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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Jordanian commandos join war on Houthi fighters

Jordanian commandos have recently joined the state-led and Saudi-aided offensives against the Houthi fighters in northwestern Yemen, reports say.

The Arab-language daily Sada-Najdhejaz reported on Saturday that the commandos, enlisted with the Jordanian military's crack forces, had joined the fight in the northern Mount Al-Dukhan.

The military contribution was enabled by Saudi Arabia, which received the forces at its Tabuk Military Base a few days ago before airlifting them to the northern Yemeni territories, the newspaper added.

The auxiliary units reportedly incurred heavy losses in their struggle against the Shia Houthi fighters.

Foreign troops joined hands with Sana'a after Yemeni forces failed to produce result through Operation Scorched Earth, which was launched in August.

This is while sources say that the Yemeni troops are divided over the conflict, with some not having a motive to fight the Houthis. According to the sources a large number of soldiers in the Yemeni military are Zaidi Shias, hence sympathetic toward the Houthis.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=111852§ionid=351020206.

Tehran short filmfest names national winners

The Tehran International Short Film Festival has announced winners of this year's National Section in different categories.

The festival was held from November 11 through November 16, screening fiction films, documentaries, experimental films and animations from more than 100 countries.

The festival's Best Film Award went to Mohammad-Reza Farzad's Misplaced, which also won him the event's Honorable Mention.

Kazem Mollayi won the Best Experimental Film award for his Minus and Mohammad-Ali Soleimanzadeh was granted the Best Animation award for his Twilight.

The Best Documentary award went to Bird of the Dawn by Mehdi Baqeri and the Best Fiction Film award was presented to Houman Seyyedi's All My Stuff Has Been Moved.

The festival's Special Jury Award was granted to Mahin Javaherian for her animation < i>It's raining Cats and Dogs.

Winners of other National Section categories are as follows:

Panoramas of Our Beautiful Homeland:

Best Film Award
Zenderoud, Jamal Oskouyi

Rituals of Love:

Best Film Award
Snowy Dreams, Salem Salavati

Best Screenplay Award
We Are On The Way, Aref Namvar

Young Talents:

Best Fiction Film Award:
Roads Have No End Here, Tofiq Amani

Best Documentary Award
Only A Little Light, Seyyed Hamed Nobari

Best Animation Award
Silent City, Amir Mehran

In Yemen, Houthis 'capture strategic altitudes'

The Houthi fighters have reportedly seized control of three mountains in a move that could give them notable strategic upper hand.

The fighters conquered Mounts Al-Dukhan, Al-Ramih and Al-Doud on Saturday, the Yemeni news outlet Shamar Press reported.

The fighters' new positions will allow them to take the Saudi and Yemeni movements under scrutiny and afford visibility over several kilometers farther.

Sana'a has launched a military offensive codenamed Operation Scorched Earth against the Houthi fighters, accusing them of violating the terms of a ceasefire by taking foreign tourists hostage.

The Houthis, however, reject the allegations saying they only seek to put an end to the Yemeni government's discriminatory policies against Shias.

The Saudis have recently joined Yemen's armed campaign against the country's Shia minority. Saudi Arabia's army has been pounding Houthi positions for over two weeks, charging that the fighters had attacked one of its border checkpoints.

The Houthis, however, have firmly rejected the allegations, saying that they are fighting other battlefields and are not interested in opening another front.

According to the fighters, Riyadh has stepped up the offensive shelling northern villages using illegal phosphorous bombs, which are capable of inflicting severe burns.

The Yemeni agency said the anti-Shia fight is recently joined by auxiliary forces outfitted with advanced equipment.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=111848§ionid=351020206.

Malaysia to step up Muslim tours in China

KUNMING, Nov 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will step up the promotion of Muslim tour packages, including Ramadan attractions, for the Chinese market, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.

"The number of Chinese Muslim tourists to Malaysia in year 2003 was 50,000 and the figure has gone up to 94,000 people last year. With the high volume of Chinese tourists, I believe that promoting Islamic tourism among Chinese Muslims has great potential," she said at a dialogue Thursday with Muslim leaders and tour operators in her 12-day working trip to China.

Ng said the packages could incorporate visits to mosques and promotions during the Ramadan month such as halal food stalls and hotel buffets during the period.

"Malaysia has Islamic banking and is a halal food hub which could be advantageous in promoting Islamic tourism. Besides that, Chinese Muslim travel agents could also bring their customers to attend exhibition on halal products organized in Malaysia," she added.

Ng also encouraged Chinese Muslim tour operators to look into the potential of Malaysian Muslim tourists to China apart from traveling to the Middle East.

For example, she said, Malaysian Muslims could take holidays in southwestern Yunnan province, to enjoy the four seasons of the year.

Amee, a Chinese tour operator who attended the dialogue with Dr Ng, said the 20 million Muslim population in China was a strong potential market and tour operators here had been working together with Tourism Malaysia in recent years.

He said religious travel, education travel, family holidays and the "Malaysia My Second Home" program were the main draws.

Dr Ng also led a delegation to the opening of the 11th China International Travel Mart (CITM) on Thursday attended by 94 countries and visited the Malaysian pavilion and exhibitors.

With Chinese arrivals to Malaysia totaling 835,000 in October, she hoped that the target of one million Chinese tourists could be achieved this year.

Dr Ng also attended the inaugural China-Asean Tourism Cooperation Forum and called on Shao Qiwei, China National Tourism Administration chairman.

She spoke of the need for a task force to look into China-Asean tourism cooperation and to discuss measures for government agencies and the private sector.

"We need to sit down to look at packages and inter-border discussion about issues in the immigration process. I hope that during the meeting of the tourism ministers from China-Asean, which will be held in January next year in Brunei, we can focus on the discussion regarding this matter," she said during her meeting with Shao.

She said that apart from promoting travel, her ministry was looking into developing investments in the tourism industry by working with Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Ministry.

Shao supported Dr Ng's views on greater China-Asean tourism cooperation and the need for tourism ministers in the region to work closely on developing the regional tourism industry, with the China-Asean free trade agreement to be in place next year.

Source: My Sinchew.
Link: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/31740?tid=.

French develop human skin from stem cells

French researchers have successfully used human embryonic stem cells to create new skin to help those suffering from serious burns.

In existing cell therapy, a person's own skin cells are grown in the laboratory to provide replacement skin in severe burn victims.

The process takes more than three weeks and is associated with a variety of complications. During this three-week the victims' wounds are covered with specially processed skin from a deceased donor; however, the practice increases the risk of rejection and disease transmission.

According to a study published in The Lancet, the newly generated cells have the characteristics of the epidermis. Once manipulated on an artificial surface, they can form a layer of the skin.

In the new method, the fully formed human skin develops within 12 weeks after the transplantation of the stem cells. The skin is reported to have a structure consistent with human skin.

Scientists are optimistic that their findings will help the problems of rejection that burns patients currently face, adding that it would provide "an unlimited resource for temporary skin replacement in patients with large burns awaiting grafts of their own skin".

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=111847§ionid=3510210.

Medvedev slams own party over vote mishandling

The Russian president has accused his own party of using its dominance and official connections to shape the results of the recent local elections in its favor.

"We need to learn to win, all of us, in fact we need to learn to win in open contests," Dmitry Medvedev told the United Russia party's annual convention in St Petersburg on Saturday.

His remarks were a surprising criticism of the United Russia's party, which is led by his predecessor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Medvedev noted that the party must free itself from some of the party's regional branches that used their dominance in the votes and “shed such bad political habits.”

"Elections must express the people's will in free competition between ideas and programs, but they turn into a different story when democratic procedures are mixed with administrative ones," he said.

In October, the ruling party crushed opposition parties in local elections held across much of Russia.

The opposition said that the poll was marred by reports of multiple voting and dubious counts. It also claimed opposition candidates were hindered from campaigning and some were denied places on the ballot, but election officials dismissed the complaints.

After the elections, Putin and Medvedev defended the party, while adding that claims of violations needed to be investigated and the culprits punished.

The president's new remarks, however, were aimed at deflecting criticism of the vote rather than challenging Putin's power in Russian politics.

Azerbaijan threatens Armenia with 'military force'

Azerbaijan says it has "the full right" to resort to military action in order to liberate the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which it lost to Armenia in the 1990s.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Friday that if an upcoming meeting with his Armenian counterpart ends short of a deal on the matter "then our hopes in negotiations will be exhausted and then we are left with no other option" than to reclaim the territory by force, the Reuters news agency reported.

"We are doing that because we never excluded and we do not exclude that option. We have the full right to liberate our land by military means," he added.

Azerbaijan lost control over the region in a rebellion by local Armenians, who were supported by Yerevan's military. The conflict killed tens of thousands of people rendering more than a million others homeless.

"That meeting must play a decisive role in the process of negotiations," the Azerbaijani president noted as he was preparing to attend talks with Armenia's Serzh Sargsyan in Munich on Sunday.

The international community has refused to recognize the de facto rule of the ensuing Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Over 30,000 people flee DR Congo

Sat Nov 21, 2009

Ethnic clashes in the Democratic Republic of Congo have forced more than 30,000 people to flee their homes, humanitarian groups say.

