Three Rwandan peacekeepers killed in Sudan's Darfur

Three Rwandan peacekeepers have been killed and two seriously wounded in Sudan's Darfur region, the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force says.

The death toll rose to three after a Rwandan died of his wounds after being evacuated, a spokesman for Unamid said.

Gunmen had fired on a group of 20 peacekeepers escorting a water tanker.

Rights groups estimate 300,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2003, although Khartoum has put the death toll at about 10,000.

However, overall levels of violence have fallen in the region in recent months.

Twenty Unamid personnel have died in troubled Darfur in the past two years.

Unamid spokesman Kemal Saiki told reporters the group of Rwandan peacekeepers had been ambushed by unknown armed men.

The peacekeepers had returned fire on their attackers as they fled but had been careful to avoid civilian casualties, he said.

The attack took place about 2km (1.24 miles) from a Unamid base in the village of Saraf Omra, near a Sudanese government checkpoint.

As of late October, Unamid had just over 19,000 uniformed personnel on the ground in Darfur.

Violence flared in Darfur in 2003 when black African rebel groups took up arms against the Sudanese government in Khartoum, complaining of discrimination and neglect.

Pro-government Arab militias then started a campaign of violence, targeting the black African population.

About 2.7 million people are thought to have been displaced during the six-year conflict.

President Obama: Getting to ‘Yes’

Alastair Crooke

Whilst America has been absorbed by the Afghan election imbroglio, a less-noticed event slid into place in the Middle East. It is less dramatic than President Karzai’s near removal; but this event tilts the strategic balance: Turkey finally shrugged off its US straight-jacket; stared-past any beckoning EU membership, and has fixed its eyes toward its former Ottoman Asian and Middle Eastern neighbours.
Turkey did not do this shift merely to snub the West; but it does reflect Turkey’s discomfort and frustration with US and EU policy – as well as resonate more closely with the Islamic renaissance that has been taking place within Turkey.

This ‘release’ of Turkish policy towards a new direction – if successful – can be as significant as the destruction of Iraq and the implosion of Soviet power was, twenty years ago, in ‘releasing’ Iran to emerge as one of the pre-eminent powers in the region. In the last months, a spate of new agreements have been signed by Turkey with Iraq, Iran, Syria and Armenia which suggest not just a nascent commonality of political vision with Iraq, Iran and Syria, but more importantly, it reflects a joint economic interest – the northern tier of Middle East states are in line to become the principal suppliers of natural gas to Europe – thus displacing Russia as the dominant purveyor of gas to central Europe. In short, the energy primacy of Saudi oil may be gradually being eclipsed by the prospective Nabucco gas pipeline to central Europe.

What is mainly symbolic in the prospective passing of the baton of energy ‘kingpin’ – at least for Europe – from Saudi Arabia to the ‘northern tier’, however, is given substance, rather than symbolic form, in the simultaneous weakening of the ‘southern tier’ – Saudi Arabia and Egypt – both of which have become partially incapacitated by their respective succession crises and domestic preoccupations.

The weakening of the ‘southern tier’ comes at a sensitive time. The region sees the drift of power from erstwhile US allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, towards the northern tier, and, as is the way in the Middle East, is starting to readjust to the new power reality. This can be most clearly seen in Lebanon today, in the growing procession of former US allies and critics of the Syrian government, making their pilgrimage to Damascus. The message is not lost on others in the region either.

The US Administration sees these changes too. It additionally knows – as writers on the elsewhere have made clear - that any sanctions on Iran ultimately will fail. They will fail not only because Russia and China will not play ball; but precisely because the much touted ‘moderate alliance of pro-western Arab states’ is looking increasingly to be a paper tiger: The ‘moderates’ are not going seriously to confront Iran and its allies. Hopes by those, such as John Hannah, writing on foreignpolicy.com, that the Saudi bombing of the Houthi rebels in Yemen would mobilise a sectarian Sunni hostility towards Shi’i Iran have not been realised. On the contrary, the Saudi’s action has been clearly seen in the region for what it is – a partisan and tribal intervention in another state’s internal conflict.

But if sanctions on Iran are widely acknowledged – at least in private within the US Administration – as destined to fail, this must be provoking some interesting self-questioning within the White House: The US is in the process now of withdrawal from Iraq; it is looking for the exit in Afghanistan; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is getting messier. None of these events seem likely to become particularly glorious episodes for the Administration.

It is not hard to imagine Messrs Emmanuel and Axelrod asking themselves, ‘why the President should want to risk another perceived failure’ – as sanctions on Iran surely will be. ‘Why’, they may ask, ‘do sanctions; open ourselves to persistent Republican jeering at their inevitable failure; and then ultimately force us to have to ask… well what do we do next, Mr President’?

‘Worse – will we’, they may ask, ‘be going into mid-term Congressional elections with the Republicans raising that old Viet Nam taunt that the ‘US Army did not loose in Viet Nam – it was the politicians who stabbed the military in the back’; but with that same mantra now being used by our political enemies to depict Iraq and Afghanistan as failures of political nerve?’ ‘Do we want to go into the midterm elections with failing Iran sanctions hanging like an Albatross around our necks too?’

No doubt, in this notional discussion, one of the White House staffers will point out that, in the case of Iraq, sanctions were indeed pursued, in spite of the likelihood of their failure; but for one reason only: to entice the Europeans on board; to go through the diplomatic motions – so that the Euros would have no choice but to accept the consequences of their failure. But this does not apply in the case of Iran, the officials might point out: Britain and France, and to a lesser extent Germany, are, on this issue, more committed to ‘imploding’ the Iranian state – by ‘soft’ war, if not by ‘hot’ war – than is Washington – so what would be the purpose of sanctions now?

We do not know the outcome to this hypothetical debate. We do not yet know that negotiations with Iran will fail; although it seems that the debate within the Administration seems to be hardening against the idea of Iran retaining any enrichment capacity. If this does become the Administration position, then failure of negotiations is assured. Iran will not abjure its right to a nuclear fuel cycle for power generation – even at the risk of war. This is the essence of the dilemma: if sanctions seem likely to lead to nothing more than Republican sniping and taunts of weakness, how does the President display ‘toughness’ on Iran – against the backdrop of withdrawal from Iraq, Afghanistan and abstention on the Israeli – Palestinian political process?

It is clear that Israel must be reading the region in the same fashion. Israelis are acutely sensitive to US politics, and the Israeli press already expresses understanding for the acute dilemma that will face the US President, if sanctions do not succeed in persuading Iran to abandon all enrichment (the Israeli objective). How might Israel see the way to help President Obama resolve this dilemma – given the improbability that Israel will be given any ‘green light’ to attack Iran directly, with all the consequences that such military action might entail for US interests in the region?

An article by the veteran and well-connected Israeli columnist Alex Fishman, in the Hebrew language newspaper, Yediot Ahronoth, last week perhaps offers some insights into how Israelis may be speculating about such issues when he warns about ‘the approaching December winds’. These winds, Fishman tells us, will bring more and new revelations - not about Iran’s nuclear ambitions – but about Syria’s nuclear projects: The departure of Mohammad al- Baradei from the chair at the IAEA, he states, will open the door to new IAEA demands to inspect two suspected nuclear sites in Syria.
Fishman notes that, following the surfacing last week in Germany of stories that Israeli Special Forces had been on the ground covertly in Syria, no one should be surprised were more evidence of, and photographs of, the nuclear reactor, destroyed by Israeli air attack in September 2007, to come to dominate the headlines in the western press this December.

The ‘star’ turn in this prospective PR campaign is to be evidence proving a direct Iranian nuclear connection and finance for Syria’s alleged nuclear project.

