Hong Kong tanker flees Somali pirates

Mon Nov 9, 2009

Somali pirates have attacked a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker off the coast, says the European Union's anti-piracy mission.

The BW Lion managed to escape pirates, who fired automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades at the tanker, said the EU's Atalanta naval mission, which is working in the pirate infested waters off Somalia.

The incident, which left no casualties, took place some 400 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 1,000 nautical miles off the Somali coast, it said, adding, “This was the longest range of a pirate attack off the Somali coast ever.”

Also on Monday, maritime experts reported that pirates seized on Sunday a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship loaded with weapons bound for Somalia in contravention of a UN arms embargo.

Pirate groups have shifted the focus of their attacks to the wider Indian Ocean since other countries started to deploy warships in the Gulf of Aden in a bid to curb piracy.

“There have been 12 pirate events in this area in the last 30 days,” said Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program.

“There is a high probability of attacks in this area for at least the next 24-48 hours. Weather conditions are expected to remain favorable for piracy...through this period,” he added.

Seychelles has voiced concern that the expansion of Somali piracy in its waters could damage its tourism-based economy.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110844.html.

Saudi authorities close two more Shia mosques

The number of Shia mosques closed in Saudi Arabia has reached nine after authorities sealed shut two more mosques in the Kingdom's Eastern Province.

According to the Rasid News Network, security forces closed the only Ismaili mosque in Ras Tanura and have been preventing Shia citizens from performing daily prayers since last Friday.

The Shia mosque of Abqaiq was closed on the same day and some online sources reported the closure of another Shia mosque in Jubail.

Authorities also ordered all Shia mosques to be closed in the cities of Khobar, Dammam and Khafji last month and issued orders banning Shias from building mosques outside Najran and religious centers and cemeteries outside Qatif and Al-Hassa.

Shia Muslims, who comprise nearly one-fourth of the Saudi population, have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens in the Kingdom.

The Saudi government has been closing Shia mosques using various excuses, and has refused to issue building permits for the erection of new places of worship.

A recent report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) strongly lashed out at Saudi Arabia over its "systemic state discrimination" against Shia Muslims across the Kingdom, saying that the unfavorable treatment of Shia Muslims "extends from education and employment to the justice system."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110843§ionid=351020206.

US-Israel military drill involved chemical arms

In a joint military drill held in October, the US and Israeli military simulated unconventional attacks on Israeli towns, a report says.

Israeli and American soldiers launched the three-week Juniper Cobra military exercise in October 21, during which they fired chemical and biological warheads into Tel Aviv, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Israeli soldiers from the Home Front Command and American soldiers from the Ohio National Guard's Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and high-yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force (CERF) took part in the drill.

During the Home Front Command-Ohio National Guard CERF exercise, chemical protection suits were donned by participants, the report said.

The soldiers in protective suits were hosed down with water to practice avoiding overheating.

"Israelis and US soldiers need to train to prepare for the defense of their countries, whether that training involves firing a weapon or preparing for any scenario," US Army spokesman Maj. Daniel J. Meyers told the post.

The US has brought advanced-capability Patriot missiles into Israel for the drill, which lasted until November 5.

King Abdullah to Israel: Don't play with fire

Last month, Jordan warned that the provocative Israeli acts in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound could "fuel violence in the region and jeopardize peace efforts."

"Any further provocative attempts by Israeli troops and Jewish extremists, such as what happened today in the shrine's compound, represents a flagrant violation of international law and conventions and sets the stage for more tension and acts of violence," said Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communication Nabil Sharif, in a statement.

Hamas Political Leader Khalid Meshaal said in October that Israel plans to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in an effort to build a new temple in its place.

Under a 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Tel Aviv, Israel acknowledged Amman's right to be in control of all matters relating to the historical compound.

International groups slam Al-Alam removal

International groups and news networks have condemned Arab satellite operators for taking Iran's Al-Alam television network off air.

The British Association of Journalists, Turkey's Felicity Party and a number of television networks such as Al-Manar have strongly criticized the decision made by Arabsat and Egyptian-run Nilesat.

The Iran-based television network of Al-Alam was removed by both operators without prior notice last Tuesday.

Al-Alam authorities say the move is in violation of previous contracts with the two satellite companies.

In a letter to Iran's broadcasting authorities, Arabsat named London-based opposition figure Mohammad Al-Massari as one of the figures hosted by Al-Alam that had spoken "against the Saudi government and its leaders based on hatred of its leaders."

"The anchor/host of the programs did not take any action to suppress such accusations," it added.

Mohammad Al-Massari is an exiled Saudi physicist and political dissident, who gained asylum in the United Kingdom in 1994.

Riyadh accuses Al-Massari of assisting a plot aimed at assassinating Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah - a charged he has denied.

The following is the list of international associations and groups which have condemned the removal of Al-Alam from Arabsat and Nilesat.

The International Association for Media and Communication Research - IAMCR
Lebanon's National Information Council
Turkey's Felicity Party
Turkey's Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity of Oppressed People
The Syrian Parliament's Foreign Policy Commission
The International Association of Journalists (IAJ)
The Najaf Journalists Union
The Foreign Press Association in France
Al-Khilafah Publications in the Netherlands
Mauritanian independent news agency Al-Akhbar
The Mauritanian Journalists Union
The Arab Human Rights Committee
Former Deputy Foreign Minister of Egypt
The Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas
Palestinian Deputy Parliament Speaker Hassan Khreisheh
The Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament)
Lebanon's Al-Manar Television Network
Iraq's Al-Forat Television Network
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
The Palestinian Information Center
Egypt's Lawyers without Borders
Egypt's Democratic Peace Party
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon
The General Union of Palestinian Writers and Journalists
Lebanon's Hezbollah Resistance Movement
The Sudanese Union of Journalists
The British Association of Journalists

A number of the Palestinian Parliament members in Gaza and the West Bank have also expressed the opposition to the move.

'Kidnapped' Swiss nationals freed in Libya

The two Swiss citizens, who were 'held hostage' in Libya over a 14-month-long diplomatic row, have been returned to the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli.

"On Monday, 9 November 2009, the two kidnapped Swiss citizens were returned to the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli by the Libyan authorities without any explanations," the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement.

The two businessmen were prevented from leaving Libya last year, when Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi's son, Hannibal, and his wife were arrested for beating two servants at a Geneva hotel.

The two Swiss nationals went missing since last month after leaving the Swiss Embassy to undergo a medical check-up upon the request of Libyan authorities.

"According to the embassy, the two are in good condition considering the circumstances," the Swiss foreign ministry statement added.

Switzerland had accused Libya of kidnapping the two men — a charge denied by officials in Tripoli, who said they were in a safe location.

Relationships between the two countries were strained over the 14-month-long row, which prompted Gadhafi to file a motion with the United Nations, asking for the abolishment of Switzerland as a state and dividing it between neighboring countries. The UN threw out the motion.

Hurricane Ida approaches US coast

Despite being weakened to category one, Ida is still regarded a hurricane by forecasters as it sweeps across the Gulf of Mexico, taking aim at the United States.

Ida's maximum sustained winds are 80 mph (130 kph), with higher gusts, the National Hurricane Center said on Monday, reported CNN.

Emergency authorities have issued a hurricane warning for the US Gulf coast from Mississippi Florida. A tropical storm warning was also in effect for sections of the Florida.

"Whether Ida maintains a storm or loses tropical characteristics, the Florida Gulf Coast region has the potential to see several inches of rain, strong winds, isolated tornadoes, and dangerous surf and coastal flooding," said Florida's Division of Emergency Management in a statement.

Earlier, hurricane Ida left at least 124 people dead and another 60 missing across El Salvador. Ida is the Atlantic region's ninth named storm. The Atlantic hurricane season ends on November 30.

Iran charges 3 US hikers with espionage

The Iranian Judiciary says the three young Americans arrested in late July while hiking near the country's border with Iraq have been charged with espionage.

Shane Michael Bauer, Joshua Felix Fattal, and Sarah Emily Shourd were arrested in the western Iranian district of Marivan, at Malakh-Khur border point on July 31.

The three were traveling on Syrian and Iraqi visas and according to Iranian officials, crossed the border illegally.

Meanwhile the families of the detainees maintain that they accidentally crossed the border into Iran while hiking in a scenic area of northern Iraq.

Tehran Prosecutor-General Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said the three entered the country to carry out acts of espionage.

"They are charged with espionage. Investigations into the case of the three are underway," IRNA quoted Jafari-Dolatabadi as saying.

He went on to add that the final decision about the detained US citizens would soon be announced.

Ahmadinejad: Capitalism at its end

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for 'radical changes' in the global economic order based on Islamic principles.

“The capitalist system has come to an end and radical change is a necessity,” Ahmadinejad said on Sunday at the 25th Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

The current economic crisis is due to the capitalist system, which has 'usury' as its 'biggest and most fundamental problem', the Iranian president said.

“The painful results of capitalist system have manifest themselves in wars, divisions, terrorism and discrimination in international relations,” he added.

Ahmadinejad said that the economic policies of Islamic countries could help create new principles for the world economy.

He further urged member states to agree to carrying out trade in their national currencies and setting up a common market.

COMCEC was established during the Third Islamic Summit Conference, which was held in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1981. COMCEC began its activities during the Fourth Islamic Summit in 1984.

There is nothing like agitational terrorism: Omar Abdullah

Jammu, Nov 9 : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Monday objected to the army terming the frequent protests and shutdowns in the state as 'agitational terrorism'.

Abdullah, who was here on the opening day of government offices in winter capital Jammu as part of the 'durbar move', rubbished the phrase and asserted that "there was nothing like 'agitational terrorism'".

The bi-annual 'durbar move' is more than a century-old practice of shifting the seat of the state government to Jammu for the winter months and to Srinagar in summer.

"There is nothing common between the two - terrorism and agitation," the chief minister told reporters after arriving at the secretariat.

