DDMA Headline Animator

Sunday, November 1, 2009

US allocates more funds to anti-Iran broadcasts

The United States has incorporated a bill into its annual military budget, which will allocate millions of dollars for Persian-language broadcasts.

US President Barack Obama signed the Victims of Iranian Censorship Act (VOICE) into law earlier this week.

The bill was introduced by Senators John McCain, Joseph Lieberman, Ted Kaufman, Lindsey Graham, and Robert Casey as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.

According to the website of Senator Lieberman, the bill authorizes $50 million for the expansion of Persian-language broadcasting in Iran by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty's Radio Farda and the Voice of America's Persian News Network.

It will also allocate another $25 million in internet-based activities, the website said.

Analysts in Iran say the move comes in response to the arrest of members of a US-based terrorist group — the Kingdom Assembly of Iran.

The detainees admitted to having masterminded and carried out terrorist acts inside Iran, including the deadly bombing of a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz in April 2008. The group runs a Persian TV channel in the US.

OIC calls for UNSC emergency meeting on Al-Aqsa

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has called for an urgent meeting on Israel's frequent violations against the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the occupied East Jerusalem Al-Quds.

The world's largest Islamic organization urged UN Security Council and Russia "to request an emergency meeting on Israeli violations of international law in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) ... and aggressions against the holy places," AFP reported on Sunday.

The Organization has already cautioned Israel of 'dangerous consequences' for acts of sacrilege in the holy compound emphasizing that any damage to the mosque could lead to "unpredictable consequences" for international peace and security.

The 57-member body condemned Israeli sporadic violations against the holy site which started on September 27 after it closed the compound and deployed thousands of police forces to secure a Jewish religious ceremony in the masque.

Clashes renewed in the holy site last week after Israeli police closed down the site.

Security forces fired stun grenades to disperse crowds of hundreds of Palestinian protesters. Twenty-four Palestinians have been wounded in the clashes in and around the holy compound.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110190&sectionid=351020202.

Mottaki says Iran interests come first in talks

As Iran and the world major powers are set to start a new round of nuclear talks, Tehran stresses the importance of paying attention to its technical and economic considerations.

"In all circumstances, interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran should be taken into considerations," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) website as saying.

"Certain members of the technical committee of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have announced that a new round of technical talks should open to address Iran's considerations and conditions," he said.

He noted that the exact date of talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Russia, China, Britain, France and the United States — plus Germany (P5+1) is yet to be set.

Mottaki pointed to technical talks held on supplying 20 percent-enriched uranium fuel for the Tehran research reactor and said, "Iran's ambassador to the IAEA [Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh] will respond to the proposal based on Iran's considerations and views."

The IAEA presented a draft proposal to Iran, France, Russia and the United States after a meeting in Vienna on October 19. While the three powers have supported the deal, Iran has yet to announce its final decision.

The deal would require Iran to ship out 80 percent of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) in exchange for highly-enriched uranium converted into metal fuel rods for the Tehran research reactor.

Palestinians accuse Clinton of hurting peace talks

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM – The Palestinians on Sunday accused U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of undermining progress toward Mideast peace talks after she praised Israel for offering to curb some Jewish settlement construction.

After meeting Israeli and Palestinian leaders during a visit Saturday, Clinton called for an unconditional resumption of peace talks and welcomed Israel's offer for a slowdown in settlement activity.

But Palestinians rejected the idea of resuming talks, reiterating their demand that Israel must first freeze all construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — lands they claim for a future state.

"I believe that the U.S. condones continued settlement expansion," Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said in a rare public chiding of Washington.

"Calling for a resumption of negotiations despite continued settlement construction doesn't help because we have tried this way many times," Khatib added. "Negotiations are about ending the occupation and settlement expansion is about entrenching the occupation."

Palestinians expressed deep disappointment and frustration at Clinton's words, which signaled a departure from past U.S. calls for a complete freeze on settlement activity.

"If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do Palestinians have of reaching agreement with Israel on permanent status issues?" Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Similar sentiments were voiced by Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab countries to have peace agreements with Israel. The two countries said most of the blame lay with Israel, but signaled their unhappiness with the American shift.

Jordan's King Abdullah II traveled to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. After the meeting, a royal palace statement released in Jordan said both leaders "insisted on the need for an immediate halt of all Israeli unilateral actions, which undermine the chances of achieving peace, especially the settlement construction."

Clinton is set to meet with Arab foreign ministers in Morocco in the coming days.

After taking office at the start of this year, President Barack Obama buoyed Palestinian hopes with his outreach to the Muslim world and an initially tough stance urging a full freeze to all settlement construction.

But after making little headway with the Israelis in recent months, Clinton urged the Palestinian leader in a face-to-face meeting on Saturday to renew talks, which broke down late last year, without conditions.

Then, at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Saturday, she praised Netanyahu's offer to curb some settlement construction.

"What the prime minister has offered in specifics on restraints on a policy of settlements ... is unprecedented," Clinton added. "I want to see both sides as soon as possible begin negotiations."

Netanyahu has said he will not create any new settlements in the West Bank and indicated he would temporarily suspend any plans for future construction. But he has insisted Israel would not limit building in east Jerusalem, which it annexed after capturing it. And he has refused to call off the construction of 3,000 apartments in the West Bank that already have been approved.

The Palestinians say the settlements are undermining their dream of independence by gobbling up large chunks of territory they claim as part of a future state. Some 500,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967.

Israel promised to halt all settlement activity in a 2003 peace plan, but construction has never stopped.

Palestinian President Abbas has been badly weakened by the perception among his public that he has repeatedly buckled under U.S. pressure. With Palestinian elections scheduled for January, Abbas is wary of again caving in to Washington.

Abbas' rival, the Hamas militant group, urged the president to resist American calls to restart peace talks. "The Arab and Muslim people know well that the U.S. position is biased," aid Mohammad Nazzal, a top member of the group's exiled leadership in Syria.

Senior Palestinian officials are waiting to see what comes out of Clinton's talks with Arab foreign ministers in Morocco this week. While disappointed with the U.S. stance, Abbas wants to avoid a confrontation with Washington.

Encouraged by the U.S. backing, Netanyahu on Sunday urged the Palestinians to "come to their senses" and restart peace talks.

"The peace process is in the Israeli interest and also in the Palestinian interest. It is important and we are committed to it and we hope that as we are prepared to begin talks without delay, we shall find the Palestinians sharing the same attitude," he told his Cabinet.

Karzai to go ahead with one-man contest

Sun Nov 1, 2009

Following the withdrawal of his only rival from the second round of Afghanistan's presidential elections, Hamid Karzai says he will go ahead with the run-off.

Expressing regret over Abdullah Abdullah's decision to pull out of the poll scheduled for next week, Karzai said on Sunday that he wanted the second round to be held and that he would respect any legal ruling on the run-off election.

"In the light of Afghanistan's constitution and for the sake of democracy and rule of law in Afghanistan, we remain committed and bound to respect the process and will accept any decisions by the Independent Election Commission and other legal institutions," Karzai's office said in a statement.

While Karzai, whose credibility was undermined following the fraudulent first round, says the run-off should take place to give the people of Afghanistan the right to vote, many believe he wants the one-man contest in order to gain legitimacy for a second term in office.

Abdullah Abdullah, who ranked second to Karzai in the first round of voting on August 20, pulled out of the second round of the Afghan presidential election on Sunday after his demands for ensuring a fraud-free election were rejected. He had called for the dismissal of the head of the Afghan Independent Election Commission, Azizullah Lodin, accusing him of rigging the vote in favor of Karzai.

The Afghan constitution lacks a provision in which a candidate withdraws from a run-off and in such an event the Supreme Court will have to make a ruling. Analysts and diplomats, however, say the run-off is likely to take place, ensuring Karzai a second term, but they have predicted a very low turnout because of first-round fraud and Taliban attacks.

"If voter turnout is very, very low, below 20 percent, then even though he will be declared the winner he will lack legitimacy in the eyes of Afghans and the opposition," Haroun Mir, head of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies said.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110177.html.

Iraq elections could be delayed: Official

Iraq's electoral body has warned that the January elections will have to be delayed, unless the parliament adopts proper procedures in the next two days.

"We are entering a critical period," Qassim al-Abboudi, a senior official in Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told AFP.

"We have told [the] parliament that if it is not possible to approve the law in the next few days, at least they have to provide the electoral commission with the system to be used, the number of seats and the quota for women and minorities," he added.

Iraqi parliament has again postponed voting on an election law over which the lawmakers are deadlocked, AFP reported.

"If time runs out without getting this information, then the election date will be in danger", he warned.

Abboudi said he did not want to give a specific date to avoid negatively affecting discussions in the parliament.

Faraj al-Haidari, the chief of the IHEC, however, said that the procedural details would have to be in place by Tuesday.

The electoral law is supposed to be in place 90 days before voting, which should be held by January 31.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110176§ionid=351020201.

Swedish journalist met by Israeli protesters

Swedish journalist Donald Bostrom, whose article on an organ-theft scandal in Israel provoked an outcry among Tel Aviv officials, has been greeted with protesters upon his arrival in the country.

Bostrom, who arrived in Israel to attend a media conference in Dimona, was met with right-wing protesters at Ben Gurion airport late Saturday, Haaretz reported Sunday.

