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Monday, November 16, 2009

Clinton Visits Al-Aqsa

Jerusalem – Ma'an – Former US President Bill Clinton visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock on Sunday, sources said.

The visit surprised officials, however, as neither media nor the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Endowments were informed in advance.

"It seems it was a special visit," said Jerusalem endowments director Azzam Al-Khatib.

Israeli forces suddenly imposed a number of strict security measures, and then half an hour later, Clinton entered from the Moroccan Gate, Al-Khatib added.

The US Consulate opted not to inform officials of the visit ahead of time as they usually do, he said.

A spokeswoman for the consulate told Ma'an that Clinton's visit to Jerusalem was personal and thus not coordinated with the Americans.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that Clinton visited the Western Wall, as well. Clinton prayed and placed a note at the Jewish holy site, according to these reports.

Clinton was in the region attending the Saban Forum, a conference on US-Israel relations.

Egypt summons Algeria ambassador after unrest

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt on Monday summoned the Algerian ambassador to seek increased security for its nationals in Algeria amid violent incidents between the two countries vying for a place in the 2010 World Cup finals.

Cairo wants "assurances that the Algerian authorities are doing everything necessary to ensure the safety of Egyptian nationals in Algeria," deputy foreign minister for Arab affairs Abdel Rahman Salah told reporters.

He said Egypt's embassy in Algiers has reported attacks on Egyptian nationals and interests in the fellow North African country.

Salah stressed "the importance of halting the escalation" following the Egypt-Algeria match played last Saturday in Cairo and in the runup to a play-off on neutral territory in Sudan on Wednesday.

Officials of the two countries are "in permanent cooperation to protect the Egyptian community in Algeria and the Algerian community in Egypt," he said.

Algeria's ambassador, Abdelkader Hadjar, told reporters at the foreign ministry that authorities in his country were "making every effort and will do more to protect Egyptian nationals and interests."

Algiers had sought similar assurances from Cairo after its players were injured when stones were thrown at their bus as they being driven from the airport to the team hotel last week.

Despite that appeal, 20 Algerians were among 32 people injured in clashes after Saturday's game.

On Sunday, 15 offices of Orascom Telecoms Algerie (OTA), a subsidiary of the Egyptian group Orascom, were ransacked, causing more than five million dollars in damage, its communications chief Hamid Grine said.

"More than 70,000 mobile phones with a value of five million dollars were destroyed or stolen," Grine said, adding that between 3,000 and 5,000 rioters were involved.

Also on Sunday, the Egypt Air offices in Algiers were ransacked during a protest by thousands of Algerian football fans, an AFP journalist said.

Sudan on high alert for crunch Algeria-Egypt tie

by Guillaume Lavallee

KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudanese police were on high alert on Monday as Algerian and Egyptian fans began arriving for this week's crunch World Cup qualification play-off amid mounting fears of trouble between the rival supporters.

Despite a demand from Egypt for additional protection for its nationals and interests in Algeria, Egypt Air's Algiers offices were again ransacked by fans still angry over stonethrowing in Cairo last week which left three Algerian players injured.

"We have put all our security forces on their highest level of alert," Khartoum state governor Abderrahman al-Khidr told reporters in the Sudanese capital, adding that a total of 15,000 police would be on duty for Wednesday's game and ready to respond to any incident.

Khidr said that only 35,000 spectators would be allowed into the 41,000 capacity stadium in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman to allow for segregation of the rival fans.

Algeria and Egypt each have an allocation of 9,000 tickets for their traveling fans.

"We are expecting 48 planes from Algeria and 18 from Egypt," Khidr said, adding that 2,000 fans were also traveling by road from neighboring Egypt for the game.

The Khartoum governor said that traveling fans needed to be aware of a shortage of hotel capacity in the Sudanese capital.

"For those who arrive on match day, the two sets of fans will be assigned separate areas to sleep in," where giant screens will also be set up to allow those without tickets to see the game.

A rash of violence since the 2-0 Egyptian victory, which forced Wednesday's neutral-venue play-off, has ratcheted up security fears around the game.

The Egyptian foreign ministry summoned the Algerian ambassador to seek increased security for its nationals after a spate of attacks against Egyptian targets.

Cairo wants "assurances that the Algerian authorities are doing everything necessary to ensure the safety of Egyptian nationals in Algeria," deputy foreign minister for Arab affairs Abdel Rahman Salah told reporters.

He stressed "the importance of halting the escalation" in the build-up to Wednesday's game.

But for a second day in a row, Egypt Air's Algiers offices were attacked, an AFP correspondent in the Algerian capital said.

On Sunday, 15 offices of Orascom Telecoms Algerie (OTA), a subsidiary of the Egyptian group Orascom, were ransacked, causing more than five million dollars in damage, its communications chief Hamid Grine said.

"More than 70,000 mobile phones with a value of five million dollars were destroyed or stolen," Grine said, adding that between 3,000 and 5,000 rioters were involved.

The company also said one of its employees was assaulted at Algiers airport.

Algeria's ambassador in Cairo, Abdelkader Hadjar, told reporters that authorities in his country were "making every effort and will do more to protect Egyptian nationals and interests."

Algiers had sought similar assurances from Cairo after its players were injured when stones were thrown at their bus as they being driven from the airport to the team hotel last week.

Despite that appeal, 20 Algerians were among 32 people injured in clashes after Saturday's game.

Egypt's victory in that match left the two teams tied on 13 points with the same goal difference forcing Wednesday's play-off.

The North African rivals have a history of bad blood, with riots breaking out after Egypt defeated Algeria in a 1989 match in Cairo.

Algeria player Lakhdar Belloumi was tried in absentia and sentenced to prison in Egypt for allegedly seriously injuring the Egyptian team doctor with a bottle after that game.

Egypt last qualified for the World Cup in 1990, and Algeria in 1986.

The Aims of Mujahideen

Afghan Resistance Statement
The Aims of Mujahideen
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

November 14, 2009

As an Islamic liberation force, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate represent aspirations of the Afghan masses who want to free themselves from the claws of colonialism. This is the only force, the people look to for realization of their noble aims.

Therefore, to live up to the expectation of the people, the Mujahideen’s objectives are clear. They want to establish an Islamic system based on justice and equality and gain independence of the country where the Afghans will be owners of their own country and fate. Education, spiritual and material uplift and reconstructions are other aims of the Islamic Emirate. It has declared time and again that it will implement these goals upon gaining independence. However, the intelligence agencies of the invading countries and the biased media are trying to mar the good name of Mujahideen. Under the notorious name of terrorism, they want to create hatred among the people against the true sons of this land (Afghanistan). Even some time, these agencies resort to perpetrating gruesome crimes like explosions in congested places where hundreds of innocent people lose their lives. Some time, they flare up sectarian violence as per the old divide and rule formula of colonialism. Then, they accuse Mujahideen of being involved these crimes. The Mujahideen are free from all such charges. No Mujahid will ever want to kill an innocent Muslim or Muslima.

But the biased media constantly publish the official story and the people under the influence of the partial reports are confused and some time, misjudge the events because they do not know to tell facts from lies. On the other hand, the mainstream media do not publish the stand of Mujahideen regarding every event, fearing the invading Americans will accuse them of helping the so-called terrorists. In fact, the world has now been taken hostage by the media suffocation unleashed by the colonialism.

Pentagon has a psychological war department. This department is charged with spreading lies against Mujahideen. They spend millions of dollars to make it possible that the lies fabricated in Pentagon reach every ear in the world. They pay high sum of money to journalists who is ready to publish maligning stories against Mujahideen. According to a media report, a CIA cell in one of the neighboring countries of Afghanistan pay a journalist $1000 for a story against Mujahideen. They put on air dramas aimed at marring the image of Mujahideen. Ironically, the colonialists have taken this war from the battle fields to the fields of media, labor unions, business circles and scholar forums. So they should be confronted in all these fields.

Those journalists who are committed to human dignity, liberation, and justice should form Mujahideen Support Groups and wage an unwavering and constant campaign against the black propaganda launched by the colonialists because in the final analysis, this is not the war of Taliban. This is the war of all freedom-loving and justice-loving people all over the world who want to live as free people without the sword of colonialism hanging over their heads in this 21st century.

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=60059&s2=16.

UN says once-secret Iran facility to start in 2011

By GEORGE JAHN and NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

VIENNA – A senior official said Monday that the U.N nuclear agency believes Iran plans to start enriching uranium at a previously secret facility in 2011.