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army's Northern Command Lt. Gen. B.S. Jaswal had last month said that though violence in Kashmir was on the decline since 2006, "agitational terrorism" was a cause for worry.

The term agitational terrorism refers to street protests and shutdowns that started with the Amarnath land row agitation in the Kashmir Valley last summer, halting normal life for weeks together.

Widespread protests in 2009 too rocked the state with the latest being over the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian.

The state's main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) had denounced the term. PDP spokesperson Nayeem Akhtar had condemned the term and said the army was trying to snatch the right of the people to agitate.

Abdullah once again criticized the Indian Army for the Services' team backing out of the Ranji Trophy cricket match in Srinagar on grounds of security. He said "it was highly condemnable".

"My reaction was measured. I had wanted to use stronger words (to condemn the move)," he said.

"The context is very clear. On the one hand we have been highlighting improvement in the situation, which is true. And on the other hand Services skipped the match. This is highly unfortunate."

He said that recent VIP visits to the state, referring to visits by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister P. Chidambaram, "were reflective of the normalcy in the state".

On the government's proposal to withdraw prepaid mobile phone facilities in the state, he said that the central government should draw a distinction between "genuine subscribers and those who misused the prepaid mobile connections" and review it.

Asked about suggestions of his dissolving the assembly and becoming part of the dialogue process alongside the Hurriyat Conference, Abdullah said: "We want this dialogue process to be out of the glare of cameras".

Source: New Kerala.
Link: http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-147178.html.

Omar to hold talks with Home Ministry over ban on pre-paid mobile connections

Srinagar, Nov 9: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said he would hold talks with Union Home Ministry over its decision to ban pre-paid mobile service in the State from November 1.

Omar's initiative comes as the decision has resulted in complete chaos, as thousands of people who were associated with the industry have been rendered jobless in the State. And residents have been protesting that the procedure of shifting from pre-paid to post-paid mobile connections is a cumbersome process.

"Jammu and Kashmir has to be kept at par with other states in respect of use of SIM cards. We cannot put to inconvenience large number of genuine users for the fault of service groups," Omar said.

Earlier, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had decided not to issue fresh pre-paid mobile connections in Jammu and Kashmir on account of security concerns. And as per the policy the existing pre-paid SIM cards were banned in the State on November 1.

Mobile services were started in the Kashmir valley a few years ago. It is estimated that there 45 million connections in the State out of which 3.9 million connections are pre-paid.

The Ministry had even asked the Department of Telecommunications to take appropriate action in the matter for implementation of the decision.

The step came in the wake of the reports that proper verification was not being done while providing such pre-paid mobile connections by the service providers/vendors.

In some cases, a single person had been issued with multiple number of connections. Fake documents/identity numbers were also reportedly being used by the vendors particularly, in the case of pre-paid connections. This situation had given rise to serious security concerns.

Source: Calcutta News.
Link: http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/563738.

Moscow recognizes Iran's positive diplomacy

Russia's deputy foreign minister has praised Iran's positive approach during its Vienna negotiations with world powers.

“The outcome of the discussions which took place in Vienna from October 19 to 21st with the participation of the Iranian delegation is a very promising one,” said Sergey Ryabkov, on an official visit to Tehran, in an interview with Press TV.

“I do believe that there is room for compromise and improvement if the political will is there, and this is consistently the view of Moscow on this issue,” said the Russian diplomat.

He also noted that the talks held in Austria between the representatives of Iran, France, Russia, the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on providing fuel for the Tehran nuclear reactor were purely economic in nature.

Ryabkov plans to hold further talks with Iranian officials during his stay in Tehran.

On Sunday, the Russian official met with the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, who reassured him that Tehran was always ready to continue discussions on its package of proposals.

Following the Vienna meeting, sources close to the talks said Iran seeks to exchange its low-grade uranium (enriched to the level of 3.5 percent) with the required 20-percent-enriched fuel in a simultaneous swap.

The Tehran reactor needs the higher enriched uranium to produce medical radioisotopes for cancer treatment and other therapeutic and diagnostic procedures.

Meanwhile, there are also reports that Iran may have no plans whatsoever to ship its low-enriched uranium aboard.

Last Thursday, the chairman of Iran's parliamentary Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi said that the shipment of Iran's nuclear fuel abroad was totally out of the question, whether it is done in multi stages or all at once.

The senior lawmaker added that Iran was still exploring ways to supply the Tehran reactor with the required fuel, noting that no final decision has yet been reached on the matter.

Less people believe in capitalism: BBC poll

A new survey conducted 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall shows nearly a quarter of people across 27 countries worldwide feel capitalism is gravely flawed.

According to a global poll carried out by GlobeScan for the BBC World Service and published Monday, only 11% of those questioned across the countries said that the free-market capitalism was working well.

The survey during which 29,033 adults were questioned shows that almost a quarter - 23% of those who responded - believe the capitalism is seriously failing.

That is the view of 43% in France, 38% in Mexico and 35% in Brazil.

The United States and Pakistan were the only two countries where more than one in five agreed that capitalism worked well in its current form, the poll said.

The majority of respondents in 15 out of 27 nations wanted their governments to be more active in owning or directing control of their nation's major industries.

"It appears that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 may not have been the crushing victory for free-market capitalism that it seemed at the time," said Doug Miller, GlobeScan chairman. "Particularly after the events of the last 12 months."

The survey comes after the worst global financial crisis since the 1930s Great Depression and amid celebrations for the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which suddenly ended the Cold War.

Meanwhile 51 per cent of the people attending in the poll believed that the problems with capitalism could be solved with more regulation and reform.

Belarus closes schools to contain swine flu

Belarusian officials have temporarily closed schools in the country over fears of the rapid spread of the H1N1 flu virus.

“Latest figures have revealed that some 102 confirmed cases of swine flu have been detected in Belarus. The virus claimed the lives of 20 people,” the country's Deputy Minister of Health Care said.

“Belarus closed the nation's schools to avoid the spread of flu. The closure will continue until next week,” Valentina Kachan said.

Urging Belarusian citizens not to panic, Kachan announced a state of emergency at the country's border with its southern neighbor Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Health Ministry said on Monday 255,000 flu cases had been registered in the country, with some 15,000 people receiving treatment in hospital.

Iran urges nuclear states to supply needed fuel

As Iran puts forward a new plan to acquire ready-made fuel for the Tehran research reactor, a senior Iranian lawmaker urges nuclear countries to supply the needed fuel.

"Countries which possess nuclear fuel are duty-bound to provide it for the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country that carries out its activities in line with the [nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] NPT regulations," spokesman of the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazem Jalali told Mehr News Agency on Monday.

"Requiring Iran to handover huge amounts of its enriched uranium in exchange for nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor is a digressive issue, " he added.

Sources close to nuclear negotiations told Press TV on Sunday that the proposal would envisage a two-staged, simultaneous exchange under which the UN nuclear watchdog, for each phase, seals 400 kg of Tehran's low enriched uranium (LEU) inside the Iranian territory until the 20 percent enriched uranium required by the research reactor is delivered to the exchange site.

Once the exchange is carried out under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the LEU can be shipped abroad. Western officials are yet to reply to the new proposal, the sources said.

The senior lawmaker said that "the purchase of 20-percent enriched uranium for the Tehran reactor" is Iran's priority.

"It is obvious that the Islamic Republic should not give all its achievements in production of less than five percent enriched uranium to other countries," Jalali said.

In mid-October, representatives from Iran, nuclear negotiators from France, Russia and the United States and experts from the UN nuclear watchdog met in Vienna and discussed a proposal that sought to commit Tehran to ship out most of its nuclear supply.

Tehran has run an enrichment program, in the facility in the central city of Natanz, to provide nuclear fuel for its under-construction power plants — such as the one being built with the help of Russia in the southern city of Bushehr.

House Roll Call: Health care

By The Associated Press

The 220-215 roll call Saturday by which the House passed a Democratic-written health care bill.

A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill.

Voting yes were 219 Democrats and 1 Republican.

Voting no were 39 Democrats and 176 Republicans.

X denotes those not voting.

Present denotes those who voted they were "present" at the time of the vote but did not vote yes or no on the issue.

ALABAMA

Democrats — Bright, N; Davis, N; Griffith, N.

Republicans — Aderholt, N; Bachus, N; Bonner, N; Rogers, N.

ALASKA

Republicans — Young, N.

ARIZONA

Democrats — Giffords, Y; Grijalva, Y; Kirkpatrick, Y; Mitchell, Y; Pastor, Y.

Republicans — Flake, N; Franks, N; Shadegg, N.

ARKANSAS

Democrats — Berry, Y; Ross, N; Snyder, Y.

Republicans — Boozman, N.

CALIFORNIA

Democrats — Baca, Y; Becerra, Y; Berman, Y; Capps, Y; Cardoza, Y; Chu, Y; Costa, Y; Davis, Y; Eshoo, Y; Farr, Y; Filner, Y; Garamendi, Y; Harman, Y; Honda, Y; Lee, Y; Lofgren, Zoe, Y; Matsui, Y; McNerney, Y; Miller, George, Y; Napolitano, Y; Pelosi, Y; Richardson, Y; Roybal-Allard, Y; Sanchez, Linda T., Y; Sanchez, Loretta, Y; Schiff, Y; Sherman, Y; Speier, Y; Stark, Y; Thompson, Y; Waters, Y; Watson, Y; Waxman, Y; Woolsey, Y.

Republicans — Bilbray, N; Bono Mack, N; Calvert, N; Campbell, N; Dreier, N; Gallegly, N; Herger, N; Hunter, N; Issa, N; Lewis, N; Lungren, Daniel E., N; McCarthy, N; McClintock, N; McKeon, N; Miller, Gary, N; Nunes, N; Radanovich, N; Rohrabacher, N; Royce, N.

COLORADO

Democrats — DeGette, Y; Markey, N; Perlmutter, Y; Polis, Y; Salazar, Y.

Republicans — Coffman, N; Lamborn, N.