Donald will be interviewed at the Dimona Media Conference on Monday.

Dimona is where Israel's nuclear reactor and weapon production facilities are located.

His article, They plunder the organs of our sons, published by the Swedish daily Aftonbladet accused Israeli soldiers of harvesting organs from wounded or killed Palestinians.

The article sparked outrage among Israeli officials who termed it as "groundless," "outrageous" and "anti-Semitic."

Regarding his visit to Israel, Dimona Mayor Meir Cohen said in an interview that Israel was damaging its own public diplomacy by ignoring hostile publications instead of confronting them, The Jerusalem Post quoted him as saying.

"The street is controlled by negative Palestinian propaganda," said Cohen. "We are bringing him here to tell him how despicable he is for using journalistic tools to construct an entire narrative."

Bostrom who has said that he has received several death threats, will be accompanied by a bodyguard during his stay.

The Afghans' Decision About the Runoff Elections is Unchanged

Afghan Resistance Statement
The Afghans’ Decision About the Runoff Elections is Unchanged
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Dhu al-Qi'dah 12, 1430 A.H, October 31, 2009

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

The runoff for selection of a figurehead for the Kabul regime as per the expansionist policy of America elucidates that how brazen and avaricious Americans can be to ensure their interests. It also proved that how blatantly they make their puppets seem ludicrous and shameful among the public.

No question, Afghanistan is under a military occupation, the war is flaring up, and the people are deprived of liberty, security and facilities. They are bearing the brunt of the terror being created by tanks and helicopters of the invaders on daily basis. Moreover, they face brutalities of the invading troops from day to day. In such unstable conditions, how real elections can be held to elect a really representative Afghan leadership? Their claims in this regard is a mere irrational and unpractical bragging.

The Americans spent hundreds of millions of dollars on August 20 elections but still they failed to obtain their pre-contemplated objective despite being the ones calling the shots and despite having taken vast security measures.

The people refused to vote in the so-called American democratic process under the shade of tanks and mortars. Instead, many of them preferred to stay home on the polling day, thus, putting on display their boycott with the elections. This blow dashed at the Americans held them to shame and tarnished their face with a stigma. Because of this, they were compelled to make for this infamy after postponement of two months, ostensibly under the name of votes- counting.

Finally, they invalidated votes of the first round of elections because of rigging, ballots-stuffing and other frauds. By doing so, they simultaneously and ludicrously discredited their stooges who were in charge of the elections and by sowing seed of linguistic discord and hatred, they paved the way for the runoff elections.

Undoubtedly, the first round elections were not free from rigging and frauds. This is clear as the broad daylight. Still more, the Americans are now well-known for being ringleaders of rigging, forgery, counterfeiting and deception at world’s level but their surrogates are not lagging behind them either. So expectedly the elections’ travesty and the sham project was infested with fraud, mischief and evil designs.

Unequivocally, the announcement of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, calling on the Afghans to foil the election process, brought the Americans occupation and military presence in Afghanistan under question. The Afghan people positively responded to the call of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which urged them to avoid beefing up the ranks of the disbelief, corruption and misguidance by not casting their votes.

The Americans and their invading coalition should understand that the stand of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and of the Afghan Mujahid people regarding the travesty of the election is unwaveringly the same as before. You have already witnessed and tasted their reaction in the first round of the elections.

The Afghans have been observing various faces of hostilities of the invading Americans with the Afghan noble values and Islam, then it is not possible for them to be deceived by some fatuous and empty slogans of the American conspiracies. Nor these slogans will weaken their unfaltering determination to wage armed struggle.

The Afghans know that every step, statement and slogan of the Americans is aimed at ensuring their own interest rather than safeguarding the interests of the Afghans!

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=59575&s2=01.

Government soldier killed in southern Yemen

A Yemeni soldier has been killed in clashes, which erupted after security forces arrested a fighter in southern parts of the country, officials say.

The clashes, between Yemeni soldiers and local fighters, also left a man wounded in the town of Ja'ar in Abyan province late on Saturday, a local official said.

The official claimed that the fighters attacked government buildings and blocked roads on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Yemen has witnessed fierce fighting both in its southern and northern provinces.

Fighters in the south say they have been marginalized politically and economically since unification in 1990, while in the north the fighters known as Houthis say they want more autonomy and an end to what they call the government's discriminatory policies.

The government, however, launched an all-out offensive against them in August, leaving thousands of civilians displaced and scores of others killed.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110169§ionid=351020206.

Joint US-S. Korea plan to intervene in N. Korea

The US and South Korea have completed joint action plans for responding to a regime collapse and other internal emergency situations in North Korea, a report says.

"South Korea and the US had long worked on Concept Plan 5029, to prepare for a regime collapse and other internal emergencies in North Korea," Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday, quoting an informed South Korean official.

The report added that the bilateral discussions started last year after the Lee Myung-bak government pushed to convert the concept plan into a complete and operational plan.

“Since its inauguration last year, the Lee Myung-bak government has pushed to convert the concept plan into an operational plan and it was recently completed," Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday, quoting an informed South Korean official.

The plan is a case-by-case response to different emergency situations in North Korea, if a civil war breaks out.

"If the South Korea-US combined forces intervene in North Korea's internal instabilities, the South Korean military will assume the leading role in consideration of neighboring countries, while the US military will be responsible for the removal of the North's nuclear facilities and weapons," added the report.

North Korea has strongly protested the plan, saying Washington and Seoul were preparing to invade the state.

Some 28,500 US troops are situated in South Korea to bolster its' 655,000-strong armed forces against North Korea's 1.2 million-member military.

Observers believe that the plan constitutes an out-right conspiracy to destabilize and overthrow a sovereign government, a blatant violation of international law.

Russia nuclear sub test fires ballistic missile

Russian military has 'successfully' launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine in the arctic region.

Russia's Defense Ministry announced the maritime launch of the country's strategic rockets on Sunday and said that "the warheads reached the target area at the designated time," RIA Novosti reported.

"On November 1, the Northern Fleet's nuclear-powered missile-carrying submarine, Bryansk, successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in the Barents Sea from a submerged position," the Defense Ministry statement read.

Russia has recently been developing its ground- and sea-based ballistic missile systems and strategic bombers carrying nuclear bombs and nuclear-capable cruise missiles, which together make up the country's military deterrence.

There has been no further information on the latest rocket model, but the country has lately been working on its Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), capable of hitting targets with a range of over 8,000 km, and Topol-M land-based ballistic missiles with an operational range of over 11,000 km in order to be deployed as the spearheads of the country's strategic nuclear weapons.

Iran's first digital channel airs documentaries

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) has commenced the test broadcast of the over-the-air digital 'Documentary' free channel as the world moves toward switching from analog to digital.

"The Documentary Channel is currently being transmitted five hours a day between 7 p.m. and midnight local time (1530-2030 GMT) across the Iranian capital, Tehran," the Jaam-e-Jam newspaper quoted assistant director of IRIB TV4, Mohammad Zeinolabedini, as saying.

He added that the new channel, for the time being, relies on Iranian as well as foreign-made documentaries produced on the themes of culture, Iranology, nature, political developments, scientific advancements and social life.

Zeinolabedini underlined that a digital-to-analog converter box is required to watch 'Documentary' television broadcasts on analog TVs.

Thirteen TV stations now air regular programming on their analog signals across Tehran. Many view high definition digital display as the most significant advancement of television technology since color TV was introduced in the 1950s.

The hydraulics of Holocaust

Roger Harrison | Arab News

JEDDAH: Jordan was one of the first countries in the world to sign a water agreement, which it did twice with Israel, first in 1953 and again in 1987.

Al-Naser’s words appear prophetic, but the facts of the case — that Israel has severe water stress and cannot draw sufficient water from aquifers within its borders — is not news.

Much of its underground water, as much as 37 percent — is saline tainted as the Mediterranean Sea gradually seeps eastwards into the country. This has forced Israel to look outside its borders for supplies. West was the obvious direction.

First came the Tiberius project, a system of canals that took water from the River Jordan and reduced its flow by 90 percent to water the Negev Desert and found an agricultural export industry. Simultaneously, this destroyed the Palestinian farming industry and reduced swathes of the population to wage earners dependent on income from employment in Israel or penury.

Then came the Golan Heights. Promoted as a military risk to Israel who occupied it and still refuse to return the area. The Golan Heights have an aquifer beneath which supplies about 15 percent of Israel’s water. As much as 80 percent of Israel’s water is sourced outside its national borders.

Next came the settlements. New settlements never develop eastwards — only westwards. They follow the gradual recession of the aquifer into Palestinian territory. When settlements are built, immensely powerful pumps are installed to extract water for Israel’s use.

None of this is new, but with the publication of the Amnesty report on Oct. 26, at last it is news.

The report says that Israel is denying water to Palestinian residents on the West Bank and has brought the sewage and water systems in Gaza to crisis point.

Israel, the human rights group said, restricts availability of water in the Palestinian territories “by maintaining total control over the shared resources and pursuing discriminatory policies.”

“Israel allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, which lie mostly in the occupied West Bank while the unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies,” Amnesty researcher on Israel and the OPT Donatella Rovera said in a report.

The three main natural water resources in the area are Lake Kinneret, the mountain aquifer and the coastal aquifer. The mountain aquifer runs almost entirely under the West Bank, and Amnesty slammed Israel for taking 80 percent of the water from the aquifer.