The official said the International Atomic Energy Agency also believes that the site near the holy city of Qom will be able to house 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges.

The senior international official familiar with a new IAEA report said that number could allow Iran to enrich enough material to be able to arm one nuclear warhead a year. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the restricted nature of the information.

Iran denies it wants a nuclear weapons program, saying it is enriching only to create nuclear fuel.

President Barack Obama turned up the pressure Sunday by saying Iran is running out of time to agree a U.N.-brokered plan to ship its low-enriched enriched uranium out of the country to enrich it to a higher level. The West had hoped this plan would dramatically reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium and thwart any attempts to build nuclear weapons.

Iran's president warned the West not to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program, saying this only makes the country more determined to gain power by advancing its nuclear technology.

The comment by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared to be a veiled threat that Iran would try to intensify its efforts to enrich uranium if nuclear negotiations with the international community fail.

"Cooperation with Iran in the nuclear field is in the interests of Westerners. Their opposition will make Iran more powerful and advanced," Ahmadinejad said in a statement posted late Sunday on the presidential Web site.

Iran sees its nuclear program as a matter of national pride and regional influence.

OIC Roundtable Adopts Kuala Lumpur Declaration

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 16 (Bernama) -- The members of the roundtable meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have adopted the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the establishment of the Association of Quality Assurance Agencies of Countries of the Islamic World.

The association, responsible for higher education quality among the countries in the Islamic World, was adopted at the conclusion of a three-day meeting hosted by Malaysia which began on Nov 13.

Forty-five delegates from 28 countries attended the meeting under the theme of "Information Sharing Towards Capacity Building Initiatives".

The objectives of the association, among others, are to explore different needs for quality assurance capacity-building programs of relevant agencies in the Islamic World, to develop and implement capacity-building programs, and to promote collaboration and exchanges of best practices, experiences and expertise among quality assurance agencies in Islamic countries.

According to a statement issued by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) here today, the meeting also agreed that an interim secretariat be established in the agency.

It added that MQA chief executive officer Datuk Dr Syed Ahmad Hussein was chosen as chairman of the protem committee comprising representatives from Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Syria and Turkey, and his deputy, Prof Zita Mohd Fahmi, as the secretary.

Source: Bernama.
Link: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/news_lite.php?id=455644.

Spain Pledges Support For Turkey's E.U. Bid

CORDOBA - The Spanish government, which is set to takeover European Union's rotating presidency in January 2010, has pledged support for Turkey's EU accession under Madrid's leading of the Union, diplomatic officials said on Sunday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in Cordoba, Spain on a formal visit on Sunday as he met with his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos.

Diplomatic sources cited Moratinos as reiterating Spain's commitment to extend full support for Turkey's EU accession.

"We are watching Turkey and its foreign policy with admiration especially in relations with its neighbors," sources quoted Moratinos as saying.

Sources said also that Turkey and Spain were in agreement to open policy chapters on energy, competition, education and culture in Ankara's membership talks under Spain presidency.

The Turkish foreign minister also asked for Spain's support to fight against the terrorist organization PKK in Europe.

Iraq demands right to nuclear power

Iraq's Science and Technology Minister Raed Fahmi says the country needs access to civilian nuclear energy for its economic and energy needs.

In an interview with AFP, Fahmi urged the international community to lift the Saddam-era UN resolutions to pave the way for Iraq's development.

"Our nuclear strategy is for civilian application of atomic energy and we believe we have the right and that certain obstacles contained in Resolution 707 should be lifted," he said.

UN Security Council Resolution 707 bans all nuclear activity in the country until the Council certifies its respect for non-proliferation treaties.

"We have a clear and transparent political strategy in close coordination with international bodies, and Iraq has the right to certain of its capacities," the minister said.

He stressed that Iraq has made no decision yet to build a nuclear power plant.

"We are working to put into practice and respect all Iraq's commitments, and we have raised this issue with the IAEA," the International Atomic Energy Agency, the minister said.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=111413§ionid=351020201.

Germany mulling withdrawal from Afghanistan

Germany is mulling over a withdrawal from Afghanistan, amid rising differences of opinion among NATO members over handling the Afghan mission.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called on Sunday for preliminary work to lay down the foundations of a withdrawal from Afghanistan in the country's next four-year parliamentary term.

"In the life of this parliament, we have to get sufficiently far with the concept of self-sustained security that a perspective for withdrawal comes into view," Westerwelle told ZDF television.

"We don't want to remain in Afghanistan forever," the minister added.

The newly appointed foreign minister was referring to a NATO strategy, which says a handover could only be carried out after the Afghans are capable of taking control of their country.

He added that Germany would work to see democracy grow in Afghanistan and introduce effective methods for fighting corruption.

Westerwelle's comments come as Germany prepares to send 120 additional troops to Afghanistan, which will boost the total number of the German contingent to 4,365.

The German parliament has limited participation in the NATO mission to a maximum of 4,500 soldiers.

The German troops are to be assigned to the contingent in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, which has witnessed an unprecedented surge in militant activity, more than eight years after the US-led invasion of the country.

Germany has the third largest contingent in the NATO-led mission with 4,200 troops.

Most Germans oppose military involvement, which has cost the lives of 36 of their countrymen, according to opinion polls.

World heritage listing boosts Iran tourism

Iranian tourism officials say inscription of Soltanieh Dome, a 700-year-old site and that time's tallest building, has tripled the number of tourists visiting the site.

Official figures show some 52,000 tourists visited Soltanieh Dome four years ago in 2005. The latest updates say the number has tripled, meaning the historic dome hosted over 130,000 tourists in 2008,” said head of Soltanieh Dome restoration project.

“Students and researchers who visit the site for study and research reasons are excluded from the tourism database,” said Mohammad Reza Qorbanzadeh.

Located in Iran's northwestern province of Zanjan, Soltanieh Dome was the world's tallest building when it was built during the Ilkhanid era.

It currently ranks third in height, after Italy's Saint Mary church in Florence and Turkey's Aya Sofia Mosque in Istanbul.

The 200-ton structure was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006, after the Naqsh-e-Jahan square, Persepolis, Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat, Takht-e-Soleiman, Pasargadae, and Bam citadel.

Tehran students A-H1N1 infection under control

Education officials in Tehran have succeeded in bringing A-H1N1 flu virus under control in schools and dropping the number of infected students from 17 to 6.

“Following the infection of a number of students with swine flu, and identification of some suspected cases, the education organization of the Iranian capital Tehran started to collect data from across the city,” a health expert in Tehran Education Organization said.

“Education Organization of Tehran city has held instructive classes for school staffs and parents to teach various prevention methods to fight swine flu pandemic,” Mahboubeh Abtahi added.

“The measures taken by the organization resulted in a significant decrease in the number of infected students from 17 to 6,” she added.

“Prevention is the best cure and the best preventive steps are frequent hand-washing and covering one's mouth when coughing or sneezing,” she continued.

The H1N1 influenza virus, which originated in Mexico, can be prevented by maintaining strength in one's immune system by making healthy food choices, drinking enough water, and washing hands several times during the day.

Swine flu has claimed the lives of 58 people across Iran as the national tally of infections passes 2660, the latest report by the country's Health Ministry said.

Chavez: US to use bases in Colombia for spying

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has renewed his criticism of the US-Colombia military pact, accusing Washington of using its bases there for spying.

On Sunday, Chavez once again slammed a recently signed defense accord between Washington and Bogota, which would give the US access to military bases in Colombia.

Washington and Bogota claim that their defense agreement is aimed at regional narcoterrorism.

However the Venezuelan leader dismissed the allegations, saying that according to recently produced documents, the military bases would be used for espionage purposes, allowing US troops there to launch a military offensive against Venezuela.

Chavez also stressed that he would not accept international mediation to ease tensions between Venezuela and Colombia.

His comments come two days after Chavez ordered his military to prepare for possible war with Colombia in case Washington attempted to provoke one.

Under the US-Colombia pact signed in late October, a maximum of 800 US military personnel and 600 contractors are to be deployed in Colombia. Prior to the deal, there were anywhere from 71 to 210 US military officers in the country.

Most Latin American states view the US military presence in Colombia as a direct threat to peace and stability in the region.

Iran's first lady raps Israel over oppressing Gaza women

The wife of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks out to keep alive the memory of Palestinian women and children suffering from a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Iranian First Lady Azam Farahi urged world countries to take seriously the crisis in the Gaza strip, where according to UN reports, over one million people are living in abject poverty in the wake of a long-imposed crippling economic siege and a devastating Israeli offensive.

