Israel Ready To Build Micro-Satellite

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel has achieved the capability to build a micro-satellite that could eventually be launched from a fighter-jet.

A senior Israeli official said the Jewish state has developed sufficient technology to achieve a breakthrough toward a significant improvement in satellite launches. The official said Israeli scientists were advancing in the use of nano-technology and other capabilities to assemble and launch satellites at a fraction of current costs.

Shanghai Disneyland Gets Government Go-Ahead

By LING WOO LIU / HONG KONG

Up until now, Disney's foray into China has been anything but magical. Its Hong Kong theme park, opened in 2005, has had a bumpy ride due to early missteps and competition - in its first year, attendance fell 400,000 short of an initial 5.6 million target. The following year, the number of visitors dropped to four million. To add insult to injury, the company in 2007 discovered an amusement park near Beijing that was filled with knockoff Disney characters.

But you don't throw in the towel in a market with 1.3 billion potential customers. After more than a decade of negotiations, Disney has received clearance to begin construction on its second Disneyland in China, this one in Shanghai. China's top planning agency Tuesday approved plans to build the new theme park, which will join existing parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong.

Disney officials wouldn't say when the park will open or how much it will cost. The company stated in a press release that the Shanghai park will include "characteristics tailored to the Shanghai region," but a spokesperson declined to elaborate on what types of rides or attractions might be on offer. The Shanghai government has already reserved an estimated 1,000 acres near Shanghai's international airport in the city's Pudong district.

Some speculate that the Chinese government's sudden announcement that Disney could go ahead may be timed to precede U.S. President Barack Obama's first visit to China Nov. 15-18, which includes a stop in Shanghai. "It's a huge investment," says Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai. "By allowing this now it gives face to Obama and really shows that China and the U.S. need to work together to get out of this financial malaise."

Although theme parks made up less than a third of Disney's total revenue of $38 billion last year, Shanghai Disneyland still figures to be a key addition to the business because it will boost the company's visibility in one of the world's fastest-growing markets. Due to government rules aimed at protecting the public from what are perceived to be unwelcome foreign cultural influences, awareness of the Disney brand in China lags that of the rest of the world. Unlike in the U.S., where Disney operates a 24-hour TV channel and radio station, the company's presence in China is limited to a dozen hours of programming a week on local stations, five Disney-branded English language schools in Shanghai, and sales of Disney merchandise. In the last two years, Disney has also produced two children's films for the mainland, The Magic Gourd and Trail of the Panda. China limits the number of foreign films that are allowed to screen in theaters to 20 a year.

The approval for park construction comes amid China's ongoing efforts to develop its tourism sector, which is expected to increase by 3% this year. As disposable income in the country grows, amusement parks - by some estimates as many as 2,000 - have proliferated throughout the country, but the quality of the attractions is uneven. Earlier this year, a sex-themed park in the central Chinese city of Chongqing called "Love Land" was torn down before it could open to the public. Shanghai, however, could be on the verge of a tourism boom. The city will host the World Expo starting in May 2010.

Since mainland Chinese make up a third of visitors to Hong Kong Disneyland, some fear that the Shanghai park will siphon tourists away from the former British colony, which is part of China but has its own semi-autonomous government (mainland tourists must obtain visas to visit Hong Kong). Since opening four years ago, Hong Kong Disneyland has underperformed due to its small size - at 300 acres, it's the smallest of all Disney parks - as well as high ticket prices and competition from a nimble competitor called Ocean Park.

Disney also has made several market miscalculations. Analysts say the company, trying not to make the same mistakes it did at its Paris resort by failing to tailor the Disney formula to local tastes, may have gone overboard in its efforts to adapt the Hong Kong venue to Chinese customers. For example, the park's restaurants originally planned to serve shark's fin soup, a Chinese delicacy, until environmentalists protested. But the biggest knock against Hong Kong Disneyland - of which the Hong Kong government owns 57% - is a lack of attractions. In July, Disney and the government moved to remedy that problem by announcing that three new attractions would be added over the next five years.

Disney officials dismissed concerns that a new park in Shanghai will steal Hong Kong customers. "We see that Hong Kong Disneyland and the Shanghai park as complementary," said an official in an e-mail. "We believe the Greater China market is large enough to support multiple parks."

Further expansion in Asia may be a good bet. Last year, roughly a quarter of Disney's revenues came from overseas operations. Asia contributed just 5%, but leisure-industry experts are bullish about the region's potential. Last year, eight of the world's top 20 amusement parks (by number of visitors) were in Asia, according to a report by the Burbank, Calif.-based Themed Entertainment Association. The buzz in Shanghai is already tangible. "Chinese consumers have a lot of love for Disney," says Rein. "They're more excited about Disneyland than the Expo."

Gay-Marriage Activists Look Ahead After Big Defeat in Maine

By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER

Mainers' 53-47 vote to reject gay marriage does more than simply slap down a law that just six months ago had made Maine America's second state to permit same-sex couples to wed. With voters thronging to the polls, the closely watched - and ultimately not very close - vote extended the winning streak of gay marriage opponents nationwide, who have now prevailed in more than 30 straight state elections over whether to allow gays to marry. Just like Californians one year ago, Maine voters insisted on having their own say on an issue that simply will not go away.

Watching the results come in at the historic Eastland Park Hotel in downtown Portland, Scott Fish of the Stand for Marriage Maine campaign told TIME the other side had acted with too much haste, and too little respect for voters' wishes. "What's the hurry [for gay marriage]?" asked Fish, whose group began seeking a so-called "people's veto" almost immediately after Maine's Democratic (and Catholic) Gov. John Baldacci signed the gay marriage bill in May.

But Maine's vote, much like all of the states before it, including California's vote on Prop 8 12 months ago, will do little to slow the fight over gay marriage. Not in Maine, where Tuesday's vote is only the equivalent of a veto and can be easily reversed by lawmakers when they next meet, and not in the rest of America, where the issue continues to roil courthouses and statehouses alike. "Ultimately this is going to have to have a national resolution," says same-sex marriage activist Mary Bonauto, one of the nation's top lawyers involved in the campaign to legalize gay marriage. "It's about aligning promises found in the Constitution with America's laws." A leader in Maine's campaign to uphold gay marriage, Bonauto is best known for arguing the same-sex case that led the Massachusetts Supreme Court to strike down prohibitions against gay marriage in a hugely influential 2003 decision that paved the way for that state to become the first to permit gay marriage in 2004.

That decision has been cited in numerous cases that have followed, as the number of states whose courts have demanded equal marriage rights for gays has grown. But those same cases have also helped fuel opponents, who argue gay marriage is being foisted upon America by out-of-touch judges. In order to counter that argument, Bonauto and other gay-marriage activists in Maine who began organizing to press for gay marriage in Maine decided to avoid taking the issue to court. Instead, they set about electing lawmakers friendly to their cause two years ago, and this year successfully convinced the legislature to become the nation's first to establish gay marriage by statute, rather than decree. "Frankly, we had heard the criticisms about going the court route, and so we said, 'Fine, we'll go to the legislature,'" says Bonauto. "And it has been an incredible campaign."

