take advantage of...you would not be able to control the issue and that is exactly what happened," Ayatollah Khamenei said in his meeting with the country's scholars.

The Leader also took a hit at measures to cross out age-old slogans against Israel and the United States, questioning the motive behind such acts.

Ayatollah Khamenei urged those who enter the political stage to be wary of the consequences of their moves, saying they "should be aware of the rival's next move like a professional chess player."

Death toll in Peshawar blast reaches 92

Thu Oct 29, 2009

The death toll from a car bomb that struck a market in Pakistan's most populous northwestern city has reached 92, as rescues workers pulled more bodies from the rubble.

The Wednesday afternoon explosion ripped through the crowded market in Peshawar, a gateway to the country's lawless tribal areas.

A senior medic at Peshawar's main 'Lady Reading' Hospital told the AFP news agency that most of the dead were women and children.

"We have 92 dead bodies and we have registered 217 injured people,” said the medic. “Nineteen of the dead are women and 11 are children."

The death toll is expected to rise as some of the injured were reported to be in critical condition.

The heavy blast came just hours after the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad for talks over the so-called 'war on terror.'

A wave of militant attacks in Pakistani cities has killed nearly 300 people, so far, in October.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109858.html.

Turkey underlines Iran role in Mideast Peace

Amid western accusations that Iran is playing a destabilizing role in the Middle East, Turkey's premier says the Tehran government has always contributed to regional peace.

In a Wednesday news conference in Tehran, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke up for Iran, saying the country has always contributed to peace in the region.

Erdogan stressed that cordial relations between regional countries are most essential, especially in light of the recent wave of terrorist attacks in the region.

"You see, there is a bomb blast in every corner[of the region] and so many civilians are actually losing their lives," said Erdogan, who arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with high-ranking Iranian officials.

He was referring to a sequence of deadly bomb blasts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, which killed hundreds of civilians over the past few days.

"This shows that the goals set for peace and security in the twenty-first century have not been materialized and the global players have not performed their duties well," he continued.

At such a critical juncture, Erdogan said Iran and Turkey both have a leading role in bringing peace and stability to the region.

On a separate note, the Turkish premier reiterated his support for Iran's right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, saying world policymakers have been treating Tehran "unfairly" over its enrichment program.

After US threat, Russia says Iran sanctions unlikely

While the United States says it will respond if Iran does not accept a deal to buy nuclear fuel supply, Russia says sanctions against Tehran are highly unlikely in the near future.

"Sanctions in relation to Iran are hardly possible in the near future," Kremlin foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

The remarks come as the US has suggested that further sanctions would await Iran over its nuclear activities, should it refuse the deal.

"Nothing is off the table," General James Jones, President Barack Obama's national security adviser, said Tuesday.

"Iran now needs to follow through on its commitments," Jones said in a speech in Washington to J Street, a liberal pro-Israel lobbying group, Reuters reported.

On Wednesday, a report by Iran's Mehr news agency claimed that the country will respond to the deal that was drafted by the UN nuclear watchdog.

The report, quoting an informed source, said Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, will give Iran's response to the Vienna talks on Thursday.

Under the deal, brokered by the IAEA, Iran will ship out 80 percent of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) in exchange for highly-enriched uranium converted into metal fuel rods for a Tehran research reactor that produces isotopes for cancer care.

On Tuesday, a diplomat familiar with the issue told Press TV that Iran was against sending out all the material in one go.

"Iran, as a uranium buyer, knows best how much uranium, enriched to a level of 19.75 percent, it needs; based on this argument, it will raise certain issues with this proposal," the diplomat said.

According to the diplomat, sending the entire enriched uranium stockpile abroad altogether is against Iran's national interests.

Venezuela captures 'Colombian spies'

Venezuela has arrested a number of security agents accused of spying for Colombia amid a diplomatic row between the Latin American nations.

Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister Francisco Arias Cardenas confirmed the arrests, noting that they were members of Colombia's DAS state security agency.

He added that they were "captured while committing acts of espionage," without giving any further details.

Colombia's security agency DAS has denied the allegations.

Relations between Venezuela and Colombia have been tense since Bogota entered into negotiations with the United States to allow its troops to operate from seven Colombian bases through a 10-year lease agreement.

Colombia's US-backed government claims that the deal is only an extension of an existing cooperation with Washington to weed out drug smugglers and leftist guerillas.

Chavez, along with many other Latin American states, however, believes that the deal is an expansion of the US military presence in the region that could lead to a war in South America.

Latin Americans are wary of a US presence in the region, remembering past decades of out-right intervention of various US administrations in the internal affairs of most countries in the region through covert and overt backing of right-wing, military dictatorships.

India ready to talk with Pakistan on Kashmir

Indian Prime Minister has reached out to the Pakistani government expressing readiness to discuss humanitarian and other issues with Islamabad.

Addressing a gathering before flagging off a new train service linking south Kashmir with Srinagar in northern Kashmir, Manmohan Singh also reiterated that Pakistan needed to curb terrorism.

"For a productive dialogue it is essential that terrorism must be brought under control," the Pakistan-born Indian prime minister said in Urdu.

"I strongly believe that the majority of the people in Pakistan seek good neighborly and cooperative relations between India and Pakistan. They seek a permanent peace. This is our view as well," he said.

Singh's speech comes amid continuing tensions between India and Pakistan.

Singh said it was time for Islamabad to control the militants whose attacks on India have deterred peace talks between the two countries.

"They should destroy these groups wherever they are operating and for whatever misguided purpose," he said.

If Pakistan takes the necessary action, India "will not be found wanting in our response," Singh promised, offering talks on issues ranging from trade to divided families and prisoner swaps.

Kashmir has been the subject of a bitter territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since they secured independence from Britain in 1947.

Peace talks between Pakistan and India were stalled last November after a terrorist attack on India's port city of Mumbai. The attack on Mumbai killed 166 people and injured more than 300.

India and the US blame the attacks on a Pakistani militant group. New Delhi is pressuring Islamabad to speed up its investigations into the attack.

Thousands of people have been killed in the predominantly Muslim Kashmir clashes in the past two decades over being ruled by the Hindu-dominated India.

Scientists say curry compound kills cancer cells

LONDON (Reuters) – A molecule found in a curry ingredient can kill esophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday.

Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Center in Ireland treated esophageal cancer cells with curcumin -- a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow color -- and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.

The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumors and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when ingested.

But Sharon McKenna, lead author of the Irish study, said her study suggested a potential for scientists to develop curcumin as an anti-cancer drug to treat esophageal cancer.

Cancers of the esophagus kill more than 500,000 people across the world each year. The tumors are especially deadly, with five-year survival rates of just 12 to 31 percent.

McKenna said the study showed curcumin caused the cancer cells to die "using an unexpected system of cell messages."

Normally, faulty cells die by committing programed suicide, or apoptosis, which occurs when proteins called caspases are 'switched on' in cells, the researchers said.

But these cells showed no evidence of suicide, and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this "switch being flicked' made no difference to the number of cells that died, suggesting curcumin attacked the cancer cells using an alternative cell signaling system.

U.S. researchers said in 2007 they had found curcumin may help stimulate immune system cells in the Alzheimer's disease.

Report: Clinton to visit Israel and West Bank

Tel Aviv - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is to make her first visit to Israel and the West Bank since the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in March, Israeli and Palestinian media reported Wednesday. Clinton is expected to land in Tel Aviv Saturday night, meet with Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday and also to travel to the West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Tel Aviv said he could not yet confirm the visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the time of the meeting with Abbas had yet to be determined.

Clinton's first and only visit to the region as secretary of state was in early March, a "familiarization" trip made as the hardline Netanyahu, whose government was sworn in on March 31, was still in the process of forming his coalition.

Her latest visit comes as the sides have as yet failed to find a compromise that would enable a revival of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, broken off in late 2008 as Israel headed into new elections.

President Barack Obama announced at a three-way summit in New York last month that his administration would hold intense contacts with both parties with the goal of reviving the talks this autumn.

Clinton reported back to him with the results of those contacts last week, but with no apparent breakthrough.

While Netanyahu continues to demand a revival of talks without pre-conditions, Abbas says he will not sit down with the new Israeli government unless it agrees to freeze all construction in West Bank settlements and pick up the talks from where they were left off under the previous government of centrist former premier Ehud Olmert.