"The World needs to hear the voice of Palestinian women and children," said Farahi in a Sunday address to a meeting between the first ladies of countries that are members to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Chaired by Suzanne Sabet, the wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the meeting took place on the eve of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) summit on food security.

Farahi said the Israeli regime has no right to continue its crippling siege on Gaza, which has triggered a steady deterioration of health conditions in the coastal territory.

Israel's stranglehold on Gaza has made as much as 80% of Gazan residents dependent on aid from the United Nations. The siege has led to the collapse of 90% of Gazan businesses, simply furthering hardships for civilians.

Hamas criticizes PA attempt to seek UN recognition of statehood

Gaza City - Hamas rejected Monday a Palestinian suggestion to seek UN Security Council support for unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Such a declaration would have no meaning and was merely an attempt by the rival Palestinian camp of President Mahmoud Abbas to pretend it had an alternative to faltering peace negotiations, other than armed struggle, said the radical Islamist movement controlling Gaza.

"This move is not a meaningful declaration. It simply aims at escaping the benefits of resistance against the (Israeli) occupation," Salah al-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas leader based in Gaza, said in a statement sent to journalists.

"Instead of threatening to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state to be established in the air, we should work on liberating the occupied territories and end the current internal (Palestinian) division," said al-Bardaweel.

Declaring a state "in the air on 20 per cent of the Palestinian land, which would be rejected by the world," was not the solution, he argued. Rather, Palestinians should focus on their own "ability to liberate the land."

A unilateral declaration of statehood had already been made by late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1988, he pointed out. If it had to be done again, rather than declaring one in the West Bank and Gaza only, "why not to declare a Palestinian state from the sea (Mediterranean) to the river (of Jordan)?" al-Bardaweel asked.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat caused a stir Sunday when he told Israel Army Radio the Palestinians were "fed up" with the Israeli "foot-dragging" in reaching a negotiated peace agreement and that they might ask the UN to support a unilateral declaration of independence.

Such a step is seen as largely symbolic as the United States would likely veto any vote of support in the Security Council. It is also seen as a tactic to pressure Israel, and comes at a time when the moderate Abbas is facing criticism at home that he chose the path of negotiations, which had thus far failed to deliver.

Palestinians are also disappointed with the US administration of President Barack Obama over its failure to pressure Israel into accepting a total freeze of Israeli construction in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Abbas has made such an absolute freeze a precondition for reviving peace talks with the Israeli government of hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who took office seven months ago following new elections.

Jordanian children enjoy sports

Children in Jordan are getting into the sporting spirit with the help of the London 2012 Olympics. A project called Intentional Inspiration has invested millions of dollars in sport to help disabled and displaced children, as well as teenage girls.

The project uses sport to promote gender equality and social inclusion of marginalized children. The International Inspiration is a partnership between UK Sport, the British Council, UNICEF and the 2012 London Olympic organizing committee.

When London won its bid to host the 2012 Olympics, the organizers promised to change the lives of 12 million children in 20 countries in 2012.

Kuwait, Morocco and Jordan Purchase Raytheon AMRAAM-120C-7 Advanced Air-to-Air Missile

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates | The U.S. government executed separate Letters of Offer and Acceptance with three of its key allies to purchase Raytheon Company's (NYSE: RTN) AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM).

The three countries, in the order they signed their LOAs, are Kuwait, Morocco and Jordan.

"The AIM-120C-7 provides unparalleled air combat and air defense capabilities," said Col. Michael Andersen, commander of the U.S. Air Force's 328th Armament Systems Group. "By equipping our allies with the AIM-120C-7 through the Foreign Military Sales program, the U.S. government strengthens regional security and promotes coalition interoperability."

The three countries will receive an undisclosed quantity of missiles for use in both air-to-air and air defense missions.

"No other missile in production or in development can match AMRAAM for lethality, reliability and overall affordability for the entire life cycle of the missile," said Jim Knox, Raytheon's AMRAAM program director. "AMRAAM, in both the air-to-air and surface-launch applications, is the weapon of choice to protect the people, critical infrastructure and resources of our Arab allies."

AMRAAM gives the warfighter flexibility because it can be quickly transferred from a fighter aircraft to a missile launcher to fulfill its air defense role. Using one missile for two critical missions gives the warfighter a cost-effective logistics and maintenance solution.

AIM-120C-7 has been integrated on the F-16, F-15, F/A-18, Typhoon and the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. It is also the baseline missile for the U.S. Army's Surface Launched-AMRAAM and the NATO-approved Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System.

AMRAAM has more than 1.7 million captive-carry hours and more than 2,400 live firings.

Background information

Raytheon's AMRAAM program provides more than 1,000 jobs in Andover, Mass., Farmington, N.M., McKinney, Texas., and Tucson, Ariz.,

Scores of Raytheon suppliers associated with the AMRAAM program provide employment to hundreds of people across the U.S.

Egypt launches Arabic web domain

Egypt will open the world's first Arabic language internet domain, its communications minister has said.

Tarek Kamel said the new domain name would be ".masr" written in the Arabic alphabet. It translates as ".Egypt".

"It is a great moment for us... The internet now speaks Arabic," Mr Kamel said.

Last month, internet regulator Icann voted to allow non-Latin web addresses. Domain names can now be written in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts.

Mr Kamel, who was speaking at the start of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) being held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, said a formal announcement would be made on Monday.

Registration for addresses with the .masr ending would begin at midnight (2200 GMT), he said.

'Astonishing'

He said the new domain would "offer new avenues for innovation, investment and growth" in the Arabic-speaking world.

Egypt currently has 15 million internet users out of a total population of 80 million.

But international rights groups have warned of heavy government censorship inside the country, with several bloggers and political dissidents being arrested for "security reasons".

On Sunday the Reporters Without Borders group criticized the choice of Egypt as venue for the IGF, saying it was "astonishing" that a government openly hostile to internet users had been assigned its organization.

The forum, set up by the UN, is being attended by more than 1,000 participants including government ministers, businesspeople and net luminaries.

Chavez to 'seed' clouds with rain

By Frank Jack Daniel, Reuters

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says he will join a team of Cuban scientists on flights to "bomb clouds" to create rain amid a severe drought that has aroused public anger due to water and electricity rationing.

Chavez, who has asked Venezuelans to take three-minute showers to save water, said the Cubans had arrived in Venezuela and were preparing to fly specially equipped aircraft above the Orinoco river.

"I'm going in a plane; any cloud that crosses me, I'll zap it so that it rains," Chavez said at a ceremony late on Saturday with family members of five Cubans convicted of spying in the United States.

Many countries have programs aimed at altering weather patterns, commonly known as cloud seeding, although the effectiveness of such techniques is disputed.

Firing silver iodine at clouds is one common method. China uses rockets loaded with the chemical to spur rainfall in arid regions. Chavez did not say what technology the Cubans will use.

Venezuela has suffered water and electricity shortages this month after a drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon led to critically low water levels at several reservoirs in the oil-exporting nation.

The government has been criticized for poor planning after it was forced to impose strict water rationing in the capital Caracas and power rationing in other parts of the country.

Venezuela produces much of its electricity from hydroelectric projects, including the giant El Guri dam close to the Orinoco.

Chavez provides Cuba with subsidized oil and is a close friend of the communist island's former leader Fidel Castro.

Chavez said Castro was in excellent health and invited the Cuban to participate in a trade conference he is hosting next month in Havana. Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery in 2006.

Jordan's Trade deficit narrows

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The trade deficit narrowed by 22.9 per cent in the first nine months of this year to JD3,928.8 million compared to JD5,095.9 million in the same period of last year.

The decline was due to lower imports and exports by almost similar percentages with total exports (national and reexports) down by 20.5 per cent from JD4,246.1 million during January-September 2008 to JD3,374.6 million at the end of September 2009. The decline in exports covered garments, medicines, potash, fertilizers and phosphate.

Petroleum, electronics, seeds, iron were among the imports that dropped despite an increase in the imports of vehicles and motorcycles and spare parts.

Jordan Trains Saudi Defense Personnel

AMMAN [MENL] -- Jordan has begun training defense personnel from Saudi Arabia.

The state-owned Jordan Advanced Machining Co. has conducted a training course for the Saudi defense industry in the Hashemite kingdom. JAM, part of the King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau, of KADDB, instructed the Saudi employees from the Military Industries Corp. on machine skills, particularly CNC milling and turning machines.

