Sudan: Many Voters Register for Elections

Sudanese are registering in substantial numbers for their first multi-party elections in 24 years, although opposition is citing irregularities and those displaced from Darfur are refusing to take part unless peace is established, reports Le Potentiel of Kinshasa.

Registration began in November, without much enthusiasm in Khartoum and other regions. Surprisingly, 11 million voters have signed up to the roll and the authorities have extended the registration period to December 7.

"This is a very high and unexpected result," a source who preferred to remain anonymous said. "There has been a high turnout from most regions."

A South Sudanese electoral commission spokesman, Mac Maika, told Agence France-Presse: "There has been a great shift from what we experienced at the beginning." But he said ethnic tensions and the accessibility of remote villages had been a problem in the south.

The Carter Center of Altanta in the United States, an independent electoral monitoring organization, expressed concern that inequalities still exist as a result of lack of registration infrastucture in some area.

FIFA to increase prize money for World Cup Finals teams

The soccer's world governing body FIFA said on Thursday that the prize money for the 2010 World Cup teams would be increased by 60 percent.

After a meeting on Robben Island, South Africa, FIFA's executive committee approved the increase in prize money for the 2010 World Cup finals teams in South Africa from 261 million to 420 million US dollars.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said the winner will take home 31 million while each of the 32 teams will receive at least 9million from the first round.

China, Canada sign green deal

Canada and China signed a series of agreements on issues including climate change Thursday, during a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper aimed at jump-starting ties between the two countries.

Harper held talks with Chinese leaders on the second day of his four-day visit, during which both sides called for an improvement in ties that have languished in recent years.

For years, Harper's government has been outspoken in criticizing Beijing over its human rights record and allegations of Chinese spying, sparking fears in the Canadian business community of a potential backlash in trade ties.

"Canada has great advantages in the fields of environmental protection, green economy and energy and chemistry,"Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Harper.

Harper told China's President Hu Jintao in earlier talks that there was "great potential"in further developing trade and economic relations.

After the talks, ministers from China and Canada signed five agreements, including a renewed memorandum on mineral resources and a memorandum of understanding on climate change, just days ahead of UN talks in Copenhagen aimed at tackling global warming.

Harper will also visit Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Ancient Volcano's Devastating Effects Confirmed

A massive volcanic eruption that occurred in the distant past killed off much of central India's forests and may have pushed humans to the brink of extinction, according to a new study that adds evidence to a controversial topic.

The Toba eruption, which took place on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia about 73,000 years ago, released an estimated 800 cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere that blanketed the skies and blocked out sunlight for six years. In the aftermath, global temperatures dropped by as much as 16 degrees centigrade (28 degrees Fahrenheit) and life on Earth plunged deeper into an ice age that lasted around 1,800 years.

In 1998, Stanley Ambrose, an anthropology professor at the University of Illinois, proposed in the Journal of Human Evolution that the effects of the Toba eruption and the Ice Age that followed could explain the apparent bottleneck in human populations that geneticists believe occurred between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. The lack of genetic diversity among humans alive today suggests that during this time period humans came very close to becoming extinct.

To test his theory, Ambrose and his research team analyzed pollen from a marine core in the Bay of Bengal that had a layer of ash from the Toba eruption. The researchers also compared carbon isotope ratios in fossil soil taken from directly above and below the Toba ash in three locations in central India — some 3,000 miles from the volcano — to pinpoint the type of vegetation that existed at various locations and time periods.

Heavily forested regions leave carbon isotope fingerprints that are distinct from those of grasses or grassy woodlands.

The tests revealed a distinct change in the type of vegetation in India immediately after the Toba eruption. The researchers write in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology that their analysis indicates a shift to a "more open vegetation cover and reduced representation of ferns," which grow in humid conditions, all of which "would suggest significantly drier conditions in this region for at least 1,000 years after the Toba eruption."

The dryness probably also indicates a drop in temperature "because when you turn down the temperature you also turn down the rainfall," Ambrose said. "This is unambiguous evidence that Toba caused deforestation in the tropics for a long time."

He also concluded that the disaster may have forced the ancestors of modern humans to adopt new cooperative strategies for survival that eventually permitted them to replace Neanderthals and other archaic human species.

Although humans survived the event, researchers have detected increasing activity underneath a caldera at Yellowstone National Park, where some suspect another supervolcanic eruption will eventually take place. Though not expected to occur anytime soon, a Yellowstone eruption could coat half the United States in a layer of ash up to 3 feet (1 meter) deep.

US Marines launch large offensive in Afghanistan

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – U.S. Marines and Afghan troops on Friday launched the first offensive since President Barack Obama announced an American troop surge, striking against Taliban communications and supply lines in a southern insurgent stronghold, a military spokesman said.

Hundreds of troops from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines and the Marine reconnaissance unit Task Force Raider were dropped by helicopter and MV-22 Osprey aircraft behind Taliban lines in the northern end of the Now Zad Valley of Helmand province, scene of heavy fighting last summer, according to Marine spokesman Maj. William Pelletier.

A U.S. military official in Washington said it was the first use of Ospreys, aircrafts that combine features of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, in an offensive involving units larger than platoons.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to detail the operation, said that Ospreys have previously been used for intelligence and patrol operations.

A second, larger force pushed northward from the Marines' Forward Operating Base in the town of Now Zad, Pelletier said. Combat engineers were forcing a corridor through Taliban minefields with armored steamrollers and explosives, Pelletier said.

In all, about 1,000 Marines as well as Afghan troops were taking part in the operation, known as "Cobra's Anger," he said.

There were no reports of NATO casualties. The spokesman for the Afghan governor of Helmand province, Daood Ahmadi, said the bodies of four slain Taliban had been recovered. Ahmadi said 150 Afghan troops were taking part in the operation, which had located more than 300 mines and roadside bombs by Friday evening.

The operation began three days after Obama announced that he was sending 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan to help turn the tide against the Taliban. America's European allies will send an estimated 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan next year "with more to come," NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced Friday.

Most of the new troops are expected to be sent to southern Afghanistan, including Helmand, where Taliban influence is strongest.

The new offensive aims to cut off the Taliban communication routes through Helmand and disrupt their supply lines, especially those providing explosives for the numerous lethal roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices, that litter the area, known by Marines as "IED Alley."

Pelletier said several arms caches and at least 400 pounds of explosive materials had been found so far Friday.

"Right now, the enemy is confused and disorganized," Pelletier said by telephone from Camp Leatherneck, the main Marines base in Helmand. "They're fighting, but not too effectively."

Pelletier said insurgents were caught off guard by the early morning air assault.

Now Zad used to be one of the largest towns in Helmand province, the center of Afghanistan's lucrative opium poppy growing industry.

However, three years of fighting have chased away Now Zad's 30,000 inhabitants, leaving the once-thriving market and commercial area a ghost town.

British troops who were once stationed there left graffiti dubbing the town "Apocalypse Now-Zad," a play on the title of the 1979 Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now. The British base was nearly overrun on several occasions with insurgents coming within yards (meters) of the protection wall. The area was handed over in 2008 to the Marines, who have struggled to reclaim much of the valley.

In August, the Marines launched their first large-scale offensive in the barren, wind-swept and opium-poppy growing valley surrounded by steep cliffs with dozens of caves providing cover to Taliban units.

More than 100 hardline insurgents are believed to operate in the area, their positions so solid that a fixed frontline runs just a few hundred yards (meters) north of the Marines' base, according to Associated Press reporters who were with the Marines there last summer.

Solar plane pioneer says first short flight OK

GENEVA – A Swiss adventurer said his first flight using a prototype of a solar-powered plane he will try to fly around the world in was successful.

The short, low altitude flight at a Swiss airfield Thursday proved the prototype can fly, said adventurer Bertrand Piccard, pilot of the first hot-air balloon to fly nonstop around the world.

"It was absolutely great to see this plane in the air," Piccard told The Associated Press. "It's a completely new flight domain. There has never been an airplane so big and so light flying with so little energy."

The "Solar Impulse," which has a wingspan of a Boeing 747 but weighs less than a small car, flew 1,150 feet (350 meters) at just one meter above the ground, Piccard said.

"The goal was not to make a big flight, but to see if this airplane is behaving the way the engineers designed it," he said. "And the result was excellent.

"On the other hand, we see how long the road is still before we fly around the world with it," Piccard said.

Solar panels will be attached next year for the first flight at night powered by solar energy, followed by a series of other tests, he said.

Piccard and co-pilot Andre Borschberg will alternate in the cockpit when they try to take the plane around the world in 2012.

Piccard set a world record in 1999 when he and Brian Jones of Britain took their balloon, Breitling Orbiter III, on a 20-day circumnavigation of the globe — an achievement that had eluded many before them, including tycoons Steve Fossett and Richard Branson.

Cruise companies expand their fleets

PORT EVERGLADES, Fla., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The Oasis of the Seas berthed in Florida -- with 24 restaurants -- sets the stage cautiously for a wave of bigger cruise ships, industry executives said.

The massive ship, scheduled to set sale Saturday with 5,400 passengers and 12,000 plants and trees on board, cost Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. $1.4 billion to build, but will end up with "one of the highest returns on investment our industry has ever seen," Chief Executive Officer Richard Fain said.