Fishman suggests that it suits ‘Israel’s internal as well as foreign PR efforts’ for the time being to play along with talk of peace between Israel and Syria; but that both the December campaign against Syria’s alleged Iranian nuclear co-operation in the western press, and the playing along with the Syrian peace track ‘are directly linked to negotiations’ that the US is conducting with Iran. Fishman concludes that these could end in confrontation with Iran – ‘and also lead to a military strike’, in which case, ‘whomsoever is in the Iranian camp will also get a pounding’ – a reference to Syria.

Does this piece truly reflect Israeli thinking? We do not know; but Fishman certainly is well connected. Does the Israeli security establishment really conceive that the road to military action against Iran passes through Damascus? For those who recall the tacit support given by Europe and the US to Israel’s 2007 surprise military attack on Syria, Fishman’s scenario is not as unlikely as it may seem. That earlier episode could easily have escalated to a wider war. More likely is that this is but one of a number of ‘game-changing’ scenarios that Israel is considering, but which ultimately all have Iran as the ‘end-game’.

In the past, Israel’s political parties of the Right had a reputation for conceiving unconventional military actions which sought to transform and invert the political paradigm of that time. Such actions did not always wait on, or seek, a US ‘green light’. There was not direct collusion with the US. Israeli leaders looked more to the direction of the political wind in Washington. It was viewed by Israelis historically as finding a creative way to help a US President ‘get to yes’ – to borrow Obama’s own phraseology – by creating the public support and momentum to let a US President feel pulled forward by sentiment from a need to ‘hold Israel back’.

Is a new scandal of Iranian nuclear malfeasance and proliferation into Syria to serve as the pretext? Will a repeat of the 2007 airstrikes on Syria lead to a wider conflict? Does the Israeli leadership think to ease Obama out of his Iran dilemma, by using the supposed ‘provocation’ of a ‘Syrian–Iranian nuclear partnership’ for a widening conflict? Perhaps we should w beware of these December ‘winds’?

US troops are not to leave Afghanistan in 2011

Sat Dec 5, 2009

A US official has stressed that the US has no intention of pulling out its troops from Afghanistan in the near future and "certainly not in 2011."

"The United States has no intention of leaving Afghanistan in the near future, certainly not in 2011," US National Security Adviser General James Jones told reporters at a press conference on Friday when asked about President Obama's recent statement on withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

"The President's decision did not mean that we will leave in 2011. It just means that that will be a transition point where we will begin to pull some of our forces back and turn over some of the responsibilities to the Afghan themselves," Jones said at the Foreign Press Center.

According to General Jones, what Obama actually said was that the US troops "will begin to come home" after 18 months.

"It's very important to use the right words where this is concerned," he explained in response to an Afghan journalist, saying that the words "US troops will leave in 2011" are inaccurate.

Meanwhile, General Stanley McChrystal told Afghan ministers and parliamentarians in Kabul on Thursday that the US presence in the country was long-term.

McChrystal said that the focus of Obama's new strategy was "to provide an opportunity for the Afghan people to build enough capacity to provide security themselves."

More than eight years after the initial US invasion, the US president Tuesday announced his intention to deploy 33,000 more troops to Afghanistan to end the conflict there.

Moreover, NATO pledged an additional 5,000 troops to fight the militancy in the war-ravaged country.

Although nearly 110,000 foreign troops are present in Afghanistan, they have not been able to establish stability in the country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/112926.html.

After minaret ban, Iran warns of Islamophobia in EU

Nearly a week after Switzerland banned the building of minarets on mosques, Iran warns of the rising tide of Islamophobia in some European countries.

In a vote that was seen as "biased" and "anti-Islamic" in the Muslim world, Switzerland approved a constitutional ban on the building of the iconic mosque towers in late November.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr, in a phone conversation with Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey, criticized the move and warned that it would likely to have far-reaching implications, both for the Swiss people and the Muslim minority.

"This move did not befit a country claiming to be a number one advocate of democracy and religious freedom under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," said Mottaki on Saturday.

"The ban will undoubtedly change Switzerland's image as a leading advocate of human rights," he added.

Mottaki expressed hope that the Swiss government would take necessary action to prevent the implementation of the vote.

Muslims comprise about 6 per cent of Switzerland's 7.5 million people.

In return, Calmy-Rey said she is not pleased with the outcome of the referendum, which according to her, took place despite the strong opposition of the Swiss government and parliament.

According to Calmy-Ray, the sentence banning the construction of minarets, which led to the referendum, was first proposed by the dominant rightist Swiss People's Party (S.V.P.).

She assured her Iranian counterpart that the minaret ban will not lead to "the rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture.”

"Switzerland holds its Muslim population with great esteem and respect," she said.

The vote was instantly condemned by Muslim communities with some arguing that the move will damage Switzerland's international standing as well as its reputation of religious tolerance.

“Most painful for us is not the minaret ban, but the symbol sent by this vote,” said Farhad Afshar, who runs the Coordination of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland, in an interview with The New York Times.

“Muslims do not feel accepted as a religious community,” he added.

Houthi fighters blow up Saudi army tanks

Houthi fighters say they have destroyed several Saudi Arabian tanks as they attempted to cross the border into the northern Yemeni provinces of Amran and Harf Sufyan.

The Saudi military push towards Mount Mamdouh has failed, the Houthis said on Friday, adding that the late evening clashes destroyed three Saudi tanks and killed several soldiers.

The conflict in northern Yemen began in 2004 between Sana'a and Houthi fighters. Relative peace had returned to the region until August 11, when the Yemeni army launched a major offensive, dubbed Operation Scorched Earth, against Sa'ada.

The government claims that the fighters, who are named after their leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, seek to restore the Shia imamate system, which was overthrown in a 1962 military coup.

The Houthis, however, say they are defending their people's civil rights, which the government has undermined under pressure from Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists.

The Saudi Arabian government has added to the problem by launching its own offensive against northern Yemen.

While Riyadh insists that it is targeting Houthi positions on 'Saudi territory', the fighters say Saudi Arabia is bombing Yemeni villages with chemical weapons and causing the death of Shia civilians.

As Sana'a does not allow independent media into the conflict zone, there are no clear estimates available as to how many people have been killed in the Shia province of Sa'ada since 2004 or in the recent wave of violence.

According to UN estimates, however, during the past five years, up to 175,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Sa'ada to take refuge in overcrowded camps set up by the international body.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=112921§ionid=351020206.

Iran finds 2500 kg of drugs on Pakistan border

Iranian police have seized more than 2,500 kilograms of drugs in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan.

“Saravan border police clashed with the smugglers who imported the drugs from Pakistan into Saravan," IRINN quoted Saravan border police commander, Colonel Yusefi, as saying on Friday.

“The smugglers left the drugs and escaped into Pakistan {territory} after the clash," he added.

"2,540 kilograms of drugs were found after the smugglers escaped," he further explained.

The city of Saravan is located in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, close to the international border with Pakistan.

The Afghanistan-Pakistan border region has become one of the world's largest free-trade zones for anything and everything that is illicit, from drugs and weapons to even people and migrants, a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has stated.

Late October, Iran's Interior Minister, Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, said Tehran would soon implement an agreement signed with Islamabad that places Pakistan in a position of greater responsibility for security.

“Border security and intelligence cooperation make up the main parts of the agreement between the two countries, as well as drugs, weapons and human trafficking," Mohammad-Najjar said.

“The Pakistani government has committed to comprehensive security and intelligence cooperation, which we hope will soon yield tangible results," he added.

