DDMA Headline Animator

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Taiwan, China to start talks on free trade agreement

Taipei - Taiwan and China will begin negotiations next week on a free trade pact in Beijing next week, authorities said Sunday. The first round of talks on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement is scheduled for Tuesday at the Diaoyutai Hotel. It will set the agenda for future talks, the Straits Exchange Foundation said in a statement.

China's free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asians became effective on January 1. Beijing and Taipei are now seeking to sign a pact to open up cross-strait trade with reduced tariffs, the statement said.

Taiwan officials hope to sign the deal by May, which they said could also remove obstacles blocking the island from entering into free trade agreements with other countries that recognize China.

Taiwan is recognized by only 23 countries and has signed trade pacts with five of them.

Taipei is seeking free trade agreements with large economies such as the United States, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, but those countries have been held back by fears of offending China.

China has not said whether it will allow countries that recognize Beijing to sign bilateral free trade agreements with Taiwan after a cross-strait deal is signed, but Taipei officials are optimistic.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305439,taiwan-china-to-start-talks-on-free-trade-agreement.html.

PREVIEW: Tamil minority holds balance in Sri Lankan elections

Colombo – Sri Lanka's upcoming presidential election is likely to be decided by the Tamil minority, as the Sinhalese majority's vote appears evenly split between the two main candidates. In a campaign dominated by the defeat of the Tamil rebels in May, both the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his opponent retired General Sarath Fonseka are claiming responsibility for ending the 30-year conflict.

Rajapaksa, 64, who led the political drive to maintain military operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, called next week's elections two years ahead of the end of his six-year term.

His support base among Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority, who represent around 70 per cent of the country's 20 million inhabitants, has been eroded by the challenge of General Fonseka, who spearheaded the military campaign against the rebels.

With the Sinhalese vote divided, the Tamil minority could hold the balance of power despite making up only 18 per cent of the population.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has thrown its weight behind Fonseka, who at 59 is making his first foray into politics.

The TNA, one of four major political parties backing the general, acted as the political representatives of the Tamil rebels before their military defeat in May.

Responsibility for the war and its end is the key issue, one way or the other, for the estimated 14 million Sri Lankans due to cast their vote on January 26.

In the Tamil-dominated north at least, support for the general seems to derive in part from his perceived distance from the political decision to pursue the conflict.

"It may be that General Fonseka carried out the military operations on the ground, but [...] it is President Rajapaksa who decided on the war", Tamil businessman Sivasothy Kanagaraja, 54, of Jaffna said, justifying his support for Fonseka.

In the mainly Sinhalese south, where the military campaign is viewed more positively, the former general shares the credit with his then commander-in-chief.

"It is because of President Rajapaksa the country was saved before the terrorist (Tamil rebels) carved out a separate state," Wimal Jayasinghe, 47 a farmer from Galle in southern Sri Lanka said, echoing a view held by many in rural Sinhalese areas.

Most Tamils did not vote in the previous presidential elections of 2005, due to a boycott called by Tamil rebels and affiliated political parties in the northern and eastern provinces.

The boycott is widely believed to have allowed Rajapaksa's narrow victory of 180,000 votes. Most of the withheld Tamil votes would probably have gone to his opponent the former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who oversaw the Norwegian-backed ceasefire with the rebels.

Rajapaksa has said he called this year's election early to have his mandate confirmed by the Tamil electorate, who were effectively disenfranchised by the 2005 boycott.

But the opposition claims the decision to bring the election date forward was motivated by the president's dwindling popularity, amid allegations of abuse of power, corruption and economic stagnation.

Fonseka, whilst also reminding voters of his role in the war, has stated that his "aim is to end corruption and nepotism in the Rajapaksa family."

The opposition coalition has also pledged to abolish the executive presidential system and vest more powers in the parliament.

The president has pledged that, if reelected, his second term "will be aimed at developing the country. I am sure as I won the war I will win the economic war as well," he said at a public meeting.

The president's campaigners have tried to use their opponent's growing popularity among the Tamil minority against him.

In messages addressed to the Sinhalese majority, they emphasize that Fonseka is working closely with Tamil parties previously associated with the rebels.

However, this focus on Sinhalese rights by some of Rajapaksa's allies has further harmed his popularity among Tamils, who accuse the president of failing to address their ongoing concerns about discrimination in employment, economic development and language rights.

Election officials have expressed concern at the increase of violence ahead of the elections, with more than 700 incidents and four deaths reported over the past five weeks in connection with the upcoming poll.

Over 35,000 policemen are to be deployed in over 10,000polling booths across the country on election day, with army backup provided until the results are announced the following day.

Some 300,000 Tamil civilians were displaced and over 7,000killed in the six-month final stage of the war, according to UN estimates.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305422,preview-tamil-minority-holds-balance-in-sri-lankan-elections.html.

PROFILE: Sarath Fonseka: Former army chief runs for president

Colombo - General Sarath Fonseka, the former head of Sri Lanka's army, is an unlikely candidate to win the support of the island's Tamil minority, whose rebellion he was instrumental in defeating. Fonseka, in command of the army from 2005 to mid-2009, led the final three-year phase in the island's 26-year civil war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The government declared victory over the rebels in May, after LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in the fighting, as were many thousands of Tamil civilians caught between the warring parties.