CONNECTICUT

Democrats — Courtney, Y; DeLauro, Y; Himes, Y; Larson, Y; Murphy, Y.

DELAWARE

Republicans — Castle, N.

FLORIDA

Democrats — Boyd, N; Brown, Corrine, Y; Castor, Y; Grayson, Y; Hastings, Y; Klein, Y; Kosmas, N; Meek, Y; Wasserman Schultz, Y; Wexler, Y.

Republicans — Bilirakis, N; Brown-Waite, Ginny, N; Buchanan, N; Crenshaw, N; Diaz-Balart, L., N; Diaz-Balart, M., N; Mack, N; Mica, N; Miller, N; Posey, N; Putnam, N; Rooney, N; Ros-Lehtinen, N; Stearns, N; Young, N.

GEORGIA

Democrats — Barrow, N; Bishop, Y; Johnson, Y; Lewis, Y; Marshall, N; Scott, Y.

Republicans — Broun, N; Deal, N; Gingrey, N; Kingston, N; Linder, N; Price, N; Westmoreland, N.

HAWAII

Democrats — Abercrombie, Y; Hirono, Y.

IDAHO

Democrats — Minnick, N.

Republicans — Simpson, N.

ILLINOIS

Democrats — Bean, Y; Costello, Y; Davis, Y; Foster, Y; Gutierrez, Y; Halvorson, Y; Hare, Y; Jackson, Y; Lipinski, Y; Quigley, Y; Rush, Y; Schakowsky, Y.

Republicans — Biggert, N; Johnson, N; Kirk, N; Manzullo, N; Roskam, N; Schock, N; Shimkus, N.

INDIANA

Democrats — Carson, Y; Donnelly, Y; Ellsworth, Y; Hill, Y; Visclosky, Y.

Republicans — Burton, N; Buyer, N; Pence, N; Souder, N.

IOWA

Democrats — Boswell, Y; Braley, Y; Loebsack, Y.

Republicans — King, N; Latham, N.

KANSAS

Democrats — Moore, Y.

Republicans — Jenkins, N; Moran, N; Tiahrt, N.

KENTUCKY

Democrats — Chandler, N; Yarmuth, Y.

Republicans — Davis, N; Guthrie, N; Rogers, N; Whitfield, N.

LOUISIANA

Democrats — Melancon, N.

Republicans — Alexander, N; Boustany, N; Cao, Y; Cassidy, N; Fleming, N; Scalise, N.

MAINE

Democrats — Michaud, Y; Pingree, Y.

MARYLAND

Democrats — Cummings, Y; Edwards, Y; Hoyer, Y; Kratovil, N; Ruppersberger, Y; Sarbanes, Y; Van Hollen, Y.

Republicans — Bartlett, N.

MASSACHUSETTS

Democrats — Capuano, Y; Delahunt, Y; Frank, Y; Lynch, Y; Markey, Y; McGovern, Y; Neal, Y; Olver, Y; Tierney, Y; Tsongas, Y.

MICHIGAN

Democrats — Conyers, Y; Dingell, Y; Kildee, Y; Kilpatrick, Y; Levin, Y; Peters, Y; Schauer, Y; Stupak, Y.

Republicans — Camp, N; Ehlers, N; Hoekstra, N; McCotter, N; Miller, N; Rogers, N; Upton, N.

MINNESOTA

Democrats — Ellison, Y; McCollum, Y; Oberstar, Y; Peterson, N; Walz, Y.

Republicans — Bachmann, N; Kline, N; Paulsen, N.

MISSISSIPPI

Democrats — Childers, N; Taylor, N; Thompson, Y.

Republicans — Harper, N.

MISSOURI

Democrats — Carnahan, Y; Clay, Y; Cleaver, Y; Skelton, N.

Republicans — Akin, N; Blunt, N; Emerson, N; Graves, N; Luetkemeyer, N.

MONTANA

Republicans — Rehberg, N.

NEBRASKA

Republicans — Fortenberry, N; Smith, N; Terry, N.

NEVADA

Democrats — Berkley, Y; Titus, Y.

Republicans — Heller, N.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Democrats — Hodes, Y; Shea-Porter, Y.

NEW JERSEY

Democrats — Adler, N; Andrews, Y; Holt, Y; Pallone, Y; Pascrell, Y; Payne, Y; Rothman, Y; Sires, Y.

Republicans — Frelinghuysen, N; Garrett, N; Lance, N; LoBiondo, N; Smith, N.

NEW MEXICO

Democrats — Heinrich, Y; Lujan, Y; Teague, N.

NEW YORK

Democrats — Ackerman, Y; Arcuri, Y; Bishop, Y; Clarke, Y; Crowley, Y; Engel, Y; Hall, Y; Higgins, Y; Hinchey, Y; Israel, Y; Lowey, Y; Maffei, Y; Maloney, Y; Massa, N; McCarthy, Y; McMahon, N; Meeks, Y; Murphy, N; Nadler, Y; Owens, Y; Rangel, Y; Serrano, Y; Slaughter, Y; Tonko, Y; Towns, Y; Velazquez, Y; Weiner, Y.

Republicans — King, N; Lee, N.

NORTH CAROLINA

Democrats — Butterfield, Y; Etheridge, Y; Kissell, N; McIntyre, N; Miller, Y; Price, Y; Shuler, N; Watt, Y.

Republicans — Coble, N; Foxx, N; Jones, N; McHenry, N; Myrick, N.

NORTH DAKOTA

Democrats — Pomeroy, Y.

OHIO

Democrats — Boccieri, N; Driehaus, Y; Fudge, Y; Kaptur, Y; Kilroy, Y; Kucinich, N; Ryan, Y; Space, Y; Sutton, Y; Wilson, Y.

Republicans — Austria, N; Boehner, N; Jordan, N; LaTourette, N; Latta, N; Schmidt, N; Tiberi, N; Turner, N.

OKLAHOMA

Democrats — Boren, N.

Republicans — Cole, N; Fallin, N; Lucas, N; Sullivan, N.

OREGON

Democrats — Blumenauer, Y; DeFazio, Y; Schrader, Y; Wu, Y.

Republicans — Walden, N.

PENNSYLVANIA

Democrats — Altmire, N; Brady, Y; Carney, Y; Dahlkemper, Y; Doyle, Y; Fattah, Y; Holden, N; Kanjorski, Y; Murphy, Patrick, Y; Murtha, Y; Schwartz, Y; Sestak, Y.

Republicans — Dent, N; Gerlach, N; Murphy, Tim, N; Pitts, N; Platts, N; Shuster, N; Thompson, N.

RHODE ISLAND

Democrats — Kennedy, Y; Langevin, Y.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Democrats — Clyburn, Y; Spratt, Y.

Republicans — Barrett, N; Brown, N; Inglis, N; Wilson, N.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Democrats — Herseth Sandlin, N.

TENNESSEE

Democrats — Cohen, Y; Cooper, Y; Davis, N; Gordon, N; Tanner, N.

Republicans — Blackburn, N; Duncan, N; Roe, N; Wamp, N.

TEXAS

Democrats — Cuellar, Y; Doggett, Y; Edwards, N; Gonzalez, Y; Green, Al, Y; Green, Gene, Y; Hinojosa, Y; Jackson-Lee, Y; Johnson, E. B., Y; Ortiz, Y; Reyes, Y; Rodriguez, Y.

Republicans — Barton, N; Brady, N; Burgess, N; Carter, N; Conaway, N; Culberson, N; Gohmert, N; Granger, N; Hall, N; Hensarling, N; Johnson, Sam, N; Marchant, N; McCaul, N; Neugebauer, N; Olson, N; Paul, N; Poe, N; Sessions, N; Smith, N; Thornberry, N.

UTAH

Democrats — Matheson, N.

Republicans — Bishop, N; Chaffetz, N.

VERMONT

Democrats — Welch, Y.

VIRGINIA

Democrats — Boucher, N; Connolly, Y; Moran, Y; Nye, N; Perriello, Y; Scott, Y.

Republicans — Cantor, N; Forbes, N; Goodlatte, N; Wittman, N; Wolf, N.

WASHINGTON

Democrats — Baird, N; Dicks, Y; Inslee, Y; Larsen, Y; McDermott, Y; Smith, Y.

Republicans — Hastings, N; McMorris Rodgers, N; Reichert, N.

WEST VIRGINIA

Democrats — Mollohan, Y; Rahall, Y.

Republicans — Capito, N.

WISCONSIN

Democrats — Baldwin, Y; Kagen, Y; Kind, Y; Moore, Y; Obey, Y.

Republicans — Petri, N; Ryan, N; Sensenbrenner, N.

WYOMING

Republicans — Lummis, N.

Prosecutors demand life for court killing suspect

By LARS RISCHKE, Associated Press Writer

DRESDEN, Germany – Prosecutors on Monday demanded a life sentence for a man who admitted to fatally stabbing a pregnant Egyptian woman in a German court in a case that triggered outrage across the Muslim world.

Prosecutor Frank Heinrich said in closing arguments in Dresden state court that the suspect acted out of hatred for foreigners and deserved to be convicted and given the maximum penalty.

"It's clear that his motive was hatred for Muslims," Heinrich told the panel of judges. "Like a maniacal, cold-blooded killer, he started stabbing the woman and her husband, who was trying to protect her."

During his trial, suspect Alexander Wiens admitted to stabbing Marwa al-Sherbini to death during the July 1 court hearing. The 28-year-old Russian-born Wiens said, however, that his actions were not premeditated and that he had no xenophobic motivation.

His attorneys were scheduled to give their closing remarks later in the day.

Many German courts, including the one where the killing took place, have no security checks at their entrance. Prosecutors said the defendant used a kitchen knife with a 7-inch (18-centimeter) blade that he had brought into the courtroom in a backpack.

Al-Sherbini, a 31-year-old pharmacist, was stabbed at least 16 times in the Dresden courtroom where she was to testify against the suspect. She had filed a complaint against him in 2008, accusing him of insulting her with racial slurs.