Royal Caribbean has plans to add a sister ship, Allure of the Seas, to its fleet next year and other companies, not quite as grandly, are joining in the race, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Carnival Corp. said it had placed a $750 million order this week for a ship similar to its 3,650- passenger Carnival Dream, which it launched in September. Norwegian Cruise Line, the third largest cruise company, said it is going ahead with a $1.2 billion vessel that can carry 4,200 guests.

With a life expectancy of 30 years, executives are taking the long view of their investments. Per passenger earnings are down this year, but "big ups and big downs" are expected, Fain said.

Quebec zoo reports two polar bear births

SAINT-FELICIEN, Quebec, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A Canadian zoo in Quebec reported the rare and successful births of two polar bear cubs who will be released into the Arctic next year.

In a news release, Zoo Sauvage de Saint-Felicien said resident polar bear Aisaqvaq gave birth Nov. 30 to the two cubs, but she has kept them in her den and their genders weren't immediately known.

Video clips of the three bears at the zoo 200 miles north of Quebec City can be seen at www.zoosauvage.org.

Aisaqvaq bore a single cub in December 2008, but ate it, the zoo said.

Meanwhile, the Canwest News Service reported four cases of polar bear cannibalism have been confirmed in the northeastern Manitoba community of Churchill this year by the provincial conservation authority.

Scientist Andy Derocher told the news agency several other reports were being investigated.

"The cannibalism events are really just a manifestation of the effects of global warming on the bears," he said. "It's an act of desperation -- it's what they do when they can't find something else to eat."

US troop plan set to impact China

By Chen Weihua in New York, Li Xiaokun and Ai Yang in Beijing (China Daily)
2009-12-03

Washington's plan to send a huge new contingent of troops to Afghanistan may have a positive impact within China, domestic and foreign experts said on Wednesday.

They were reacting to the announcement by US President Barack Obama from the West Point Military Academy that he was ordering 30,000 more troops to the war-torn nation.

Experts said the deployment could have a knock-on effect in China, where it might help stifle separatist activity within the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Other experts suggested the impact could be a negative one.

Obama's decision to send more troops will bring the total number of US forces in Afghanistan to nearly 100,000.

Following the announcement, NATO immediately committed at least 5,000 more troops to support the US.

Qi Huaigao, a scholar in international relations with the Shanghai-based Fudan University, said the US move will help China combat the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, one of the major terrorist groups threatening Xinjiang region's security.

More soldiers in Afghanistan should also help combat drug smuggling across the country's border with China, Qi said.

"China should be able to forge a safer environment along its western border," he said.

But other experts said the decision to send more troops is likely to cause more problems than it solves.

Li Qingdong, deputy secretary-general of the China Council for National Security Policies Studies, said Obama's plan might drive the Taliban from Afghanistan into neighboring China.

"Besides, it will put our important ongoing projects in Afghanistan at stake," said Li.

Afghan Minister for Mines Muhammad Ibrahim Adel told the Daily Telegraph last month China has a growing role in the country. He said Chinese projects are likely to triple the Afghan government's revenues within five years.

China invited Afghanistan to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in October, another signal of Beijing's growing ties with Kabul.

Qi said the heightened US presence will ramp up the pressure across the region.

"The new US Afghan strategy is not only aimed at seizing Bin Laden and combating the Taliban, it is also a deliberate action targeted at China, Russia and Iran", Qi said.

Qi said that if the US gets complete control over Afghanistan, its heavy military presence will "sharply raise military pressure on China's western border".

Despite the fact that Obama promised US troops would start to leave the country after 18 months, Qi said it is unlikely the US will retreat completely in the next few years.

The strong US presence is also likely to increase US control over rich energy resources, Qi said.

Li however said it is not likely the US will be able to exercise that sort of control in the region because it is unlikely it will eliminate the Taliban.

"Actually, no foreign armies have conquered the land in its history," he said.

Given the grim outlook, Ding Xinghao, president of the Shanghai Institute of American Studies, said it is unlikely Beijing will send troops to Afghanistan. But he said it is possible China will send peace-keeping forces under the UN flag, if asked.

Fu Mengzi, an expert in American studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Studies, said Beijing has helped Kabul by training Afghan landmine-clearing personnel and police.

Susan Shirk, director of the Global Conflict and Cooperation department at the University of California, said: "China can learn from the Japan model. Japan is not sending forces, but it is contributing funding."

Source: China Daily.
Link: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-12/03/content_9105309.htm.

Brazil says threatening Iran inappropriate

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says threatening Iran with new sanctions over its nuclear program "is not appropriate."

Lula da Silva made the remark after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Thursday.

"My opinion is that it is not appropriate to treat Iran as if it were an insignificant country and strengthen the pressure on Iran every day," AP quoted Lula da Silva as saying.

The Brazilian president also called on major powers to deal with Iran "with patience" to resolve the impasse over its nuclear program.

"The best and cheapest thing for us all is if we count on negotiations and steel ourselves with patience, with a lot of patience," he said.

During his last week meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Brasilia, the Brazilian president backed Iran's rights to peaceful nuclear energy and called for a “just solution” to Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West.

Merkel, for her part, said that there were "small differences of approach" with Brazil over Iran.

She said that the West is not seeking to isolate Tehran but warned that "our patience has been tested, then new sanctions must be considered" if Iran fails to respond to the major powers request to halt its nuclear work.

The international atomic agency has passed a resolution — drafted by the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China — demanding Iran halt all construction work at the Fordo nuclear facility.

Iran, however, says it has the right to develop its nuclear program and has fulfilled all its commitments as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

NATO to send 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan

Fri Dec 4, 2009

NATO pledges to contribute over 7,000 troops to the US-led war in Afghanistan, while ruling out any withdrawal of foreign forces in the foreseeable future.

The Western alliance's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday that "at least 25 countries will send more forces to the mission in 2010. They have offered around 7,000 new forces with more to come," the Reuters news agency reported.

"That is solidarity in action and it will have a powerful effect on the ground," he added.

While speaking of the US-dominated alliance's supposed intentions to gradually entrust security with the Afghan military and police force, the NATO chief insisted that "transition doesn't mean exit."

"There should be no misunderstanding -- We are not going to leave Afghanistan to fall back into the hands of terrorists and the extremists who host them. It will not happen," he added.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama promised the deployment of 30,000 American troops in Afghanistan. Obama also said he expected allied countries to contribute 5,000 soldiers to the mission.

The call has been acknowledged by Britain with Prime Minister Gordon Brown offering an extra 500 troops. Poland and the Czech Republic have expressed readiness to commit a total of 700 troops to the operations.

France, Germany and the non-NATO Australian ally are yet to respond to Obama's plea.

There are currently around 110,000 American and other foreign soldiers deployed in Afghanistan under the US command.

Leading its allied troops, the United States invaded the violence-hit country in 2001, accusing the Taliban-controlled Afghan government of supporting al-Qaeda, which the US officials had blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The so-called counterinsurgency operations have so far left many thousands of Afghan civilians as well as Nearly 800 American troops dead.

The war-ravaged country is also grappling with unprecedented violence, as the fighting trudges along its ninth year.

Obama, however, has vowed to "finish the job" in Afghanistan and win the required public support for his allegedly overhauled battleground strategies.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/112843.html.

US unleashes 'Cobra Anger' on Helmand

Less than 1,000 US soldiers have reportedly launched fierce land and air assaults on alleged militant communication routs and supply lines in southern Afghanistan.

The raids, codenamed 'Cobra Anger,' began in Helmand Province on Friday, the Associated Press reported. British troopers as well as Afghan police and military are also enlisted in the mission, according to AFP.

The attacks are allegedly aimed at cutting a swathe through Taliban minefields.

The crackdown marks the first one of such scales since the Tuesday promise by US President Barack Obama to commit 30,000 soldiers to the Afghanistan-based contingents. Devising the mission plan for the Cobra Anger began long before the presidential announcement.

Reporting on the mission, NATO's International Security Assistant Force (ISAF) said, "More than 1,000 ISAF personnel partnered with Afghan national security forces began a long-planned operation in northern Helmand province to clear insurgent forces from a key area."

The war-ravaged country is grappling with unprecedented violence, despite the presence of around 110,000 American and other foreign soldiers.

Since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the so-called counterinsurgency operations have left many thousands of Afghan civilians as well as nearly 800 American troops dead.

The additional troops are expected to be deployed mostly in the southern regions, amid reports that the militants are gaining ground in the north.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=112846§ionid=351020403.

East Turkestan: EU Parliament Adopts a Resolution defending Tibetans and the Uyghur People

European Parliament adopts a resolution covering the death penalties and life imprisonment sentences handed down to Tibetans and Uyghurs by the Chinese courts recently

Below is an article published by the phayul.com:

The European Parliament, on 26 November 2009, adopted a very broad resolution covering the death penalties and life imprisonment sentences handed down to Tibetans and Uyghurs by the Chinese courts recently.

The resolution also called for "the reopening of sincere and results-orientated dialogue between the Chinese Government and the Dalai Lama's representatives, based on the 'Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People' and leading towards a positive, substantial and meaningful change in Tibet consistent with the principles outlined in the Constitution and laws of the People's Republic of China". It added that "in order to ensure that Tibetans and Uighurs, China's two major ethnic minorities, can coexist peacefully with the great majority of the Chinese population, who are of Han ethnicity, it is essential to begin a frank, ongoing and mutually respectful dialogue."