Water resources are one of the “negotiation issues between Israel and the Palestine Authority. Amnesty has called on Israel to divide up the shared water resources now and end discrimination against Palestinians in favor of settlers.

According to the report, Israelis use 400 liters per capita/day and the Palestinians only 70. The World Health Organization’s recommendation for the sustenance of a basic lifestyle is 100 liters per capita/day.

According to Israeli Water Authority, however, Israelis use 408 liters per day of fresh water from natural sources and Palestinians use 200 liters per day. While acknowledging the difference between these two amounts, the authority stressed that it was nowhere near as drastic as Amnesty has portrayed it.

However, according to the Water Authority, while Israeli access to water before 1967 was about 500 cubic meters per person per year, nowadays it is just 149 cu.m. per year, a drop of 70 percent. In contrast, Palestinian consumption has risen to 105 cu.m per person per year from 86 cu.m. in pre-1967. This is not unexpected as the measure of increased efficiency in the use of water simply reflects the value Israel places on a declining resource and the lack of availability for the technology to do the same for Palestinians due to lack of finance and sanctions imposed by Israel.

The Water Authority also stressed that it provides the PA with more water per year than the amounts stipulated in the Oslo Accords. It also said Palestinians routinely dug illegal wells and refuse to purify and reuse their sewage for agriculture. Instead, they dumped their sewage into the streams in the West Bank, causing massive pollution. However, the technology and finance is simply not available to the Palestinians.

But the Amnesty report pointed out that Palestinians are not allowed to drill new wells or rehabilitate old ones without permits from the Israeli authorities, which are often impossible to get. Moreover, many roads in the West Bank are closed or restricted to Palestinian traffic that forces water tankers to make long detours to supply communities not connected to the water network.

The Amnesty said between 180,000 and 200,000 Palestinians in the West Bank rural areas have no access to running water, while taps in other areas often run dry. Amnesty further charged that Israel routinely denied Palestinians permits to launch desperately needed water sanitation and infrastructure projects in the West Bank.

Shaul Arlosoroff, a leading Israeli authority on water acquisition and use, said Israeli restrictions in the West Bank are meant to protect an already taxed aquifer from over-pumping. The final recommendations of the Amnesty report call on Israel to stop violating the Palestinians’ human rights.

“Amnesty International calls on the Israeli authorities to urgently address the desperate need for water security in the OPT, brought about by their violations of Palestinians’ human rights,” the report reads.

“The Israeli authorities should immediately:

• Lift the restrictions currently in place which deny Palestinians in the OPT access to sufficient water to meet personal and domestic needs as well as to enjoy their rights to water, food, health, work and an adequate standard of living.

• Put an end to policies and practices which discriminate against Palestinians and confer privileges to Israeli settlers with respect to access to water in the OPT.

• Revoke all outstanding orders for demolitions and prohibit further demolitions of water facilities in Area C of the West Bank.

• Lift the blockade on Gaza and allow immediate entry to Gaza of spare parts and construction and other material and equipment needed for the repair, reconstruction and maintenance of the water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza.”

Amnesty also called on the Palestinian Water Authority to “take measures to maximize existing water resources, by prioritizing measures which reduce the unacceptably high water losses, and by establishing mechanisms to ensure that all the water delivered to consumers, whether through the PWA-controlled networks or via mobile water tankers, is safe and complies with WHO standards.”

Whatever the rights and wrongs, whatever political settlement the parties involved in the Israel-Palestine situation, nothing will be achieved until the question of water is resolved, for without it both sides face extinction.

A/H1N1 flu spreads in Turkey as gov't beefs up precaution

Turkey has seen cases of the deadly influenza A/H1N1 surge in the past weeks as the virus spread in the country and prompted the government to take increasing precautionary measures.

A 37-year-old woman died of A/H1N1 flu virus on Thursday in the central province of Konya, bringing the death toll of the flu to three in Turkey, the country's Health Ministry said.

Earlier on Thursday, the ministry said a 34-year-old woman died of the disease in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir. The first victim of the flu in Turkey was a 29-year-old man in Ankara, who died last Saturday.

As of Thursday, 1,411 people in Turkey had tested positive for A/H1N1 flu since May, when the first case was reported in the country, according to the ministry.

The latest round of epidemic broke out in mid-October, when a student in an elementary school in the capital city of Ankara was diagnosed with A/H1N1 flu after returning from Scotland.

The school later was closed for a week to protect students from the threat of the disease.

As risks of a large-scale epidemic have been rising in the country, Turkish authorities have ordered school recesses and announced vaccination plans.

All education institutions, including pre-schools, elementary and secondary schools, private schools and study centers, took a recess Friday so that they were given four days of break to be disinfected against the A/H1N1 flu virus.

The one-day recess follows Oct. 29, a Turkish national holiday, and precedes the weekend; hence classes will be suspended for four days.

Local authorities have also announced a one-week recess for all schools in Ankara starting last Sunday, during which the schools were disinfected and Turkey's state-run television station broadcast live education programs.

Schools in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir and the southeastern province of Mardin have also been ordered to take recesses following outbreak of the flu.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry will launch vaccinations against the flu on Nov. 2, starting with health workers, as no adverse effects had been observed during vaccine tests, the Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman reported Friday.

The next group to be vaccinated will be pilgrims embarking on hajj over the next few weeks, said the report.

The first batch of vaccines, which amounted to 500,000 doses, arrived in Turkey last week.

Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag has said vaccination of students would start in late November and end in January, while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week the vaccination would be voluntary and parents would decide whether to have their children vaccinated, according to Today's Zaman.

Public transportation vehicles in various provinces were also being disinfected, the newspaper added.

The authorities were well prepared for the flu and people should not panic, Akdag was quoted by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News as saying.

Increasing sensitivity over the A/H1N1 flu epidemic had boosted sales of wet napkins, antibacterial gels and liquid soap by as much as 300 percent in Turkey, the newspaper reported Wednesday.

Settlers perform Talmudic rituals outside a confiscated Palestinian family home

October 30, 2009

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) -- Tens of extremist Jewish settlers celebrated outside the house they recently arrogated from a Palestinian family in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem.

Local sources told PIC correspondent that in addition to singing and dancing in circles the extremist settlers performed Talmudic rituals outside the house of al-Ghawi family, who were evicted from their house by the Israeli authorities and their house given to Jewish settlers.

The extremist settlers celebrated under the protection the Israeli occupation police and special forces who also participated in the rituals.

The sources added that the Palestinian residents of the neighborhood responded by playing Quran tapes in their houses, cars and mosques.

The sources also said that a group of locals gathered outside the evicted family's tent to show solidarity with the family

Amal al-Qasem, member of the Sheikh Jarrah committee said that the prayers performed by the settlers "were a challenge to our sensibilities, as Friday is a holy day for Muslims around the world. I fear that in the coming days the Zionist police which protects those settlers will bar us from leaving our homes during their prayers and festivals."

"I hope they leave, because it was them who took over the house of al-Ghawi family. Their presence and their provocations from time to time will not lead to peace or security," she added.

She also said that the issue of Sheikh Jarrah is a just one, the residents are refugees housed under UN supervision and the UN should do something to help stop settlers from taking over the rest of the houses in the neighborhood.

Egypt to open Gaza border for three days

31 October 2009

Rafah, Egypt - Egypt will open its border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Sunday for three days, Egyptian security officials told the German Press Agency dpa on Saturday.

The decision will allow “humanitarian cases” including Palestinians who have completed treatments in Egyptian hospitals to return back to Gaza.

It will also allow students and patients who want to be treated in hospitals to enter Egypt, they said.

Egypt opened the border after coordinating with the Palestinian movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

With brief exceptions, the Egyptian-Gazan border has been closed since Hamas security forces wrested control of the territory from Fatah security forces in 2007.

Under an agreement brokered by the US in 2005, the Rafah crossing cannot open without the presence of the Palestinian president’s forces and European Union monitors.

Egypt sometimes opens the crossing for humanitarian cases and for students to pass to and from the Gaza Strip.

Egypt minister who oversaw Six-Day War aftermath dead

The Egyptian defense minister who oversaw the so-called War of Attrition with Israel that followed the loss of the Sinai peninsula in the Six-Day War of 1967 died yesterday at the age of 88. A staunch supporter of the pan-Arab socialism of president Gamal Abdel Nasser, Amin Huweidi fell foul of his successor Anwar Sadat and spent a decade under house arrest. But he was still given a military funeral in the Armed Forces Mosque in Cairo yesterday, the official Mena news agency reported. It gave no cause of death. Nasser appointed Huweidi to head the defense and intelligence ministries after Egypt’s humiliating Six-Day War defeat, in which Israel seized the Sinai in just three days, destroying Egypt’s air force in the first hours of the war. He oversaw the War of Attrition, in which Israel and Egypt exchanged artillery and commando attacks between 1967 and 1970.

South Lebanon incidents increase risk of conflict: UN

BEIRUT, Oct 30, 2009 (AFP) - The rising number of security breaches in southern Lebanon increases the risk of renewed conflict in the area, a UN official said on Friday.

"For three years now, south Lebanon has witnessed its longest period of calm in decades," UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said after meeting Hezbollah international relations chief Ammar Mussawi.