“Hopefully, with the agreement in place, we will no longer witness tragic incidents such as the one in Pishin," he said.

Tehran and Islamabad signed the security agreement in the wake of October's bloody terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 35 people and wounded another 28.

The Jundullah terror group, which is led by Abdolmalik Rigi, has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in Iran's borderline Pishin region.

Turkish soldier dies in anti-PKK operation

At least one soldier has lost his life in a fresh military operation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin.

The clash between Turkish troopers and a group of Kurdish militants took place on Friday near the village of Dibek in the Mardin province, which is bordered on the south by Syria. The incident also left one security agent wounded.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, including Turkey, Iran, the US and European Union member states.

More than 40,000 people have lost their lives since the PKK took up arms against Ankara in 1984 as part of a quest to establish an autonomous socialist Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey.

Turkish fighter jets frequently shell PKK strongholds in the jagged mountains of northern Iraq - a safe haven for the militants from which they launch attacks against Turkish soil.

Millions of Taiwanese cast votes in local elections

Taipei - Taiwan's local elections on Saturday are being seen as a test of power for President Ma Ying-jeou who is trying to seek peace with China. Some 7 million eligible voters will cast votes at 6,384 polling stations to select city mayors and county magistrates, county and city councilors and township chiefs.

The Central Election Commission expects the turnout to be 60-65 per cent.

A total of 1,465 candidates are in the race. Most of them are nominated by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the pro- independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), with a few representing smaller parties or running as independent candidates.

Polls opened at 8 am (0000 GMT) and will close at 5 pm (0900 GMT). Final results are expected at 10 pm (1400 GMT).

Analysts said the results will redefine the KMT and DPP's power base, and set the tone for next year's elections for four cities and counties directly controlled by the central government. These results will in turn affect the outcome of the 2012 presidential polls.

Ma, who came to power on May 20, 2008, hopes that voters will show their support for his China-friendly policies by voting for KMT candidates.

But the DPP accuses Ma of kowtowing to China and urged Taiwanese to back DPP candidates and topple Ma's government.

Nigerian fans happy with draw, but not with coach

Nairobi/Abuja - Nigerian fans are happy with their World Cup group, which pits them against Argentina, South Korea and Greece, but are worried their coach will be unable to take advantage of the relatively kind draw. Nigeria struggled to qualify under local coach Shaibu Amodu, only getting there on the last day by virtue of Mozambique notching up an unlikely victory against group leaders Tunisia.

However, Argentina also qualified by the skin of their teeth under Diego Maradona and seem to hold no fears for Nigerians.

"Argentina and Nigeria are in the same boat: they almost didn't qualify for the world cup," Ike O. wrote on Nigerian newspaper Vanguard's website. "Nigeria has nothing to fear in Argentina."

If the Nigerians make it through Group B, they will be pitted against either Mexico, South Africa, Uruguay or France, raising hopes that the Super Eagles could reach at least the quarter finals.

Amodu himself, shortly after the draw, said he believed Nigeria could reach the quarter- or even semi-finals.

However, confidence in the coach is low.

"This group is not a bad group, my only problem is Amodu," another fan wrote, reflecting an opinion common in the Nigerian blogosphere. "If Amodu cannot beat easy teams like Kenya, Mozambique and Tunisia silly during the World Cup qualifier, how are we sure this man can produce 11 good players to beat Argentina and Greece?"

Rumours abound that Amodu will be replaced by a foreign coach, possibly even before January's Africa Cup of Nations.

Former Netherlands star Ruud Gullit was linked with the job, although the 47-year-old said on Friday there had been no formal approach from the Nigerian football federation.

Hospitalized Thai king makes birthday appearance - Summary

Bangkok - Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej left hospital Saturday to make a brief but important public appearance to mark his 82nd birthday at which he urged his countrymen to work together. Thousands of well-wishers lined up along the road shouted "long live the king" as King Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, left Siriraj Hospital shortly after 11 am (0400 GMT) for the Grand Palace.

He presided a birthday ceremony in an audience attended by the royal family, the cabinet, members of parliament and other leading figures in Thai society.

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn extended the best wishes from the royal family, praised the king's long and virtuous rule and pledged to "do my duty for the country and people as your son."

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and House Speaker Chai Chidchob also extended congratulations and best wishes for the king's good health from the government and parliament on behalf of the people.

"My happiness depends on you who are the country's leadership," the king said in a statement he read with a hoarse but clear voice. "Happiness, progress will depend on everyone, every faction doing their duty and taking responsibility together," he added.

The ceremony lasted less than an hour. King Bhumibol, sitting in an electric wheelchair and accompanied by his doctors, returned to hospital immediately after his short speech.

It was the king's third public appearance since he was admitted to hospital on September 19 to be treated for respiratory problems, fatigue and fever.

Ongoing health complications forced the king to cancel several traditional birthday ceremonies and an annual speech usually delivered on the eve of his birthday.

Thailand's monarch for the past 63 years, he is deemed an important pillar of the country's long-term political stability.

Although as a constitutional monarch he wields no executive powers, Bhumibol's lifelong career in development work has earned him the love of Thailand's rural communities and praise as a pioneer of the "sufficiency economy" theory which has been endorsed by the United Nations.

"Your good works have been felt well beyond Thailand's borders," US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a birthday greeting. "In particular your efforts to advance sustainable small-scale agriculture in rural areas of Thailand are models for green development around the world," she added.

The king has also played a pivotal role as a moderator in Thailand's often tumultuous politics, bringing the country back from the brink of conflict on several occasions in the past.

Anti-government protesters loyal to ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra dropped plans for demonstrations last weekend out of respect for the king, whose extended hospital stay has added to political jitters and sparked at least one stock market tumble which the government blamed on unfounded rumors.

The government has prepared several high-tech events to mark the king's birthday celebrations, which will continue until December 13.

The government-run Communications Authority of Thailand has also launched a new website wwww.CandleForTheKing.com, that urges well-wishers to leave their virtual birthday greeting to the monarch.

It has been a tradition for Thais to gather nationwide and light a candle on the night of the king's birthday to mark the occasion.

Myanmar junta transforms Kokang rebels into 'border guards'

Yangon - Myanmar's junta has officially transformed the rebel army of the Kokang region into a border guard force under its command, state media reported Saturday. A ceremony marking the metamorphosis from former rebel force to the Kokang border guards was held in Si-aw in Laukkai district of the Shan State Friday, The New Light of Myanmar reported.

Kokang leader Pe Sauk Chain said that the formation of the new border force in the region showed "they have embraced the chance of discharging national defense duties in cooperation with the Tatmadaw [military]."

In August, the army occupied the Kokang region in Shan State in northern Myanmar after Kokang leaders opposed efforts to transform their 1,500-strong army into a "frontier force" under government control.

The attack on the Kokang was seen as a warning to other ethnic groups to heed the junta's demands to come under government control, deemed an important step toward holding a peaceful general election next year.

Myanmar's military junta last month reportedly persuaded the Kachin ethnic minority in the northernmost state of Kachin and the Kayah ethnic group in the eastern state of Kayah to become border guards.

The border forces will receive salaries, uniforms and other benefits afforded to the Myanmar military, the government claims.

Myanmar's junta has been stepping up pressure on the country's 37 semi-autonomous minority-group militias to agree to turn themselves into border forces under the command of the regime instead of local leaders.

Under the 2008 constitution, all ethnic minority armies, which the junta calls "ceasefire groups," must be turned into border guards as part of preparations for a general election planned next year to usher in what the junta has called "discipline-flourishing democracy."

The ethnic minority groups are to also encouraged to set up political parties to contest the polls, which are to be held on an unspecified date next year.