China considers Kashmir a disputed territory

NEW DELHI (India): In occupied Kashmir, China has said that Jammu and Kashmir is a dispute between Pakistan and India, which should be resolved by both the countries through peaceful dialogue process, reports KMS.

The Press Secretary of Chinese Embassy Zou Yonghong talking to media men on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi justified Chinese action of issuing stapled visas to the residents of the occupied territory saying that China considers Kashmir a disputed territory.

Commenting on the travel advisory by India to consider the stapled visas as invalid for visit to China, she said that the issuing of stapled visas was not a new procedure rather it was in place for several years and many countries were exercising the same practice.

It may be mentioned here that a large number of businessmen and professionals hailing from the occupied territory have been suffering since the visa controversy has started.

Moderate Kashmiri separate leader demands India to disarm village defense committees

SRINAGAR, India-controlled Kashmir, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference of India-controlled Kashmir, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, on Saturday demanded Indian authorities to disarm Village Defense Committees (VDCs) in the region.

Mirwaiz, who has been currently touring the Jammu province of the region since Friday, urged upon the local government to dissolve the force and ensure their disarming for they were a cause of fear and insecurity among the Muslim population.

"Creation of VDCs amounts to using one community against another. People complained to us that the VDC members go to any extent in the name of fighting militancy. We ask the government to take a serious note of the sufferings of the people and respond by dissolving VDCs," said Mirwaiz while addressing a gathering in this hilly district of Kishtwar.

Indian army and paramilitary troopers fighting militancy in the region raised a force known as VDCs in mid-1990s to curb the militant influence and their free movement in the hilly regions. The aim was to get vital information about the presence militants and counter their attacks.

The VDC members were trained locally and equipped with weapons and wireless sets to counter militant attacks and assist Indian army and paramilitary troopers in cornering them.

There has been instances when VDCs were accused of indulging inhuman rights violations.

So far 131 VDC members have been killed by militants, says police.

Mirwaiz's faction is these days engaged in getting all the separatist groups on board in order to enter into a dialogue process with New Delhi.

However, the group failed to rope in the region's hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani in their first meeting.

The faction in the past held several rounds of talks with New Delhi during the tenure of governments headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

In 2004, the group backed off from the dialogue process after couple of rounds accusing New Delhi of resorting to non-seriousness and delaying technique.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/15/content_12458144.htm.

Two convicted rapists hanged in western Iran

Tehran - Two convicted rapists were hanged in western Iran, the Tehran daily Kayhan reported Sunday. The two men, aged 20 and 25, had last year kidnapped an 8-year-old girl, raped and killed her and put the body in a sack under a bridge, the report said.

The two were hanged on Thursday in the city of Hamedan after their initial death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court.

Murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking of quantities in excess of 5 kilograms are among crimes punishable by death in Iran.

Somalia: Is Puntland Drifting Towards Collapse?

HARGEISA, 15 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Puntland president, Abdirahman Mohamud Farole, is facing security challenges that his predecessors did not face.

President Farole was in Kenya and having a photo-op with American Embassy officials in Nairobi when a judge and a member of Puntland people’s assembly were murdered in Bosaso and Garowe respectively.

A hand grenade was thrown into Punt land’s local government offices in Galka’yo in the same day. Almost two weeks ago the Puntland president asked people in Puntland to trust in the ability of his government’s security forces to deal with mounting insecurity and violence in Puntland. Without having solid evidence president of Puntland implied that people coming from other parts of Somalia and Somali populated territories in Ethiopia endanger Puntland security.

Two migrants die, 11 missing after leaving Algeria

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian coast guards recovered the corpses of two migrants while a surveillance aircraft and a helicopter search for eleven others who were still missing, official news agency APS reported on Sunday.

The 13 were among a group of 21 migrants trying to reach Europe when their two boats capsized on Saturday morning off the of the western province of Chlef, APS said, citing a statement by the country's navy.

The coast guards rescued one migrant while seven others managed to swim shore.

In a similar incident, twenty other migrants aged between 17 and 29 years were rescued late on Saturday near the eastern city of Annaba.

Official figures show that 1,500 Algerians were arrested in 2007 for trying to illegally leave the north African country for Europe.

Battle of Omdurman: Egypt or Algeria, the Sudanese called to choose

15 November, 2009

KHARTOUM - "Pharaohs" or "Fennec"? The Sudanese are expected to choose their sides in the context of Egypt-Algeria decisive match Wednesday for the qualification to the World cup-2010 which is one of the most important meetings to be held in the country in nearly 40 years.

*
This historic meeting will be more scrutinized than the Saturday night match won by Egypt in Cairo (2-0) before 70,000 spectators, which has been marred by violence against the Algerian team and fans respectively before and after the match.

At the end of Egypt-Algeria match, Emad Meteab has brought joy to tens of thousands of Sudanese addicted to football by scoring the second goal of the "Pharaohs", synonymous to the decisive match in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, on the Nile West Bank.

But if the celebrations were upbeat in Egyptian cafes in Khartoum, the bet remain open on the allegiance of the Sudanese.

"I hope that Algeria will win," said Ahmed, a supporter of the Sudanese club Al-Merreikh which stadium of some 40,000 seats will host the match on Wednesday.

"I think the Sudanese are going to support Egypt because both countries have historical relations. Also, it was Egypt who requested that the match be played in Sudan", said Abdelmajid Abdelraziq, director of sports pages of the great Sudanese newspaper "al-rayy al-aam (public opinion).

"Despite these reasons, there will be many supporters of Algeria", he added.

5 to 10,000 Algerian supporters
--------------------
The Algerian supporters rushed to the offices of Air Algeria, which will allow 5,000 to 10,000 people, attend the meeting.

Moreover, if Cairo is a traditional ally of Khartoum, relations between the two countries bordering the Nile do not flow from the source, the Sudanese who sometimes feel disrespected by Egyptian cousins.

Egypt of Mohammed Ali Pasha had colonized Sudan in 1820 on behalf of the Ottoman Empire, marking the beginning of the period of "Turkiyya" which the "Mahdi", a famous Sudanese Muslim revolutionary ended in 1885.

In Khartoum, "we will feel at home. Sudan is a friendly country; we will not be greeted with stones as in Cairo, declared to a public Algerian radio President of the Algerian Football Federation (FAF), Mohamed Raouraoua.

"All is not lost: there is the rendezvous of Khartoum, a neutral ground, away from the insults and malicious acts, cheap shots and dirty tricks," stated the editor of the Algerian newspaper Liberte, in reference to the overflows in Cairo.


Heat
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But Gasim Khalid, of the sports newspaper al-Hilal of Sudan, expressed an opposite view.

»fans will support the Egyptians who will play in Sudan as if they were in Cairo. There will be no difference," he predicts.

Both teams will arrive Sunday in Khartoum, said a senior official of the Sudanese Federation of football. "The security teams will be as in any other international match," he said.

Sudan, the largest African country, has never participated in a final phase of the World Cup. But the qualifying games for the World Cup are held regularly in Khartoum, and Sudan won at home the African Cup of Nations (CAN) in 1970.

Hostility, Wednesday, could ultimately come down to the weather; heat is still raging on the Sudanese capital.

Source: Ennahar.
Link: http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/sports/2437.html.

32 injured after Egypt-Algeria match

Thirty-two people, including 20 Algerians, were injured in clashes in and around Cairo after a crunch World Cup football qualifier between Egypt and Algeria, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

Ministry spokesman Abderrahman Shahin, quoted by Egypt's state news agency MENA, said 12 Egyptians and 20 Algerians were injured in central Cairo and in Giza, near the capital, on Saturday night.

Twenty-nine of them have been discharged while the three others are in "stable condition," said Shahin.

On Saturday, an official with the security services told AFP that three Algerian supporters were lightly injured on leaving the stadium in Nasr City, a suburb of Cairo.

Trouble flared after the game when a group of Egyptian fans stoned buses ferrying Algerian fans away from the stadium, an AFP journalist said. Three Algerian players were injured when stones were also hurled at their bus.

Cairo newspapers earlier feted Egypt's home team and their supporters after the Pharoahs beat Algeria's Desert Foxes, keeping alive their hopes of qualification for next year's World Cup finals in South Africa.

Jordan reports new swine flu death, to start vaccination Tuesday

Amman - A 20-year-old pregnant woman on Sunday became Jordan's 11th swine flu fatality, according to Health Minister Nayef al-Fayez. "This is why the ministry will target pregnant women as one of the high-risk groups in the vaccination campaign against the H1N1 virus due to kick off on Tuesday," al-Fayez said at a press conference.

