Gaza flowers to blossom in Europe once more

Gaza's flower, strawberry farmers to export produce to Europe with help from The Netherlands.

GAZA CITY - This time last year Adham Hijazi was feeding his world-class carnations to animals, but now he hopes they will reach European markets following an easing of Israeli closures on the Gaza Strip.

For the first time since the democratically elected Hamas movement seized power in the territory in June 2007, Gaza's flower and strawberry farmers may be able to export most of their produce to Europe with help from The Netherlands.

"There are promises that the crossings will remain open for exports," the 33-year-old farmer says as workers clip carnations and pack them into crates in a sprawling greenhouse near the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

"Last year our losses were huge. I alone lost 800,000 dollars (550,000 euros)," he says. "We harvested the flowers and then we fed them to the sheep and cows."

Israel allowed only limited exports of flowers and strawberries -- Gaza's main cash crops -- during the season following Hamas' takeover in June 2007 before halting all exports in January 2008, according to the Palestine Trade Center (Paltrade), which works with the World Bank.

Exports only resumed after Israel's devastating 22-day war on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009, when 14 truckloads of carnations were allowed out of the Strip, according to Paltrade.

"The difficulty was that the peak of the season was far gone, and another issue was that many farmers had stopped by then," said a Dutch official involved in the export projects, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

This season, Israel began allowing exports in December, and since then more than a million flowers, mostly roses and carnations, have been exported to The Netherlands, where many are then sent on to markets in Russia and Europe.

"So far it has been working well... There is a regular export taking place," the official says, adding that roughly three shipments of 150,000 flowers were passing through the crossings each week.

Farmers near Rafah have planted some 30 hectares (75 acres) of flowers with assistance from The Netherlands, according to Said al-Rai, the Palestinian coordinator of the project.

"The produce is distinguished by its high quality and deep-rooted reputation in European markets," he says, adding that they expect to export 35 million flowers this season, mainly roses and carnations.

Gaza's strawberry growers have also resumed exports after nearly two years, under a similar program with Agrexco, an Israeli firm that has marketed and distributed Gaza produce to Europe since the 1980s under its "Coral" brand.

However, Israel only began allowing exports at the start of January, causing the growers to miss out on the first two months of the four-month peak season.

Since then around 40 tonnes of strawberries have been exported, according to the Dutch official.

The lush fields around the village of Beit Lahiya boast some of the best strawberries in the region, but they were damaged when Israeli tanks and bulldozers rumbled through the area during the war on Gaza.

"We struggled and we farmed in order to export in the period between November 15 and December 25, but Israel did not open the crossings in this period despite the efforts by The Netherlands," says Assad Othman Yassin, the head of marketing in the Hamas-run agricultural ministry.

"On January 3 we exported 21 tonnes, but in the past we always began exporting in the middle of October and continued until March. In a normal season we would export 1,800 tonnes, or about 70 tonnes a day," he adds.

This year farmers around Beit Lahiya have planted 50 hectares (124 acres), compared with 85 hectares (210 acres) in previous years, according to the local farming cooperative.

The farmers have also complained about delays at Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, where boxes of produce can sit in the desert sun for hours at a time.

"Relatively speaking, it's been a good season so far," the Dutch official says, but he admits that Kerem Shalom is "not an ideal crossing."

Each month Israel allows hundreds of truckloads of basic goods into the territory of 1.5 million people, but apart from the strawberries and flowers it has allowed virtually no exports.

Human rights groups, both international and Israeli, slammed Israel’s siege of Gaza, branding it “collective punishment.”

Gaza is still considered under Israeli occupation as Israel controls air, sea and land access to the Strip.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt, Gaza's sole border crossing that bypasses Israel, rarely opens as Egypt is under immense US and Israeli pressure to keep the crossing shut.

Fatah has little administrative say in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and has no power in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, both of which are Palestinian territories illegally occupied by Israel in 1967.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=36739.

Israel urged to curb social inequalities

OECD calls on Israel to reduce inequalities faced by Arabs in education, employment.

TEL AVIV - Israel must curb social inequalities that mainly affect Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews, the OECD said Wednesday, as the Jewish state readies to join the organization.

Gross domestic product grew by an estimated 0.5 percent in 2009, more than previously expected, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in reports released in occupied Jerusalem.

GDP growth in 2010 is expected to reach between three and three and a half percent.

"But there are weaknesses in the Israeli economy, particularly on the social welfare side," said OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria who on Tuesday met Israeli leaders for talks aimed at paving the way for the accession of the Jewish state to the organization, likely later this year.

The report praised the authorities' response to the global downturn, but pointed to what it called weaknesses in economic policy, particularly the Bank of Israel's continued intervention in foreign-currency markets.

Another report on labor and social issues said that one in five Israelis lives in poverty, a higher ratio than in any OECD country.

Poverty is highest among the youngest and fastest growing population groups: just over half of Arab Israelis and 60 percent of ultra-Orthodox Jews -- known as Haredi -- have disposable income that is less than half the national median.

About 40 percent of Israelis aged between 15 and 64 are not working, compared to an average of 33 percent among OECD member states.

Most low-paid jobs with little security are filled by Arabs, Haredim and foreign workers and employment levels are particularly low among Arab women and Haredi men.

Israel spends the equivalent of only 16 percent of GDP on social policies as compared with an average of 21 percent for OECD countries, the report said.

The report called for the government to encourage the Haredim to strengthen their vocational skills as part of a drive for a more self-sufficient -- and less poverty-ridden -- balance between religious worship and work.

It also urged action to promote fair employment opportunities among the most vulnerable parts of society.

Both reports stress that employment and social inclusion are vital to Israel’s future economic development and require increased public spending.

"Real progress on social issues requires a more inclusive society and better chances for all citizens to share the fruits of economic growth," said Gurria.

The OECD also urged Israel to reduce the inequalities faced by Arab Israelis in education.

It stressed that while there is a need for increased spending on social policy, Israel must nevertheless reduce the burden of public debt on a sustainable basis.

Gurria said on Tuesday after meeting Israel's leaders that the country is on track to join the OECD.

Israeli officials expect to join the OECD, which seeks to coordinate economic policies among the world's leading industrialized nations, within months, three years after the start of the membership process in May 2007.

When founded in 1961, OECD membership represented 75 percent of global wealth. Today it accounts for 60 percent and efforts are being made to enlarge membership to incorporate rapidly growing economic powers.

Israel has often come under international criticism for ‘racism’ and mistreatment of its Arab minority, who are the original inhabitants of the land.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=36744.

Denmark PM mulls restricting burka, niqab

Report shows that use of burka by Muslim women to be 'extremely rare' in Denmark.