The junta signed ceasefire agreements with 37 ethnic minority insurgent groups two decades ago.

Those jungle forces were allowed a measure of autonomy in their traditional territories and permitted to keep their weapons.

There are fears that the largest ethnic groups, such as the Wa, would join with other forces that have never signed ceasefires with the government, such as the Karen and Shan, in openly opposing the junta's efforts to bring them to heel before the planned elections.

Martial law declared in province where 57 were murdered - 4th Update

Shariff Aguak, Philippines - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Saturday declared martial law in a southern province where 57 people were murdered and security forces rounded up at least eight prime suspects in the gruesome crime. Arroyo said she placed Maguindanao province, 930 kilometers south of Manila, under military rule as "heavily armed groups (in the area) have established positions to resist government troops."

She added that "public peace and order in Maguindanao has deteriorated to the extent that the local judicial system and other government mechanisms in the province are not functioning, thus endangering public safety."

It was the first time in nearly three decades that military rule was imposed in any part of the Philippines. On September 21, 1972, late dictator Ferdinand Marcos placed the country under martial law until 1981.

Arroyo also suspended the privilege of habeas corpus, allowing authorities to arrest without warrants suspects in the massacre on November 23 in Ampatuan town.

Eight suspects were immediately arrested, including provincial Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan Senior and three sons - regional Governor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak Mayor Anwar Ampatuan and Maguindanao Vice Governor Akmad Ampatuan.

Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer, martial law commander in the province, said more warrantless arrests and searches would be conducted to ensure that all perpetrators of the crime are taken into custody.

Hundreds of soldiers took over the main building of the Maguindanao provincial government in Shariff Aguak and all municipal offices in the 22 towns of the province.

"We are here to formally take over the provincial capitol," Ferrer told a press conference. "By this time, all municipal halls have been secured by the army and police forces."

"All equipment and facilities of these local government units will be secured by our forces," he added.

Ferrer said operations by the provincial and local government would temporarily be suspended until "a new set-up" has been organized by the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Additional security checkpoints were set up along the national highway going in and out of Maguindanao. All vehicles were searched by soldiers, armed with rifles. Passengers of buses and mini-buses were asked to alight from the vehicles.

"All the men, show us your IDs," one soldier barked at a group of people aboard a mini-bus that was on the way to Shariff Aguak.

In another checkpoint, a soldier asked the passengers of a private car, "Do any of you have guns?"

Attorney Harry Roque, a constitutional law expert, questioned the martial law declaration which has to be confirmed by Congress within 48 hours.

"The declaration of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in Maguindanao is without clear basis," he said. "The writ is the strongest means to secure the right of liberty. Suspend that and the people are sitting ducks to autocratic governments."

Another son of Ampatuan Senior, Mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan Junior, has been detained in Manila since last week and charged with 25 counts of murder.

The massacre victims were on their way to file the certificate of candidacy of Buluan town Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu for Maguindanao governor, pitting him against Ampatuan Junior in next year's elections.

They included Mangudadatu's wife, two sisters, two human rights lawyers and 30 local journalists who were covering the event.

According to the complaint filed in court, Ampatuan Junior and more than 100 gunmen allegedly "perpetrated the killing of the victims in a brutal and savage manner and extreme cruelty."

The complaint said the victims were "mercilessly massacred" with some bodies mutilated beyond recognition. It added that mass graves had already been dug up before the killings using a backhoe owned by the provincial government of Maguindanao.

Satellite images show Himalayan glacier receded 1.5 km in 30 years

New Delhi- For the second time in two weeks, Indian scientist have said glaciers in the Himalayas were retreating while refusing to hazard a guess whether it was due to global warming or just cyclical phenomenon.

The Times of Indian newspaper quoting a leading space scientist as saying satellite images of the Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas show that its snowline has receded by 1.5 kilometers in the past 30 years.

The report also said that Alpine vegetation has now started growing at a higher altitude than it used to a few decades ago.

R.R. Navalgund, director of Space Application Centre at Ahmedabad has been quoted as saying: "We have looked at snowy glaciers, some of them in the past 20 years, specially the ones at lower latitudes and altitudes, have retreated. It is difficult to say whether it is due to global climate change. It could be a part of the inter-glacial period and other related phenomena," he said.

Gangotri glacier is located in Uttarakhand state region that borders China. The glacier is the sources of River Ganges, considered a holy waterway by the Hindus in India. The glacier is about 30 kilometers long (19 miles) and 2 to 4 km (1 to 2 mi) wide.

Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) documentation of coral reefs have also shown bleaching across the coastline with reefs around the Indian sub-continent are facing maximum impact - not so much in the Andaman and Nicobar islands located in the Arabian Sea, but in other parts.

India created an international row two weeks ago when it challenged a globally accepted view that the Himalayan glaciers were receding due to global warming by publishing a discussion paper which says that the glaciers, although shrinking in volume and constantly showing a retreating front, have not in any way exhibited any abnormal annual retreat of the order that some glaciers in Alaska and Greenland have reported.

Brought out by V.K. Raina, a former Deputy Director-General of the Geological Survey of India, for the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the discussion paper called “Glacial Studies, Glacial Retreat and Climate Change” on the Himalayan glaciers points out that it was premature to make a statement that the glaciers were retreating abnormally because of global warming.

The study says a glacier is affected by a range of physical features and a complex interplay of climatic factors, and it is, therefore, unlikely that the snout movement of any glacier can be claimed to be the result of periodic climate variation until many centuries of observations become available.

While glacier movements are primarily due to climate and snowfall, snout movements appear to be peculiar to each glacier, the paper adds.

Releasing the documents, India's Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said that while most Himalayan glaciers were retreating, some were advancing as well. This included the Siachen glacier, also located in the Himalayas.

“Some glaciers are retreating at a declining rate, like the Gangotri glacier and the overall health of the Himalayan glaciers was poor as the debris cover had reached alarming proportions,” he said, citing the paper.

The minister, who studied engineering at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) maintains that there is no conclusive scientific evidence to show that global warming was resulting in the glacial retreats.

He says that contrary to what most believe, there can be no comparison between the Arctic glaciers and the Himalayan glaciers, as the former are at a sea-level and the latter at a very high altitude.

The Himalayan glaciers feed major rivers flowing through India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar.

“If we see the cumulative average of rate of retreat over the past 100 years, no glacier has deviated from that,” said Raina.

Using the Gangotri glacier as an example, Raina said: “This glacier is 30km long. Even if we assume it retreats at the rate of 30m a year, it will still take 1,000 years to disappear.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its fourth assessment report in 2007, said that Himalayan glaciers are retreating faster than in any other part of the world, and if this continues, they are likely to disappear by 2035, or perhaps sooner.

The IPCC, which is the leading body for assessing climate change and established by the United Nations Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization, attributed the receding and thinning of Himalayan glaciers primarily to global warming.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, blasted the research, calling it "unsubstantiated" and said “ We do need more extensive measurement of the Himalayan range but it is clear from satellite pictures what is happening." He likened the explanations to "climate change deniers and school boy science".

Raina admits in his paper that there is a lack of available data. For the moment long-term data exists for only 20 to 30 Himalayan glaciers and that there was only one automated weather station recording climatic data in the Himalayas, he said.

According to Raina, all glaciers under observation in the Himalayan region during the past three decades have shown cumulative negative mass balance (determined by annual snow precipitation). Degradation of the glacier mass has been the highest in Jammu and Kashmir state, relatively lower in Himachal Pradesh region, even less in Uttarakhand, and the lowest in Sikkim — showing a declining trend from the north-west to the north-east.