Her husband, a scientist conducting research in Dresden, was stabbed and suffered serious injuries when he intervened to protect her. The couple's 3-year-old son was in the courtroom and witnessed the attack.

In addition to murder, Wiens faces charges of attempted murder and bodily harm for his attack on al-Sherbini's husband, Elwy Okaz.

Wiens, now a German citizen, was born in the Russian city of Perm and has lived in Germany since late 2003.

Egyptians expressed outrage at the attack and an initially low-key German response, which many viewed as a sign of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment. The week after the killing, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her condolences to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak but did not comment publicly.

In his sharply worded closing statement, Heinrich said people like al-Sherbini and her husband were exactly the kind of immigrants Germany needs, in contrast with Wiens.

"What we definitely don't need are people like the accused, who came here with crude ideas and think they are somehow special because they hold German citizenship," Heinrich said.

A verdict and sentence are expected Wednesday.

China executes 9 Uighurs over July ethnic riots

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING – Nine Uighurs have been executed for taking part in ethnic rioting that left nearly 200 people dead in July, the first suspects put to death in the unrest, Chinese state media reported Monday.

The nine were put to death recently after a final review of the verdicts by the Supreme People's Court as required by law, the official China News Service said, but gave no specific date or other details.

They had been convicted of murder and other crimes committed during the riots in the western city of Urumqi in China's worst ethnic violence in decades.

The timing of the executions was not especially fast for China, where politically sensitive cases are often decided in weeks.

Hundreds of people were rounded up in the wake of the riots, in which Uighurs attacked members of China's Han ethnic majority on July 5, only to face retaliatory attacks two days later. Uighurs are a Turkic Muslim ethnic group linguistically and culturally distinct from the Han and many resent Beijing's heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, their traditional homeland.

China blames the rioting on overseas-based groups agitating for broader rights for Uighurs in Xinjiang. Four months after the violence, Xinjiang remains smothered in heavy security, with Internet access cut and international direct dialing calls blocked.

The news service said another 20 people were indicted on Monday on charges related to the deaths of 18 people and other crimes committed during the riots. All but two of the prisoners listed in the report had Uighur sounding names, with the others appearing to be Han.

Overseas Uighur activist Dilxat Raxit condemned the executions as motivated by politics and the need to appease Urumqi's angry Han residents, who marched in the thousands through the city in September to demand trials of those responsible for the July violence and the perpetrators of a bizarre series of hypodermic needle attacks.

"We don't think they got a fair trial, and we believe this was a political verdict," said Raxit, who serves as spokesman for the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress.

"The United States and the European Union did not put any pressure on China or seek to intervene and for that we are extremely disappointed," he said.

Israel spy agency tried to recruit alleged killer

JERUSALEM (AFP) – A Jewish settler who was arrested for allegedly having murdered two Palestinians was approached by Israel's internal security agency to be an informer after the attacks, the agency said Friday.

Jack Teitel, a 37-year-old immigrant from the United States, was arrested in October on suspicions of murdering the men in 1997 while visiting Israel as a tourist, the police announced on Sunday. He is also suspected of being behind a string of bomb attacks since 2006.

When Teitel returned to Israel in 2000, three years after the murders, he was questioned by the Shin Bet internal security service and the police over the killings, but no charges were filed.

It was at that moment that the domestic intelligence agency asked him to serve as its informant in extreme right-wing circles, according to the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper, which broke the story.

The agency confirmed it had tried to recruit Teitel after the 2000 interrogation, saying in a statement that it "had but a limited number of interviews with him, without result. The contacts were then cut."

Dubbed the "Jewish terrorist" by the Israeli press, police said Teitel has confessed to the murder of a Palestinian taxi-driver in east Jerusalem and a shepherd in the West Bank, saying the killings were to avenge Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel.

Teitel is also alleged to have placed a bomb near a convent outside Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, two year ago, wounding a Palestinian.

In another bomb attack, a 15-year-old boy was seriously wounded when a device was concealed in a parcel sent to his parents, members of a Jewish sect which embraces Jesus.

Another bomb wounded a leading left-wing Israeli professor, Zeev Sternhell, while two other attacks targeted police stations, police said.

The father of four is a resident of the Shvut Rachel settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Hariri puts final touches to new cabinet

No party will have veto power in new Lebanese government as Sleiman will play role of arbiter.

BEIRUT - Lebanon's prime minister-designate Saad Hariri on Monday was putting the final touches to a new government line-up after nearly five months of tough talking with his Hezbollah-led rivals.

An announcement on the new cabinet was expected early in the week after Hezbollah and its allies agreed to Hariri's latest line-up.

The 30-member cabinet will have 15 ministers from the Hariri camp, 10 from the opposition, and five nominated by President Michel Sleiman.

This means that no party will have veto power in the new government and that Sleiman will play the role of arbiter.

Hariri, the son of murdered former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, was asked to form a cabinet after his coalition won a general election in June.

But his efforts to do so stumbled because of bickering between rival parties on the distribution of portfolios and the choice of ministers.

Among the major points of contention was a demand by Christian leader Michel Aoun, an ally of Hezbollah, who insisted on retaining the sensitive telecommunications ministry headed by his son-in-law.

Hariri initially rejected that demand but finally agreed to it.

The winning alliance headed by Hariri won 71 seats in the 128-member parliament in the election against 57 for the opposition led by Hezbollah.

The Hezbollah opposition had actually secured the majority (52%) of the votes in Lebanon, but could not secure a majority of Parliamentary seats (it won 45%) because of the nature of the sectarian government system in the country.

Sudan's Beshir cancels Turkey visit

2009-11-09

Beshir to return to Khartoum to seek to solve dispute between his ruling party, former rebels.

KHARTOUM - Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir, the target of an international arrest warrant, has scrapped a visit to Turkey to join key political negotiations in Khartoum, official SUNA news agency said on Sunday.

Beshir rang Turkish President Abdullah Gul to say he cannot spare the time to attend a meeting on Monday of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Istanbul, SUNA said.

The cancellation followed mounting speculation over Beshir's attendance at the economic summit of the Islamic grouping after the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, told the Ankara government it should bar or arrest him.

Sudan's leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the western region of Darfur.

Turkey has pointed out it is not a signatory to the treaty which set up the Hague-based ICC, and that Beshir was invited to the meeting by the OIC and not Ankara.

"The Sudanese see and understand well the difficulties," a high-ranking Turkish diplomat who requested anonymity said ahead of the cancellation.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of the AKP party, questioned the charges against Beshir and said that "no Muslim could perpetrate a genocide," according to Turkey's Anatolia news agency.

"If there was such a thing (a genocide), we could talk about it face to face with President Beshir," the first sitting national leader the ICC has indicted, said Erdogan.

Beshir was in Egypt on Sunday, taking part in a China-Africa summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Aides said last week that the president intended to travel to Turkey but no final decision had been taken.

SUNA said Beshir has to return to Khartoum to "find a solution" to a dispute between his ruling National Congress Party and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, the former rebel party from south Sudan.

The two sides signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 after 22 years of north-south civil war that saw largely Christian and animist rebels pitted against the Khartoum government.

The parties held talks on Sunday in Khartoum on disputes over plans for a general election in April 2010 and a referendum in January 2011 on independence for the south, political sources said.

"Because of the need to consult the president in coming days on these issues, (he) has put off his journey to Turkey," SUNA said,

China as well as several African and Arab countries criticized the ICC when it announced the arrest warrant, and Beshir promptly received an invitation to Cairo from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Many other critics say the ICC warrant singles out weak states like Sudan, while taking a hypocritical stance towards countries like the US and Israel by ignoring worse atrocities committed by them, and by not charging American and Israeli officials with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The OIC summit, set to address issues of trade and poverty, is expected to draw other Muslim leaders, including Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, Palestinian premier Salam Fayyad and newly re-elected Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in Istanbul for the OIC summit after Erdogan visited Tehran last month when the two countries signed partnerships on trade and energy.

The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum and its allies.

Over the last six years, the rebels have fractured into multiple movements, fraying rebel groups, banditry, flip-flopping militias and the war has widened into overlapping tribal conflicts.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died from the combined effects of war, famine and disease and more than 2.7 million fled their homes.

Many of the rebels enjoy direct and indirect foreign support that helped fuel the conflict, with some critics pointing the finger at France, which has a military presence in neighboring Chad – also accused of arming the Sudanese rebels.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=35583.

Israel briefly eases blockade, allows thousands of cattle into Gaza for Muslim holiday

Israel is briefly easing its tight blockade of the Gaza Strip to ship in thousands of cattle ahead of a major Muslim holiday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said on Monday.

Around 3,000 heads of cattle began moving into Gaza last week in a goodwill gesture before the Eid al-Adha holiday, according to Israel's military spokesman Guy Inbar.

On Monday, 330 heads of cattle moved through a southern border crossing, said Gaza border official Raed Fattouh.

The Muslim holiday will be celebrated in late November. During Eid al-Adha - Arabic for "the festival of the sacrifice" - believers traditionally feast on lamb and beef.

Israel imposed a tight blockade on Gaza after the militant group Hamas seized power in the coastal strip in June 2007. Generally only humanitarian aid and limited commercial goods are allowed in.

Most fresh meat in Gaza comes from traders who bring in livestock through smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt, which has also imposed its own economic and travel blockade on the seaside region.

Palestinian education under Israeli siege

838 students formally offered places or enrolled at foreign universities unable to leave Gaza.

TEL AVIV- Some 838 students formally offered places and/or enrolled at foreign universities are unable to leave Gaza, according to the Palestinian interior ministry and Gisha, an NGO campaigning for freedom of movement.

Of the 1,983 Gazan students in this position, only 1,145 have been able to leave Gaza since the beginning of 2009 due to a combination of travel restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles.

Many studying in the USA, for example, cannot get a US visa as they have been prevented by the Israeli authorities from traveling to the US consulate in Jerusalem.