COPENHAGEN - The face-covering burka and niqab veils worn by some Muslim women have no place in Denmark, Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said Tuesday, adding his government was considering restricting them.

Rasmussen stopped short, however, of calling for a ban on the veils, noting "legal and other limits".

"The government's position is clear: the burka and the niqab have no place in Danish society," Rasmussen told reporters.

"We look at the person to whom we are talking, whether it's in a classroom or on the job," he said.

"That is why we don't want to see this garment in Danish society," he added.

He said his center-right government was "discussing ways of limiting the wearing" of the veils without violating the Scandinavian country's constitution.

The prime minister's comments came a day after the publication of a report which showed that use of the burka was "extremely rare" in Denmark, though no figures were given, and that the niqab was worn by "between 100 and 200" women.

The report was commissioned by the social affairs ministry and written by researchers at the University of Copenhagen.

It follows a heated debate on the burka that has divided the two-party coalition government since the summer amid pressure from its key parliamentary ally the far-right Danish People's Party.

Some 100,000 Muslim women live in Denmark, representing about 1.9 percent of Denmark's total population of 5.5 million. Some 0.15 percent of the Muslim women wear the niqab, according to the report.

Denmark has had tense relations with the Muslim world following the publishing in 2005 of cartoons depicting Islam's Prophet Mohammed that were considered insulting by much of the Islamic world.

Meanwhile, Rasmussen on Tuesday criticized an auction house for refusing to sell a drawing by Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist behind the most controversial Mohammed caricature.

Westergaard said he was "very pleased" by the prime minister's support.

A vast majority of Danes agree with the Danish media's decision to refrain from reprinting controversial caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, a poll showed Tuesday.

A total of 84.2 percent agree with the decision, some 11.7 percent disagree and 4.1 percent are undecided, the Ramboell/Analyze institute poll published in newspaper Jyllands-Posten showed.

The daily is the same one that originally published the 12 caricatures of Mohammed in September 2005.

The Ramboell/Analyze poll questioned 1,010 people from January 11 to 14.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=36742.

Saudi, Turkey boost bilateral ties, trade

In Saudi, Erdogan urges business investments in Turkey, voices support for Palestinians.

RIYADH - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for the Palestinians and called on Saudi businessmen to invest in his country during a trip to the Middle Eastern oil giant.

"There is nothing more natural than for Turkey to show concern for the Palestinians and Gaza, not because we are Muslim but because we are humans," he told a meeting of businessmen in the Saudi capital.

"Would we not send aid to Haiti because they are Christian?" he added on the first full day of his visit to the kingdom, according to the Turkish Anatolia news agency.

Meanwhile Erdogan urged a meeting of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce to "take advantage of the investment environment provided by the Turkish government for foreign investment in all fields, in particular agriculture."

The official SPA news agency said he pledged to boost bilateral trade, which reached nearly five billion dollars in 2008 but reportedly slowed last year.

The Turkish leader is on an official three-day visit with plans for talks with Saudi King Abdullah on bilateral and regional issues, including the Middle East peace process.

He also is due to travel to Jeddah on Wednesday to meet the Turkish head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Erdogan was recently honored by the Saudis with the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam.

He is accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, State Minister Zafer Caglayan, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, Energy, Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz and other officials and businessmen.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=36738.

Hamas Leader Unwelcome in Egypt

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) Cairo has rolled up the red carpet and announced that Damascus-based Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal is unwelcome in the Egyptian capital. Officials in the Egyptian capital are hoping the ban will exert enough pressure to force Hamas into reconciling with its rival, the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah faction.

Egypt has refused to meet with Mashaal until he cooperates with its efforts to re-establish a PA unity government. The last time external mediators – Saudi Arabian and Egyptian leaders – succeeded in forcing the two factions into a similar framework, the so-called “unity” lasted barely two days. Ultimately it dissolved into the bloody militia war that ended with Hamas seizing total control over Gaza, leaving Fatah as the ruling faction over the PA areas in Judea and Samaria.

Mashaal is also the Hamas official primarily responsible for repeatedly failed negotiations for the release of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, held hostage in Gaza since he was abducted by Hamas-linked terrorists in June 2006.

According to a report published Tuesday in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jareeda, Egypt has made its position clear to a number of Arab states, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Mashaal had apparently appealed to both in hopes they would mediate between Hamas and Cairo.

However, Egypt maintained a firm stance in backing PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, who said he would not meet with Mashaal unless Hamas signed an Egyptian proposal for reconciliation between the two factions. Egypt maintained that it had no objections to receiving a Hamas delegation to sign the document, “as it is and without amendments,” the paper reported.

Kuwait has been working to arrange a reconciliation summit between the two factions as a follow-up to Egypt’s negotiations, Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al Sabah told reporters on Sunday. He noted that Abbas and Mashaal had both been to Kuwait in recent weeks to visit separately with its Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah.

Source: Israel National News.
Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135610.

Tunisian blogs weigh in on terrorism and freedoms

Terrorism and jail terms for student demonstrators ranked high among the concerns of Tunisian bloggers in recent weeks, as did the Ibla Library fire.

By Mona Yahia for Magharebia in Tunis – 19/01/10

The fire that raged through the Ibla Library, an institution revered by generations of readers, captured the attention of Tunisian bloggers in recent weeks. Concerns about jail terms for protesting students, terrorism and freedom of expression also hit the Tunisian blogosphere in a flurry of posts.

In the blog Khayl wa Layl, Ali Saidane posts about "The Ibla Fire: Part of Our Memory Turned to Ashes," in which he expresses his sorrow at the fire that ate up nearly half of the rare books and documents in the library where so many men and women "worked so hard".

"Today, I'm overwhelmed with grief because the library has been turned to ashes," writes the blogger. "Books, folders, decorations, labels, walls and tables caught fire, demolishing traces of visitors who have avidly and regularly been frequenting the library since 1929, eager to quench their thirst for knowledge and information."

In a post titled "Terrorism Engineering," blogger RevolutionTunisie analyzes the relationship between terrorist acts and the science of building, illustrating his thoughts with a few examples.

"It's rare for engineering and religion to join hands. Erecting buildings and bridges are concrete activities deeply rooted in secular sciences," writes the blogger. "However, the failed terrorist attack perpetrated by mechanical engineer Farouk Abdel Motaleb during the Christmas celebrations reminds us that a large number of violent extremists belong to that profession."

December 25th marked the annual occasion for Tunisian bloggers to offer readers blank posts to protest authorities' efforts to block blogs. In "A Semi-Blank Post for Our Freedom (Us, Bloggers)," Progressive Libre writes, "As we are about to bid 2009 goodbye, we continue to pursue our virtual protests, some of which were a success (in my opinion) such as '404,' and the solidarity campaign with our fellow blogger 'Fatma Arabicca'."