The clashes are ongoing between two tribes, which are fighting over control of a lake rich in fish in DR Congo's Equateur province.

The Doctors of Africa (Medecins d'Afrique) office said on Friday that such clashes throughout DR Congo have forced 30,600 people to become refugees.

"There's been a massive influx in the past few days because the fighting has become far more intense," said Rufin Mafouta, the head of the Doctors of Africa.

Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported that a little over 24,000 people had arrived in the Likouala region after crossing the Oubangui river, which serves as the border between DR Congo and Congo Republic.

"We have noticed a lot of unaccompanied children who have certainly lost their parents, as well as pregnant women and elderly people," Mafouta was quoted as saying by AFP.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated on Wednesday that clashes between the Monzaya and Enyele ethnic groups had killed at least 100 people.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/111844.html.

Yemen exposed

By Francis Matthew, GulfNews

Gulf states may need to get involved to prevent fighting from spreading

November 18, 2009

For many decades, the political story of the Gulf states has been one of steady progress towards greater stability and social cohesion. All of these states are relatively new, with their territories only really taking shape in the last half of the 20th Century and their boundaries only being finally defined very recently. It is a mark of the success of the leaderships in the six GCC states that the different tribal and social groups now accept and actively support their nations.

But stability is not just about having secure nations. It is also about social cohesion, and in Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf states there was a lingering minority support from a few of the more conservative and religious sections of society for some of the ideas behind the more violent, radical Islamist groups.

So it was a very important development when Al Qaida bombed several sites in Saudi Arabia in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and killed many Saudi citizens. This in turn led to the long-established official policy against the violent extremists of Al Qaida and their like being unequivocally matched by popular opinion.

Political and social progress has been at the national, social, and individual levels as the millions of Gulf citizens slowly accepted the deep and irrevocable changes. But this progress did not happen by chance, and is due to continual and careful leadership.

This is why the ongoing fighting in northern Yemen is attracting so much attention around the Gulf. The Al Houthi tribal federation and their allies are seeking independence from the Yemeni state, which naturally refuses to give it. The issues that have arisen are ones that all Gulf states have had to deal with in the past: tribal loyalty, suspicion of central government, religious conservatism and a fierce independence.

Yemen is very different from the six GCC states as its government has only relatively weak security control over the huge country of 26 million people. North and South Yemen only became one country for the first time in 1990. The former royalist north was ruled by the Zaidi Imams for centuries and endured a brutal civil war in the 1960s as the Egyptian-backed republicans took over. The South was a British colony for most of the 1800s and 1900s until a Marxist revolution forced a British withdrawal in 1967.

So the Yemeni government has to deal with the active revolution in the conservative north by the Al Houthis, the continuing murmurs of succession by some of the disgruntled southern leaders and with Al Qaida setting up bases in the more remote parts of Yemen, where they can operate without much interference. This would be a tough ask for any government, and Yemen needs all the help that it can get to keep the situation under control.

The Iranians are delighted with what is happening. They have been working hard over the past decade to spread their political message through the Arab world and they have been nurturing groups who seek their support. Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine and several Shiite parties in Iraq are the more obvious examples. So the Iranians have leapt to support the Al Houthis, claiming them as fellow Shiites and seeking to promote their cause.

Opportunistic

But this Iranian espousal of the Al Houthi cause is opportunistic. There are no religious or cultural links between the mainstream Twelver branch of Shiism, which Iran has made its own and is trying to export around the region, and the very conservative Zaidi branch of Shiism that is limited to northern Yemen.

The Zaidis make up the majority of the population in north Yemen, and are mostly conservative tribal people living in the countryside, or have become urbanized and more secular in the cities.

The only real link was that Hussain Al Houthi, the original leader of the rebellion, spent some time in South Lebanon and admired what Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was doing. But this personal link has not yet lead to Iranian armed support; the limit of what Iran has given the Al Houthis is some finance, and a lot of favorable publicity.

But even this interference in Yemeni issue has been sensitive for all Gulf states and has set alarm bells ringing. No Gulf state wants the Iranians training the Al Houthis, bringing to bear the military skills and abilities honed in the tough wars in Lebanon, and indoctrinating them with their particular Iranian political and radical outlook on life. The possibility that the fighting might spread beyond Yemen is frightening.

Iran is delighted to support the cause, and cause serious problems for the Gulf states. It is a classic opportunity to foment fighting and civil discord, which might allow Iranian-backed forces to creep in and take advantage of what is going on.

Meanwhile, the Al Houthis are delighted to find an ally. They have launched six rounds of fighting with the Yemeni government since 2004, and the present seventh round does not look like being the last.

The Yemeni government needs substantial support to bring this rebellion to an end. It cannot do this by executing everyone who took part, so it needs a military victory followed by a political program to absorb the rebels back into the Yemeni mainstream.

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=60226&s2=21.

CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy
ABC News Finds the Location of a "Black Site" for Alleged Terrorists in Lithuania
By BRIAN ROSS and MATTHEW COLE

November 18, 2009

The CIA built one of its secret European prisons inside an exclusive riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania, a current Lithuanian government official and a former U.S. intelligence official told ABC News this week.

Where affluent Lithuanians once rode show horses and sipped coffee at a café, the CIA installed a concrete structure where it could use harsh tactics to interrogate up to eight suspected al-Qaeda terrorists at a time. A full report on the can be seen on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson tonight.

"The activities in that prison were illegal," said human rights researcher John Sifton. "They included various forms of torture, including sleep deprivation, forced standing, painful stress positions."

Lithuanian officials provided ABC News with the documents of what they called a CIA front company, Elite, LLC, which purchased the property and built the "black site" in 2004.

Lithuania agreed to allow the CIA prison after President George W. Bush visited the country in 2002 and pledged support for Lithuania's efforts to join NATO.

"The new members of NATO were so grateful for the U.S. role in getting them into that organization that they would do anything the U.S. asked for during that period," said former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, now an ABC News consultant. "They were eager to please and eager to be cooperative on security and on intelligence matters."

Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite declined ABC's request for an interview.

ABC News first reported that Lithuania was one of three eastern European countries, along with Poland and Romania, where the CIA secretly interrogated suspected high-value al-Qaeda terrorists, but until now the precise site had not been confirmed. Read that report here.

Until March 2004, the site was a riding academy and café owned by a local family. The facility is in the town of Antivilai, in the forest 20 kilometers northeast of the city center of Vilnius, near an exclusive suburb where many government officials live.
A "Building Within A Building"

In March 2004, the family sold the property to Elite, LLC, a now-defunct company registered in Delaware and Panama and Washington, D.C. That same month, Lithuania marked its formal admission to NATO.

The CIA constructed the prison over the next several months, apparently flying in prefabricated elements from outside Lithuania. The prison opened in Sept. 2004.

According to sources that saw the facility, the riding academy originally consisted of an indoor riding area with a red metallic roof, a stable and a cafe. The CIA built a thick concrete wall inside the riding area. Behind the wall, it built what one Lithuanian source called a "building within a building."

On a series of thick concrete pads, it installed what a source called "prefabricated pods" to house prisoners, each separated from the other by five or six feet. Each pod included a shower, a bed and a toilet. Separate cells were constructed for interrogations. The CIA converted much of the rest of the building into garage space.

Intelligence officers working at the prison were housed next door in the converted stable, raising the roof to add space. Electrical power for both structures was provided by a 2003 Caterpillar autonomous generator. All the electrical outlets in the renovated structure were 110 volts, meaning they were designed for American appliances. European outlets and appliances typically use 220 volts.

The prison pods inside the barn were not visible to locals. They describe seeing large amounts of earth being excavated during the summer of 2004. Locals who saw the activity at the prison and approached to ask for work were turned away by English-speaking guards. The guards were replaced by new guards every 90 days.

Former CIA officials directly involved or briefed on the highly classified secret prison program tell ABC News that as many as eight suspects were held for more than a year in the Vilnius prison. Flight logs viewed by ABC News confirm that CIA planes made repeated flights into Lithuania during that period. In November 2005, after public disclosures about the program, the prison was closed, as was another "black site" in Romania.
Lithuanian Prison One of Many Around Europe, Officials Said

The CIA moved the so-called High Value Detainees (HVD) out of Europe to "war zone" facilities, according to one of the former CIA officials, meaning they were moved to the Middle East. Within nine months, President Bush announced the existence of the program and ordered the transfer of 14 of the detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, Ramzi bin al Shihb and Abu Zubaydah, to Guantanamo.

In August 2009, after ABC News reported the existence of the secret prison outside Vilnius, Lithuanian president Grybauskaite called for an investigation. "If this is true," Grybauskaite said, "Lithuania has to clean up, accept responsibility, apologize, and promise it will never happen again."

At the time, a Lithuanian government official denied that his country had hosted a secret CIA facility. The CIA told ABC News that reporting the existence of the Lithuanian prison was "irresponsible" and declined to discuss the location of the prison.

On Tuesday, the CIA again declined to talk about the prison. "The CIA's terrorist interrogation program is over," said CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano. "This agency does not discuss publicly where detention facilities may or may not have been."

Former CIA officials told ABC News that the prison in Lithuania was one of eight facilities the CIA set-up after 9/11 to detain and interrogate top al-Qaeda operatives captured around the world. Thailand, Romania, Poland, Morocco, and Afghanistan have also been identified as countries that housed secret prisons for the CIA. President Barack Obama ordered all the sites closed shortly after taking office in January.