Spain to boost relations with Georgia during its EU presidency

Madrid - Spain will boost relations between the European Union and South Caucasian states during its EU presidency in the first half of 2010, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told Georgian Prime Minister Nikoloz Gilauri in Madrid. Moratinos and Gilauri discussed the Spanish EU presidency and bilateral relations during a dinner on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

The Spanish EU presidency will maintain the EU policy of seeking closer relations with Georgia, Moratinos said, expressing confidence that the country will continue pursuing pro-democracy and economic reforms.

Moratinos also stressed Spain's commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity and the EU's commitment to security in the region.

Malaysia releases 66 Sri Lankan refugees from camp

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian immigration officials have released 66 Sri Lankan refugees from a detention camp and handed them over to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a news report said Wednesday. Two buses took the 66 men, women and children Wednesday to the capital, Kuala Lumpur, to be placed in the care of the UNHCR office until a country can be found to accept them, a UN official told the Star online news portal.

The detainees were among 105 Sri Lankans who have been held at the camp in the southern state of Johor since September for not having valid travel documents.

Last week, six of the detainees allegedly went on a hunger strike, demanding to be allowed to meet UNHCR officials whom they claimed had issued them refugee status.

"We are delighted that some of them have been released and the process was fast," state immigration deputy director Amran Ahmad was quoted as saying by the Star.

"Efforts have begun to secure the release of another 21 as well," he said.

Amran said of the 105 detainees, 17 have been charged with immigration offenses while one has been released to his employer.

However, he refuted the hunger strike claims, saying the detainees have been well-fed and taken care of at the centre.

UNHCR external relations officer Yante Ismail thanked the government for the speedy release of the refugees, who had fled unrest in their homeland.

"We will continue to advocate the release of the remaining refugees and asylum seekers as soon as possible," she said.

Malaysia is both a transit point and permanent asylum site for tens of thousands of refugees from countries experiencing political turmoil, such as Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Malaysian state may reward married men who wed single mothers

Kuala Lumpur - A state in Malaysia is proposing that lawmakers who wed single mothers as their second, third or fourth wives be given an award, a news report said Wednesday. Legislators from the north-eastern state of Kelantan who marry single mothers with young children would be helping the state in assisting those women, who are often abandoned without financial aid by their ex-husbands, said state Women, Family and Health chairman Wan Ubaidah Omar.

The government of Kelantan, which is ruled by the hardline opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia, has often encouraged its married Muslim men to consider widows and single mothers if they intend to remarry.

"Awards should be given to learned House members who take the lead in doing this and also for those who have already married single mothers.

"This would help to reduce the number of single mothers in the state," Wan Ubaidah was quoted as saying by the Star online news portal.

Earlier, she told parliament that there were 16,500-registered single mothers below the age of 60 in Kelantan, adding that the real number was considerably higher.

Wan Ubaidah said the state government spends about 2 million ringgit (571,430 dollars) annually to aid single mothers.

Hamas vows to prevent holding elections in Gaza

Gaza - The Islamic Hamas movement which rules the Gaza Strip said Wednesday it would not allow presidential or parliamentary elections to take place in the salient on January 24, as called for by Ramallah-based President Mahmoud Abbas. A statement by the Hamas ministry of the interior said the ban was because the election had been called "by figures who do not have the right to declare it" and because the polling would take place without a reconciliation deal between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement.

Abbas announced Friday that elections would be held on January 24, the end of the four-year term of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

The 2006 elections saw Hamas triumph over Fatah, leading to bitter tensions between the two movements, which culminated in the June 2007 Hamas rout of security forces loyal to Abbas in the Gaza Strip, and the takeover of the salient by the Islamist group.

Abbas responded to the takeover by dismissing the Fatah-Hamas unity government, but the Islamic movement continues to control the Gaza Strip while an Abbas-appointed government rules in the West Bank.

Efforts to reconcile Hamas with Fatah have so far failed and Hamas said Friday that Abbas' election decree was aimed at deepening the Palestinian political rift.

World's tallest hotel to be built in Hong Kong

The world's tallest hotel with 118 floors is scheduled to be constructed by the luxury hotel chain Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong in 2010.

According to the South China Morning Post, the new hotel will occupy the top 17 floors of Hong Kong's tallest building, the 484-metre International Commerce Centre (ICC).

The six-star hotel will have 312 guest rooms and will look out over Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour from Kowloon.

According to the regional vice-president for Ritz-Carlton, Mark DeCocinis, the hotel will be "a new social centre for Hong Kong".

DeCocinis further pointed out that room rates would be at the top end of the market.

The 333-metre, 72-floor Rose Hotel in Dubai currently tops the list of the world's tallest hotels, followed by the 330-metre, 105-floor Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang and the 321-metre Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai.

Kazakh to invest in Iran mining sector

A Kazakh company will assist Iran in projects to discover gold and copper deposits, says a senior Iranian official.

Director general of the commerce department of Iran's Trade Development Organization Abdolhamid Asadian said that Kazakhmys, Kazakhstan's biggest mining and energy group, will expand its activities in Iran.

He said the decision was taken after an energy and mining delegation from Kazakhmys visited to Iran to examine investment opportunities in the country's copper, gold, oil, and electricity sectors.

Kazakhmys is a leading international natural resources group listed in the UK and Kazakhstan with significant interests in copper, gold, zinc, silver, power generation and petroleum.

According to TATA website, Iran is among the 10 countries holding the largest mineral deposits — 100 million tons of 60 different minerals.

It has over 2,700 mines, 90 percent of which are run by the private sector, only 5 percent by the state, and the remaining by foundations and municipalities.

Yemen employs al-Qaeda mercenaries: Houthis

The Yemeni government has cut a deal with an al-Qaeda terror cell to help crush the Houthi opposition movement along the Saudi border in the north.

According to an article posted on Houthi al-Menpar website, informed sources in the city of Ketaf in Sa'ada said the governor of the northern province, Hassan Mana'a, has contacted a senior al-Qaeda leader.

The two have reportedly signed a deal under which Sana'a would provide the militants with arms, budget and other military requirements to assist the Yemeni army against the Shia fighters.

Obadah is said to have returned some 10 days earlier from Saudi Arabia. He reportedly met with the emir of Najran region to discuss threats posed to the Arab kingdom by the Houthis and ways to quash their movement in neighboring Yemen.

The al-Qaeda leader and his followers, currently stationed at Abu Jabarah area in Ruba Alkhali valley on the northeastern side of the Yemeni border, are wanted by both the Saudi and Yemeni governments.

Obadah has regularly traveled to Afghanistan, where he underwent terrorist training and met with Osama Bin Laden in 1998.

The coalition against the Houthis between al-Qaeda, Yemen and Saudi Arabia seems to favor the Sunni-dominated governments in Sana'a and Riyadh, as well as extremist Sunni fighters who consider Shia Muslims as 'polytheists' who must be killed.

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered the construction of a camp in Abu Jebara for local al-Qaeda members in the 1980s.

The militias left the camp in the early 90s before they were reunited in the area to fight the Houthis alongside migrant forces and the Yemeni army.

Russia confirms four swine flu deaths

Russia has for the first time confirmed four cases of swine flu deaths since the deadly disease developed into a global epidemic this year.

Russian health officials said that three of the deaths occurred in the country's far eastern Zabaikalsky region, while the fourth person died in the capital Moscow.

"According to information from the Zabaikalsky region health ministry, as of October 27, 2009 there have been three fatalities in the region attributed to the A (H1N1) virus," Russia's federal health ministry said in a statement.

Two women died with a preliminary diagnosis of swine flu, while a third woman died of a severe cold-like illness, the Zabaikalsky regional government said in a statement.

According to the statement, one of the swine flu victims was in the late stages of pregnancy and doctors were unable to save her fetus.

The Interfax news agency reported that a 53-year-old Moscow woman also died of swine flu on Tuesday morning.

"At 9:45 am on October 27... the death of the sick woman was registered," the health department of the city government was quoted as saying.

The country's health ministry has so far recorded 1,349 confirmed cases of swine flu.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 5,000 people have lost their lives from swine flu infections worldwide since April, when an outbreak was first reported in Mexico.