"Surely, this is no occasion to start telling stories," adds the blogger. "After all, the blog needs to be semi-blank as the title indicates (may the blogger keep it alive for as long as possible). So, by the word of Progressive Libre, this semi-blank post promotes freedom of expression and blogging. We are thus seizing this opportunity to protest the conditions of Tunisian bloggers through our virtual community."

Boukornine, another blogger, writes, "Try to squash a blogger, and you'll see a thousand others spring up overnight. Try to silence the voice of truth, and you'll see that your efforts are to no avail." In the same vein, several other blank blogs present readers with posts in protest against efforts to block their colleagues' work.

The issue of arrested students found its way to one of the blogs that reads, "On December 21st, a verdict was issued against Tunisian students in what came to be known as the 'Manouba students case'.

"Students were arrested for no other reason than staging a sit-in in front of a university dormitory as a final resort to demanding the right of their female classmates to dorms," writes the blogger in A Tunisian Girl. "Among the students who were tried in court were four girls, each of whom was sentenced to a year in prison."

"Ironically, on December 10th, the world celebrated the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," adds the blogger. "December 17th also marked the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Human and women's rights, however, continue to be violated. Even more ironic is the fact that the sentences passed against students coincided with the UN endorsing Tunisia's initiative to proclaim 2010 an International Youth Year!"

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/blog/2010/01/19/feature-02.

Mauritania, Salafists hold first-ever reconciliation talks

2010-01-19

Mauritania on Monday (January 18th) opened the nation's first "spiritual dialogue" with Salafist inmates at the central prison of Nouakchott, local and international press reported. "This meeting aims to outline the best ways to achieve civil peace in a country known for tolerance, openness and forgiveness" Islamic Affairs Minister Ahmed Ould Nini said at the opening ceremony.

While 47 prisoners say they support dialogue and repentance in order to preserve national stability, the remaining 20 inmates are opposed to the talks. Their leader, Khadim Ould Semane, has been jailed since 2008 for the murder of a French tourist family. "The elements of this more radical second trend know that al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb requested their release in exchange for the Spanish hostages. They are not relying on dialogue to get out of prison, they rely on AQIM," Journal Tahalil quoted one observer as saying.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/01/19/newsbrief-01.

Algerian vendors flock to Sudan trade fair

2010-01-19

An upcoming international trade fair in Khartoum will see a record number of Algerian vendors, APS reported on Tuesday (January 19th). Some 40 Algerian companies are scheduled to participate in the one-week Sudanese event, set to begin on February 1st. "The surge in the number of Algerian enterprises…shows the excellent level of the political relations between Algeria and Sudan, and also the economic potentialities of this country," said Mouloud Slimani of the Algerian Fairs and Exhibitions Company (SAFEX).

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/01/19/newsbrief-05.

Moroccan UN Haiti mission staff unhurt

Four Moroccan nationals working for the UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti (MINUSTAH) are safe and well, MAP reported on Monday (January 18th). The Moroccan survivors of last week's catastrophic earthquake were identified as MINUSTAH staff member Mohamed Cherkaoui Malki and volunteers Azzouz El Ben Mouaffaq, Nabil Morchid and Bouchra Zejjaji. "I have never seen anything like that," Malki told MAP. "It's a disaster."

MINUSTAH head and veteran Tunisian diplomat Hedi Annabi was among dozens of UN staffers killed when their Port-au-Prince headquarters collapsed during the 7.0-magnitude earthquake.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/01/19/newsbrief-02.

West Sahara wavers between dream of peace and threat of war - Feature

Madrid/Rabat (Earth Times) - After 35 years of a fruitless struggle to solve one of the world's longest-running conflicts, is the deadlock over Western Sahara finally be about to be broken?"We are optimistic," says Bucharaya Beyun, the delegate to Spain of the Polisario Front, which seeks the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco.

Analysts in Morocco and in the West also see signs of movement in the conflict, though it is uncertain where they will lead.

The Western Sahara conflict has led to icy relations between Morocco and Polisario backer Algeria, increasing regional tension, hampering economic development and cooperation against terrorism.

It has also had a high direct cost for the international community, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on maintaining the UN's MINURSO (Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) peacekeeping force in Western Sahara.

However, the conflict has not been rated important enough for the international community to press for a solution, creating a stalemate which many see as acting in Morocco's favor.

"Morocco will never be able to impose a solution which is not accepted by the Saharans," Beyun countered in an interview with the German Press Agency dpa.

The conflict erupted in 1975, when colonial power Spain ceded Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania as Spain's dictator Francisco Franco lay dying.

A war launched by Polisario contributed to driving Mauritania out in 1979, and Morocco snatched its share of the desert territory rich in phosphates and fisheries.

Polisario's 16-year war against Morocco ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991, but the planned referendum on independence was never put into practice by Morocco, which regards the control over Western Sahara as one of the cornerstones of its nationalism.

At least 80,000 Saharans continue to languish in Algerian refugee camps while the majority of Western Sahara's more than 200,000 residents are now settlers or descendants of settlers of Moroccan origin.

Several UN envoys have thrown in the towel, and the main international powers have begun showing an increasing interest in the new solution proposed by Morocco: autonomy instead of independence for Western Sahara.

Morocco recently launched a decentralization plan aimed at devolving powers from Rabat to the country's 16 regions. Western Sahara would be among the first regions to profit from the measure, King Mohammed VI promised.

The extent of the autonomy is to be negotiated, but Rabat is promising to give Western Sahara extensive self-government including its own parliament and prime minister.

Economic self-government might reduce the high cost of the Sahara for Morocco, analysts said.

The country struggling with widespread poverty currently invests about 3 per cent of its gross domestic product in infrastructure, economic incentives and in maintaining a military contingent of about 150,000 soldiers in the region, reported Morroco's weekly Tel Quel.

Former UN Sahara envoy Peter van Walsum backed the autonomy proposal as a realistic solution. "France also sides with Morocco, while Spain maintains an ambiguous language," Beyun observes.

Both countries are reluctant to risk problems with Rabat, a key Western ally in the fight against terrorism and illegal immigration.

The administration of previous US president George W Bush also appeared favorable to the autonomy proposal, but Bush's successor Barack Obama is seen as having taken a more reserved stance.

That has raised new hopes in the ranks of Polisario, which rejects the Moroccan decentralization project as a hoax aimed at "tricking the international community" into shelving the UN referendum plan.

Rabat sees Polisario as representing the interests of an Algeria seeking a gateway to the sea.

The Western Sahara conflict made headlines during the recent hunger strike in Spain of pro-independence activist Aminatou Haidar, whom Morocco had barred from entering the Saharan capital Laayoun.