The Lithuanian prison was the last "black" site opened in Europe, after the CIA's secret prison in Poland was closed down in late 2003 or early 2004.

"It obviously took a lot of effort to keep [the prison] secret," said John Sifton, whose firm One World Research investigates human rights abuses. "There's a reason this stuff gets kept secret."

"It's an embarrassment, and a crime."

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

Iraq planning to hang up to 126 women by year's end

Larry Johnson

November 18, 2009

From Larry Johnson's blog, Looking for Trouble:

Iraq is planning to execute up to 126 women by the end of this year. At least 9 may be hanged within the next two weeks. Human rights groups say the only crime committed by many of these women was to serve in the government of Saddam Hussein. Others, according to human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, were convicted of common crimes based on confessions that were the result of torture.

Amnesty reports that at least 1,000 men and women are now on death row in Iraq, a country that has one of the highest rates of execution in the world. Amnesty released the following appeal in late August:

"At least nine women under sentence of death in Iraq are now in imminent danger of execution, as Iraq’s Presidential Council has ratified their death sentences. Three other women have been executed since early June.

The authorities have transferred a number of women to the 5th section of Baghdad's al-Kadhimiya Prison, which is where condemned prisoners are held immediately before they are executed...

One of the women now in imminent danger, Samar Saed Abdullah, was sentenced to death in August 2005 for the murder of her uncle, his wife and one of their children. She blamed her fiancé, saying he had committed the killings in order to rob her uncle. It is not known whether her fiancé has been arrested… At her trial, she alleged that after her arrest she had been held at a police station in Hay al-Khadhra in Baghdad and tortured by being beaten with a cable, beaten on the soles of her feet and subjected to electric shocks to make her confess..."

In an article written in September by CNN.com’s Arwa Damon, Samar Saed Abdullah describes her confession:

"They kept beating me, and they told me, 'Say whatever we want you to say, and do not say anything else, and say yes, I was an accomplice to this crime.' Although I had nothing to do with it. Finally, they made me sign a blank piece of paper, and they filled it out afterward."

An Iraqi organization, the Women’s Will Association, is trying to build an international coalition to put pressure on the Iraqi government to stop the executions immediately. This group and others suggest sending appeals immediately to representatives in Congress and to people and organizations like these:

Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights,

commissioner@coe.int

(United Nations) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,

civilsocietyunit@ohchr.org

Amnesty has suggested that urgent appeals be sent via the Iraqi embassy or diplomatic representative in your country, asking them to forward your appeals to Iraqi President Jalal Talabai.

Also, it can’t hurt to let the White House know what you think:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=60221&s2=21.

Turkey 'gives Israel deadline' for drone delivery

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey has given Israeli contractors 50 days to fulfill a long-delayed deal for the delivery of 10 drone aircraft for the Turkish army, Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul was quoted as saying Saturday.

The delays in the project, launched in 2005, have come against a backdrop of tensions between the two regional allies over Israel's devastating war on the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year.

The two contractors -- Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit -- have been sent a letter to fulfill the terms of the deal within 50 days, the CNN Turk news channel quoted Gonul as saying.

"If this letter does not bear fruit either, the tender may be canceled. But there is no cancellation at the moment," Gonul told CNN Turk, according to the report.

Negotiations between the two sides are continuing, he added.

Israeli officials have rejected suggestions that the delay had political links, saying the project was snagged by technical problems as Turkish-manufactured equipment proved too heavy for the aircraft.

Turkish media reported this week that Turkey had returned the only two planes to have been delivered on grounds they failed to meet the required technical norms concerning flying altitude and time.

Turkey awarded the contract in April 2005, saying that it involved the manufacture of three unmanned aerial vehicle systems, including 10 aircraft, surveillance equipment and ground control stations.

The contract was part of a 183-million-dollar project in which Turkish firms were to provide sub-systems and services amounting to 30 percent of the project.

Officials had said at the time the Israeli side was expected to complete their part in 24 to 30 months.

Israel's ties with Turkey, its main regional ally since 1998 when the two signed a military cooperation accord, took a downturn in January when the Islamist-rooted government in Ankara launched an unprecedented barrage of criticism of the Zionist state over its deadly offensive on Gaza.

Last month Turkey excluded Israel from joint military drills and said ties would continue to suffer unless Israel ends "the humanitarian tragedy" in Gaza and revives peace talks with the Palestinians.

Turkish painter sets rare record in marble painting

By Ramesh Mathew

The Doha Exhibition Center turned out to be the venue for two Guinness World Records yesterday at an expo, being hosted by Qatar Islamic Cultural Center (Fanar).

Turkish national Ahmed Coktin, an expert in marbling painting, made a rare record when he made painting on a paper sheet, measuring 11× 1.5m, without mixing of any artificial colors or shades.

Coktin, who had earlier served as a teacher for several years in Istanbul, has come on an invitation from Fanar.

The artiste felt the exhibition of his work would prompt more people to take up this art form in Qatar.

According to Talal Omar, of Guinness World Records, it was the first time a piece was designed on an 11m long single sheet of paper, having a breadth of 1.5m. “At least 30 people were engaged in lifting the paper after the drawing was created, suspended in water and later lifted out of it onto the paper to the amazement of onlookers,” said Omar.

Coktin said that the work would be redone on November 23, most possibly inside the exhibition center.

The artiste said the work that was done for the Guinness Record was made wholly from natural inks, which he referred to as vegetable inks, consisting of some natural fibers and natural plant extracts.

The Guinness official formally acknowledged Coktin’s feat and awards were given to the creator in the presence of a sportive gathering.

The expo features culture, heritage, arts and science. A large number of paintings are also displayed at the venue.

Another record was set when Qatari national boxer Abdul Latif Mahmoud Saadiq performed 132 uninterrupted push-ups with the back of his hands, bettering the previous record held by American John Morrow (123).

In his first attempt, Saadiq failed to go beyond 118 attempts but egged on by his coach Salim Lazuruq, the athlete returned and created the new mark.

British boxer Dany Williams handed over the Guinness mementos and certificates to the new record holders.

Source: Gulf Times.
Link: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=327478&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16.

Somalia to Join Child Rights Pact, Only U.S. Out

November 20, 2009

GENEVA— Somalia has announced it plans to ratify a global treaty aimed at protecting children, leaving the United States as the only country outside the pact, UNICEF said on Friday.

Somalia and the United States have long been the last hold-outs to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly exactly 20 years ago.

The most widely ratified international human rights treaty, it declares that those under 18 years old must be protected from violence, exploitation, discrimination and neglect.

"Adherence to and application of the Convention will be of crucial importance for the children of Somalia, who are gravely affected by the ongoing conflict, recurrent natural disasters and chronic poverty," the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement welcoming the move.

In 2002, Somalia's previous transitional government signed the Convention, which the United States also signed under President Bill Clinton in 1995, but neither has ratified it.

UNICEF said Somalia's transitional government had told it the "Somali cabinet of ministers has agreed in principle to ratify the Convention on the rights of the Child".

UNICEF director Ann Veneman, who was agriculture secretary under U.S. President George W. Bush, told reporters on Thursday that it was "frustrating" that Washington had not adopted the pact. But she said there were some "technical" reasons behind the U.S. decision to remain outside it.

Among these is Washington's policy of considering one human rights treaty at a time.

UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday: "The United States has indicated that a very important review process is going on at the moment in order to arrive as quickly as possible at a ratification".

Mark Kornblau, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York, said on Thursday the administration of President Barack Obama was "committed to undertaking a thorough and thoughtful review of the Convention of the Rights of the Child".

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/somalia-child-rights-pact-unicef-us-25465.html.

Chavez praises Carlos the Jackal

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela – Hugo Chavez has defended the alleged terrorist mastermind Carlos the Jackal, saying the Venezuelan imprisoned in France was an important "revolutionary fighter" who supported the cause of the Palestinians.

The Venezuelan president praised Carlos — whose real name is Ilich Sanchez Ramirez — during a speech Friday night saying: "I defend him. It doesn't matter to me what they say tomorrow in Europe."

Ramirez gained international notoriety during the 1970s and 80s as the alleged mastermind of a series of bombings, killings and hostage dramas. He is serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informant.

"They accuse him of being a terrorist, but Carlos really was a revolutionary fighter," Chavez said during a televised speech to socialist politicians from various countries, who applauded.

In his speech, Chavez also sought to defend other leaders he said are wrongly labeled "bad boys" internationally, including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Chavez called both of them brothers and said he now wonders whether Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was truly as brutal as he was reputed to be.

"We thought he was a cannibal," Chavez said, referring to Amin, whose regime was notorious for torturing and killing suspected opponents in the 1970s. "I have doubts. ... I don't know, maybe he was a great nationalist, a patriot."

Chavez has previously called Ramirez a friend, and a controversy erupted in 1999 after the leftist leader confirmed he had written a letter to him in prison, in response to a note from Ramirez.

Chavez's remarks on Friday were among his most strident in support of Ramirez. He said he believes Ramirez was unfairly convicted, and called him "one of the great fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organization" at the time.