Irrespective on latitudinal difference, glacier melt contributes to about 25-30 per cent of the total discharge of glacier ice, with maximum discharge in mid-July and August.

“There are a number of scientific reports, including in the IPCC, that there is a clear threat,” said Vinuta Gopal, climate and energy campaign manager at Greenpeace India. “The time now is not about trying to find conclusive evidence; the time now is for action.”

Some scientists say research and field data are too limited to conclude a direct link.

“There is no field data to corroborate that the glaciers will disappear in the next 20-30 years. The range has 9,000 glaciers and we study about 30. And whichever we have studied, we need more detailed data. If we want to study glacier behavior, we need to monitor for 8-10 years, but we only manage two years at most,” said R.K. Ganjoo, director of the Jammu University's regional center on Himalayan glaciology.

Shakeel Ahmad Romshoo, associate professor, department of geology and geophysics at the University of Kashmir, said that although very few glaciers have been studied and data is inadequate, it is evident that global warming affects glaciers.

“Out of those that have been studied, in Himachal (Pradesh), Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir, there is no doubt that they are retreating and it is due to increase in temperature,” Romshoo said. “But we don't have enough data to establish by how much.”

“The effect of black carbon on Himalayan glaciers, which is a highly contested viewpoint, will also be studied,” according to minister Ramesh.

Shresth Tayal, a glaciologist with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi, rejected new research from an Indian scientist presented by Ramesh that denied the link between rising temperatures and receding ice.

"This report is incomplete. It has been written with a biased approach," said Tayal, who labeled the findings "self-contradictory".

"Do you think any scientist needs to prove that warming causes melting of ice? If there is heat, ice is bound to melt." Tayal criticized the Indian government for endorsing the report, saying it should have analyzed the results before making it public.

Saudi markets open lower after extended holiday

Riyadh - Saudi Arabia's stock market opened 1.46 per cent lower on Saturday in the first day the exchange traded since the Dubai debt crisis emerged a week and a half ago. The Tadawul all-share index, expected to face selling pressures, fell 92.97 points to 6,264.6 in morning trading. Financials, telecommunications, construction and other major sectors all lost ground.

Business in the largest Arab economy had been closed for an extended holiday for the Muslim festival Eid al Adha.

Saudi officials tried to ease concerns in the lead-up to the opening, saying local banks and companies had limited exposure to the debt troubles in Dubai, a city-state in the neighboring United Arab Emirates.

On November 25, Dubai World holding company said it would need a six-month freeze on repaying its obligations, having racked up 59 billion dollars in liabilities. Earlier this week, it announced plans to restructure 26 billion dollars of debt at Nakheel and Limitless, two major subsidiaries.

Nakheel has a 4 billion dollar Islamic bond due on December 14. Estimates say at least half of its debt is held by investors outside the Gulf region.

Markets around the world slumped when the news broke, though they have mostly rebounded since, as the restructuring and offers of liquidity by the UAE Central Bank helped ease fears of a contagion.

However, concerns remain about other debt problems and the ability to reach a deal with creditors.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/297884,saudi-markets-open-lower-after-extended-holiday.html.

Indonesian police arrest man after deadly fire

Jakarta - Police in Indonesia's North Sumatra province on Saturday arrested a man charging he accidentally started a fire which killed 20 people at a karaoke bar. The fire ripped through the M-City entertainment center in the city of Medan on Friday night and police said the blaze originated in a karaoke lounge on the third floor of the building.

Twenty people were killed, including nine women, while two others were in critical condition, police said.

Police said they were questioning a building employee who had admitted to having used a match to trim carpet threads.

"He will be charged with negligence causing death," said Agus Andrianto, head of North Sumatra's police criminal investigation division.

Investigators said poor ventilation and lack of emergency lights had made it difficult for victims to escape.

Denmark welcomes Obama's later arrival to UN climate summit

Copenhagen - US President Barack Obama's announcement that he will attend the final stages of the UN climate change summit was welcomed Saturday by Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose country hosts the summit. "President Obama's strong focus on climate change and his global leadership are key for the Copenhagen talks," Rasmussen said.

The summit aimed at securing an international pact on the reduction of greenhouse gases opens on Monday and runs to December 18.

Obama was originally set to join the summit on Wednesday, one day before he receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.

His decision to move his trip to the end of the session was an expression of "the growing political momentum to reach an ambitious climate deal in Copenhagen," Rasmussen said.

According to Rasmussen, 103 heads of state and government plan to attend the Copenhagen talks.

Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, was also pleased with the US president's decision but predicted "the talks will be very tough."

"President Obama's attendance at the end of the conference shows that the US realizes that the decisions will be made in the final phase," he said on Swedish breakfast television.

Development and aid organization Oxfam International and environment organization Greenpeace also welcomed Obama's announcement.

"President Obama will now be in the right place, at the right time with the right people," Oxfam spokesperson Antonio Hill said.

Martin Kaiser, Greenpeace International's political climate coordinator, said, "Now that he (Obama) has moved the date, he needs to move his targets and his financial contribution to be in line with what climate science demands."

Russia and Georgia Wage War with Films and Documentaries

By SIMON SHUSTER / MOSCOW

More than a year after Russia and Georgia clashed in a short but brutal war, the two countries are continuing their dispute on the movie screen. Russian filmmakers have already released a slick documentary as well as a romantic feature that depicts Georgia as a genocidal aggressor. Now, the Georgian government is supporting Renny Harlin, the Hollywood director who made Die Hard 2, for its own take on the conflict, complete with Andy Garcia as the embattled Georgian President standing up to Russian tanks.

Truth, famously, is the first victim in war. In the case of the Russia-Georgia conflict, the closest we'll probably get to the truth is an E.U.-led investigation that took more than a year to figure out who fired the first shot. That was Georgia, the report concluded, while also judging that Russia violated international law during the onslaught that followed. But don't expect to see any of that nuance in the films now battling it out to rewrite history.

From the beginning, Georgia's press-savvy and Washington-backed President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has a law degree from New York's Columbia University, has been relentless in spinning the war as a product of Russian expansionism. He gave dozens of interviews to Western media even as the bombs were falling, and says that the upcoming film with Garcia will drive that point further. "Indeed right now the American director is producing a Hollywood film, and I am sure Russia is not depicted there in the best light," he told a gathering of supporters in Kiev, Ukraine, this month. "It's true Andy Garcia's previous role was in The Godfather [III], and his evolution from a Mafioso to the President of Georgia does not make for the best associations. But I think we will manage."

Saakashvili said the big-budget film was not financed by the Georgian government. "We have enough trouble funding our local directors," he said at the Ukraine gathering, which TIME attended. But the author of the screenplay, David Imedashvili, tells TIME that the initial funding for the project came from a Georgian government fund. Projects like this, he said, give Georgia a rare chance to hit back at its bullying northern neighbor. "Georgia is a very small country, Russia is a giant," Imedashvili says. "It's idiotic to fight a war with Russia, but we have to do something. We have to defend ourselves in some other way." The film's executive producer, Mirza Davitaia, who is a parliamentarian and a member of Saakashvili's political party, echoed that idea. "This is our chance to show the whole world what happened here," he says in an interview. "It is based on historical facts."

But Russia has a competing version of the facts, and has been paying millions of dollars to make sure the public hears it. The first attempt, a graphic and slickly produced documentary called War 08.08.08: The Art of Betrayal, was released three months after the conflict. It argued that American mercenaries had helped the Georgian government commit genocide against the people of South Ossetia, a separatist region that Russia says it was forced to step in to protect. But the project fell flat. Narrated by Canadian George Watts - a former translator for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin - its arguments seemed heavy-handed even to sympathetic critics, and the whole film has been viewed on YouTube - in either its Russian or its English versions - fewer than 12,000 times.