That campaign looked to be winning for much of Tuesday evening. Looking at early vote totals, CNN legal affairs analyst Jeffrey Toobin said if the trend held, the vote in Maine would have enormous implications in favor of gay marriage elsewhere. "That's a big cultural change," he said. "Every time voters have spoken - every time - they have rejected gay marriage. But this shows the country is changing."

But what Toobin and others were seeing early were the returns from the cities, towns and suburbs in Maine. In more rural areas, votes were being counted by hand. By midnight, the momentum had swung the other way, and gay-marriage opponents' lead continued to grow into the morning.

Supporters were left early Wednesday morning looking for silver linings. Eight thousand volunteers manned the campaign to keep same-sex marriage, says Bonauto, and by far most of those people were not gay. "One way or another, after this vote, the people of Maine are not going to allow gay and lesbian people to remain strangers to the law," she says. "Gays and lesbians have met their non-gay neighbors, and they have introduced their families, and their children." In Washington state, voters appeared to have ratified a law passed earlier this year giving its 6,000 registered domestic partners the same state law rights as married couples. Cities as different as Chapel Hill, N.C. and Houston supported openly gay candidates for mayor, though the top-vote getter in Houston will have to win a run-off before she takes office.

Still, with the loss in Maine, the focus inevitably turns back to the courts, and for now that means back to California. That's where former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson and powerhouse attorney David Boies have brought their suit insisting that the U.S. Constitution forbids any law that prohibits gay marriage. Bonauto won't comment on the criticism gay rights groups heaped on Olson when he filed the case, saying it was premature given the heavily conservative bent of the federal judiciary. But she said to win across the country, gay rights supporters must press the marriage case wherever the fight takes them, be it in courthouses, state capitols or voting booths. "It's never been an either/or choice," she says. "When the issue is one of social justice, we have to get the judicial branch involved. There is absolutely a role for the courts."

Pushing the issue to the courts, however, has paid uneven dividends for gay marriage supporters. While courts have followed Massachusetts's lead in Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa, Connecticut and California, voters who have had a chance to weigh in have uniformly rejected that thinking.

Maine was supposed to be different. To begin with, it was the first state to legalize gay marriage by statute, and with the governor's support. When the unprecedented new law was challenged, supporters hoped that political backing from the governor, coupled with Maine's traditionally independent mindset, would provide the breakthrough that gay marriage supporters have been waiting for.

The vote prompted an outpouring of cash and other resources from far beyond the borders of the Pine Tree State. From New Jersey, the National Organization for Marriage sent a $1.8 million check to help defeat gay marriage. Gay couples in California and others still heartbroken over Prop 8 vote last year also sent lots of smaller checks to help bring the 'Vote No on 1' coalition some $4 million. On Tuesday, Californians manned phone banks to help encourage the vote, which Maine's Secretary of State told reporters Tuesday was exceptionally large.

But while money may talk in politics, it rarely has the last word. Just ask outgoing New Jersey Jon Corzine, who hugely outspent his opponent, and still lost.

So what now for gay marriage? More of the same for several more years, to be sure. Gay marriage bills are under consideration in New York and New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., city leaders are mulling whether to expand rights for same-sex couples, too. Olson and Boies' case is set for trial in January, and gay activists could learn soon how valid their fears about the federal judiciary are.

Somalis, Palestinians, Afghans rebuild lives in Hungary - Feature

Bicske, Hungary (Earth Times - dpa) - It may seem an unlikely destination for migrants from war-torn or poverty-stricken countries, but many have chosen to make their new beginnings in Hungary. Daud, a 22-year-old from Somalia, would love to return home some day. For now, he lives at a refugee reception center in Bicske, Hungary, a small town about 30 kilometers west of Budapest.

"I would like to go back, if there was a new government, if it was stable and safe. I think everyone wants that," Daud told the German Press Agency dpa.

In December 2008, Daud left Somalia for Turkey with three friends. From there, he traveled by bus and on foot for 15 days before being picked up by guards somewhere along the Hungarian border.

Bicske, with its rolling hills and vineyards, is today Daud's home. Autumn leaves swirl between the flat-roofed, single-storey concrete houses. Laundry billows in the wind on clotheslines outside the buildings. A couple of laughing Palestinian children trundle past on plastic tricycles, and a few people stand by doorways. Otherwise it is quiet.

Like all the residents, Daud has been granted asylum in Hungary.

Daud has been in Hungary for six months and seven days. He's in charge of the Bicske center's popular internet room and hopes to one day get a job in information technology.

"I have to like it here, I live in Hungary now," he says.

The Bicske reception center can accommodate 464 refugees but is less than half full. According to the Hungarian Office of Nationality and Immigration, 160 refugees were granted asylum in 2008, while 3,118 fresh claims were made.

A six- to 12-month stay in Bicske is the last stage in the process of settling refugees in Hungary. Residents are given Hungarian language lessons, help in finding employment and financial support when they find work and leave the center to set up a home.

Currently, most of the residents are from Afghanistan and Somalia, but there are also Palestinians, Georgians, Armenians and Iranians, among others, says Erika Kiss, who leads a team of five social workers at the center.

"How quickly people integrate is not related to their nationality but more on their level of education. Some people are illiterate," Kiss explains.

Apart from regular language lessons, a school, sports facilities and a well-equipped medical center, there is psychological support for those traumatized by the events and experiences that caused them to flee their homelands.

Although the entrance is manned by a guard, residents are free to come and go as they please. However, with monthly allowances of just 7,125 forints (about 39 dollars), there is little opportunity to stray too far.

Mohammed first came to Hungary in 2001 from Morocco. He was finally granted asylum in 2007 and now helps out at the center, translating between French, Arabic, English and Hungarian.

"Hungarian people are very friendly, more friendly than in Morocco," he says. "Only the language was difficult. It took me more than three years to learn."

In fact, fiendishly complex Hungarian - unrelated to any other in Europe, bar distant cousins Finnish and Estonian - is the first thing that all the residents complained about.

Meals are provided in a canteen three times a day, but many families prefer to cook for themselves in the small kitchenettes of the residential blocks.

Sitting in the room she has shared with her three daughters since May, Celine speaks of her husband's escape from the Democratic Republic of Congo. After months of anxiety, she received an unexpected phone call from Hungary - her husband had been granted asylum.

"I was born in Congo, I grew up in Congo," she says. "I knew nothing about Hungary."

Celine used the last of her money to travel to Kenya, where the Hungarian embassy in Nairobi provided the visa that allowed her and the children to follow her husband.

While Celine seems unsure about her family's future, her 12-year- old daughter, Clemence, says she just wants to move to Budapest, where she can go to a normal school.

Some European Union countries, notably Italy, have recently called for the burden of housing asylum-seekers to be shared. The European Commission has produced plans for a voluntary migrant resettlement program.

In today's 27-member EU, it could be that other, smaller, less prominent countries like Hungary will increasingly be asked to provide homes for those who have nowhere else to go.