Ramirez was captured in Sudan in 1994, and whisked in a sack to Paris by French agents. He was convicted three years later.

He is also accused of having a role in two 1982 bombings — on a Paris-Toulouse train and outside the Paris office of an Arab-language newspaper — and is suspected in two other train bombings on Dec. 31, 1983.

Chavez didn't refer to any of the accusations against Ramirez, but suggested the Venezuelan is paying a price for backing the Palestinians' cause — which Chavez also supports.

Venezuela broke off diplomatic ties with Israel in January to protest its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, and since then Chavez has often traded verbal barbs with Israeli officials.

On Friday, he protested remarks by Israeli President Shimon Peres, who predicted during a visit to Argentina that the people of Venezuela and Iran will make their leaders disappear before too long.

"Talking about Chavez, among other things he said he will soon disappear — just like that, which has different connotations," Chavez said. "Imagine if one of us said something similar talking about him or them — any of them, the 'good guys.'"

Chavez says destruction of walking bridges to Colombia 'routine'

Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the destruction of "illegal" pedestrian bridges at the border with Colombia was "routine," and said the government would continue to eliminate them. Chavez said Saturday that the military had destroyed two bridges in the state of Tachira because they were used by traffickers of narcotics and other contraband.

He accused Bogota of mounting a "media operation to paint us as the aggressors - a strategy used by the Colombian oligarchy" with the help the press.

"The destruction of those illegal bridges is routine," he said during an international conference of leftist political parties. "We will continue to destroy the clandestine routes and laboratories for processing drugs that come from Colombia."

Chavez dismissed Colombia's protests to international agencies alleging that the destruction of the bridges was a grave offense during heightened tensions between the neighboring countries.

He said the destroyed structures were pedestrian bridges, in spite of Colombia's attempts to compare them to the iconic Golden Gate in the United States.

"For years we have been dismantling illegal passages, neutralizing them, in many areas, not only over a river but also under the river," Chavez said.

Romania prepares to elect new president

Romanians will cast their ballots in the country's first round of presidential elections following the candidates' final campaign rallies.

Romania will vote on Sunday to elect a president from amongst 12 contenders, with three of them considered as the main hopefuls.

Incumbent President Traian Basescu holds a slim lead with about 33 percent compared with 30 percent for his main rival, Mircea Geoana, opinion polls showed. The third candidate, Crin Antonescu, has about 18 percent backing.

A second round of voting between the top two candidates will take place on December 6, should no candidate collect an absolute majority of the vote.

In October, the center-left coalition government collapsed just weeks before the election as a result of party feuding. The new president is expected to appoint a prime minister to form a new cabinet.

The president's main task will be to win back the trust of international lenders, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission, while restoring investor confidence damaged by political instability and back-pedaling on reforms.

The Balkan country of 22 million people remains one of the poorest and most corruption-prone corners of the European Union.

Childhood abuse speeds up aging

Children who endured mistreatment, varying from emotional neglect to physical abuse, may be faced with accelerated cellular aging as adults, a new study finds.

According to the study published in Biological Psychiatry, the telomeres of children experiencing abuse shortens more rapidly, speeding up the cells' aging process.

The telomerase — the short section located at the end of the chromosomes— keeps the cell's DNA stable. Each time a cell divides, its telomeres shorten and the cell becomes more susceptible to dying.

Previous studies have reported that telomeres shorten at an accelerated rate when exposed to toxins such as radiation and cigarette smoke.

Shorter telomere lengths have also been linked to a variety of aging-related medical conditions, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Childhood psychiatric problems and stress such as emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, physical abuse and sexual abuse have a similar effect, the new study finds.

The findings of this study "gives us a hint that early developmental experiences may have profound effects on biology that can influence cellular mechanisms at a very basic level," concluded lead researcher Audrey Tyrka.

66 still trapped, as China mine blast toll hits 42

A gas explosion at a coal mine in northeastern China has left at least 42 people dead, and around 66 others trapped under the rubble.

The blast took place early on Saturday in the 500-meter deep Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang Province, said a statement by the State Administration of Work Safety. Authorities say the death toll could further increase.

More than 520 people have been working in the mine in Hegang city at the time of the explosion, Xinhua reported.

So far about 389 people have managed to exit the mine, while the rescue operation is still ongoing. Some 48 mines were injured, suffering from burns, fractures and carbon monoxide poisoning.

China's coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with unregulated operations accounting for almost 80 percent of the accidents in the country's 16,000 mines. Safety standards are often ignored in quest for more profits.

Last year, more than three thousand people were killed in mine accidents in China.

Mars rover makes its first slow step out of its rut

By Emma Gallegos, Staff Writer

The Mars rover Spirit made its first small step out of the rut it's been mired in for the past six months.

The second time was a charm for the Mars Exploration Rover mission, which began sending signals to Spirit in the wee hours of Tuesday morning after months of perfecting an escape plan for the rover, which has its wheels covered up to its hubcaps in a powdery soil.

"We're encouraged that we got some motion out of the vehicle on the first drive," said project manager John Callas.

The team planned for the rover to take two steps totaling no more than a half-inch on Thursday. Because Spirit exceeded that goal in its first step, the team decided to call it a day to analyze that first step before telling the rover to move any more, Callas said.

"We wanted to limit the rover to very small steps," he said.

The left wheel was able to climb a short distance out of sand and the nonfunctioning right wheel edged forward. But not all of Spirit's motion Thursday morning was what the team was hoping for. Callas said the rover sank a "tiny bit" and it started to shift to the left, the direction in which the rover is already listing.

It's still too early to say what these initial movements might mean, Callas said.

"It's our first step, so it's difficult to extrapolate any kind of trends," Callas said.

He and his team have been careful to emphasize that freeing Spirit from its trap will be a long, slow process - if it happens at all.

The team expected to send signals to the rover at 4:30 a.m. today and spend the rest of the day analyzing the rover's third set of movements. The team might initiate a fourth set of movements Monday morning, Callas said.

As the rover moves, it has been been beaming back pictures of its wheels to help its operators figure out what kind of progress the rover is making.

Microbe poop on lava tubes offer clues for life on Mars

Washington, November 21 : Scientists have determined that colorful cave deposits found on the walls of lava tubes, long thought to be ordinary minerals, are actually mats of waste excreted by previously unknown types of microbes, a discovery that offer clues in the search for life on Mars and beyond.

According to a report in National Geographic News, the microbes were found on the walls of lava tubes in Hawaii, New Mexico, and the Portuguese Azores islands, a volcanic archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean.

The finds include “a lovely blue-green ooze dripping out of the (cave) ceiling in Hawaii; a vein of what looks like a gold, crunchy mineral in New Mexico; and, in the Azores, amazing pink hexagons,” said Diana Northup, a geomicrobiologist at the University of New Mexico.

“That’s the waste—the bug poop, if you will,” she added.

Lava tubes form when molten lava seeps out beneath a solidifying flow from an active volcano, leaving long caves in its wake.

Since 1994, Northup and colleagues have been seeking out unusual deposits in caves, including lava tubes, and putting them under a microscope or testing them for DNA.

“Her team’s discoveries add to a growing body of evidence that lava tubes on other planets might be the best places to look for signs of extraterrestrial life,” said Saugata Datta, a geochemist from Kansas State University.

In 2007, pictures from a Mars orbiter showed dark holes that appear to be places where lava-tube roofs have collapsed.

“Caves are a unique environment where we think that minerals precipitating out of liquids and microbial growth are enhanced by stable physical and chemical conditions,” Datta said.

On Mars, water could have percolated into subterranean caves long ago, possibly bringing with it a banquet of minerals that could have fed ancient microbes.

Also, the insides of such caves would have remained sheltered from harsh surface conditions, giving any possible Martian fossils a better shot at long-term survival.

Now that scientists know what cave-dwelling microbes leave behind, it’s possible future Mars missions might search for similar traces of life in the red planet’s caves.

“Diana is essentially providing a field guide as to what you might find in these things,” said New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology’s Boston.

“It’s very clear from our work in all different kinds of caves on this planet that the interior of a cave can be radically different from the external environment,” she added.

“That might be the case on Mars, as well,” she said.

20th Year Of UN Rights Treaty

Palestinian Children Mark 20th Year Of UN Rights Treaty With Video Testimony

Nov 20 2009

Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugee children in United Nations schools in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria have been clicking away with flip cams to create the region’s first ever online video yearbook to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The project, launched yesterday, is organized by the United Kingdom-based non-governmental organization (NGO), Hoping Foundation, together with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main body caring for some 4 million Palestinian refugees.

The “Hopes and Dreams” project encapsulates the youngsters’ aspirations, bringing together on-line a community divided and scattered by decades of statelessness and exile.

Each student is recording a 30-second message. These will form the basis of a living network for the future, to be added to each year. The yearbook has been endorsed by Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, who is marking the Convention’s anniversary at an event at UN Headquarters in New York.

The segments show the youngsters outlining their hopes in various situations – in the classroom or library, sitting by the roadside, kicking a soccer ball.

“Twenty years on, what difference has it made in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestine refugee children?” UNRWA asked in a news release on the anniversary of the Convention.