A much more ambitious attempt to shape the war's history arrived in March with the release of Olympus Inferno, which aired on state-owned television. The drama takes a more subtle approach, depicting a clumsy American scientist who accidentally films Georgia's invasion of South Ossetia while studying a butterfly called, yes, Olympus Inferno. Though couched as a love story, the message is the same: the Georgian army went on a rampage against civilians last August, and the U.S. military helped.

Much like his Georgian counterparts, the film's director, Igor Voloshin, insists that his work is a historical document as much as a work of art. "This film gives a very objective point of view," Voloshin tells TIME. "On the one hand it is a feature film, a work of art, but from the point of view of history, we did not lie." When asked where he had found objective truth in the muddied waters of the conflict, Voloshin said he did not need to prove anything. "Time will show who is right," he says.

Perhaps it will. But just in case, Russia is looking to make another movie to shore up its version of the conflict. Renowned Serbian director Emir Kusturica declined the project last month following a meeting with its Russian backers in a Moscow nightclub. But don't be surprised if those behind the film sign someone else up and Russian moviegoers soon get yet another take on a familiar subject.

S. Korea to provide reactor to Jordan

SEOUL, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- South Korean atomic energy research institute and Daewoo Engineering have won an open bid to build Jordan's first research reactor, officials said Friday.

The award will help open markets in the region for Korean firms, Yonhap news agency reported.

The $173 million deal calls for a 5 megawatt reactor for the Jordan University for Sciences and Technology by 2014, the report said.

The Jordan Atomic Energy Commission chose the Korean consortium over rival bids from Argentina, China and Russia, the report said.

Education and Science Minister Ahn Byong-man said Jordan's decision was in recognition of South Korea's extensive experience, high safety standards and technological prowess in atomic energy.

The Yonhap report said a research reactor is used for scientific and engineering studies and also for isotope production for medical and industrial purposes.

Officials said the deal marks the first time South Korea has won the right to sell its nuclear reactors overseas.

Jordan summons Israeli ambassador over Church of the Holy Sepulcher

AFP news agency is reporting on the most recent tension between Jordan and Israel. This time it is about the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. According to the French agency, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry summoned Israeli Ambassador Nevo Dani on Thursday to demand a halt to "unilateral" work carried out by Israel on the outer walls of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Excerpt:

"The ambassador was summoned today to the Foreign Ministry where he was handed an official letter of protest expressing deep concerns and rejection of unilateral measures in the outer western walls of the church," a senior official told Agence France-Presse.

The government demanded Israel "immediately halt such actions and restore the status quo", according to the letter.

"Israel's measures are illegal and violate international laws because Israel is the occupying force in the West Bank and East Jerusalem," the official said.

Another official said the Israeli authorities "have removed iron bars around a gate in the walls that has been sealed since the British mandate of Palestine [which ended in 1948] and opened the gate".

The official, who declined to be named, said that the Israelis "claimed that they were doing renovations but nobody asked them to do anything".

"This is unprecedented and dangerous," the official said, noting that anything to do with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is "very sensitive".

In Jerusalem, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, which looks after the holy places on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church and liaises with other Christian denominations, also protested against what it said was a unilateral Israeli action.

Lebanon to host 63rd World Newspaper Conference

BEIRUT: Lebanon will host the 63rd World Newspaper Congress next June, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) announced Thursday. As part of the congress, which is to be hosted by An-Nahar newspaper from June 7-10, 2010, Beirut will also host the international press for the 17th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo.

It will be the first time the congress is held in the Arab world, although Lebanon last year hosted the Third Annual Free Press Forum, also organized by WAN.

“The time is right for the world’s press to meet in the Arab world, which has so much influence on world affairs, where the media is developing at a rapid rate, but which continues to struggle with repression of the basic human right to freedom of expression,” said Timothy Balding, the co-CEO of WAN-IFRA.

“It is particularly appropriate to hold these meetings in Beirut, where the independent press has played a leading role for freedom and the right to speak out, not only in Lebanon, but in the entire Arab world,” Balding added.

WAN-IFRA, jointly based in France and Germany, is the global organization of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries.

Palau president: Uighurs doing well

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Palau President Johnson Toribiong says six Uighurs formerly detained at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are doing well transitioning into the Palauan society. The former detainees have been given medical care, room and board in an effort to fully integrate into the Palauan community.

President Toribiong says they will also participate in a structured education program. "They arrived, they looked like anyone else - they immediately trimmed their beards and started moving around the local community - and sometimes you couldn't tell a Uighur from a local resident," he explained.

"I'm arranging to have them attend the Palau Community College - all of them - to learn English, history and the culture of our people."

Spanish media generally pleased with World Cup draw

Madrid - The Spanish media were generally pleased with Friday's World Cup draw in Cape Town. The European champions have been drawn in Group H with Switzerland, Honduras and Chile.

Spain will make their debut against Switzerland in Durban on June 16. Four days later they will face Honduras at Ellis Park, then finish against Chile in Pretoria on June 25.

Spain thrashed Switzerland 3-0 in the round of 16 at the 1994 World Cup, but were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by Honduras in 1982 when hosting the tournament.

The website of sports daily Marca called it "an easy group", but warned that the round of 16 could be "lethal."

If, as expected, Spain finish top of Group H they will then face the second team in Group G, which is composed of Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea.

Portugal knocked Spain out of the 2004 European Championship, Ivory Coast are considered by many experts to be a good outside bet.

Marca consoles itself with the fact that if, as expected, both Spain and Brazil finish top of their groups then Vicente del Bosque's team would not have to face Brazil until the final.

The website of Catalan newspaper Sport calls it "a comfortable draw."

Radio station Cadena COPE commented that "It has been a rather lucky draw for Spain...There is really nothing to fear about any of the first-round rivals."

Rival radio station Cadena SER pointed out that Spain have done well to avoid "tough European teams" like France, Portugal, Serbia and Denmark.

In addition, according to SER, "it is good to have avoided the African teams, which will be able to count on support from the South African crowds."

Spain - number one in the FIFA rankings - are one of the favorites to win the tournament. They are the reigning European champions, and cruised through the qualifying stage by becoming the first team ever to win every single match in a six-team European qualifying group.

Spain have not been absent from the World Cup finals since 1974, a record bettered only by Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany.

However, the national team has frequently failed to live up to billing at the World Cup. Their best performance was in 1950, when they finished fourth.

Since then they have failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals.

Uighurs using missionary railway to flee China

By ISOLDA MORILLO and CARA ANNA (AP)

BEIJING — An underground network of Christian missionaries that usually works with North Korean refugees says it has helped smuggle nearly two dozen Muslim Uighurs out of China following last summer's deadly ethnic violence and the subsequent government crackdown.

It's the first time the Christian interfaith network has worked with a group of Uighurs, and it won't be the last, with more currently using the so-called underground railway to make their way out of the country and requests for assistance surging into the hundreds, missionaries said.

Long-simmering tensions between Turkic Uighurs and China's Han majority have increased since July's riots in the western region of Xinjiang. The Chinese government says the violence left nearly 200 people, mostly Han, dead.

A Chinese court sentenced three Uighurs to death Friday for their actions during the rioting, bringing to 17 the number of death sentences handed down over the violence. Overseas Uighur groups say Uighurs have been rounded up in mass detentions since the riots.

Some have turned to the "railway" for help, and one Macau-based missionary who is part of the network said they now have daily contact with major Uighur exile groups.

