Iraq: Baath, al-Qaeda aim to disrupt elections

Iraqi National Security Adviser Safa Hussein says al-Qaeda and Baathi elements are cooperating in an effort to wreak havoc on the country's security in advance of March 7 parliamentary elections.

In an interview with AFP on Tuesday, Hussein said the al-Qaeda network has fallen under the influence of diehard elements of the ousted Baath party.

"Recently, during the last six months, there has been a change in al-Qaeda's strategy," Hussein said, speaking in his office in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone government and diplomatic compound.

"We think that this change comes through the influence and effect of them being closer to the Baathists."

Hussein said that after the US-led invasion of the country, Baathists had joined a range of militant groups, including al-Qaeda, as they offered a more potent force against the occupation troops than the Baath's own unpopular party apparatus.

Although initially al-Qaeda restricted former Baathists to lower ranks, it allowed them to gain positions of power after its most notorious leader, Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a 2006 air strike, Hussein said.

"So there were the right circumstances and environment for the Baath party to promote their strategy within al-Qaeda," he said. "Before, the influence was on lower levels."

Iraqi national security adviser meanwhile expected further waves of bombings like those of August, October and December which killed nearly 400 people in total, saying, "Their (al-Qaeda) intention continues in this direction."

"I think during the election period, it will continue this way," he added, referring to the run-up to the March 7 general election.

Hussein went on to note that the number of al-Qaeda militants had dropped from a peak of around 10,000 to less than 2,000 now.

He added that rich people and influential people in Saudi Arabia also provided much of al-Qaeda's funding in Iraq.

"It is not the Saudi government, but it is some families, including families in the government," he explained.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114938§ionid=351020201.

Jumblatt urges Israeli Druze not to join army

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has called on the Druze community in Israel not to serve in the army, saying it contradicts with the sect's membership in the Arab nation.

All Druze are Arabs who follow the Druze religion and thus ties between Druze in different countries and between them and other Arabs are natural, visiting Jumblatt told the Radio A-Shams in Cyprus.

The call by the Druze leader comes after his recent meeting with a delegation of Israeli Druze dignitaries led by MP Said Naffaa and clergymen from Mount Carmel and Galilee.

He said his ties with Israeli Druze began in Amman in 2001 and have been developing ever since, expressing optimism that awareness of such ties among young Druze is on the rise in Israel, and that many of them are already refusing to join the military.

"The fact that the number of Druze avoiding military service has risen from 5 percent to almost 60 percent is proof enough of the importance of this connection," he said.

Jumblatt dismissed criticism that he was intervening in another community's internal affairs, describing the voices speaking against his initiative as only "primitive."

"We have proven that maintaining this relationship strengthens the Arab-Palestinian identity of community members in Israel, and especially the young," he stressed. "The rising numbers of conscientious objectors show the Druze will no longer be border guards for the State of Israel."

Founded in the 11th century, the Druze religion is an offshoot of Islam with an estimated one million followers worldwide, with most living in Lebanon, Syria and Israel.

There are nearly 100,000 members of the Druze community in Israel, but very few Arabs serve in the Israeli army.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114939§ionid=351020203.

Russia assures EU of oil export during winter

Russia guarantees oil transfer to Europe through Ukraine, even if no deal is reached between Russia and Ukraine by January 1 over proposed changes in oil transit accords.

"We expect that there will be no problems with the (crude oil) transit," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters in Vladivostok on Tuesday.

The Slovak government said Monday Russia has warned that a price dispute with Ukraine could oblige it to stop crude shipments to three EU countries, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

"The reason is allegedly unresolved problems between the Russian Federation and Ukraine concerning oil transit," Slovakia's government said, quoting a letter from the European Commission.

Only hours after the announcement by the Slovak government, Russia and Ukraine denied a threat to EU customers by saying they had reached a preliminary agreement on oil transit conditions.

"We expect the agreement to be coordinated and signed shortly, within one or two days," Irina Yesipova, the Russian Energy Ministry Spokesperson, said Monday.