According to Gisha, the criteria for departure set by Israel include obtaining a recognized scholarship and studying only in a country with diplomatic representation in Israel.

Students who wish to leave through Israel must also be accompanied by a diplomatic representative.

Dozens of Aboriginal languages near death

It may be spoken by thousands, but a United Nations agency says Micmac, an Atlantic Canadian language, could go the way of Latin and die, only to be studied through books by historians and no longer spoken among people.

And it's just one of many endangered languages, according to UNESCO, an agency dedicated to education and culture. A new report from the agency lists 88 of Canada's Aboriginal languages as critically close to becoming extinct, and predicts they likely won't be around in the next century.

It's "like little light bulbs going out across Canada," Alana Johns, a linguistics professor who also teaches Aboriginal languages at the University of Toronto told Canada AM's Beverly Thomson.

Canada has the fifth highest number of endangered languages in the world. Only India, Indonesia, China and the U.S. have more.

Often, Aboriginal languages serve as modern day links to the history and culture of the peoples that speak them. Cultural rituals like performing arts and crafts depend on language to be passed down from generation to generation, and when a language is lost, parts of the traditions associated with that language are also wiped out, the report says.

A Statistics Canada report published two years ago says the irreversible damage has already been done to 10 once-flourishing Aboriginal languages that have become extinct over the last 100 years.

Most of the endangered languages on the list are in B.C. and Ontario and the numbers of speakers are dangerously low.

Only 55 people speak Southern Haida in B.C. Their average age is 62-years-old. In Ontario, Munsee only has 10 speakers left with an average age of 52 years old.

When these surviving speakers die, their language -- and all the history, culture, and traditions associated with it - will die out with them.

Why languages die

Languages or dialects start to disappear when the number of native speakers plummets, often because they switch to a more dominant language in their region. In Canada this means many First Nations people switched to English and started speaking it to their children instead of an Aboriginal language.

Johns says Canada's residential school history has had a damaging effect on Aboriginal languages today.

"The education the churches and the school system brought (to Aboriginal children) was in the major languages, English and French," she said.

"Later, Aboriginal languages were introduced into the schools but the support wasn't given in terms of teacher training materials, the things that you needed to actually keep the languages going."

Inuktitut, Cree and Ojibwa are the only three Canadian Aboriginal languages that are not on the list and are expected to survive, because they are still spoken by a critical mass of people.

An estimated 35,000 people speak Inuktitut across Canada's north, and 117,000 speak Cree, North America's most spoken aboriginal language.

That means even a language like Micmac, which has 6,850 speakers today, and a relatively young population at an average age of 31, likely won't survive the next 100 years.

UNESCO says half of the world's 6,700 languages and dialects could vanish by the end of the century if governments don't take action now.

"A public policy would be good if it was in terms of cultural awareness, of these languages within Canadian cultures," says Johns.

Speakers are part of the solution

But she says that ultimately, the answers have to come from communities themselves.

UNESCO points to Winnipeg's Yiddish Women's Reading Circle as one of the world's leading success stories helping to preserve a language.

Members of the club read and talk about the books in Yiddish in order to teach themselves the language. UNESCO says the Winnipeg program has helped people improve their language skills, and led to the publishing of a translation of Yiddish literature into English, which helps bring Yiddish culture to English speakers.

UNESCO says the book club is a great example of how communities whose language is endangered can take action now, and help preserve their language with little more than the cost of books and a few hours a month.

But Johns says communities need to act fast.

"If something isn't done soon, some of them will disappear," she said.

Experts from around the world will discuss how to save languages at the Endangered Languages Information and Infrastructure Workshop in Utah next week.

Gul values accords reached with Jordan

ISTANBUL (Petra) - Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Sunday voiced satisfaction over the agreements reached between Jordan and Turkey, which are expected to increase cooperation between them. On Saturday, Jordan and Turkey agreed to sign a free trade agreement before the end of the year. They also decided to reciprocally cancel visa fees.

Receiving Prime Minister Nader Dahabi, Gul also voiced Turkey's interest in maintaining consultations and coordination with Jordan on all regional issues. During the meeting, Dahabi stressed that the agreements will pave the way for more cooperation prospects and increase the volume of joint commercial exchange. He also conveyed an invitation from His Majesty King Abdullah to the Turkish president to visit Jordan.

'Saudi fighter jets using phosphorous bombs'

Houthi fighters in Yemen say Saudi fighter jets are using phosphorous bombs to back a deadly Yemeni government offensive against them.

"Saudi combat fighter jets launched intense raids against border areas inside Yemeni territory on Sunday night," the fighters' spokesman Mohammad Abdessalam told AFP by telephone.

"The Saudi military used phosphorus bombs during those night raids, burning mountainous regions," he said adding that "The Saudi air raids resumed this morning (Monday). "

Abdessalam said that the raids targeted Malaheez, seven kilometers (3.8 miles) inside Yemen, as well as the border villages of Hassameh and Shida and several villages around Jebel (mountain) al-Dukhan straddling the border.

The developments comes as Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has declared that attacks against the Houthi fighters will be intensified.

The conflict between Houthi fighters and the Yemeni government began in 2004, but intensified last August when government forces stepped up the pressure against the fighters.

Houthi fighters say they have been defending their people against the Yemeni government that has marginalized them economically and politically.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110814§ionid=351020206.

Red tide in Persian Gulf reaches UAE coasts

Red tide is spreading around the coasts off the United Arab Emirate in the Persian Gulf, killing off multiple species of corals and reducing fish populations of the region.

The phenomenon known as a red tide is actually the result of an algal bloom, an event in which marine or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water.

Red tide seriously threatens marine organisms. The UAE announced the phenomenon is to blame for the death of coral and many tons of fish.

The effect of excessive algae on fish can be lethal. It produces oxygen radicals which can damage fish gills leading to suffocation.

Fall rains and wind are expected to play a helpful role in controlling the dangerous phenomenon by cooling down the weather. However, there are still some small patches of red tide visible and the organisms can rapidly reproduce and spread.

Red tide's threatening effect in the Persian Gulf is not new. Iran's Veterinary Organization reported that red tide has killed 45 tons of fish and marine mammals so far in the Persian Gulf.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110812§ionid=3510212.

Zimbabwe PM ally stands trial for terrorism

Mon Nov 9, 2009

A top ally of Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is to stand trial on Monday, in a case that has fueled tensions in the country's fragile unity government.

Roy Bennett, the treasurer for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party (MDC), faces charges of terrorism, banditry and militancy.

The charges carry a possible death penalty.

Bennett, who is white and a former coffee planter, has denied the charges.

The MDC says the case is politically motivated and has been designed to stop Bennett from taking office as deputy agriculture minister.

The case has stoked tensions in the unity government of Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

After Bennett's arrest in February, the MDC briefly boycotted the unity government, saying that Mugabe is frustrating efforts to swear in the party's senior officials, as required by a political agreement signed last year.

Mugabe, meanwhile, says he does not oppose Bennett becoming a minister but that he should be acquitted by the court first.

Despite the trial, Tsvangirai has pledged not to quit the unity government and challenge ZANU-PF to implement the power-sharing deal.

Bennett-- a former policeman during the Rhodesian Government, led by Prime Minister Ian Smith-- was sentenced to 12 months in jail in 2004, after being convicted of assaulting a minister during a parliamentary debate.

He returned to Zimbabwe shortly before his arrest, after spending two years in exile in South Africa.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110810.html.

PA opposes 'temporary Palestinian state'

The Palestinian Authority (PA) says that a plan proposed by Israel to form a temporary Palestinian state is not acceptable.

Any plan that does not address the issue of Jerusalem Al-Quds will not be acceptable, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the PA said.

Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli army chief of staff and Kadima's second-in-command, unveiled his new "diplomatic platform" On Sunday. Its main element is establishing a Palestinian state with temporary borders on 60 percent of the West Bank within a year, Haaretz reported.

The Israeli plan comes at the heels of reports that the US and key European countries have voiced their readiness to accept Palestine's statehood.

The Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, has reached a secret understanding with the Obama administration over US recognition of an independent Palestinian state, according the Israeli news website.

Fayyad has also received positive responses from prominent EU member states, including the UK, France, Spain and Sweden.

Israel is not a tolerant society: US State Department

Israel drastically fails to meet all requirements of a tolerant pluralistic society, according to a US State Department report issued on Saturday.

The report, written by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, indicates that Israel is discriminating against Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christians, women, Bedouins, and even Reform Jews, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Sunday.

Israel does not treat ethnic groups on equal terms and also does not show any respect toward certain holy sites and other historic sites, the document added.

It went on to say that although a 1967 Israeli law calls for the protection of all holy sites in Jerusalem Al-Quds, the Israeli government does not show due respect toward non-Jewish sites and does not even officially recognize non-Jewish sites as holy places.

In addition, as Israel is neglecting several Muslim and Christian holy sites, they are subject to exploitation by Israeli authorities and real estate entrepreneurs, the report noted.

Israel says threat of attack on Iran, no bluff

Following years of persistent threats by Israel to attack Iran, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister rejects speculations that the warnings are just a bluff, insisting they are very real.

Nearly three weeks after three consecutive days of nuclear negotiations between officials from Iran, the United States, Russia and France, Israel's deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon accused the Tehran government of stalling tactics.

Speaking to Sky News on Saturday, Ayalon accused Iran of not being sincere in its negotiation with the P5+1 over its uranium enrichment program.

"If Iranian behavior and conduct continues as they have exhibited so far, it is obvious that their intentions are only to buy time and procrastinate," Ayalon said.

The Israeli official went on to repeat long-standing military threats against Iran, insisting that a military option will not be taken off the table against the country if other measures fail.

Insisting that the threat is real and not a bluff, Ayalon said, "The one who's bluffing is Iran, which is trying to play with cards they don't have."

The renewed threat comes as earlier in October, Ephraim Sneh, a former Israeli deputy defense minister, said that time was running out for action to stop Iran's nuclear enrichment program.

"If no crippling sanctions are introduced by Christmas, Israel will strike," Sneh said. "If we are left alone, we will act alone."