After Haidar was finally allowed to return to Laayoun in December, the situation there is tense, with Morocco keeping activists under virtual house arrest, according to Spanish reports.

Seven Sahara activists are also facing military trial in Morocco. International human rights groups have earlier documented torture and unjustified jail sentences being handed to activists, though Rabat denies human rights abuses.

UN Western Sahara envoy Christopher Ross is planning to try to launch a new round of negotiations between Polisario and Morocco in late January or early February, according to Beyun.

The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic is recognized by over 40 countries, but Beyun believes Rabat will not even discuss the option of an independent Sahara, a situation that could lead to a new war.

"Saharans have been very patient," Beyun said, "but they are not going to stay with their arms crossed."

Two Kurdish sisters face political trial in Syria

Syrian Committee for Human Rights-MAD

A Kurdish woman, Asmia Mourad Sami from Girke Lege in the Kurdish region of Syria, has been arrested. She is a married woman and mother of eight children. She was summoned to the Political Security branch Fayha, in Damascus on Wednesday 06 January 2010. She has not returned home yet and there has been no news about her.

It is worth noting that Mrs.Asmia Mourad Sami was arrested on 16 August 2009 along with her sister, Aihan Mourad Sami, by Political Security in Hassakeh province. They were released a month later by the individual military judge in Qamishli, and the case has been listed for trial on 17 January 2010. The prosecution has brought charges against them of belonging to a political organization that is prohibited, this being Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Syrian Committee for Human Rights – MAD condemns arrests and detentions on the grounds of political affiliations, as this is illegal. We condemn detentions and abuses by use of the powers under Emergency Law as these break international laws that uphold liberty. We demand the release of all political prisoners, and that these abusive practices are stopped as they are contrary to human rights as defined by international law. We demand the abolition of special courts and the ending of the State of Emergency in Syria.

Source: Kurdish Media.
Link: http://www.kurdmedia.com/article.aspx?id=16179.

U.S. Slows Down Military Aid To Lebanon

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has reduced the pace of military and security assistance to Lebanon, a report said.

A report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace asserted that Lebanon has received less than half of the original $410 million in U.S. security assistance pledged in 2006. Authored by Palestinian analyst Yezid Sayigh, the report said the U.S. military program has been hampered by lack of Lebanese planning as well as turf battles between the Defense Department and the State Department.

Source: Middle East Newsline.
Link: http://www.menewsline.com/article-1173,18689-U-S-Slows-Down-Military-Aid-To-L.aspx.

Obama's First Year: High Hopes, Harsh Reality

President Barack Obama's victory walk down Pennsylvania Avenue after his swearing-in last January was probably the last time he's been able to breathe easy and just enjoy himself.

Since then, the 44th president of the United States has been on a roller coaster ride even more turbulent than the usual collision with reality experienced by his predecessors in their first years. Though Obama remains popular with a majority of Americans, he's been battered by obstructionist Republicans, vilified by Tea Party activists and condemned by disappointed progressives. And his biggest legislative agenda -- health care reform -- has been stripped of its essential elements on its way through Congress.

Obama's fate will largely be determined by the state of the economy, with rising unemployment and the bailout of the country's biggest banks fueling bipartisan outrage. By continuing Bush's unpopular TARP program to give trillions to financial institutions that helped cause the financial crisis and surrounding himself with economic advisers allied with Wall Street, the president has angered both conservatives and liberals. And since his stimulus and mortgage modification programs have failed to stem, respectively, the unemployment and foreclosure rates, a growing number of Americans feel that Obama's policies favor Wall Street over Main Street. The president's push for financial regulatory reform, including the creation of a consumer finance protection agency, is in danger of being substantially weakened in Congress.

The other major issue that looms over the administration -- and it's also one inherited from the previous administration -- is the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan and the president's decision to increase the amount of U.S. troops in that lethal conflict. As American and Afghan casualties mount, more voices in both parties are raising concerns about the necessity of the war and express the fear that the U.S. will be doomed to fighting in Afghanistan for many years to come.

In addition, in the wake of the national security system's failure to prevent the botched Christmas Day airline bombing by a Yemeni-trained jihadist, national security concerns are taking on a bigger role in the fate of the administration. Though Obama has succeeded in changing the tone on national security and outlining a new multilateral approach to foreign affairs, his administration's decision to continue many Bush-era policies -- from warrantless surveillance to refusing to release information on past detainee policies -- has raised eyebrows among those who voted for him. This Friday marks the date by which Obama promised last January to close Guantanamo, but the facility remains nowhere near being shut down.

Yet Obama has undoubtedly created a different climate in Washington -- one based on reasonable discussion and debate -- and expressed a desire to work with the international community, as he has eloquently articulated in his speeches abroad. On national security, the president has largely made decisions through thoughtful consideration of the different perspectives rather than the stubbornly instinctive decisions of his predecessor. On the environment, his administration represents a radical change from the Bush era and has resurrected important regulations that were dismantled by the previous president. Despite criticism that health care reform has been watered down by industry interests and political deal-making, the very fact that the issue is being taken seriously in the Oval Office after years of inertia and is on the cusp of insuring millions of low-income Americans is, in itself, a victory.

Will Obama fulfill the promise of his presidency, learn from his rookie mistakes and have the courage to make the tough decisions needed to move the country forward? Or will he favor compromise over leadership, squander his popularity and cave to the powerful interests gathered against him? It's all up to him -- and to Americans to push him to make the right decisions.

US food giant Kraft to swallow up Britain's Cadbury - Summary

London - US giant Kraft Foods, one of the world's biggest food companies, said Tuesday it had reached a deal worth 11.5 billion pounds (19 billion dollars) to swallow up Cadbury, the iconic British chocolate maker founded in 1824. As a bitter six-month takeover battle came to an end, Kraft said it believed that the link-up would create a "global confectionery leader" with a portfolio of 40 brands - including such well-known products as Toblerone, Oreos and Cadbury's Dairy Milk.

Cadbury's board advised shareholders to accept the new offer, which was about 1 billion pounds more than the initial bid made by Kraft late last year and values the British firm at 840 pence a share. In trading in London Tuesday, Cadbury shares were up by 3.5 per cent.

Shareholders have until February 2 to back the deal that is set to end Cadbury's history as an independent company dating back to 1824.

"We have great respect for Cadbury's brands, heritage and people. We believe they will thrive as part of Kraft Foods," said Irene Rosenfeld, chief executive of Kraft Foods in a statement released by both firms.

Kraft Foods and Cadbury had a "highly complementary geographic footprint, enabling the combined group to attain a leading position in developing markets, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and Mexico, the statement said.