Malaysian Christian group slams government seizure of Bibles

Kuala Lumpur - A Christian group in Malaysia on Wednesday criticized the government's confiscation of some 15,000 Malay-language Bibles which contain the word "Allah". In a statement, the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) called for the immediate release of the Bibles, saying that withholding the holy books would be denying Malay-speaking believers the right to practice their faith.

The government in March banned the use of the word "Allah" in non-Muslim publications, sparking fierce condemnation from religious groups who argue that the government had no legal right to ban the use of a word that predated the Koran and Islam.

Earlier this week, Christian groups said that the government seized 15,000 Bibles, most of which were to be sent to the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak, where the Malay language is most commonly used among people of all religions.

The CFM said in its statement Wednesday that the reason given by the authorities, which was that the Bibles were "prejudicial to public order," was ridiculous and offensive.

"Bibles in (Malay) have been used since before the independence of our country and have never been the cause of any public disorder," said Bishop Ng Moon Hing, chairman of the group.

"It is this action by the authorities themselves which is an affront to good public order," he said in the statement.

"We call on the relevant government officials who have neither the authority nor the right to act in this unconscionable manner to explain their action to the church leaders and to the public."

Malaysia's constitution declares it a secular state but with Islam as its official religion. About 60 per cent of Malaysia's 25 million people are Muslims.

Minority religious groups have often complained that their constitutional right to practice different faiths have come under threat by what is seen to be an ultra-Islamisation move by the government in recent times.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293156,malaysian-christian-group-slams-government-seizure-of-bibles.html.

Israel Navy intercepts weapons-laden cargo ship off Israeli coast

Tel Aviv - The Israeli Navy overpowered a cargo ship with weaponry and ammunition hidden on board overnight, the military said Wednesday. The Antigua-flagged ship was stopped some 160 kilometres off the Israeli coast, military spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Avital Leibowitz told the German Press Agency dpa.

She said the weapons and ammunition were discovered hidden in "civilian containers" when the navy carried out a security check of the ship.

Saudi soldier killed, 11 injured in clashes with gunmen near border

Riyadh - One Saudi soldier was killed and 11 injured when Saudi security forces clashed with unknown gunmen "who infiltrated into the kingdom", the official Saudi Press Agency said Wednesday. The clashes took place Tuesday morning when gunmen were spotted near Mountain al-Dokhan, in Jazan region, near the borders with Yemen, an unidentified official was quoted by SPA as saying.

He added that the "infiltrators opened fire on Saudi security forces using various weapons".

On Monday, Shiite rebels fighting the national army in north-western Yemen accused Saudi Arabia of allowing Yemeni forces to use its territories as a launchpad for attacking their positions on the border.

The rebels, known as Houthis, have frequently accused Saudi Arabia of facilitating the Yemeni army's operation against their bases on the border.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293173,saudi-soldier-killed-11-injured-in-clashes-with-gunmen-near-border.html.

Abdullah: Decision to name Karzai president had no legal basis

Kabul (Earth Times - dpa) - Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday sharply criticized the decision of the country's election commission to declare incumbent Hamid Karzai the winner of Afghanistan's disputed presidential elections. Abdullah, who pulled out of a scheduled November 7 runoff with Karzai on Sunday, said there was "no legal basis" for the decision of the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

However, the former foreign minister refrained from calling for protests and asked his supporters to remain calm.

The IEC is widely perceived to be biased towards Karzai in Afghanistan's drawn-out election quagmire. The August 20 election was marred by massive fraud, mostly favoring the president.

Abdullah withdrew from the race as he said he feared renewed fraud by the president's supporters. The IEC then scrapped the runoff and on Monday declared Karzai elected president.

There are lingering doubts over the legality of the decision, as the Afghan constitution demands a runoff if no candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the vote.

Neither the IEC nor the supreme court were independent, Abdullah said. The supreme court judges would have made the same decision favoring Karzai if the IEC had not done so, he claimed.

Abdullah said he and his supporters would adhere to the law and were ready to make sacrifices for the good of the country.

He ruled out personally participating in a Karzai-led government.

Karzai on Tuesday announced plans to form a government of national unity, which was to include representatives of all political and ethnic groups.

He did not specify whether he would offer to cooperate with Abdullah.

Vaccine May Be More Dangerous Than Swine Flu

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

By: Dr. Russell Blaylock

An outbreak of swine flu occurred in Mexico this spring that eventually affected 4,910 Mexican citizens and resulted in 85 deaths. By the time it spread to the United States, the virus caused only mild cases of flu-like illness.

Thanks to air travel and the failure of public health officials to control travel from Mexico, the virus spread worldwide. Despite predictions of massive numbers of deaths and the arrival of doomsday, the virus has remained a relatively mild disease, something we know happens each year with flu epidemics.

Worldwide, there have only been 311 deaths out of 70,893 cases of swine flu. In the United States, 27,717 cases have resulted in 127 deaths. Every death is a tragedy, but such a low death rate should not be the basis of a draconian government policy.

It is helpful to recall that the Centers for Disease Control with the collusion of the media, constantly tell us that 36,000 people die from the flu each year, a figure that has been shown to be a lie. In this case, we are talking about 300 plus deaths for the entire world.

This virus continues to be an enigma for virologists. In the April 30, 2009 issue of Nature, a virologist was quoted as saying,“Where the hell it got all these genes from we don’t know.” Extensive analysis of the virus found that it contained the original 1918 H1N1 flu virus, the avian flu virus (bird flu), and two new H3N2 virus genes from Eurasia. Debate continues over the possibility that swine flu is a genetically engineered virus.

Naturally, vaccine manufacturers have been in a competitive battle to produce the first vaccine. The main contenders have been Baxter Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Pharmaceuticals, the latter of which recently acquired the scandal-ridden Chiron vaccine company. Both of these companies have had agreements with the World Health Organization to produce a pandemic vaccine.

The Baxter vaccine, called Celvapan, has had fast track approval. It uses a new vero cell technology, which utilizes cultured cells from the African green monkey. This same animal tissue transmits a number of vaccine-contaminating viruses, including the HIV virus.

The Baxter company has been associated with two deadly scandals. The first event occurred in 2006 when hemophiliac components were contaminated with HIV virus and injected in tens of thousands of people, including thousands of children. Baxter continued to release the HIV contaminated vaccine even after the contamination was known.

The second event occurred recently when it was discovered that Baxter had released a seasonal flu vaccine containing the bird flu virus, which would have produced a real world pandemic, to 18 countries. Fortunately, astute lab workers in the Czech Republic discovered the deadly combination and blew the whistle before a worldwide disaster was unleashed.

Despite these two deadly events, WHO maintains an agreement with Baxter Pharmaceuticals to produce the world’s pandemic vaccine.

Novartis, the second contender, also has an agreement with WHO for a pandemic vaccine. Novartis appears to have won the contract, since their vaccine is near completion. What is terrifying is that these pandemic vaccines contain ingredients, called immune adjuvants that a number of studies have shown cause devastating autoimmune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and lupus.

Animal studies using this adjuvant have found them to be deadly. A study using 14 guinea pigs found that when they were injected with the special adjuvant, only one animal survived. A repeat of the study found the same deadly outcome.