Earlier this week, head of Russian pipeline company Transneft Nikolai Tokarev said Ukraine had asked for higher payments for the transit of Russian oil.

Russia provides about a quarter of the natural gas consumed in the European Union.

Disputes between Russia and Ukraine on pricing and transit of Russian natural gas shipped to European clients have caused serious supply disruptions in recent years.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114937§ionid=351020602.

Israeli tanks target houses in northern Gaza

Israeli army tanks have opened fire on houses and farmlands in the northern sector of the Gaza Strip, according to a report.

A number of Israeli tanks attacked lands located near Beit Hannon and commenced firing on Tuesday midday at Palestinian farmers near the northern Gaza-Israeli border.

Bulldozers also destroyed the crops of the locals, according to the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC).

The area where the gunfire was reported lies approximately 800 meters from the Green Line in the farming region of Abu Sufiyah, according to local Palestinian sources.

The farmers said that a number of homes and lands sustained damage but reported no injuries.

The Israeli army launched a massive military offensive, known as 'Operation Cast Lead' against the Gaza Strip from December 2008 to January 2009. Over 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week offensive, which inflicted $1.6 billion in damage on the Gaza economy.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114934§ionid=351020202.

Russia warns US about missile shield

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday that Moscow will pursue plans for new weapons to counter the US missile defense system, and added that the US plans are holding up a new nuclear disarmament treaty.

In response, the US State Department, in a statement issued the same day, rejected Moscow's concerns, saying the two issues were completely separate and discussions would continue separately.

Russia and the US have still not drafted a successor to the Cold War-era Start I treaty, which expired on December 5.

Russia believes any US missile shield is a threat — and one it has now vowed to counter.

Analysts say Moscow wants a clause in the new treaty that would limit the scale of any US defense shield, BBC reported late on Tuesday.

The US has shelved plans for missile defense stations in Central Europe but still intends to use a sea-based system.

The State Department statement added that Washington and Moscow's joint position recognizing the inter-relationship between defensive and offensive weapons systems had not changed.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114933§ionid=351020602.

Two killed in fire at Indian nuclear center

Two junior scientists have been burnt to death in a fire at an Indian nuclear research facility located on the outskirts of Mumbai.

A spokesman for the Bhabha Atomic Research Center said on Tuesday that the fire was contained after 45 minutes and that the accident had not led to any leakage of radiation.

The exact cause of the fire, which took place about a kilometer away from a nuclear reactor, has not yet been determined.

Police are currently investigating the incident, which occurred at India's main nuclear research facility.

The facility has a number of nuclear reactors and the research involves both nuclear weapons and civilian nuclear energy applications.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114931§ionid=351020402.

Iran, Bahrain to enhance security cooperation

Iranian lawmakers have passed a bill that allows the government to enhance security cooperation with Bahrain.

The new legislation passed on Tuesday authorizes the Iranian government to cooperate with Bahrain in the campaigns against illicit drugs, human trafficking, and money laundering.

According to the legislation, Iran will not allow its territory to be used as a base for launching “aggressive activities” against Bahrain, and Bahrain will do the same for Iran.

The two neighboring countries will also conduct joint operations to fight organized crime and piracy.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114924§ionid=351020101.

MKO admits involvement in Iran's protests

The Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) has acknowledged that it played a role in Sunday's violent anti-government protests in Iran.

MKO followers cooperated with the demonstrators and coordinated the protests, the organization's leader Maryam Rajavi told AFP in Paris on Tuesday.

Rajavi also urged unity among those bent on overthrowing the Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

"It's a call for solidarity among all those who reject the rule of the supreme leader, the Velayat e-Faqih," she told AFP in Paris.

"What we call the 'Green movement' against the electoral fraud quickly disappeared to be replaced by a deeper movement whose goal is the total overthrow of the regime," she claimed.

The MKO leader also predicted that the government of Iran would fall within 12 months if foreign powers remain neutral.