Strongly condemning the execution of the two Tibetans, Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak in Tibet, and nine Uighurs in East Turkestan the Parliament called upon China to "suspend all the other death sentences passed by the Intermediate People's Courts of Lhasa and Urumqi and to commute those sentences, in the case of persons duly found guilty of acts of violence."

The resolution condemned the death sentences with two years' suspension imposed on Tenzin Phuntsok and Kangtsuk, following the March 2008 protests, and the life sentence on Dawa Sangpo. Pointing to reports by various Tibetan NGOs and notably Human Rights Watch, the Parliament also underlined its concerns about whether the Tibetans had received a fair trial.

The resolution further instructs its President to forward the text to the European Council, the Commission, the Governments of the Member States, the Council of Europe, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Government of the People's Republic of China.

The resolution also called upon China to "ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; deplores the often discriminatory treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in China."

Uighur protesters land in Cambodia

Activists concerned group of 22 could be sent back to China

By John Pomfret

Twenty-two members of a Chinese ethnic group who participated in violent demonstrations against China last summer have surfaced in Cambodia, sparking concerns that Cambodia will ignore their requests for asylum and return them to China.

The 22 Uighurs, including three children, trickled into Cambodia over the past several weeks, according to Omar Kanat, vice president of the World Uyghur Congress, a group that advocates for the rights of Uighurs in China. He said that two additional Uighurs have been detained in neighboring Vietnam and that five others, who were known to have fled China into Vietnam, have disappeared.

Violent anti-China demonstrations led by Uighurs rocked Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region of northwest China, on July 5.

At least 200 people died in the bedlam that involved Uighurs attacking Han Chinese and then bands of Han Chinese retaliating against Uighurs. Last month, China's state-run media reported that nine Uighurs had been executed for taking part in the riots. Kanat and other sources said that seven of the men who fled to Cambodia were wanted by the Chinese.

The Chinese government blamed the unrest on Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur businesswoman who had been jailed in China and then exiled to the United States after pressure from the Bush administration.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said that Beijing wanted the Uighurs to be returned to China and that only a "handful of Uighurs in China are engaged in national splitism, religious extremism and violent terrorism."

A State Department spokeswoman said it is department policy not to comment on asylum cases.

Uighurs constitute a mostly Muslim ethnic group that speaks a Turkic language. For years, Uighur separatists have conducted a sometimes violent campaign against China's rule of the resource-rich Xinjiang region.

Cambodia has a troubled history when it comes to refugee rights. Human Rights Watch criticized Cambodia in a report this year for sending asylum-seekers back to Vietnam.

"Cambodia is not a good place to be a refugee these days," said Sophie Richardson, advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division.

Spain asks Morocco to grant Sahara hunger-striker a passport

MADRID — Spain has formally asked Morocco to grant a new passport to a Western Sahara activist on a hunger strike at a Spanish airport in a bid to help her return home, a senior foreign ministry official said Thursday.

The request was made in a formal letter sent to the Moroccan embassy in Spain on Tuesday, Agustin Santos said at the airport of the Canary Island of Lanzarote where Aminatou Haidar's hunger strike went into its 18th day.

The foreign ministry has so far not received a reply and it appears unlikely that Morocco will grant her a new passport "unless she reaffirms that she is a Moroccan citizen and asks for forgiveness from the Moroccan authorities," he added after meeting the mother-of-two at the airport.

"The Moroccan position is perfectly clear," he said, adding that under international law Morocco "has the obligation" to provide identity documents to residents of Western Sahara.

He said he hoped that mediation on the part of the United Nations and the Council of Europe would quickly find a solution to the impasse given the deterioration in the activist's health since she started her hunger strike.

Haidar, 42, has refused to eat since November 16, three days after Moroccan authorities denied her entry into her native Western Sahara, allegedly confiscated her passport, and expelled her to the Canary Islands.

The activist, who campaigns for the independence of the Western Sahara from Morocco, previously told AFP that Moroccan authorities denied her entry because of her refusal to accept the territory is part of Morocco.

She has remained camped out at the airport to draw attention to her cause, which has been backed by several celebrities, including Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem and Portuguese Nobel-winning author Jose Saramago who visited her earlier this week.

Spain has offered to giver Haidar refugee status or Spanish citizenship so that she could be allowed to return home but she rejected both options.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said earlier Thursday Madrid would continue efforts to find a solution that would allow Haidar to return home.

The activist is angry with Spain, which she says collaborated with Morocco by accepting her after she was expelled from the Western Sahara.

The award-winning activist used a Spanish residency permit to re-enter the Canary Islands after Moroccan immigration officials denied her entry and sent her back to the archipelago.

She wants her old Moroccan passport returned and refuses to ask Moroccan authorities for a new one.

"I have been kidnapped, detained, tortured and separated from my children by Morocco but this never hurt me as much as what Spain is doing, a democratic country with the rule of law," she said in a statement distributed by her supporters before talks with Santos.

Morocco annexed phosphate-rich Western Sahara after Spain left in 1975 and has pledged to grant it widespread autonomy, but rules out independence as demanded by the Polisario Front movement.

While fighting in the desert territory halted in 1991, UN-sponsored talks on Western Sahara's future have made no headway.

Indian Rights Group Finds 'Mass Graves' in Disputed Kashmir

By Jay Shankar

Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- More than 2,900 bodies were discovered over the past three years in “mass graves” in 55 villages across three districts in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, a rights group said.

The graves, unearthed by researchers from the International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir, include bodies of those killed in gun battles, “arbitrary executions and massacres” by military and paramilitary forces, the Indian-based group said in a statement on its Web site.

J.S. Brar, a military spokesman, said he wouldn’t comment on the report. He was speaking by telephone today from Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The disputed Himalayan territory is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan and two of the three wars between the South Asian neighbors were fought over the region. Jammu and Kashmir is India’s only Muslim-majority state.

Rebel groups have been fighting for independence from India or a union with Pakistan since 1989. India accuses Pakistan of backing separatists fighting Indian rule. Pakistan denies the accusation, saying it only lends moral support to a freedom struggle.

At least 166 people were killed in violence in Jammu and Kashmir last year.

“This evidence must be verified by independent and international bodies,” Khurram Pervez, one of the researchers who conducted the survey that ended last month, said today in a phone interview from Srinagar.

India and Pakistan account for four-fifths of South Asia’s $1.3 billion economy and economic progress in the region has suffered because of tensions between the nations. Pakistan takes only 4.8 percent of its imports from India, almost three times less than its biggest partner China, according to U.S. government data.

India ready to withdraw troops from Kashmir

* Home minister says he favours ‘quiet talks’ with Kashmiris
* No dialogue with Pakistan until conditions met

NEW DELHI: India’s home minister said on Wednesday the government was prepared to withdraw a “significant” number of troops from Indian-held Kashmir (IHK).

Briefing lawmakers in parliament on the state of domestic security, P Chidambaram noted that militant violence in the region had dropped in the past few years.

“I would take what appears to be a risky step of withdrawing a significant number of battalions of security forces in Kashmir,” the minister told members of parliament, according to the Press Trust of India.

“We are now transferring more and more law and order duties to the Kashmir police,” the news agency quoted him as saying.

The minister, however, did not state how many troops would be withdrawn or give a timetable for their pullout.

In June, he made a similar pledge, announcing that India was ready to phase out the presence of a large number of its troops across the disputed region, but gave no time frame.

If the withdrawal plans are implemented, it would mark the first time Indian armed forces have been pulled out from the region since the insurgency erupted.

The presence of Indian soldiers in IHK has long been a major source of tension in the region where rebels have battled New Delhi’s rule for two decades.

Quiet talks: Chidambaram also said Kashmir had a number of groups with a number of demands. Even though some groups demanded the right of self-determination or self-rule “I do not think we should shy away from talking to any group.”

He said he was in favour of quiet talks and quiet diplomacy, away from the glare of the media. “At the appropriate stage, I will share with the house the contours of the settlement that may emerge,” he added.

The minister said both he and the Indian prime minister had offered to talk to every group and the response had been encouraging.

More conditions: The minister also said there would be no talks with Pakistan unless Indian conditions for the resumption of dialogue were met.

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had already stated, “unless Pakistan brings to book the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and dismantles the terrorist infrastructure on its soil, there is no scope for talks with Pakistan.”

Link: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\12\03\story_3-12-2009_pg7_6.

Iran condemns Somali terrorist attack

Iran reacts with sorrow and grief to the bombing of a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, which took the lives of at least 22 people.

In a statement issued on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Spokesman, Ramin Mehman-Parast, expressed solidarity with the Somali government and people for "the tragic incident, which resulted in the death and injury of innocent civilians, a number of government officials and high members of the academia."

"The Islamic Republic condemns this act of terrorism, which has inflicted pain, damage and human loss on the Somali government," said Mehman-Parast.

He reaffirmed Iran's support for the Somali government and its efforts to return democracy and development to the Horn of Africa nation.

The bomb exploded during a graduation ceremony for medical students in a Mogadishu hotel on Thursday, killing 22 people and injuring more than 60 others.

The al Shabaab militia has claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.

A man claiming to be Sheikh Abdifatah, a senior al Shabaab official in Mogadishu, said the group had targeted the graduation event as part of its war on the US-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

"More attacks are to come. ..We did not target the students --our target was the TFG, and each day and every hour we will keep fighting," said the man in an interview with TIME.