Victory did not last long for the 59-year-old general. Only one month later, he was prematurely removed from his post as army chief and promoted to the rank of chief of defense staff, a post widely seen as ceremonial with virtually no control over the armed forces.

Following months of speculation over a rift with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Fonseka in November announced his intention to challenge Rajapaksa in the January 26 election as the opposition's candidate.

He said his objective was be elected and then abolish the executive presidential system, which he said was leading to a "dictatorship" benefiting one family.

He pledged to work towards ending corruption, restoring democracy and improving the economy.

Fonseka said he was not satisfied with how tens of thousands of war refugees were being treated and objected to the government's resettlement programs, making him - the victim of a Tamil suicide attack - an unlikely champion of Tamil needs.

After the 2006 attempt on his life, many believed his military career was over. But after a few months of medical treatment Fonseka was back at the helm, and went on to lead the army to victory.

Born on December 17, 1950 in the southern coastal town of Ambalangoda, Fonseka entered the army in 1970 and was involved in several key operations against the Tamil rebels, including the 1995 recapture of the northern Jaffna peninsula.

He had never expected to play a political role, but Rajapaksa's move to isolate him in a ceremonial post disturbed the war veteran.

The retired general concedes that he is a political novice, but said he got the backing of experienced politicians and their parties.

As army chief, he kept his promises, Fonseka said. He promised that no other commander would fight the separatist war and that he would stop rebel chief Prahakaran from holding his annual November speech.

Now he is trying to gain the voter confidence by saying he would keep to his election pledges in a similar manner.

The ruling party has leveled allegations against Fonseka, claiming his US-based son-in-law supplied military hardware to the army during Fonseka's tenure.

At the same time, Fonseka's military past may also prove damaging in his outreach to the Tamil minority, who are key in deciding the elections.

Remarks in an interview at an early stage in the campaign that Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the president's brother, ordered the military to kill the rebels even if they came with white flags to surrender, also damaged his standing.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305424,profile-sarath-fonseka-former-army-chief-runs-for-president.html.

Life goes on, but psychological wounds will linger - Feature

Port-au-Prince, Haiti - The mind doesn't always believe what the eyes and ears cannot escape in Haiti. Homes, schools and offices are shattered beyond repair; innumerable, anonymous dead discarded at street corners or collected in garbage trucks and dumped in mass graves; countless injured being treated in makeshift hospitals, bleeding and screaming in agony without anesthesia; and mourners grieving inconsolably for lost loved ones.

The suffering is so massive that numbed Haitians cannot express it in words.

Health experts say the full extent of psychological trauma will only surface several months later, as the aftershock of what survivors have witnessed and experienced sets in.

The present and future horrors on the long and painful road to recovery in Haiti have sparked serious concerns about providing psychological support for thousands of survivors who have lost everything that helped them make sense of their world.

But local doctors say that there is no structure to deliver mental health care in Haiti.

"Mental health care is a new concept for us. It's a blank domain," said paediatrician Hans Thomas at St Francois De Sales Hospital in Port-au-Prince. "There are a few psychiatric clinics in Haiti, but no one knows about them. It's alien to us."

Haitians say there is no culture of seeking help for mental problems in their impoverished Caribbean country, which has endured more than its share of political upheavals, violence and natural disasters. When troubled, people pray, go to traditional healers or fall back on voodoo, which grew out of traditional religions that were brought to the Caribbean by African slaves and is still practiced across Haiti.

"People don't know that there is professional help available if they are feeling depressed, angry, anxious, dazed," said Thomas. "They just tell themselves that this is life, and move on. The culture of coping is very different here. But this can be detrimental in the long term and lead to serious psychological problems."

With their faith sorely tested, Haitians flock each night to the ruins of churches - where usually the only structure standing is the crucifix - to hold hands, sing and pray by candlelight. The chaplain of a US medical team was coordinating community healing strategies with local pastors in some areas of Port-au-Prince.

"You see the whole spectrum of trauma here: people who have not reacted, people who don't want to talk and people who have moved on," said David Lipin of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team from California. "They are starting to move beyond asking for food and water, from the basics. That's a good sign. They are talking about sanitation and personal hygiene."

If there was any system of psycho-social counseling in Haiti, it came as a result of the AIDS epidemic, local doctors say. Haiti has the most severe epidemic in the Caribbean, with an estimated 120,000 people living with HIV.

"When HIV programming was being conceptualized for Haiti, a key aspect was the introduction of counseling, and a system was set up for dealing with AIDS involving social workers, counselors and psychologists," said Thomas. "But this doesn't exist in the general population."

It is possible to create health care systems where no infrastructure existed, as has been demonstrated by Partners in Health, which has been working in Haiti for more than two decades. The group developed a pioneering HIV treatment program that successfully delivered anti-retroviral treatment in one of the world's poorest countries.

"The path-breaking work done by those in HIV has shown that we can organize a system for psychological support for the general population. Now, after the earthquake, it's a must," Thomas said.