Her comments came after protests in Iran during Sunday's Shia Muslim ceremonies of Ashura; the anniversary of the martyrdom of the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Imam Hussein (PBUH).

According to police reports, at least seven people were killed in clashes that broke out between security forces and protesters during the disturbances.

The MKO, listed as a terrorist group in Iran, Iraq, Canada, and the US, has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks against Iranian government officials and civilians over the past 30 years.

The attacks include the assassination of the late president Mohammad-Ali Rajaei, prime minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar and judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.

The MKO is also known to have cooperated with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hossein in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

The organization is also notorious for using cult-like tactics against its own members, tactics which include torture and murder of defectors.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114950§ionid=351020101.

US to sell 24 F-16 fighter jets to Egypt

(PressTV) US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin has agreed to sell 24 F-16 fighter jets to Egypt in a deal worth $3.2 billion, a company spokesman says.

"We understand that the governments of the United States and Egypt have reached an agreement over a contract for military sale to provide 24 F-16s to Egypt," Lockheed Spokesman Joe Stout told AFP on Tuesday.

He said the company hoped to get the contract signed early next year, adding that the $3.2 billion "was the amount in agreement between the two countries."

According to the company, the F-16 is flown by 25 nations. More than 4,400 aircraft have been delivered worldwide from assembly lines in five countries.

The latest Egyptian deal, to "supplement" the current fleet, had been in discussion for some time, but was "officially notified to the US Congress in October," Stout said.

According to defense industry reports, the Egyptian Air Force is the fourth largest F-16 operator in the world.

In 1982, after years of using military equipment supplied by the former Soviet Union, Egypt began flying the F-16.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114945&sectionid=351020502.

In Iran, Somali FM pleads with Muslim states to help

(PressTV) Somalia's foreign minister has called on Islamic states to assist his country as it tries to move toward lasting peace and stability.

Ali Ahmed Jama made the comment during a meeting with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in Tehran on Tuesday afternoon.

The Somali foreign minister said that Mogadishu was currently passing through a transition stage that involved rebuilding government institutions and securing calm.

In an earlier meeting with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, Ahmed Jama also explained that at the moment setting up government and public service institutions was Mogadishu's leading reconstruction priority.

"Somalia is experiencing a harsh period after two decades of crisis and disorder. Extremism, internal strife, organized crime and terrorism are not only threatening Somalia, but the whole region," he said, according to a translation of his comments.

In both meetings, the Iranian side also noted that a stable and secure Somalia was important for Tehran.

Mottaki and Larijani both said that the Islamic Republic was ready to offer any form of assistance and support to Somalia through the African Union.

The Iranian parliament speaker said that Tehran was happy to see a central government in place in Somalia, adding that he hoped lasting peace would return to the African state.

Mottaki pointed out that Iran was serious in its pledge to assist Mogadishu, while sending out an appeal to all "Somali groups, regional states, and members of the international community" to do the same.

"We believe that extremism and terrorism will not only have an adverse effect on the people of Somalia, but will also impact the region and the international community.”

“It will especially have negative outcomes for trade and shipping. So, we must all try to help restore peace and security to Somalia through diplomacy and cooperation," said the top Iranian diplomat.

Mottaki also said that Iran's private sector was ready to participate in industrial and economic reconstruction projects in Somalia, particularly those that involve building hospitals and schools.

Report says Israel will leave Ghajar in Jan.

Israeli forces will evacuate the northern part of the border village of Ghajar at the end of January 2010 according to a deal between UNIFIL and Tel Aviv.

Lebanon's leading Arabic-language daily newspaper, An-Nahar, quoting well-informed US sources, reported on Tuesday that Israeli troops will pull out from the Lebanese side of the village in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 based on a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) plan.

According to the plan, the United Nations will deploy 12 peacekeepers in addition to a Lebanese officer and three other Lebanese soldiers from the northern part of the village of Ghajar if the Israeli pullout does not affect the daily lives of the village's residents.