'Israel seeking Al-Quds takeover through 10-month freeze'

A top PLO member says Israel's 10-month freeze in settlement activity in the West Bank is a cover for a dangerous plot to take over East Jerusalem Al-Quds.

Former Palestinian Authority prime minister Ahmed Qurei, who is a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), made the remarks on Wednesday during a meeting with Sheikh Raed Salah, head of Islamic movement in the occupied Palestine.

Qurei said that the Palestinians were not in favor of reviving the kind of peace talks that would be futile due to Tel Aviv's failure to comply with the conditions set for talks. Instead, the Palestinians prefer to restore their rights through resistance to Israeli occupation, he added.

"Plans devised by [Israeli President] Shimon Peres, [Knesset Member and former defense minister] Shaul Mofaz and [Defense Minister] Ehud Barak, have put East Jerusalem Al-Quds in grave danger. The trio seek to exclude East Jerusalem Al-Quds from an Israeli pledge to freeze settlement construction in the occupied lands," Qurei said.

He also urged all Palestinian factions to come together to counter frequent Israeli attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Tel Aviv's Judaization campaign targeting the holy city of Jerusalem Al-Quds.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week announced that Israel has agreed to freeze all settlement activities, except in Jerusalem Al-Quds, for 10 months in a bid to re-launch stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

However, Palestinians refused the bid, saying unless Netanyahu freezes all settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem Al-Quds, they would not enter peace talks.

Tel Aviv is currently under intense pressure from the international community to halt the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank. Israeli settlements are widely considered the main obstacle in the way of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Under the 2002 Roadmap for Peace plan brokered by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel is obliged to 'dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and freeze all settlement activities'.

Saudis bring 'humanitarian disaster' to Yemen

Yemen's Houthi fighters warn about the “disastrous” humanitarian conditions in the northern Sa'adah province, where they say the Saudi army is targeting civilians.

"The humanitarian situation in Sa'adah is disastrous, because Saudi Arabia is bombarding all residential areas," the Houthis' spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam said in an interview with Iran's Arabic Alalam news network on Wednesday.

Abdul Salam drew a comparison between the Saudi attacks and the Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip earlier this year, which sparked pervasive condemnations for killing more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

He further deplored the international community's inaction toward the “blatant and savage atrocities” against the Yemeni civilians, noting that the world's silence gives the Saudi and Israeli armies the green light to go ahead with their “inhuman misconduct”.

"What is going on in Yemen is a disgrace to those [international] organizations and institutions which claim to protect civilian rights as we see they care nothing for the civilian refugees."

The senior Houthi member said his people reserved the right to defend themselves against foreign invasions, warning Riyadh that its continued incursions would prompt a crushing response from the Yemenis, who he described as more united than ever before.

Abdul Salam condemned the Sana'a government as a “puppet in the hands of its Saudi masters” and responsible for “the massacre of the country's innocent women and children”.

"Such a government lacks legitimacy," he stressed.

Human rights activists are concerned over reports of the Saudi army's use of forbidden weapons, including white phosphorous bombs, in civilian areas inside the Yemeni territory.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni army has reportedly targeted almost all water supplies to tighten the noose against the Shia fighters based in the north as part of the government's stepped-up offensive originally launched in August.

A lawmaker earlier complained that the Yemeni authorities prevented foreign aid shipments from reaching the displaced civilians and those affected by the conflict, but redirected them to military camps and pro-Sana'a tribal clans.

The Houthis took arms against the Sunni-dominated central government to extricate the country's Shia minority from what they called political, economic and religious marginalization.

Yemen has also been the scene of widespread protests in southern provinces where secessionists are calling for a return of the oil-rich south to the independent state it was before its unification with the north in 1990.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=112753§ionid=351020206.

Israel bars Sheikh Sabri from Al-Aqsa Mosque

Israel has barred Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, head of the Higher Islamic Committee in Jerusalem Al-Quds, from the Al-Aqsa Mosque for six months.

The restriction order was handed to Sheikh Sabri, the Khatib (speaker) of the Al- Aqsa Mosque, immediately after he returned to the country on Wednesday after leading a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Israeli authorities in Jerusalem Al -Quds ordered Sheikh Sabri to report to the city's police headquarters in order to 'officially' receive the order.

His lawyer, Khalid Zabarqa, demanded that the police to grant him more time to rest after his travel, but the request was rejected by the police, who threatened to arrest the Sheikh if he refused to comply.

Sheikh Sabri was then forced to go to the Al Maskobiyya interrogation center to receive the order.

"No occupying power can prevent Muslims from praying in mosques," Sheikh Sabri said.

This is not the first time Israeli officials have prevented Muslim figures from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Earlier, Israel had barred Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic movement in the occupied Palestine, and Hatem Abdel Kader, an official responsible for the city's affairs in the Palestinian government, from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Ukrainian kids, new victims of Israeli 'organ theft'

An international Israeli conspiracy to kidnap children and harvest their organs is gathering momentum as another shocking story divulges Tel Aviv's plot to import Ukrainian children and harvest their organs.

The story brings to light the fact that Israel has brought some 25,000 Ukrainian children into the occupied entity over the past two years in order to harvest their organs. It cites a Ukrainian man's fruitless search for 15 children who had been adopted in Israel. The children had clearly been taken by Israeli medical centers, where they were used for 'spare parts'.

The account was unveiled five days ago by a Ukrainian philosophy professor and author, Vyacheslav Gudin, at a pseudo-academic conference in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Gudin told an estimated 300 attendees of the Kiev conference that it was essential that all Ukrainians be made aware of the genocide Israel was perpetrating.

The conference also featured two professors who presented a book blaming “the Zionists” for the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s, as well as the country's current condition.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians demonstrated outside the Israeli Embassy in Kiev on Tuesday to protest a letter signed by 26 Knesset members (MKs) condemning what they described as anti-Semitic remarks by presidential candidate Sergey Ratushnyak. Protesters chanted 'Ukraine isn't the Gaza Strip,' suggesting that they consider the effort by the Israeli MKs as an intervention in their country.

A story, published in the Arabic-language Algerian daily al-Khabar in September, reported that Interpol, the international police organization, has revealed the existence of 'a Jewish gang' that was 'involved in the abduction of children from Algeria and trafficking of their organs.'

According to the story, bands of Moroccans and Algerians had been roaming the streets of Algerian cities in an attempt to hunt around for young children. They then trafficked the kids across the border into the neighboring Morocco.

The children were then sold to Israelis and American Jews in Oujda, the capital of eastern Morocco, for the purpose of organ harvest in Israel and the United States.

The story is based on statements made by Mustafa Khayatti, head of the Algerian National Committee for the Development of Health Research. Khayatti maintains that the abduction of children in Algeria is linked to arrests made in New York and New Jersey at the end of July, in which several Jewish men were among the 44 arrested in connection to an investigation into illegal organ trafficking and political corruption.

The story comes in line with the article published last month in Aftonbladet, Sweden's largest circulation daily, suggesting that the Israeli army kidnapped and killed young Palestinians to harvest their organs. It shed light on the case of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem, a 19-year-old Palestinian man, who was shot dead in 1992 by Israeli forces in the West Bank village of Imatin.

Bostrom, who witnessed the man's killing, said Ghanem's body was abducted following the shooting and was returned at midnight, during an imposed curfew, several days later by the Israeli military with a cut from the stomach to the neck that had been stitched up.

Bostrom argued that an autopsy would be required if the cause of death was not apparent, while in this case it was clear that Bilal was shot dead.

After that incident, at least 20 Palestinian families told Bostrom that they suspected that the Israeli military had taken the organs of their sons after they had been killed and then taken away by Israeli forces before being dropped back in the area.

Guinean leader escapes assassination attempt

Guinea's military leader Moussa Dadis Camara has escaped an assassination attempt with 'slight' injuries after a top presidential guard shot him.

Camara was shot and "slightly wounded" on Thursday when his security chief and aide Aboubacar Toumba Diakite reportedly made an attempt on the 45-year old president's life, who swept to power in a late December coup last year.

"The president of the republic is still the president of the republic and he is in good health," the West African country's Communications Minister Idrissa Cherif said.

The incident took place in a military camp in downtown Conakry, the capital city, where Diakite loyalists ran the military base.

Meanwhile, there have been reports of intermittent gunfire with military helicopters hovering over the capital in order to quell possible clashes between opposition military groups. The groups came into being in the wake of the government's deadly clampdown on protesting civilians in which 157 people were killed amid widespread allegations of rape and carnage by Camara' troops in late September.

The country's junta, which runs the nation from the main military barracks in the capital, has denied any involvement in the September 28 confrontations with Guineans who had demanded Camara deliver on his promise to launch a presidential vote.

The latest developments in Guinea have prompted the African Union to impose sanctions on Guinea's junta leader who decided to run for president himself.

Kucinich: Afghan war, threat to US national security

Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich has severely reprimanded US President Barack Obama for sending additional troops to Afghanistan.

Kucinich said in a statement on Thursday that extending the Afghan war would destabilize the United States at home.

"We are deeply in debt. Our GDP is down. Our manufacturing is down. Our savings are down. The value of the dollar is down. Our trade deficit is up. Business failures are up. Bankruptcies are up," his statement read.