Iran faces pressure to halt its nuclear enrichment, as world powers claim its program is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.

Along with world powers, Israel — the sole possessor of a nuclear warhead in the Middle East — accuses Iran of efforts to develop a nuclear bomb, maintaining that a "nuclear Iran" is the prime existential threat to its security.

Tehran, however, has denied seeking nuclear weapons and called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.

'Palestinian state requires settlement dismantlement'

Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas has reiterated that Israel must freeze all construction of illegal settlements so that a Palestinian state can be created.

During a visit to Bethlehem on Sunday, he said the Palestinian leadership had not abandoned the national objective of establishing a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

The Road Map conditions not only call for a halt to the construction of illegal settlements but also the dismantlement of all of the settlements that are built on Palestinian lands in the West Bank in order to establish a Palestinian state, he added.

The Palestinians are committed to implementing the requirements of the Road Map while Israel neither dismantles illegal settlements nor halts the growth in settlements, and in fact, the settlement activity is continuing in Jerusalem Al-Quds and the West Bank, Abbas noted.

He expressed eagerness to reconcile with Hamas through Egyptian mediation, but stated that it is Hamas that has rejected the Egyptian proposal and "wants to cling to the Gaza state forever."

Abbas also urged the Palestinian people to maintain the belief that peace, security, and safety are attainable goals in order to realize the development of the country.

Prior to his visit to Bethlehem, Abbas visited the southern West Bank town of Halhul near Hebron (Al-Khalil), where the residents asked him to reverse his decision to drop out of the upcoming election.

Rain-triggered landslides kill 14 in Indonesia

By ALI KOTARUMALOS, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Torrential rains triggered a series of landslides on Indonesia's Sulawesi island, killing at least 14 residents and burying many more, a local official said Monday.

The downpours sent a mass of mud slamming into about 20 houses in the outskirts of the town of Palopo, South Sulawesi province, Mayor Pateddungi Tenri Ajeng said Monday.

Rescuers pulled 14 victims from under the earth and debris that hit one neighborhood overnight Sunday, he said. Police, soldiers and villagers continued to search for an unknown number of people still missing.

Several other landslides cut off access to the town, Tenri Ajeng said, but those slides were not believed to have caused damage or fatalities.

Several days of flooding cut off villages and submerged more than 3,600 houses in the area, local media reported, forcing people to seek higher ground.

Landslides and flooding kill scores of people every year during the monsoon season in Indonesia, a tropical archipelago with a population of 235 million. Many people live and farm the fertile, but unstable mountain slopes.

Mofaz proposes Palestinian state in one year

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A leading Kadima Party member presented a plan to establish a Palestinian state within one year.

Shaul Mofaz, the No. 2 man in the party, presented a plan Sunday during a news conference that would have Israel negotiating with Hamas and establish a temporary Palestinian state on 60 percent of the West Bank.

The borders eventually could extend to outlying Jerusalem neighborhoods and see the relocation of about 70,000 settlers living in isolated settlements to the Galilee, the Negev or into settlement blocs, according to reports.

Mofaz would annex settlement blocs to Israel in exchange for Israeli territory, and has committed to a final Palestinian state on at least 92 percent of the West Bank and Gaza.

Mofaz said he favors negotiation with Hamas if it is serving as a valid government.

"If Hamas is elected and wants to negotiate and accept Quartet conditions, then it's no longer Hamas," he said. "Responsible leadership in Israel would sit with those who changed their agenda. I expect the Palestinians to be courageous and consider the plan deeply and realize there is something to discuss."

A Hamas spokesman said the group would not negotiate with Israel.

"We do not believe in engaging with the occupation, or in talks that would beautify its face in the eyes of the world," Fawzi Barhoum was quoted as saying in the Jerusalem Post.

Army Radio quoted some Kadima members as calling the Mofaz proposal "an irresponsible step."

Mofaz also indicated that he could one day challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the top spot.

"I don't have a political objective with the plan, but if Netanyahu doesn't implement it, I will implement the plan as prime minister," Mofaz said.

In presenting the plan, Mofaz is ramping up his challenge to the leadership of Kadima head Tzipi Livni.

In Brief: Israel transfers 5,000 H1N1 vaccinations to Gaza

TEL AVIV, 8 November 2009 (IRIN) - Israel's Civil Administration announced on 5 November that it had transferred 5,000 pandemic H1N1 vaccinations to Gaza for Hajj pilgrims leaving to Saudi Arabia via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

''Swine flu is a worldwide problem, it does not stop at borders. An outbreak of swine flu will endanger the Palestinian population and also endanger the state of Israel," said Colonel Moshe Levi, commander of the Gaza District Coordination Office. He added that the International Committee of the Red Cross had donated the vaccines and arranged for their transfer to Gaza.

Israel allowed 20,000 doses of the vaccine into Ramallah in the West Bank for the same purpose.

Israel has received 300,000 vaccinations for pandemic H1N1 so far and began mass vaccinations of Israelis in high-risk groups on 5 November. Some 35 Israelis and one Palestinian have died from H1N1.

Gaza’s ‘Open-air’ Winter

By Ola Attallah

IOL, November 7, 2009

GAZA CITY – Nine-year-old Mohamed is trying hard to keep the tent door closed against the freezing winter winds.

"A new winter has come," Mohamed told IslamOnline.net in a desperate voice.

"Again, we will live in dark and cold weather. We will be sinking in rainwater."

The Gazan boy is living with his family in a tent since their three-storey house was destroyed in a deadly Israeli offensive in Gaza earlier this year.

"I can’t believe that we will see a new freezing winter while living in the open air," his elder brother Khalil, 17, said.

The poor Gazan family went through harsh days last winter after the destruction of their house.

"Here the tragedy is recurring. We will die freezing," said Khalil.

Israeli troops killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and wounded thousands in a three-week onslaught on the Gaza Strip in January.

The offensive wrecked havoc on the infrastructure, leaving nearly 20,000 homes and thousands of other buildings damaged.

Israel restricts access of cement, steel and other materials into Gaza to allow the rebuilding of thousands of damaged homes.

Israel has slapped a chocking siege on the Gaza Strip, home to 1.6 million Palestinians, since Hamas was voted to power in 2006.

It further tightened the blockade and closed Gaza's crossings to the outside world after Hamas assumed control in 2007.

Freezing Winter

Shaimaa, 13, desperately recalls her warm days in their house.

"I almost go nuts when I remember how we used to spend winter nights at our home.

"Our mother used to provide us with blankets and hot drinks to warm up," she recalls.

"But now," she says, looking around at the small impoverished tent, whose roof is covered with a sheet of plastic.

Shaima’s mother immediately moves on to take her into her arms.

"I get mad whenever I hear my children talking about their warm days in our home," the bereaved mother says.

"I wish I would wake up one day to find myself at my old kitchen preparing hot meals for my kids before going to wake them up."

At the tent door, Zayed, the father, stands gazing in pity at his family.

"I don’t know how we would live this winter," he says in a desperate voice.

The Gazan father recalls how they spent the past freezing days in the open.

"Rains sank us with the stormy winds tearing the plastic roof into pieces," he said.

"We used to kid and laugh together during our warm days at our house, but now we can’t even light a candle for not burning down the place.

"How would we live in such a weather?"

Obama Fails in Middle East

Robert Dreyfuss

November 7, 2009

The announcement by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will not run for reelection is the exclamation point on the utter collapse of the Obama administration's Middle East policy. Launched to great expectations -- the appointment of George Mitchell, Obama's Cairo declaration that the plight of the Palestinians is intolerable -- it is now in complete disarray. It is, without doubt, the first major defeat for Obama's hope-and-change foreign policy.

Here's how it unraveled. First, Obama began a test of strength with Israel over that country's policy of illegal settlements, an expansion of its occupation of the West Bank driven by extremist, right-wing settlers who are fanatical, Bible-believing cultists who think that Israel has some God-given right to that territory. The settler-kooks -- indeed, one of their past leaders was named Rabbi Kook -- are supported by ultra-hardliners in Israel's security establishment, who see the West Bank as strategic depth in Israel's defense posture. What happened after Obama told Israel it had to stop settlements? Nothing. Score: Netanyahu 1, Obama 0.

Next, the Obama administration capitulated, refusing to insist on any penalty for Israel's defiant intransigence. Not even a hint of any retaliation by the United States to enforce what it had called the path to a peace deal. No talk of reducing US aid to Israel, or cutting back on US-Israeli military cooperation, or anything. Score: Netanyahu 2, Obama 0.

Then, while all this was going on, Obama hinted that he might announce, this fall, something like a comprehensive US plan for the Middle East. Everyone knows what a solution looks like: withdrawal by Israel from the West Bank, dismantling of the settlements, an end to the Gaza embargo, the division of Jerusalem, some swapping of land to account for slight changes in borders (especially around the capital), and a formula to account for the Palestinians' right-of-return, involving financial compensation -- plus security arrangements. But months later, Obama has refused to even hint at his own plan for the region, caving in to Israel's demands that all of that be saved for "negotiations." Score: Netanyahu 3, Obama 0.

Finally, the United States cravenly supported Israel over the Goldstone Report on Gaza, the report that accused Israel (and Hamas) of war crimes during the December-January conflict there. Score: Netanyahu 4, Obama 0.

Secretary of State Clinton then put the final icing on the rotten cake, praising Netanyahu, an extremist, far-right ultra-nationalist, for his decision to expand, not halt, settlements. Clinton's blunder, which shocked and stunned Palestinians and Arab leaders, represented the ultimate cave-in to Netanyahu and Co. Final score: Netanyahu 5, Obama 0.

Reports the New York Times today:

"Mrs. Clinton's visit, which she characterized as a success, sowed anger and confusion among Palestinians and other Arabs after she praised as 'unprecedented' the offer by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to slow down, but not stop, construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank."