The condition stipulates that the residents should be able to move between the northern and southern sides of the village without any difficulty.

Israel would also provide Ghajar residents with water and electricity, which is a point that Lebanon accepted because its priority is an Israeli pullout from the village.

Israel is obliged to withdraw from the northern part of Ghajar by UN Resolution 1701 that ended the 33-day war between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah in 2006. However, Israel has maintained a military presence in Ghajar since the end of the 33-day war. Israeli soldiers have also set up a security fence to control entry to the village.

Ghajar lies at the foot of Mount Hermon and straddles the Lebanese-Syrian border. It is an extension of Syria's Golan Heights, which Israel occupied during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and then annexed in 1981. One-third of the village is on Lebanese soil, while the other two-thirds is part of Syrian territory.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114926§ionid=351020203.

Ahmadinejad links unrest to US, 'Zionists' - Summary

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday blamed the latest unrest in his country on the United States and Israel, the ISNA news agency reported. "This is a play staged by the US and Zionists (Israel) which just makes us puke," said Ahmadinejad in his first reaction to Sunday's protests against him and his government.

"Both those who staged and those who acted in this play are making a mistake, as the Iranian nation has seen many such plays and will not be affected," the president added.

He also accused the United States and Britain of supporting the protesters and said the two countries would regret it.

At least four more people have been arrested in Iran after weekend opposition demonstration turned into unrest, opposition website Jaras reported Tuesday.

Detainees include Noushin Ebadi, the sister of 2003 Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, and journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, the website said.

Noushin Ebadi, a lecturer at the Tehran medical school, was arrested Monday night, apparently because of her sister's human rights activities. Noushin Ebadi is a scientist, not a political activist, the report said.

Jaras denied rumors that former president Mohammad Khatami also had been arrested, saying that he was safe at home.

Opposition websites reported Monday that several aides of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi had also been arrested.

The Jaras report could not be independently verified because foreign media are banned from directly covering opposition activities and street demonstrations.

State media confirmed that at least eight people were killed in Sunday's political unrest, including Moussavi's 35-year-old nephew. However, Tehran prosecutor general Abbas-Jafar Dowlat-Abadi told reporters Tuesday that there had only been seven deaths, four of them due to accidents.

Police insisted they did not use firearms against protesters and would conduct autopsies to clarify the causes of death. The prosecutor said the body of Moussavi's nephew had not been stolen, as claimed by opposition websites, but is in the coroner's office for autopsy.

After Sunday's clashes between authorities and demonstrators protesting Ahmadinejad, 300 people were arrested in Tehran. According to unconfirmed reports, as many as 500 were arrested in the central cities of Isfahan and Najafabad. Dowlat-Abadi refused to provide specific numbers.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said the British ambassador would be summoned to the Foreign Ministry because of "undiplomatic remarks" by Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Miliband on Monday criticized the Iranian governments' actions against demonstrators.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also warned Britain that, if the country would continue its "lies" against Iran, then Tehran would react harshly.

Similar remarks against Iran were made Monday by other European Union states and also by the United States, where President Barack Obama condemned Iran's actions and warned that the Islamic state would not succeed in denying people their universal rights.

Mottaki said the West should not support "a minority which vandalizes and violates the law and does not respect the democratic process of elections."

Mehmanparast said there "might be" some foreign nationals among those arrested, apparently referring to a Syrian reporter working in Iran for Dubai Media Inc.

"Maybe some of those arrested had tried to get media coverage (of the unrest), but such coverage should have been in coordination with the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry," Mehmanparast said, without mentioning the Syrian reporter by name.

Reza al-Bacha, 27, went missing Sunday during the clashes.

Because of the ban on foreign media directly covering protests, journalists found to be reporting on the unrest faced revocation of their press cards.

Dowlat-Abadi confirmed al-Bacha's arrest, adding that the reporter would be released if the foreign press department confirmed al-Bacha had permission to report on the unrest.