Roger Carr, chairman of Cadbury, said that Kraft's improved offer represented "good value for Cadbury shareholders" while the British firm was "pleased" with the commitment the US conglomerate had made to its "heritage."

Earlier, reports said Cadbury, the British confectioner founded by John Cadbury, a Quaker, in Birmingham 180 years ago, had agreed to the improved offer after a "frantic night of negotiations."

Cadbury had initially bitterly resisted the approaches by the US giant, saying it "seriously undervalued" the British firm which it hoped to "acquire on the cheap."

In December, Kraft filed a hostile takeover bid for Cadbury, after the British company's board rejected a 10.4-billion-pound offer, snubbing Kraft's previous offer of 769 pence as "derisory."

Cadbury's management attempted to mobilize US chocolate maker The Hershey Company and Italy's Ferrero SpA to counter Kraft's offer, but failed to get sufficient finance.

Kraft's brands range from Philadelphia Cream Cheese to Milka chocolate, while Cadbury produces its signature Dairy Chocolate and Bourneville brands.

The EU's competition watchdogs are expected to order Cadbury to sell part of its chocolate business in Eastern Europe if the merger goes through.

Kraft and Cadbury's joint sales would amount to some 72 billion dollars, closing up to world market leader, Switzerland's Nestle SA.

Nestle is taking over Kraft's frozen pizza unit, which the US company sold to be able to finance the Cadbury deal. Reports in Britain said Kraft will borrow 7 billion pound to finance the deal.

However, the deal comes with risks for Kraft, which is facing resistance from stakeholders, including Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, the company's largest shareholder, who worry that Kraft is paying too much for Cadbury.

In Britain, one of Cadbury's biggest shareholders, insurer Standard Life, indicated that it would agree to the deal despite earlier reservations over the price tag.

"Kraft are getting a good deal. It's sad that Cadbury is gone, but business is business," David Cumming, head of equities at Standard Life told the BBC.

Britain's Unite trade union said it estimated that 7,000 jobs at Cadbury's could be threatened as Kraft had given "no specific assurances" over jobs.

Cadbury employs just under 6,000 staff in Britain and Ireland and a further 40,000 in 60 countries around the world. Kraft, founded as a cheese wholesaler in Illinois in 1903, has 98,000 employees and 168 manufacturing and processing sites around the world.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304651,us-food-giant-kraft-to-swallow-up-britains-cadbury--summary.html.

Cruise ships arrive as Haiti suffers - Feature

Hamburg - Cruise ships are disgorging tourists to relax on Haiti's spectacular sandy beaches as the Caribbean nation struggles to cope with a devastating earthquake. Vessels of the US-operated Royal Caribbean International (RCI) are berthing at the relatively unscathed resort of Labadee on the north of Haiti as the capital, Port-au-Prince, sinks in chaos.

In its publicity brochure, the shipping line offers tourists their own "private paradise" where they can swim, take it easy or go scuba diving against a "breathtaking background."

Luxury liners arrive on different days in Labadee and spend several hours at private beaches screened from the violence and poverty that dominates the rest of the country.

A high fence and armed security guards ensure the cruise ship passengers can enjoy their cocktails or take jet ski rides in the calm of the picturesque bay.

The cruise operator says it has no reason to avoid Haiti because of the earthquake. On the contrary, staying away would add to the hardships facing Haitians.

"Being on the island and generating economic activity ... helps with relief while being somewhere else does not help," says RCI chief executive Adam Goldstein in his blog www.nationofwhynot.com/blog.

"Also, the north is going to bear a good part of the burden of the agony of the south, and the more economic support there is to the north, the better able the north will be to bear this burden.

"People enjoying themselves in Labadee helps with relief," Goldstein says.

Three Royal Caribbean liners are paying or have paid calls this week to Labadee, just a few kilometres from the port city of Cap- Haitien.

The Navigator of the Seas dropped anchor on Monday, followed a day later by the Liberty of the Seas. On Friday a visit is planned by Celebrity Solstice, operated RCI subsidiary Celebrity Cruises Haiti.

The Liberty of the Seas has berths for 3,600 passengers, the other two for 3,000 each. RCI declined to say how many passengers were actually on board this week or whether their had been cancellations because of the January 12 earthquake.

Since last week, the cruise liners have been carrying relief supplies of drinking water, bread, rice and powdered milk, which are then sent to Port-au-Prince, 260 kilometres to the south.

RCI also said it had donated 1 million dollars to organizations involved in the relief effort.

Although the cruise operator is determined to stick to Labadee, some passengers have expressed their reservations about such trips in internet forums.

"I can't imagine eating a hamburger there in such a situation," wrote one guest.

Another said he couldn't bear to lay on the beach or splash in the water, while elsewhere "tens of thousands of corpses were piled on the streets and survivors fight for food and water."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304658,cruise-ships-arrive-as-haiti-suffers--feature.html.

Spain plans to cut pay of air controllers

Madrid - Spanish Infrastructure Minister Jose Blanco on Tuesday announced plans to cut the pay of the country's air-traffic controllers. Some air-traffic controllers working overtime can earn as much as 900,000 euros (1.3 million dollars) annually.

The average salary is around 350,000 euros - considerably higher than in France or Germany.

Cutting the pay of the 2,400 air controllers to an average of 200,000 euros will make it possible to slash aviation taxes by 15 per cent, making Spain's loss-making airports more competitive, Blanco said.

Even after the cut, the controllers will earn three times as much as doctors and judges and "two and half times as much as this minister," Blanco said.

Despite the pay, the controllers staged a work-to-rule late last year, causing flight delays during the Christmas period.

The controllers said they were working on reduced staff because some of them were sick while others had cut overtime.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304663,spain-plans-to-cut-pay-of-air-controllers.html.

Ukrainian elections 'quite a victory,' Poland says

Warsaw - Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Tuesday that recent presidential elections in Ukraine were "quite a victory" that gave the nation stronger ties to the democratic world. The election "creates prospects for the deepening of relations between Ukraine and the world of democracy, of human rights," Sikorski said at a press conference in Warsaw.

"Poland wants to have the best possible relations with every democratically-elected Ukrainian president," Sikorski said, saying Poland would continue to support Ukrainian aspirations for European Union and NATO membership if that was the country's will.

Sunday's presidential elections in Ukraine were conducted in a free and fair manner, European observers said in a statement Monday that was quickly praised by the European Union.

According to preliminary results, former pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich leads the field with 35.3 per cent of the vote. He is set to go into a runoff on February 7 with the current head of government, Yulia Tymoshenko, who received 24.9 per cent.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304665,ukrainian-elections-quite-a-victory-poland-says.html.