Bosnian Serb ex-leader set free

The UN war crimes court has granted early freedom to former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic who was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2003.

Plavsic, 79, has already served six years in a Swedish jail for the war crimes she committed while she was president. Her good behavior has been termed as the reason for releasing her from prison. She returned to her home in Belgrade on Tuesday.

"I'm happy to be here ... but, after nine years in prison, I don't know what will happen," Plavsic said briefly as she entered her apartment building. She said that she needed some time to rest.

The head of Sweden's prison service, Lars Nylen, said Plavsic has been the only woman among the 161 people indicted by the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia.

A former academic, she is said to have spent most of her time in detention cooking and baking: a substantial change from her wartime reputation as the "Serbian Iron Lady", famous for comments like: "Muslims are the genetic defect on the Serbian body."

In an emotional speech at a sentencing hearing, she told judges that the Bosnian Serb leadership, "of which I was a necessary part, led an effort which victimized countless innocent people."

She added that, "The knowledge that I am responsible for such human suffering and for soiling the character of my people will always be with me."

Her confession shocked nationalists, turning her from a hero to a traitor to their wartime cause of creating a "Greater Serbia."

Bosnian Muslim survivors of a 1995 massacre in Srebrenica - the worst carnage in Europe since World War II - were furious over the early release, in part prompted by the lenient Swedish penalty laws.

Hajra Mulic, who lost her son in the Bosnian Serb killing spree, said: "Plavsic is a disgrace and her release is a disgrace."

Plavsic, who surrendered voluntarily to the tribunal in January 2001, was transferred to Sweden after the sentencing in 2003. While in a women's prison there, she has kept herself busy by walking and baking, Robinson said in a statement.

Iran environment in grave danger

Iran's Department of the Environment has warned that Iran is among the 10 countries which cause the most environmental destruction in the world.

“On realizing environmental destruction is a sign of severe challenges in our time, the department's attention falls on more longsighted planning and the root causes of the problem,” the vice president in charge of the Department of the Environment said.

Mohammad-Javad Mohammadizadeh suggested Iran had to employ applicable models to avoid more environmental destruction, which, if not controlled, would become a crisis for the next generation in the country.

“Increasing world population and steady technology advancement are among the main causes of environmental destruction. In a matter of 100 years there will be no trees left in Iran if the devastation continues at such a pace,” he said.

“Iran has to take various factors into consideration. Pond and water management as well as presence of 30,000 vessels providing 60 percent of oil and gas of the world are of great importance in the matter especially taken with the fact that the vessels are older than 20 years old,” he added.

“Informing the public about the endangered ecosystem and an environment friendly lifestyle must find their place in our daily life,” Mohammadizadeh concluded.

Jordan Unveils State of the Art Healthcare Technology in Hospital Trial

AMMAN, Jordan, October 27 /PRNewswire/ --- Jordanian Electronic Health Solutions and Perot Systems Lead Joint 'Hakeem' Implementation Program The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in a public demonstration today hosted by His Majesty King Abdullah II, provided a stunning look at the new integrated healthcare technology system being implemented for the people of Jordan in the coming year. The project, named "Hakeem" to symbolize the National E-Health Program in Jordan, is managed by the Jordanian non-profit agency Electronic Health Solutions, with technology implementation and integration provided by Perot Systems Corporation (NYSE: PER).

The demonstration was held at the Prince Hamzah Hospital, highlighting its VistA open source clinical and healthcare information management system and the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS). Similar technology systems will also be implemented at the Amman Comprehensive Clinic and King Hussein Cancer Center, as part of the pilot healthcare transformation program for Jordan announced in December, 2008.

"Today we can see the launch of King Abdullah II's vision of healthcare modernization across the Kingdom of Jordan, which will provide for the highest quality of healthcare available for our people," said Dr. Rami Farraj, Chairman of Electronic Health Solutions and Private Physician of His Majesty the King. "The new technology will provide a seamless journey of care for patients through our healthcare system, from doctors' offices to clinics to hospitals. This is an historic moment for healthcare in Jordan."

Jordan is recognized for its high standards of healthcare in the region as well as its rapidly growing IT sector. King Abdullah II's vision is to continue to build on these successes by establishing an effective, integrated national healthcare infrastructure using a single software platform. This project goes hand in hand with building an educational program around VistA's technical and clinical processes with the goal of allowing Jordan to become self-sustainable in managing its health management information system and enabling it to take this offering to their neighbors in the region.

"Today's pilot in Jordan, to provide a modernized, integrated healthcare system across the country, may well become the pilot for the rest of the region. Learning from Perot Systems' past experiences, we have been able to avoid many of the pitfalls, as we blend the best of technology and the best of medicine for the benefit of our people," said Mr. Ghassan Al-Lahham, chief executive officer of Electronic Health Solutions.

During the event today the Hakeem program team provided an update of what has been accomplished since the project started late last year, and the "proof of concept" demonstrations of how the system works. Specifically, the team highlighted system functionality, including a graphic user interface developed specifically for the Hakeem program; electronic medical records showing the holistic electronic patient record which clinicians will access daily; interaction between the different modules of the system in different departments including lab, pharmacy, radiology and imaging; and Barcode Medication Administration (BCMA) to improve patient care and safety.

"Perot Systems has been proud to support the Kingdom of Jordan for 10 months and be part of the Hakeem team to help make the vision of Jordan's healthcare transformation a reality," said Raj Asava, chief strategy officer for Perot Systems. "Our dedicated associates, with extensive experience in large complex projects, have been able to make the vision of an integrated healthcare technology system a reality for the Kingdom of Jordan. We look forward to contributing to the Hakeem program as it prepares to roll out to the rest of the country."

Speakers at the Prince Hamzah Hospital event today included Dr. Nayef AL-Fayez, Minister of Health, Dr. Rami Farraj, Chairman of Electronic Health Solutions, and Ghassan Al Lahham, CEO of Electronic Health solutions. Following the speakers, His Majesty and a small entourage toured the Clinic for live demonstrations.

"From the outset this project has been one of the most exciting clinical transformation initiatives in which we have participated globally. His Majesty's vision is serving as a cornerstone for how nations can work together to meet the needs of people not only across the region but throughout the world," said Dr. Kevin Fickenscher, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Perot Systems Healthcare Group. "Utilizing the VistA Electronic Health Record and a vast array of customized technology solutions, the implementation should deliver improved clinical outcomes for the citizens of Jordan."

Israel razes Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem

Tel Aviv again defies international law as it demolishes five new houses in occupied Palestinian Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM - Israel on Tuesday razed five Palestinian houses in occupied East Jerusalem, defying international calls to halt the demolitions in the city, Israel said.

Israel demolished houses and structures built "without permits" in the neighborhoods of Shuafat, Zur Baher, Silwan and Jabel Mukabar, Israeli spokesman Gidi Schmerling said in a statement.

"All the houses were demolished in accordance with a court order," he said.

An Israeli rights group, Ir Amim, criticized the demolitions as "an irresponsible step that could escalate the situation in the city and bring it to a new boiling point."

Occupied Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat had vowed to crack down on "illegal" construction in the city, including Palestinian East Jerusalem, which is itself illegally occupied by Israel.

The city's Palestinian residents have long accused the Israeli-run municipality of discriminating against them and making it virtually impossible to get legal permits for new homes or extensions to existing ones.

As a result, Palestinian residents have built thousands of new structures in recent decades and Israel has issued demolition orders and destroyed dozens of houses each year.

Threatened demolitions have raised tensions in the eastern half of the city, with Palestinians holding regular protests and filing court cases.

Several Western countries, including the United States, France and Britain, have also criticized the threatened evictions, saying they are against international law have a negative effect on the Middle East peace process.

Israel occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem in 1967.

Under international law, neither East nor West Jerusalem is considered Israel's capital. Tel Aviv is recognized as Israel's capital, pending a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.

East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be illegally occupied by Israel, in contravention of several binding UN Security Council Resolutions.

In these resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has also called for no measures to be taken to change the status of Jerusalem until a final settlement is reached between the sides.

Declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital is an attempt to change this status, and is thus a violation of these Security Council resolutions.

63 charged over London Gaza protest

Police charges London demonstrators against Israel's war on Gaza at turn of year.