One of the Palestinians' most experienced, veteran deal-makers, Nabil Shaath, a Fatah old-timer said of Obama's collapse:

"There was high expectation when he arrived on the scene. Now there is a total retreat, which has destroyed trust instead of building trust."

Abbas may or may not reconsider his decision, and of course the elections that are supposed to take place in January are still in limbo over the inability of Fatah and Hamas to strike a deal. But, by refusing to compel Israel to make a real offer to the Palestinians, the United States has once again shafted Palestinian moderates like Abbas, who can't credibly claim to have won anything for their constituents. In so doing, Obama is fueling the extremists, bomb-makers, and rocket launchers in Hamas, a fundamentalist, Muslim Brotherhood-founded movement that wants no compromise. Heck of a job, Baracky!

Abbas said that he was "surprised" -- bitterly angry and really pissed off, is more accurate, I am sure -- by Clinton's comments on Israel's settlements policy. And Clinton, asked about Abbas' move, delivered an insouciant fuck-you to Abbas: "We talked about his own political future. I look forward to working with President Abbas in any new capacity."

Dalai Lama begins visit to India's disputed Arunachal Pradesh

New Delhi - Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrived Sunday to a resounding welcome at the monastery town of Tawang in India's eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China considers a disputed region. Thousands of maroon-robed monks and local people clad in traditional costumes crowded the Dalai Lama's route from the helipad to the Tawang monastery, the IANS news agency reported.

At the Tawang monastery, the Dalai Lama was greeted by more than 800 monks, including scores of child novitiates, who chanted hymns and rang giant gongs.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu was also present to greet the Dalai Lama.

China had repeatedly protested the Dalai Lama's plan to visit the region, which it considers to be southern Tibet.

China views the Dalai Lama as a separatist, conspiring for Tibetan independence. The Tibetan leader has said that he wants greater autonomy for Tibet within China.

China also claims 90,000 square kilometres of territory in Arunachal Pradesh while India says it is an integral part of the country.

India, in turn, accuses China of occupying 38,000 square kilometres in Jammu and Kashmir.

Several rounds of talk since 2005 have led to little progress on resolving issues over the undemarcated border shared by the two countries along the Himalayan range.

In the face of China's protests over the Dalai Lama's visit, the Indian government had responded by saying the spiritual leader was free to travel where he wished in India as long as it was for religious purposes.

An aide to the Dalai Lama said on the eve of his visit that the leader was going to Tawang to give religious discourses and would not be interacting with the media.

"It was a lifetime experience to have seen the Dalai Lama from so close," Sherbu, an excited child monk was quoted as saying. "He waved back at us, and I consider this to be a blessing for me and the people here."

The Arunachal Pradesh government invited the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang, which was the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama. It was also one of the first stops for the 14th and current Dalai Lama when he fled from Tibet in 1959 after the Chinese occupation of the region.

The Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile, which is not recognized by any nation, are based at the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala.

Along with the Dalai Lama, an estimated 100,000 Tibetans live in India.

China pledges 10 billion dollars in aid to Africa - Summary

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt (Earth Times - dpa) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday pledged 10 billion dollars in new loans to African nations for the development of infrastructure and social programs. He made the announcement at the start of the fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

"We will help Africa build up financing capacity. We will provide 10 billion dollars in concessional loans to African countries," Wen told the gathering of leaders from some 50 countries across Africa.

The loans are to be distributed over the next three years.

"I came to Sharm el-Sheikh to boost friendship between our country and the African continent," Wen said. "Whatever change may take place in the world ... our policy of supporting Africa's economic and social development will not change."

The two-day FOCAC meeting, opened by Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak, is to follow up on the implementation of recommendations from the last summit in Beijing in 2006.

China's 10-billion-dollar loan is double that offered at the Beijing summit and in line with an earlier promise to the African continent.

These included commitments by China to double its 2006 assistance to Africa by 2009, to provide 3 billion dollars in preferential loans and 2 billion dollars in preferential buyer credits to Africa, to establish a special fund of 5 billion dollars to encourage Chinese investment in Africa, and to cancel some debts.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who is accompanying Wen, earlier told the official Xinhua news agency that steps agreed to at the Beijing summit had been implemented smoothly.

En route to Cairo, Wen responded to claims that China is exploiting African nations in order to fulfill its own needs for energy and resources.

"Energy is never the main part of our cooperation with Africa. What China expects is comprehensive cooperation of mutual benefits," the China Daily quoted Wen as saying.

China would also set up environmental and scientific programs in the continent, Wen said.

China is to set up 100 clean energy projects as well as science and technology partnership, under which China would carry out 100 joint demonstration projects with Africa on scientific and technological research and receive 100 African postdoctoral fellows to conduct scientific research in China.

Wen also promised that China would build 50 schools and train 1,500 school principals and teachers for African countries.

China will also help in the medical care and health African sectors providing medical equipment and anti-malaria materials worth 500 million yuan (73.2 million US dollars) to the 30 hospitals and 30 malaria prevention and treatment centers built by China and train 3,000 doctors and nurses for Africa.

On Saturday, Wen held talks with Mubarak and the two signed a number of economic and cultural agreements.

He also visited the 22-member Cairo-based Arab League, and noted that under the current international political and economic circumstances, "it is in the interests of both China and the Arab countries to enhance cooperation."

Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa meanwhile expressed gratitude to China for its support for Arab causes.

Thousands rally against US base in Japan

Tokyo - Thousands of people rallied on the island of Okinawa in southern Japan on Sunday to demand the relocation of a US military base which they say has been a burden on the island. The protests, which organizers say drew about 21,000 people, occurred just days ahead of a scheduled visit by US President Barack Obama to Japan.

According to a 2006 agreement between Tokyo and Washington, the Futenma base is to be moved from the city centre of Ginowan to reclaimed land near Henoko on the island's coastal region.

The row over the base could overshadow Obama's visit as newly- elected Japanese Premier Yukio Hatoyama, who has campaigned for a more equal relationship with the US, has said the base could be moved off the island or even out of the country entirely.

The US demands that Japan honor the 2006 deal, under which Tokyo would also have to finance the relocation of the base by 2014.

Meanwhile, Hatoyama has come under pressure in his own country as his approval ratings have dropped following his landslide election in August after decades of conservative governments.

Ginowan residents complain the base has increased noise levels, pollution and crime in the city.

"I urge Prime Minister Hatoyama to tell President Obama that Okinawa needs no more US bases," Ginowan mayor Yoichi Iha was quoted as saying at the rally in a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Even the suggested new location of the base is controversial as environmentalists fear damage to local coral reefs, the BBC reported.

In total 47,000 US military personnel are currently based in Japan.

Iraq parliament approves long delayed elections law

Baghdad- Iraqi lawmakers voted on a long delayed new election bill that will pave the way for national elections in January. A debate over the conduct of elections in the oil-rich disputed city of Kirkuk has forestalled a vote several times in recent weeks.

Many Iraqi Kurds hope to make Kirkuk, and its nearby oil fields, the capital of a future independent state, calling it their "Jerusalem." Arab and Turkmen politicians view the city and surrounding al-Tamim province as integral parts of Iraq.

Parliamentary deadlock on the issue has thrown into question whether the elections will take place on January 16, as scheduled.

According to the Iraqi constitution, the elections must take place by the end of January. A law must be passed 90 days before voting begins.

Iyad al-Samarrai, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament has been meeting with representatives of the various parliamentary blocs in a new effort to strike a compromise.

The election law's appearance on the parliament's agenda followed an apparent softening of each side's position.

Kurdish lawmakers Tuesday said they would accept a compromise that would grant Kirkuk a "special status" in January's polls - a retreat from the Kurds' previous insistence that voting in Kirkuk and the surrounding al-Tamim province must take place together with the rest of the country, using the most recent voter registration rolls.

Massoud Barzani, president of northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, had previously said that the Kurds would not accept any solution giving Kirkuk "a special status" in the 2010 polls.

Kirkuk was left out of previous elections after lawmakers failed to come to a formula for counting the region's votes.

Kurdish lawmakers back a UN proposal that would see Kirkuk vote with the rest of the country, using 2009 voter registration rolls that show a marked rise in the number of Kurdish voters.

Meanwhile, Arab and Turkmen politicians look with suspicion at the rise in Kurdish voters and want 2004 rolls used instead.

A more recent UN proposal suggested using the most recent voter rolls, but instituting a quota system to make sure that Arabs and Turkmens were represented.

This proposal also suggested making the results of the election provisional, subject to an examination of the voter rolls.

Kurds initially rejected that proposal, with the head of the Kurdish parliamentary bloc, calling it "curious backpedaling on the (UN) mission's stance on Iraq."

Iraqi lawmakers have been seeking a consensus solution to the issue for fear that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself an ethnic Kurd, might veto an election law passed over Kurdish objections.

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, an Arab Sunni Muslim, said he would intervene if one side sought a solution at the expense of all groups in the city.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/293769,iraq-parliament-approves-long-delayed-elections-law.html.

Ants Save Mates Trapped in Sand

Helpful acts, such as grooming or foster parenting, are common throughout the animal kingdom, but accounts of animals rescuing one another from danger are exceedingly rare, having been reported in the scientific literature only for dolphins, capuchin monkeys, and ants. New research shows that in the ant Cataglyphis cursor, the behavior is surprisingly sophisticated.

Elise Nowbahari of the University of Paris North, Karen L. Hollis of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and two colleagues mimicked a natural situation—an ant restrained by collapsing sand and debris.

But hidden beneath the sand was a nylon snare holding the ant firmly in place. The ant’s nestmates consistently responded by digging around the victim and tugging at its limbs until they found the trap, then biting at the nylon strand. Potential rescuers did not, however, do the same for unrelated ants or insects of other species.

The ants’ ability to discern and then tackle the unfamiliar nylon snare demonstrates cognitive and behavioral complexity, unlike such simple actions as digging or limb pulling, which could arguably be elicited by a chemical distress signal. Nowbahari and Hollis distinguish rescue behavior from other cooperative acts in that both participants risk physical harm (rescuing ants could themselves be trapped under falling sand), with no possibility of reward for the rescuer aside from the benefits of kin selection.