So, what is this deadly ingredient? It is called squalene, a type of oil. The Chiron company, maker of the deadly anthrax vaccine, makes an adjuvant called MF-59 which contains an ingredient of serious concern--squalene. A number of studies have shown that squalene can trigger all of the above-mentioned autoimmune diseases when injected.

The MF-59 adjuvant has been used in several vaccines. These vaccines, including tetanus and diphtheria, are the same vaccines frequently associated with adverse reactions.

I reviewed a number of studies on this adjuvant and found something quite interesting. Several studies done on human test subjects found MF-59 to be a very safe immune adjuvant. But when I checked to see who did these studies, I found—to no surprise—that they were done by the Novartis Pharmaceutical Company and Chiron Pharmaceutical Company, which have merged. They were all published in “prestigious” medical journals. Also, to no surprise, a great number of studies done by independent laboratories and research institutions all found a strong link between MF-59 and autoimmune diseases.

Squalene in vaccines has been strongly linked to the Gulf War Syndrome. On August 1991, Anthony Principi, Secretary of Veterans Affairs admitted that soldiers vaccinated with the anthrax vaccine from 1990 to 1991 had an increased risk of 200 percent in developing the deadly disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig’s disease. The soldiers also suffered from a number of debilitating and life-shortening diseases, such as polyarteritis nodosa, multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus, transverse myelitis (a neurological disorder caused by inflammation of the spinal cord), endocarditis (inflammation of the heart’s inner lining), optic neuritis with blindness and glomerulonephritis (a type of kidney disease).

Because squalene, the main ingredient in MF-59, can induce hyperimmune responses and induce autoimmunity, a real danger exists for prolonged activation of the brain’s immune cells, the microglia. This type of prolonged activation has been strongly associated with such diseases as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS and possibly vaccine-related encephalitis. It has been shown that activation of the systemic immune system, as occurs with vaccination, rapidly activates the brain’s microglia at the same time, and this brain inflammation can persist for long periods.

What most people do not know, even the doctors who recommend the vaccines, is that most studies by pharmaceutical companies observe the patients for only one to two weeks following vaccination—these types of reactions may take months or even years to manifest.

It is obvious that the vaccine manufacturers stand to make billions of dollars in profits from this WHO/government-promoted pandemic. Novartis, the maker of the new pandemic vaccine, recently announced that they would not give free vaccines to impoverished nations—everybody pays.

One must keep in mind that once the vaccine is injected, there is little you can do to protect yourself—at least by conventional medicine. It will mean a lifetime of crippling illness and early death.

There are much safer ways to protect oneself from this flu virus, such as higher doses of vitamin D3, selective immune enhancement using supplements, and a good diet.

China launches "strike hard" crackdown in restive west

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese forces have launched a "strike hard" security campaign in the restless far western region of Xinjiang, vowing to wipe out lawlessness and "change the face" of the public security situation there.

Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi has been rocked by ethnic violence twice this year, in which a total of around 200 people died..

In Xinjiang's worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighurs attacked Han Chinese in Urumqi in July, after taking to the streets to protest against attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in southern China in June that left two Uighurs dead.

Han Chinese in Urumqi sought revenge two days later against the Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic group that calls Xinjiang its homeland. A series of claimed needle stabbings by Uighurs in September stoked fresh protests led by Han Chinese.

Now the regional government is demanding tough action to bring stability back to the region, Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily reported on Tuesday.

"From the start of November, public security bodies in Xinjiang will ... start a thorough 'strike hard and punish' campaign to further consolidate the fruits of maintaining stability and eliminate security dangers," it said.

Security forces would "root out places where criminals breed, and change the face of the public security situation in these areas," the report said.

The term "strike hard" harkens back to the 1980s, when Chinese police forces launched campaign-like sweeps intended to catch law-breakers. Pro-reform legal experts in China later criticized those campaigns for ignoring suspects' rights and setting targets for arrests that encouraged abuses.

The Xinjiang government's revival of the "strike hard" rhetoric appears to be another part of its effort to win back the support of residents of the region who claimed that Uighur law-breakers were not being punished.

Police will continue to look for suspects involved in the July riots, and "keep a close eye on clues and cases involving terrorism and explosions," the official Xinhua news agency said.

Energy-rich Xinjiang, strategically located in central Asia, has been struck in recent years by bombings, attacks and riots blamed by Beijing on Uighur separatists demanding an independent "East Turkestan."

Many Uighurs resent government restrictions on their religion and culture and a massive influx of Han Chinese settlers which have in some areas reduced them to a minority in their own land.

Rights groups and Uighur activists also say Beijing grossly exaggerates the threat from militants to justify harsh controls.

GOP sweep: Big governor victories in Virginia, NJ

By LIZ SIDOTI, AP National Political Writer

WASHINGTON – Independents who swept Barack Obama to a historic 2008 victory broke big for Republicans on Tuesday as the GOP wrested political control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a troubling sign for the president and his party heading into an important midterm election year.

Conservative Republican Bob McDonnell's victory in the Virginia governor's race over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds and moderate Republican Chris Christie's ouster of unpopular New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was a double-barreled triumph for a party looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Maine voters rejected a state law that would allow same-sex couples to wed. If supporters had prevailed, it would have marked the first time that the electorate in any state endorsed gay marriage.

And Democrat Bill Owens captured a GOP-held vacant 23rd Congressional District seat in New York in a race that highlighted fissures in the Republican Party and illustrated hurdles the GOP could face in capitalizing on any voter discontent with Obama and Democrats next fall.

California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, also a Democrat, won a special election to a vacant congressional seat, Ohio voters approved casinos and a slew of cities selected mayors, including New York, which gave Michael Bloomberg a third term.

The outcomes of Virginia and New Jersey were sure to feed discussion about the state of the electorate, the status of the diverse coalition that sent Obama to the White House and the limits of the president's influence — on the party's base of support and on moderate current lawmakers he needs to advance his legislative priorities.

His signature issue of health care reform was dealt a blow hours before polls closed when Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid signaled that Congress may not complete health care legislation this year, missing Obama's deadline and pushing debate into a congressional election year. Democrats in swing-voting states and moderate-to-conservative districts may be less willing to back Obama on issues like health care after Virginia and New Jersey showed there are limits to how much he can protect his rank and file from fallout back home.

The president had personally campaigned for Deeds and Corzine, seeking to ensure that independents and base voters alike turned out even if he wasn't on the ballot — and voters still rejected them. Thus, the losses were blots on Obama's political standing to a certain degree and suggested potential problems ahead as he seeks to achieve his policy goals, protect Democratic majorities in Congress and expand his party's grip on governors' seats next fall.

Interviews with voters leaving polling stations in both states were filled with reasons for Democrats to be concerned and for Republicans to be optimistic, particularly about independents — the crown jewel of elections because they often determine outcomes.

Independents were a critical part Obama's victory in Virginia, New Jersey and across the country. But after more than a year of recession, they fled from Democrats in the two states, where the economy trumped all.