He reported the discovery of 143 swine flue cases over the past four days that raised to 2,747 the accumulative number of people testing positive to the H1N1 virus so far.

The minister said that 85 of those who had contracted the disease were still receiving medical treatment at hospitals.

He pointed out that 500 Jordanian pilgrims were the first batch to take vaccines before their departure to Saudi Arabia on Monday.

The vaccination campaign due to start on Tuesday "will be voluntary and not compulsory," he added.

The high-risk groups to be targeted in the first vaccination stage will include about 30,000 women in the third trimester of their pregnancy, children between six months and three years of age, 3,100 people suffering from kidney failure and some 10,000 people with severe asthma, he added.

In addition, vaccines have been also allocated for medical staff who work directly with swine flue patients, while some civil defense and public security personnel will also be inoculated, al-Fayez said.

"The limited quantity of vaccines we have obtained so far makes it imperative for us to target these groups in the first stage of the vaccination campaign," he added.

He pointed out that Jordan so far received 100,000 vaccines and expected 12,000 more to arrive this week, while about 1 million doses would be received before the end of the year.

Hundreds of doses of H1N1 vaccine discarded in Canada due to 24-hour shelf life

HALIFAX, N.S. - Some health authorities across the country have tossed out hundreds of doses of the swine flu vaccine because of miscalculations over how many of the time-sensitive dosages are needed at community clinics.

Officials at some of the larger health districts, including Toronto and Halifax, say they have thrown out about one per cent of the total vaccine they've administered because of the dosages' 24-hour shelf life.

In Toronto, that means close to 500 doses of the adjuvanted vaccine have been disposed of even as people remain shut out of the priority groups entitled to receive the shot.

Spain to install 8.8 GW of renewable energy to 2012

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain plans to bring 8.8 gigawatts of renewable energy generating capacity onstream in 2010-2012, 5.3 GW of which will be wind power and 1.5 GW will be from solar mirrors, the government said on Friday.

Spain's industry ministry has completed the approval of a flood of renewable energy projects it received over the summer, and approved projects will qualify for lucrative subsidies set in 2007, an Industry Ministry spokesman said.

"There could be a few appeals from developers who were not approved, but basically the process is finished and covers installations for the next three years," the spokesman said.

In the case of mirror plants, the government has also approved a further 540 megawatts of power to be brought on stream in 2013, which will give Spain 2.4 GW of generating capacity and make it a world leader in this technology.

British troops in Afghanistan get first batch of helicopters

London, Nov. 16 (New Kerala): The first batch of RAF helicopters has arrived in Afghanistan for British troops stationed there.

The RAF Merlin helicopters have been dispatched to address the acute shortage of aircrafts that was being blamed for the rising toll of deaths and injuries to British soldiers.

Dispatched from RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, the aircrafts are being reassembled at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, the Independent reports.

The first batch will be flying within weeks, with the full complement of six to be operational by the end of the year.

Capable of carrying up to 20 people, the Merlins will be used to ferry troops and equipment, reducing the number of land convoys, which have been repeatedly hit by the Taliban.

Roadside bombs account for more than 80 per cent of recent British and Nato casualties.

Before dying, Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, the most senior British officer to die in Afghanistan, complained about his soldiers having to risk road moves because of the shortage of aircraft.

The Disastrous Presidency of Mahmoud Abbas

by Rannie Amiri

After five long years, and at great expense to a state hoped-to-be-called Palestine, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has finally realized that subservience to the United States and Israel pays little in dividends. Indeed, what he has done to the cause of Palestine, the unity of its people, and the advancement of their rights has been nothing short of unmitigated disaster.

Last week, Abbas said he would not seek re-election in polls scheduled for January 2010. His resignation however, was quickly rejected by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and as of today, no one has announced their intent to run in his place.

In truth, many consider the move a tactic to exert additional pressure on the Obama administration, especially after Abbas’ demand for an Israeli settlement freeze prior to talks went largely ignored.

It came, after all, on the heels of Secretary of State Clinton’s meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, in which she rewarded Abbas for his years of servility with the following humiliating statement:

“What the Prime Minister has offered in specifics of restraint on the policy of settlements ... is unprecedented.”

Nevertheless, a host of regional leaders publicly urged him to stay on as president (the list of which is quite telling): Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and President Shimon Peres (who referred to him as “my old friend”). As quoted by the Ynet news website, an Israeli state official candidly stated, “It's an Israeli interest to have Abbas stay in office.”

Because elections are unlikely to be held if Abbas chooses not to run, it may be that he remains the de facto president regardless (lest we forget, his four-year term already expired in January of 2009, but was unilaterally extended for an additional year). This appears increasingly probable since the Palestinian election commission just announced their recommendation that the January 24 ballot be postponed. Even if Abbas were to step down, the complicated political bureaucracy still leaves him as head of both the PLO and Fatah, ensuring he remains highly influential.

Broken Leadership, Broken Country

Despite the logistical challenges of occupation, Palestinians took it upon themselves to hold free and fair parliamentary elections in January 2006. The winner was the Islamist group Hamas, which, to the chagrin of the self-entitled Fatah faction, earned them the right to form a government. Tensions between the two groups quickly came to a head though, after Abbas called on Hamas to not only accept a two-state solution, but recognize Israel’s “right to exist.”

In Abbas, Israel found a valuable partner; one who was willing to compel fellow Palestinians to accept conditions to which Israel itself has never agreed.

Hamas did form a unity government, including in it members of Hamas, Fatah and independents. But in their ongoing dispute, Abbas dissolved this government in the summer of 2007, and (illegally) appointed Salam Fayyad as prime minister. This eventually led to the outbreak of violence in Gaza, the expulsion of Fatah forces from the territory and a fracture in the Palestinian leadership that persists to this day.

Sitting comfortably in Cairo, it was Abbas who blamed Hamas for Israel’s savage December 2008 assault on Gaza, adopting the Israeli strategy of blaming the victim. Under a crippling siege prohibiting the most basic of humanitarian supplies, and one that left many of Gaza’s children malnourished or starving, Israel indiscriminately attacked militants and civilians alike; firing at those waving white flags of surrender and despair, using white phosphorus in densely populated areas, and striking at U.N.-operated schools and food warehouses.

Then came the report by Justice Richard Goldstone, head of the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. Bowing as he always has to U.S. pressure, and hoping to curry favor with the Americans and Israelis, Abbas shamefully asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to shelve discussion of it and its allegations of Israeli war crimes. Evoking outrage even amongst his supporters, the decision was eventually reversed.

Symbolic of his behavior over the past five years, Abbas’ stance on the Goldstone Report brought to the fore the embarrassment and shame many Palestinians have long felt over his actions. Capitulation to Presidents Bush and Obama, and Israeli Prime Ministers Sharon, Olmert and Netanyahu, has only led to the unabated expropriation of Palestinian land and progressively worse relations between the rival elected and appointed governments.

Though it appears doubtful the quisling Abbas will actually resign, its mere suggestion should still be cause for celebration among Palestinians. Even if it ultimately does not come to pass – at least for now – let them rejoice.

Poland and the H1N1 Flu: Calm and unvaccinated

A/H1N1 in Poland

by Martyna Olik

Despite vocal criticism and an outbreak in Ukraine, the Polish government doesn't plan to buy the A/H1N1 vaccine.

Despite a serious outbreak of swine flu in neighboring Ukraine, the Polish government played it cool last week. Polish Health Minister Ewa Kopacz announced that she was not planning to stock up on swine-flu vaccine until it had been properly tested.

"The A/H1N1 vaccine is being produced by three companies, none of which has been able to assess its long-term effects. Their testing lasted a relatively short amount of time. It is not known whether [the vaccine] is safe for children and pregnant women," the health minister explained at a press conference last week.

Critics of the minister's decision expressed surprise that the European Commission's clearance of three of the swine-flu vaccines for distribution in early October had not been enough to win her trust. Nor was the World Health Organization's October 30 recommendation of the vaccines, including for pregnant women. Vaccinations, meanwhile, have already begun in France, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic.

At the same time, there seems to be little cause for panic. Many specialists have stressed that the swine flu virus is in fact more benign than seasonal flu. According to Poland's National Institute of Public Health, 193 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Poland to date, with no deaths.

"There are currently eight cases of A/H1N1 in Warsaw," Wiesław Rozbicki, spokesperson for the Voivodship Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Warsaw, told WBJ. Cases of swine flu are expected to become more common between January and March.