Ahmadinejad welcomes Brazil’s nuclear support

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended closer ties with Brazil yesterday, hinting at bilateral nuclear co-operation ahead of a state visit.

Ahmadinejad stressed the “need for co-operation between the two countries in various fields,” according to a statement distributed here by the Iranian embassy.

“While there is an unfair polemic in Western countries against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, the people of Brazil side with the Iranian people.”

Pointing to Brazil’s own nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said Brazilians “understand that a few arrogant powers... are trying to prevent other nations from having access to advanced science.”

Ahmadinejad arrives in Brazil on Monday for a busy day-long visit that includes a meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, signing bilateral trade deals, a visit to Congress, a press conference and a speech at a Brasilia university, according to the embassy.

It will be the first visit by an Iranian president to Brazil, and Ahmadinejad’s third round of talks with Lula, who is scheduled to visit Tehran in early 2010.

Israel, whose conservative government considers Ahmadinejad-ruled Iran an existential threat, has already blasted Brazil’s “mistake” in hosting the firebrand leader.

Brazil has backed Iran’s nuclear development program, as long as it serves peaceful, civilian uses. Lula said in September that he was against sanctions on Iran, preferring instead diplomacy.

His stance contrasts with the US, its Western allies and Israel, which charge that Tehran is seeking to develop a nuclear bomb under the cover of its suspect nuclear program.

World powers are engaged in long-running efforts to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions but in the latest setback, Tehran has rejected a proposed nuclear fuel deal.

The Iranian leader called for Brasilia’s co-operation on Middle East concerns, as Brazil seeks to boost its international profile to match its growing economic heft.

“If the Brazilian people and the Iranian people are united on issues such as the Zionist regime’s cruel attack on the defenseless people of Gaza, this will show a mutual desire” for peace, Ahmadinejad said.

He was referring to the 22-day Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that ended in January, killing some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Ahmadinejad’s stop in Brazil, part of a broader Latin American tour to boost its influence in the region, comes just over a week after Lula hosted Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Ahmadinejad will visit Bolivia on Tuesday to reinforce co-operation between the energy-rich allies as Tehran seeks growing influence in the region, Bolivian officials said.

After a working lunch, Ahmadinejad and his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales will travel to El Alto, a city just outside the capital La Paz, where they will unveil a worksite funded by Iran, according to a foreign ministry statement.

The official agenda of the eight-hour visit also includes a private meeting between the leaders, who will sign bilateral agreements and hold a press conference.

The Iranian leader will arrive in Bolivia, which sits on South America’s second largest gas reserves, as part of a Latin American tour that also includes stops in Brazil and Venezuela.

La Paz and Tehran established relations in September 2007 when Ahmadinejad made an official trip to Bolivia to sign trade and energy accords, including one to support the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes “within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty” (NPT).

Their growing ties have raised concerns in Washington and Israel.

The Zionist state suspects that the leftist governments in Bolivia and Venezuela are supplying uranium for Iran’s nuclear program, a charge Tehran denies.

The Morales administration, which broke its diplomatic ties with Israel in January over its offensive in the Gaza Strip, says it does not currently mine uranium.

Iran's president calls for expansion of trade ties with Turkey

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday called for the expansion of trade ties between Iran and Turkey, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Iran and Turkey can be each other's major trade partners," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying at his meeting with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz.

The Iranian president also said that if Tehran-Ankara trade relations are well adjusted, they will secure mutual interests.

Conveying Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan's warm greetings to Ahmadinejad, Davutoglu said Tehran and Ankara can shape better two-way ties in the future by joint planning.

The two sides at the meeting also discussed bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest, IRNA reported, without elaborating.

During Erdogan's latest visit to Iran in late last month, both sides also expressed their willingness to enhance bilateral trade exchanges.

Islamabad under pressure over Blackwater presence

Fri Nov 20, 2009

Islamabad is under pressure to meet a deadline to explain the alleged sanctioning of the presence of a notorious US security contractor, formerly known as Blackwater, on the Pakistani soil.

At the request of the Lahore High Court (LHC), the government is supposed to file an explanation by Friday, November 20, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The court started to press the authorities on the matter, acting on a petition filed by Pakistan's Wattan Party, the Pakistani daily The News International had reported earlier in the month.

Urging the across-the-board disarmament of the Pakistan-based US officials and military personnel as well as prosecution of alleged subversive elements, the party's Punjab President, Hashim Shaukat Khan said the Interior Ministry let 200 Blackwater staffers enter Pakistan without clearing the customs "under American pressure," the newspaper added.

Blackwater, now known as Xe Services LLC, attracted international condemnation for killing 17 civilians in Iraq in 2007. The State Department, however, has refused to waive the company's permission to carry arms there.

It also continues to be extensively involved in Afghanistan where nearly 70,000 US-commissioned contractors almost doubly outnumber the US troops.

Washington has been exceedingly deputizing the companies, which are infamous for misusing their State Department-issued gun licenses. The move has been denounced as an effort at putting a non-military face on the US pursuits overseas.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/111782.html.

Iraqis demonstrate to slam election law veto

Thousands of Iraqis have poured into the streets in the southern province of Basra as well as the holy city of Najaf in protest of a decision to veto the election law.

The demonstrators have called on Sunni Arab vice president Tariq al-Hashemi to reverse the veto against a key election legislation voted by a majority of the Iraqi parliament.

The protesters also denounced the return of former Baathists in the upcoming elections under the guise of new political figures.

Iraqi lawmakers will vote Saturday on how to break a deadlock over a key election law after Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi vetoed part of the hard-fought agreement on election law on Wednesday.

The Iraqi vice president has said all other provisions in the law are satisfactory and stressed that only the article related to the number of seats for voters abroad will be open for discussion.

"My objection is not to the entire law, but only the first article, in order to be fair to Iraqis living abroad," al-Hashemi told reporters. "I hope that the parliament will hold a vote soon on the suggested amendments so that elections can be carried out at their scheduled date."

It was not immediately clear when the Iraqi parliament would take up the vice president's suggestion or what impact it would have on the date of the elections. No final date has been set yet for the vote, but the Iraqi constitution mandates that it be held before the end of January.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=111825§ionid=351020201.

Israel arrests 5 top PA intelligence officers

Five senior Palestinian General Intelligence Service officers have been detained by Israeli forces near the West Bank village of Salfit in an overnight raid.

The detainees include Salfit region intelligence commander Mohammad Abdel Hamid.

The Israeli military has also demanded the Palestinians hand over an additional officer who was not apprehended.

A Palestinian security source said the Friday morning arrests were apparently made in the wake of an investigation being carried out by the General Intelligence Service against a man suspected of collaboration with Israel.

The PA assumes that the arrests are another attempt by Tel Aviv to dampen PA clout in light of the political row between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority however said that they are in contact with Israel in a bid to secure the release of those arrested.

The Friday morning detentions are made at a critical juncture in relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas said Friday in an interview with the BBC Arabic service that there would be no peace talks with Israel as long as settlement construction continued. He also implied that his people might adopt a new type of struggle against the occupation.

"Those who have to resist are the people, and there are different types of resistance, like in Bilin and Naalin, where people are injured every day," he said.

Iran to launch largest aerial defense maneuver

Iran is scheduled to launch a large-scale joint aerial defense maneuver in an attempt to prepare itself for any potential attack against the country.

The country's biggest exercise, dubbed 'Asemane Velayat 2', will begin on Sunday November 22, said the head of the air-defense headquarters of Iran's armed forces.

The five-day maneuver is aimed at developing the country's aerial defense against any potential attacks -- especially on the country's nuclear plants.

"The large scale exercise will start tomorrow and will be carried out in three phases over a five-day period," said Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani on Saturday.

He added that the maneuvers will cover a vast area in the northwest, west, south and southwest of the country.

Both the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and Iran's regular armed forces will participate in the exercises.

The senior commander went on to say that Iran has all the necessary information about the enemies' equipment.

"We are also fully able to analyze the data," he added.

According to Miqani, enemies will find it impossible to violate Iranian airspace.

'Israeli supporters voted for anti-Iran resolution'

Iran has strongly denounced a resolution which accuses the country of violating human rights, calling it a 'dark stain' on UN credibility.

Members of the United Nations human rights committee Friday adopted a non-binding resolution which criticizes Iran for alleged human rights violations.

The resolution adopted with only 74 votes in favor, 48 against and 59 abstentions expresses concern at what it calls "the serious, ongoing and recurring human rights violations" in Iran.

At the UN General Assembly meeting, Iran's ambassador to the UN Mohammad Khazaee rejected the resolution as "highly politically charged and motivated" and called it "a dark stain" on the UN record of human rights activities.

He said those who sponsored the resolution were wrongly assumed to be supporters of human rights. "They are those who voted 'no' to a resolution condemning the Zionist regime war crimes in Gaza and also opposed the international calls for trying Israeli officials."

Khazaee took a swipe at Canada and Israel in particular, calling into question their human rights violations.

He said Israel had a long history of crimes against the Palestinians. He also criticized Canada for violating human rights including discrimination against the native peoples.

The non-binding resolution also drew harsh criticism from representatives of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), who called it a "politically motivated" measure which undermined human rights activities.

China has no plan to cut oil imports from Iran

China says it has no plan to decrease its oil imports from Iran -- the world's fifth largest crude exporter.