The Associated Press exit polls showed that nearly a third of voters in Virginia described themselves as independents, and nearly as many in New Jersey did. They preferred McDonnell by almost a 2-1 margin over Deeds in Virginia, and Christie over Corzine by a similar margin.

Last year, independents split between Obama and Republican John McCain in both states.

In Virginia, McDonnell won by big margins in rapidly growing, far-flung Washington, D.C., suburbs — places like Loudoun and Prince William counties — that Republicans historically have won but where Obama prevailed last fall by winning over independents and swing voters. Republicans swept all three statewide Virginia offices up for election: governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

"Bob McDonnell's victory gives Republicans tremendous momentum heading into 2010," declared Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association. "His focus on ideas and pocketbook issues will serve as a model for Republicans running next year."

Said Tim Kaine, the Democratic National Committee chairman and the term-limited Virginia governor: "We are disappointed."

In both states, the surveys also suggested the Democrats had difficulty turning out their base, including the large numbers of first-time minority and youth voters whom Obama attracted. The Virginia electorate was whiter in 2009 than it was in 2008, when blacks and Hispanics voted in droves to elect the country's first black president.

Democratic victories in both Virginia, a new swing state, and New Jersey, a Democratic stronghold, in 2005 preceded big Democratic years nationally in 2006 and 2008.

Tuesday's impact on Obama's popularity and on the 2010 elections could easily be overstated. Voters are often focused on local issues and local personalities.

Yet, national issues, like the recession, were clearly a factor, with voter attitudes shaped to some degree by how people feel about the state of their nation — and their place in it.

And, voter attitudes — particularly among independents — could bode ill for Democrats in moderate districts and in swing states like Ohio, Colorado and Nevada, should they remain unchanged when the party seeks to defend its turf next fall. In 2010, most governors, a third of the Senate and all members in the House will be on ballots.

It's also difficult to separate Obama from the outcomes after he devoted a significant chunk of time working to persuade voters to elect Deeds in Virginia and re-elect Corzine in New Jersey.

More than four in 10 voters in Virginia said their view of Obama factored into their choice on Tuesday, and those voters roughly split between expressing support and opposition for the president. People who said they disapprove of Obama's job performance voted overwhelmingly Republican, and those who approve of the president favored Deeds, the Democrat.

The Obama factor was similar in New Jersey, though there were slightly more voters who said the president did not factor into their choice.

Jordan's king meets Miliband, urges EU pressure on Israel

Amman - Jordan's King Abdullah II conferred Tuesday with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, urging the international community to pressure Israel to stop its "unilateral actions" in East Jerusalem, a royal court statement said. "The monarch underlined the importance of the European Union's role, particularly that of Britain, in efforts aimed at ensuring the setting up of an independent Palestinian state, which is a prerequisite for Middle East peace," it said said.

King Abdullah warned against "the dangers inherent in the Israeli unilateral actions, especially the construction of settlements and other measures that threaten the identity of Jerusalem and holy places there, and called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to halt such steps," it added.

The talks dealt with ways to overcome obstacles hindering the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the statement said in a reference to Israel's rejection of a settlement construction freeze.

Amman was the centre of a new round of diplomacy over the past 48 hours that involved meetings between US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and King Abdullah as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas told Mitchell on Monday that the Palestinian Authority still insisted on Israel's freeze of settlement building as a prerequisite for resuming peace talks, according to Saeb Erekat, head of the Palestinian Negotiation Department.

Abdullah expressed backing for the Palestinian Authority's attitude during a meeting with Abbas in Amman on Monday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday talked on telephone with King Abdullah, apparently to ask Amman's support for its endeavors to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians even before a freeze of settlement construction.

Report: Iran hangs convicted Sunni rebel

Tehran - Iran hanged a member of a Sunni rebel group blamed for deadly attacks in the predominantly Shiite Muslim state, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday. "Abdol-Hamid Rigi was hanged inside the main prison of Zahedan on Monday," the agency quoted top police official Gholam-Ali Nekouie as saying, referring to the capital city of Sistan-Baluchestan province.

Iranian media had reported that the group, Jundallah or Soldiers of God, claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing in October in Sistan-Baluchestan which killed more than 40 people, including 15 top members of the Revolutionary Guards.

Nekouie said Rigi was convicted of various charges including "kidnapping, cooperating with Jundallah and 'staging war against God'," an offense punishable by death under Iran's Islamic law.

In July, 13 other members of Jundallah were executed in Zahedan on the same charges.

Earlier reports said Rigi was the brother of Jundallah leader Abdolmalik Rigi, but Nekouie said this was not the case.

Iranian authorities accuse Jundallah of sowing discord between the Shiite majority and the Sunni minority in Iran. The group says it is fighting against discrimination and for the rights of the Sunnis.

Sistan-Baluchestan province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, is a major transit route for narcotics. It has been hit by a string of attacks and kidnappings that authorities blame on Jundallah.

Courtroom murder of Egyptian woman wanted to die - Summary

Dresden - A police officer testified on Tuesday that Alex W, accused of murdering a pregnant Egyptian woman in court, had asked to be killed after the deed. Policemen who stormed the courtroom when they heard the commotion, described the bloody, chaotic scene that greeted them after the attack, which occurred during a hearing on July 1.

Alex W, a German of Russian origin, is accused of stabbing to death Marwa al-Shirbini, 31, during the appeal hearing after he had been already been ordered to pay a fine for insulting the headscarf- wearing mother at a children's playground in 2008.

The trial has aroused strong emotions in al-Shirbini's native Egypt, where the case has made front-page news.

Taking the witness stand on the sixth day of the trial, one policeman said it was difficult to judge the situation when W attacked al-Shirbini in court.

As the officers burst into the courtroom they saw two men fighting over a knife, surrounded by overturned chairs, shifted tables and blood everywhere, one policeman said of the scene.

"They were in motion, I could not tell who had the knife," said a 33-year-old officer, adding that the men did not respond to demands they stop fighting. "Then there was a shot."

The shot, fired by another officer, hit the husband of al-Shirbini in the thigh, as he was trying to defend his wife. The policeman who mistakenly fired the shot is under separate investigation, and has submitted an official account of events.

"We only found out after the shot who the perpetrator was," said another policeman.

The officer said Alex W, 28, resisted arrest and asked instead to be killed.

"As he lay on the floor, he said he wanted me to shoot him as he didn't want to go to jail," the policeman said.

On the previous day, friends of the defendant had described Alex W as a loner who had entertained suicidal thoughts and lacked a purpose in life.

An investigator said the entire attack, with a sharpened knife that W smuggled into the court, took no longer than 25 seconds.

The prosecution has argued that the perpetrator was motivated by a "pure hatred of non-Europeans and Muslims."

He had called al-Shirbini a "terrorist" and a "slut" when they first met in August 2008, after she asked him to move from a swing her young son wanted to use.

There was no evidence that W belonged to a right-wing group, but he had made it clear in court that he sympathized with the extreme right-wing National Democratic Party (NPD), who he had voted for.