The situation across the border

In Ukraine, the swine flu outbreak caused nationwide panic – schools were closed, travel restricted and public meetings banned. Although conflicting assessments abounded, a late-week statement by Ukrainian authorities put the number of registered cases of flu at 478,000, with 81-87 deaths. The government had had problems determining how many of these were actually swine flu; there were 17 confirmed cases of A/H1N1, with four deaths.

Although the WHO has not recommended the closure of borders or travel restrictions to Ukraine, calling these ineffective measures, Slovakia closed two pedestrian crossings with Ukraine and introduced medical check-points at others.

Polish PM Donald Tusk called on the European Union to help Ukraine fight A/H1N1 last week. "The character of this threat demands that rapid action be undertaken at the EU level," Mr Tusk wrote in a letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

Young Israeli women follow their consciences into prison

November 13, 2009

TEL AVIV // When most Israeli girls her age are planning how they will spend the time after their mandatory two-year stint in the armed forces, Emelia Markovitch, 19, is considering a spell in jail.

The 19-year-old high school graduate has refused to serve in the Israel Defense Forces because she does not agree with the country’s continued occupation of Palestinian lands. But that decision will land her in prison.

"I am afraid. I don’t know what will happen there," she said.

Ms Markovitch said she felt being jailed for her moral convictions was an "insult".

However, she is not alone.

In October, 88 youngsters – some still enrolled in school, some recent graduates – sent a letter to Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, Ehud Barak, the defense minister, and the IDF’s chief of staff, Gaby Ashkenazi, stating their refusal to serve in the armed forces.

Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza created an "unbearable actuality for Palestinians in the occupied territories". And it will not achieve peace, their letter said.

"There is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – only peace will ensure life and security for Jews and Arabs in this country."

Ms Markovitch, whose family emigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union when she was an infant, also signed the letter.

She said that when she received her first letter from the army while still in high school about her upcoming service, she realized how little she knew about the IDF and the occupation. "I started to look for information," she said. "I did research. And I decided I didn’t want to take part in it."

She went before the Conscientious Objection Committee, the army body that sometimes grants enlistees a discharge due to moral objections. "They said no," Ms Markovitch recalled, but offered her a position as a secretary within the Israeli army.

"You can’t talk about pacificism to officers."

Because the IDF does not acknowledge draft-dodgers, Ms Markovitch, technically, has not been released from duty.

When she fails to report for duty in February, she will receive anywhere from one to four weeks in jail for refusing an order.

After she completes her sentence, she is likely to receive another order, which she will again disregard – and that means more time in jail.

This can go on for two years, the amount of time young, non-religious women are expected to serve.

Haggai Matar of New Profile, a local non-governmental agency that advocates the demilitarization of Israeli society, estimates that only 50 per cent of eligible Israeli men complete their mandatory service – 25 per cent of those do not ever join while another 25 per cent drop out within a year. Less than half of eligible Israeli women complete their service according to Mr Matar.

Official numbers, however, are hard to come by as the IDF does not recognise those who refuse, and conscription rates are confidential. Academics and pro-peace groups estimate that as many as 700 people have been sent to jail for refusing to serve over the past 20 years.

But Israeli pacifists are finding other ways to opt out of military service, such as claiming psychological or other medical problems. Religion, too, has provided a way out for conscientious objectors.

Young men who study at religious institutions are automatically released from service. And Israeli girls need only to claim religious observance to be set free from the army, which many more have been doing.

In 1991, 21 per cent of women avoided service on religious grounds, according to army figures; last year the figure was 36 per cent, even though overall only around 20 per cent of Israelis classify themselves as religious.

The army, however, appears to be cottoning on, and last year launched a surveillance operation to try to catch out girls who claim to be orthodox. Since then, 520 young women have been caught kissing, a taboo for unmarried religious women, and bar-hopping, or driving on the Sabbath.

Mr Matar said the slowly thinning ranks, which have been dropping steadily since the 1990s, are "threatening" to the army. He points to the recent criminal investigation of New Profile – which provides information to young Israelis and counseling to draft dodgers – as evidence of an army that feels insecure about its ability to keep its numbers up.

Doing time in the IDF is a rite of passage – an entry card to society. But for many Israelis, the increasingly right-wing policies of their government has tarnished the cachet of serving with the armed forces.

Ms Markovich expects serious social repercussions from her decision, including difficulties finding work as many employers do not want to hire those who have not served.

Her neighbors have even threatened her with a lawsuit because she mentioned her hometown in a media interview.

"We are seen as traitors," Ms Markovich said.

Yaara Shafrir, 17, said her family has been supportive of her decision to refuse to serve, but some of her friends were confused by her choice to do so on moral grounds.

"They can’t see why I chose such a difficult way to get a discharge," Ms Shafrir said. Most of her friends opted out of the army by claiming medical exemptions.

Ms Shafrir, who will go before the Conscientious Objection Committee in February, feels that publicly refusing army service is a small step in the process of improving Israel.

"I don’t see myself as standing apart from society, as a viewer – we’re a part of society, so we’re a part of the change."

There have been many refusal movements in Israel’s history.

The first came in the early 1970s as "a reaction to the endless skirmishes in the Sinai and the Israeli government’s rejection of the Egyptian peace offer," according to Gadi Algazi, a historian and social activist.

As early as 1979 – 12 years into the occupation – young Israelis, concerned about participating in the repression of Palestinians, began refusing to serve in the territories.

Spikes have also occurred in times of war, such as the handful of soldiers who refused to participate in Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s winter offensive against Gaza.

And it is not always the students who are refusing to serve.

Some, like Tom Mehager, a former artillery commander, make the decision later in life.

Mr Mehager is a member of Courage to Refuse, a 500-strong organization of reserve soldiers and officers who have publicly spoken out against the occupation.

Reservists too can find themselves behind bars if they refuse to report for duty – as approximately 200 members of Courage to Refuse, including Mr Mehager, have done.

For Mr Mehager, it was while he was on reserve duty in the West Bank in 2003, and asked to man a roadblock which the army had imposed on a village after a Palestinian man allegedly murdered an Israeli settler.

The decision was crystal clear," Mr Mehager, then 26, recalled. "I refused. And I spent four weeks in a military jail."

Militants attack police in south Afghanistan

By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Police officials in southern Afghanistan say militants have attacked a police checkpoint in the violent province of Kandahar overnight, killing at least three policemen and wounding another six.

The police criminal director of Kandahar, Pashton Moamand, says the attack occurred overnight and that three policemen were killed and six wounded.

However, a local police official from the Argandab district where the attack occurred had a higher death toll. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said eight policemen were killed and three seriously wounded.

He said a group of militants attacked the checkpoint from three sides with gunfire and grenades at about 2 a.m. Monday, and then fled.

Authorities are searching the area for the attackers.

UN summit to highlight need for agricultural aid

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer

ROME – For the third time in less than a decade, a U.N. food summit will grapple with what so far has been an elusive goal — slashing the number of the world's hungry.

Pope Benedict XVI will be among the opening speakers Monday, adding his moral authority to what U.N. officials hope will be a solid start to a new strategy to help poor countries to produce enough to feed their own.

One in six people on the planet is now hungry, U.N. officials say.

So far, helping the world's hungry has largely entailed wealthy nations sending food assistance rather than technology, irrigation help, fertilizer or high-yield seed that could assist local farmers, livestock herders and fishermen. Much of this food assistance is purchased from the wealthy nations' own farmers.

But the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, which is hosting this week's gathering at its Rome headquarters, says the best way to stop hunger is to help the needy help themselves.

The three-day summit is being held at a time "when the international community recognizes it has neglected agriculture for many years," the Rome-based agency said Sunday. "Sustained investment in agriculture — especially small-holder agriculture — is acknowledged as the key to food security."

U.N. officials point to villages in Kenya, Pakistan and Haiti to show this is possible.

In one Kenyan village, for example, an irrigation project is credited with not only reducing hunger there, but also allowing farmers to produce enough rice to sell surplus to the U.N. World Food Agency to help feed African's hungry.

Past U.N. food summits have so far failed to meet their stated goals, including to halve the number of the world's hungry by 2015. The June 2008 summit focused on how climate change and soaring food prices were undermining food security.

A draft declaration for this week's summit would commit world leaders to increase agricultural development aid. But it does not include a 2025 deadline for eradicating hunger — a goal sought by the United Nations. Also missing are money commitments, such as the $44 billion in yearly agricultural aid that FAO says will be needed in coming decades.