EU foreign policy chief blasted by MEPs for not flying to Haiti

Brussels - The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, claimed there was no immediate need for her to travel to earthquake-hit Haiti, as she fended off criticism from members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Tuesday. Several MEPs intervened in a debate in Strasbourg asking why Ashton did not visit the country while US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was there on Saturday.

"I had nothing to contribute on the ground, other than to take up valuable airspace," Ashton answered.

"I am not a doctor, I am not a firefighter, my role is to bring together efforts," she insisted.

The EU's foreign policy director, faced with the international first crisis since she took up her duties in December, is scheduled to travel to the United States on Wednesday, where she is expected to meet Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

The EU's commissioner for humanitarian aid, Karel De Gucht, also took part in the debate. He urged parliament to be more generous in recognizing the efforts put in place by the EU's executive and by its member states.

De Gucht, who is due to arrive in Haiti on Thursday for a 2-day visit, claimed that MEPs did "not pay enough tribute to all the people who have been working since day one in Brussels and on the spot."

In an emergency meeting in Brussels on Monday, the EU pledged over 400 million euros (575 million dollars) in immediate and long-term aid, and "expressed a desire to contribute" to a paramilitary police force which the UN has informally requested to help restore order in the country.

Ashton "paid tribute" to the efforts of officials, national governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), but recognized that "it should and it must get better and better, we should do more in the future to pull together."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304672,eu-foreign-policy-chief-blasted-by-meps-for-not-flying.html.

British court rules against couple with Cyprus home

London/Athens - A court in London ruled Tuesday that a British couple with a dream villa on the northern side of the divided island of Cyprus must return the contested property to the original owner. The Appeal court in London said that David and Linda Orams, of Hove, in the southern county of Sussex, must obey orders issued in a court ruling in Nicosia and hand back the villa they built in the Turkish Cypriot part of the island in 2002.

The original owner of the land, Greek Cypriot Meltis Apostolides, was forced to flee to the southern part of the island after Turkey invaded in 1974 in response to a Greek-led coup.

The Court of Appeal, rejecting claims that the judge had close links to the Republic of Cyprus and was biased, upheld an earlier ruling by the European Court of Justice decision against the Orams.

The court ruled that Aposolides remained the rightful owner of the property and the British couple was ordered to give the property back as well as to pay Apostolides damages.

Apostolides expressed satisfaction with the court's decision saying, saying "it is a very good and just decision."

The Court of Appeal's decision could affect hundreds who purchased land in northern Cyprus that once belonged to Cypriots who fled the occupation.

Cyprus has been been split since 1974, ever since Turkey invaded the northern third of Cyprus in response to a Greek-inspired coup.

Greek Cypriots currently live in the south of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriots in the north, divided by a United Nations-supervised buffer zone, or No Man's Land - which runs through the heart of Nicosia.

Intensive peace talks between Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, which began in September 2008, are underway with the hope that 2010 will be the year that the Cyprus problem is finally solved.

Experts have expressed fears that the two leaders have little time left, with elections in the occupied northern part of the island expected to bring to power a hardliner.

More than 60 per cent of the property in the north once belonged to Greek Cypriots and leaders from both communities have suggested that much of their differences lie on how to deal with the thousands of property claims from people uprooted in past conflicts.

EU officials have said that progress at the Cyprus reunification talks will be essential to move Turkey's slow-moving EU accession process forward.

Although the peace talks and Turkey's EU membership negotiations are separate processes, a breakthrough on one is likely to have a positive impact on the other.

Talks are focusing on power-sharing under a future federal structure, the economy, property and EU issues.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304676,british-court-rules-against-couple-with-cyprus-home.html.

Hundreds Displaced By Gaza Flood

Dozens of Palestinian homes were flooded in the Gaza Valley area on Monday evening, and hundreds of families were rendered homeless after Israel opened one of its dams that were overfilled with heavy rain water.

Local civil defense teams, and medics of the Military Medical Services in Gaza, rushed to rescue the flooded area and rescued seven residents who reached a near death situation they were swept away by the flood.

The Civil Defense teams said that this was a deliberate Israeli attempt to flood the area after the Israeli authorities opened the dams allowing the water through.

Adham Abu Salima, media spokesperson of the Military Medical Services in Gaza, stated that the efforts are still ongoing to rescue the families that became homeless due to the flood.

Dozens of families were moved to secured areas and received the needed aid and medical attention.

Abu Salima stated that approximately 100 families were flooded, and that the Israeli aggression and war left hundreds of home vulnerable to any natural disaster.

Dozens of homes were vacated in Juhr Al Deek area, and areas surrounding the Gaza Valley due to the flood.

Last year, the same area was flooded leading to destruction of property and several casualties.

Source: International Middle East Media Center.
Link: http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57674.

Go home US military: Haiti doesn't need anymore pain!

By Ezili Danto

18 January, 2010 — HLLN

The media called, Part 3: Haitians need Emergency Rescue and Relief not Military Invasion I say, by Ezili Dantò/HLLN

We’ve beaten back the elite’s rabid rage before. We know the game and Haitians will do everything to force them to retreat. The US is not hiding its imperialism behind the UN anymore. Its come out into the light. Right now you need State Department clearance to land in Haiti. Don’t despair my people. The issue is not emergency rescue anymore. Emergency is immediate, it’s within 48 hours. That’s over. The people who could have been saved under the rubble and metal have mostly died. Now it’s about medical relief, healing and rebuilding. Haitians can do that by themselves with the help of the world that wants to send monies to Haiti for the earthquake victims.

International assistance has never helped Haiti’s poor and it’s not helping the bulk of the earthquake survivors right now. Mostly the more privilege classes, as per usual:

"search-and-rescue operations have been intensely focused on buildings with international aid workers, such as the crushed U.N. headquarters, and on large hotels with international clientele. Some international rescue workers said they are being sent to find foreign nationals first…For better or worse, it will likely be the residents of Petionville who through their government connections, trading companies and interconnected family businesses will receive a large portion of U.S. and international aid and reconstruction money… They only give the aid money to the same big families, over and over. So I ask, what is the point? They have given money to these families to help Haiti for 50 years, and look at Haiti. I say the Americans need to make up a new list." (Haiti’ elite spared from much of the devastation )

It’s not just Haitian doctors, nurses and other first responders who are being blocked as the US takes control of the airport and uses it for evacuating foreign nationals and bring in US military, CARICOM is also blocked. Like during Katrina, there’s no simultaneous rescue of rich and poor alike. It’s Monday, six days after the earthquake hit and the bulk of Haiti’s earthquake victims still await aid – have received no water, food, medicine, treatment or their areas sent significant search and rescue teams. The airport is being used to evacuate foreign nationals and bring in US military. These planes loaded with Haitian doctors and nurses and other first responders may have gone to the poorer areas, but are being turned back. The US has prioritized landing military and evacuating the privilege few in Haiti.