State television meanwhile reported that supporters of President Ahmadinejad plan to hold a rally on Wednesday afternoon.

There were also unconfirmed reports that they planned a sit-in- protest in front of Moussavi's house until his arrest.

Iran's parliament on Tuesday called for the death sentence "on those who dared to insult the sanctities of the Ashura day," referring to the annual ceremony marking the martyrdom of Shiite Imam Hussein.

The opposition party Islamic Iran participation Front (IIPF), whose leaders and members are currently jailed, said in a statement Tuesday they respected the laws and were against any kind of violence.

The IIPF, which supports both Moussavi and Khatami, termed the militant measures by the government and the "political coup d'etat" following June's presidential election as a sign of the government's weakness.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301394,ahmadinejad-links-unrest-to-us-zionists--summary.html.

Hamas: Negotiations for prisoner deal continue

Beirut/Gaza City/Damascus - Senior Hamas officials on Tuesday said they would continue to discuss the details of a proposal for a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. "The negotiations are still ongoing and continuing," Osama Hamdan, the Hamas spokesman in Beirut, told the German Press Agency dpa.

He added that the movement remained in contact with the German negotiator shuttling between the Israeli government and Hamas officials.

A Hamas official in Damascus, speaking on condition of anonymity, likewise said the group's exiled political leaders in Damascus were in "continuous meetings" over a possible deal, which could see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured in 2006.

"In every prisoner (exchange) deal there are always negotiations until the last minute and both sides have to give their views," Hamdan said, declining to comment on his movement's stand on the details of the proposal.

Hamdan and Mohammed al-Nasr, of Hamas' political bureau, both denied reports by al-Arabiya satellite channel that the Islamist movement's leadership in Syria had rejected key details of the swap proposal.

Al-Nasr, in a statement sent to reporters, said the movement's leadership was still considering the proposal.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, was in Syria for meetings with the exiled leadership on the details of the deal, Hamas officials said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301399,hamas-negotiations-for-prisoner-deal-continue.html.

Saudis say they will pressure Washington on Israeli settlements

Riyadh - Saudi Arabia pledged to use its diplomatic leverage to convince world leaders to aid Palestinian efforts to end Israeli settlement construction, a Palestinian official said Tuesday. Saudi King Abdullah told visiting President Mahmoud Abbas that he would exert pressure on "influential capitals, especially Washington," an official at the Palestinian Embassy in Riyadh, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Abbas, who is on a two-day visit to the kingdom, has refused to resume suspended peace talks with Israel without a complete Israeli halt to construction in its settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.

The Palestinian leader was in Riyadh to discuss developments in international attempts to revive stalled talks between Israelis and Palestinians and between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November, after months of refusals, announced a 10-month partial moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank, but has since announced further building plans for East Jerusalem.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301409,saudis-say-they-will-pressure-washington-on-israeli-settlements.html.

One dead, one wounded, in Istanbul roof collapse

Istanbul - One man was killed and another wounded when part of the building they were working on in the Sancaktepe quarter of Istanbul collapsed, reported Turkish broadcasters Tuesday. The workers had just finished work on a roof and had moved to a balcony on the first storey when the balcony and part of the roof caved in, reported the broadcaster CNN Turk and internet portal Son Dakika.

Emergency crews pulled one man out of the rubble and took him to a hospital.

Ismail Erdem, mayor of Sancaktepe, said no approval had been granted for the work.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301414,one-dead-one-wounded-in-istanbul-roof-collapse.html.

Russian soldier in North Ossetia found guilty of spying for Georgia

Moscow/Tbilisi - A Russian soldier was found guilty Tuesday in the breakaway republic of North Ossetia of spying for Georgia, the country from which North Ossetia seceded in 2008, according to court officials. The 55-year-old man was sentenced to eight years in prison after the court ruled that evidence showed he had been conveying information about Russian military facilities in the region to Tbilisi since 2007, said a court spokesman.