But "money alone will not solve the problem," said the international aid agency Oxfam. It suggested Sunday that the U.N. could drastically reduce the 24,000 hunger-related deaths tallied daily around the globe if it was allowed by countries to coordinate their various initiatives.

The London-based think tank International Policy Network complained that the "real causes of hunger and food insecurity" are trade restrictions. The think tank noted that, despite past summit commitments to slash the number of hungry, "there are more hungry people now than in 2002 when they held their first summit."

Obama to China: Uncensored Internet is healthy

By CHARLES HUTZLER, Associated Press Writer

SHANGHAI – President Barack Obama gave China a pointed, unexpected nudge to stop censoring the Internet access of its own people, offering an animated defense of the tool that helped him win the White House — and telling his tightly controlled hosts not to be wary of a little criticism.

"I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable," Obama said Monday in a town hall with students during his first-ever trip to China. "They can begin to think for themselves."

Just hours ahead of talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Obama tried to find a political balance, couching his admonitions with words of cooperation, praise and American humility. He said few global challenges can be solved unless the world's only superpower and its rising competitor work together, and he insisted: "We do not seek to contain China's rise."

But in his opening statement and in answers to the wide-ranging discussion with university students, Obama spoke bluntly about the benefits of individual freedoms in a place known for limiting them.

"We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation," Obama said. Then he added that freedom of expression and worship, unfettered access to information and unrestricted political participation are not principles held by the United States; instead, he called them "universal rights."

The line offered echoes of Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, who often talked of the "universality of freedom." Obama talked at length about the Internet, which he said helped him win the presidency because it allowed for the mobilization of young people like those in his audience in Shanghai.

"I'm a big supporter of non-censorship," Obama said. "I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet — or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged."

Given where Obama was speaking, such a comment carried strong implications. And he appeared to be talking directly to China's leaders when he said that he believes free discussion, including criticism that he sometimes finds annoying, makes him "a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don't want to hear."

China has more than 250 million Internet users and employs some of the world's tightest controls over what they see. The country is often criticized for having the so-called "Great Firewall of China," which refers to technology designed to prevent unwanted traffic from entering or leaving a network.

Obama's town hall was not broadcast live across China on television. It was shown on local Shanghai TV and streamed online on two big national Internet portals, but the quality was choppy and hard to hear.

Obama is in the midst of a weeklong Asia trip. He came with a vast agenda of security, economic and environmental concerns, although always looming was how Obama would deal with human rights while in China.

The president left Shanghai for Beijing, where was to spend Monday night.

His China visit features the only sightseeing of his journey. He will visit the Forbidden City, home of former emperors in Beijing, and the centuries-old Great Wall outside of the city. Aides have learned that finding some tourist time calms and energize their boss amid the grueling schedule of an international trip.

U.S. ambassador Jon Huntsman called Obama's event the first ever town-hall meeting held by a U.S. president in China. Yet former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also spoke to students and took questions from them during stops in China.

China is a huge and lucrative market for American goods and services, and yet it has a giant trade surplus with the U.S. that, like a raft of other economic issues, is a bone of contention between the two governments. The two militaries have increased their contacts, but clashes still happen and the United States remains worried about a dramatic buildup in what is already the largest standing army in the world.

Amid all that, Obama has adopted a pragmatic approach that stresses the positive, sometimes earning him criticism for being too soft on Beijing — particularly in the area of human rights abuses and what the United States regards as an undervalued Chinese currency that disadvantages U.S. products.

The two nations are working together more than ever on battling global warming, but they still differ deeply over hard targets for reductions in the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause it. China has supported sterner sanctions to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but it still balks at getting more aggressive about reining in Iran's uranium enrichment.

Obama recognizes that a rising China, as the world's third-largest economy — on its way to becoming the second — and the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, has shifted the dynamic more toward one of equals. For instance, Chinese questions about how Washington spending policies will affect the already soaring U.S. deficit and the safety of Chinese investments now must be answered by Washington.

The White House hoped Monday's town hall meeting with Chinese university students would allow Obama to telegraph U.S. values — through its successes and failures — to the widest Chinese audience possible.

But those hopes had their limits in communist-ruled China.

Iran media plans stir talk of elite force at helm

By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The portfolio of Iran's Revolutionary Guard keeps on growing. Its troops watch over nuclear facilities, its rocket scientists enlarge Iran's missile arsenal and its engineers have taken on a rail line as their latest big-ticket project. Could media mogul be next?

Sometime early next year, a new voice is expected to join Iran's state-sanctioned media blitz: a full-service news agency with video, photos and print.

The arrival of another government-backed news outlet is not much of a surprise. It fits into Iran's two-pronged media strategy: controlling its message with a constant flow of statements, trial balloons and news items while trying to muzzle those who disagree, including new plans to now police the Internet for opposition sites.

What's being closely watched is how much control could be taken by the Revolutionary Guard — already the most powerful single institution in the country.

"The war of ideas will be intensified," said Ehsan Ahrari, an analyst on regional affairs at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.

A brief announcement last month on plans for the news operation, called Atlas, gave no hint of who will be in charge. But there's growing speculation among analysts that it could mark a breakout moment for the Revolutionary Guard after years of apparent behind-the-scenes influence over some of Iran's main news outlets.

Such a move would widen the Guard's sway over Iran's most strategic affairs — including its international media spin — and further suggest that the ruling clerics are ceding more authority to the Guard during a time of unprecedented internal crisis.

It also would give the Guard a powerful tool to expand the kind of bargaining-by-media used recently by Iran to float proposals and issue statements in wrangling with the West over Tehran's nuclear program.

A possible media wing directly under the Revolutionary Guard would not be a stretch.

The semiofficial Fars news agency and the conservative newspaper Javan, or Young, are considered closely aligned with the Guard. But all the major state-backed news outlets rarely stray from the views of the Guard's commanders and hard-line loyalists.

No specific launch date has been announced for Atlas, which officials have said will carry news in Farsi, English and Arabic. Some reports have speculated its debut could come in March, which marks the Iranian new year. Few other details have been revealed, and authorities did not respond to requests by The Associated Press for interviews with officials involved in Atlas.

The news comes as Iran intensifies its clampdown on what's left of opposition sites on the Web.

On Saturday, Iranian media reported the creation of an Internet monitoring unit to fight "insults and the spreading of lies" — terms widely used by the judiciary to describe opposition activities after the disputed presidential election in June.

Iranian authorities have closed several pro-reform newspapers and dozens of Web sites and blogs since the outrage over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election. One of his challengers, Mahdi Karroubi, described the silencing of dissent as worse than the measures imposed by the former Western-back shah before he was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

At the same time, Iran has opened an information offensive. Its state-backed news agencies and broadcasters — including English-language Press TV and Al-Alam in Arabic — have churned out a blitz of policy statements, negotiating points and news breaks as the main soapboxes for Iran's public diplomacy.

At a meeting of Asia-Pacific news agencies in Tehran on Sunday, Culture Minister Mohammad Hosseini did not specifically mention the plans for Atlas. But he denounced the influence of the "hegemonic powers" through international media organizations.

"There is nothing unusual about the Revolutionary Guard moving openly into the media world," said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an expert in Iranian affairs at Syracuse University. "They have been waging this war for years by going after Web sites and reformist media. It just shows they are getting more savvy about the utility of media — both old and new media."

The Revolutionary Guard and its network of paramilitary volunteers led the crackdowns against rioters and demonstrations in the aftermath of the election.

But in July, the chief of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, said his forces must be ready to shift tactics to confront the "soft threat" from opposition Web sites and other dissenters perceived as undermining the Islamic system.

There is little in Iran that is not already under the influence of the Guard, which operates as combination of fighting force, spy agency and deep-pocket CEO for the ruling establishment.

Its military divisions — which operate independently from the regular armed forces — are in command of every vital installation, including uranium enrichment facilities and oil fields. Volunteer militiamen, known as Basiji, are available as on-demand muscle against protesters and serve as nationwide watchdogs for the system.

An array of trusts, holding companies and government contracts gives the 120,000-strong Guard a role in about a third of Iran's economy by some estimates.

In September, a consortium linked to the Revolutionary Guard, Etemad-e-Mobin, bought a 50 percent stake in the country's newly privatized telecommunications company in a deal valued at $7.8 billion. Last week, the Guard's engineering wing was awarded a $2.5 billion contract for a rail link.

A possible media outlet is part of a two-way arrangement, said researcher Ahrari.

The Islamic leaders gets unwavering loyalty from the Revolutionary Guard. In turn, the clerics allow the Guard to expand its power in new directions.