Meanwhile, Boy Scouts have fanned out across the Haitian capital, and one of their tasks is to try to alleviate the suffering of the survivors. It's a difficult job because they are also earthquake survivors and have narrowly escaped death themselves. But it keeps them invested in their communities and gives the youths a sense of purpose.

Petit Jean Denis noting that he and his follow scouts had actually received some limited training in psycho-social counseling before the earthquake.

"This catastrophe has overcome our country, and as scouts we are here to help," he said. "We are all victims, but we have made our 'promise' as scouts."

For now, Haitians are devising their own coping strategies.

Some hold loved ones and weep. Many remain in the present and focus on daily activities: finding a safe place to sleep at night or procuring fuel for their cars.

A few seek the comfort of strangers - stopping people on the road just to say they have lost a son or mother, but are out on the streets looking for food, because life must go on.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305420,life-goes-on-but-psychological-wounds-will-linger--feature.html.

PROFILE: Mahinda Rajapaksa running for re-election on war victory

Colombo - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is determined to capture a second term in Tuesday's election on the merit of winning the country's 26-year civil war against Tamil separatists. "I am a man who does what I tell you"is one of the favorite campaign slogans of the candidate whose presidency has been dominated by the fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Three weeks after Rajapaksa was elected president in 2005, the LTTE triggered a new round of hostilities, ending a 2002 ceasefire.

The rebel attacks put Rajapaksa under pressure from Sri Lanka's Sinhala ethnic majority to strike back, but he initially favored negotiations.

He renewed his calls for the LTTE to return to the negotiating table to find a political solution, talks failed, attacks continued and in mid-2006 the rebels pulled out of peace talks indefinitely.

Later that year, Rajapaksa ordered the launch of full-scale military operations against the LTTE, which led to the rebels' defeat in May last year in a campaign that was subject to harsh international accusations of human rights violations by both sides.

Rajapaksa ignored international calls to suspend military operations because Tamil civilians were being caught in the crossfire, scrapped ceasefire deals, limited the work of foreign and local non-governmental organizations, and banned journalists from the battlefield in the process.

The president had the backing of the public - mainly from the Sinhala majority and minority communities who were also victims of the LTTE's terrorist attacks. By the end of the war, he was hailed as a hero with his supporters saying he should remain president for the next 30 years.

However, he is now facing stiff competition from his former army commander, General Sarath Fonseka, who is running as the opposition's presidential candidate after a reported rift with the president and his demotion a month after the civil war ended.

Born on November 18, 1945, in southern Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa hails from a political family with his father an influential politician and many of his relatives in politics.

In 1970, he entered Parliament, becoming its youngest lawmaker, but he lost his seat in 1977 and only returned to Parliament 12 years later.

During the 1987-90 Marxist insurrection, he championed the cause of human rights and accused the government of human rights violations.

In 1994, he became minister of labor and fisheries. In 2005, after an internal power struggle, he was picked as the presidential candidate for the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance.

One of his strengths has been the backing he receives from his brothers: Gotabhaya Rajapaksa serves as defense minister, Chamal also serves in his cabinet as ports, aviation and water management minister and Basil, a former senior presidential adviser, is a member of Parliament.

Rajapaksa is married with three sons, one of whom has already entered politics.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305423,profile-mahinda-rajapaksa-running-for-re-election-on-war-victory.html.

Google Docs allows uploads of all kinds of data

Hamburg - Users of Google Docs (short for Documents) will soon be able to upload all manner of documents and make them accessible to others. Users will get one gigabyte of free online storage with the option to pay for more, announced the company recently. Up until now, users of the service could only upload text, tables and presentations.

The service will now support music, photographs, video and even other websites. The only restriction is that files take up no more than 250 megabytes. The expanded service should be available soon as part of the Google Apps package.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305427,google-docs-allows-uploads-of-all-kinds-of-data.html.

The second generation: new netbooks boast more storage, Windows 7

Munich - The second generation of netbooks is here and they have brought more storage with them. The pint-sized mobile computers typically now come pre-loaded with Windows 7, but consumers should remember that not every netbook running Windows 7 is quicker than older models with Windows XP. Models released onto the market in the Christmas run-up are often running on the same hardware as their predecessors.

More powerful models are only now trickling onto the market. The newer devices typically have bigger hard drives, with 250 gigabytes (GB) as the new unofficial standard. Because netbooks are sold as highly affordable and mobile web-surfing machines with good battery life, Thomas Rau from Germany's PC Welt magazine doesn't anticipate any "exorbitant upgrades." "Most manufacturers want to keep the basic price below 400 dollars," Rau says.

While computer maker Acer hasn't revealed prices yet, it has indicated that new netbooks are on the way - and soon. The new models include the Aspire One 532 with a 10.1-inch display and, optionally, with WSVGA or WXGA resolution (16:9). The major difference from previous devices is the 250 GB hard drive. The processor once again is an Intel Atom chip from the N series.

The new Eee PC 1005PE netbook from Asus also has an Atom processor and a 250 GB hard drive. Yet Rau doesn't see netbooks suddenly mutating into multimedia machines. Manufacturers don't want to cannibalize the market for their bigger, more powerful - and somewhat more expensive - laptops with CULV energy-saving processors.