He was referring to the end of a devastating 2006 war in Lebanon between Israel and the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which largely controls Lebanon's south.

"However, there is concern that recent incidents could easily destabilize the situation in the area and increase the threat of potential conflict," Williams added.

A rocket was fired from the border village of Hula in southern Lebanon on Israel on Tuesday night, prompting a barrage of retaliatory Israeli fire. No casualties or injuries were reported on either side.

A group linked to Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a statement released on Thursday by Al-Fajr Media Centre, said SITE Intelligence, a US monitoring group.

The Lebanese army found and dismantled four more rockets primed and ready to be fired from Hula earlier this week.

And three Israeli spy devices were blown up earlier this month in Hula, two detonated remotely by the Israeli army and one destroyed by the Lebanese army.

On September 11, at least two rockets fired from the southern village of Al-Qlaileh hit Israel without causing casualties but triggered artillery fire.

In February, Israeli artillery bombarded Al-Qlaileh in response to a rocket attack which lightly wounded several Israelis.

In January, during Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, four rockets fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel, wounding two women.

And in July, the UN said a series of explosions of ammunition stored in an abandoned house in the southern village of Khirbet Slim marked a serious violation of Resolution 1701.

The resolution which brought an end to the 2006 war calls for the removal of weapons in south Lebanon from the hands of fighters except the Lebanese army and other state security forces.

Education is the most powerful weapon

Radical Islamists have long recognized what we now need to learn: the Arab and Muslim world needs education above all

Paul Salem
Wednesday 28 October 2009

Report after report from the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, and the Arab League emphasize that the education deficit in the Arab world is among the main causes of its underdevelopment. With 5% of the world's population and the bulk of the world's oil and gas, the Arab world nonetheless lags behind most of the rest of the world, and suffers from what can best be termed "educational poverty." Without dramatic improvement at all educational levels, unemployment, illiteracy, and income inequality will continue to worsen, and the region will remain a danger to itself and its neighbors.

Even before the current economic recession, unemployment in the Arab world was estimated at 14% – the world's highest average outside sub-Saharan Africa. Among young people and recent graduates, the figure is more than double.

The Arab world also has the highest population growth rate in the world, with almost 40% of its population now below the age of 15. According to some estimates, the Arab world accounts for one-quarter of the world's unemployment among the 15-24 age group. Just to keep up with the inflow of young people into the labor market, Arab economies will have to generate 100 million new jobs over the next 10 years, which will be impossible if education remains impoverished.

Enrollment ratios in the Arab world have improved over the past decade, but Arab countries still have one of the lowest average net enrollment ratios in the developing world. About one-fifth of eligible children, more than seven million, are not in school, and 60% of these are girls. The average years of schooling for Arabs is less than half that for the East Asian countries. Not surprisingly, despite progress in recent decades, illiteracy remains at around 30% on average, and in some Arab countries reaches 50% and 60%.

The quality of Arab education is also an obstacle. Today's job market demands skills based on problem-solving, critical thinking, modern languages, and technology, but Arab educational systems generally remain traditional, rote-based, and authoritarian.

Research throughout the world shows that education is a key prerequisite for sustainable growth. The East Asian tigers invested heavily in education, and it paid off in terms of a capable and modern workforce. By contrast, development in the Arab world, driven largely by oil revenues, has left the population under-educated and economically marginalized.

Education is also important in the Arab context because of its special status in Islam, which, like Judaism and Christianity, is a religion of the book. The Gospel of St John says, "In the Beginning was the Word"; the first word that was revealed to the prophet Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel was "Read … " Among the prophet's sayings is, "It is the duty of every Muslim man and woman to seek learning."

Moreover, Islam does not have a priesthood, just scholars. The Arab golden ages, in 11th-century Baghdad and 14th-century Andalusia, are revered as periods of great learning. Schools and universities received large-scale support, and students and scholars traveled from city to city in pursuit of knowledge. After these golden ages, education fell into decline.

By the 1970's and 1980's, the Arab world's post-independence states had made great improvements in their education sector. But they did not have the resources to keep up with their own growing populations. The dramatic levels of investment of the 1950s and 1960s tapered off, with the result that too many children are now either outside the school system or are receiving a low-quality education that leaves them without basic literacy and numeracy skills. And there are still too many disparities based on gender, location, wealth, disability, and other markers of marginalization.

What the west has most, and what the Arab world most needs, is education. It requires more schools and fewer guns; more universities and fewer aircraft carriers. The American University of Beirut, founded in 1866, has arguably done more to transform the Middle East in positive ways than any other comparable institution, yet it receives only $3m in annual aid from the United States, which spends billions on armies and weaponry in the region.

Indeed, the cost of a single month of western military spending in Iraq or Afghanistan would be enough to triple total aid for education in the Middle East. The cost of two cruise missiles would build a school, the cost of a Eurofighter a small university.

Education can also have a fundamental effect on forming values. Radical Islamists recognized this long ago and plowed their resources into schools. Saudi Arabia recognized it in the 1970's as it sought to expand its influence, and over the years the kingdom has funded thousands of schools and colleges that teach its stringent brand of Wahhabi Islam.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the radical vision is conveyed to the young in religious schools known as madrasas. Indeed, "Taliban" means "students." The struggle for the future of the Arab and Muslim worlds that is being fought now will be won or lost not on the battlefield, but in the classroom.

6 former Guantanamo detainees resettle in Palau

By JONATHAN KAMINSKY, Associated Press Writer

KOROR, Palau – Six Chinese Muslims newly released from Guantanamo Bay were wide awake and excited Sunday as they traded life behind bars for rooms with ocean view in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, which agreed to a U.S. request to resettle them.

The ethnic Uighurs, in U.S. custody since 2001, were met at the airport in the middle of the night by President Johnson Toribiong and taken to their new home — a large house in the heart of Koror, where most of Palau's 20,000 residents live and work.

"They appeared to be very happy," Toribiong told reporters later. "They smiled, they thanked me, they called me brother. It's amazing. I feel really good about it."

The Pentagon determined last year that the Uighurs held at Guantanamo were not "enemy combatants," but they have been in legal limbo ever since, as President Barack Obama sought countries willing to take them as part of his plan to close the detention facility by next January.

The Uighurs are from Xinjiang, a far western region of China that borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. The Turkic-speaking Muslims say they have long been repressed by the Chinese government and fear they would be arrested, tortured or executed if sent back to China.

China has said insurgents are leading an Islamist separatist movement in Xinjiang and wants them returned.

U.S.-based lawyers for three of the released men praised Palau for giving them their freedom.

"These men want nothing more than to live peaceful, productive lives in a free, democratic nation safe from oppression by the Chinese," said Eric Tirschwell. "Thanks to Palau, which has graciously offered them a temporary home, they now have that chance."

Toribiong said what he called a "temporary" resettlement could mean "a few months or a few years."

Palau has also offered temporary sanctuary to six of the seven Uighurs still at Guantanamo. One Uighur did not receive an invitation over concerns about his mental health.

The Uighurs' new home has undergone construction in recent weeks to accommodate the men. It is a five-minute walk from Koror's only mosque, one of two in the country.

The island nation, best known for diving and tourism, has a Muslim population of about 500, mostly migrant workers from Bangladesh.

Despite their long flight and late arrival, the men were too excited to sleep, a lawyer for two of them told reporters outside their new home.

"They haven't slept, they're wired, in a little bit of shock," said George Clarke. "They're very happy that the Palauan people have allowed them to come here."

He said the men were still choosing their bedrooms in the large house with ocean views, a dramatic change of scenery from the minimum-security detention area where they were last held behind razor wire.

Toribiong said the Uighurs would be provided medical care, housing and education, including English lessons and instruction in skills that will help them find a job.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement it would continue to consult with Palau regarding the former detainees.

Before this transfer of the Uighurs, about 221 prisoners remained at Guantanamo.

China sacks education minister amid scandal

BEIJING – China's legislature has removed the country's unpopular education minister amid a corruption scandal in a city he used to oversee and widespread public dissatisfaction with the education system.

The executive committee of the national legislature dismissed Zhou Ji on Saturday at the end of a routine meeting and promoted a deputy education minister to replace him. In announcing the change late Saturday, the official Xinhua News Agency gave no reason but said Zhou "will get a new appointment."

At 63, the American-educated Zhou was two years short of retirement and thus an unlikely candidate for a job change.

The surprise move was the latest shift to roil a public education system that Chinese traditionally idealize as a fair pathway to advancement but that has been filled with problems — from chronic underfunding at primary and secondary levels to poor quality higher education.

Though many of the ills predate Zhou's rise to education minister six years ago, he has come to be associated with them. When the legislature, the National People's Congress, met last year to vote in a new Cabinet for a five-year term, Zhou received the highest number of negative votes of any minister.

Zhou's removal comes just weeks after two senior administrators were arrested for bribery at Wuhan University. While Zhou has not been publicly linked with the scandal, he spent much of his career in Wuhan city working in the education system and served as mayor for two years before being elevated to education minister.

The corruption case at Wuhan University encapsulates many of the problems Chinese universities are facing. Beijing began a rapid expansion of higher education in the 1990s, pouring money into the system to create competitive world-class schools and provide more spaces for children of a baby boom then coming of university age.