The same North Ossetian court in September sentenced a different man to seven years for spying for Georgia.

North Ossetia and Abkhazia declared their independence from Georgia after Georgia and Russia fought a month-long war in 2008 in which Russia backed the two breakaway republics. Georgia continues to claim the two regions.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301415,russian-soldier-in-north-ossetia-found-guilty-of-spying-for-georgia.html.

Blue moon to greet 2010

By Dale Neal • December 29, 2009

ROSMAN — The glittery ball in New York's Times Square drops every New Year's Eve. But this year it will be joined a second glowing orb in the sky: The last night of 2009 will boast December's second full moon, otherwise known as a blue moon.

A blue moon, according to folklore, is the appearance of a second full moon in a given month, said Bob Hayward, an astronomer and educator at Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, the observatory in Rosman.

It's more a trick of the human calendar than any mischief on the part of the moon, which waxes and wanes on a steady schedule in its 29 1/2-day orbit around the Earth.

Given the months with an uneven number of days in the Gregorian calendar, every couple of years will see an extra full moon in the calendar year, Hayward said. “We can safely say there are about eight blue moons in any 18-year period,” he said.

That extra moon gave rise to the folklore saying “once in a blue moon,” meaning a rare occurrence.

“Visibly, you won't see anything different — or blue — about this moon. It's just a bit of tradition,” Hayward said.

The moon was last full at 2:30 a.m. Dec. 2. On Thursday, the moon will be exactly full at 2:13 p.m.

The last blue moon came on May 31, 2007. The is due in August 2012.

Wiccans will take notice of this month's extra full moon, said Byron Ballard, a local Wiccan leader.

“Modern Pagan people and women honor the full moon as a time of recharging our spiritual batteries, looking at the past month and looking ahead,” she said.

Source: Citizen Times.
Link: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20091229/NEWS01/312290015/1009/NEWS01.

Iran opposition leaders face execution: Khamenei aide

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday opposition leaders were "enemies of God" who should be executed under the country's sharia law.

The statement by cleric Abbas Vaez-Tabasi coincided with rallies by tens of thousands of government supporters calling for opposition leaders to be punished for fomenting unrest after June's disputed presidential election, state media said.

"Those who are behind the current sedition in the country ... are mohareb (enemies of God) and the law is very clear about punishment of a mohareb," the representative of Khamenei, who possesses ultimate authority in Iran, said on state television.

Under Iran's Islamic sharia law the sentence for "mohareb" is execution.

Vaez-Tabasi's remarks came two days after eight people were killed in anti-government protests sparked by the June poll which was won by hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Political turmoil has entered a new phase in Iran marked by bloody face-offs and arrests, with security forces calling on authorities to deal "firmly" with opposition leaders.

The establishment intensified a crackdown on the reform movement on Sunday by rounding up leading moderates to try to end street protests after the deadly weekend clashes erupted during the Shi'ite Muslim religious ritual of Ashura.

At least 20 opposition figures have been arrested since Sunday, including three senior advisers to opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, his brother-in-law and a sister of Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, opposition websites said.

Ebadi said on French radio France Info that Iranian authorities were trying to silence her by arresting her sister.

"This arrest is illegal because my sister is a dentist, she is not in any way active in human rights or politics ... and she didn't participate in any protests," Ebadi said.

She said intelligence officials entered her sister's house on Monday night to arrest her without a warrant, rifled through her belongings and confiscated computers.

"BLOODY REPRESSION"

After U.S. President Barack Obama's condemnation on Monday of Iran's "iron fist of brutality" against protesters, French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday condemned "the bloody repression of the protests in Iran."

"(France) calls for an end to the violence, the release of all jailed opposition activists and respect for human rights," Sarkozy said in a statement.

The elite Revolutionary Guards accused the foreign media of joining hands with the opposition to harm the Islamic state. The British ambassador to Tehran was summoned by the Iranian government to be accused of "interference" in state matters.