Netbooks continue to sell briskly around the world, reports the industry association BITKOM. And the trend is pointing upward. The experts anticipate that Windows 7 will bring another bump in 2010.

As usual, the new operating system comes in various versions. The starter edition is the one typically installed on new netbooks. It is not slower than the more expensive variants, but it does lack some of their functions. Switching between user accounts via hotkeys is not available, for example. Nor is the Aero user interface. It also does not support 64-bit systems. However, these features tend to play a secondary role on netbooks.

Most devices work with Atom chips from Intel. There are two series typically used here: N and the somewhat slower, but less power- thirsty Z series. Computerbild magazine recently tested a variety of netbooks and found that the differences in performance between different processors were less marked than on desktop PCs. The experts nevertheless recommend using the speediest model possible.

RAM size is another difference between current and older netbooks. Devices are even starting to show up with two gigabytes of RAM instead of just one. That makes a big difference with Windows 7. Yet that alone shouldn't make or break a purchase, since the memory on most netbooks is easily upgraded, although memory prices can fluctuate wildly.

One way or the other, netbooks remain a good choice as an affordable web-surfing device for use on the sofa, with long battery lives at low prices. Those who need processing power should probably look elsewhere, though. Many consumers seem to know this: BITKOM has not seen netbooks replacing full-sized laptops or desktop PCs. They tend to be used as backup computers instead.

For those who can afford to wait a bit, this year may bring even more interesting products, says Thomas Rau: netbooks with touch displays. Those devices would represent the real next generation.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305429,the-second-generation-new-netbooks-boast-more-storage-windows-7.html.

Computer and internet briefs 24 January 2010

Washington - Which food has more calories: tuna or salmon? You can compare these and just about any other foods at TwoFoods.com (http://www.twofoods.com). Designed for dieters and anyone else comparing identical portions of any two foods, TwoFoods provides a breakdown of calories, carbohydrates, fat, and protein for each food when prepared in a variety of different ways. Want a real shocker? Compare a Big Mac and a salad. --------

Washington - The integrated Search bar in Internet Explorer 8 is more configurable than most realize. By default, searches conducted through the Search bar - which appears to the right of the Address bar - will return results from Bing.com. But you don't have to stick with Bing. Use the down-pointing arrow to the right of the Search bar to access a menu from which you can "find more providers" or manage the ones that you have already configured. You can add multiple search providers from across the web.

--------

Washington - Windows 7's new Snap feature allows you to quickly dock or maximize application windows by moving them to the edges of the screen. Dragging an application to the right or left side of your screen will enable you to automatically snap the program to the edge and simultaneously expand it to fill half the monitor. Moving it to the top of the screen will maximize it.

--------

Washington - Trying to come up with a name for your website is not easy these days. Many of the more obvious names are already taken. That's where web sites like Bustaname (http://www.bustaname.com) and Dot-o-mator (http://www.dotomator.com) can help. Each site allows you to enter a name that you'd like to have and then, if that one is not available, suggests similar names that you might try. Spend a few minutes with each site, and you are likely to come away happy.

--------

Washington - Trying to find the best notebook computer for your needs? If you'll be using Windows, consider letting Microsoft do some of the deciding for you. Head over to its PC Scout website (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pc-scout) to get tips on the features you should look for in a notebook. Choices will vary depending upon whether you need an all-around PC, a gaming notebook, or something for watching movies.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305430,computer-and-internet-briefs-24-january-2010.html.

Indonesia to buy Brazilian-made jet fighters

Jakarta - Indonesia plans to purchase a squadron of 16 Brazilian-made jet fighters to upgrade its fleet, a media report said Sunday. Air Force Chief Marshal Imam Sufaat said 16 planes known as Super Tucanoes would replace OV-10 Bronco aircraft, which have been in service for more than three decades.

"The purchase is part of our effort to improve the Air Force's weaponry system," The Jakarta Post quoted Sufaat as saying.

He declined to disclose the price or time of the deal but said the Brazilian jets were a suitable and affordable choice to replace the turboprop-driven aircraft.

"We have proposed the purchase to the government with the hope that they will grant the funds," he added.

Sufaat also expected that three more Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets ordered in 2007 would arrive this year. Seven of the planes have already been delivered.

The fleet also includes US-made F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets, two squadrons of F-5 Tiger, two squadrons of British-made military training Sky-Hawk and Hawk bombing jets.

A senior cabinet minister was quoted as saying that the country was also looking into arms purchases from China and forging bilateral cooperation in weapon systems development.

Indonesia shifted its military shopping away from the US, toward eastern Europe, China and Latin America, after Washington imposed an embargo on arms sales to Jakarta in the early 1990s.

The US in 1992 restricted arms sales and most training for Indonesia due to human rights concerns. In late 1990s, Washington formally cut off its military relations with Jakarta, after a rampage by an army-backed militia in what was then East Timor province.

However, some counter-terrorism training resumed after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and other targets.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305432,indonesia-to-buy-brazilian-made-jet-fighters.html.