Wang Tianpu, president of top refiner Sinopec Corp, says China's oil imports from Iran will remain at the current level of around 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The comment came as China announced that it will increase its oil imports from Saudi Arabia by about 12 percent from this year to top one million barrels a day.

"We have to secure other supplies as the OPEC cuts may affect grades that our plants really need," Reuters quoted a Sinopec trader as saying.

Iran is the No.3 oil supplier of China, ­­­­­­the world's No.2 oil user.

Chinese oil companies are also set to secure next year's supplies with other leading exporters in the Middle East and Africa.

Student protests grow in California

Angry students in the US state of California have stepped up their protests against the increasing costs of higher education amid arrests and intimidations.

Hundreds of California students have continued their demonstrations state-wide in protest to the recent raise in state university tuitions after local legislature rounded off an 'unadjusted' financial plan for the Golden State's cash-strapped educational system.

Students in San Francisco's iconic Berkley University rallied in protest to the decision around English department on Friday. Police arrested a number of the students and closed classes.

Students in their thousands also gathered in Los Angeles state university campus in Davis and demanded a balanced budget for the region's educational system. There have also been protests in other California counties including Santa Cruz where angry students stormed office buildings and remained on the campus over the past two days.

Police detained at least 50 students and a professor in LA alone where many of university lecturers have called off their classes.

The ongoing protests have been sparked by recent measures of the financially-hit California government which endorsed an imminent 32 percent hike in university fees, due to take effect in January 2010.

The increase means undergraduate students will now have to pay more than $10,000 annually -- triple the amount of fees students paid around ten years ago, Washington Post reported.

California is among nine other big US states to have experienced the worst effects of the 2007 economic recession.

A number of other US states are considering slashing education spending alongside other public cost cuts which threatens to spark nationwide protests.

Jordanians march in support of Al-Aqsa Mosque

Hundreds of Jordanians take to the streets in Amman to express deep resentment over Israeli troops' raids into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, while criticizing the attacks as part of a Judaization campaign that targets East Jerusalem Al-Quds.

Participants in Friday demonstration, that brought about Jordanians from all walks of life, also condemned the silence by the Arab governments over what they described as "serious Israeli violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque."

They also called on Arabs and Muslims to throw their weight behind the Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in the face of the Zionist aggressions and violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque and East Jerusalem Al-Quds.

Meanwhile, Palestinian lawmaker Samira al-Halaika warns that Israeli plans to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque are in their final stages, calling on Arab and Muslim states to shatter silence and to implement practical measures to cease the schemes.

“The state of death [Israel] engulfs Arab and Muslim world and is swallowing them up. The callous indifference shown by the Islamic world towards Israeli aggressions on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound explains why the organized Israeli ethnic cleansing in the East Jerusalem Al-Quds is going on unimpeded, and now is in final stages at Jerusalem Al-Quds,” the legislator from Hamas' parliamentary bloc in Palestinian Legislative Council was quoted as saying by Palestinian Information Center on Friday.

She also urged Arab and Muslim nations and officials to end their inexplicable silence and to sincerely stand beside their brethren in occupied East Jerusalem Al-Quds.

“The Zionist enemy does anything to diminish the Palestinians' presence in the city. It either demolishes their homes or confiscates and invalidates their residency documents among other illegal practices so as to change the demographic population of Jerusalem Al-Quds in favor of the Jews,” Halaika deplored.

Tories vow to pull troops out of Germany

Britain's Conservative Party has pledged to withdraw the UK's troops from Germany as part of the party's defense policies if they win the next general election.

"It was no longer necessary to have more than 20,000 military personnel in the country nearly 70 years after the end of the Second World War," the British shadow defense secretary was quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying.

Liam Fox told the newspaper that the new NATO states from eastern and central Europe, particularly Poland, should take over in Germany and free British troops for deployment elsewhere.

"Finding a more creative diplomatic solution in NATO will be a priority for an incoming Conservative government," Fox said.

The move would be part of a "wholesale recasting of our foreign and defense policy," Fox pointed out.

But a final decision depends on whether the Ministry of Defense can handle the return of so many soldiers.

Although the British presence has been scaled down over the years, the First Armored Division is still based in Herford, near Hanover, and there is no accommodation for them in the UK.

The Conservatives are also considering fast-tracking younger commanders with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan to senior posts.

There are currently 25,000 UK troops stationed in Germany.

Officials: First U.S. cat dies from H1N1

LEBANON, Ore., Nov. 19 (UPI) -- A cat in Lebanon, Ore., is likely the first cat in the United States to have died as a result of the H1N1 virus, Oregon state veterinary officials said.

Raina Dey of the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association and state public health veterinarian Emilio DeBess said the 10-year-old cat likely contracted the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, from a human, The Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard said Thursday.

The cat died three days after being taken to Lebanon's Animal Clinic with labored breathing on Nov. 4. The Register-Guard said a family member of the cat's owner was recently sick with a flu-like illness.

The feline became the third confirmed case of a cat with H1N1 after the Oregon State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory confirmed the animal had the influenza strain.

The two prior cases of a cat with H1N1, which occurred in Iowa and Nebraska, ended with both animals recovering.

DeBess said it potentially could be possible that cats infected with the H1N1 virus could transmit the virus to humans.

Lebanon issues arrest warrant against Fatah al-Islam member

BEIRUT, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese first investigative judge issued an arrest warrant against al-Qaida inspired Fatah al-Islam member Fadi Ghassan Ibrahim, for his involvement with bomb attacks and the formation of terrorist cells, the official National News Agency reported Thursday.

The arrest warrant was issued after Ibrahim and nine other Fatah al-Islam members were interrogated by judge Fadi Sawwan for four hours on Thursday. The nine other members will be interrogated again next week.

Ibrahim, known as Sikamo, was arrested on Oct. 30 outside the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh. The 34-year-old man has been linked to several bombings and plots made by Fatah al-Islam.

Fatah al-Islam, led by a fugitive militant named Shaker al-Abssi, is a radical Islamist group that draws inspiration from al-Qaida.

It became known in 2007 after engaging in combat against the Lebanese Army in the Nahr Al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. The incident killed more than 400 people, including soldiers, militants and civilians.

Calif. launches probe into scam targeting churches

By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – California is investigating several companies suspected of bilking churches nationwide of hundreds of thousands of dollars through fraudulent computer leasing schemes, authorities said Friday.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown said as many as 30 Southern California churches may have been defrauded, with the same companies suspected of bilking other churches in as many as 10 other states.

The companies offered churches free computer kiosks that could serve as electronic message boards and generate advertising revenue, Brown said.

"Instead, churches were left with leases as high as $45,000 per year for what amounted to little more than desktop computers and printers housed in podium-sized wooden boxes," the attorney general's office said in a statement.

The leasing companies later filed lawsuits against churches to collect payments, interest and late fees, Brown said.

Standing beside a defunct computer system at the Bryant Temple Church in South Los Angeles, the Rev. Clyde Oden Jr. said the kiosks seemed to present an opportunity for the church to raise funds.

"This seemed to be a cutting-edge opportunity, that's how it was presented to us. It turns out that the cut was against us," said Oden, whose church leased a system in 2006.

Oden said he initially received quarterly checks for $3,000, supposedly for kiosk advertising, from Maryland-based Urban Interfaith Network and Television Broadcasting Online. But Oden said he had to pay the entire amount to the company that had leased the machine. The checks stopped after a year, he added.

Brown's office said it had served subpoenas at Urban Interfaith Network and Television Broadcasting Online. Lawyers for the companies couldn't be immediately located.

Brown said his office was investigating three men and a woman who owned the companies that offered the kiosks. Two of the men were charged in Michigan last month with racketeering, fraud and other crimes. Prosecutors there contend they bilked 21 churches of about $660,000.

Also subpoenaed were three leasing companies — Irvine-based Balboa Capital Corp.; United Leasing Associates of America Ltd. of Brookfield, Wis.; and San Francisco-based Banc of America Leasing and Capital LLC.

Banc of America Leasing is a subsidiary of Bank of America.

E-mails left for Balboa and United Leasing seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Banc of America spokesman Will Wilson said the firm was cooperating with the probe and it had been unaware of any allegations of wrongdoing at the time it did business with companies involved in the alleged scam.

Spain may grant refugee status to W.Sahara activist

Nov 20, 2009

MADRID — Spain will grant refugee status to a Western Sahara activist on hunger strike in the Canary Islands if Moroccan authorities reject her request for a new passport, the foreign ministry said Friday.

Aminatou Haidar, a winner of several human rights awards, launched a hunger strike at midnight on Sunday to protest against Morocco's decision to expel her from her native Western Sahara.

"The government is ready, if Ms Haidar asks, to grant her refugee status as soon as possible and provide her with all the necessary documents (so she can travel)," the Spanish foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added this step would only be taken if the Moroccan consulate in Spain turns down her request for a new passport.

Moroccan authorities arrested Haidar on November 13 on her arrival in the Western Sahara capital of Laayoune from Spain's Canary Islands.

Immigration officials immediately sent her back to the archipelago after confiscating her passport. Haidar used her Spanish residency permit to re-enter the country.