Under that plan, Wuhan University merged with three other schools in 2000 and began a 980 million yuan ($120 million) program to build new school buildings, dormitories and housing for professors. The two arrested administrators were accused of taking bribes related to the building boom.

China Newsweek, a state-run magazine, quoted Liu Qun, an anti-corruption investigator for the Wuhan city government, as saying the Wuhan University corruption was only "the tip of the iceberg." Around the same time, the president of another university in Wuhan was detained for questioning, while the head of a teacher's college in the southern city of Zhanjiang was arrested for unspecified economic crimes.

Senior ministers such as Zhou are occasionally removed by the communist leadership not for specific wrongdoing but to placate public opinion. In those cases, the senior officials are usually reappointed to high positions after an interlude out of the public spotlight.

Yuan Guiren was named as Zhou's replacement, Xinhua said.

China taps huge copper reserves in Afghanistan

By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – At a former al-Qaida stronghold southeast of the Afghan capital, a state-owned Chinese company is at work on a $3 billion mine project to tap one of the world's largest unexploited copper reserves, a potential financial boon for an impoverished country mired in war.

The promise of a bright future at Aynak, however, cannot conceal the troubling reality of how business is often done in Afghanistan, according to critics of the Kabul government's decision to reject bids from competitors in the U.S., Canada and other countries.

The bidding process unfairly favored China, they allege, and epitomized the back-room deals and abuse of power that has turned Afghans against their government and undercut the U.S. military effort there.

Corruption and graft long have been ingrained in Afghanistan's public institutions. Yet the extent of this corrosion has taken on new significance as the White House considers expanding the U.S. commitment to a war unsupported by a growing number of Americans.

Widespread fraud in Afghanistan's presidential election in August has raised doubts about how quickly a stable and credible government can be installed. A U.N.-backed commission threw out nearly one-third of President Hamid Karzai's votes, setting the stage for a Nov. 7 runoff.

In his recent assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, the top U.S. commander warned that unchecked corruption has led alienated Afghans to support the Taliban-led insurgency.

Afghan officials insist the Aynak bidding was handled openly and honestly, and will create thousands of jobs. But several U.S. geologists and Western businessmen who watched the process closely disagree.

James Yeager, an American geologist who advised Afghanistan's minister of mines, says a few Afghan officials dominated a secretive selection process that gave the winner, China Metallurgical Group Corp., improbably high marks over its foreign competitors.

Said Tayeb Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, said the bidding process was above board. He said he pushed for the U.S. bidder, Phelps Dodge, to be awarded the Aynak rights, but that China offered to start work right away while Phelps wanted to wait until the country was safer.

"We can't afford to give the mining rights to a company that will sit on them for the next 10 or 15 years," Jawad said.

China Metallurgical, better known as MCC, has a poor track record with mining projects in other countries, according to Yeager and other critics. In neighboring Pakistan, for example, where MCC operates a copper mine, there's been little benefit to the local economy. But that information was ignored during the deliberations, they say.

MCC did not immediately respond to questions submitted by e-mail, as the company requested, about whether MCC received special treatment from the Afghan government on the Aynak bidding process; whether it was allowed to see copies of other bids, as at least one competitor alleges; or whether the Pakistan mine has failed to help the local economy.

The Aynak deal was awarded to the Chinese late 2007, but the project is only now getting under way. Before copper can be hauled from the ground, China must make a substantial investment to build a power-generating station, roads and a railway to move the metal.

Yeager and Larry Snee, a former U.S. Geological Survey official who also has worked in Afghanistan, contend that MCC probably will steer most of the jobs to Chinese workers.

"Of course, the Afghans are going to benefit," Snee said. "But will they get all they deserve?"

China needs huge quantities of raw materials to feed its rapid economic growth and energy demands. It is well positioned to become the dominant force in Afghanistan's potentially lucrative minerals sector, said Don Ritter, president of the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce in McLean, Va.

"In what direction do (Afghanistan's) mines and minerals develop?" Ritter said. "Do they go the Eastern model, where everything is done behind a closed door? Or, is there an open, transparent competition, where the money is laid on the table without undue influence?"

Yeager has distributed a 78-page report on the Aynak contract in which he contends that M. Ibrahim Adel, Afghanistan's minister of mines, and his associates shut out legal, financial and technical experts who could have helped them on the decision.

Yeager doesn't accuse Adel or anyone else from benefiting personally by awarding the work to MCC. But the final decision, Yeager says, was dictated by bureaucrats concerned with dollar amounts and personal preferences.

One of the losing competitors for the contract was Hunter Dickinson, a global mining company based in Vancouver, Canada. Robert Schafer, Hunter Dickinson's chief of business development, said an Afghan official told him that its bid had been shown to the Chinese while the proposals were being evaluated.

Schafer said he "wasn't surprised at all" to learn that MCC won.

Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, did not address the allegations. He said China is committed to pursuing economic, trade and investment projects in Afghanistan that benefit both countries.

China has contributed little to improving security in Afghanistan, yet with the Aynak deal, stands to gain from the sacrifices made by the U.S. and NATO in troops and money.

"The world isn't fair," said Robert Kaplan, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington. "A worse outcome to staying and helping the Chinese would be withdrawing and losing a great battle in the war against radical Islam."

Chechen speaker dissolves rebels’ “parliament” and “government”

GROZNY, October 31 (Itar-Tass) -- Chechnya’s parliament speaker Dokuvakha Abdurakhmanov on Saturday signed a document ordering the dissolution of the “parliament” and the “government” of so-called “Ichkeria” and the “Caucasian emirate”.

Since all political questions concerning Chechnya have been solved, and the constitution process has been completed, the “parliament of Ichkeria” composed of only two deputies currently staying in Paris, the “government of Ichkeria” in London consisting of two “ministers” – Zakayev and Ferzauli – and the “Caucasian emirate” headed by fugitive Doku Umarov have been dissolved, the speaker said.

Also disbanded are “illegal structures of Movladi Udugov and Isa Umarov hiding in Turkey” and “all doubtful associations which are operating on behalf of the Chechen people outside the Chechen Republic, the actions of which are criminal in respect of the Chechen people and the state from the juridical and historical point of view,” Abdurakhmanov said.

The leader of apostates Kadyrov personally reported the 'successful operation' in the occupied city of Jokhar

On Saturday afternoon, leaders of Chechen apostates Kadyrov and Alkhanov announced that during the so-called "Special Operation" one of the "closest" person to Doku Umarov was killed, "Emir of downcountry of Chechnya" Ali Hasanov.

Draws attention the fact that the apostate Kadyrov considered it important to declare that he "personally participated in the special operation" and stressed the status of the slain Mujahid.

We mention in this connection that in the Armed Forces of the Caucasus Emirate there is no such post as "Emir of downcountry of Chechnya", and there are no "close" or "distant" individuals to Dokka Umarov.

Each killed in the way of Allah be it an ordinary Mujahid or Amir, including Ali Hasanov is a Martyr (inshaAllah).

As to the Kadyrov's manic desire to "win" "militants" of high posts (as for example in the case of Rustaman Mahauri, who was proclaimed "Emir of Ingushetia" by Kadyrov), it only confirms the fact that the apostates and the infidels have no real progress.

Six More Uyghurs Freed

2009-10-31

Another cohort of Uyghur detainees is freed from Guantanamo to a Pacific island.

WASHINGTON—Six Uyghur men held for seven years in U.S. military custody at Guantanamo Bay have been released and have now reached the tiny Pacific island of Palau, authoritative sources have told Radio Free Asia (RFA).

The men were identified as Adel Nury, 40; Ahmed Tursun, 38; Abdulghappar Abdulrahman, 36; Anwar Hasan, 35; Edhem Mohammed, 31; and Dawud Abdulrehim, 35.

They landed in Palau in the early hours of Sunday after a 17-hour direct military flight, along with three U.S. lawyers, Rushan Abbas, a longtime translator for the Uyghur detainees at Guantanamo Bay, said in a telephone interview, citing contacts with the men and their lawyers.

A new Uyghur translator was flown in from Australia and was to remain indefinitely, she said in an interview.

No comment was immediately available from the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

They were among a larger group of 22 ethnic Uyghurs captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan and sold for bounty to U.S. forces after fleeing the mountains in the wake of U.S.-led raids, following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

They say they were living as refugees in Afghanistan, having faced religious persecution in China.

Four were transferred to Bermuda in June 2009 while five others were resettled in Albania in 2006. One man in that group has since resettled in Sweden.

Seven men left

The transfer of these six men leaves seven in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, who say they cannot return to China for fear of persecution.

The United States maintained that the men had attended terror-training camps, and they were flown to Guantanamo Bay in June 2002.

The Republic of Palau is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles (800 kms) east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles (3,200 kms) south of Tokyo.

After a series of military tribunals and courtroom battles, they were cleared of links to global terrorism—but most governments refused to take them in for fear of angering Beijing, which regards them as terrorists.

The U.S. Supreme Court this month agreed to review the cases of all remaining Uyghur prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

The group was originally ordered released into the States in October last year by U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina here.

But his decision was overturned after an appeals court ruled that District Court judges don’t have the authority to order the transfer of ­foreigners into the U.S.; only Congress and the executive branch do.

Uyghurs in China

Millions of Uyghurs—a distinct, Turkic minority who are predominantly Muslim—populate Central Asia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of northwestern China.

Ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and majority Han Chinese settlers have simmered for years, and they erupted in rioting in July that left some 200 people dead, according to the government’s tally.

The six men may have difficulty reaching their relatives in the XUAR because Chinese authorities have imposed a telephone and Internet blackout over the whole region in an apparent bid to avoid further ethnic violence.

Twelve people have since been sentenced to death in connection with the violence, which was the worst the country has experienced in decades.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Chinese authorities blame Uyghur separatists for a series of deadly attacks in recent years and accuse one group in particular of maintaining links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Uyghur Grandfather Detained

2009-10-30

A man at the center of a story related to China’s tough one-child policy is in custody.

HONG KONG—Authorities in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have detained an ethnic Uyghur man for speaking to foreign media after international attention helped his daughter avoid a forced abortion under China’s population control policy.

Tursunjan Hesen, 67, was detained July 2, according to Juret, chief in Nogaytu village, Dadamtu town, in Ghulja city.

“I don’t know why he was arrested or where he is. You can ask higher officials more about the case,” Juret said in an interview.

Police precincts in the area declined to comment on the case.

But a neighbor said he was being held in Yengihayat (New Life) jail in Ghulja. The neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said he had visited last week.

“The family received a notice stating that Tursunjan Hesen was arrested, because he was accused of leaking state secrets and endangering state security,” the neighbor said.

Communications blackout

RFA’s Uyghur service learned of his detention in July, around the time of deadly ethnic clashes between majority Han Chinese and minority Uyghurs, first in southern Guangdong province and then in the XUAR capital, Urumqi.

No confirmation was available then, as Chinese authorities have imposed a telephone and Internet blackout over the whole region in an apparent bid to avoid further ethnic violence.

Ethnic tensions between indigenous Uyghurs, who are mostly Muslim, and Han Chinese settlers have simmered for years—and erupted in rioting in July that left some 200 people dead, according to the government’s tally.

Clashes first erupted between Han Chinese and ethnic Uyghurs on July 5.

Twelve people have since been sentenced to death in connection with the violence, which was the worst the country has experienced in decades.

Contacted by telephone through an intermediary in eastern China, one of Tursunjan Hesen’s sons said his father couldn’t come to the phone because “my father in jail.”

Told the caller was a journalist, the son replied, “Sorry, I cannot answer your question, we are prohibited from speaking to reporters… We are prohibited from receiving foreign calls.”

International media attention and high-level U.S. intervention prompted Chinese authorities to release Tursunjan Hesen’s daughter, Arzigul Tursun, from the hospital where she was scheduled to undergo a second-term abortion against her will last year.

Tursunjan Hesen’s case prompted calls to the Chinese authorities from two members of the U.S. Congress and from the U.S. ambassador in Beijing for a planned abortion of her pregnancy to be scrapped.

China's one-child-per-family policy applies mainly to majority Han Chinese and allows ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs, to have additional children, with peasants permitted to have three children and city-dwellers two.

But while Tursun is a peasant, her husband is from the city of Gulja [in Chinese, Yining], so their status is unclear.

‘American boy’

In a phone interview in May, before his detention, Tursunjan Hesen said neighbors called his grandson “the American baby” because U.S. intervention allowed him to be born.

“He is growing up healthy and nice, and our neighbors call him the ‘American boy,” Tursunjan Hesen said.

“Actually at least 3,000 'American' boys and girls were born in Xinjiang during those months,” he said.

“Police interrogated me at least 20 times over the last six months—one time they blamed me, saying I was responsible for at least 3,000 new babies born outside the government’s quota—to families who didn’t obey the Chinese abortion orders.”

“They asked me repeatedly who gave information about Arzigul to the foreign media. I told them that I had no idea, I don’t have access to the Internet and nobody knows how to access the Internet in my family.”

In March 2009, officials clashed with a group of women over land rights in Aradamtu, with seven of the women injured and hospitalized.

Police also interrogated Tursunjan Hesen about that clash, he said at the time.

The official Web site China Xinjiang Web reports that in Kashgar, Hotan, and Kizilsu [in Chinese, Kezilesu], areas populated almost entirely by Uyghurs, women over 49 with only one child are entitled to a one-time payment of 3,000 yuan (U.S. $440), with the couple receiving 600 yuan (U.S. $88) yearly afterward.

China's official Tianshan Net reported that population control policies in Xinjiang have prevented the births of some 3.7 million people over the last 30 years.

The one-child policy is enforced more strictly in cities, but penalties for exceeding a family's quota can be severe, including job losses, demotions, or expulsion from the Party, experts say.

50 human rights protesters arrested in Russia

Police in Russia have apprehended at least 50 human rights demonstrators who had organized an 'unauthorized' rally in the capital.

Police in central Moscow disrupted a gathering of reportedly hundreds of people and journalists who were demonstrating against what they dub as the government's 'muzzling' of the press in the wake of the country's incumbent premier, Vladimir Putin's assumption of power in 2000.

"At 18:00 [15:00 GMT] a group numbering up to 100 tried to hold an unsanctioned rally. Police detained over 50 and took them to a police station," RIA Novosti quoted Moscow police spokesperson Viktor Biryukov as saying.

Security forces in their hundreds broke up the so-called "march of the discontented" near Russia's political hub, Kremlin, and dragged the dissidents off the scene of protests.

Demonstrators chanted slogans in support of media liberty and called on the government to "respect the constitution."

“The idea to organize the demonstrations on the 31st of the month here in the capital is an attempt to make a tradition of peaceful gatherings to allow citizens the chance to defend the Russian constitution.” said Lyudmila Alexeeva, a longtime human rights activist.

Also amongst the detained was Eduard Limonov, a leftist founder of the former National Bolshevik Party and a strong Putin critic.

Following on, police reportedly released all the protesters later on Saturday after 'disciplining' them, Russia's interior department said on Sunday.

Khatami: We will remain critical of power

Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami says the Reformist movement will continue its criticism within the boundaries of the Islamic Republic.

“We will continue to stay critical of the current power trend, of course within the framework of a movement that supports Islam, the Islamic Republic and the [1979] Revolution,” Khatami told a group of university students active in pro-Reform societies.

“We still see Islam as the basis of our Reform movement. Its identity is built around the Islamic Revolution and its framework is outlined by the Islamic Republic,” he said.

“However, we believe that their have been some deviations which must be set rights with those very same religious and Revolutionary principles. Unfortunately some try to portray these deviations as the Islamic Republic itself,” he added.

Khatami, who currently heads the International Institute for Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations, said the Reformist movement denounces violence “by all means”, while certain other parties endorse it as the basis of their thoughts and actions.

Khatami, who was addressing students from the University of Tehran and the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, also noted that the “serious questions” that you have regarding recent events in the country shows that the country is facing a crisis.

The former president pointed out that we can continue to seek a free, progressive and just system of government by working with the current constitution of the Islamic Republic.

Mugabe accuses Tsvangirai of hypocrisy

Sun Nov 1, 2009

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe casts doubt over future collaborations with his coalition partners due to the 'dishonesty' of his rivals.

"We must no longer trust those who pretend to be in the inclusive government and have jumped in and out of it," said the Zimbabwean President, accusing longtime rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party of deception over their decision to suspend cooperation with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

"They can never be true and genuine partners and they have proved to be dishonest," the south African country's state media quoted him as saying on Saturday.

The 85-year-old president accused the premier of hypocrisy and pledged to continue his cabinet's work, stating, "Cabinet is not a party affair. That kind of hypocrisy should be seen as it is."

"What kind of sincerity is that? We go into government, form policies, hold investment conferences, (but) we have a part of the government striking against themselves."

Mugabe's denunciation of the prime minister comes in the aftermath of a mid-October declaration by Tsvangirai in which the premier suspended cooperation with Mugabe's coalition administration, brokered in February, in protest to the detention of his supporters and the trust issues between ZANU-PF and the MDC.

The latest development threatens to destabilize the already-impoverished country despite international mediation efforts by a troika of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which is in Harare in a bid to break the impasse.

However, the intermediary work of SADC has yielded no fruit as Tsvangirai ruled out reaching a consensus with ZANU-PF.

"The Troika does not solve anything. Its mandate is to gather information and make recommendations," noted the Zimbabwean premier.

"We have to find a solution to the crisis so we can get the inclusive government working again," Tsvangirai added.

A breakup of the coalition government would jeopardize the fate of a much-anticipated constitutional adjustment proposal by the opposition for fresh regional and national elections.

Zimbabwe's opposition MDC eyes greater leverage in the coalition government headed by Mugabe.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110147.html.

Hezbollah condemns US commander remarks

Lebanon's Hezbollah has condemned remarks by a US commander who has declared that the US considers defending Israel as important as defending its own territory.

The commander of the USS "Higgins" that has participated in joint exercises with Israel had said that the US considers that the defense of Israel's Haifa as defense from San Diego.

Hezbollah declared in a statement on Saturday that the remarks show the US commitment of support for Israel.

According to the statement Israel's 33-day war against Lebanon in 2006 was in fact an American war against Lebanon, since the US provided Israel with airlifts of weapons and ammunition during the conflict. Al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported on Sunday.

Israel launched a disproportionate offensive against Lebanon in 2006 specifically targeting the Hezbollah movement, but it faced a strong resistance by Hezbollah and was forced to disengage.