Presidential election campaign in Sri Lanka ends

Colombo – Sri Lanka's presidential election campaign ended amid reports of violence, intimidation and irregularities ahead of the January 26 poll, police and election monitors said Sunday. The campaign for Tuesday's election ended with the top candidates, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former army commander retired General Sarath Fonseka, addressing rallies in the capital.

Police raided a Buddhist temple in Colombo and found 56 hand grenades, two T-56 assault rifles and munitions, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

The abbot, Uvathanne Sumana Thera, was arrested, he said.

The monk is a supporter of the opposition candidate Fonseka.

Inspector General of Police Mahinda Balasuriya warned of attempts to rig the elections by impersonating voters.

"We have reports that organized groups are planning to collect national identity cards of voters to impersonate them and vote. We have called the public to be alert on any attempts to collect these documents," Balasuriya said.

The national identity card is a compulsory document for voting and therefore could also prevent voters from casting their ballot.

In a separate incident, a Navy truck transporting posters against Fonseka was detected in north-western Sri Lanka.

More than 850 poll-related incidents including four deaths, attacks on political party offices, threatening of voters and shooting incidents were reported in the six-week campaign.

Nearly 70,000 policemen are being deployed for elections on Tuesday, when 14 million voters are registered.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305437,presidential-election-campaign-in-sri-lanka-ends.html.

Philippine military warns against extortion by rebels

Manila - Communist rebels allegedly earned nearly 3 million dollars from extortion activities last year and were expected to step up their racket ahead of national elections in May, the Philippine military said Sunday. Brigadier General Francisco Cruz, the military's civil relations commander, said the New People's Army (NPA) had already began to demand "permit-to-campaign" and "permit-to-win" fees from candidates in the May 10 polls.

He said the NPA, the armed wing of the communist movement in the Philippines, has even demanded protection money from Smartmatic, the supplier of voting machines that would be used in the elections.

"Through the years, we have observed that election is the money-making season of the NPA, when they exact either cash or firearms from candidates," he said.

The NPA was reported to have earned 137 million pesos (2.97 million dollars) from extortion last year. The amount was up from an average income of 101 million pesos from 1996 to 2007, according to military records.

"Money is extorted from construction, mining, telecommunication, transportation companies, logging concessionaires, politicians and private individuals, including poor farmers, fishermen and store owners," Cruz said.

Companies and individuals who refused to pay up are usually attacked by the rebels, who destroyed private and public properties worth a total of 1.2 billion pesos from 2000 to 2009, according to military records.

Cruz urged candidates not to give in to the rebels, who reportedly demand between 20,000 pesos and 500,000 pesos for politicians to campaign and win in areas allegedly under the guerrillas' control.

"The candidates themselves have to be urged not to yield in to such schemes," he said. "To pay is analogous to paying ransom. Besides, the NPA does not control areas. They do have members in some remote villages, but they don't control territories."

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

More than 18,000 positions are up for grabs in the May 10 elections in the Philippines, including president, vice president, senators, members of the House of Representatives, governors, mayors and vice mayors.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305442,philippine-military-warns-against-extortion-by-rebels.html.

Sweden rattled by Somali militants in its midst

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

By KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writer

STOCKHOLM – Ten subway stops from downtown Stockholm is "little Mogadishu," a drab suburb of the Swedish capital where radical Islamists are said to be recruiting the sons of Somali immigrants for jihad in the Horn of Africa.

Police and residents say about 20 have joined al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked group waging a bloody insurgency against Somalia's government, and many of them came from the suburb of Rinkeby — the heart of Sweden's Somali community. According to SAPO, the Swedish state security police, five of them have been killed and 10 are still at large in Somalia.

The issue has gained notice at a time of worsening fears of Islamic radicalism in the Scandinavian countries, home to more than 40,000 Somalis who have fled their war-ravaged homeland. These fears sharpened with the Jan. 1 attack by a Somali immigrant in Denmark on a cartoonist who caricatured the Prophet Muhammad.

"It's a small group but they have power," said Abadirh Abdi Hussein, a 25-year-old hip-hop artist and "110-percent Muslim" who has become the best known Somali in Rinkeby because of his campaign to counter al-Shabab's influence. "People don't speak up against them. They don't dare."

Al-Shabab, which wants to install strict Islam in Somalia, controls much of the desert nation's southern region and large parts of the capital. Intelligence officials say it is recruiting foreign fighters, including from the Somali diaspora in Europe and North America. U.S. authorities say as many as 20 recruits have left Minnesota.

In Sweden, police say they can do little to stop them leaving for Somalia unless they can prove that they are conspiring to commit terrorism. Unlike the U.S., Sweden has not put al-Shabab on any terrorism list.

"Legally you can't prosecute anyone, neither the youth nor those who urged them to go," said Johnny Lindh, police superintendent in the precinct that includes Rinkeby.

Lindh said police have been in touch with several devastated parents who said their sons secretly joined al-Shabab and traveled to Somalia without telling their families.

A 24-year-old Rinkeby resident, who came to Sweden with his family in 1991, and who spoke to The Associated Press by telephone, said his uncle was with a group that left Rinkeby in mid-2008. According to the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his family's safety, the uncle said that he was traveling within Sweden and would only be gone a few weeks.