In October, Haidar received the Civil Courage Prize from the New York-based Train Foundation for her human rights campaigning in the disputed Western Sahara territory.

The Polisario Front rebel movement has been fighting for the independence of Western Sahara since it was annexed by Morocco after Spain left in 1975.

With Algerian backing, the Polisario Front is holding out for independence.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.

Germany welcomes new EU pair as 'competent personalities'

Moscow - German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle welcomed the appointment of the EU's two new top officials on Friday, saying new EU President Herman Van Rompuy and foreign policy High Representative Catherine Ashton were two "competent personalities.""Van Rompuy and Lady Ashton are facing great challenges," Westerwelle said.

Westerwelle was beginning an official visit to Russia, after attending the inauguration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai this week.

"They can count on our support in their efforts," he added.

Germany and France had come in for criticism from other EU members ahead of the special summit to choose the two leaders on Thursday night, following German Chancellor Angela Merkel's announcement that the two countries would vote together on the posts.

The two new figures, created by the recently passed Lisbon Treaty, will flank European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in representing the EU around the world.

China considers combat troops for UN peacekeeping, official says

Beijing - China is considering the deployment of its first combat troops as part of a growing role in United Nations peacekeeping operations, a UN official said on Friday. "I understand that they are considering sending combat troops but no decision has been made at this stage," Alain Le Roy, the UN under-secretary for peacekeeping operations, said after meeting Chinese military leaders in Beijing.

China's 2.5-million-strong People's Liberation Army has so far provided only engineering, transportation, medical and other logistical services, but the affiliated People's Armed Police has sent some officers for UN peacekeeping duties.

"They have told me at the highest level that they are considering ... (ways) to steadily increase their participation within their capacity," Le Roy told reporters.

"They don't exclude any country," Le Roy said.

He said China currently provided about 2,100 of the UN's 115,000 peacekeepers deployed on 15 operations, putting it 14th in the list of contributing nations.

China was the seventh highest contributor to the UN's 7.8-billion-dollar budget for peacekeeping operations this year, he said.

He said China's "very professional" peacekeepers were working in nations including Sudan, Lebanon, Liberia, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

UN peacekeeping had changed rapidly over the past decade, involving "much more complex and diverse tasks" in a "very difficult environment," he said.

"And that's why it's important to have China as a strategic partner in this difficult environment," Le Roy said.

China's hosting this week of an international forum on UN peacekeeping, attended by 30 nations, was also "very positive," he said.

He said UN officials had "no concerns" about China's participating in UN missions in nations where China had strong diplomatic ties, such as Sudan.

"If they can have some leverage with some specific countries, we will try to make the best use of it," he said.

In addition to its role in UN peacekeeping, China has sent ships to join international rescue exercises and anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden.

China jumped to second place last year in the list of the world's biggest military spenders, behind only the United States, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported earlier this year.

China's estimated military spending reached 85 billion dollars, one-seventh of the estimated US spending, the institute said.

ElBaradei: Iran has not totally rejected nuclear fuel plan

Berlin - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Friday that he believes that Iran has not totally rejected his agency's nuclear fuel plan, but that time was running out. "The ball is now in Iran's court. I hope they will not miss this fleeting chance," he told reporters in Berlin.

On Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brushed off international warnings after apparently rejecting a compromise deal on the country's controversial nuclear programme.

However, Iran has not made a formal written response to the IAEA's proposal.

The deal proposed that Iran would ship its low-grade enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be processed into fuel for Tehran's medical research reactor.

Top diplomats from the so-called "5+1" group of world powers were to meet in Brussels on Friday to discuss how to respond to Iran's so- far negative response to the proposed deal

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that Iran would only accept the fuel deal if the swap of low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel would be effected simultaneously.

ElBaradei has accordingly proposed Turkey as a trusted intermediary, whereby Iran would ship the nuclear fuel to Turkey, which would hold on to it while Russia enriches a separate batch of nuclear fuel. Russia would only receive the original Iranian fuel once it had delivered the enriched fuel to Iran.

Iran "needed to rise above their domestic conflicts" on the nuclear issue, and take a "minimum risk" in the interests of peace, ElBaradei said.

"I hope to get an answer soon, within the next week or so," ElBaradei said.

"That would open a space for Iran and the US to engage in broad negotiations," he said.

Lebanon hands over six alleged terrorists to Saudi Arabia

Beirut - Six Saudis facing terrorism charges in Lebanon will briefly return to their home country at the request of the Saudi government, a Lebanese judicial source said Friday. The men allegedly participated in bloody gunfights with the Lebanese army at the northern Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al- Bared in 2007.

According to the judicial source, the six belong to the Fatah al- Islam group, which follows the ideology of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

According to the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper, the Saudi request came a via letter to Lebanon. It said Riyadh pledged to return the men to Lebanon within 15 days. It is not clear why the men's presence is being requested.

In a related development, Fadi Sawan, a military examining magistrate on Friday questioned 10 Fatah al-Islam suspects who have been charged with membership in a terrorist group.

Sawan questioned Fatah al-Islam member Fadi Ibrahim, known as Sikamo, for four hours and issued an arrest warrant against him.

Sikamo received a second arrest warrant for monitoring United Nations Interim Forces in South Lebanon (UNIFIL) activities in southern Lebanon and plotting to carry out attacks against the peacekeepers.

Fatah al-Islam, which is headed by Palestinian extremist Shaker al-Abssi, emerged in November 2006 when it split from Fatah al- Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group based in Lebanon.

It first came to prominence during the refugee camp gunfights in which more than 400 people, including civilians, died. The group's leader and 20 other members managed to escape and are still at large.

Abssi confirmed in 2007 that his Sunni-Muslim militant group backs the aims and ideology of the al-Qaeda terrorist group of fighting and killing non-Muslims, but denied that he has organizational links with Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda.

Fatah al-Islam statements have also appeared on Islamist websites known for publishing al-Qaeda statements.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/295598,lebanon-hands-over-six-alleged-terrorists-to-saudi-arabia.html.

Belgian king seeks new premier as Van Rompuy heads for EU - Summary

Brussels - Belgium's King Albert II on Friday began the search for a new prime minister, a day after the incumbent, Herman Van Rompuy, was named the European Union's first full-time president. Van Rompuy, who became premier in December, was seen in Belgium as one of the few politicians capable of reconciling the country's Dutch-speaking majority and French-speaking minority. His promotion to EU leadership has led commentators in the country to fear a renewed outburst of inter-communal friction.

Palace officials on Friday announced that the king had held separate talks with Van Rompuy, Didier Reynders, the head of the French-speaking liberal party, and Marianne Thyssen, the head of the Dutch-speaking conservative party.

Sources close to the process indicated that the king was expected to hold separate talks with the other leaders of the country's five-party ruling coalition during the course of the day.

Ahead of the meetings, Belgian media from both sides of the language divide speculated that the most likely successor to Van Rompuy would be his disgraced predecessor and party colleague, Yves Leterme.

Leterme headed the Belgian government in 2008 at a time of vicious political infighting between the country's language communities. Commentators warned Friday that his expected rehabilitation could spark a new round of strife.

"Nobody is thrilled with the idea, and the prospect of seeing him floundering around in the intercommunal negotiations doesn't reassure anyone," wrote French-language daily La Libre Belgique.

The conservative Leterme emerged as the surprise victor of national elections in 2007. Over 800,000 voters marked him as their personal preference, a Belgian record.

But his rule was marred by incessant feuding between Dutch and French speakers. It took him nine months to form a government. A further round of factional infighting led him to tender his resignation just three months later, a move the King rejected.

However, he was finally forced out in December following accusations that he had tried to interfere in an inquiry into the sale of collapsed banking giant Fortis. Van Rompuy, who replaced him, was hailed for restoring harmony between the two communities.

With Van Rompuy's promotion to the leadership of the EU, media on both sides say that Leterme's return is all but assured.

"Nobody can get round the man with 800,000 votes," wrote Dutch- language daily De Standaard, a phrase also used almost word for word by rival publication Het Laatste Nieuws.

That prospect has aroused a mix of resignation and fear, with commentators left to hope that Leterme's expected second term of office will be less fraught than the first.

Leterme "will have one priority task: to forge a solution (to the intercommunal issue) ... and one duty, to avoid a government crisis," wrote Beatrice Delvaux, chief editor of French-language daily Le Soir.

"Today, more than one person is holding their breath," Delvaux wrote.

Barcelona players Abidal and Toure hit by swine flu

Madrid - Barcelona left-back Eric Abidal is suffering from swine flu and will be out of action for at least a week, the European champions said Friday. Barca have also revealed that midfielder Yaya Toure has the same symptoms - stomach virus and a high fever - and might also have swine flu.

Both players will miss Saturday's league game away to Athletic Bilbao, and are doubtful for Tuesday's crucial Champions League clash at home to Inter Milan - and also for "El Clasico" against Real Madrid on November 29.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is also doubtful for the Inter and Real matches, because of a pulled muscle in his left thigh.

Barca are one point ahead of second-placed Real, who are at home to Racing Santander on Saturday.