"If Britain does not stop talking nonsense it will get a slap in the mouth," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said. The British government said their envoy would respond "robustly" to any criticism.

On Tuesday, state TV showed footage of huge pro-government rallies in various cities, with demonstrators carrying pictures of the late founder of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The crowed chanted: "The blood in our veins is a gift to our leader Khamenei" and "Death to hypocrites."

"Trying to overthrow the system will reach nowhere ... designers of the unrest will soon pay the cost of their insolence," the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement. "The opposition, which has joined hands with the foreign media, is backed by foreign enemies."

WAR OF WORDS

The wife of another opposition leader, Mehdi Karoubi, who was fourth in the June vote, said the establishment "was responsible for the safety of her family," the opposition Jaras website said. "My family and I do not enjoy any security against the rogue forces' nightly attacks," said Fatemeh Karoubi.

Jaras reported that hardliners attacked offices of moderate cleric Grand Ayatollah Yusef Sanei in various cities.

In a heated war of words, the reformist Islamic Iran's Participation Front said in a statement: "The only way out of the current crisis is for the authorities to respect the law and apologize to the nation."

Jaras said fresh clashes took place at a Tehran university and also in the central city of Shiraz between students and security forces. The reports could not be independently verified because of restrictions on foreign media covering protests.

Iranian authorities say eight people were killed in clashes on Sunday when supporters of Mousavi used the Ashura religious festival to stage fresh anti-government rallies.

Authorities blame what they call foreign-backed "terrorist groups" for the killings, including the death of Mousavi's nephew Ali Habibi Mousavi Khamene.

When the June 12 presidential election returned Ahmadinejad to power by a wide margin, thousands of Iranians took to the streets in the biggest anti-government demonstrations in the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic. Authorities reject opposition accusations of vote fraud.

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE5BQ06J20091229?feedType=nl&feedName=ustopnewsevening.

Sudan MPs pass key referendum law

Sudan's parliament has passed a key law paving the way for a referendum on independence for the oil-rich south.

The move ends months of wrangling between the north and south about how the referendum should be conducted.

Last week, southern politicians walked out of parliament in a row over where southerners would be able to vote.

The referendum, scheduled for January 2011, is a crucial part of the peace deal signed nearly five years ago which ended two decades of civil war.

The 2005 peace agreement saw President Omar al-Bashir's northern National Congress Party (NCP) going into government with former Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) rebels from the south.

It is widely predicted that the south will vote for independence but there are concerns that tensions will increase in the run-up to the referendum and a general election in April.

'Second-class citizens'

Mr Bashir and SPLM leader Salva Kiir reached a deal on the referendum earlier this month in crisis talks that followed angry demonstrations by southerners about electoral reforms.

But when northern politicians tried to amend a section of the referendum bill about where people could vote last week, southern MPs walked out of parliament.

This prompted the United States to put pressure on the NCP.

The law passed on Tuesday now stipulates that southerners living in the north will be allowed to vote there if they were born after 1956 but those born before that date will have to register and vote in the south.

The SPLM had feared the north would manipulate the vote if southerners who had not lived in southern Sudan since independence in 1956 had been allowed to vote anywhere.

"Anybody can claim: yes I have my grandparents from the south... unless you go and verify yourself in southern Sudan, this can be abused," SPLM MP Aligu Manawa told the BBC's Focus on Africa program.

BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper says Sudan's politicians try - in public at least - to talk of enduring unity and good relations between the north and south.

But they sometimes slip up and Mr Kiir recently warned southerners that if they voted against independence they would become second-class citizens in their own country, she says.

There are also problems regarding the border between the north and south, as the status of some areas has not yet been clearly defined.

And there are serious tensions in southern Sudan, with different ethnic groups fighting over land.

More than 2,000 people have been killed and 250,000 people displaced this year alone.

The 22-year war between the mainly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south claimed the lives of some 1.5 million people.

Source: British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8433738.stm.

Palestinian population reaches 10.9m

(MENAFN - Arab News) The global Palestinian population reached 10.9 million in 2009 with more than half living outside the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday.