The network of sympathetic Chinese Christians shelter and guide people, usually North Koreans, as they cross China on their way to UN refugee offices abroad to seek asylum.

The first group of 22 Uighurs, who've been described by exile groups as witnesses to the rioting, made their way through China and Vietnam before arriving over the past few weeks in the Cambodian capital, where they have made contact with the UN refugee office and applied for political asylum.

However, they live in fear of being picked up and returned to China, which has close ties with Cambodia, Uighur groups said.

"China has a very big influence in Cambodia. So their life is in risk, I would say," said Ilshat Hassan, the U.S.-based director of interior affairs for the World Uyghur Congress.

A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry asked that questions about the 22 Uighurs be sent in a fax, and offered no immediate response Friday. The Public Security Bureau in Xinjiang did not immediately respond to a faxed request.

Hassan said the group is the first large one to leave China after the riots. Two other Uighurs were arrested in Vietnam, he said, and he lost contact with another group of four.

A spokesman for Cambodia's Ministry of the Interior, Pol. Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, said Friday that at least 16 Uighurs are staying at the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Phnom Penh. The office is the closest UNHCR office to China in Southeast Asia.

UNHCR's spokeswoman for Asia, Kitty McKinsey, said she could not discuss the case. "It's our policy everywhere in the world never to speak about individual asylum seekers or refugees," she said.

Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the government would consider carefully any repatriation request from China. He said Cambodia has the right to deny such a request if the people are considered political asylum seekers.

"But if they are purely criminal people and there is a request, we may deport them," he said.

It was unclear what role, if any, the 22 Uighurs played in the rioting. They could not be reached for comment Friday.

"They may have been involved in the protest July 5, but it is not clear at the moment," said Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress.

Radio Free Asia reported Friday that two of the Uighurs told the UNHCR they watched the July violence unfold. One said he feared retribution for taking photos.

Hassan said the Uighurs still have photos of the riots and government response, but there were no immediate plans to make them public. "We want to get them first to a safe place," he said.

Overseas Uighur groups have been making more and more requests to use the railway, said the Rev. Marcus Ramsey of the Macau Interfaith Network, whose group collaborates with other missionary groups and helped the 22 Uighurs leave China.

Another Macau-based missionary, who didn't want to give his name because of concerns about official retribution, said the network had a few requests for help from Europe-based Uighur Christians before the July violence, but requests have since surged.

He dismissed the idea of possible tensions between the Muslim Uighurs and the Christian Chinese who help them cross China.

"This is what it means when they ask, 'What would Jesus do?'" he said.

Hassan did not want to talk about any involvement with the missionary network, saying only "some locals from the China side helped."

Now, however, China has tightened border controls and passing through Vietnam is no longer possible, he said.

The missionaries sounded more optimistic. "The first group took two months," the Macau-based missionary said, "but some things can be streamlined next year."

Cairo-Algiers ties improving: Algerian oil minister

CAIRO — Algerian Oil Minister Chekib Khelil said Friday that Egyptian-Algerian ties, marred by violence over a World Cup qualifying match, were improving and the two nation will set up a joint oil company.

"They already improved, I am here," said Khelil on arrival in Cairo to attend on Saturday a meeting for the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"We have first the OAPEC meeting tomorrow. Then I have a meeting with my Egyptian colleague on Sunday. I hope we will be signing an agreement to set a joint company to do (oil) exploration and production," Khelil said.

The company, to be named Selene Petrol, will be a 50-50 joint venture between Algeria's SONATRAC oil company and two Egyptian oil firms. It will operate in Algeria, Egypt and third countries, the minister said.

"So, you could say we are looking forward," to improved ties between Egypt and Algeria, Khelil said.

The company is named after Selene, the daughter of Egypt's Queen Cleopatra who ruled Egypt more than 2,000 years ago, and was married to Algerian King Juba II.

Algeria and Egypt engaged in a diplomatic row after Algerian fans attacked the buses of Egyptians fans in a World Cup qualifier hosted by Sudan earlier this month, which Algeria won.

Egypt withdrew its ambassador in response.

The trouble started before an earlier match hosted in Cairo, when a bus carrying the Algerian football team was pelted with stones, leaving three players wounded.

Algerians reacted by ransacking Egyptian businesses in Algiers.

Not easy, but Germany satisfied with draw - Summary

Cape Town - Three-time world champions Germany avoided the big names but could - for once - not claim to have got the luck of the draw in Cape Town on Friday. Joachim Loew watched as Australia, Serbia and Ghana were pulled out of the pots, leaving the coach to prepare for a task in South Africa which will not be as easy-looking as past tournaments.

On paper it least it looks a more difficult task than the 2006 draw on home soil when the hosts were in a group with Ecuador, Poland and Costa Rica.

"We are looking forward to the tournament. We have an interesting group," Loew said.

"We played Australia at the Confederations Cup (2005), and it was also then (as in 2010) the first game. It will be an important game for us and it will be important to win.

"I have great respect for Serbia. They left France behind them in the qualification and have a strong football-playing team.

"Ghana along with Algeria are the strongest playing side in Africa, and only went out in 2006 in the last 16 to Brazil."

German football federation DFB president Theo Zwanziger said: "I think the DFB can be satisfied with the draw. We have been spared a really tough group but this draw is certainly no guarantee that we will reach the last 16."

Team manager Oliver Bierhoff said: "We are pleased we have avoided some opponents. We have got some fighting teams in our group and we will be physically challenged. There have been easier groups (for Germany) at World Cups."

Serbia coach Radomir Antic said he was also satisfied with the draw but Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac - also a Serb - was less happy.

"Germany are the favorites but I have great confidence in my team," Antic said.

"Four, five of my players play in the Bundesliga, so we know German football very well. It is a very interesting group because different footballing cultures will be coming up against each other."

Rajevac meanwhile said: "I am not happy about this group. Germany are the strongest team in Europe and are on paper the favorites but I think Ghana will qualify for the next round."

Australia's Dutch coach Pim Verbeek said: "It's not an easy group. The first game for us against Germany is decisive for us."

Verbeek, who was assistant to countryman Dick Advocaat at Borussia Moenchengladbach, added: "As a Dutchman I know how to beat Germany."

Germany have little experience against any of their group opponents.

Germany defeated Ghana 6-1 in a friendly in 1993 in their only previous meeting, and defeated Australia 4-3 at the 2005 Confederations Cup in their last meeting. At the 1974 World Cup, West Germany were 3-0 winners over the Australians.

Germany have only played Serbia once, winning 2-1 in May 2008.

At least five killed in Egypt ferry collision

Cairo - At least five people were killed and as many as 70 were missing after two ferries collided on Friday night in northern Egypt, security sources told the German Press Agency dpa. Emergency workers were at the scene of the accident, near the northern Egyptian city of Rashid, police said, and had rescued at least 10 people.

Lebanese prime minister plans to visit Syria after confidence vote

Beirut - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Friday he is planning visits to a series of Western and Arab countries, including Syria, assuming he wins a vote of confidence before the Lebanese parliament next week. "We look positively at the step of establishing embassies in the two countries (Lebanon and Syria), and we have to change things in a positive manner, especially that we tried to change using negative means and we did not reach any result," Hariri told reporters at the governmental palace.

It is widely assumed that Hariri will win the vote of confidence.

Relations between Lebanon and Syria soured after Hariri's father, former premier Rafik Hariri, was assassinated in 2005 in a bomb blast in Beirut.

Hariri's allies at the time held Syria and its Lebanese allies responsible for the assassination, a charge that Damascus has denied vehemently.

On August 15, 2008, Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a decree to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon for the first time since Lebanon's independence in 1943.