Findings On Mysterious Haze At Galaxy's Center

In the latest episode of their continuing efforts to embrace and understand the dark side of creation, astronomers sifting data from a new satellite say they have discerned the existence of a mysterious haze of high-energy particles surrounding the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Nobody knows where the particles came from, and the five astronomers who posted their results online on Monday did not offer a formal opinion. But one tantalizing prospect, they admit, is that the particles are the decayed remains of the long-sought dark matter that constitutes 25 percent of the universe.

“Obviously we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t think it could be dark matter,” said one of the authors, Douglas Finkbeiner, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

If true, it would mean that astronomy has finally entered the realm of seeing the unseeable.

The identity of this dark matter, presumably exotic elementary particles left over from the Big Bang, is one of the biggest mysteries in physics. Other experts, however, say it is far too soon to draw such far-reaching conclusions based on signals from the confused and energetic environs of the galactic center.

“In my opinion, they are skating on very thin ice,” said Eliott Bloom of Stanford, a member of the team running NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, which recorded the signals.

And indeed, promising signals of dark matter from an alphabet soup of cosmic observing satellites and balloons have popped up in recent months and then disappeared.

Nevertheless, the new paper - by Gregory Dobler, of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, California, and four other physicists from Harvard and New York universities - has created a buzz among astrophysicists and is sure to be discussed next week at a conference in Washington on results from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope.

At issue is the origin of a haze of gamma rays surrounding the center of our galaxy, which does not appear connected to any normal astrophysical cause but matches up with a puzzling cloud of radio waves, a “microwave haze,” discovered previously by NASA’s WMAP satellite around the center. Both the gamma rays and the microwaves, Dr. Dobler and his colleagues argue, could be caused by the same thing: a cloud of energetic electrons.

The electrons could, in turn, be the result of decaying dark matter, but that, they said, is an argument they will make in a future paper.

In an e-mail message, one of the authors, Neal Weiner, of N.Y.U., explained, “It seemed it was important to have a less controversial first paper,” just establishing the electron cloud.

Gordon Kane, a particle physicist at the University of Michigan, called the present paper a solid result, adding, “They have demonstrated they know how to use the Fermi data.”

But Dr. Bloom said the authors were going too fast. “The galactic center is the Hells Kitchen of astrophysical forces,” he said, borrowing a phrase from a recent talk by his French colleague Johann Coehn-Tanugi of Laboratoire de Physique Theorique et Astrophysique, and the University Montpellier 2.

Separating the potential dark matter signal from the astronomical background sources could take years, said Dr. Bloom, especially as the new Fermi satellite adds to the list.

The center of the galaxy, being the center of the local cosmos, is filled with all kinds of high-energy objects, like a giant black hole millions of times more massive than the Sun, the whirly-gig beams of pulsars, exploding stars and their remains. Cosmological calculations indicate that it should also be full of dark matter particles, whose clumps form the gravitational scaffolding for the thin film of visible matter in the universe. According to many models of dark matter, such particles, when they meet, can annihilate one another in a flash of energy, which would add to the cacophony from the center.

So astronomers have had their antennae out looking for suspicious signals from the sky. One of them was the microwave haze discovered earlier by the WMAP satellite. Dr. Finkbeiner and his colleagues had argued that the haze could be produced by energetic electrons and positrons - their antimatter opposites - whirling around in the Milky Way’s magnetic field.

If such electrons existed, they should also produce gamma rays when starlight bounced off them and, thus, show up in the Fermi data. As they approached the data, said Dr. Finkbeiner, “we had some trepidation.”

Indeed, when all the known sources of gamma rays were erased from Fermi observations of the Milky Way center, they were left with a blob of radiation, about 12,000 light-years across, matching the microwave haze exactly.

The existence of this new gamma ray haze, they say in their paper, settles the question of the origin of the microwave haze, although others like Dr. Bloom disagree. And the question of whether and how these clouds are connected to dark matter is yet to be fought out.

In a model of dark matter recently proposed by Dr. Weiner and others, there is a “dark force” as well as a dark particle; when the dark particles crash into one another, they first produce the carriers of this force, which then decay after thousands or millions of years into the electrons and positrons creating these observed clouds.

Dr. Kane favors a simpler view - namely that dark matter particles decay directly into gamma rays.

Dr. Finkbeiner said Dr. Kane’s predictions also fit the gamma ray cloud very well. “Kane’s prediction is freakishly similar to what we are seeing.” But, he admitted, a simple adjustment in models of what kinds of electrons are produced by pulsars could also change the results.

Dr. Bloom said that with all the confusion and uncertainty, it was easy to be misled. “Depending on what the part of the elephant you’re feeling,” he said, “you can have very different models that fit part of what you’re looking at.”
“We need more data and time to make this work,” he said about Fermi and the quest for dark matter. “It is not something that will come easily.”

Lawmaker says Tehran reactor to be shut down

Tehran - A senior Iranian member of parliament said Saturday that Tehran's research reactor would be shut down in the near future, making the nuclear fuel deal with world powers irrelevant. "The Tehran reactor will soon be replaced by the 40-megawatt reactor in Arak and therefore any fuel deal would be relevant and therefore only to be made within a limited time period," the head of the parliamentary foreign policy and security commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, told ISNA news agency.

According to a draft plan prepared by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran would ship at least 70 per cent of its 1-3 ton low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, for processing into fuel for a medical-purpose reactor in Tehran.

"We (parliament) are totally against this fuel deal and consider purchasing the nuclear fuel for the remaining years of the Tehran reactor's activity as the most economical and suitable option," the MP said.

The US, Russia and France have approved the plan in principle but Iran has demanded "important technical and economic amendments."

Boroujerdi said that even if Iran agreed to the exchange, then it should not send only part of the uranium from the Natanz plant for further processing, until the closure of the Tehran reactor.

There are technical differences in Iran over the deal, with some officials and experts considering it neither wise nor economical.

The 5+1 group - United Nations Security Council member states Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany - were confident that the fuel deal would also lead to a breakthrough in the dispute over Iran's controversial nuclear programmes.

"The idea in the West that the fuel deal would also lead to suspension of uranium enrichment is totally wrong because Iran will continue its enrichment anyway," Boroujerdi said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that despite the probable fuel deal, Iran would not retreat "one iota" from its nuclear work, including uranium enrichment.

ISNA however quoted Ahmadinejad Saturday as saying he hoped that negotiations would continue despite differences over the fuel deal.

"We hope that the talks with the 5+1 will continue although the world powers have a negative record (in fulfilling their commitments towards Iran)," Ahmadinejad said.

The talks with the 5+1 countries were scheduled to continue at the end of October but had to be postponed due to Iran's hesitation to reply to the uranium exchange deal.

US clinic denies Muslim doctor right to wear hijab

A medical clinic in Dallas, Texas has sparked controversy after saying a Muslim doctor applying for a job cannot wear her headscarf if hired.

Dr. Hena Zaki of Plano, Texas said Friday that she was shocked to find a no-hat policy at the CareNow clinic extended to her hijab.

"He interrupted the interview and said he didn't want me 'to take this the wrong way,'" Zaki said. "Like an FYI."

The 29-year-old doctor has called for an apology and a change in CareNow's policy.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has criticized the no-hijab policy, calling it "a blatant violation" of federal law.

"It's obvious it's a blatant violation," said the council's civil rights manager, Khadija Athman. "It's a very straightforward case of religious accommodation. I cannot see any undue hardship on the part of the employer to accommodate to wear a head scarf."

CareNow Chairman Tim Miller, however, has refused to apologize, saying in a statement that there is nothing wrong with the policy, which, according to him, 'does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin'.

King's daughter to run civil rights organization

The Rev. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., has been elected as the next president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Ms. King will be the first woman president of the SCLC, a civil rights organization that was co-founded by her father.

King, a minister at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta, defeated the other candidate for president, the Rev. Wendell Griffen, an Arkansas pastor and former appellate judge.

After its foundation in 1957, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was for years one of the most influential civil rights groups in the United States, with a reputation for organizing effective non-violent direct-action protests.

Under Martin Luther King's leadership, the group played a key role in the ratification of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which banned racial segregation.

Erdogan criticizes West over hypocrisy on Iran

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says countries with huge nuclear arsenals have no right to lecture Iran about the threat of atomic weapons.

"Those who criticize Iran's nuclear program continue to possess the same weapons," Erdogan said in a televised address on Saturday.

Erdogan was referring to nuclear-armed states that accuse Tehran of attempting to produce nuclear weapons but at the same time refuse to eradicate their own nuclear arsenals.

"I think that those who take this stance, who want these arrogant sanctions, need to first give these (weapons) up. We shared this opinion with our Iranian friends, our brothers," he noted.

The Turkish premier made the remarks following his two-day trip to Iran earlier this week.

Iran says it enriches uranium for civilian applications and that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has a right to the technology already in the hands of many others.

Erdogan has vocally supported Iran's right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, saying world policymakers have been treating Tehran "unfairly" over its enrichment program.

"Iran does not accept it is building a weapon. They are working on nuclear power for the purposes of energy only," Erdogan said in a recent interview with The Guardian.