The survey by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics found some 1.5 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip and about 2.5 million are in the occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem.

Another 1.25 million reside inside Israel and are the descendants of those Palestinians who did not flee or were not driven out during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed the creation of the Jewish state.

Some 3.24 million Palestinians live in Jordan, another 1.78 million are in other Arab countries and around 618,000 Palestinians in other countries.

From 1997 to 2007, the total fertility rate in the Palestinian territories declined from 6.0 to 4.6, with an average of 4.1 births in the West Bank and 5.3 in the Gaza Strip, the report said.

Israel's total population is nearing 7.5 million of which 5.5 million are Jewish, according to government figures released in September.

Meanwhile, a convoy trying to take aid to Gaza headed back to Syria from Jordan on Tuesday after Egypt refused it permission to travel via the Red Sea insisting it pass through the Mediterranean, organizers said.

"We are on our way to Syria's (Mediterranean) port of Latakia. We are scheduled to leave Latakia for El-Arish in Egypt on Wednesday," said Zaher Birawi, spokesman for the organizers.

"We hope that the Egyptian authorities guarantee our safety and protect us from the Israelis, who might try to stop us in the sea. We don't trust Israel."

Source: Middle East North Africa Financial News (MENAFN).
Link: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093292544&src=NLEN.

Saudi Arabia's Islamic TV channels fulfill world demand

(MENAFN - Arab News) Saudi Arabia has launched two satellite TV channels to spread the messages of the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah (life and teachings) of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) throughout the world.

Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja said Tuesday that the two channels could be viewed by people in Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, North Americas and Hawaii.

The channels were officially launched Dec. 18 covering the Arab region while their programs were telecast on most international satellites on Dec. 24. The coverage of the remaining areas will be completed on Jan. 21.

Khoja said the two channels were established by the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, adding that they were a gift from the king to the Islamic world. "King Abdullah wanted the two channels to reach all Muslims in the world," he added.

Prince Turki bin Sultan, assistant minister of culture and information, said the launch of the two channels reflected the Kingdom's efforts in the service of Islam and Muslims.

Referring to the ministry's plan to launch an economic channel, Prince Turki said the new channel would highlight the Kingdom's position as the world's 19th largest economy.

Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the Middle East with the biggest stock market.

There will be a fourth channel for culture and dialogue, he said. "King Abdullah considers dialogue a human, cultural and religious necessity in this world where all barriers have been broken down and the interests of people and countries are intertwined," he added.

The ministry will also launch five FM radio stations shortly. It has already short-listed 15 companies to operate the stations.

By P.K. Abdul Ghafour

Source: Middle East North Africa Financial News (MENAFN).
Link: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093292534&src=NLEN.

China to lift Internet, phone bans in Xinjiang: state media

BEIJING — China plans to restore online access and lift a ban on text messages and international calls in Xinjiang, state media said Tuesday, months after deadly ethnic unrest prompted a communications shutdown.

The official Xinhua news agency quoted the regional government as saying it had restored access to part of the wire's website as well as parts of the website of the state-run People's Daily newspaper.

"And according to relevant circumstances, (the government) will gradually restore access to other websites and Internet services, and open up mobile text messages and international long-distance phone services," the report said.

Riots erupted in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi on July 5, pitting mainly Muslim Uighurs against China's majority Han. A total of 197 people were killed, according to official data, in the worst ethnic violence in China in decades.

Authorities quickly reacted by restricting the flow of information going in and out of the region.

The government says terrorists, separatists and religious extremists used the Internet, telephones and mobile text messages to spread rumors and hatred as the July violence erupted.

But residents in Xinjiang complained that they remained isolated from the outside world due to the long-lasting Internet and phone cuts, and some businesses were even forced to relocate to other parts of China.

"The overall situation in the region is stable, and the regional party and government decided to gradually restore communication services from December 28 after careful consideration and the central government's approval," the report said.