UNICEF says famine closing in on S. Sudan

Mon Nov 9, 2009

The United Nations children's agency UNICEF has warned of potential famine in southern Sudan, following low rainfalls and a surge in ethnic violence.

The world body says if action is not taken soon, the situation could have a serious impact on the lives of local people, especially children.

"Here the crisis is going to hit very hard. We can expect significant levels (of hunger) which can border on red flag emergency which becomes a famine," UNICEF's deputy executive director Hilde Johnson said on Sunday.

Poor rainfalls at the end of the rainy season along with a surge in tribal conflicts are the main reasons behind the current situation, added Johnson who is visiting south Sudan's oil-producing Jonglei state.

According to recent UN figures, about 1.2 million people are already suffering from serious food insecurity in the underdeveloped region.

The situation is expected to worsen in the coming months as a second dry season sets in and the few remaining food reserves are used up.

Officials say this could lead to conflicts between rival ethnic groups in the south.

This year alone, about 2,000 people in the region are thought to have lost their lives in tribal clashes.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110804.html.

Ahmadinejad to help open project in Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his Iranian counterpart will visit Caracas before the end of the year to help inaugurate a joint housing project.

"I want him (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) to accompany me to inaugurate some houses," Chavez told Iran's Ambassador to Venezuela, Ahmad Sobhani, in a Sunday TV-radio show.

The houses to be inaugurated are 240 homes built as part of a housing development program between the two countries.

During the Venezuelan president's last visit to Iran, which was in September, the two governments signed over 200 cooperation agreements in various fields such as health, oil, trade, housing, food and finance.

Iranian engineers have already constructed a dairy production plant and a flour factory in Venezuela.

According to comments by the Venezuelan mining minister and Chavez himself, Iranian experts are also helping the Latin American state locate uranium reserves.

The project involves conducting geophysical tests and aerial surveys to find uranium deposits in the mineral-rich states of Bolivar and Tachira.

Chavez: US provoking all-out war in S. America

President Hugo Chavez has threatened an all-out war in South America should the US want to provoke Colombia to launch an armed conflict in the region.

Chavez said Venezuela could end up going to war with Colombia, warning that if a conflict broke out "it could extend throughout the whole continent."

The anti-US leader ordered the military to prepare for a possible war, addressing President Barack Obama to be cautious about any move in the region.

"Don't make a mistake, Mr. Obama, by ordering an attack against Venezuela by way of Colombia," Chavez said during his weekly television and radio program Sunday.

However, the Colombian government dismissed Chavez's threats, saying it would protest to the Organization of American States (OAS) and the UN Security Council.

"Colombia never has, and never will, make an act of war," government spokesman Cesar Mauricio Velasquez said.

A recent military agreement between the US and Colombia that gives American troops greater access to military bases of Colombia has sparked controversy in the region.

In recent weeks, tensions between the two Latin American nations have been worsened by a series of shootings.

Last week, two Venezuelan National Guard troops were killed at a checkpoint near the border in Venezuela's western Tachira state, prompting Caracas to temporarily close some border crossings.

The violence prompted Venezuela to send 15,000 soldiers to the border with Colombia on Thursday to increase security along the border.

Hurricane Ida kills 124 in El Salvador

Hurricane Ida has killed at least 124 people and left 60 others missing across El Salvador, civil defense officials say.

Flooding and landslides claimed the lives of 124 people across the country, officials said.

The army, police and residents have been looking for 60 people missing in Verapaz, a small central city which was partly buried under mud and boulders following torrential rains on Sunday before dawn.

Torrential rains and flooding hit the country due to "low pressure ... and remnants of Ida," Civil Defense Chief Jorge Melendez said.

Melendez added that "there could be more fatalities" in the eastern regions of Verapaz and Tepetitan.

Ida had strengthened packing top wind speeds of 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour as it moved over Mexico's Caribbean coast according to forecasters at the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Ida has now swept past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico.

El Salvador has been on a state of alert since Thursday.

Karzai urges West to respect Afghan sovereignty

Mon Nov 9, 2009

President Hamid Karzai has called on his Western allies to respect the Afghanistan's sovereignty amid the country's fight against corruption.

"We like our partners to have a lot of respect for Afghan sovereignty," Karzai said in an interview with the US Public Broadcasting Service airing Monday.

"We must all be very careful while we are partners with one another... our partnership and our advice is a friendly one and with good intentions and not one that can be interpreted any other way," Karzai added.

Western countries have been pressuring the Afghan president to address corruption in his government.

UK Premier Gordon Brown in November warned Karzai that London will not put soldiers "in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption".

The Afghan leader said that he already was addressing corruption, adding Western countries are also partly responsible for the corruption in Afghanistan.

"Where we have found facts on corrupt practices by senior government officials, we have acted, they have gone to prison," he said.

Karzai went on to explain that donor countries share some of the responsibility for rampant corruption because of a poorly structured system to manage projects.

"There is no accountability of their contracts, and there is a serious corruption in the implementation of those projects. And the responsibility for this corruption is (with) the international community," Karzai said.

His remarks were made one day after the Afghan Foreign Ministry accused foreign critics of using corruption allegations to influence the makeup of the new government.

"Such instructions have violated respect for Afghanistan's national sovereignty," the ministry said.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110800.html.

No deal to protect nuclear arsenal, Pakistan says

Mon Nov 9, 2009

Islamabad has strongly rejected a report that the US has been negotiating a deal with the Pakistani military about the security of the South Asian country's nuclear arsenal.

The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in statement on Sunday that the nation's nuclear materials are completely safe and secure.

“Nor will Pakistan, as a sovereign state, ever allow any country to have direct or indirect access to its nuclear and strategic facilities. Any suggestion to this effect is simply preposterous,” the statement read.

A report that appeared in the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine said that US officials had negotiated pacts with Pakistan to provide security for its nuclear arsenal amid rising militancy across the country.

The report also suggests that a threat to the security of nuclear facilities might come from a “mutiny” by extremist elements within the powerful military.

A wave of attacks on military targets over the past few weeks has raised concerns over the nuclear arsenal's security.

However, senior civilians and military officials in Islamabad have dismissed the concerns, saying that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are in safe hands.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/110798.html.

50 pct of Iran's telecommunications privatized

An Iranian consortium has signed a deal to buy 50 percent plus one of the shares of Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) for around eight billion dollars.

According to the deputy of Iran's Privatization Company, the related contract was signed Sunday with an Iranian consortium named Etemad Mobin Development that includes three firms.

"The historical deal was signed after an article was added to the $7.8 billion text of the contract according to which the buyer will be committed to the charter of TCI," said Mehdi Oghadaei.

The consortium had already bought the shares, in a controversial transaction, but the official contract had yet to be signed.

Earlier in November, General Inspection Organization of Iran (GIO) cast doubts on the privatization of TCI, saying that some uncertainties exist in the deal.

The GIO had prepared a report on the doubtful points and submitted to related bodies in the Article 44 Parliamentary Committee for further investigation, Mehr News Agency reported earlier.

The important deal, the biggest on the Tehran Stock Exchange so far, attracted lots of attention as TCI has monopoly over Iran's fixed line infrastructure, Iran's largest cellular operator (MCI), and Iran's major Internet service provider and data communication operator (DCI).

Sikh and Muslim women seek freedom to wear head coverings

Nov 08, 2009 (San Jose Mercury News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Their head wear displayed a full palette of colors and patterns, and symbolized different faiths. But the two dozen Sikh and Muslim women who gathered Saturday at a Fremont community center knew their turbans and scarves had a singular effect on many others in a country where their beliefs are in the minority.

They make the women stand out as different, and to some, threatening.

"Around Sept. 11 this year, I had someone call me a terrorist," said Jasdeep Kaur, a middle-school counselor and volunteer with the Sikh Coalition in Fremont that organized Saturday's unusual joint forum with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Santa Clara to address discrimination that women of both faiths face because of traditional religious head wear like her black dastaar turban. "We are visually standing out compared to everyone else."

Organizers said local Sikhs and Muslims had never held such a multifaith forum to address shared concerns about discrimination and profiling, but decided to do so because it remains a daily concern. While the overt hostility that peaked shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by Islamic terrorists has subsided, more subtle discrimination persists, they said.

"There's a lot of covert discrimination out there," said Harsimran Kaur, a lawyer and director of the Sikh Coalition.

Organizers said they were unaware of specific incidents locally since last week's fatal shootings at Texas' Fort Hood Army base,

allegedly by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a distraught Muslim psychiatrist. But Harsimran Kaur said the possibility of trouble arising from that incident "is a huge concern."

Sikh and Muslim women are expected to cover their heads. In the Sikh faith, which traces its roots to 16th-century India, both men and women cover their hair, which they do not cut. In Islam, which began in seventh-century Arabia, women cover their heads as a sign of modesty.

But in the predominantly Christian U.S., at war in two Muslim countries, the head wear isn't always welcomed. Nura Maznavi, a Muslim lawyer, said she recently handled a case in which a Vietnamese Muslim mother of two in Sacramento was told by her boss at a collection agency that she would have to choose between her traditional hijab covering and her job. Then, during the discrimination case, the collection agency declared bankruptcy.

Though the event was aimed at women who cover their heads in both faiths, a couple of Sikh men attended as well.

Parvin Singh, a San Jose software engineer who wore a blue turban and matching T-shirt that read: "My turban "... a figure of majesty," said he hasn't had much trouble in the Bay Area, but has been hassled at airports in East Asia, where the Sikh faith is uncommon.

"Sometimes," he said, "we get into situations where we just need to speak our rights to them."

Malika Khan of San Jose said she was harassed for wearing the hijab to her job as a clinical lab scientist at O'Connor Hospital in San Jose. But after complaining of discrimination, she won an apology.

"By standing up for your rights," Khan told the gathering, "you do get results."