Western countries and the Lebanon's anti-Syrian politicians have long demanded that Syria recognize Lebanon's sovereignty by establishing official relations.

Syria was Lebanon's power broker until shortly after the death of the elder Hariri, after which Lebanon and the West forced it to end its 30-year military presence in its smaller neighbor.

The vote of confidence in Hariri's newly formed cabinet by the 128-member parliament is scheduled for December 8.

Hariri said the new government will have to adapt to a new policy of openness toward all political factions.

"There are the reconciliations that happened under the auspices of (Lebanon's) President Michel Suleiman, and all of that leads toward a consensus atmosphere in the country, especially regarding the controversial issues and government's priorities," added Hariri.

Hariri's western-backed majority won a June 7 parliamentary elections over the country's Hezbollah-led opposition.

Algeria acknowledges they have work cut out against England, US

Cape Town - Algeria acknowledged Friday they had their work cut out after being drawn in a tough Group C alongside England, the United States and Slovenia in the first round of the World Cup. "We'll see what we can do. We have to get work with it," he said, adding: "It's a group that's balanced, I think."

"We will try to score with a good display," he said.

England, particularly, had a strong chance of advancing to the round of 16, he said.

England had both good individual players, who benefited from playing in one of the best championships in the world, and a good Italian coach, he said.

Algeria, who beat African champions Egypt in the play-offs to secure their berth at the finals since 1986, will be facing Fabio Capello's side for the first time.

"It's a very interesting group, you don't get easy games at the World Cup," former England captain David Beckham said.

"Every opponent will be strong because when you play in the World Cup, every game is not easy," said Capello.

No easy games, say Serbian players

Belgrade - Serbian players were reserved Friday after the World Cup draw in Cape Town placed them in Group D with Germany, Ghana and Australia, saying they consider each game "crucial." "I think every match in the World Cup is crucial, the first of them certainly the most important," Wolverhampton's midfielder Nenad Milijas told radio B92. He said he knew little about Australia and Ghana.

Serbia, who were in a tough group with the Netherlands, Argentina and Ivory Coast, losing to all three, at the 2006 World Cup, are to face Ghana first, on June 13.

Striker Marko Pantelic, now with Ajax Amsterdam after leaving Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin, told Beta news agency he was unconcerned with Serbia's opponents.

"I'm not interested whom we drew. The group is as it is, we should be what we are," he said. "If the Germans are happy with the draw, we should be, too."

Striker Milan Jovanovic of Standard Liege said the draw "could have been better, but also worse."

"There are no easy groups and easy opponents in football today, so our success depends only on us," he said.

"Each match is equally important, but it would be very good to have a positive result in the opener and carry the momentum further."

After Ghana, Serbia are scheduled to play Germany on June 18 and Australia on June 23. The Balkan country qualified for the World Cup on top of its group, ahead of France, which made it to South Africa through play-offs.

Swine flu cases decline in US; false H1N1 emails noted

Washington - The number of swine flu cases in the United States has declined slightly for the fifth straight week, but the proportion of deaths from the virus remains "above the epidemic threshold," health officials said Friday. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also warned of false emails that offer flu vaccinations but in fact infect computers with malware if readers click on them.

Hospitalization rates continued to be highest in children up to four years old in the week that ended Saturday, the CDC said in its weekly briefing that covered the week ending November 28.

Another 17 flu-related pediatric deaths, in children up to 18 years old, were recorded by the CDC, bringing to 251 the total of confirmed US children's deaths since the epidemic began in April.

The CDC did not say how many adults had died, but noted that the national rate of new infections among all age groups was still above normal seasonal flu levels.

In its warning about the emails, the CDC said the messages urged readers to register on the CDC website, which they claimed was necessary to receive a vaccine.

No such registration is necessary to receive vaccines, which are being distributed mostly by local health departments around the country.

Some health departments, however, have priority groups for shots that include pregnant women, children and adults up to age 24, people who work with children and people with underlying disease such as asthma or diabetes.

Only 25 US states were reporting widespread influenza activity in the last week of November, down from 32 the previous week, the CDC said.

Group G favorite to claim dreaded 'Group of Death' tag

Cape Town - No World Cup would be complete without a "Group of Death" and Friday's draw for the 2010 edition in South Africa seems to have bestowed the honor this time around on five-time winners Brazil. The Selecao will need to overcome the challenge of Portugal and Ivory Coast as well as unknown quantities North Korea in Group G if they are to remain in the hunt for a record sixth crown in the final on July 11 at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

"Our group is the most difficult of the World Cup," said Brazil coach Dunga. "The footballing world has drawn so close together that there aren't any easy games any more."

However, hosts South Africa could also lay claim to the dubious honor after being pitted against Mexico, Uruguay and 2006 finalists France in Group A, although coach Carlos Alberto Parreira refused to claim the moniker for his side.

"This is the first time since many, many World Cup competitions that there is no Group of Death and no easy groups. All the groups are finely balanced," the Brazilian, who coached the Selecao to success in 1994, said.

"I think that we probably have the toughest group of the balanced groups. We are the only group which has two former world champions."

Germany shouldn't be too pleased either after being drawn alongside Australia, Serbia and Ghana in Group D although, like Parreira, coach Joachim Loew remained upbeat.

"It's a relatively evenly-matched group," he said. "What's important is that we win our opening match against Australia to build up our self-confidence."

SWAPO, Pohamba win Namibia elections by landslides - Summary

Windhoek - Namibia's ruling SWAPO party clinched its fifth straight landslide election victory in last week's presidential and parliamentary elections, in which President Hifikepunye Pohamba also trounced his rivals, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) announced Friday evening. SWAPO won 74 per cent of the vote against 11.4 per cent for the newly formed Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), the ECN said.

The RDP, which was formed by former cabinet minister Hidipo Hamutenya and other former SWAPO stalwarts two years ago, had been expected to make far greater inroads, but still becomes the official opposition of the desert country.

The RDP has said it suspects the ECN of tampering with the results, saying the slow counting of votes from the November 27-28 vote made it suspicious.

The RDP and seven other opposition parties said they would institute legal action against the ECN for alleged irregularities.

"We are not going to attend the final announcement of the results, because we are not prepared to legitimize a rigged election," the party's information secretary Libolly Haufiku told the German Press Agency dpa.

In the presidential poll, Pohamba won a little over 76 per cent of the vote, giving him a second five-year term. Hamutenya trailed in second place with around 10 per cent.

Following the result, Pohamba appealed to his rivals "to work together for our people - for social and economic development."

The ECN insists the counting process was done in accordance with the law and that the verification process was slow because it wanted to ensure that it published the correct results.

The former liberation movement SWAPO has ruled Namibia, an impoverished country of around 2 million people, since independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.

Despite rising corruption and the slow pace of development, the party is popular among many voters for maintaining peace and stability among the 13 ethnic groupings in the country.

Sahara Festival draws Star Wars fans to Tunisian desert

The central Tunisia oasis town of Douz will host the 42nd International Festival of the Sahara on December 27th. The four-day event will feature Berber dancing, Bedouin horse races and other traditional offerings. Each year, the festival draws thousands of international visitors eager to see nearby Matmata and other locations from the Star Wars movies. An international conference will also be offered by the Ben Ali Chair for the Dialogue of Civilizations and Religions.

Algeria, Tunisia hold bilateral talks in Tunis

Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci visited Tunisia on Wednesday and Thursday (December 3rd), to hold bilateral talks with his Tunisian counterpart, Abdelwahab Abdallah. An agreement on the demarcation of sea borders between the two countries was signed during the visit.