"It is a symbiotic relationship pure and simple," he said.

Obama walks a tightrope in first visit to China

By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent

SHANGHAI – President Barack Obama sought a political balance Monday on his first trip to China, seeking help on urgent global problems while weighing if and when to raise concerns over human rights.

Obama's agenda began with talks with local politicians and, in one of the marquee events of his weeklong Asian trip, he was to conduct an American-style town hall with Chinese university students.

The president's first stop in Shanghai was the tranquil grounds of the Xijiao State Guest House, where he met with the city's mayor for about a half-hour and had lunch.

"Both of the countries have benefited greatly from the progress we have made over the last two decades," Obama said as the two sides' vast delegations were arrayed in a giant meeting room.

Thirty years after the start of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, the ties are growing — but remain mixed on virtually every front.

The two nations are working together more than ever on battling global warming, but they still differ deeply over hard targets for reductions in the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause it. China has supported sterner sanctions to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but it still balks at getting more aggressive about reining in Iran's uranium enrichment.

Obama arrived in Shanghai late at night, in a driving rain, hustling through a phalanx of umbrella-holding dignitaries to reach his limousine. He was to end his day in Beijing.

China is a huge and lucrative market for American goods and services, and yet it has a giant trade surplus with the U.S. that, like a raft of other economic issues, is a bone of contention between the two governments. The two militaries have increased their contacts, but clashes still happen and the U.S. remains worried about a dramatic buildup in what is already the largest standing army in the world.

Amid all that, Obama has adopted a pragmatic approach that stresses the positive, sometimes earning him criticism for being too soft on Beijing, particularly in the area of human rights abuses and what the U.S. regards as an undervalued Chinese currency that disadvantages U.S. products.

Obama recognizes that a rising China, as the world's third-largest economy on the way to becoming the second and the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, has shifted the dynamic more toward one of equals. For instance, Chinese questions about how Washington spending policies will affect the already soaring U.S. deficit and the safety of Chinese investments now must be answered by Washington.

Second, Obama wants not to anger Beijing, but to encourage it to pair its growing economic and political clout with greater leadership in solving some of the most urgent global problems, including a sagging economy, warming planet and the spread of dangerous weapons.

Obama has talked warmly toward China, particularly in the days leading up to his visit.

"The United States does not seek to contain China," Obama said in a speech from Tokyo on Saturday. "On the contrary, the rise of a strong, prosperous China can be a source of strength for the community of nations."

One test of the line Obama is walking on China will be human rights, including religious freedom in the officially atheist nation. Aides said in advance that Obama would raise several human rights issues privately with Chinese leaders, including President Hu.

But it was unlikely he would repeat those messages too stridently in public, out of concern for angering his hosts. Even before arriving in China, for example, he declined to get specific about human rights concerns with China in his Tokyo speech and eschewed the traditional presidential meeting with the Dalai Lama while he was in Washington in June.

Obama said he would see the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader later, a decision welcomed by Chinese officials who pressure foreign governments not to meet with the Dalai Lama and spurn Tibetans' desires for autonomy from Chinese rule.

The White House hoped Monday's town hall meeting with Chinese university students would allow Obama to telegraph U.S. values — through its successes and failures — to the widest Chinese audience possible.

But those hopes will have their limits in communist-ruled, tightly controlled China. The particulars of the town hall, including whether it could even be called one, were the subject of delicate negotiations between the White House and the Chinese up to the last minute. It remained unclear, for instance, whether — and how broadly — it would be broadcast on television and how much of a hand the central government had in choosing those allowed to question the U.S. president.

Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama would call at random on several of those in the audience, to be made up of hundreds of students hand-picked by the department heads of Shanghai-area universities, and would also answer questions solicited in advance by the White House from "various sources on the Internet."

Even if the event is only aired on China's main English-language TV channel, which has very few viewers, the White House will stream the conversation live on http://www.whitehouse.gov, an unblocked site in China.

From Shanghai, Obama was to be off to the capital of Beijing for the pomp and substance of a two-day state visit hosted for Obama by Hu.

Obama's China visit features the only sightseeing of his high-intensity Asian journey. He will visit the Forbidden City, home of former emperors in Beijing, and the centuries-old Great Wall outside of the city. Visiting a country's noted landmarks is considered a sign of respect in the world of diplomacy. But Obama aides also have learned that finding some tourist time serves to both calm and energize their boss amid the always grueling schedule of a foreign trip.

Frustrated Palestinians to appeal to UN for state

By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM – A Palestinian drive to ask the U.N. Security Council to endorse a state unilaterally, put forward by a top negotiator Sunday, appeared more an expression of frustration with U.S. and Israeli policies and stalled peace talks than a real effort to go it alone.

A resolution for a Palestinian state could face a veto from the U.S., Israel's main ally. But if the Security Council approved it, consequences could be even more severe.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the move, warning Israel would retaliate.

"There is no substitute for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians," Netanyahu said in a speech at the Saban Forum in Jerusalem Sunday evening, saying he wanted a full peace agreement with them.

Then he warned, "Any unilateral action would only unravel the framework of agreements between us and can only lead to one-sided steps on the part of Israel."

He did not elaborate further, but an Israeli legal expert said if the Palestinians move ahead by themselves, Israel would be within its rights to cancel interim peace accords, which regulate daily life between the two sides.

The Palestinians are upset over continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and are disappointed with the U.S. failure to put pressure on Israel to halt the construction. The lack of progress led Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to threaten to quit politics earlier this month.

As events unfolded, that, too, appeared to be an indirect appeal for international backing by Abbas, who enjoys considerable world support.

Abbas said he did note want to run in an election set in January. But last week, election officials postponed the vote indefinitely, saying that the militant Islamic Hamas' control of the Gaza Strip made it impossible to proceed. In the West Bank Sunday, officials in Abbas' Fatah Party said they would meet next month to extend his term indefinitely.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said frustrated Palestinians had decided to turn to the U.N. Security Council after 18 years of on-again, off-again negotiations with Israel.

"Now is our defining moment. We went into this peace process in order to achieve a two-state solution," he said. "The endgame is to tell the Israelis that now the international community has recognized the two-state solution on the '67 borders," referring to the cease-fire lines in effect before the 1967 war, when Israel captured territories from Jordan and Egypt that the Palestinians claim for their state.

Further complicating the situation is the status of the Gaza Strip. Erekat said the U.N. initiative would be to create a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, but Hamas has controlled Gaza since it expelled forces loyal to the Western-backed Abbas in 2007.

Erekat declined to say when the Palestinians would make their appeal to the U.N, signaling that the threat may be aimed in large part at putting pressure on Israel.

Nimr Hamad, an adviser to Abbas, said the Palestinians "have no intention of rushing" to the Security Council.

The Palestinians declared independence on Nov. 15, 1988, in the midst of a violent uprising against Israel that lasted until the first interim accord was signed in 1993. Many countries recognized the declaration, but it was never implemented.

Instead, the interim accords set up a system of interlocking administrations that falls far short of peaceful relations but quietly brings some order to issues like Palestinian imports and exports, tax collection, utilities and security cooperation.

More importantly, Abbas' Palestinian Authority itself is a product of the interim accords. If it were superseded by a U.N.-endorsed state, Israel could cut off relations with the Palestinian government.

In fact, Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser to Israel's Foreign Ministry and now a lecturer in international law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told The Associated Press that Israel would be within its legal rights to cancel all the partial peace accords.

"Israel could say there has been such a gross and major violation that the agreement itself is no longer in force," he said, since the agreement stipulates that all outstanding issues must be settled in negotiations.

Israel controls much of the West Bank, which is dotted by more than 100 settlements and army bases, with hundreds of roadblocks in place. A newly independent Palestinian state would be hard pressed to take control of its territory.

Some 300,000 settlers live in the West Bank, in addition to 180,000 Israelis living in Jewish neighborhoods built in east Jerusalem. Efforts to confront the Israelis could quickly escalate into widespread violence.

Hamad said Abbas would travel to Cairo Wednesday to discuss the plan to go to the U.N. with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

There was no immediate reaction from Security Council members. But Erekat said Russia, another permanent member of the Security Council, and unspecified European nations are "on board" with the Palestinian plan.

Speaking at a conference in Jerusalem Sunday, ex-President Bill Clinton said the Israelis and Palestinians must hammer out an agreement.

"It's a little piece of land; you can't get away from each other," he said, noting that the Palestinians have shown themselves capable of self-rule.

"They are proving in the West Bank that they can get this show on the road," Clinton said.