LONDON - A total of 63 people have been charged over demonstrations in London against Israel's military offensive against Gaza at the turn of the year, police said Tuesday.

The group, most of whom are young men aged between 17 and 30, will appear before West London Magistrates Court on October 29 and 30, police said.

They are mainly charged with public order offenses.

Thousands of people marched through London in January before the demonstration spilled into clashes involving police and protesters outside the Israeli embassy.

The 22-day Israeli war erupted on December 27, 2008, and left 1,400 Palestinians (mainly civilians, a third of whom children) and 13 Israelis dead.

No headscarf necessary in Kuwait parliament

Kuwait constitutional court rejects bid to unseat two women MPs not wearing headscarf.

KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait's constitutional court on Wednesday rejected an action brought by four voters to declare invalid the election of two women MPs because they refuse to wear the headscarf.

The decision of the court, whose rulings are final, was announced to reporters by the chairman of the court, Yussef Ghanam al-Rashid.

Two of the four women who were elected to parliament for the first time in May refuse to wear the headscarf, which has also been spurned by the only woman appointed in May as minister in the Kuwaiti government.

The emirate's Fatwa Department, which issues religious edicts, ruled early October that Muslim women must wear the headscarf.

Conservative MPs are demanding the authorities enforce the ruling, but their liberal colleagues say it is non-binding, insisting the rule of law and the constitution should be the only points of reference.

Kuwait does not enforce any dress code on women because the constitution guarantees personal freedom.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=35305.

Algeria seeks builders for world's third largest mosque

2009-10-28

Algeria calls for offers to build Grand Mosque of Algiers, which could cost several billion dollars.

ALGIERS - Algeria on Tuesday called for offers to build a Grand Mosque of Algiers, which would be the third largest mosque in the world after those of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Candidate companies should have an annual turnover of at least one billion euros (1.48 billion dollars) and have a permanent staff of more than 2,000 engineers, technicians and office staff, the national agency for the building of the Djamaa El Dzajair (Algiers mosque) specified in a communique.

The Grand Mosque of Algiers, which could cost several billion dollars, will stand on a terrain of about 20 hectares (49 acres) at Mohammadia opposite the bay of Algiers to the east of the capital, where its minaret will be 270 meters (885 feet) high.

The main prayer hall will be large enough for 36,000 people, and the complex will also include an inner court, an esplanade, a large auditorium, a library for 2,000 people, a school for Koranic studies and an underground car park with space for 6,000 vehicles.

Algiers currently has three historic mosques: Djamaa el-Djedid, on which the building work began in 1660, Djamaa el-Kebir, built in the 11th century, and the Ketchaoua below the Casbah (the old town), which was constructed under the Turks from 1794. The Ketchaoua was converted into a cathedral under French colonial rule (1830-1962), and restored to Islam after independence.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=35304.

Three killed in Somalia clashes

Wed Oct 28, 2009

At least three people have been killed in clashes between Somali government forces and militants in capital Mogadishu, witnesses say.

It was not immediately clear what triggered the clashes between members of al-Shabaab and government forces backed by African Union peacekeepers. The fighting took place in a southern district near Maka al-Mukarama road.

"Two civilians and a member of a Somali militia combating the government were killed during the clashes," Mukhtar Abdi Ismail, a local resident, told AFP.

"I also saw six wounded people but the artillery fire from the African Union troops is likely to have hurt more people," he added.

On October 22, an attack by militants on the airport where President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was about to take off sparked an exchange of fire that left at least 21 civilians dead.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109830.html.

Philippines wins praise for promoting interfaith tolerance

THE US State Department released its annual review of international religious freedom, singling out the Philippines and Jordan for promoting interfaith initiatives and criticizing China and Israel for intolerance.

The president has emphasized that faith should bring us together, and this year’s report has a special focus on efforts to promote interfaith dialog and tolerance,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday in Washington.

Clinton came out strongly against laws around the world that make religious defamation a crime, saying freedom of speech and religion should be equally upheld.

“Some claim that the best way to protect the freedom of religion is to implement so-called ‘anti-defamation’ policies that would restrict freedom of expression and the freedom of religion,” she said on presenting the report on religious freedom.

“I strongly disagree. The United States will always... stand against discrimination and persecution... But an individual’s ability to practice his or her religion has no bearing on others’ freedom of speech,” Clinton said.

“The protection of speech about religion is particularly important since persons of different faith will inevitably hold divergent views on religious questions. These differences should be met with tolerance, not with the suppression of discourse,” she added.

Apart from citing the Philippines and Jordan for their efforts and initiatives in mitigating religious differences, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner also mentioned Qatar and Spain for positive developments in handling interfaith issues.

He noted “interesting trends” on both sides of the issue this year, along with “a growing recognition that there needs to be more dialog and more effort... across faiths” to find common ground.

But Posner cited “plenty of individual incidents that are mentioned throughout the report” including “blasphemy laws, tremendous interfaith tensions” and “more restrictions by government ministries on the right of religious groups to register.”

China was among those that remained on a list of the worst offenders and the report criticized the central government’s repression in Tibetan areas and Xinjiang province where Uighur Muslims reside.

The State Department report on religious freedom in 198 countries and territories serves as a basis for an upcoming US list of nations that raise the most concern.

The last US list in January included Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, China, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Uzbekistan, the same countries that made the list in 2008.

Bahrain MPs ban all contact with Israel

Bahrain's lawmakers pass a bill to ban any contact with Israel despite opposition from the government, introducing prison sentences for anyone breaking the law.

The draft law bans 'any contact or relations with Israel' and forbids 'the establishment of diplomatic or consular representation' between the two countries, AFP reported.

During the Tuesday session, MPs also approved jail terms of three to seven years and fines of 10,000 Bahraini dinars ($27,000) for offenders.

The Tuesday's approval, however, did not receive a warm welcome from the government.

Abdel Aziz al-Fadhel, minister for consultative committee and parliamentary affairs, told MPs during the debate that the bill 'constitutes interference by the legislative body in executive matters'.

Deputy Foreign Secretary Hamad al-Amer said there was no need for the law as 'Bahrain opposes any normalization with Israel before Palestinians regain their rights'.

The bill, which remains pending clearance by the king-nominated consultative council before becoming a law, would forestall further efforts by Manama to persuade other Arab countries into normalization of ties with Israel.

The plan seems to be targeting any renewal of the informal meetings that have taken place between Bahraini and Israeli leaders.

The Bahraini government have defended the contacts, arguing they were for the benefit of Palestinians.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=109821§ionid=351020205.

UN lashes out at US for drone strikes

The United Nations has warned Washington about indiscriminate use of drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan, saying that it may be breaking humanitarian law.

The UN rights investigator said the United States has done nothing to demonstrate that its not randomly killing civilians in violation of international law through the use of drones.

"My concern is that these drones — these predators — are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law," UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston told a press conference on Tuesday.

"The onus is on the government of the United States to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure arbitrary extrajudicial executions aren't in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons," the top official added.

The UN investigator also criticized Washington for refusing to respond to UN concerns regarding the use of drone aircrafts in the troubled South Asian region.

"We need the United States to be more up front… otherwise you have the really problematic bottom line that the CIA is running a program that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely no accountability in terms of the relevant international laws," Alston stressed.

According to independent reports, since August 2008 alone, around 70 cross-border predator strikes carried out by American drones have resulted in the deaths of 687 Pakistani civilians.

Back in June, the US told the UN Rights Council that it has an extensive legal framework to respond to unlawful drone killings.

Washington also said that the UN investigator did not have the mandate to cover military and intelligence issues.

On Tuesday, US democratic Senator John Kerry said drone attacks will continue in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal region, despite rising public outrage.

This is while Pakistani officials have repeatedly warned the US about such attacks, saying that it infringes the country's sovereignty.

Kabul shootout over, 12 killed

Wed Oct 28, 2009

A deadly attack on a guesthouse in central Kabul has ended with the deaths of three gunmen and six foreign UN employees staying at the hostel, an Afghan official has said.

"Three suicide bombers have been killed during the police operation, they were armed suicide bombers," Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP on Wednesday.

The operation ended at about 8:30 a.m. (0400 GMT). Two Afghan security personnel and a civilian also died.