Speaking in Swedish, the man said that he, too, was approached repeatedly by an al-Shabab recruiting agent, but turned him down.

"He used to ask, like, 'have you ever thought about the way things are in Somalia? Do you want to help?' You knew what he was getting at: jihad," he said.

The recruitment was linked to a youth center in Rinkeby that was financed with subsidies from the city, local authorities and residents said.

Per Johansson, of the Stockholm Sports Administration, which gave the center half a million kronor ($70,000) over four years, said the funding was stopped in 2008 when city inspectors sensed there were radical undertones.

They segregated the sexes and "They didn't let the girls be part of the activities in the same way as boys," Johansson said, adding that at the time there was no suspicion of any recruitment attempts.

A former representative of the now defunct organization, who declined to give his name, said he would only talk if an AP reporter signed a contract specifying how to use the content of the interview, a condition that AP declined.

Hussein, the hip-hop artist, said youth who were approached by al-Shabab told him they were shown videos of al-Qaida suicide bombings and urged to become jihadists in their ancestral homeland.

As his worries worsened, he started going public to Swedish media on the issue last year. Since then, resistance to the extremists has grown and last month dozens showed up for a rally against al-Shabab in Rinkeby.

The singer's campaign has also prompted Swedish politicians to talk about the spread of extremism in immigrant suburbs, something that in the past might have drawn charges of being hostile to Muslims.

"He is a real hero," said Nalin Pekgul, a leading politician for the opposition Social Democrats said of Hussein. Pekgul, a Kurdish immigrant, is an outspoken critic of the radicals.

But Hussein has paid a price. In September he was attacked on the street by a masked man who slashed his forehead with a sharp object — he has an inch-long scar — and warned him in Somali to "leave us alone or we'll kill you." Police haven't found a suspect.

Experts say the Somali community is especially vulnerable to extremist influence because it's the least integrated immigrant group in Scandinavia. Since the 1990s, more than 25,000 have come to Sweden, 17,000 to Norway and about 10,000 to Denmark.

Denmark's intelligence service says the ax-wielding man who was shot and wounded by Danish police after breaking into cartoonist Kurt Westergaard's home was an al-Shabab-linked Somali with a Danish residence permit. In December a Danish man of Somali descent killed 24 people in a suicide bombing in Mogadishu.

Somali community leaders in Scandinavia say support for al-Shabab has dropped in recent years as people have become aware of its increasingly violent tactics and extreme fundamentalism.

Still, the Somali National Organization in Sweden, an umbrella group, has invited government leaders to address Somalis about how to steer youth away from the extremists.

Sweden's center-right government announced last week that it will study how local authorities here and elsewhere in Europe are tackling extremism.

Integration Minister Nyamko Sabuni, herself an immigrant from Burundi, acknowledged the problem has been poorly understood in Sweden. "Local officials and politicians working in these areas don't always have the knowledge needed," she told AP.

Haiti gov't says 150K bodies recovered in capital

By MICHELLE FAUL and PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writers

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The confirmed death toll from Haiti's devastating earthquake has topped 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area alone, the communications minister said Sunday, with many more thousands dead around the country or still buried under the rubble.

Communications minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue told The Associated Press that the figure is based on a body count in the capital and outlying areas by CNE, a state company that has been collecting corpses and burying them in a mass grave north of Port-au-Prince. It does not include other affected cities such as Jacmel, where thousands are believed dead, nor does it account for bodies burned by relatives.

The United Nations said Saturday the government had confirmed 111,481 bodies; all told, authorities have estimated 200,000 dead from the magnitude-7.0 quake, according to Haitian government figures cited by the European Commission.

"Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble — 200,000, 300,000?" Lassegue said. "Who knows the overall death toll?"

Experts say chances are slim that more survivors will be found in that debris, although rescuers pulled a man buried for 11 days in the wreckage on Saturday.

Crews dug a tunnel through the rubble of a fruit and vegetable shop to reach Wismond Exantus, who is in his 20s. He was placed on a stretcher and given intravenous fluids as onlookers cheered, and later told the AP he survived by diving under a desk during the quake and later consuming some cola, beer and cookies in the cramped space.

"I was hungry, but every night I thought about the revelation that I would survive," Exantus said from his hospital bed.

Haiti's government has declared an end to searches for living people trapped under debris, and officials are shifting their focus to caring for the thousands of survivors living in squalid, makeshift camps.

U.N. relief workers said the shift is critical: While deliveries of food, medicine and water have ticked up after initial logjams, the need continues to be overwhelming and doctors fear outbreaks of disease in the camps.

In the notorious slum of Cite Soleil, the site of some looting and violence since the quake, U.S. and Brazilian soldiers handed out food and water Sunday morning to thousands of men, women and children who lined up at a health center.

The U.S. soldiers brought 2,000 food rations, 75,000 high-energy biscuits and 9,000 bottles of water, while the Brazilians had 8 tons of food in small bags of uncooked beans, salt, sugar and sardines, as well as 15,000 liters of water.