Fresh succession debate as Egypt's ruling party opens annual meeting

Cairo (Earth Times - dpa) - The sixth annual conference of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) opens on Saturday in Cairo to review social justice, political and economic issues. President Hosny Mubarak is expected to give the opening speech in the evening, while his is son Gamal, the head of the NDP's powerful Policies Committee, is expected to address the conference on Sunday.

While the Mubaraks are expected to stay away from the much talked about issue of who will succeed the 81-year-old president, delegates at the meeting are expected to debate the issue among themselves.

Since Mubarak appointed his son as head of the Policies Committee in 2002 and did not appoint a vice president, many in Egypt and abroad have speculated that Gamal, 45, was being groomed for the presidency. Both have repeatedly denied this.

But Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif's recent statements describing the younger man as a "possibility" renewed the debate. In Dubai this week, Nazif said Gamal Mubarak " has been in the political system long enough to understand the issues. He shows vision. He is young."

The opposition has geared up against the possibility. Earlier this month, Ayman Nour, who ran for president in the 2005 elections, launched a campaign, alongside other opposition figures, against hereditary succession in the presidency.

Abdullah quits Afghanistan's presidential race

Sun Nov 1, 2009

Afghanistan's Abdullah Abdullah says he will not take part in the upcoming run-off election, while criticizing the undemocratic electoral procedure in the country.

Abdullah told reporters at a live press conference in Kabul on Sunday that he would not participate in the November 7 elections in protest at the unfair performance of the government and the Electoral Commission.

"I will not take part in the election ... I have not taken this decision easily," Abdullah said, adding he had not told anyone to boycott the ballot.

Karzai said that the election relies on its transparency and that the people of Afghanistan are in a state of bewilderment regarding the (August) election.

He called for the electoral commission independency noting that democracy should be practiced to bring change to the peoples' lives.

Hamid Karzai's main presidential rival had earlier threatened to boycott the vote unless his conditions for running were met.

A unnamed senior adviser to Abdullah said on Saturday that Abdullah might withdraw from the race because his "minimum conditions" for holding a fair and free contest were rejected.

Abdullah, who ranked second to Karzai in the first round of voting on August 20, had called for the sacking of the head of the Afghan Independent Election Commission, Azizullah Lodin. He had also called for the suspension of four ministers who had campaigned for Karzai and urged the closure of many polling stations which his supporters could not monitor for security reasons.

Abdullah had accused the men of involvement in widespread fraud in the first round of the presidential election in August.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110145.html.

Coin marking Shia Imam's life on display

The spokesperson for the museum at Iran's Bank Sepah, Mohsen Daraie, says the bank is exhibiting a replica coin marking Imam Reza's term as the Crown Prince under Abassid caliph, Ma'moon al-Rashid, in ancient Tous city.

“The coin has the name of the eighth Shia Imam, Imam Reza (PBUH), etched on it and dates back to the time the revered Imam was accompanying Ma'moon at Tous as his successor,” Daraie said on Saturday.

He added a stamp bearing the image of the coin has also been published in this regard.

The original coin marking Imam Reza's presence in Khorasan as designated heir to Ma'moon al-Rashid's throne is currently being held at Bank Sepah's museum.

Imam Reza departed this life in 818 AD at the age of 55. Ma'moon, fearing Imam Reza's increasing popularity, had the eighth Shia Imam poisoned.

A major shrine, and eventually the city of Mashhad, grew up around Imam Reza's mausoleum, which is the major pilgrimage center in Iran. Several theological schools are located in Mashhad, associated with the shrine of the eighth Shia Imam.

World's largest cruise liner begins sea journeys

The world's largest cruise ship, the Oasis of the Seas, has set sail for the first time for a journey that will take it across the Atlantic to Miami.

The 360 meter (1,200 foot) cruise liner that cost up to $1.5 billion (£1 billion) to build began its first voyage from a shipyard in southwestern Finland on Friday.

The ship, which was manufactured at the STX Finland Oy shipyard in Turku, has been by commissioned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

The 16-deck vessel has 2,700 cabins to offer as accommodation to up to 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members on its cruises, which are expected to begin in December.

Oasis of the Seas includes several swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts, as well as a youth zone that features theme parks and nurseries. It also has a good-sized ice rink and a small golf course.

After leaving Finland's shores on Friday, the ship passed its first test successfully by squeezing under the Great Belt Bridge between two Danish islands and finding it way out of the Baltic Sea.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, hundreds gathered on beaches at both ends of the bridge, waiting to see the cruise liner lower its telescopic smokestacks and sail by just half a meter (2-foot) from the bridge.

"It was fantastic to see it glide under the bridge. Boy, it was big," said Kurt Hal, a bystander.

Company officials are hoping that the novelty of the ship, which has been built five times larger than the Titanic, will guarantee its success.

Turkey invests in Iran to build oil refinery

According to a deal recently signed between Tehran and Ankara, the two sides have agreed to invest $2 billion to build a crude oil refinery in northern Iran.

The officials of Iran's oil ministry and Turkish energy ministry signed in a recent meeting the joint-venture agreement, which includes transit of Iran's gas to European countries through Turkey by the Turkish "Sam Petrol" Company, Iran's semi official Fars news agency reported Saturday.

The two countries have also agreed to create a joint firm, with each side holding 50% share, to transfer an annual volume of about 35 billion cubic meters of gas from Iran to Europe.

Iran, which sits on the world's second largest reserves of both oil and gas, is facing US sanctions over its civilian nuclear program.

The agreements between Iran and Turkey go against US increasing pressure against international companies who are interested to invest in Iran's energy sector.

Iranian officials have dismissed US sanctions against investment in Iran's oil and gas sector as inefficient, saying that they are finding partners from other regions instead.

Several Chinese and other Asian firms are negotiating or signing up to oil and gas deals.

"We have been under sanctions for a long time. This is not a new issue and there is no cause for concern," Iran's Deputy Oil Minister and head of the National Iranian Oil refining and Distribution Company, Seyyed Noureddin Shahnazizadeh said in October.

"[Iran's] refinery projects will be financed and implemented in partnership with domestic and foreign investors, with the exclusion of the US and Europe," he said.

IED kills Canadian soldier in Afghanistan

Sat Oct 31, 2009

A Canadian soldier has been killed by an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan as casualties rise among foreign forces occupying the country.

The Canadian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that the soldier was killed while on foot patrol southwest of Kandahar city.

The death brings the number of Canadians killed in the US-led war in Afghanistan to 133.

October was the bloodiest month for US troops since the war began, with 54 soldiers killed.

Meanwhile, US public opinion is turning against the war as the death toll rises.

However, General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US troops in Afghanistan, wants 40,000 more troops sent to the war-torn country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110120.html.

Czech opposition criticize Lisbon Treaty exemption clause

Prague - The special opt-out clause agreed between the European Union and the Czech Republic to allow approval for the controversial Lisbon Treaty came under attack from the country's left and unions on Saturday. Faced with the possible refusal by eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus to sign up for the treaty, a deal was negotiated exempting the Czech Republic from possible compensation claims from ethnic Germans evicted from the then Czechoslovakia after World War II.

But the special exemption from the Charter of Fundamental Rights came under criticism from opposition figures.

"The government has agreed to exempt the Czech Republic from a whole spectrum of social rights, which is difficult to accept," the chairman of the Social Democrats party, Jiri Paroubek, told the Pravo daily newspaper.

The trade union federation CMKOS voiced its fears that Czech workers would not be able to defend their civil rights internationally.

"The trades unions will do everything to make sure the exemption clause is not signed," said Vit Samek, CMKOS deputy director, indicating strikes and demonstrations were possible.

The Lisbon Teaty, which will abolish unanimous decision-making in many areas of Brussels policy in favor of majority voting, and create the posts of president and foreign minister of the EU, is highly controversial.

All 27 member states must approve the document. The only country which put the treaty to a public referendum - Ireland - initially rejected the Lisbon agreement, before a re-run of the referendum last month which secured a 'yes' vote.

Israel confirms running spy networks in Lebanon

Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon has confirmed that Israel is running intelligence-gathering networks in Lebanon.

"When we are in conflict with an enemy, we gather information about them," Haaretz quoted Ya'alon as saying on Saturday.

"The moment Hezbollah renewed their attacks, we began to collect intelligence. We will stop when Hezbollah disarms itself and the [Israel-Lebanon] border is a border of peace," he added.

In October, two explosions over occurred in southern Lebanon after Lebanon's Hezbollah discovered cables used for spying in the al-Abbad area near an Israeli border post.

The UN peacekeepers in Lebanon (UNIFIL) who were called out to investigate the cause of the blasts later confirmed that the explosions aimed at destroying Israeli espionage equipment.

"Preliminary indications are that these explosions were caused by explosive charges contained in unattended underground sensors which were placed in this area by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) apparently during the 2006 war," UNIFIL said in a statement.

The UNIFIL had declared that the Israeli espionage operations in Lebanon, represent violations of Security Council resolution 1701 which halted the 33-day war.

Israel which has staged several wars in the region in its 60-year old history invaded Lebanon in 1982 in an operation dubbed as the Operation Peace for Galilee and occupied the southern Lebanon, but Hezbollah forces played as the key resistance movement and forced them to leave the country.

Once again in 2006, when Israel launched another offensive into Lebanon, it faced strong resistance from Hezbollah.

Israel sees Hezbollah's military might as the key hindrance to its expansionist policies in the region.