The US president earlier on Tuesday announced plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan in his new war strategy.

"The war is a threat to our national security. We'll spend over $100 billion next year to bomb a nation of poor people while we reenergize the Taliban, destabilize Pakistan, deplete our army and put more of our soldiers' lives on the line," the Ohio congressman said.

"Meanwhile, back here in the USA, 15 million people are out of work. People are losing their jobs, their health care, their savings, their investments, and their retirement security. $13 trillion in bailouts for Wall Street, trillions for war; when are we going to start taking care of things here at home?"

The new US troop surge would put more than 100,000 American forces in Afghanistan at an annual cost of about $75 billion.

The US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost 768.8 billion dollars and by the end of this fiscal year (October 2010) the price tag will approach one trillion.

Aside from the huge cost, the controversial wars have inflicted a high human death toll mostly on the civilian population of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The people of Afghanistan don't want to be saved by us," Kucinich said on the House floor Wednesday.

"They want to be saved from us. Our presence and our Predator drones kill countless innocents, creating more US enemies and destabilizing Pakistan," he added.

Congressman Kucinich has long been a critic of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, repeatedly calling for withdrawal of troops.

'Minaret ban reminiscent of wars of Middle Ages'

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says a recent ban on construction of new minarets in Switzerland is reminiscent of sectarian wars of the Middle Ages.

Davutoglu warned that the move could incite clashes on a global scale if sufficient measures are not taken, the Turkish Zaman newspaper reported on Thursday.

“The issue is too serious to be dealt with by mere statements," Turkey's top diplomat said.

“I am very concerned. We must take this issue very seriously. It is not something to be underestimated as an individual case," Davutoglu stated.

“Who can say for sure that mosques in Europe are safe now? Fifteen years ago, hundreds of mosques were burned down in Bosnia," he added.

Following a weekend referendum, the construction of any new minaret was declared illegal in Switzerland, a move which drew sharp criticism from Muslim and European countries, as well as the UN and the Vatican.

Larijani: Iran supports Hezbollah, Hamas

Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says the Islamic Republic supports Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran supports Hezbollah and Hamas because they are defending their countries' territories," IRNA quoted Larijani as saying on Thursday.

He noted that some countries claim that these movements are terrorists and object Iran's support for them.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran does not conceal its support for Hamas and Hezbollah and we openly declare that we support them," Iran's Majlis speaker stated.

Hezbollah strongly defended the Lebanese territory during a 33-day Israeli offensive against the country in 2006.

Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections in 2006 and is considered the legitimate party to govern the Palestinian territories.

Demonstrations sweep southern‏ ‏Yemen

Yemenis hold demonstrations in various cities urging the government to release those arrested during protests held early in the week.

Demonstrations were held by the Southern Movement in Ad Dali, Yafa and Radfan in southern Yemen on Thursday to protest against the quelling of Monday rallies commemorating Southern Yemen's Independence Day.

The protesters raised banners condemning the government and chanted slogans.

Smoke columns were observed in Ad Dali Province after the demonstrators burnt tires to block a road linking to Aden Province in southern Yemen.

The government had deployed thousands of soldiers to clamp down on any display of secessionist sentiment on the anniversary of the south's independence from Britain in 1967, Xinhua quoted Al-Jazeera TV as saying.

Meanwhile, local sources said four people have been wounded in Ad Dali Province in clashes between security forces and armed men protesting against holding parliamentary by-elections in several constituencies.

The protesters said such elections are unconstitutional.

Al-Shabaab denies part in Somalia's hotel attack

Somalia's Al-Shabaab militia group has denied charges of involvement in Thursday's deadly bombing in which 22 people were killed.

The announcement came a day after the government accused Al-Shabaab of carrying out a deadly attack in which a 'bomber' blew himself up at a college graduation ceremony, killing three government ministers and 19 civilians including a number of medical and engineering graduates as well as two journalists.

The group's spokesperson, Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, however, rejected the allegations and said on Friday that Al-Shabaab is "very sad" about the attack in the capital Mogadishu, the Associated Press reported.

Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Addow and Health Minister Qamar Aden died instantly. Education Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Waayel died of his wounds shortly after the blast; AFP quoted a senior government official as saying on Thursday.

Sports Minister Suleyman Olad Roble and dozens of other Somalis were also injured.

Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for many of the past bomb attacks in the lawless Horn of Africa nation.

Freed British sailors say captors were 'friendly'

The British sailors who were freed after a week in Iranian custody say they were "well treated" by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) during their brief detention.

"As time went by, the guys treated us very well. There was no animosity at all," said Oliver Smith, one of the five British nationals who were detained after their yacht drifted into Iranian waters.

Smith, who made the comments upon arriving at London's Heathrow Airport on Friday, said he is sure that their captors "meant well" and were "just doing their jobs" in terms of protecting Iran's territorial waters.

David Bloomer, a Bahrain-based British radio journalist, said the yacht had strayed into Iranian waters as they tried to avoid oil rigs in the area.

"Very quickly the people who had stopped us and the people at the base realized it was an innocent mistake," said Bloomer, who did not join the men on their return flight. .

"All the Iranians - once they discovered that we had no evil intention, it was a genuine mistake - started to be friendly to us," he said.

Israel humiliates families of Palestinian detainees

Parents of Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli detention camps complain that prisoner authorities frequently harass and abuse them when they seek to visit their detained loved ones.

Israeli soldiers strip the families of visitation rights, insult or even attack them should they refuse to be strip-searched before being allowed into the detention facilities, according to a report released by the Palestinian Prisoner Society on Thursday.

The report brings to light the story of the father of detainee Ashraf al-Mathloum. He was attacked and beaten savagely by soldiers attending a checkpoint near Ofer Prison after he had resisted being strip-searched. The man was hospitalized at Ramallah Hospital, suffering multiple lacerations.

The Palestinian Prisoner Society also said that soldiers have on occasion tried to humiliate Palestinian women by searching them and scouring their bags in addition to trying to force them to be strip-searched.

The families called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other international humanitarian movements to intervene and stop these flagrant Israeli violations and illegal acts against Palestinian prisoners and their families.

More than 11,500 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently imprisoned in Israeli detention facilities, suffering harsh and life-threatening conditions.

Israel's Knesset to thaw freeze plan

Israeli Knesset (parliament) members from Likud and Kadima parties are working on a resolution to exclude large settlement blocs from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 10-month building freeze.

The Hebrew-language daily Ma'ariv reported Thursday that MK Miri Regev has adopted a proposal from Ron Nachman -- the illegal Ariel settlement's leader -- to be excluded from the building lull, which applies to areas in the West Bank.

The draft resolution would be a political embarrassment to Netanyahu, as his party, Likud, was generally in favor of the temporary freeze on certain building, while the opposition, Kadima, is thought to be more politically left-leaning and somewhat ideologically opposed to settlements.

Netanyahu last week announced that Israel had agreed to freeze all settlement activities, except in Jerusalem Al-Quds, for 10 months in a bid to re-launch stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The Palestinians have refused to start peace talks with Netanyahu unless he freezes all settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem Al-Quds.

Tel Aviv is currently under intense pressure from the international community to halt the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank. Israeli settlements are widely considered the main obstacle in the way of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Under the 2002 Roadmap for Peace plan brokered by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel has to 'dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and freeze all settlement activities.'

There are currently 121 Israeli settlements and approximately 102 Israeli outposts built on Palestinian land occupied by Israel in 1967. All of these settlements and outposts are illegal under international law and have been condemned by numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions.

These settlements and outposts are inhabited by a population of approximately 462,000 Israeli settlers. Some 191,000 Israelis are living in settlements around Jerusalem Al-Quds and an additional 271,400 are spread throughout the West Bank.

All such Jewish settlements are deemed illegal under international law because they have been erected on occupied lands that the Palestinians claim for a future state.

Ex ISI chief slams US military agenda in Pakistan

Fri Dec 4, 2009

Former chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency says the Americans along with the Israelis are pursuing a wider military agenda in the troubled south and central Asian region.

On Friday, in an exclusive interview with Press TV Hamid Gul strongly criticized US President Barack Obama's decision to expand CIA operated missile strikes in Pakistan's Baluchistan province.

His comments came after a New York Times report said that Obama had authorized an expansion of drone attacks on Pakistan's troubled tribal regions.

The unpopular strikes were initiated under the George W. Bush administration in 2006.

The use of drones has increased since the Nobel peace laureate Obama became president.

Gul, a critic of US war fomenting policies in the region, doubted that the fugitive Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden or Taliban leaders were hiding in the Pakistani territories that borders Afghanistan.

He also revealed that Al-Qaeda linked militants had left the Pakistan years ago and were finding their new safe havens in Somalia and Yemen.

He also claimed that the Americans along with the Israeli regime were trying to neutralize Pakistani nuclear weapons.

Most experts estimate that Israel has about 200 nuclear warheads posing a great threat to global security.

The former ISI chief concluded that the recent US and NATO decision to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan is meant to counter the ever-increasing Iranian influence in the region.

US President Barack Obama vowed 30,000; British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged 500; and their NATO allies committed 5,000 more troops to end the almost nine-year-old war in Afghanistan, adding that they would start a partial withdrawal in July 2011.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/112832.html.