Lunie Marcelin, 57, said her entire family — including six grown children who live with her — survived the quake, but they had no money to buy food.

The handouts "will help us, but it is not enough," she said. "We need more."

In the United States, organizers of the all-star "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon said Saturday that the event raised $57 million — and counting. The two-hour telethon aired Friday night and was also streamed live online. Stars such as Brad Pitt, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and more used their presence to encourage donations for Haiti.

As many as 200,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince, a city of 2 million, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. About 609,000 people are homeless in the capital's metro area, and the United Nations estimates that up to 1 million could leave Haiti's destroyed cities for rural areas already struggling with extreme poverty.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Sunday it has recorded 52 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or greater since the Jan. 12 quake.

Premier: Israel to keep parts of West bank forever

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM – Israel's prime minister declared on Sunday that his country would retain parts of the West Bank forever — a statement that infuriated Palestinians and could complicate the year-old peace mission of a visiting U.S. envoy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid claim to disputed territory just hours after meeting with George Mitchell, the Obama administration's Middle East envoy. Mitchell has been shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian leaders since late last week in hopes of breaking a deadlock over construction in Israeli settlements.

"Our message is clear: We are planting here, we will stay here, we will build here, this place will be an inseparable part of the state of Israel for eternity," Netanyahu proclaimed at a tree-planting ceremony celebrating the Jewish arbor day at a settlement just south of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu's participation Sunday in tree-planting ceremonies in two West Bank settlements near Jerusalem were an apparent attempt to soothe Jewish settlers who vehemently oppose his decision — taken under intense U.S. pressure — to slow West Bank construction.

Both settlements lie within areas Israel wants to keep in any final agreement with the Palestinians.

"We are here and we will stay here and build here as part of sovereign Jerusalem," he said.

On the eve of Mitchell's arrival last week, Netanyahu said Israel would want to retain a presence in the West Bank even if a peace deal is reached with the Palestinians in order to protect Israel's heartland from missile attacks by militants.

The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, for a future independent state and say settlements undermine this goal. They have refused to resume peacemaking until all settlement construction stops, something Netanyahu has refused to do.

Following his meeting with Mitchell, Netanyahu told his Cabinet he had heard "a few interesting ideas" on renewing peace talks. The U.S. official later left Jerusalem for another meeting later in the day with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in neighboring Jordan.

Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Netanyahu's tree-planting Sunday undermined peace prospects.

"This is an unacceptable act that destroys all the efforts being exerted by senator Mitchell in order to bring the parties back to the negotiating table," he said. Contacts with the Americans would continue, he said, but a return to negotiations with Israel appeared unlikely anytime soon.

In a meeting with Mitchell Friday, Abbas stood firm by his demand for a total settlement freeze. Netanyahu has imposed some restrictions on construction in the West Bank, but has not ended it. And he hasn't put any limits on building in east Jerusalem, home to sacred Jewish, Muslim and Christian sites and claimed by the Palestinians as their future capital.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem shortly after capturing it along with the West Bank from Jordan in 1967. Today, nearly 200,000 Israelis live in Jewish neighborhoods built in east Jerusalem. The international community does not recognize the annexation and views the neighborhoods to be settlements.

Mitchell later arrived in Jordan where he met Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Last year, President Barack Obama took office with the ambitious aim of putting Mideast peacemaking on a fast track. Instead, the peace mission has stalled over Israel's settlements on occupied lands and the refusal by the Palestinians to return to peace talks.

Obama acknowledged last week that he underestimated the domestic political forces at play in the region and overreached in expecting a quick breakthrough.

15 pilot whales die on New Zealand beach

Wellington - Fifteen pilot whales died Sunday after a mass stranding on an inlet at Port Levy, 45 kilometers south-east of Christchurch, New Zealand's South Island. Staff from the Department of Conservation and local volunteers managed to return six to the water and they were followed by another 50, Radio New Zealand reported.

Kimberly Muncaster, chief executive of the Project Jonah organization, said it was believed to be the first mass stranding in the region in 100 years and the whales may have become disorientated in the shallow harbor while searching for food.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305444,15-pilot-whales-die-on-new-zealand-beach.html.

Pope says priests must move in cyberspace

Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI in a message issued Saturday, urged priests to use modern digital technology including the internet, to interact with the faithful and to seek out new converts. Jesus' "word can traverse the many crossroads created by the intersection of all the different 'highways' that form 'cyberspace,' and show that God has his rightful place in every age, including our own," the pontiff said.

"Thanks to the new communications media, the Lord can walk the streets of our cities and, stopping before the threshold of our homes and our hearts, say once more: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me,'" Benedict said, citing the New Testament book of Revelation.

Benedict's message was prepared for the Catholic Church's World Day of Social Communications which falls on Sunday, the feast-day of the patron saint of journalists, St Francis de Sales.

Since the 82-year-old Benedict's election in 2005, the Vatican has increased its presence on the internet, creating an internet site dedicated to the pontiff, www.pope2you.net, on the web video-sharing channel Youtube and on the social networking site Facebook.

More than 2 million hits were registered by visitors to www.pope2you.net, during the Christmas season, according to the president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305370,pope-says-priests-must-move-in-cyberspace.html.