Turks react with concern to EU presidency appointment - Summary

Istanbul - The appointment of Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as president of the European Union was met with concern in Turkey because of the Belgian's previous comments against Ankara's joining the EU. The headlines of Turkey's major papers voiced something approaching alarm in announcing Van Rompuy's appointment. "Bad News" wrote the daily Radikal. "Opposition to Turkey at the top of the EU," wrote Vatan, another major daily.

The press reports pointed in particular to a comment attributed to Van Rompuy in a speech while he was in the opposition in Belgium in which he said "Turkey is not part of Europe and will never be part of Europe."

The official response, though, was more measured. "[Belgium has] generally taken a positive stance toward the enlargement and have also supported our membership bid," Egemen Bagis, Turkey's chief EU negotiator said in a written statement released on Friday.

"It is important that Rompuy promised to be fair and objective related to our country's membership bid. It suits the principle of pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept)," he said.

Turkish officials have recently expressed their worries that opposition to Ankara's EU bid is growing, and that German and French plans to steer the country towards a "privileged partnership" with the bloc are gaining traction.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul called on the EU and its member countries to live up to the agreement made in 2004 to open up membership negotiations with Ankara.

"There was a unanimous decision to open the talks after lengthy debates. Honoring promises is a main principle of law and it is binding on all," Gul said.

Pakistan Continues To Follow Its Own Road Despite U.S. Pressures

2009-11-20

The Pakistani government has some advice the Obama administration may not want to hear as it contemplates sending additional U.S. troops to neighboring Afghanistan: Negotiate with Taliban leaders and restrain India.

Pakistan embraces U.S. efforts to stabilize the region and worries that a hasty U.S. withdrawal would create chaos, but Pakistani officials worry that thousands of additional American soldiers and Marines would send Taliban forces retreating into Pakistan, where they're not welcome.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's office said Friday that he told visiting CIA Director Leon Panetta of "Pakistan's concerns relating to the possible surge of the U.S. and ISAF forces in Afghanistan which may entail negative implications for the situation in Baluchistan," the Pakistani province that borders Afghanistan to the south.

The Pakistanis' advice is almost diametrically opposed the strategy outlined by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan: Don't send additional forces to protect Afghan cities, but send them to outposts along the Pakistani border - where McChrystal has withdrawn troops.

It's just one example of how Pakistan, a critical U.S. ally in the struggle against Islamist extremists and a major recipient of American military aid, continues to deal differently with the violence that threatens not only the U.S.-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, but also impoverished, nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The two countries' divergent views of the threat posed by Islamist extremists, and the Obama administration's efforts to press Pakistan to move against groups that menace Afghanistan have produced strains between the two countries and between Pakistan's civilian government and its powerful military and Inter Services Intelligence agency - and a growing drumbeat of Pakistani allegations about alleged nefarious CIA activities in Pakistan.

"The Pakistanis say some things in public - often for reasons related to internal politics, it seems - that they don't focus on in private," said a senior U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because intelligence matters are classified. "That's not to say that we see eye-to-eye on everything behind closed doors, but both sides realize that - whatever the disagreements of the moment might be - the long-term partnership is essential. After all, Pakistani contributions to counterterrorism since 9/11 have been decisive, and our government recognizes that."

Instead of escalating the war in Afghanistan, however, top Pakistani officials are pressing the administration to try to negotiate a political settlement with top Taliban commanders that would allow the U.S. to exit Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials argue that that such a negotiating strategy can't work unless the rebel leadership is involved, right up to Jalaluddin Haqqani, the head of the most dangerous insurgent faction, and Mullah Mohammed Omar, the one-eyed founder of the Afghan Taliban and Osama bin Laden's ally and host.

Because Pakistan is a longtime patron of the Taliban and of the Haqqani network, Pakistani officials think they could broker a deal to reduce Afghan President Hamid Karzai to a figurehead leader and divide power between the Pashtun Taliban and Afghanistan's Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara minorities.

U.S. and some Pakistani officials, however, are skeptical, arguing that the Taliban have little incentive to negotiate when their strength and sway in Afghanistan is growing and public and international support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan is waning.

Najmuddin Shaikh, formerly the top bureaucrat in the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, said the Taliban could be brought to the negotiating table if they saw a greater American military commitment and more investments in the Afghan countryside.

"It's a little premature for talks (with the Taliban)," said Shaikh. "There has to be a change in the ground situation, things happening in the next six to eight months that shows the 'ink spots' strategy (McChrystal's idea of protecting Afghan population centers) is taking hold, that some foot soldiers are being weaned away, then talks become possible."

Nevertheless, behind the scenes talks with mid-level Taliban officials already have begun, and Pakistani officials think they could rapidly accelerate now that Karzai has begun his second term.

"We've already been talking to them (the Taliban)," said a senior Pakistani official in Islamabad, who couldn't be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. "If the U.S. helps the process, some arrangements can be worked out for political reconciliation. I'm not for a moment suggesting that it's an easy task, but otherwise you will be fighting these people for the next hundred years."

The United States and other NATO forces also favor talking to some Taliban, but they focus on "non-ideological" insurgents who can be peeled away, partly through bribery. Retired British general Graeme Lamb was appointed for this task in August, but so far the effort has produced little success.

"The Americans have wasted a lot of time over this 'moderate Taliban' idea. It is never going to pan out. It misunderstands the Taliban phenomenon," said Simbal Khan, an analyst at Institute of Strategic Studies, a policy institute funded by the Pakistani government. "If you try to break off elements with cash, they'll take your money and still fight you."

The Pakistani military and ISI still consider archrival India, not militant Islam, the main threat, and unlike U.S. officials, Pakistani officials distinguish between the Taliban and other militant groups whose target is Afghanistan and groups that are seeking to impose their extreme brand of Islam on Pakistan.

Pakistan has for eight years declined to mount any serious pursuit of bin Laden and the other top al Qaida leaders who sought shelter in Pakistan after the 2001 U.S. invasion drove them out of Afghanistan.

Pakistan also has quietly tolerated the presence of Mullah Omar, who U.S. officials said is based near the Baluchistan city of Quetta and shuttling between there and Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and a key financial and logistics center for Islamic militants. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because intelligence on terrorist groups is classified. Officially, Pakistan denies that bin Laden and Omar are in the country.

Pakistan's laissez-faire attitude toward al-Qaeda, Omar and Afghan militants such as Haqqani doesn't appear likely to change in the face of stepped-up American pressure.

U.S. national security adviser James Jones last week delivered a message to Gilani and other Pakistani officials from President Barack Obama, who urged Pakistan to take action against Afghan militant groups operating from Pakistani soil.

The Pakistanis politely told Jones that Pakistan is doing all it can, and that it must concentrate on groups that are attacking Pakistan, rather than those that are a threat in Afghanistan. Gilani's office said he told Jones that Pakistan's "forces were over-stretched because of continuous tension on the eastern border" with India.

Gilani's office said Friday that, "The new Afghan policy of the U.S. government should not disturb the regional balance in South Asia."

Pakistani officials say that relations with India remain dangerously strained, requiring military resources on Pakistan's eastern border. Pakistan is also concerned about India's growing influence in Afghanistan, which Islamabad fears is part of a move to encircle Pakistan.

With Pakistani forces already fighting the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan, the country fears opening too many battlefronts and furiously rejects Washington's constant mantra of "do more."

U.S. officials say the Pakistani military is obsessed with the Indian border, where they say there's no active threat, and reluctant to address the threats that are a product of Pakistan's refusal to quash the insurgency on Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan.

"When we get into the position of stabilizing, then we can help the other side (the U.S.)," said a senior Pakistani military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the issue publicly. "There are limits of our power. You cannot be expected to use your force against all (militant) groups because then your power will be diluted. That's exactly what's happening on the other side (to the U.S. in Afghanistan), they're all over the place and virtually in control of nothing."

Source: Free Internet Press.
Link: http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=23655.

107,298 Kashmiri children orphaned since Jan 1989

Pakistan Times Jammu & Kashmir Desk

SRINAGAR (IHK): In occupied Kashmir, unabated Indian state terrorism has rendered 107,298 children orphans from January 1989 till date, reports KMS.

According to a report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service on the occasion of the Universal Children’s Day on Friday, it has been revealed that 680 children were among those 93,084 civilians, who were killed by Indian troops during the period.

The report said that Kashmiri children have been the worst victims of Indian state terrorism.

Meanwhile, another report says that the family of prominent martyred human rights activist Jaleel Andrabi has submitted an application before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar stating that the case needs to be probed further to expose more faces involved in Andrabi’s killing.

Arshad Andrabi, the brother of Jaleel Andrabi, who was killed by an Indian army officer, Major Avtar Singh, submitted an application pleading to probe other aspects of the case. “There were other persons from Indian police and army who assisted Avtar when he picked up Jaleel and later on killed him in custody,” he added.

The CJM directed the public prosecutor to submit objections by December 11, the next date of hearing. He also asked IG Crime Kashmir to take up the execution of Interpol warrant against the Major Avrtar, who had been reportedly living in Canada on an Indian passport.

The FIR in the custodial killing of Jaleel Andrabi is 13 years old and the case is pending in the court of the CJM for last more than 8 years.

The delay in the disposal of the case is mainly due to non-arrest of Major Avtar, who has been declared absconding by the CJM Srinagar, which has so for issued repeated warrants against him.

Source: Pakistan Times.
Link: http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=6158.