EU: Israel illegally annexing Al-Quds

The European Union accuses Israel of actively pursuing the annexation of East Jerusalem Al-Quds, undermining hopes for peace with Palestinians.

Diplomats in Brussels say an EU meeting on Monday is to likely to discuss the stalled Middle East peace process, which is continuously being obstructed by Israel.

East Jerusalem Al-Quds has been seen for years as the prospective capital of a future Palestinian state. This is one of the most sensitive issues in the Middle East peace talks, which have been suspended for almost a year.

The annual report drafted by the EU heads of missions in Jerusalem Al-Quds has condemned Israel's policy of expanding illegal settlements and demolishing Palestinian homes and eviction orders in 2009.

As a result, over 600 Palestinian-owned structures have been demolished since the year 2000, it said.

This Israeli policy, by practical means, is weakening the Palestinian community in the West Bank, "impeding Palestinian urban developments and ultimately separating East Jerusalem Al-Quds from the rest of the West Bank," the report said.

Israel occupied and annexed East Jerusalem Al-Quds in 1967 and considers it its "eternal indivisible capital" in a move never recognized by the international community.

The EU report also said that Israel's policies in East Jerusalem Al-Quds "are undermining prospects for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem Al-Quds and incrementally render a sustainable two-state solution unfeasible."

The 14-page report said that Israel's policy in East Jerusalem Al-Quds is "an integral part of a broader Israeli strategy."

Indian rebel leader surrenders, peace talks may begin soon

New Delhi - The leader of a powerful separatist group operating in India's north-eastern state of Assam surrendered to authorities at the border with Bangladesh Friday, paving the way for peace-talks with the militants, news reports and officials said. Arabinda Rajkhowa, chairman of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) along with Raju Baruah, the group's deputy military chief, a bodyguard and seven family members surrendered at the border post of Dawki in the north-eastern state of Meghalaya, officials from India's Border Security Force said.

Indian media reported that the ULFA leaders were arrested by Bangladeshi authorities but Indian officials maintained they surrendered as the neighboring countries do not have an extradition treaty.

"The group was roaming the border area. They later contacted officials at the outpost saying they were from the ULFA and wanted to surrender," a BSF official said.

The ULFA, Assam's biggest separatist movement, has been fighting for an independent homeland since 1979. More than 15,000 people have lost their lives to the insurgency in the past decade.

ULFA leaders have been residing in Bangladesh since the Indian army launched an offensive against them in Assam in the early 1990s.

Official sources told the NDTV network that 53-year-old Rajkhowa had begun discussions with Indian intelligence officials on the modalities of peace-talks.

Rajkhowa and his associates will not be charged with major crimes and be granted safe passage once the peace talks begin, Indian officials said.

The ULFA is under pressure as its leadership is split and key leaders are in prison.

Recently, two ULFA leaders, "foreign secretary" Sasha Chowdhury and "finance secretary" Chitrabon Hazarika were arrested in Bangladesh and handed over to Indian authorities.

ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua who is still at large and believed to be hiding in a South-East Asian country has been opposed to the talks process.

ULFA mediator and Assamese novelist Indira Goswami said durable peace was not possible without the ULFA supremo joining the talks.

"Peace in the long-run is impossible without Paresh Barua," she told the NDTV.

"He has everything, the weapons, the money. It is he who controls (the outfit)".

"If he is left alone then enemy nations might try to influence him. I request the state and the federal government to persuade him to join talks," she added.

Meanwhile, Assam authorities have sounded a security alert fearing a possible backlash by ULFA militants who are not in favor of talks with the government.

A government spokesman said army, police, and paramilitary troopers were deployed in strength in vulnerable areas, guarding vital installations like oil facilities, railway tracks and bridges, besides busy marketplaces.

Somali insurgents deny responsibility for suicide blast

Mogadishu - Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab on Friday denied responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 22 people, including three ministers, at a graduation for medical students. "I would like to send my condolences to teachers and students who died in the explosion - we really heard about this catastrophe from the media ... we are not involved in this case," al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mahamoud Rage, told reporters in Mogadishu Friday.

Initial suspicion turned on al-Shabaab - which the US says has links to al-Qaeda - after a man dressed as a woman detonated an explosive device strapped to his body at the Hotel Shamo on Thursday.

The insurgent group has increasingly turned to suicide bombings as it battles to oust the weak Western-backed government. It has claimed responsibility for previous blasts.

Rage blamed the government for the bombing, implying it was a result of in-fighting between rival politicians.

"The apostate government, which always kills innocent Muslims, was behind this tragedy," he said.

Health Minister Qamar Aden Ali, Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Addow and Education Minister Ahmed Abdulahi Waayeel died in the blast. The Minister for Youth and Sports, Saleeban Olaad Roble, was seriously injured.

Two journalists, a doctor, students and their families were amongst the dead.

Hundreds of students and their family members, lecturers and government officials were attending the ceremony for graduates from the local Banadir University.

The hotel lies inside an area controlled by the government, only one kilometer from AMISOM's main base.

The bombing raises further questions about the government and the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia's (AMISOM) ability to police the few areas they control in Somalia.

Seventeen peacekeepers died in a suicide blast at the AU's main base in September, while Somalia's Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden was among dozens killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a hotel in the central town of Baladweyne in June.

AMISOM - which is at just over half of its mandated strength of 8,000 troops and is struggling to cope with the insurgency - condemned the latest bombing, but said it remained committed to helping bring peace to Somalia.

"AMISOM wishes to state that such an inhumane and cowardly act ... will not deter the resolve and determination of the African Union to support the people of Somalia in their quest for peace and reconciliation," AMISOM said in a statement issued from the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Condemnation for the blast flew in from other quarters, including the United Nations and the European Union.

Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, assured Somalia of the "EU's determination and commitment to support its efforts to fight extremism and reconstruct a peaceful Somalia".

Many attribute the rise in suicide bombings, generally alien to Somalia, to outside influences.

Government ministers, foreign diplomats and AU officials say foreign fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan are increasingly flocking to the lawless Horn of Africa nation to fight alongside al-Shabaab - which controls much of the country - and attend terrorist training camps.

Somalia has been embroiled in chaos since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Over 19,000 people have died in the current insurgency, which kicked off in early 2007 after Ethiopian forces invaded to oust an Islamist regime that ruled for six months in 2006.

Israeli theatre hit with lawsuit for allowing smoking on stage

Tel Aviv - In what is believed to be the first legal action of its kind in the world, Israel's Haifa Theatre may be hit with a class-action lawsuit for allowing an actress to smoke on stage as part of her role. The application to have the suit recognized by the court was filed by lawyer Amos Hausner, chairman of the National Council for the Prevention of Smoking, on behalf of a fellow lawyer, Einav Avrahami.

Avrahami objected to actress Orly Zilberschatz-Bania smoking on stage for about 30 minutes during a production of David Mamet's "The Old Neighborhood."...

Dalai Lama believes he can return to Tibet, book says

Taipei - Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is confident that he can return to Tibet in this lifetime, and believes he will be reborn many times after his death, according to a book published Friday. In The Oldest Laughter in the Himalaya, written by Taiwan film producer Liao Wen-yu, the Dalai Lama said that when the situation in China has changed and its leaders become more open-minded, he will be able to return to Tibet, the homeland that he had to flee in 1959.

Liao wrote the book while shooting a documentary on the Dalai Lama to record his exile and his fight for the freedom of Tibetans.

The film, which has the same name as the book, is to be released on January 3. Liao has invited the Dalai Lama, 74, to attend the premiere.

"I am always ready to visit Taiwan, but it depends on many factors, including the (attitude of the) Taiwan government," he said.

The Dalai Lama has visited Taiwan three times since 1997, each time triggering strong protests from China which criticizes the Dalai Lama as a "splittist" bent on separating Tibet from China.

In his interview with Liao, the Dalai Lama recalled the pain of being forced to flee as Chinese troops invaded Tibet, and how grateful he now feels about his exile.

"The exile gave me the opportunity to learn. I was able to meet people of different religions from all parts of the world, and learn about other faiths from them. This has been very helpful to me," he said.

"If I had not left Tibet, today I would still be locked up in the Potala Palace and be narrow-minded," he said.

The Dalai Lama said he does not hate the Chinese Communists, because of the sufferings of Tibetans is their karma. But he said the Chinese Communists are creating their own karma if they continue to oppress Tibetans.

To wipe out the influence of the Dalai Lama, Chinese scholars have hinted that after the Dalai Lama has died, China would find his next incarnation in China.

The Dalai Lama said he was not too concerned about, as it was "up to the Tibetan people to decide if there is the need to preserve the system of the Dalai Lama."

But as a Buddhist, he believes he will be reborn many times until his soul has been purified and has reached nirvana.

In the interviews, the Dalai Lama expressed admiration for China's culture, history, economic achievements and recent political reforms.

He called on Tibetans and Chinese to reconcile and live in harmony, which he said would be his key message if he were allowed to return to Tibet.

"Without harmony, there cannot be development or happiness. I will also stress forgiveness, because both Tibetans and Chinese need to learn to forgive," he said.

Shuttle Endeavour readied for a space trip

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- NASA says Kennedy Space Center technicians are testing space shuttle Endeavour's systems, preparing for its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Endeavour's move from the Orbiter Processing Facility is scheduled Dec. 12, but before that can happen, the shuttle's environmental control and life support systems, main engine and aerosurface hydraulics must be checked, NASA said. Technicians also will test and calibrate the system that provides navigational information for the shuttle while it's in orbit.