W, who is unemployed, is charged with murder, attempted murder and causing aggravated bodily harm. He faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Leaders of Jordan, Kazakhstan discuss Mideast peace, bilateral ties

Amman - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev conferred Tuesday with Jordan's King Abdullah on efforts to spur the stalled Middle East peace process and ways of boosting bilateral ties, a statement by the Jordanian royal court said. Nazarbayev arrived in Amman earlier Tuesday for a two-day state visit.

The discussions focused on Middle East developments, particularly "ongoing efforts to ensure a relaunch of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of the two-state vision that guarantees the setting up of an independent and viable Palestinian state," the statement said.

Abdullah and Nazarbayev also underscored the importance of cooperation among Islamic countries with a view to "dealing with challenges facing the Islamic world", it said.

The leaders of the two Islamic countries agreed that ample opportunities existed for promoting bilateral economic cooperation particularly in the spheres of energy, agriculture, pharmaceutical and foods industries as well as tourism.

The two countries have so far concluded 13 agreements to expand relations in the economic, commercial and investment fields.

The Kazakh head of state is accompanied by a business delegation whose members met with their Jordanian counterparts to discuss future joint ventures.

Trade between Jordan and Kazakhstan reached more than 100 million dollars in 2008, according to the Jordanian Trade and Industry Minister Amer al-Hadidi.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293102,leaders-of-jordan-kazakhstan-discuss-mideast-peace-bilateral-ties.html.

Miliband calls Israeli settlements 'illegal' - Summary

Amman - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Tuesday criticized the building of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories as "illegal" and said they represented an "obstacle" in the path of peace. "Settlements are illegal in our view and an obstacle" that impedes efforts which seek to work out a final settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians, Miliband told a press conference at the end of a one-day visit to Jordan and talks with King Abdullah II.

The British Foreign Secretary also conferred in Amman with the US Middle East envoy George Mitchell to review the outcome of a regional tour Mitchell and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were carrying out to try to spur the stalled peace process.

Miliband supported the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and expressed concern over Israeli violations in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war.

"The current situation is obviously particularly tense in respect of Jerusalem. We view events there with considerable concern, along with our EU and international partners," he said.

He referred to breaking into Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli troops over the past couple of months to provide a shelter for fanatical Jews who planned to perform prayers at the shrine's compound, according to Palestinian officials.

Miliband also warned that any alternative to a two-state vision as a solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would be "dark and unwelcome".

Quake injures 700 in southern Iran

A 4.9-magnitude earthquake has left about 700 people injured in the port city of Bandar Abbas and Qeshm island in southern Iran.

Ahmad Rasti, Governor of Bandar Abbas, said the quake struck the city at 2:56 a.m. local time on Wednesday (11:26 p.m. GMT, Tuesday).

Iran sits astride several major faults in the Earth's crust and is prone to frequent quakes.

The worst earthquake to hit the country in recent years devastated the southern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people and destroying its ancient mud-brick citadel.

Venezuela not Iran's 'base' in LatAm

Venezuela's foreign ministry has rejected an Israeli allegation that it has become Iran's 'forward base' in Latin America.

The ministry slammed what it called 'aggression against its people' after Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Venezuela was Iran's top ally in Latin America.

According to the Venezuelan statement, the Israeli remarks were a 'sign of the vile, meddling and aggressive attitude' of Israel.

Caracas severed ties with Tel Aviv in January 2009 in response to Israel's three-week-long all-out offensive on the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of over 1,400 Palestinians and left thousands of others injured.

Israel warns of new Gaza offensive

Israeli Army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi has threatened a new offensive against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, suggesting attacks on civilian targets.

Ashkenazi repeated Tel Aviv's allegations against Hamas, accusing the Islamic movement of hiding weaponry in public buildings and residential areas.

He said the Israeli army could be fighting in cities, mosques, hospitals, schools and even kindergartens, blaming the indiscriminate warfare and a likely targeting of civilians on Palestinian resistance fighters.

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said Ashkenazi's remarks were made in an attempt to justify Israel's war crimes in Gaza, and could as well be meant to justify future crimes.

Barhoum war alluding to Israel's 22-day military offensive against the populated coastal enclave in January that killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and left thousands more injured.

A report by an independent UN fact finding committee headed by former South African judge Richard Goldstone on the weeks-long onslaught charged the Israeli army with deliberate targeting of civilians and using them as human shields.

Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yedlin earlier claimed that Hamas is trying to obtain more weapons and missiles, and that it successfully tested a missile that could reach Tel Aviv, some 60 kilometers (37.28 Miles) away.

He added that during the war on Gaza, Hamas fighters fired shells that managed to hit targets nearly 45 kilometers (28 Miles) away, accusing Hamas of smuggling arms through tunnels on the Rafah border.

Palestinians have rejected the Israeli allegations, saying the tunnels are tubes to push in the basic needs of the 1.5-million-strong population in the impoverished coastal sliver, which has been under a crippling Israeli siege since June 2007.

Hamas says that the remarks and Israeli statements regarding the movement's successful test-fire of news missiles were part of Tel Aviv's effort to divert world's attention from the Goldstone report on the Gaza war.

Israel is trying to persuade other countries to oppose the damning report ahead of the General Assembly debate.

The report is due to be brought before the General Assembly on Wednesday. If adopted, the assembly could ask for the prosecution of Israeli leaders involved in the crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Iranians mark US embassy takeover

Rallies marking the 30th anniversary of the US Embassy takeover in Tehran have started in capital Tehran as well as other cities across the country.

Tens of thousands of people from all walks of life and many political persuasions have staged a rally at the site of the former US embassy in Tehran, better known in Iranian history as the 'Den of Spies'.

November 4 marks three important events in Iranian history: the takeover of the former US embassy in Tehran by Muslim students following the Imam's line in 1979 and the exile of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini by the deposed Shah in 1964.

The declaration of the day as the Students Day, however, is overridingly in remembrance of several students martyred in 1978 while taking part in a protest against the Shah.

Since the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, Iranians have been celebrating the occasion every year by holding rallies on the anniversary and marking it as the National Day against the 'Global Arrogance'.

People carried placards expressing their hatred of the bullying of arrogant powers and the US in particular. They also chanted slogans against the United States and Israel.

In 1979, Iranian university students took over the building to thwart what they called Washington's plots against the Islamic Revolution that was only a few months old at the time.

Inside the embassy, the students found shredded documents which proved their convictions.

Meanwhile, small groups of supporters of defeated presidential candidates also held a rally in central Tehran on Wednesday.

The protesters gathered in Haft-e-Tir square, which leads to the former US embassy compound. The protesters chanted slogans against the government.

Police later dispersed the anti-government demonstrators.

17 killed in train crash in Pakistan

Wed Nov 4, 2009

A passenger train has collided with a freight train in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, killing at least 17 people and wounding several others.

The crash occurred on Tuesday on the outskirts of Pakistan's biggest city.

A senior railway official in the region said negligence on the part of the passenger train's driver was the cause.

"The driver did not follow the red signal and slammed into the parcel train," the DPA news agency quoted the official as saying.

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

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110394.html.