He also said that six foreign UN workers were killed and another five wounded during the shootout at Bekhtar Guesthouse in central Kabul's busy Butcher Street area.

The nationalities of the UN staff members were not clear.

Militants also fired rockets at the luxury Serena Hotel. No casualties were immediately reported, but about 100 people inside at the time were taken to secure rooms as smoke filled the lobby, Afghan police said.

The attack came amid rising tensions in Afghanistan ahead of the presidential runoff scheduled to be held on November 7, and after a string of high-profile suicide attacks in recent months.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the hostage taking, saying it was the 'first step' in a campaign to disrupt the second round of Afghan presidential elections in 10 days' time.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109814.html.

Uruguay leftists sweep back to power

Uruguay's governing left-wing coalition has won a parliamentary majority for a second mandate after Sunday's general election.

Although the Electoral Commission is still counting votes, analysts say they will not affect the final results, which will be logged on Saturday.

Preliminary results indicate that the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) coalition got 16 seats out of a total of 30 in the higher chamber of parliament. It also obtained 50 deputies of the 99 in the lower house.

Ruling party socialist Jose 'Pepe' Mujica needs more than 50 percent of the votes to avoid a runoff against former president Luis Lacalle.

Exit polls suggest Mujica has just under 50 percent of the votes, far more than Lacalle but not enough to win the first round majority of 50 percent.

Mujica is a former guerrilla who hopes to create lasting socialism in Uruguay.

Lacalle is a free-marketeer who pushed hard to privatize government during his presidential term between 1990 and 1995.

IRGC tracking terror cells outside Iran

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the force is able to gather intelligence on terrorist groups operating from outside the country.

"We have the means to gather intelligence on any terrorist group terrorizing Iranian citizens from outside Iran," Revolutionary Guards chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Tuesday.

Jafari, however, added that this has been made possible through 'the assistance of Shias outside the country who have the Islamic republic's interests at heart'.

On October 18, at least 41 people including top commanders of IRGC were killed in an explosion during a unity conference between Sunni and Shia tribal leaders in the borderline city of Pishin.

The Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the bomb blast.

The Iranian commander took a swipe at Pakistani officials who 'have chosen silence in the face of plausible evidence confirming that Rigi has been assisted by the country's intelligence'.

Jafari further repeated Iran's requests from the government in Islamabad to extradite those responsible for terrorizing Iranian nations.

The commander of IRGC Ground Forces, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, on Monday indicated that the military is preparing short-term and long-term plans to confront those behind a recent terror attack in Iran.

Pakpour said the IRGC plans to pass intelligence to the authorities in neighboring countries to help them capture terrorists fleeing Iranian territory.

However, the IRGC commander added, "Due to the current security situation, the plans cannot be made public."

"The IRGC has tracked them down" but the onus is on neighboring states to deal with the terrorists, he said.

Jundullah, which operates in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan's Baluchistan provinces, has carried out a number of attacks against high profile Iranian targets, especially the government and security officials.

An ABC News report in 2007 reported that the Jundullah terrorist group 'has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials' to destabilize the government in Iran.

In another report in July, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that US Congressional leaders secretly agreed to George W. Bush's $400-million funding request last year for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran.

It is through such covert funding that the US arms and funds terrorist groups such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and Jundullah.

Other US intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, have their own secret and separate budgets to fund destabilizing operations against Iran and other nations that do not submit to America's will.

The group's ringleader, Abdolmalek Rigi, describes his terrorist cell as a 'nationalist movement' and denies any links to Washington. However, many Sunni Baluchis were among those killed in the recent terrorist attack by Rigi's followers.

Meanwhile, tribal leaders in the city of Sarbaz in Sistan-Baluchistan province staged demonstrations in condemnation of the deadly blasts in the city.

The protesters shouted slogans against the United States and the terrorist cell of Abdolmalek Rigi.

Indian troops retake train seized by Maoists

Maoist guerrillas took control of a high-speed train in India's West Bengal state for a few hours, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded in the middle of a jungle.

300 Maoists waving red flags blocked the tracks and stopped the New Delhi-bound train on Tuesday.

The rebels were demanding the release of some of their arrested regional leaders.

This sparked a fierce gunfight that left a policeman injured and two rebels dead.

Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidamabaram confirmed the drama ended five hours after the kidnapping.

"Central forces and state police have secured the train and there is no sign of any adversary in the area... All are safe."

The rebels have been fighting for more than three decades in several Indian states.

The guerrillas claim they are fighting for the rights of landless farmers and neglected tribesmen in the impoverished eastern and central states.

The rebels have killed thousands of people -- including police, militants and civilians - over the years.

Gates calls for continued military dialogue with China

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates says dialogue is the only way to solve the disagreements that pop up in US-China military ties from time to time.

In talks with China's second-highest ranking military official, General Xu Caihou, on Tuesday, Gates stressed the need to continue the dialogue between the two countries' militaries, regardless of disputes or policy differences, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters after their meeting.

"There is a need to break the on-again-off-again cycle of our military-to-military relationship," said Morrell.

Xu is visiting Washington to improve US-China military ties, to express concern over US arms sales to Taiwan, and to protest US surveillance ships patrolling off China's waters.

It is the first high-level visit by a Chinese military official since 2006,

Last year, Beijing stopped military exchanges with Washington for months when the US offered an arms package to Taiwan worth $6.5 billion.

Xu invited Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, and the Commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Robert Willard, to visit China.

Medvedev calls for revision of electoral system

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for changes in the electoral system after the opposition parties accused the authorities of massive election fraud.

Opposition parties cried foul after the October 11 regional polls and called the outcome a stab in the back of democracy.

The pro-Kremlin United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, scored a sweeping victory, consolidating broader domination in federal and provincial legislatures.

On Tuesday, Medvedev said changes to electoral laws are possible and ordered the election chief to sort out the problems with the opposition parties.

He told Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov, "The rules are changing, the technology is changing, we should be reasonably conservative."

He also promised to make Russia's political system more flexible and to allow smaller parties pushed off the political stage during Putin's 2000-2008 presidency to regain some weight.

India issues travel advisory for Pakistan

The Indian Home Ministry has issued an advisory urging its citizens not to travel to Pakistan due to the worsening security situation in the neighboring country.

"The Government of India is of the view that it is not advisable for Indian pilgrims to visit Pakistan in the prevailing situation, when frequent terrorist attacks are taking place in Punjab province of Pakistan, where all Gurudwaras (Sikh temples) are situated. All Indian citizens are asked to avoid undertaking any visit to Pakistan for this purpose till the security situation in Pakistan improves," the Xinhua news agency quoted the advisory issued by the Home Ministry as saying.

A wave of militant attacks in Pakistani cities has killed nearly 200 people in October.

Hundreds of Sikhs cross over into Pakistan on pilgrimage to the birthplace of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, near Lahore.

5 PKK militants killed in eastern Turkey clashes

At least five members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have beeen killed in skirmishes with Turkish security forces in the eastern province of Bingol.

The clashes took place late Monday when members of the military patrolling the area bumped into a group of PKK members. They called upon the militants to surrender, but they responded by opening fire. Military forces then engaged in a fierce firefight with the insurgents and killed five of them, according to a report published by the Anatolia news agency.

One Turkish who soldier was wounded in the incident was airlifted to a military hospital in Elazig. Two villagers taking care of their beehives also sustained injuries.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, including Turkey, Iran, the US, and European Union member states.

Over 40,000 people have lost their lives since the militant group launched its armed campaign against Ankara in 1984 as part of a quest to establish an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey.

Iran, Turkey seek to triple trade by 2014

Iranian First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi says Iran and Turkey have agreed to increase the level of their annual trade exchanges to $30 billion.

"Following a proposal from Iran, the level of trade between Iran and Turkey will increase to $30 billion within the coming 4 to 5 years," IRNA quoted Rahimi as saying on Tuesday.

"The level of trade ties between Iran and Turkey stands at about $11 billion, which is not satisfactory," he added.

"We should conduct some of our trade in Iran's rial and the Turkish lira through establishing joint banks," Iran's vice president stated.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tehran on Monday and was officially welcomed by Rahimi in a ceremony on Tuesday.

FDLR rebels kill 10 civilians in eastern Congo

Tue Oct 27, 2009

The UN says Hutu rebels of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have attacked in an area of the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least ten civilians.

The incident happened over the weekend when the rebels ambushed civilian vehicles in the eastern province of North Kivu, Reuters reported.

A UN-backed radio station put the civilian death toll at 10 in the area, where there has been surge in attacks over the past few months.

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed in the region since Congo launched an offensive against the FDLR in January.

The UN-backed operation has been criticized for provoking reprisal attacks by the FDLR against civilians.

In the eastern Congo, the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and Rwandan Hutu rebels of the FDLR have caused untold suffering for thousands of civilians.

The Great Lakes region has been destabilized since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which some LRA members participated in.

And the eastern Congo has experienced interminable cycles of violence since 1998.

The war in the Congo has dragged on for over a decade and left over 5.4 million people dead.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109789.html.

Rohingya forced to build fence

By Nicolas Haque on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border

On Myanmar's side of the Naf River that marks border with Bangladesh, laborers are hard at work building a fence that will prevent them fleeing persecution.

They will not be paid for their work. Instead the men, who come from the persecuted Rohingya ethnic group, have been coerced into erecting the 230km long fence by the threat of violence against their families.

The Rohingyas are a distinct ethnic group from Myanmar's Rakhine State. The authorities in Yangon have refused to recognize them as citizens and they have been persecuted for their cultural difference and practice of Islam.

For many, life in Myanmar has become so difficult that they have fled across the border to Bangladesh. Over the past year 12,000 Rohingyas have been caught crossing the border illegally.

Now they are being forced to build a fence to prevent such escapes.

"The Myanmar army have forced all of the men living in the villages on the border to work on the fence," a worker involved in the construction says. "Most of them are Rohingyas. If we don't do as they say they beat us and our families."

So far they have fenced off 70km of border in what experts believe is an attempt by Yangon to increase control of the lucrative smuggling trade that flourishes in the area.

"Illegal trade between Myanmar and Bangladesh has formerly been in favor of Bangladesh, but this will change now,"explains Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, from Dhaka University. "The country that controls the barriers between borders can also assert greater control over the illegal trade."

Disputed border

Bangladesh and Myanmar have never agreed on their borders, and an ongoing dispute over where their maritime frontiers lie has seen tension rise along the Naf river.

The contested maritime border involves a patch of sea believed to contain valuable oil and gas. Control of these waters could make either country very rich, and experts say that diplomatic relations between the two countries has deteriorated as a result of the dispute.

"The tension was heightened last November when the Myanmar Navy came in to put a rig in what Bangladesh claims, rightly, to be our own territorial water," says Retired Major General ANM Muniruzzaman, from the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies.

"Eventually the Bangladeshi diplomatic efforts diffused the situation, and the Myanmar navy rig went back, but the Myanmar government has consistently told Bangladesh that this is their water, and that they will come back. When that happens, perhaps the Myanmar government wants to put a dual pressure on Bangladesh, not only from the sea but also from the land border."

That process may have already started. Myanmar has deployed 50,000 men to the border with Bangladesh, and in the past month alone, Dhaka has responded by sending an additional 3000 troops to the area in a maneuver codenamed "Operation Fortress."

Officially, the Bangladeshi government denies there is tension along the border. The troops say they are there to monitor and stop the illegal trafficking of goods and people.

But the soldiers know that relations between the two countries are strained.

"We have a border through which we can observe the other side of the river. Our troops morale is very high, under any circumstances we are ready to protect the integrity and sovereignty of our country," says Lieutenant Colonel Mozammel, commanding officer of Border Guards Bangladesh in Teknaf.

Unregistered refugees

Meanwhile, the horrific conditions faced by the Rohingyas in Myanmar are prompting thousands to flee to Bangladesh.

Malika is one of those who crossed the Naf river illegally. Her feet are swollen from the three-day walk to escape Yangon's soldiers.

She says she suffered horrific abuse there and had no choice but to leave.

"I couldn't stay there, the soldiers raped me over and over again," she says. "The Myanmar army do not consider us as humans."

But once in Bangladesh, the refugees face new problems. Of more than 400,000 Rohingyas believed to have slipped across the border into Bangladesh, just 26,000 have been officially recognized as refugees by the Bangladeshi government and the United Nations.

The authorities refuse to feed and house the rest.

Even the handful of NGOs working here are not allowed to provide food or medical aid or education facilities to unregistered Rohingyas because the government fears that this would spark tensions between poor local villagers and the new arrivals.

Fadlullah Wilmot, the director of Muslim Aid in Bangladesh, explains: "More than 44 per cent of the population in this area are ultra poor, that means that their daily income only provides their basic food needs. The literacy rate is about 10 per cent. The wage rate is low, so of course there are tensions."

In limbo

In 1992, the Bangladeshi government, under the supervision of UNHCR, organized the forced reparation of 250,000 Rohingyas on the basis that the refugees would be given citizenship by the Myanmar authorities. That promise was never kept.

Professor Ahmad believes the refugees are trapped between a rock and a hard place.

"Myanmar's position is they do not recognize them as citizens, they are stateless within Myanmar, and they are also stateless when they come to Bangladesh," he says.

"If you build the fence now Myanmar will probably say it is ready to take the 26,000 legal refugees from the camp but not the unregistered because they don’t know who they are."

Trapped in limbo between two countries that don't want them, the Rohingyas have become a bargaining chip for both Bangladesh and Myanmar as they try to settle their border dispute.

In Bangladesh's refugee camps, frustration and anger are rife amongst the beleaguered minority.

"We cannot work. Our children can't go to school. Our wives aren't allowed to see doctors," one man says. "We cannot receive any food aid. No one wants us. This is humiliating, we have no arms, but we are ready to fight and to blow ourselves up. People need to know that we exist."

Fossilized Skull Of 'Sea Monster' Pliosaur Found On England's Dorset Coast

Ferocious prehistoric predator's skull measure 8 feet and could belong to a creature measuring 50 feet in length.

The fossilized skull of a "sea monster", which may be the largest of its type ever found, has been unearthed on the Dorset coast.

The skull from the ferocious prehistoric predator the pliosaur is 2.4 meters long and could belong to a creature measuring up to 16 meters in length from tip to tail and weighing up to 12 tons.

Pliosaurs were a form of plesiosaur, a group of giant aquatic reptiles that terrorized the ocean 150 million years ago, around the same time that dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

They had short necks and huge, crocodile-like heads that contained immensely powerful jaws and a set of huge, razor-sharp teeth.

Richard Forrest, a plesiosaur expert, said the discovery was fortunate because pliosaur skulls were generally found crushed flat.

"What is fantastic about this new skull, not only is it absolutely enormous, but it is pretty much in 3-D and not much distorted," he said. "You have this wonderful lower jaw - and you can just see from the depth and the thickness that this was immensely strong.

"It could have taken a human in one gulp; in fact, something like a T-Rex would have been breakfast for a beast like this."

The fossil was found by a local collector on the Jurassic Coast, a 95-mile stretch of coastline covering Dorset and East Devon that spans 185 million years of geological history. Dorset county council purchased it for £20,000 with money from the heritage lottery fund, and it will now be scientifically analyzed, prepared and then put on public display at Dorset County Museum.

Using four paddle-like limbs to propel its bulky body through the water, the pliosaur made easy work of passing prey such as dolphin-like ichthyosaurs and even other plesiosaurs.

"These creatures were monsters," said David Martill, a palaeontologist from the University of Portsmouth.

"They had massive muscles on their necks, and you would have imagined that they would bite into the animal and get a good grip, and then with these massive neck muscles they probably would have thrashed the animals around and torn chunks off.

"It would have been a bit of a blood bath."

Experts believe it could rival recent finds made in Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, where beasts dubbed "the Monster" and "Predator X" were thought to have measured 15 meters, and in Mexico, where the "Monster of Aramberri" was discovered in 2002, and is believed to have been of similar dimensions.

"We only have the head, so you cannot be absolutely precise," said Martill.

"But it may be vying with the ones found in Svalbard and Mexico for the title of the world's largest."

The exact location of the find is not being revealed, as Dorset county council does not want to encourage people to head to the spot. The area is unstable and prone to rock falls and landslides.

Richard Edmonds, the council's earth science manager for the Jurassic Coast, said the rest of the creature may still be entombed in the rock but it could take decades for it to emerge.

"The ground is dipping very steeply, and as it is such a huge specimen it will be buried beneath layer upon layer of rock, so we will have to patiently wait for the next big landslide," he said.

Iraq To Go Nuclear With Plans For New Reactor Program

Baghdad approached the International Atomic Energy Agency for approval to rebuild facility destroyed by U.S. and U.K. planes.

Iraq has started lobbying for approval to again become a nuclear player, almost 19 years after British and American war planes destroyed Saddam Hussein's last two reactors, the Guardian has learned.

The Iraqi government has approached the French nuclear industry about rebuilding at least one of the reactors that was bombed at the start of the first Gulf war. The government has also contacted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and United Nations to seek ways around resolutions that ban Iraq's re-entry into the nuclear field.

Iraq says it envisages that a reactor would be used initially for research purposes. "We are co-operating with the IAEA and expanding and defining areas of research where we can implement nuclear technology for peaceful means," the science and technology minister, Raid Fahmi, told the Guardian newspaper's correspondent in Baghdad.

"After the dissolution [of the regime] we did not have an industry, but we have become more and more conscious of the need for nuclear technology. This was raised several months ago with the relevant bodies."

Iraq's renewed dalliance with the science that was partly responsible for its international isolation, and two devastating invasions, comes at an extremely sensitive juncture in regional politics, with its near neighbor Iran accused of diverting its growing nuclear capacity to develop a weapons program.

Fahmi insists Iraq has "only peaceful applications" in mind for a nuclear program, "including the health sector, agriculture … and water treatment".

The Iraqi government cannot meet the needs of residents served by antiquated electricity networks and water distribution that need an overhaul. Most other service sectors, including science and technology, are also unable to satisfy need, making relatively cheap and efficient nuclear energy an attractive alternative.

However, the fresh talk of a nuclear Iraq also comes amid a security environment that is yet to inspire confidence. Two government buildings were destroyed on Sunday by suicide bombers driving trucks through the heart of Baghdad, less than three months after an almost identical attack crippled two other ministries. Almost 300 people died in the attacks and more than 1,000 were maimed.

Fears also remain that radioactive material generated in Iraq, including yellowcake, a powder formed in the processing of uranium, is still unaccounted for six years after widespread looting at the site of the Tuwaitha nuclear research center on the southern outskirts of Baghdad.

A research center, a nuclear waste management facility and all three of Iraq's reactors, known as Tamuz 1, Tamuz 2 and Tamuz 14, were located on the site. One of these, a French-made reactor, was destroyed in a 1981 Israeli bombing raid .

The area was crucial to Saddam's bid over three decades bid to exert leverage over Iran and the US and fueled the belief in the international community that the executed dictator intended to weaponize Iraq's nuclear capacity.

Since 2003, relics and contaminants have been gradually decommissioned in a program sponsored by international backers, including the IAEA, and run by Iraqi scientists.

"We lost some control and there was a lot of looting," said a nuclear engineer, Adnan Jarjies, standing near one of the ruined reactor cores this week. Pointing to the nearby research plant, which is still partially standing, he said: "Some of the equipment was looted from this facility and we have to [rehabilitate] it again."

Jarjies said the main phase of the four-part decommissioning program, which he supervises, started in 2007 and should be finished by the middle of next year.

Two ruined reactors remain largely as they were left after the 1991 bombing, with their contaminated cores now filled with concrete and water.

A third site that was once used as a storage center for spent reactor fuel is now a brick-strewn wasteland. The whole nuclear site remains surrounded by almost seven kilometers of 50-meter high sand berms.

"After 1991, U.N. Inspectors have been coming to this site four to five times per year," said Jarjies. "They have had access whenever they wanted."

Fahmi admitted there were "some impediments" to the plan. "At the moment, U.N. resolutions, including 707, don't allow us to enter this field, so we are lobbying for the resolutions to be lifted," he said.

Source: Free Internet Press.
Link: http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=23386.

Clinton visits Pakistan amid public outrage

Wed Oct 28, 2009

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Islamabad in an attempt to turn a new page in relations with Pakistan, where anti-US sentiments run high.

"We have a relationship that we want to strengthen," Clinton told reporters at the start of her three-day visit on Wednesday.

"It is unfortunate that there are those who question our motives, perhaps are skeptical that we're going to commit to a long-term relationship, and I want to try to clear the air on that," the top US diplomat stressed.

Clinton also urged Pakistan to join the nuclear non-proliferation talks, expressing concerns over the security of Islamabad's nuclear weapons.

The remarks come as Washington-Islamabad relations face an uphill road as public outrage has increased over recent drone attacks in Pakistan's restive northwestern region and a controversial US aid package.

Hours after her arrival, a powerful blast has ripped through a crowded market in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar, killing and injuring dozens of people.

Last month, US Congress approved the plan to provide Pakistan with a massive $7.5 billion aid package over the next five years.

Critics say although the non-military bill is to assist Islamabad, it insists on controlling the way the money is channeled and therefore violates the country's sovereignty.

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

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109828.html.

Dozens killed in Peshawar blast

Wed Oct 28, 2009

A powerful blast has ripped through a crowded market in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar, killing more than 50 people, police and witnesses say.

Dozens of people have also been injured as heavy smoke went into the sky in the area where the explosion happened.

The heavy blast came just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan's capital Islamabad for talks over political and military issues.

"At least 57 people were killed and more than 150 wounded," Doctor Zafar Iqbal told AFP at the main government hospital in Peshawar.

The death toll is expected to rise as some of the injured were apparently in critical condition.

"We have received 21 dead bodies. A lot of people are injured. We are not in a position to count them," hospital doctor Zafar Iqbal told AFP news agency.

The bombing came as Peshawar has been on high alert since Tuesday as the local government has erected additional pickets on all the entrances and exits of the city, in milieu of country's deteriorating peace situation.

The police have called upon the citizens to fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109826.html.

Iran's swine flu death toll reaches 22

Swine flu has claimed the lives of 22 Iranian people across the country as the national tally of infections rises to 1638, Iran's Health Ministry has said.

"The number of swine flu deaths in Iran has reached 22,” the director of the Health Ministry's Center for Disease Control, Mohammad-Mehdi Gouya, told IRNA on Wednesday.

“Most of the victims include people from seven to twenty four years of age,” he added.

According to Seyyed Ali Yazdikhah, the director of the Education Organization of Tehran Province, at least three Iranian schools were closed on October 26th as a precaution against the spread of the A/H1N1 flu among students.

The country's officials maintain that adopting simple precautionary measures such as washing hands frequently, using a tissue at the time of coughing and sneezing as well as avoiding kissing can help contain the virus.

Iranian authorities had earlier canceled the Umrah (the minor pilgrimage) in the holy month of Ramadan with the aim of containing the A/H1N1 virus.

Iran's first swine flu case was a 16-year-old Iranian-American boy, who tested positive for the disease on June 22, upon his arrival in Tehran.

UN approves nuclear free resolution

The United Nations has approved a draft resolution proposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran on destruction of nuclear weapons under international supervision.

The resolution was ratified at the First Committee of the UN General Assembly despite the opposition of the United States and its allies.

Based on the resolution, the UN General Assembly calls upon all nuclear countries to comply fully with all commitments made regarding nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation and not to act in any way that might compromise either cause or lead to a new nuclear arms race.

It also asks member states to take the necessary measures to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in all its aspects and to promote nuclear disarmament, with the objective of eliminating nuclear weapons.

The assembly stressed that Israel join the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and allow its nuclear installations to come under supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The United State, France, United Kingdom and Israel voted against the resolution.

Mozambique votes in national election

Wed Oct 28, 2009

(PressTV) Mozambique people have gone to polls in elections for a new president, parliament and regional assemblies for the fourth time since the introduction of multi-party democracy in 1994.

The presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections are widely expected to be won by the ruling party Frelimo and incumbent President Armando Guebuza.

Frelimo, which has ruled Mozambique since its independence from Portugal in 1975, will be helped along by a recent split in long-time opposition movement Renamo, which saw the breakaway Democratic Movement of Mozambique form in March.

Seventeen political parties and two coalitions are competing for the ballots from Mozambique's almost 10 million registered voters.

"It is important to vote because it is to decide the future of the country, to give my opinion about how I want the future of the country to be," said Vasco Munguambe, who had been waiting outside a Maputo station.

Early results from more than 12,000 polling stations are expected to trickle in after the closing of polling stations on Wednesday evening.

'Israel systematically targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque'

Palestinian legislator Jamal al-Khudari says the frequent Israeli assaults on the Al-Aqsa Mosque are not just efforts by extremist Zionist groups or individuals but rather a systematic policy pursued by Tel Aviv.

"This dangerous policy requires concerted efforts by Arab and Muslim governments, institutions, and peoples to help the Palestinian people face the Zionist dangers threatening the occupied city of Jerusalem (al-Quds)," al-Khudari was quoted as saying on Monday by the Palestinian Information Center.

He also called on Arab and Muslim officials to support the Palestinians' efforts to maintain their presence in Jerusalem (al-Quds).

Israeli forces invaded the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday morning, firing rubber-coated bullets and teargas canisters at Palestinian worshipers.

At least 30 Palestinians were wounded and up to 20 others arrested during fierce clashes between Palestinian activists using stones, shoes, and bare fists and armed Israeli troops in and around the sacred site.

Muslims consider the frequent Israeli attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to be part of a Judaization campaign targeting the holy city of Jerusalem (al-Quds).

Algeria Threatened By Youth Unrest

CAIRO [MENL] -- Algeria, apparently successful in foiling the Islamic insurgency campaign, faces another threat -- rising unrest by the vast numbers of unemployed youth.

Algerian security forces have been bracing for violent protests by the nation's young unemployed. The anger was said to have been exploited by Al Qaida, which has blamed the joblessness on the huge expatriate labor force in Algeria.

Damaged Gaza schools need windows before winter

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Oct 26, 2009 (Reuters) - Gaza schools damaged by Israeli bombing will be exposed to the cold and rain this winter unless Israel relaxes its blockade to permit the import of windows, doors and building materials, officials said.

Officials of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and Gaza's Education Ministry say thousands of pupils face "darkness and cold" this winter in poorly lit and sparsely furnished schoolrooms.

Ministry spokesman Khaled Radi said more than 170 schools that suffered some damaged in the three-week Israeli offensive from Dec. 27 to Jan. 18 had not yet been repaired.

"The extent of the damage makes these schools unfit to face winter. Thousands of our children will have to study in rooms without electricity or heating," Radi told Reuters.

"Many will sit at broken desks next to windows without glass."

Israel restricts the import of cement, steel and other materials that could be used for military purposes by Gaza's Islamist rulers, Hamas, who refuse to recognise the Jewish state and remain committed to armed struggle against it.

RECONSTRUCTION STILL WAITING

UNRWA runs nearly 200 schools in the Gaza Strip, educating about half of the enclave's 450,000 students.

The agency said it had managed to obtain materials locally to repair most of the 50 schools damaged by bombs and artillery but some still need glass, cement and steel.

UNRWA Gaza adviser Adnan Abu Hasna said plans to build 100 new schools in Gaza to alleviate overcrowding in classes had been put on hold due to the Israeli blockade.

In one U.N.-run school in Jabalya refugee camp, home to more than 100,000 people, 14-year-old Ola Atteya said cracked walls and a roof of metal sheeting would make her classroom uncomfortable when the rains arrive.

Abu Hasna said efforts to convince Israel to allow essential building materials had so far been "useless".

"We are in need of everything: cement, steel, glass, windows, wood, all sorts of building materials. They are promising us, but nothing is coming into Gaza," he said.

Israel launched its offensive with the stated aim of stopping Hamas rocket and mortar fire at its southern towns. Thousands of houses, factories and government buildings were destroyed, including Gaza's main cement plant.

Donor countries in February pledged more than $4 billion for the reconstruction of Gaza. But organized reconstruction remains on hold because of the Israeli blockade.

Israel wants Hamas to release captured soldier Gilad Shalit before it makes any concessions. He has been held for three years.

Sporadic rocket fire has continued since the offensive ended and Israeli air strikes have pounded smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza which bring in all sorts of goods. The U.N. earlier this summer predicted it would take a year to clear some 420,000 tonnes of rubble left over from the three-week blitz, but Gazans deprived of concrete are recycling it as building material.

U.S. Forcibly Deported Islanders And Gassed Their Dogs To Make Way For Diego Garcia Military Base

By Sherwood Ross

October 26, 2009

In order to convert the sleepy, Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia into a dominating military base, the U.S. forcibly transported its 2,000 Chagossian inhabitants into exile and gassed their dogs.

By banning journalists from the area, the U.S. Navy was able to perpetrate this with virtually no press coverage, says David Vine, an assistant professor of anthropology at American University and author of "Island of Shame: the Secret History of the U.S. Military on Diego Garcia(Princeton University Press)."

"The Chagossians were put on a boat and taken to Mauritius and the Seychelles, 1,200 miles away, where they were left on the docks, with no money and no housing, to fend for themselves," Vine said on the interview show "Books of Our Time," sponsored by the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover.

"They were promised jobs that never materialized. They had been living on an island with schools, hospitals, and full employment, sort of like a French coastal village, and they were consigned to a life of abject poverty in exile, unemployment, health problems, and were the poorest of the poor," Vine told interview host Lawrence Velvel, dean of the law school.

Their pet dogs were rounded up and gassed, and their bodies burned, before the very eyes of their traumatized owners, Vine said.

"They were moved because they were few in number and not white," Vine added. The U.S. government circulated the fiction the Chagossians were transient contract workers that had taken up residence only recently but, in fact, they had been living on Diego Garcia since about the time of the American Revolution. Merchants had imported them to work on the coconut and copra plantations. Vine said the U.S. government induced The Washington Post not to break a story spelling out events on the island.

"Through Diego Garcia," Vine pointed out, "the U.S. can project its power throughout the Middle East, and from East Africa to India, Australia and Indonesia. With Guam, the island is the most important American base outside the U.S." He said U.S. bases now number around 1,000, including 287 in Germany, 130 in Japan and Okinawa, and 57 in Italy.

"Bases have been essential tools of U.S. military and economic power since not long after independence," Vine pointed out. "We had bases all the way to the Pacific. After the Civil War, the U.S. began to acquire coaling bases in the Pacific."

Although the Chagossians were forcibly removed in 1971, they still hope to return, Vine says, and refer to their period of exile as one of "profound sorrow." Vine says they would be happy to live on the unused eastern portion of the island and work at the base but the U.S. instead "imports contract labor from other areas so they can send them home when the job is done." The island’s exiled survivors and their descendants today number about 5,000.

Long off limits to reporters, the Red Cross, and all other international observers and far more secretive than Guantánamo Bay, many long suspected the island was a clandestine CIA "black site" for high-profile detainees, Vine wrote in a related article. Journalist Stephen Grey's 2006 book "Ghost Plane" documented the presence on the island of a CIA-chartered plane used for rendition flights. On two occasions former U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey publicly named Diego Garcia as a detention facility. And a Council of Europe report named the atoll, along with those in Poland and Romania, as a secret prison.

The island became "a major launch pad" for the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, Vine said. In addition to its capacious harbor, the island readily supports some of the largest U.S. warplanes, including Air Force B-52s, B-1Bs and B-2s. Two years ago, the Pentagon awarded a $32 million contract to add a submarine base to the island’s arsenal.

Diego Garcia had been a British possession until 1966, when London allowed the U.S. to use it as a military base in exchange for canceling a $14-million British debt for a military hardware purchase. Some idea of the size of the base may be conveyed by the fact it is said by the Pentagon to contain 654 buildings.

In a related article about Diego Garcia, Vine has written: "With support for the Chagossians' struggle growing in both the United States and Britain at the same time that revelations about a secret CIA prison are spreading, the United States must finally act to remedy the damage done by another Guantánamo damaging too many lives and undermining its international legitimacy. The United States must allow the Chagossians to return and assist Britain in paying them proper compensation; the United States must close the detention facilities and open Diego Garcia to international investigators; the United States must end the painful irony that is a base the military calls the 'Footprint of Freedom.’"