While the testing is under way, Endeavour's STS-130 astronauts ‪are practicing integrated launch simulations at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Commander George Zamka will lead the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station, with Terry Virts serving as the shuttle's pilot. The STS-130 astronauts are Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire. Virts will be making his first trip to space.

The space agency said Endeavour will deliver a third connecting module, the Tranquility node, to the ISS, in addition to the seven-windowed Cupola module that will be used as a control room for robotics. The mission will feature three spacewalks.

Liftoff from the space center in Florida is scheduled for Feb. 4 at 5:52 a.m. EST.

Blackwater founder tells of secret CIA aid

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The founder of Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. military contractor employed in Iraq and Afghanistan, says he helped secret CIA programs targeting al-Qaida.

Erik Prince, owner of the security company now known as Xe Services, told Vanity Fair in an interview he performed "very risky missions" for the spy agency while deflecting blame from the CIA if something went wrong.

"We were building a unilateral, unattributable capability," Prince was quoted as saying. "If it went bad, we weren't expecting ... anyone to bail us out."

Prince, a former SEAL, said he carried out secret missions as recently as two months ago when the Obama administration terminated his contract after media leaks revealed the operation, The Washington Post reported.

The magazine, granted rare access to Blackwater at facilities in the United States and Afghanistan, said Prince served a dual role for the CIA as both a contractor and spy who also ran intelligence-gathering operations.

Suicide bomb kills police chief in Iraqi town of Tikrit

A suicide bomber has killed a police chief and at least four others during an attack in the Iraqi town of Tikrit, police officials say.

The target of the attack appeared to be Ahmed Subhi al-Fahal, the head of the city's anti-riot squad.

The bomber struck on a busy street in the town, some 95 miles (150km) north of the capital, Baghdad.

Reports said at least two of the others killed were Mr Fahal's bodyguards, who were accompanying him while he shopped.

"The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, who was wearing a vest packed with explosives," said police official Abdel Haadi.

At least seven others - including civilians - were injured in the attack which took place near a jewelery shop in the hometown of the late Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein.

Following the attack a curfew has been imposed on the city, AP reports.

Mr Fahel, who was in his 40s, was one of the leaders of a campaign against al-Qaeda in the predominantly Sunni Arab area which began in 2007 and contributed to eradicating the network from the province.

A policeman during Saddam Hussein's rule, he was reported to have escaped a series of assassination attempts in the past.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8393536.stm.

West Bank settlers reject Netanyahu plea for support

Jewish settlers have rejected an attempt by the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to defuse tensions over a pause in building in the West Bank.

They vowed to continue a civil disobedience campaign stopping inspectors from entering settlements, now in its third day.

Speaking on Israeli radio, settlers described the meeting with PM as "difficult and emotionally charged".

The settlers have scheduled a mass demonstration next week in Jerusalem.

The Palestinians have refused to resume peace talks with Israel unless it completely halts all settlement construction, and has complained that the suspension does not go far enough.

Mr Netanyahu declared last week that Israel would restrict residential building in the West Bank for 10 months, but settlers vowed to defy the policy.

There has so far been no violence as inspectors tried to enter settlements to enforce the policy this week, but 13 people have been arrested.

At a two-hour meeting with settler leaders on Wednesday in Tel Aviv, Mr Netanyahu promised that building work could resume after the 10-month lull.

"You may demonstrate, protest and express your opinions, but it cannot be that you will not abide by decisions which have been made according to law," he said.

"Nothing came out of the meeting," settler leader Pinhas Walerstein told AFP, adding that he did not believe building would resume in 10 months' time.

Another leader, Danny Dayan, told Israel radio the settlers would continue to oppose the building restrictions.

Earlier, Defense Minister Ehud Barak eased rules on the procedure for granting permission for minor repairs and improvements to existing houses.

The Israeli state also said in a submission to the High Court of Justice that its ability to remove outposts - settlements illegal even under Israeli law - might be reduced because of the resources required to enforce the building curbs.

Palestinians say the new building restrictions do not go far enough, particularly because they do not include East Jerusalem.

About half a million Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and the Palestinians claim for a future state.

The settlements are illegal under international law.

Hamas Prepares To Execute Drug Dealers

GAZA CITY [MENL] -- The Hamas regime has launched a crackdown on drug trafficking in the Gaza Strip.

Jordan Requests ATGMs From U.S.

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The administration of President Barack Obama has approved a request by Jordan for advanced anti-tank guided missiles.

Obama, the Biggest Threat to Al-Aqsa in 90 Years?

By Shaykh Riyad Nadwi, PhD

December 2, 2009

"And they have devised a tremendous plot..." (Quran, 71:22)

The Obama Pro-Muslim Smoke Screen

Owing to the fog of multiple and conflicting pictures painted to depict Barack Obama, confusion remains in the minds of many as to what the new President of America really represents and where exactly his loyalties lie. As the weeks and months of his presidency pass by, inconsistent messages and contradictory positions on major issues have become a standard feature of the regime. An executive order is signed to close Guantanamo Bay and end the military trials of its inmates, but then the military trials are revived and Guantanamo remains open. Renditions are ruled out in public, but then ruled in by stealth. The war in Iraq was to be ended in 2009, but instead of any substantial withdrawal of troops, we have the construction of the "small-city-larger-than-the-Vatican" sized US Embassy in Baghdad. Indeed, war continues, as in the previous administration, to feature at the top of the White House agenda, with thousands more troops committed to war in Afghanistan - but then Obama receives the Nobel Peace Prize. An insightful young Muslim sent me her reaction to the prize in these words:

"The Nobel Peace Prize has always seemed in danger of being more ridiculous than sublime. Who can forget such former laureates as that bastion of realpolitik Henry Kissinger or Yitzak 'Break their bones' Rabin? Despite this, I listened with a mixture of astonishment and disbelief when I heard the news that Barack Hussein Obama was this year's recipient. It seems strange indeed that aside from his desk job in the White House this year's recipient is also the Commander in Chief of the world's largest army, which is currently fighting wars in two separate countries, and presides over the largest defense budget in the world, which is estimated to total somewhere between $925 billion and $1.14 trillion in 2009. This is not to mention the 40,000 extra US troops he has pledged to send into Afghanistan or the tacit support he has given the despicable practice of secret rendition. This award seems all the more astonishing when one takes into account the type of individual that Alfred Nobel had in mind for the recipient of the award, namely it should be awarded to 'the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.' It seems that in 2009 we are closer than ever to 1984: 'Then the face of Big Brother faded away again and instead the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.'"

The sense of confusion is widespread among large swathes of people from diverse backgrounds, including even some from his own black community (e.g. Rev. Jesse Jackson who had to apologize publicly after being caught on camera saying that he wanted to castrate Obama). However, the Obama confusion is most profound among Muslims. While some Muslims insist, against all the evidence to the contrary, that he is a Muslim, others see him as a savior of sorts and a messiah of peace. This, of course, is a picture Obama himself has sought to project to the Muslim world through a variety of means. He ensured that, as president, the first phone call he made was to Mahmoud Abbas, his first television interview was on the Dubai-based channel Al-Arabiyya (extending a "hand of friendship" to the Muslim world), and he also made sure that his first major overseas speech was to a Muslim audience in a Muslim country.

These gestures of friendly intent towards Muslims are further reinforced when Muslims remember the highly-publicized anecdotes of antagonism towards Obama from the American Right and its media outlets during the early stages of the presidential campaign. Most notably among these was the "madrasa graduate" accusation from Fox News and, of course, the famous emails warning the Jewish electorate that he was a closet Muslim.

Seeing that the pro-Israel Fox News and members of the US Jewish community were antagonistic towards Obama reinforced the idea among many Muslims that "the man is probably on their side".

The frequent bouts of petty conflict between Fox News and Obama did not damage either party. In fact, these conflicts serve, as we can see in the latest round, to boost audience figures while simultaneously increasing the president's credibility, depicting him as someone who can stand up to the right wing media.

What most people do not realize is that the Fox Network played a larger role in creating acceptability for a black president in the minds of the US electorate than any other network in the US. The high profile Fox TV drama series 24 did not only serve to soften the public attitude towards torture by portraying it as a necessary evil, but it also played a major role in promoting something (i.e. a black US president) that was until then considered, even among blacks, as absurd. This phenomenon was dubbed "The Palmer Effect" by commentators such as Lucia Bozzala. In her article of early 2007 "The Palmer Effect: Has '24' Made the US Safe for President Obama?" she wrote:

"In 24, the Palmers are elected. Fancy that. In those off years and months between terrorist crises, David Palmer wins elections, and Wayne Palmer wins because he has the right last name.... The point, though, is that they win because they got enough votes. They don't enter the office on a technicality. They are president because people like them. They really really like them. In other words, the minds behind 24 (right wing or not) were able to conceive of the idea of a black man being elected by the general public, and not toss it out as patently absurd i.e. if Jack Bauer has no fear of a black president, then maybe we won't either." (The Palmer Effect: Has "24" Made the U.S. Safe for President Obama? Lucia Bozzola, 30 Jan 2007.)