Karzai pledges to form national unity government

Wed Nov 4, 2009

Newly 're-elected' Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged to form a national unity government one day after he was declared the winner in the fraud-tainted presidential election.

"My government will be for all Afghans, and all those who want to work with me are most welcome, regardless of whether they opposed me in the election or whether they supported me in the election," Karzai told reporters at a press conference in Kabul on Tuesday in his first remarks since being declared the winner on Monday.

However, the president did not elaborate on whether the new cabinet would include ministers from the camp of his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah.

Karzai was declared the winner of Afghanistan's presidential election after Abdullah withdrew from the November 7 run-off vote, citing serious concerns about the election process.

The president also promised to take tough action to overcome the "stigma" of corruption which has tarnished his administration's image since he was first elected in 2004.

In addition, Karzai is trying to persuade the Taliban to join mainstream politics.

However, the militants have vowed to continue their campaign against the US-led forces across Afghanistan until the foreign forces leave the country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110393.html.

UN implicated in war crimes in Congo: HRW

Wed Nov 4, 2009

A top human rights group says the UN mission in Congo (MONUC) has done nothing to stop Congolese troops from killing civilians in the east of the country.

Human Rights Watch said in a report that the UN peacekeeping force in the area did nothing to stop the soldiers from decapitating men and raping young girls.

"MONUC's continued willingness to provide support for such abusive military operations implicates them in violations of the laws of war," the report stated.

The group has accused the Congolese military of killing more than 500 civilians over the past few months in the region.

"Some Congolese army soldiers are committing war crimes by viciously targeting the very people they should be protecting."

In the eastern Congo, the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and Hutu extremists of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have caused untold suffering for thousands of civilians.

Congo launched an offensive in January against the militias, which have been destabilizing the Great Lakes region for years. Some of the guerrillas even participated in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

The eastern Congo has experienced interminable cycles of violence since the war began in 1998. The conflict has dragged on for over a decade and left over 5.4 million people dead.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110392.html.

'West does not understand Iran's logic'

Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei says the West does not understand the logic behind Iran's foreign policy.

"The main obstacle in relations between Iran and the West is the fact that Western countries don't understand the logic behind Iran's foreign policy," Rezaei said in a meeting with the Australian ambassador to Tehran, Marc Innes-Brown, on Tuesday.

Rezaei stated that the logic of Iran's foreign policy is based on defending the country's national interests, maintaining the principles of the Islamic Revolution, and opposing any and every form of hegemony.

"We always sought peace and stability in the [Middle East] region and the world, and we have not pursued any aggressive policy toward other countries while defending our rights," the Mehr News Agency quoted him as saying.

"Iran is not pursuing adventurism in its foreign policy, and the West, especially the US, should rectify their stance on Iran in order to resolve the issues," the Iranian official said.

Ambassador Innes-Brown said it is essential that Iran and the West take confidence-building measures.

Euro court bans school crucifixes, Italy bristles

Public anger erupted in Italy after a European court ruled that displaying crucifixes in schools and public places violates educational and religious freedoms.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that Italy has been breaching the rights of parents to educate their children according to their own beliefs. It also violates children's right to freedom of religion, it said.

Italian Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini said she would appeal the European court's ruling. She added that as the cross was part of the Italian tradition, "no one, and certainly not an ideological European court, will succeed in erasing our identity."

The Italian bishops' conference also denounced the court ruling as "partial and ideological," saying the crucifix "is not just a religious symbol but also a sign of cultural belonging."

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told Italian television that the ruling had been met "with astonishment and regret" by the Catholic Church.

"The crucifix has always been a sign of God's love, unity, and hospitality to all humanity. It is unpleasant that it is considered a sign of division, exclusion, or a restriction of freedom," he said.

The Italian foreign minister said the government would appeal against the ruling.

US House condemns Goldstone report

The US House of Representatives has condemned the UN Goldstone report, which accused Israel of committing war crimes in its 22-day war against the Palestinians in Gaza.

By a vote of 344 to 36, the members of the lower house of Congress approved a non-binding resolution that calls the report “irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy.”

The harshly worded resolution calls on President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration" of the critical report.

South African judge Richard Goldstone recently challenged the United States to justify its objections over his report about the December 27-January 18 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip that killed over 1,400 Palestinians, with many of the victims women and children.

Goldstone recommended that the conclusions of the report be forwarded to the Hague-based International Criminal Court if the sides involved in the Gaza war failed to conduct credible investigations within six months.

Even Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip ahead of a UN General Assembly meeting on the Goldstone report.

Tehran condemns murder of its citizen in Belgium

Iran's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Belgian Ambassador to Tehran over the mysterious death of an Iranian national in a Belgian prison.

"The Islamic Republic condemns the killing of Mr. Mamiani-Asl in the Leuven prison and demands an explanation," said the Director of Iranian Affairs at the Foreign Ministry in a meeting with Belgian Ambassador Philippe Colyn.

According to a recent report by Radio Netherlands, an Iranian inmate was killed by a group of prison wardens at midnight on Friday.

Colyn expressed his deepest regret over the incident and promised to relay the Iranian government's concern to the Belgian authorities.

Kuwait supports Iran's nuclear program

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah says Iran's nuclear program is peaceful and Tehran has the right to continue its nuclear program.

"All countries have the right to use peaceful nuclear technology, and we believe that Iran's activities are in the area of peaceful nuclear energy, and we support such a program," IRNA quoted al-Sabah as saying in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Kuwait on Tuesday.

During the meeting, Mottaki and al-Sabah discussed the latest bilateral and regional issues.

The Kuwaiti emir also stated that Iran's security enhances the security of the Middle East region.

"We regard Iran's security as our own security," al-Sabah added.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110384§ionid=351020104.

Opposed rallies on US Embassy takeover anniversary

Thousands of supporters of defeated presidential candidates, Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, have held a rally in the Iranian capital as the country commemorated the 30th anniversary of the US Embassy takeover.

The main anti-government rally took place at a central square in Tehran on Wednesday, November 4, our correspondent Leila Faramarzi reported.

The date marks the day, in which revolutionary Iranian students in 1979 took over the US Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, following the popular overthrown of Iran's US-backed monarch.

The event, which was sparked after Iran's last monarch, Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, was issued a US visa, led to unilateral US sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties since then.

Tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets to commemorate the day, dubbed as the national day of fighting global arrogance. They also decried the policy of the Obama administration towards the Islamic Republic.

According to Fars news agency, meanwhile, small groups of anti-government protesters spread across central streets of Tehran. They, however, were dispersed by police.

Pakistani army fights street battles in S Waziristan

Wed Nov 4, 2009

Pakistani military says its troops have engaged in street-to-street fighting with pro-Taliban militants in a strategic town in the lawless tribal South Waziristan region.

"Today the security forces advanced into the stronghold of militants, the town of Ladha, amidst heavy clashes and street to street fighting," an army statement said Wednesday.

The Pakistani troops besieged Ladha after days of intense fighting in the volatile area that borders Afghanistan.