The lives of the poor are valuable also. "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" – Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Go home US military. Please. And take the UN occupation forces and the false aid NGOs with you. Take France with you and let them know Haitians want the Independence Debt back! Officially 50,000 corpses have been retrieved and the HLLN estimates are that perhaps 1/3rd of Port-au-Prince’s 3 million people are dead. The US cannot provide rescue to the dead or relief to the survivors by the point of a gun. So leave.

Let the 4 million Haitians in the Diaspora land in Haiti and take care of their own. Haitians doctors, nurses and public health officials hold up the public health system in New York and in Miami. We can go and give medical relief to our own in solidarity with individuals of good will, from all the races and nations, who will work directly with the Haitian government and us, the people of Haiti. Now that the US and Western countries have flown out their citizens, let us Haitians from abroad land in Haiti. Let us heal our people, our family, our homeland. Please go home President Obama, Clinton and Bush and take you’re 10,000 US soldiers and your 9,000 soldiers and the NGOs and USAID with you. Kindly. Haiti doesn’t need any military help or rescue. We are not in conflict with anyone. Haitians are not a violent people; history has shown that despite the media lies and racist propaganda. There’s MORE violence in Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Mexico, Columbia, even in the United States than there is in Haiti . The Haitian civilian rescue teams who have been rescuing the earthquake victims have been doing a good job. They need our support, better equipment and supplies not Pentagon guns. Please hear us.

When the Haitians at the airport refused to give up their post to the US military, the US Southern Command went to President Preval and put a paper in front of him to sign giving them authority. Preval is NOT the Haitian government. The Prime Minister is alive and in the coming week we shall know how many of the legislators have survived. The authority given does not have the people’s consent – a good indication of this is that the Haitians at the airport had to be forcibly removed. The Haitian Diaspora cannot reach their own. That’s why I’m writing this to the world. Talking to the world.

Go away! please. – Haiti doesn’t need anymore pain

We ask every one who stand in solidarity with the nation of Haiti and the long suffering peoples of Haiti and the earthquake victims to talk to your representatives – this is a bipartisan invasion of the most fragile country at a time when its people need medical care and release from pain. How diabolical is it, that Obama sent it more pain? Talk to your representatives. They are acting in YOUR NAME. If we do not talk to them, they shall take us for fools and idiots and go ahead with their proposed genocidal plans of plunder and pillage Haiti in plain site, as opposed to how they were doing it before – behind the UN occupation and false organized benevolence. Go away please and release the airport so Haitians can land to do the necessary." (Excerpted from: The media called (Part 3): Haitians need Emergency Rescue and Relief not Military Invasion I say, by Ezili Dantò/HLLN)

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=62314&s2=20.

Crews pull more Haiti quake survivors from ruins

By ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A 69-year-old ardent Roman Catholic who said she prayed constantly during her week under the rubble was among the unlikely survivors of the epic Haitian earthquake.

One full week after the magnitude-7 quake killed an estimated 200,000, left 250,000 injured and made 1.5 million homeless, search-and-rescue teams were emerging from the ruins with improbable success stories. Experts have said that without water, buried quake victims were unlikely to survive beyond three days.

Ena Zizi had been at a church meeting at the residence of Haiti's Roman Catholic archbishop when the quake struck, trapping her in debris. On Tuesday, she was rescued by a Mexican disaster team that was created in the wake of Mexico City's 1985 earthquake.

Zizi said that after the quake, she spoke back and forth with a vicar who also was trapped. But after a few days, he fell silent, and she spent the rest of the time praying and waiting.

"I talked only to my boss, God," she said. "And I didn't need any more humans."

Doctors who examined Zizi on Tuesday said she was dehydrated and had a dislocated hip and a broken leg.

"I'm all right, sort of," she said, lying on a foil thermal blanket outside the Cuban hospital, her gray hair covered in white dust.

Elsewhere in the capital, two women were pulled from a destroyed university building. And near midnight Tuesday, a smiling and singing 26-year-old Lozama Hotteline was carried to safety from a collapsed store in the Petionville neighborhood by the French aid group Rescuers Without Borders.

Crews at the cathedral compound site Tuesday managed to recover the body of the archbishop, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, who was killed in the Jan. 12 quake.

Authorities said close to 100 people had been pulled from wrecked buildings by international search-and-rescue teams. Efforts continued, with dozens of teams sifting through Port-au-Prince's crumbled homes and buildings for signs of life.

But the good news was overshadowed by the frustrating fact that the world still can't get enough food and water to the hungry and thirsty.

"We need so much. Food, clothes, we need everything. I don't know whose responsibility it is, but they need to give us something soon," said Sophia Eltime, a 29-year-old mother of two who has been living under a bedsheet with seven members of her extended family.

The World Food Program said more than 250,000 ready-to-eat food rations had been distributed in Haiti by Tuesday, reaching only a fraction of the 3 million people thought to be in desperate need. There have been anecdotal reports of starvation among the old and infirm, but apparently no widespread starvation yet.

The WFP said it needs to deliver 100 million ready-to-eat rations in the next 30 days. Based on pledges from the United States, Italy and Denmark, it has 16 million in the pipeline.

Even as U.S. troops landed in Seahawk helicopters Tuesday on the manicured lawn of the ruined National Palace, the colossal efforts to help Haiti were proving inadequate because of the scale of the disaster and the limitations of the world's governments. Expectations exceeded what money, will and military might have been able to achieve.

So far, international relief efforts have been unorganized, disjointed and insufficient to satisfy the great need. Doctors Without Borders says a plane carrying urgently needed surgical equipment and drugs has been turned away five times, even though the agency received advance authorization to land.

A statement from Partners in Health, co-founded by the deputy U.N. envoy to Haiti, Dr. Paul Farmer, said the group's medical director estimated 20,000 people are dying each day who could be saved by surgery. No details were provided on how the figure was determined.

"TENS OF THOUSANDS OF EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS NEED EMERGENCY SURGICAL CARE NOW!!!!!" Farmer said in the statement.

The reasons are varied:

• Both national and international authorities suffered great losses in the quake, taking out many of the leaders best suited to organize a response.

• Woefully inadequate infrastructure and a near-complete failure in telephone and Internet communications complicate efforts to reach millions of people forced from homes turned into piles of rubble.

• Fears of looting and violence keep aid groups and governments from moving as quickly as they'd like.

• Pre-existing poverty and malnutrition put some at risk even before the quake hit.

Governments have pledged nearly $1 billion in aid, and thousands of tons of food and medical supplies have been shipped. But much remains trapped in warehouses, or diverted to the neighboring Dominican Republic. The nonfunctioning seaport and impassable roads complicate efforts to get aid to the people.

Aid is being turned back from the single-runway airport, where the U.S. military has been criticized by some of poorly prioritizing flights. The U.S. Air Force said Tuesday it had raised the facility's daily capacity from 30 flights before the quake to 180 on Tuesday.

About 2,200 U.S. Marines established a beachhead west of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday to help speed aid delivery, in addition to 9,000 Army soldiers already on the ground. Lt. Cmdr. Walter Matthews, a U.S. military spokesman, said helicopters were ferrying aid from the airport into Port-au-Prince and the nearby town of Jacmel as fast as they could.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that the military will send a port-clearing ship with cranes aboard to Port-au-Prince. It will be used to remove debris that is preventing many larger ships carrying relief supplies from docking, and it could help get the port back in operation within a week or two, Gates said.

The U.N. was sending in reinforcements as well: The Security Council voted Tuesday to add 2,000 peacekeepers to the 7,000 already in Haiti, and 1,500 more police to the 2,100-strong international force.

"The floodgates for aid are starting to open," Matthews said at the airport. "In the first few days, you're limited by manpower, but we're starting to bring people in."

The WFP's Alain Jaffre said the U.N. agency was starting to find its stride after distribution problems, and hoped to help 100,000 people by Wednesday.

Hanging over the entire effort was an overwhelming fear among relief officials that Haitians' desperation would boil over into violence.

"We've very concerned about the level of security we need around our people when we're doing distributions," said Graham Tardif, who heads disaster-relief efforts for the charity World Vision. The U.N., the U.S. government and other organizations echoed such fears.

Occasionally, those fears have been borne out. Looters rampaged through part of downtown Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, just four blocks from where U.S. troops landed at the presidential palace.

Hundreds of looters fought over bolts of cloth and other goods with broken bottles and clubs.

"That is how it is. There is nothing we can do," said Haitian police officer Arina Bence, who was trying to keep civilians out of the looting zone for their own safety.

Haitian Police Chief Mario Andersol said he could muster only 2,000 of the 4,500 officers in the capital and said even they "are not trained to deal with this kind of situation."

US defense secretary urges closer military ties with India

New Delhi - United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates Tuesday called for closer military ties with India to confront security challenges in South Asia. Gates said defense ties between the two countries had made remarkable strides in recent years, explaining that his two-day trip would focus on strengthening relations, PTI news agency reported.

"We are halfway through the 10-year agreement that was signed in 2005 and there will be a further review of the progress we are making in expanding the relationship, whether its training exercises, defense trade and so on," Gates was quoted as telling reporters during his flight to India.

Gates is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the ministers of defense and foreign affairs.

He said Afghanistan would be an important part of his talks with Indian leaders.

"We will obviously talk about the situation in Afghanistan and I will be interested in their further views of the new strategy that the United States, the president (Barack Obama), has approved and the measures that he announced at West Point (in December)."

Gates published an opinion piece in the Times of India newspaper Tuesday outlining the security threats of the 21st century, and suggested new opportunities for the US and India to work together.

"I arrive in New Delhi today believing firmly that we must seize these opportunities because the peace and security of South Asia is critical not just to this region, but also to the entire international community," Gates wrote.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304562,us-defence-secretary-urges-closer-military-ties-with-india.html.

H1N1 swine flu hoax falls apart at the seams

(NaturalNews) The great swine flu hoax of 2009 is now falling apart at the seams as one country after another unloads hundreds of millions of doses of unused swine flu vaccines. No informed person wants the injection anymore, and the entire fear-based campaign to promote the vaccines has now been exposed as outright quackery and propaganda.

Even doctors are now calling the pandemic a complete hoax. As reported on FoxNews, Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, a leading health authority in Europe, says that drug companies "organized a 'campaign of panic' to put pressure on the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic. He believes it is 'one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century,' and he has called for an inquiry."

H1N1 swine flu was never dangerous, and it never should have been escalated to a level-six pandemic in the first place. It was all a big marketing scam whose purpose was to simply sell vaccines. (And the CDC and WHO were in on it...)

And it worked! Big Pharma made out with billions of dollars in profits for a useless vaccine that's now being dumped by the truck load. These vaccines were, of course, paid for with taxpayer dollars, making the Great Swine Flu Hoax of 2009 nothing more than an elaborate financial scam whose goal was to transfer wealth from the People to the shareholders of Big Pharma.

In just the fourth quarter of 2009, GlaxoSmithKline shipped $1.4 billion worth of vaccines.

That's $1.4 billion worth of taxpayer dollars, by the way. Dollars that could have been spent on nutrition or real health education. $1.4 billion worth of free vitamin D supplements would have done far more to protect public health than vaccines could ever hope to accomplish.

A bailout for Big Pharma
Wall Street hucksters have nothing on Big Pharma, the CDC and the WHO, all of which conspired to mislead the public and generate irrational fear in order to make money selling people vaccine shots they never needed in the first place.

The drug companies raked in billions of dollars in revenues while providing a product that offered absolutely no net reduction in mortality. In fact, as the long-term side effects of the vaccines remain unknown, it could turn out that the vaccines actually result in a net increase in mortality.

Meanwhile, countless people were harmed by the swine flu vaccine frenzy (it's "countless" because nobody's counting). In addition to those who were nearly paralyzed after receiving the vaccine shots, grade school students in Massachusetts who lined up to receive swine flu vaccine shots were instead injected with insulin. (Insulin injections can put you into a coma.)

The school sent a letter home to students blaming the mishap on the school nurse. But if they weren't injecting these kids with a useless vaccine for a non-pandemic, none of this would have happened in the first place.

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/027984_swine_flu_vaccines.html.

Palestinians in Gaza donate to Haiti

18/01

It might be one of the world’s poorest areas, besieged by its neighbor Israel, but Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have been donating what little they have to help those struck by the earthquake in Haiti.

Among the donations collected by a Red Cross representative: toys, toiletries and sweets – small luxuries that Gazans know only too well can brighten spirits in the face of devastation. Some also gave money.

Dr Jamal Khudari, from the Palestinian Committee against the Siege said: “It’s a symbolic donation for the people of Haiti, for the children of Haiti, to tell them that we feel the suffering.”

There are ruins in the Gaza Strip reminiscent of the scenes in Haiti. These were not caused by a natural disaster, but by bombs and shells in Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza, which drew to a close a year ago. Israel blamed attacks by militants for sparking the offensive.

The reason for the destruction might be different, but Palestinians say they understand Haiti’s pain.

Source: Euronews.
Link: http://www.euronews.net/2010/01/18/earthquake-in-haiti-palestinians-in-gaza-donate-to-haiti/.