The Fox Network controversy is not the only example of one story in public and another in private. There is a pattern of projecting public conflict while maintaining private friendship. In the public arena, the Right and the Neocons were criticizing Obama but then it was revealed that a week before his swearing in, he was attending secret dinners with George Will and William Kristol. The news shocked his many supporters. A Washington Times reporter, describing the reaction when the news of the secret dinner emerged, wrote "The lefties are mystified. So are a few of the righties."

The same pattern is visible in Obama's choice of individuals to hold key positions in his administration. Some commentators have gone as far as labeling those Right and Neocon activists who suddenly switched their support to Obama's candidacy as "Obamacons"...

Italy Underlines Consultations with Iran over Afghanistan

Fars News Agency

December 2, 2009

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Italian foreign ministry special envoy on Afghan affairs in a meeting with Iranian foreign ministry officials stressed that his country attaches much importance to consultations with Iran over Afghanistan.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the main parties to the Afghan issue and we emphasize the importance and necessity for consultations with Iran," Massimo Yanuci told Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani here in Tehran on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, he referred to an international conference due to be held in Kabul to review Afghanistan's issues, and said the meeting would bear much importance as it would have the country's neighboring states in attendance.

During the meeting, Ahani pointed to the problems that Afghan people are facing, and described the presence of alien forces as the root cause of difficulties intensifying terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking in the country.

He further pointed to the latest meeting on Afghanistan which was held in Tokyo, and said that a large number of states that had promised financial aids to the country could not use their technical and engineering potentials to reconstruct Afghanistan the same way Iran did in the country.

Israeli court to Al-Kurd family: Settlers will stay in your home

December 2, 2009

Jerusalem – Ma’an - The Israeli Central Court heard and rejected Wednesday the petition of the Al-Kurd family seeking the eviction of Israeli settlers from their home.

The home, vacant following a court order demanding the Al-Kurds leave the building following a demolition order from Israel's Jerusalem municipality, was taken over by Israeli settlers on Tuesday Wednesday, and denied the plea replied on Wednesday to the petition of Al-Kurd family from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood where they called the Israeli court to issue an order to evacuate the settlers from their own home that was dominated by the settlers on Tuesday.

Jerusalem affairs official with Fatah Hatem Abdel Qader said the decision came only hours after the court heard the petition from the Al-Kurd family lawyers Hosni Abu Hassanein and Sami Irshid, then the lawyers with the settler group.

Abdul Qader told Ma'an the decision was "weird" since the home was slated for demolition by the Jerusalem municipality. He accused the courts of siding with settlers rather than the law.

A video from the International Solidarity Movement captured the settlers moving into the home, and Umm Al-Kurd confronting some of the men and asking, in Arabic, for them to "get outside," and "walk out of here."

Ethnic cleansing, pure and simple

The Jordan Times

December 2, 2009

Israel stripped over 4,500 Jerusalemite Palestinians of their "residency rights" in 2008.

This marks a huge acceleration of a policy that has been in force since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967. In these 41 years, Israel has now stripped over 12,000 Palestinians of their "permits" to live in Jerusalem, 35 per cent or so of those in 2008 alone.

It also maps out exactly where the current right-wing Israeli government, which has made no secret of its wish to Judaise Jerusalem, a travesty of history if ever there was one, is heading.

The policy shows many things about Israel to anyone who wants to see. One is this: Israel does not even bother to pretend to adhere to any kind of international law or internationally accepted standards for behavior towards a population under occupation.

East Jerusalem, Israel’s unilateral and unrecognized annexation notwithstanding, is occupied territory (indeed, all of Jerusalem remains, under international law, a corpus separatum). As such, the residents of Jerusalem and their descendants have their right of residency guaranteed under international law.

They cannot be stripped of that right simply because of some arbitrary rule that Israel made up about having to prove your "center of life" is in Jerusalem and not being absent for too long. After all, what kind of uproar would there be if Jews who live in Israel were similarly stripped of their residency rights in America, Poland, Germany or wherever they are originally from?

But of course, the key here is that the Palestinians of Jerusalem are not Jews. And that is what this is all about. There is no way to sugar coat what Israel is doing here. It is ethnic cleansing, pure and simple. It is not quick and dramatic like in 1948, when many people were forced to flee at the point of a gun. Rather, it is slow and administrative, forced out by the stroke of a pen.

There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. There is certainly no excuse for international inaction over the issue. Israel will claim that Palestinians in Jerusalem would not face this problem if they accepted Israeli citizenship rather than the "residency permit" the colonizing power is issuing the indigenous population. But that is tantamount to forcing Palestinians to accept an illegal occupation of their land.

What next? All visitors to Jerusalem will have to sign a paper acknowledging Israel’s "eternal right to Jerusalem" before being allowed to enter?

Israel needs to be held accountable for its racism before it becomes a precedent for other countries to follow.

NATO ups Afghan troop numbers, but falls short on trainers

Brussels- NATO members and allies have pledged more than 5,000 extra troops for the alliance's Afghan mission in the last 24 hours, but fall short on promises of trainers to help develop Afghan forces, officials in Brussels said Thursday. The announcement came after the United States on Tuesday set out plans to send 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan.

The pledge of at least 5,000 extra troops marks the determination of NATO's other members to support that move, but lays bare the difficulties the alliance is facing in preparing for its own departure from the country by training Afghan forces to stand alone.

"Based on what we have heard just in the last 24 hours, I think we can confidently say that we will surpass that number. We are beyond the 5,000 figure," NATO spokesman James Appathurai told journalists at the alliance's Brussels headquarters.

But at the same time, "we have significant shortfalls when it comes to trainers for the army and trainers for the police," he said.

NATO currently has some 83,500 troops serving with the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, according to ISAF spokesman General Eric Tremblay.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama announced plans to boost the US ISAF contingent by 30,000 men, sparking a flurry of pledges from other NATO members and allies to reinforce their own contingents.

Britain is expected to send another 500 men, Poland 600, Spain 200 and the Czech Republic 100, while non-member Georgia is set to send up to 1,000 troops. Around 20 countries have pledged reinforcements, Appathurai said.

But the alliance remains critically short of experts to train the Afghan police and army - missions which NATO leaders see as vital to allow the Afghans to take control of their own security and for Western troops to go home.

ISAF currently has 62 out of the 103 army training teams it needs, and just 16 out of 180 police training teams, Tremblay said.

"Unless we can fully resource the training mission in Afghanistan, it will be harder to make transition a reality in the time frames which we are envisaging," Appathurai stressed.

NATO and ISAF foreign ministers were set to discuss the mission on Thursday and Friday.

Putin refuses to rule out another run for presidency

Moscow - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday he would not rule out the possibility of running for president in 2012. "I will think about it. There's still enough time," Putin said during a nationally televised question-and-answer session.

When a viewer asked whether Putin would not rather devote more time to his family and lead a quiet life after his years of service, the ex-Kremlin chief answered: "You'll have to wait a while for that!"

Putin, who served as president of the Russia from 2000 to 2008, was barred for running for a third term in 2008 by the Russian constitution.

Dmitry Medvedev, the current president, nominated Putin as his prime minister after winning the 2008 election. Many observers of Russian politics believe that Putin, by far the country's most popular politician, will seek a third term after Medvedev's first four-year term.

Syria: Iran has right to nuclear technology

Damascus - Speaking after a meeting with Iran's nuclear negotiator in Damascus, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday reiterated his support for Iran's right to nuclear technology and to enrich uranium. Al-Assad and Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran's national security council, also discussed regional and international issues, including ongoing tensions in the Palestinian territories, a statement from the Syrian presidency said.

It is "Iran's right, as it is the right of other state signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to enrich (uranium) for peaceful purposes," al-Assad said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moalem said his country would back Iran if it sought to enrich some of its uranium holdings to 20 per cent, as Iran has threatened to do if talks with the West failed to produce a deal that would supply Iran with the nuclear fuel it seeks.

Soon after Jalili arrived in Damascus, an explosion killed at least four people on a bus full of Iranian pilgrims visiting a Shiite holy site on the outskirts of the capital, witnesses and doctors said.

In remark's carried by Syria's official news agency, Syrian Interior Minister Said Mohammed Sammur said the explosion had been caused by a fault with an air pump used to inflate tires, and not by a bomb.

No combat troops for Afghanistan, Turkish defense minister

Istanbul - Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said Thursday his country will not be sending any combat troops to Afghanistan, despite the US call for more NATO forces. Turkey currently has 1,750 soldiers in Afghanistan, providing security for Kabul, but not engaged in active combat operations.

According to Turkish press reports, US officials have conveyed to Ankara their wish to see Ankara contribute to President Barack Obama's announcement of an increase in US troops and his call for the NATO allies also to boost their troop levels.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Gonul said there has been "no shift" in Ankara's policy to stay out of direct confrontation with the Taliban.

"We continue our reservations on Turkish troops' involvement in military operations and hot clashes in Afghanistan," he said.

In a statement released late Wednesday, Turkey's foreign ministry gave qualified support to Obama's new Afghanistan policy, while promising to increase Ankara's support in the areas of "training and reconstruction."

"As a close friend and ally, we indeed support the US call on international community to contribute more. We have been increasing our contributions in line with our long-term commitments for Afghanistan," the statement read.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet with Obama in Washington on December 7 and the issue of Turkey's role in Afghanistan is likely to be one of the subjects on their agenda.