The town is considered a major terror stronghold and an important base for the militants and the "operational center" of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Military sources said at least 30 militants have been killed in heavy clashes across the troubled region over past 24 hours.

About 400 militants and 37 soldiers have so far been killed since the operation was launched in the mountainous terrain on October 17.

Thousands have been killed in the bloody campaign across Pakistan over the past two years, as the death toll is expected to rise during the government offensive.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110468.html.

Italian Jail sentences for CIA-led kidnappings

In an unprecedented move, an Italian court issues jail terms for former CIA agents involved in the abduction and torture of a Muslim Imam.

The Wednesday ruling saw an Italian judge sentencing 23 former CIA agents to up to eight years in prison for facilitating the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian-born cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, in Italy.

The operation, managed by the CIA and the Italian military intelligence, took place as part of what Washington has called its way of dealing with 'enemies of the United States.'

Based on the method, euphemistically known as 'extraordinary rendition,' the so-called 'terror suspects' would be secretly flown to countries where torture-aided interrogation remains within the bounds of the law.

A great number of suspects were accordingly transferred to CIA prisons overseas or the US Cuba-based prison facility in Guantanamo, without formal legal charges, the right to an attorney or any type of defense before suffering torture in order to admit to propped-up charges.

Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was likewise taken to Egypt, where he says he was tortured and held until 2007 without any charges.

During the Wednesday trial, which was formed in the absence of the Americans, whom the United States has refused to extradite, former head of the CIA's Milan station, Robert Seldon Lady, received eight years in prison, and the other 22 former CIA agents were handed five-year sentences each.

Obama's call to arms against 'ecologic disaster'

US President Barack Obama has called for stepped-up global efforts aimed at reaching a climate change agreement amid Washington's persistence in disregarding the previous pacts.

"And all of us agreed that it was imperative for us to redouble our efforts," in the lead-up to the Copenhagen meeting which is to come up with a landmark environmental treaty, the US-based ABC News reported on Tuesday.

The US president said the concerned states had to "assure that we create a framework for progress in dealing with what is a potential ecologic disaster."

Scheduled for December, the Climate Change Conference in Denmark is hoped to ratify a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, which was set-up to combat global warming.

The United States, which alone has generated about 29 percent of the world's total greenhouse gases since the mid-1800s, has refused to implement the protocol to reduce greenhouse emissions.

The treaty, which expires in three years, has been signed by over 30 industrialized countries who pledged to reduce their emissions during a five-year commitment period.

President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, who had joined Obama in a related US-European Union Summit, however, said "President Obama changed the climate on the climate negotiations because with the strong leadership of United States we can indeed make an agreement."

US granted access to all Colombian airports

A recent military agreement between Colombia and the US, which sparked outcry in Latin America, allows Washington access to civilian airports as well as military bases.

The full text of the deal published on the Internet on Wednesday, suggested that Bogota and Washington "will establish a mechanism to determine the estimated number of flights that will have use of international airports."

According to the text of the accord, the US will have access to all international airports across the Andean nation including airports in the cities of Barranquilla, San Andres, Cartagena, Bogota, Cali, Medellin and Bucaramanga.

The deal envisions 800 US troops and 600 US civilian contractors operating in the Colombian territory and they will be granted diplomatic immunity.

The capitulation clause of the deal has greatly infuriated opposition parties and non-governmental organizations.

Washington and Bogota claim that the defense deal is aimed at enhancing a joint war against narcoterrorism, and poses no threat whatsoever to neighboring countries.

"The pact is based on the principles of total respect for sovereign equality, territorial integrity and not intervening in the internal affairs of other states," read a statement issued by the Colombian foreign ministry.

Regional countries and in particular Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador are fiercely against the deal as they perceive US military presence in the region a threat to their own security.

Following the emergence of the military deal in July, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned that it would unleash "winds of war" in the region.

UN General Assembly begins debate on Gaza report

The United Nation's General Assembly has begun debating an investigative UN report charging Israel with war crimes during the Gaza war.

If endorsed, the 192-member assembly could request a formal debate in the Security Council, which has the power to open a war crimes prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Some 43 speakers are scheduled to take the floor during the debate, called by Arab nations with the backing of the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Unlike Security Council resolutions, the General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding.

The report, prepared by the respected South African judge and former war-crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone, calls for the prosecution of senior Israeli officials in the International Criminal Court at The Hague if Tel Aviv fails to launch its own investigations into the Gaza war under international scrutiny within six months.

The US, Israel's staunchest ally, however, is widely expected to veto any call for the ICC action against the Israeli officials. The United States has made a routine practice out of vetoing any Security Council resolution that is even critical of Israel, in effect giving Tel Aviv a free hand in continuing to violate the rights of the Palestinian population, as well as the territorial integrity of its neighbors, Lebanon and Syria.

In his address, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian observer to the United Nations, said that the Israeli military onslaught "was planned in all of its phases as a deliberately disproportionate and systematic attack aimed at punishing, humiliating and terrorizing the Palestinian civilian population."

The General Assembly is expected to vote on the issue on Thursday.

Pakistan remembers '07 martial law as 'Black Day'

Wed Nov 4, 2009

Pakistani journalists have marked the former President Pervez Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency in late 2007 as a "Black Day" for the Pakistani media.

The opposition lawmakers in the lower house of parliament wore black bands on Tuesday to observe the "Black Day."

Musharraf declared martial law on November 3, 2007, before dismissing the Supreme Court judges and detaining thousands of civilians.

Several radio stations and independent channels went off air following the declaration of a state of emergency, which preceded the suspension of the country's constitution.

Musharraf has been living in London for more than four months. The opposition parties and journalists want the former president to be tried for treason and have accused the government of dragging its feet on the issue.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110457.html.

Canada proposes bill to invade citizen privacy

The Canadian government has introduced two bills to the parliament that will enable it to gain access to the personal information of the citizens.

The controversial bills named C-46 and C-47, if approved, would allow warrantless interception of personal information by the government and the intelligence service via telecommunication companies.

This would permit authorities to exert wider influence on information networks by collecting confidential data about citizens including names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, and even the data on their personal computers.

For a decade, the Canadian government has been after approving a law that obliges telecommunication companies to allow police and security services to access the private data of their users.

While Western governments retain the right to infringe on people's privacy, they never hesitate in criticizing third world governments for what they describe as violation of people's confidential social and individual freedoms.

UN chief tells Israel to stop provocative actions

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged Israel to end its "provocative actions" in East Jerusalem Al-Quds and to freeze all its settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

"The Secretary General is dismayed at continued Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem, including the demolition of Palestinian homes, the eviction of Palestinian families, and the insertion of settlers into Palestinian neighborhoods," a UN statement said on Tuesday.

"The eviction today of a Palestinian family in East Jerusalem is just the most recent incident," AFP quoted the statement as saying.

Ban warned that such actions "stoke tensions, cause suffering and further undermine trust" and urged Israel "to cease such provocative actions."

The UN chief also called on Israel "to implement its commitments" under the roadmap for Middle East peace "by freezing all settlement activity, including natural growth; dismantling outposts; and reopening Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem."