New US ambassador 'to help change Syrian attitude in the region'

Damascus - The new US ambassador to Syria "will help change Syria's attitude in the region in order to ensure stability and security," an official in the US embassy in Damascus said Saturday. "Washington hopes that Syria will play an essential role in eliminating US concerns regarding its attitude in the region," the US official told the German Press Agency dpa.

The official refused to reveal the name of the new ambassador. International media reports speculated that President Barack Obama has put forward Robert Ford to be the new US ambassador in Damascus.

Ford is the deputy US ambassador to Iraq. He also served as the US ambassador to Algeria from 2006 to 2008.

US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell passed along a secret request naming the new ambassador during his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus last week, the source added.

The US withdrew its ambassador to Syria in 2005, following the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Washington blamed Syria for the killing. Damascus denied any role.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306720,new-us-ambassador-to-help-change-syrian-attitude-in-the-region.html.

Nigeria beat Algeria 1-0 in third place playoff of African Nations Cup

January 31, 2010

Nigeria beat Algeria 1-0 to clinch the third place at the African Nations Cup thanks to the lone goal from striker Obinna Nsofor at the second half goal in Benguela of Angola on Saturday.

It is the fourth time in the last five Cup editions that Nigeria have been the bronze medalists.

Nsofor broke through the Algeria defense in the 55th minute to score the only goal with a deft left-foot finish.

Both sides made several changes after their semi-final defeats on Thursday.

Algeria were missing three players through suspension while Nigeria gave a rare start to seasoned striker Nwankwo Kanu, who managed the best shot of the first half with a left-foot effort in the 32nd minute.

Both teams head to the World Cup in South Africa later this year but Nigeria coach Shaibu Amodu's position is under threat after an unimpressive showing in Angola by the Super Eagles.

Algeria started the tournament with a shock defeat by Malawi but recovered to post an unexpected 3-2 win over the heavily fancied Cote d'Ivoire in the quarter-finals last weekend.

They reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1990.

Holders Egypt meet Ghana in Sunday's final in Luanda.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90779/90871/6883492.html.

Egypt's veil wearers see it as barrier to harassment

CAIRO (AFP) - Female students at Cairo University are defying religious and state efforts to ban the controversial niqab from schools and colleges, saying that wearing the controversial face veil is a religious obligation that also protects against sexual harassment.

"I wear the niqab essentially to avoid harassment on the street and on public transport," said law student Marwa Mohammed, 19, her eyes visible only through the slits in the black veil that covers her entire face.

But if conditions changed and she was not subjected to harassment would she take it off?

She would not, because "the veil gives me respect, and people look at me differently." She implied that sexual harassment would exist as long as young men looking for work and housing remained frustrated in their efforts.

"What will change? The cost of living? Unemployment? Or the excessively high cost of housing?" Marwa asked, her kohl-stained eyes giving away a hidden smile.

"As long as young people don't have the means to get married, harassment will continue," she added.

The hijab, the Islamic head scarf that covers the hair and neck, is worn by most Muslim women in conservative Egypt, and religious authorities say that wearing it is an obligation of the faith.

But the niqab, which has been gaining in popularity, has been driving a wedge between women such as Marwa and Egypt's highest religious authorities.

In October, Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, Grand Imam of the prestigious Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, ignited a heated debate when he said the niqab was merely a tradition not linked to religion, and that women would be banned from wearing it in schools and universities.

But on Wednesday, an Egyptian court caved in to opposition to the religious ruling and placed a stay on the ban.

Now, religious authorities who oppose the niqab and women who favor it are polarized over the issue.

The niqab-wearing students at Cairo University say they are adhering to a precept and repeat what seems to have become their mantra: "Of course the niqab is an obligation."

It is an Islamic duty, "particularly in the times we live in, where sexual harassment is so common," explained 18-year-old Aya, who studies Arabic literature and has been wearing the niqab for three months.

Sexual harassment is common in Egypt. According to a 2008 study by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, 83 percent of the country's women had experienced sexual harassment.

There is growing concern by the government and Al-Azhar authorities over the niqab, which is associated in Egypt with the ultra-conservative Salafi school of thought that is practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia and parts of Yemen.

Authorities say the niqab is also linked to security, allowing anyone to hide behind the veil. In schools, they say, anyone can pose as a student and sit for an exam in the place of another.

Some university officials have even cited instances in which male students have tried to enter female dormitories by wearing the niqab as a disguise.

One female student at Cairo University charged that the authorities are trying to ban the niqab to paint Egypt's conservative society in a different light -- one more acceptable to the West.

"The government wants to ban the niqab to copy Americans and foreigners, to say that Egypt is a modern, developed country," said student Fatma Nasser.

One killed, 11 injured in 5.0-magnitude quake in SW China

One person was killed, eleven were injured and more than 100 houses collapsed in an earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter Scale in southwest China's Sichuan Province early Sunday.

The casualties were reported in three villages of Moxi town, Suining City in eastern Sichuan after the quake jolted the area at 5:36 a.m. (Beijing time), according to the Sichuan Provincial Earthquake Administration.

More than 30 local seismologists and officials, led by Lu Yipei, deputy director of the administration, have reached the quake-hit area to carry out further investigation, the administration said.

China's national seismological network said the epicenter was at the juncture part between Suining and Tongnan County of Chongqing Municipality (30.3 degrees north latitude and 105.7 degrees east longitude), with a depth of about 10 kilometers.

Suining, a city with a population of 3.8 million, is 140 kilometers east to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

The seismologists saw a slim possibility of more strong quakes in the area, where there were only three minor quakes measuring 2.0 on the Richter Scale in the past 20 years, the administration said.

Currently they were still not sure if the quake on Sunday was an aftershock of the 8.0-magnitude quake in Sichuan on May 12, 2008, which left about 87,000 people dead or missing.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6883513.html.

Snowboarding competition kicks off in NW China's Xinjiang

The inaugural "White Cloud Cup" snowboarding competition kicked off in White Cloud ski area of Urumqi, provincial capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, attracting a lot of amateur snowboarders from different parts of the region.

The competition is the first of its kind held in Xinjiang. About 60 amateur snowboarders will participate in the competition which consists of two parts, parallel slalom and jumps.

There will also be a carnival performance at the end where all participants can showcase their tricks.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6883412.html.

Chinese UN staffers donate food, tents to Haiti orphanage

Chinese staffers with the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti on Saturday donated two large tents, some food and drinking water to a local orphanage whose building sustained cracks in the Jan. 12 earthquake.

The Chinese police force working with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) decided to make the donation after learning that the orphanage with 40 children aged between 4 months and 14 years old had to settle its minors in two small tents on the lawn of its yard and had the older children sleep with its staffers in the open air during the night for fear of lethal aftershocks.

The two large tents given by the Chinese donators are big enough to house all the 40 children.

Madam Rachel, daughter of the founder of the Orphelinat Solidarite et Fraternite in the Tabarre quarter of Port-au-Prince, said the Chinese donation was the first assistance her orphanage had got after the temblor.

The Chinese police force even brought to the orphanage what they had saved from their daily rations of biscuits and fruits. They also gave the orphans some stationeries, hoping they could soon resume classes.

Founded in 2005 by Madam Devastey, the orphanage was lucky not to lose a single kid in the deadly earthquake that has reportedly claimed more than 170,000 lives.

Hu Yunwang, deputy chief of the Chinese police force with the MINUSTAH, said that his team would closely follow the situation in the orphanage and would offer further necessary assistance.

Madam Rachel and the kids expressed their gratitude to the Chinese police representatives.

Before the Jan. 12 devastating quake, there were nearly 100,000 orphans in Haiti. UNICEF has said that the quake made lots of Haitian children lose contact with their families and international institutions have been identifying these children before confirming a definite number of earthquake-orphaned children in the Caribbean island country.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6883512.html.

Mossad may be behind Hamas assassination: Dubai

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas accused Israel on Friday of assassinating one of its top military commanders in a Dubai hotel, and the Dubai police chief said he could not rule out the involvement of Mossad.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, an Israeli target since masterminding the capture of Israeli soldiers in the 1980s during a Palestinian uprising, was killed on Jan. 20, a Hamas official said in the Syrian capital Damascus.

“I cannot rule out the possibility of Mossad involvement in the assassination of Mabhouh,” Dubai police chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told al Jazeera television, referring to the Israeli intelligence agency.

He said he could not announce the nationalities of those involved.

Dubai police had earlier said that a “criminal gang” had been following the victim’s movements before his arrival in the United Arab Emirates.

An official statement said most of the suspects had European passports and left the country after the killing.

The United Arab Emirates does not have a peace treaty with Israel but has hosted Israeli officials and does business with Israeli companies.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal made an impassioned speech to thousands of mourners at Mabhouh’s funeral on Friday at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk outside Damascus. A green Hamas flag covered the body as it was lowered into the grave.

Source: Taipei Times.
Link: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2010/01/31/2003464813.

Israel assassinated top Hamas militant in Dubai: brother

Hussein al-Mabhouh, brother of top Islamic Hamas movement militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, said on Friday that Mossad, Israel's security intelligence service, was behind the killing of his brother in Dubai.

Al-Mabhouh told reporters near his house in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip that Mossad "killed my brother Mahmoud by electric shock at his head after putting pieces of cloth over his nose and mouth in Dubai."

He said that his brother, who arrived in Dubai on Jan. 19 on a secret Hamas mission, was found dead the next day.

"We were not surprised when it came to our knowledge that Mahmoud was killed. Mossad had tried twice to kill him. The first time was in 1989, and the second was in Beirut six months ago," said Hussein al-Mabhouh.

Earlier in the day, Islamic Hamas movement and its armed wing al-Qassam Brigades, also accused the Israeli security intelligence of killing Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.

Izzat al-Resheq, Islamic Hamas movement politburo member, told a Hamas news website on Friday that Israel was behind the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai on Jan. 20.

Al-Mabhouh is one of the founders of Hamas's armed wing, known as Izzedein al-Qassam Brigades, at the beginning of the first Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, in 1988.

Israel accused him of being behind the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers in Gaza in 1988. Most of those involved in the incident were either detained or killed by Israel, including Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was killed in 2004.

Since he fled the Gaza Strip in 1988, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh has been living abroad, mainly in Damascus.

Meanwhile, al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza said in a leaflet sent to reporters that it mourns al-Mabhouh's death and vowed to revenge his assassination.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/6883247.html.

US upgrades defense of Persian Gulf allies

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer

WASHINGTON – The United States has begun beefing up its approach to defending its Persian Gulf allies against potential Iranian missile strikes, officials say. The defenses are being stepped up in advance of possible increased sanctions against Iran.

The Obama administration has quietly increased the capability of land-based Patriot defensive missiles in several Gulf Arab nations, and one military official said the Navy is increasing the presence of ships capable of knocking out hostile missiles in flight.

The officials discussed aspects of the defensive strategy Saturday on condition of anonymity because some elements are classified.

The moves, part of a broader adjustment in the U.S. approach to missile defense, including in Europe and Asia have been in the works for months. Details have not been publicly announced, in part because of diplomatic sensitivities in Gulf countries which worry about Iranian military capabilities but are cautious about acknowledging U.S. protection.

The White House will send a review of ballistic missile strategy to Congress on Monday that frames the larger shifts. Attention to defense of the Persian Gulf region, a focus on diffuse networks of sensors and weapons and cooperation with Russia are major elements of the study, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Russia opposed Bush administration plans for a land-based missile defense site in Eastern Europe, and President Barack Obama's decision to walk away from that plan last year was partly in pursuit of new capabilities that might hold greater promise and partly in deference to Russia.

One military official said the adjustments in the Gulf should be seen as prudent defensive measures designed to deter Iran from taking aggressive action in the region, more than as a signal that Washington expects Iran to retaliate for any additional sanctions.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton consulted with numerous allies during a visit to London this week. She told reporters that the evident failure of U.S. offers to engage Iran in negotiations over its nuclear program means the U.S. will now press for additional sanctions against the Iranian government.

Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. Central Command chief who is responsible for U.S. military operations across the Middle East, mentioned in several recent public speeches one element of the defensive strategy in the Gulf: upgrading Patriot missile systems, which originally were deployed in the region to shoot down aircraft but now can hit missiles in flight.

In remarks at Georgetown Law School on Jan. 21, Petraeus said the U.S. now has eight Patriot missile batteries stationed in the Gulf region — two each in four countries. He did not name the countries, but Kuwait has long been known to have Patriots on its territory.

A military official said Saturday that the three other countries are the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain — which also hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters — and Qatar, home to a modernized U.S. air operations center that has played a key role in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Haiti detains Americans taking kids across border

By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Ten Americans were detained by Haitian police on Saturday as they tried to bus 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic, allegedly without proper documents.

The Baptist church members from Idaho called it a "Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission," meant to save abandoned children from the chaos following Haiti's earthquake. Their plan was to scoop up 100 kids and take them by bus to a rented hotel at a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, where they planned to establish an orphanage.

Whether they realized it or not, these Americans — the first known to be taken into custody since the Jan. 12 earthquake — put themselves in the middle of a firestorm in Haiti, where government leaders have suspended adoptions amid fears that parentless or lost children are more vulnerable than ever to child trafficking.

"In this chaos the government is in right now we were just trying to do the right thing," the group's leader, Laura Silsby told The Associated Press at the judicial police headquarters in the capital, where the Americans were being held pending a Monday hearing before a judge.

Silsby said they only had the best of intentions and paid no money for the children. She said her group obtained them through a well-known Haitian pastor named Jean Sanbil of the Sharing Jesus Ministries.

Silsby, 40, of Boise, Idaho, was asked if she didn't consider it naive to cross the border without adoption papers at a time when Haitians are so concerned about child trafficking. "By no means are we any part of that. That's exactly what we are trying to combat," she said.

Social Affairs Minister Yves Cristallin told reporters the Americans were suspected of taking part in an illegal adoption scheme.

Cristallin said the 33 children were lodged late Saturday at an SOS Children's Village outside of Port-au-Prince. SOS Children's Villages is a global nonprofit based in Austria.

Many children in Haitian orphanages aren't actually orphans but have been abandoned by family who cannot afford to care for them. Advocates both here and abroad caution that with so many people unaccounted for, adoptions should not go forward until it can be determined that the children have no relatives who can raise them.

UNICEF and other NGOs have been registering children who may have been separated from their parents. Relief workers are locating children at camps housing the homeless around the capital and are placing them in temporary shelters while they try to locate their parents or a more permanent home.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti sent consular officials, who met with the detained Americans and gave them bug spray and MREs to eat, according to Sean Lankford of Meridian, Idaho, whose wife and 18-year-old daughter were being held.

"They have to go in front of a judge on Monday," Lankford told The Associated Press.

"There are allegations of child trafficking and that really couldn't be farther from the truth," he added. The children "were going to get the medical attention they needed. They were going to get the clothes and the food and the love they need to be healthy and to start recovering from the tragedy that just happened."

Haiti has imposed new controls on adoptions since the earthquake, which left thousands of children separated from their parents or orphaned. The government now requires Prime Minister Max Bellerive to personally authorize the departure of any child as a way to prevent child trafficking.

Silsby said they had documents from the Dominican government, but did not seek any paperwork from the Haitian authorities before taking 33 children from 2 months to 12 years old to the border, where Haitian police stopped them Friday evening. She said the children were brought to the pastor by distant relatives, and that the only ones to be put up for adoption would be those without close family to care for them.

The 10 Americans include members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho and the East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho, as well as people from Texas and Kansas. Idaho friends and relatives have been in touch with them through text messages and phone calls, Lankford said.

"The plan was never to go adopt all these kids. The plan was to create this orphanage where kids could live. And kids get adopted out of orphanages. People go down and they're going to fall in love with these kids, and many of these kids will end up getting adopted."

"Of course I'm concerned for my wife and my daughter," he added. "They were hoping to make a difference and be able to help those kids."

The group described their plans on a Web site where they also asked for tax-deductible contributions, saying they would "gather" 100 orphans and bus them to the Dominican resort of Cabarete, before building a more permanent orphanage in the Dominican town of Magante.

"Given the urgent needs from this earthquake, God has laid upon our hearts the need to go now versus waiting until the permanent facility is built," the group wrote.

Haitians look for jobs after quake - Feature

Port-au-Prince - "Won't you have a job for me?"That is one of the most asked questions these days in Port-au- Prince, more than two weeks after a quake devastated the city, destroying not only lives and buildings but also jobs.

In hotels, anyone with a car will offer to play taxi driver. And there are people who will run off to look for whatever available car they can find for their "clients," in exchange for a tip. It does not matter if the car barely drives.

Many Haitians have been left jobless by a quake that demolished thousands of homes and claimed the lives of up to 200,000 people.

While awaiting the economic rebound that they hope will come from rebuilding Port-au-Prince on a large scale, Haitians improvise small businesses.

At the camp on 33 Delmas Street, there are women who cook spaghetti with sausages, a tent of sticks and sheets houses a small barber shop, and people are already selling products that reached the Caribbean country as humanitarian aid, even though such activity is illegal.

About 236,000 people have migrated out of the Port-au-Prince to other parts of Haiti in the aftermath of the quake, but 900,000 to 1.1 million people remain homeless within the city, according to the United Nations.

"I speak English and a little Spanish. Won't you have a job for me?" asks Gulaine Gustamar, 37, who is staying at an improvised camp in the Haitian capital.

In Cite Soleil, an impoverished neighborhood even before the quake, English-speaking kids who proudly define themselves as "students" offer to work as guides or translators. They vow to turn up in their best shirts if they are hired.

Other businesses, however, have been flourishing since the quake.

Every day there are long lines outside the long-distance bus company Caribe Tours to buy tickets to Santo Domingo, in the neighboring, relatively more prosperous Dominican Republic.

All hotel rooms in Port-au-Prince are booked, and construction workers know that they could soon be very busy.

Most people, though, have no way to make a living.

Some are starting to benefit from the Cash for Work initiative of the UN Development Program (UNDP), and they can already be seen working on the streets.

This temporary employment program was launched in Haiti on January 20 and already occupies 11,000 people across seven districts of Port-au-Prince. They receive 150 gourdes (about 4 dollars) per day, to which the UNDP wishes to add a food ration worth at least 200 gourdes (5.40 dollars).

People are only hired in the program for a two-week increment, so that more people can participate and benefit from it.

In the initial phase, participants in the initiative are busy removing rubble from the streets, picking up rubbish, erecting tents and helping with other community tasks. The program will eventually turn to reconstruction and training, the UNDP said.

As is often the case with such programs, women who head households have priority. Next come men who are primary breadwinners and people who have lost their homes or have lost a relative in the quake.

Supermarkets, camps and street markets in Puerto Prince all have fruit and other foodstuffs for sale. But that revival of commerce does no good for people who have lost what little they had and have no cash.

Savings and remittances from abroad are a lifeline for some, but those without such advantages can only hope for a job.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306641,haitians-look-for-jobs-after-quake--feature.html.

Haitian President Preval bemoans lack of coordination in aid relief

Port-au-Prince- Haitian President Rene Preval on Friday criticized a lack of coordination among countries bringing aid to the Caribbean nation in the wake of the January 12 earthquake. Many donor nations were helping with "all good intentions" but "without coordination," Preval said after a meeting in Port-au-Prince with Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa.

He said countries such as Germany, the United States and France were channeling their assistance through their own institutions and bypassing the Haitian government, which is seeking to coordinate the efforts.

Preval noted that Haiti was hit by the devastating earthquake when it still had not recovered from four destructive cyclones, and said now is the time to decentralize the country's development with regional infrastructure.

Preval rejected the "logic of the republic of Port-au-Prince," and called for roads, ports, airports and jobs in the provinces to slow the rate of internal migration to the capital, which had swelled to 3 million inhabitants when the quake hit.

"We are not talking about reconstruction, but about construction," he said.

"Decentralization means to reinforce local authorities, transfer administrative activities," Preval said, but noted that Haiti's constitution mandates that Port-au-Prince remain the capital.

The death toll from the quake is still be counted. Preval mentioned 170,000 dead, but other government sources said the toll was more than 180,000 and could still increase.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306646,haitian-president-preval-bemoans-lack-of-coordination-in-aid-relief.html.

Workers dig for archives of Haiti's collapsed cathedral - Feature

Port-au-Prince - A yellow earthmover backed up and gathered steam to climb the pile of rubble that was once the Office of the Vicar General of Port-au-Prince. In the destruction wrought by the January 12 earthquake, workers are trying to recover historic documents of Haiti's Catholic Church.

"We are looking for the archives of the cathedral in the episcopal office," said Rev Georgino Rameau, of the Society of St Jacques.

Volunteers carried boxes of documents to a truck, as the backhoe - operated by a woman - sent a cloud of dust flying when it hauled away a load of rock.

The ruins of the cathedral, the episcopal residence and the administrative offices of the diocese lie in the city center, the zone worst-hit by the quake in the Haitian capital. Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot and Vicar General Charles Benoit both perished there.

For several days, the Church tried to get help from the government or a foreign embassy to recover the archives, until finally on Friday the earthmover arrived, Rameau said.

Two armed guards supervised the work. The excavation coincided with the visit of Papal Nuncio Bernardito Auza and a delegation of Dominican bishops to the site.

When I saw that the cathedral had collapsed, it was a total shock to me," Auza told the German Press Agency dpa. "It is a great material loss, but also a historic one. The entire historical patrimony of the diocese was lost."

But some boxes of papers were recovered intact, and the young volunteers accompanying Rameau loaded them onto a truck.

The beautiful cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, whose first stone was laid in 1884, was totally destroyed.

Nearby, the National Palace, the Ministry of Justice, the revenue office and other governmental buildings also lie in ruins.

The 7.0-magnitude quake killed an estimated 180,000 people, and ground the symbols of terrestrial and celestial authority into dust.

"Our group of bishops from the Dominican Republic have come to Haiti to express our solidarity," said Archbishop Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez as he toured the site with the papal nuncio.

Several priests and seminarians died in the quake. Auza told the Vatican news agency Fides that he had also encountered homeless priests and nuns living in the streets.

"The rector of the seminary survived, as did the dean, but many seminarians were trapped in the rubble. The screams of victims were heard all over," he said.

Yet in spite of the belief of many Haitians, Auza insisted that the quake "was not the wrath of God."

After the initial sorrow, the job at hand is to rescue the memory of the Church through its documents.

The backhoe lifted its giant metal claw and bit into the rubble once more, digging for history.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306650,workers-dig-for-archives-of-haitis-collapsed-cathedral--feature.html.

Hindu devotees, tourists throng to Malaysian cave temple

Kuala Lumpur - Hundreds of thousands of devotees celebrated the Hindu festival of Thaipusam on Saturday, climbing steep steps to seek divine blessings at cave temple near Kuala Lumpur. Worshipers and tourists gathered at Batu Caves in the early morning to celebrate the colorful festival, which marks the birth of Lord Murugan, the Hindu god of war and son of the goddess Shiva.

Some 10,000 devotees demonstrated their vows to Lord Murugan by piercing skewers and hooks through their cheeks, tongues and brows, while chanting and dancing.

Many also carried pots of milk up nearly 300 steps to get to the cave temple, as offerings to the gods.

Thaipusam is held in the tenth month of the Hindu calendar. In the Gregorian calendar, it corresponds to late January or early February.

People in Singapore, India and the Mauritius Islands all observe the festival, while in Malaysia, the festival is also celebrated on a large scale in the northern state of Penang.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306660,hindu-devotees-tourists-throng-to-malaysian-cave-temple.html.

Nigerian oil militants end ceasefire, warns of 'onslaught'

Nairobi/Abuja (Earth Times) - Nigeria's main militant group on Saturday called off a three-month ceasefire and warned that oil companies in the Niger Delta should expect an "all-out onslaught" against facilities and personnel. Attacks by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had slashed the West African nation's oil production by around a quarter and helped drive up global oil prices when MEND responded to a government amnesty and laid down its arms last October.

However, MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo said in an emailed statement that his group had become disillusioned by the government's failure to create real dialogue.

"It is sufficiently clear at this point in time that the government of Nigeria has no intentions of considering the demands made by this group for the control of the resources and land of the Niger Delta to be reverted to the rightful owners, the people of the Niger Delta," he said.

MEND says it is fighting for a share of oil revenue for Niger Delta residents, who complain that multinational oil companies have ruined their agriculture and fishing livelihoods and caused major environmental damage in the delta's creeks.

Gbomo said that the group would now redouble its efforts to sabotage the oil industry.

"All companies related to the oil industry in the Niger Delta should prepare for an all-out onslaught against their installations and personnel. Nothing will be spared," he said.

"In this phase, we will extend attacks to oil service companies which have experienced a boom as a result of the misfortunes of oil producing companies, repairing pipelines destroyed in attacks."

The government claimed 15,000 fighters took advantage of the amnesty to lay down their arms and sign up for training programs, which have yet to get off the ground.

However, analysts say the ranks of supposed militants were bloated by criminals trying to escape justice and unemployed looking for a chance at work.

The announcement will come as a blow to Nigeria, which was slowly beginning to ramp up its oil production again.

Attacks by MEND and the siphoning off of oil by criminal gangs slashed the West African nation's oil production from 2.6 million barrels per day in early 2006 to around 1.7 million barrels prior to the amnesty.

Production was expected to reach 2 million barrels again in January.

MEND has partly blamed the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua - who has been undergoing treatment for a heart problem in a Saudi hospital since November, prompting a political crisis - for the break-down in talks.

"It appears President Yar'Adua did not delegate this very serious, peace-threatening issue to anyone in his absence," Gbomo told the German Press Agency dpa.

Two killed in clash in eastern Philippines

Manila - A communist rebel and a government militiaman were killed in a clash in the eastern Philippines, a regional army spokesman said Saturday. The fighting erupted Friday when about 10 guerrillas attacked a soldier and two government militiamen aboard a motorcycle in Donsol town in Sorsogon province, 360 kilometers south-east of Manila, according to Major Harold Cabunoc.

Cabunoc said army Sergeant Montano Escano and another militiaman were also wounded in the firefight but were able to repulse the rebels.

The fleeing rebels left behind an assault rifle, a hand grenade and a rifle grenade.

Communist rebels have been fighting the government since the late 1960s, making the movement one of the longest-running leftist insurgencies in Asia.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306669,two-killed-in-clash-in-eastern-philippines.html.

Heavy snow shuts roads and railways in Germany

Berlin - Heavy fresh snow temporarily shut main roads and railways in the north of Germany Saturday, prompting rail company Deutsche Bahn to deploy every available snow-plough to clear the drifts. Mecklenburg West Pomerania state on the Baltic coast, which has been covered in snow since mid-December, was worst affected, with main highways closed by jack-knifed trucks and other skidding accidents. Even two snow-clearance vehicles became trapped.

All public bus services in the port city of Rostock ceased while city workers struggled to reopen the streets, and the city football club, Hansa Rostock, called off its second division game Saturday.

"The ground is unplayable: we have had 30 centimeters of new snow and the blizzard hasn't finished," said spokesman Karsten Lehmann.

The railway company said it had called out every available snow-clearance team to re-open its main lines.

In the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, police counted 300 road accidents attributable ice and snow. Many highways were closed for hours on end overnight while tow-trucks hauled away the wrecks.

One man was killed, apparently when he got out of his car after a motorway accident and was then run over by another vehicle.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306674,heavy-snow-shuts-roads-and-railways-in-germany.html.

Sending Flotilla in Spring to Break Gaza Siege

ISTANBUL, January 29, 2010 (WAFA)- The Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Relief Foundation (IHH), announced Thursday a joint venture, sending 10 boats in the spring of 2010 to the besieged Gaza strip.

Organizations from Greece, Ireland and Sweden have also promised to send boats to join the flotilla with the Free Gaza movement and Turkey.

Chairman of the IHH Mr. Bulent Yildirim said, “We sail in the spring to Gaza, and our last port is freedom; freedom for the 1.5 million Palestinians denied the right to rebuild their society. We will never stop sailing until Israel’s siege is lifted.”

Two cargo ships will be part of the flotilla, one donated by the Malaysia-based Perdana Foundation and one from IHH. Both will be laden with building supplies, generators and educational materials that Israel prohibits from entering Gaza since their brutal attack on the civilian population a year ago.

The many passenger boats accompanying the cargo ships will carry members of Parliament from countries around the world as well as high-profile journalists and human rights workers.

According to the chair of the Free Gaza Movement, Huwaida Arraf, “The illegal blockade on Gaza and Israel’s continued intransigence make a mockery of international law. If our governments will not take a stance to stop Israel’s abuse of the Palestinian people, global civil society is showing that we will.”

Source: Palestine News Agency.
Link: http://english.wafa.ps/?action=detail&id=13687.

Israel harvesting organs in Haiti?

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

While media reports from Haiti express amazement at Israel's well-equipped medical delegation to the quake-stricken nation, some critics have warned against organ theft.

The Israeli medical team dispatched to Haiti has set up a field hospital in the tremor-battered Caribbean country, winning Western media praise for doing what even their American peers have not yet managed to accomplish.

But a video posted on Youtube by an American resident of Seattle, Washington on Tuesday took the shine off the Israeli professionalism that media have raved about in the past few days.

In his video, T. West of a group called AfriSynergy Productions suggested that soldiers in the military delegation to the earthquake site in Haiti might be involved in stealing organs from their patients.

He warned that there are people operating in Haiti who do not have a conscience and are members of the search-and-rescue teams, including the Israeli army, Israeli news website Ynet reported on Wednesday.

West recalled organ harvest charges filed against the Israeli army in the past, and pointed out that there is very little monitoring during such tragedies.

He warned the Haitian people to protect their fellow citizens against international medical groups who have arrived in the country in the hope of making money off the tragedy.

In an interview with Ynet, West said he had nothing against Israel but fully opposed "the ideology of Zionism."

"We saw what you did in South Africa and with the Palestinians. Because of our history and the suffering of our people, I understand what the Palestinians are going through."

Last Tuesday, a 7 magnitude earthquake jolted Haiti, leaving an estimated 200,000 people killed — 70,000 of whom have already been buried in mass graves.

West, an African American who does "a talk show and journalism and volunteer for a few non-profit organizations," appreciated the presence of Israeli military forces and others helping in Haiti, but noted "everywhere there is death, there are exploiters."

"There needs to be transparency in Haiti," he urged.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116613§ionid=351020706.

Israeli hand in Iraq's Abu Ghraib exposed

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

The former American military chief of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq reveals more details about the Israeli involvement in the US-run facility, where hundreds of Iraqi suspects were tortured and sexually abused by US soldiers and interrogators.

Shedding further light on the scandal that has served as a controversy-magnet for Washington ever since its emergence in 2004, the retired US army colonel Janis Karpinski says that Israeli agents were recruited by the US military at Abu Ghraib to interrogate the prisoners suspected of attacking US forces in Iraq.

The report by the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar is set to fuel more debate on the matter as Karpinski had, until recently, refused to expound on the Israeli connection at Abu Ghraib despite admitting earlier to the presence of Israeli interrogators in the US-run compound.

The former high-ranking US military officer in Iraq told the British state broadcaster, the BBC, in 2004 that she had met an Israeli interrogator who was working at a secret facility in Baghdad.

The prominent American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh brought the issue out in the open on May 10, 2004, when he published the article, "Torture at Abu Ghraib," in The New Yorker Magazine. The article served to ignite the outpouring of reports and evidences on the alleged "abuse, torture, sodomy and homicide" conducted at the facility by US military and intelligence officers.

In May of last year, more pictures of such abuses leaked out and hit the media networks showing the indiscriminate sexual orientation of American soldiers and operatives, who were shown carnally violating male and female Iraqis alike and assaulting them with nightsticks, wires and phosphorescent tubes.

Following his explosive account on the Abu Ghraib abuses, Hersh asserted that one of the Israel pursuits in the US-run prison was to gain access to the detained members of the Iraqi secret intelligence unit that specialized in Israeli affairs.

Israel has been widely criticized by international human rights organizations for the torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners, including women and children, during interrogations and in prison cells.

US President Barak Obama has 'strongly' opposed the release of more photos and imagery of the Abu Ghraib abuses by American soldiers, despite promises to the contrary when he was first elected. Obama later argued that releasing the scandalous photos, labeled classified by the Bush Administration, would inflame "the theaters of war," jeopardize US forces, and make the life of troops based in Iraq and Afghanistan "more difficult."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116642§ionid=3510203.

Cervical cancer vaccine cuts disease rate by 2/3

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

Vaccination against cervical cancer can lower the risk of the disease in women aged less than 30 by two-thirds, experts say.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) had long been considered as the cause of cervical cancer. HPV vaccines were believed to be an effective tool in fighting the condition.

Recent studies have also considered HPV testing as a more responsive and sensitive tool compared with commonly performed smear tests in detecting cancer suffers.

According to a study published in the British Journal of Cancer, cervical cancer vaccines will lower the number of affected cases by 63 percent by the year 2025.

It will also lower the number of women detected with abnormal cells in smear tests, suggestive of early stages of cancer, by 51 percent.

Mass vaccination programs, with a full uptake, are predicted to prevent seven out of ten cases of cervical cancer in the long-term, stressing that it does not protect against every strain of the high risk HPV.

“Our predictions are really encouraging. If girls continue to take up the vaccine, thousands in the future could be prevented from developing cervical cancer and many more would avoid treatment to remove abnormal precancerous cells," said lead researcher Professor Jack Cuzick from the University of London.

Scientists, therefore, urge young girls to participate in vaccination campaigns that will help wipe out a considerable number of cervical cancer cases in the near future.

They added that cervical screening can also prevent the disease through detecting unusual changes in the cervix before cancer develops, saving the life of many women.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116637§ionid=3510210.

Interpreter shot dead after killing 2 US soldiers

In a combative move in Afghanistan, an interpreter has been killed by US troops after shooting two American soldiers dead.

The incident took place in Wardak province southwest of the capital city of Kabul on Saturday.

"Initial indications are that this was a case of a disgruntled employee," a US military official was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The interpreter was shot dead by other soldiers after killing the two service members.

The interpreter had quarreled with the soldiers over pay and treatment before opening fire, according to an unnamed Afghan provincial official.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117443§ionid=351020403.

'Bushehr plant to come on stream by late September'

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

Director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi says the Bushehr nuclear power plant will be operational within the next few months.

In an interview with Fars News Agency on Wednesday, Salehi said that the Bushehr nuclear plant would come online by late September.

He added that experts are conducting important and final tests and that there will be no delays on the part of the Russians in launching the plant.

“So far most of the tests at the Bushehr power plant have been successful. Currently the tests on the metal sphere are being conducted, which will not take more than a week or two," Salehi stated.

The Iranian nuclear official added that analytical testing procedures for the plants cooling system will be carried out in the coming months before nuclear fuel is introduced into the 1,000-megawatt Bushehr plant's cycle.

Iran expects to generate 17.5 percent — 20,000 megawatts — of the country's electricity demand through nuclear energy over the next two decades.

Washington and its allies accuse the Islamic Republic of pursuing a military nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, has repeatedly said that it has found no evidence supporting the allegation.

The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, confirming the non-diversion of nuclear material in the country's functional and under-construction plants.

Tehran says as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it is entitled to the peaceful application of nuclear energy.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116636§ionid=351020104.

Afghanistan calls for trial of US troops

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry has condemned the killing of four Afghan soldiers by American forces, calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.

In a statement released on Saturday, the ministry said that American troops killed at least four Afghan soldiers in Wardak province Friday night, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that the troops with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also injured seven other Afghan soldiers in face-to-face battles.

He added that the fighting occurred Friday evening in Sayed Abad district, in Wardak province. The cause of the clash has yet to be determined.

The ministry called for a thorough investigation into the incident, saying "the murderers" should be tried and punished accordingly.

The NATO-led ISAF confirmed on Saturday that an "incident" had taken place between Western and Afghan security forces, but declined to give further details.

"We are working with the Ministry of Defense to determine the facts of the incident," said US Army Lieutenant Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the force.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117435§ionid=351020403.

Iranian medics treat some 300 injured Haitians every day

Iranian doctors and aid workers are treating some three hundred injured Haitians in field hospitals as survivors wander past dead bodies in rubble-strewn streets as the death toll from Haiti's devastating earthquake reaches into the tens of thousands.

“Some 300 injured people are receiving medical treatment and supports on a daily basis in tents pitched by Iran's Red Crescent society. The Iranian team of doctors and aid workers is stationed in front of the Venezuelan embassy in Port-au-Prince and provides services to quake-stricken people from 8 a.m. local time (1300 GMT) till 4 p.m. (2100 GMT) every day,” Iranian Red Crescent society's Director General for International Affairs Abdul-Raouf Adib said on Saturday..

The Iranian cargo plane with food, water, medical supplies, and detergents headed to the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation three days after a magnitude-7 quake flattened much of the capital of 2 million people.

The earthquake on January 12 brought down buildings great and small - from shacks in shantytowns to President Rene Preval's gleaming white National Palace, where a dome tilted ominously above the manicured grounds.

Hospitals, schools and the main prison collapsed. The capital's Roman Catholic archbishop was killed when his office and the main cathedral collapsed. The head of the UN peacekeeping mission went missing in the ruins of the organization's multistory headquarters.

An estimated 200,000 people have lost their lives in Haiti's worst natural disaster so far. Around one million have been made homeless by the quake and are in need of temporary housing in about 200,000 tents; but only 2,000 tents have been distributed thus far.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117433§ionid=351020706.

Israel spied on Iran, Syria from secret Turkish base

Revelations of a secret Israeli spy base, which was allegedly set up in Ankara to gather classified information on Iran and Syria, has dragged Tel Aviv into a new spy scandal.

Sources in Turkey's ruling party told Russia's Mignews that Israeli spy agents ran an advanced electronic monitoring station from the Ankara military headquarters to keep tabs on communication networks in Iran and Syria.

According to the sources who were speaking on condition of anonymity, the Signals Intelligence station was solely managed by Israeli intelligence personnel and had become off-limits for members of the Turkish government.

Israeli military sources have refused to comment on the revelations, which are likely to spark an outcry in Turkey, now that they have been leaked to newspapers and media outlets.

This is not the first time Israel finds itself at the centre of a major spy scandal.

For years Israeli politicians have masterminded a wave of undercover operations and terror plots in numerous countries, including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Switzerland, and the US.

However, much of Israel's espionage operations are focused on the Tehran government, largely because of Iran's uranium enrichment activities, which is seen by Israel as a mortal threat.

Israel, which is reported to have an arsenal of 200 nuclear warheads itself, accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons and routinely threatens to reduce the country's enrichment sites to rubble.

This is while Iran, unlike Israel, is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has opened its enrichment facilities to UN inspection.

In mid-2009, Israeli President Shimon Peres paid a visit to Azerbaijan, one of Iran's northern neighbors, and reportedly managed to persuade the Baku government into signing an unspecified "document" on the construction of a plant in Azerbaijan to manufacture spyware, satellite projects and pilotless military vehicles.

Israeli daily Haaretz quoted former Israeli Ambassador to Baku Arthur Lenk as saying that the deal got through after four years of negotiations.

US analysts believe Israel, having failed to win US support for a military attack on Iran, is now seeking to derail Iran's uranium enrichment program by other means.

"With cooperation from the United States, Israeli covert operations have focused both on eliminating key assets involved in the nuclear program and the sabotaging of the Iranian nuclear supply chain," said Reva Bhalla, director of analysis with Strategic Forecasting also known as Stratfor, a Texas-based private intelligence company with close links to the US security establishment.

Bhalla claims that Israeli operatives target Iranian nuclear scientists as part of efforts to intimidate Iranians and prevent them from continuing enrichment work. She goes as far as saying that there was "strong intelligence" that one of Iran's leading nuclear physicists, Ardeshir Hassanpour, was killed by the Mossad in January 2007.

Dr. Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, another Iranian nuclear scientist, is also believed to be assassinated by Israel's Mossad spy agency in the Iranian capital, Tehran on January 12.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117408§ionid=351020104.

CIA chief holds secret talks with Egypt, Israel

Sat Jan 30, 2010

The Director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, has held secret talks with Egyptian and Israeli officials over expanded US intervention in Yemen.

According to Debkafile, the CIA chief paid secret visits to the Egyptian capital Cairo and Jerusalem Al-Quds on Thursday.

Panetta met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and intelligence minister, Gen. Omar Suleiman to ask them to dispatch forces to Yemen to help the US troops.

Meanwhile, Washington has asked the Egyptian government to let the US use Egyptian airports for ferrying military equipment and launching air raids.

Panetta also met with Israeli officials in Jerusalem Al-Quds on the same day to talk about the latest developments in Yemen.

A large US base is under construction near the Yemeni Red Sea port of Hodeira, according to the report.

Washington became involved in secret joint operations in Yemen after President Barack Obama approved US military and intelligence teams to be dispatched to the country.

According to the Washington Post, operations began six weeks ago, involving troops from the US military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), whose main mission is tracking and killing suspected “terrorists.”

The US agents are helping the Yemeni army develop tactics, while providing Sana'a forces with electronic and video surveillance, as well as three-dimensional terrain maps.

In addition to "highly sensitive intelligence," the United States is sending weapons and munitions to be used against what the White House describes as an al-Qaeda cell operating in the Arabian Peninsula, the article added.

Earlier in January, the White House pledged $121 million in aid to help the unpopular Yemeni government crush uprisings.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/117431.html.

Seoul threatens Pyongyang with pre-emptive strike

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

South Korea says it will launch a pre-emptive strike against North Korea, should Pyongyang indicate an intention to carry out a nuclear attack.

South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young told a forum in Seoul on Wednesday that it will be too late to cope with a North Korean nuclear attack if it really happens.

"We would have to strike right away if we detected a clear intention to attack (South Korea) with nuclear weapons," Yonhap news agency quoted Tae-young as saying.

"It would be too late and the damage would be too big if — in the case of a North Korean nuclear attack — we had to cope with the attack."

The defense minister had made similar remarks in 2008, when he was chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Tension has been on the rise on the Korean peninsula since the UN Security Council stepped up sanctions against Pyongyang in April. The move was triggered by North Korea's test-launch of missiles.

International efforts to resolve the stand-off between the two neighbors have so far made little progress.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116631§ionid=351020405.

Lula: World needs new economic order focused on production

Davos, Switzerland - The world needs "profound and complex changes," including a move to an economic model that favors production, according to a speech Friday by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. As Lula was ill and unable to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, his address was read out by Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

The financial crisis has "demonstrated that it is necessary to promote a deep change in the economic order, favoring production, no speculation," the speech said.

"Clear regulation is needed, so that absurd and excessive risks can be avoided."

He said Brazil's economic success in recent years, including its relative strength through the last 18 months of global economic downturn, was brought about through reforms that also included social programs.

Lula bemoaned "absurd wars" in the world, and the failure to reach more concrete environmental targets, in a speech laced with emotive rhetorical questions.

"How many Haitis will it take for us to stop seeking late remedies and improvised solutions in the heat of remorse?" Lula asked in the text of the speech to the some 2,500 business and political leaders attending the annual meet in the Swiss mountains.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306597,lula-world-needs-new-economic-order-focused-on-production.html.

Spain considers raising retirement age, slashes spending - Summary

Madrid - The Spanish government Friday approved a proposal to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67 years, and announced budget cuts worth 50 billion euros (70 billion dollars) in new attempts to strengthen an economy eroded by recession. The government says raising the retirement age from 2013 onwards would put Spain in line with a policy recommended by the European Union and with reforms adopted in several other EU countries.

By 2050, 32 per cent of Spaniards are expected to be older than 64 years. "We need to be conscious that the population is ageing and that the system must remain sustainable," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said.

But Ignacio Fernandez Toxo of the far-left trade union confederation CCOO said he hoped parliament would not approve the reform, which he described as not making sense in a country suffering from high unemployment.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government presented its proposal following an announcement by the National Statistics Institute (INE) that unemployment had soared from nearly 14 per cent in 2008 to nearly 19 per cent in 2009, twice the EU average.

More jobs might be lost in the first quarter of 2010, but the economy was beginning to recover, Economy Minister Elena Salgado said.

Both conservative and far-left opposition parties slammed increasing the retirement age as an "unnecessary" reform given that Spain's social security budget was in black numbers.

Although the official retirement age is now 65 years, Spaniards retire at the age of about 63, on average. The planned reform would set a retirement age of 67 for people born in 1959 or later.

Salgado expressed confidence that a consensus would be reached to approve the reform.

The government, meanwhile, announced spending cuts of 50 billion euros by 2013 in an attempt to slash the budget deficit, which climbed to 11.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, according to a figure given by Salgado.

That is more than three times the 3 per cent threshold set by the EU, at a time when Spain holds the rotating EU presidency.

The government has tried to keep unemployment at bay with stimulus measures, such as public works which gave temporary employment to hundreds of thousands of people.

The stimulus packages boosted the budget deficit, prompting the government to raise taxes in 2009.

The new budget cuts will reduce the state budget by 40 billion euros and spending for regional and local administrations by 10 billion euros, affecting most policies, Salgado said.

Spain has been hit harder than most European Union countries by the global crisis, with the collapse of its key construction industry affecting other sectors as well.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) does not expect Spain to rise out of recession before 2011.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306594,spain-considers-raising-retirement-age-slashes-spending--summary.html.

Dubai identifies suspects in Hamas leader's murder - Summary

Dubai/Damascus - Dubai police have identified the suspects in the killing in the Gulf emirate of a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, Dubai government media office said on Friday. A Dubai security source said that the suspects were members of a "criminal gang" that tracked Mahmoud al-Mabhouh before he entered the country.

The source added that most of the suspects have European passports.

Earlier on Friday, the Palestinian Islamist group announced that al-Mabhouh was killed in Dubai on January 20.

"They left behind evidence at the scene of the crime which will help in tracking them down as soon as possible," said the source.

Al-Mabhouh, full name Mahmoud Abdul-Raouf Hassan, was found dead in a Dubai hotel one day after he entered the country, Dubai police said.

Dubai police said that current investigations are in cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), as the suspects had left the United Arab Emirates before the announcement of the murder.

Hamas member Ezzat al-Rishq accused Israel of killing al-Mabhouh, saying that the movement's armed al-Qassam Brigades will respond to this "criminal assassination" in the right place and time.

Covered by Hamas green flag, al-Mabhouh was buried on Friday afternoon at al-Shuhadaa, or Martyrs, cemetery in the Yarmouk refugee camp, near Damascus.

Thousands of mourners attended the funeral, during which Hamas' political leader Khaled Meshaal vowed to avenge al-Mabhouh's death from Israel...

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306599,dubai-identifies-suspects-in-hamas-leaders-murder--summary.html.

Afghanistan's Abdullah: Will world return to business as usual?

Davos, Switzerland - Former Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah told the World Economic Forum that the global powers involved in his country needed to make sure there was not a return to "business as usual" following this week's conference in London. "Is London just a small bridge to pass and then it's back to business as usual?" he asked in Davos.

Though saying he supported the building of state institutions over the last eight years, including the police and army, "at same time there has been an increase in the insurgency," the Afghan politician noted.

Expressing the need to work with the people of the troubled country, he said: "In an insurgency if we lose the people we lose the war."

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the powers in Afghanistan were aiming to support the government.

"The delivery in Afghanistan is to be done by Afghans, and we will support them when they do the right and necessary things," he said, later adding sarcastically that matters needed to be handled at "slightly better standards."

Representing the local leaders in Kabul, Ashraf Ghani said the government knows "it needs to act or it will lose, both international support and lose domestic support."

Using business language he said Afghanistan was a "high-risk, high-reward" scenario.

While Bildt insisted he did not base his policy on popular opinion but on the parliamentary majority his government controlled, David Milliband, the British foreign secretary, noted that it was also the public in the West that needed to be considered.

"There is a great deal of concern in the UK about the losses we are bearing ... The burden being borne by the UK," the foreign minister said.

He said the "red line" for cooperation of Western powers with local forces in Afghanistan would not only be al-Qaeda-related figures, but also those that did not respect the Afghan constitution, including equality issues between men and women.

Leaders at the London Afghanistan conference on Thursday mapped out a way for Western forces to begin leaving the country, as they approved a grand strategy aimed at strengthening the Afghan government in the fight against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.

NATO countries will step up training and funding to increase the manpower of the Afghan security forces to over 300,000 by the autumn of 2011.

A 140-million-dollar fund was established to pay for a scheme to entice lower-ranking Taliban fighters to leave the movement.

But in return for international aid, the Afghan government will have to take drastic steps to root out corruption and improve the lives of the population, speakers at the London conference said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306607,afghanistans-abdullah-will-world-return-to-business-as-usual.html.

EXTRA: Aid workers call for blood donors in Haiti

Port-au-Prince, Hait - Blood reserves are running low in Haiti in the wake of the devastating January 12 earthquake, prompting the aid organization Doctors Without Borders to issue a call for donors. "So many surgeries are being performed that we urgently need blood," a Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, or MSF) representative said.

The organization was planning to issue a call in Creol to Haitians Friday to ask for donors.

MSF has treated more than 6,200 patients in the country since the quake, and its personnel has carried out around 1,000 operations.

"We have to amputate a lot," says Austrian surgeon Chris Schimanek. "The bones are often so crushed that it would take months for them to heal."

Under the current hygiene conditions in Haiti, doctors cannot afford to wait that long.

"Here we have to take other measures and amputate in cases in which in Europe we perhaps would not do it," Schimanek said.

A clean amputation and, later, a prosthesis are sometimes the best option in the circumstances.

Many limbs were amputated in catastrophic circumstances in the days immediately after the quake, in some cases without anaesthesia and without the suitable surgical instruments. Many patients are currently suffering from infections.

"After-care following surgeries is one of our most important tasks," said MSF spokeswoman Avril Benoit.

The aid organization Handicap International, in turn, is working to get prostheses made in Haiti.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306615,extra-aid-workers-call-for-blood-donors-in-haiti.html.

Rush to build camps in Haiti before rainy season starts - Feature

Port-au-Prince - Aid organizations in Haiti face the challenge of building suitable long-term camps for 1 million people before the start of the Caribbean nation's rainy season in April or May. All across Port-au-Prince there are camps, made up of either proper tents or their equivalents made of sheets and plastic. There are at least 500 settlements of this kind across the Haitian capital's metropolitan region alone.

The scenery is the same in other cities affected by the devastating January 12 earthquake, such as Leogane, about 30 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince, where the quake's epicenter was located and 90 per cent of the buildings were destroyed.

"Tents are an option for three to five months in the dry season, but we need solutions that are sufficiently long-lasting, for at least two years, to set up emergency and transition camps when the rain arrives in a few months," said Vincent Houver, head of the mission for Haiti of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In recent days, workmen have been leveling out the ground, drawing up lots and building latrines in what is set to be the first such transitional camp, at Croix des Bouquets, about 15 kilometers east of Port-au-Prince.

Future residents are set to be trained at pitching tents, and are to get paid for their work. The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) is to finance later the construction of permanent homes in the same location.

"The interesting thing there will be that they will set up tents until the houses are ready. It is about 40 hectares: 10 will be for the tents, and 30 for the construction of houses," IOM spokeswoman Niurka Pineiro told the German Press Agency dpa.

The Haitian government contemplated the possibility of building large camps that held over 100,000 people each. However, Pineiro notes that the plan is to build settlements for only 10,000-15,000 people each.

In addition to Croix des Bouquets, a smaller site is being prepared to house around 4,000 people on Route de Tabarre, near the US embassy in Port-au-Prince. Another camp is set to be built in Leogane for local residents of that city, and the details of other camps are yet to be decided upon.

The key goal is to keep as many people as possible close to where they lived before the quake, believed to have claimed up to 200,000 lives in Haiti.

According to the IOM, earlier disasters showed that uprooting those affected by a catastrophe can lead to social problems and violence.

One major issue, however, is that there are not enough open spaces in Port-au-Prince to pitch such tent cities. There are also not enough tents to go round: the Haitian government asked for 200,000, but only 35,500 have arrived in the country so far.

"Tents did not arrive at first because priority was being given to food," Pineiro notes. "The big issue now are the camps, because the supply of food and water is already underway."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306619,rush-to-build-camps-in-haiti-before-rainy-season-starts.html.

Anti-government rallies mark Indonesian administration's 100th day

Thu, 28 Jan 2010

Jakarta - Thousands of people took to the streets of Indonesian cities Thursday to demand President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's resignation as his government marked 100 days in office. Much of the protesters' criticism was leveled against Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who approved the controversial bail-out of a small bank in 2008.

Critics of the administration charged that the 2008 bail-out of Bank Century at the height of the financial crisis was designed to save the money of individuals with close connections to the president.

They alleged the account holders whose money was saved went on to help bankroll Yudhoyono's re-election campaign last year.

Protesters tried to break into barricades set up by police at the presidential palace in Jakarta, chanting, "SBY go!" referring to Yudhoyono by his initials.

Another group of protesters rallied outside the heavily guarded office of Boediono, who was governor of the central bank when the bail-out took place.

They chanted, "Boediono thief!" and held up posters depicting him and Indrawati as blood-drooling vampires.

"We want SBY, Boediono and Sri Mulyani to resign immediately because we don't want to be led by thieves," said Indra Maulana, a protester.

Police estimated 10,000 people took part in the Jakarta rally.

Parliament has launched an inquiry into the bail-out, and its investigative committee has already questioned Boediono and Indrawati, seen by the business community as reform-minded and capable technocrats.

A poll released Wednesday showed Yudhoyono's job approval rating dropped from 85 per cent in July to 70 per cent.

The Indonesian Survey Institute attributed the drop to dissatisfaction with the president's progress concerning law enforcement and the economy.

Yudhoyono won a second five-year term in a July presidential election on promises to fight graft and boost the economy.

He denied the corruption allegations over the bank bail-out, saying it aimed to prevent a crisis in the banking system.

Yudhoyono's popularity was also hit by a scandal in which police and prosecutors allegedly framed two deputies of the Corruption Eradication Commission in what appeared to be a high-level conspiracy to weaken the graft-busting agency.

Corruption charges against the two deputies were dropped late last year at Yudhoyono's request following intense public pressure.

On Thursday, several other cities saw public demonstrations.

In Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, protesters clashed with police while in Banten province near Jakarta, demonstrators burned a picture of the president.

Yudhoyono, who was at the opening ceremony of a power plant in Pandeglang, 50 kilometers west of the capital, called on protesters to act "in peace."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306288,anti-government-rallies-mark-indonesian-administrations-100th-day.html.

Iran hangs two protesters, sentences nine to death - Summary

Thu, 28 Jan 2010

Tehran - Two opposition protesters were hanged Thursday in Iran and nine more were sentenced to death, the ISNA news agency reported. The 11 had been arrested during rallies against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on December 27. Iran's opposition movement accused the government of having manipulated the June presidential polls, bringing about Ahmadinejad's re-election.

According to a statement by the Revolutionary Court, the two people who were hanged and the nine facing the death penalty were members of monarchist groups and the People's Mujaheddin, a group Iran designates as a terrorist organization.

They had been charged with plans to topple Iran's Islamic establishment.

The Iranian administration, especially the judiciary, said it distinguishes between supporters of local opposition groups that believe in the Islamic establishment but are against Ahmadinejad and those who are against the whole system.

According to Iran, both the People's Mujaheddin and the monarchists have their bases outside Iran and, therefore, are accused of being "mercenaries" of the world powers - mainly the United States and Britain - and acting as their agents inside Iran.

Observers said they believe other members of non-local groups would also face death sentences on the Islamic charge of mohareb, or enmity with God.

The nine placed on death row Thursday may appeal.

The sentences have not quashed plans for further opposition protests.

Iran is to celebrate the 31st anniversary of its 1979 Islamic revolution in February and hold the annual, state-run mass rally on February 11.

The supporters of the local opposition, especially the Green Movement, led by Mir-Hossein Moussavi, who lost to Ahmadinejad, plan to avail themselves of the mass rally - and other related occasions - to renew their protests against the president.

With millions of people usually taking part in the February 11 rallies nationwide, police were expected to have a difficult time controlling the competing demonstrations.

The police, however, warned that the era of lenience was over and protesters would be harshly and decisively confronted.

During the last demonstrations held on December 27, at least eight demonstrators were killed and hundreds arrested.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306296,iran-hangs-two-protestors-sentences-nine-to-death--summary.html.

EXTRA: 50 million private equity fund established for Palestinians

Thu, 28 Jan 2010

Davos, Switzerland -A 50-million-dollar equity fund was established Thursday for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the Palestinian territories at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The announcement of the fund, the first of its kind, came from the publicly-owned Palestine Investment Fund and the private Abraaj Capital, one of the largest equity groups in the Middle East.

According to the announcement, SMEs make up "more than 95 per cent of enterprises in Palestine, 84 per cent of private-sector employment and 55 per cent of gross domestic product."

The public fund and private equity group said businesses were lacking access to capital in the Palestinian territories and cash was needed to grow the troubled area's economic prospects.

The new fund closed 15 million dollars initially, and was aiming to garner the rest over the course of the year from other investors.

Palestinian Premier Salam Fayyad was set to attend the annual Davos meet later in the day.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306305,extra-50-million-private-equity-fund-established-for-palestinians.html.

Iceland police kill polar bear

Thu, 28 Jan 2010

Reykjavik - A polar bear believed to have drifted ashore from Greenland has been shot and killed in north-east Iceland, reports said Thursday. The young bear was spotted Wednesday by a farmer who alerted police to the area near Thistilfjordur.

In December 2008, a government commission recommended that the large and dangerous mammals be shot given the high cost of repatriating them.

The commission was set up after two polar bears landed on the northern coast of Iceland during the summer of 2008, apparently after being swept to sea on ice floes from Greenland, several hundred kilometers away.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306309,iceland-police-kill-polar-bear.html.

Report: China suspends military exchanges with US

By CARA ANNA, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING – China suspended military exchange visits with the United States on Saturday in protest over $6.4 billion in planned U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and warned the U.S. ambassador that the sales would harm already strained ties.

The state-run Xinhua News Agency cited the Defense Ministry as saying the suspension is due to the "bad impact" of the arms sales on the two countries' military relations.

China took a similar step in 2008 after the former Bush administration announced a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan. The latest arms sales could complicate the cooperation the U.S. seeks on issues ranging from Iran's nuclear program to the loosening of Internet controls, including a Google-China standoff over censorship.

Details of arms sale were posted Friday on a Pentagon Web site. It would include 60 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, 114 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles, mine-hunting ships and information technology. U.S. lawmakers have 30 days to comment on the proposed sale. Without objections, it would proceed.

Taiwan is the most sensitive issue in U.S.-China relations. China claims the self-governing island as its own, while the United States is Taiwan's most important ally and largest arms supplier.

Though Taiwan's ties with China have warmed considerably since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou took office 20 months ago, Beijing has threatened to invade if the island ever formalizes its de facto independence.

Both the U.S. and China have previously said they want to improve military ties, which have been frosty.

Earlier Saturday, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei warned U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman that the sale would "cause consequences that both sides are unwilling to see." The vice minister urged that the sale be immediately canceled, it said.

The U.S. is "obstinately making the wrong decision," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy, Susan Stevenson, confirmed that China expressed its views, and said the embassy had no comment on the suspension of military visits.

Jin Canrong, a professor of international studies at China's Renmin University, said the sale would give Beijing a "fair and proper reason" to accelerate weapons testing.

Beijing has test-fired rockets in recent weeks for an anti-missile defense system in what security experts said was a display of anger at the pending arms sale.

Upcoming high-level visits that could be affected by the China's suspension of military exchanges. Gen. Chen Bingde, the Chinese military's chief of the general staff, was due to visit the U.S., while U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, had planned to come to China.

Movladi Udugov: ''Time is coming to launch military operations against Russian occupants''

28 January 2010

Exclusive interview with the Director of Information-Analytical Service of the Caucasus Emirate, Movladi Udugov. The interview was conducted by Levan Chitanava from Georgian Information Agency Pirweli.

Q: Russian side brought more accusations against Georgia and stated that Georgia maintains 'militants' to get across to the North Caucasus. Why Russia needs to make such sort of statements?

M.Udugov: Nothing new is in the statements: Russia has been issuing such sort of statements since 1999. That is just another propaganda, which aims to exert political pressure on Georgia. Unfortunately, Georgia will be unable to endure that pressure: instead of providing real assistance to the enemy's enemy, Georgia's authorities actually ignore any serious attempt of Mujahideen to use "Georgian rear", and despite the fact that Russia audaciously has taken over Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Q: Most experts say that there are no strong political figures in the North Caucasus. What is the current situation on the ground in North Caucasus?

M.Udugov: The said statements do not correspond with the reality. These announcements are issued by Moscow, which talks about undergoing struggle between criminals and clans against each other in the North Caucasus. As far as the situation of the Caucasus Emirate's provinces is concerned, it is developing contrarily to Moscow's wish. Jihad has not been weakened. In fact it has become stronger. Military activities of Mujahideen are expanding and their forces are multiplied.

Q: Caucasus Mujahideen took the responsibility for the explosion of "Nevix Express" on November 27. What can you tell about these Mujahideen group and did they act on the orders of Dokka Umarov?

M.Udugov: Caucasus Mujahideen are not a "group", but are the armed forces of the Caucasus Emirate. The armed forces have quite a lot of means to wage guerrilla warfare on the territory of the Caucasus Emirate, as well as against Russian residents. Mujahideen follow Umarov's orders by launching militant operations. As for the beginning of extensive military operations against Russian occupants, the time for them is not far away.

Q: A disseminated by Mujahideen statement says that "Dissidence and guerrilla warfare will continue on the Russian soil, until Russian occupants will not stop killing decent Muslims for their religious beliefs". The statement also reports that Mujahideen will try to avoid civilian casualties. What's your take on that? Such guerrilla warfare is usually accompanied by civilian casualties.

M.Udugov: You'd rather address this question to the armed forces of the Caucasus Emirate. I can only remind you that Mujahideen act according to Sharia, which is determined with Koran's postulate -"fight against them as they fight against you -but do not overact".

Q: Do you believe this way of fighting Russia will be productive? Will Kremlin compromise?

M.Udugov: Sabotage is one of the methods of partisan war. As far as the compromise is concerned, I do not know if the leadership of the Caucasus Emirate will accept Russia's compromise. Jihad wants completely expel Russian occupants from the territory of the Caucasus. Although, statement of Mujahideen indicate that the military operations against Russia will change if Russian occupants stop killing and abducting ordinary Muslims on religious grounds.

Q: The new television - "The First Caucasus Channel" is about to launch in Georgia. But some members of the opposition denounce this project saying that "the First Caucasus Channel" will further strain the relationships with Russia. What's your view regarding the TV channel and are you going to cooperate with it in the future?

M.Udugov: Russia took over regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, what kind of further straining of relationships are you talking about?! What should happen to wake Georgian politicians so they will start to act promptly and decisively?! As far the foundation of that channel it is but the first and small step, which should have been taken by Georgia 10 years ago. However, this step will have no positive affect if it broadcasts propaganda and does not portray the real situation in the Caucasus. We always appreciate cooperation on the issues related to the liberation Caucasus from Russia.

Q: Using your estimates, how did you find 2009 for the Caucasus?

M.Udugov: Current year (year 1430 by Muslim calendar) was consequential for Muslims and the Caucasus Emirate's Mujahideen because in 2009 a psychological victory has been won.

Q: What we should expect in 2010?

M.Udugov: It will be as Allah wishes it to be! It is our obligation to do our outmost to disgorge Russian occupants from the territory of the Caucasus.

Source: Information Agency Pirweli

Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/01/28/11320.shtml.

NATO troops kill Afghan civilian in Kabul, sparking protest

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Thu, 28 Jan 2010

Kabul - NATO forces killed a civilian in Kabul Thursday, sparking a protest by dozens of residents, officials said. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it was investigating an incident in which its forces killed a civilian.

"We can confirm one civilian was killed by ISAF forces this morning during an incident involving an ISAF convoy," it said in a statement.

Dozens of people gathered in front of Camp Phoenix, an ISAF military base in the eastern part of the capital and blocked the road that links Kabul to eastern provinces.

The protesters told Tolo, a private television broadcaster, that the deceased was an imam for a local mosque and was shot dead while crossing the road.

Civilian deaths at the hands of international forces have been a major source of friction between NATO and the Afghan government. More than 2,400 civilians were killed by Taliban militants and international forces last year, according to a United Nations report.

The incident happened on the same day that leaders from about 70 countries and international organizations were attending a conference in London to map out NATO's future Afghanistan strategy.

Meanwhile, up to 20 Taliban insurgents were killed in an air raid by NATO forces in the northern province of Baghlan, the ISAF said Thursday. Wednesday's airstrike was ordered after a patrol was attacked by militants in the area, it said.

"ISAF air assets bombed and strafed the insurgents in a tree line," it said in a statement. "Afghan national security forces estimate 12 to 20 insurgents were killed."

Mohammad Kabir Andrabi, Baghlan's provincial police chief, said that according to his information, 15 insurgents were killed and up to seven were injured.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306314,nato-troops-kill-afghan-civilian-in-kabul-sparking-protest.html.

Poland's prime minister won't seek presidency

Thu, 28 Jan 2010

Warsaw - Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday he will not run in Poland's presidential elections scheduled for this fall, saying he wants to work at maintaining the country's economic growth instead of competing for the "prestige and honor" of the presidency. "I don't want to take part in a race where the goal is the (presidential) palace and honor," Tusk said at a news conference at the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Saying that he would rather work to maintain Poland's economic growth as a member of his center-right Civic Platform party, he added: "My government has tactics ... to strengthen this positive tendency."

Tusk held the conference behind a map that showed Poland's estimated economic growth of 1.7 for 2009, a statistic announced today that makes Poland the sole European Union member in the positive for the year.

Tusk said his political plan would aim to maintain economic growth and limit debt and lessen the deficit. He said details of the plan would be announced Friday. He did not take questions from reporters at the conference.

The Civic Platform party will name its candidate for this fall's presidential election on May 16, said party head Grzegorz Schetyna. The current president, Lech Kaczynski of the Law and Justice Party, has not announced whether he will seek re-election.

Tusk's announcement comes after a recent gambling lobby scandal that has tarnished his party's image.

The scandal saw four top politicians depart on October 7 amid reports that politicians lobbied to block provisions in a bill that would have increased taxes the gambling industry pays to the state.

But the economy has remained an issue for boasting by the Tusk administration.

Tusk, along with Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski, have said Poland managed to escape recession thanks to their strategy of combating the economic crisis.

But the government's handling of the crisis - and Tusk's planned adoption of the euro currency - remained hot points of criticism from President Kaczynski, a long-time political rival.

Last year, Kaczynski warned of serious consequences of the world financial crisis and said it would be "risky" to switch to the euro during such a time. Tusk surprised many analysts by saying last year that Poland would adopt the euro currency by 2012, a date some officials later said was overambitious.

If the presidential election were held today, Tusk would get 31 per cent support over Kaczynski's 14 per cent, according to a survey in the daily Rzeczpospolita published Wednesday.

Tusk, who was active in the Solidarity union movement that helped topple Communism, has been prime minister since 2007. The post has a four-year term office.

Tusk ran a failed presidential campaign against Kaczynski in 2005, when he was defeated by a margin of 46 per cent to 54 per cent.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306333,polands-prime-minister-wont-seek-presidency.html.

EU approves major state aid scheme for Spanish banks

Thu, 28 Jan 2010

Brussels - The European Commission has given six-month approval to a major Spanish government plan to help its banks weather the financial crisis, the European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes announced Thursday. The scheme allows a publicly owned institution - the Fondo de Reestructuracion Ordenada Bancaria (FROB) - to inject cash in the country's financial institutions in order to improve their balance sheets.

"The Spanish recapitalization scheme will strengthen confidence in the Spanish banking system and, above all, encourage lending to the real economy," Kroes said in a statement.

Her spokesman, Jonathan Todd, added that the scheme is set to apply to "50 per cent of Spanish credit institutions". Aid is targeted in particular towards non-listed savings banks, which have been badly hit by the collapse of the real estate sector.

The commission is the EU's executive arm and is the bloc's highest authority on antitrust and state aid cases.

In exchange for her approval, Kroes obtained a pledge by the Spanish authorities that before each FROB intervention the commission would receive a Bank of Spain's report on the risk profile of the recipient bank.

The EU executive will then "indicate the necessary follow-up," insisting for example that banks that receive help are subjected to a restructuring plan.

Spain is due to notify all recapitalizations "exceeding 2 per cent of risk weighted assets to banks that are not fundamentally sound," the press release added. Aid in these cases will be examined "on a case by case basis" by the commission, Todd stressed.

Brussels' approval is limited to June 30. Spain can ask for an extension, but it is also expected to present a biannual report on the functioning of the scheme which will influence the commission's decision.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306350,eu-approves-major-state-aid-scheme-for-spanish-banks.html.