International Haiti aid conference set to start Monday in Montreal

New York - Officials from 20 nations are set to meet in Montreal on Monday to lay plans for coordinating aid to quake- stricken Haiti. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner are among those planning to attend. Delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Japan are also expected at the Friends of Haiti meeting.

Aside from discussing the long-term reconstruction of the devastated nation, groundwork would also be laid for a donor's conference, possibly to be held in March. To that end, representatives of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank would also attend in Montreal.

Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have announced plans to boycott the meeting, saying they oppose the strong US military presence in the Caribbean.

At least 110,000 Haitians are believed to have died in the magnitude-7.0 earthquake on January 12, which affected around 3 million people.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305380,international-haiti-aid-conference-set-to-start-monday-in-montreal.html.

Bodies 20 Saudi soldiers recovered after clashes with Yemen rebels

Riyadh - The Saudi government on Saturday said the bodies of 20 of the 26 soldiers who went missing during clashes with Yemen rebels have been recovered. Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Khaled bin Sultan made the announcement during a visit to towns along the kingdom's southern border with Yemen, where clashes with the Houthi rebels had taken place.

The territory around the border was now stable and secure, he said. Security groups are still searching for more bodies in the areas where fighting had occurred.

According to the commander of the southern region, Major General Ali Zaid al-Khawaji, 113 Saudi soldiers have died in the fighting and that between four and six soldiers are thought to be held captive by the Houthis.

The Yemeni government stepped up an offensive against the rebels in northern Saada province last August. Some three months later, the fighting spilled across the Saudi border, prompting a Saudi military offensive.

Prince Sultan on Saturday also announced plans for the construction of a military base in the area of Jazan which lies on the border with Yemen.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305364,bodies-20-saudi-soldiers-recovered-after-clashes-with-yemen-rebels.html.

Lebanese media warns of ban if US hits out at Hezbollah TV

Beirut - The National Lebanese Council for Audio-Visual Media and the Lebanese Press Association on Saturday urged the United States to reverse a decision to take "punitive measures" against a satellite broadcaster run by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. The Council hinted that it will resort to banning from Lebanese airwaves US-networks such as Cable News Network (CNN) and others financed by the US.

Council head Abdel Hadi Mahfouz said that if the US bill against Hezbollah's al-Manar television was adopted, "we as an independent council can cut off transmissions of US-based stations such as CNN and (US-backed Arabic satellite channel) al-Houra by asking cable distributors in Lebanon not to air such channels."

"We have expressed our refusal for such a legal measure against al-Manar and other channels which the US has listed as Arab terrorist entities," said Mahfouz.

The US House of Representatives passed a bill in December 2009 calling for "punitive measures" against Middle East television networks, including al-Manar, seen to be fueling anti-US sentiment.

The bill was adopted in a decisive 395 to 3 vote against media outlets that broadcast "anti-American incitement to violence in the Middle East."

The networks listed in the bill include Al-Aqsa, the television station of the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas, which broadcasts from the Gaza Strip, and Hezbollah's al-Manar.

Hezbollah mouthpiece al-Manar broadcasts from Beirut. It was launched in 1991. In 2004 it was banned from broadcasting in the US, France, Spain and Germany.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305368,lebanese-media-warns-of-ban-if-us-hits-out-at.html.

Report: At least 150 more bodies found after Nigerian violence

Nairobi/Abuja (Earth Times) - At least 150 more bodies have been found after clashes between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria's Plateau State, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Saturday. The bodies, some of which had been thrown into wells and sewage canals, were found in the village of Kuru Karama, 30 kilometers outside the city of Jos, where the sectarian violence began last Sunday.

According to the organization, dozens of people in the predominantly Muslim village were missing.

According to witnesses, armed men surrounded the village on Tuesday and attacked it. Almost all the houses and the three mosques of the village were set ablaze and destroyed.

The Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust on Saturday reported further violence in other cities in Plateau State. Local media stated that violence developed in villages outlying Jos as there has no been curfew or military presence there.

Before the casualties were found, at least 200 people were said to have been killed in the battles around Jos - which lies between the Muslim-majority north and the largely Christian south and has a history of violence.

Christian and Muslim mobs fought for days, burning and looting homes, churches and mosques and forcing thousands to fell.

The army sent heavily armed troops to the area and the governor of Plateau State - of which Jos is the capital - ordered a round-the- clock curfew.

Blessing Ejiofor, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, estimated that 18,000 people fled the violence.

"Our team in Jos say that the city is really calm, because of the army and police," Ejiofor told the German Press Agency dpa, adding that there were, however, rumors of skirmishes at the outskirts of the city.

Over 200 people were arrested during the crackdown on the violence. The Red Cross reported that 22 of those arrested were suffering from bullet wounds, machete cuts and fractures.

As many as 1,000 people are believed to have been injured.

It is still not clear what sparked the violence, although some reports claim it followed an argument over the rebuilding of a Muslim home - destroyed during previous violence - in a Christian neighborhood.

Clashes in Jos in 2008 also left hundreds dead, while 2001 saw up to 1,000 lose their lives in rioting. Poverty and land issues are believed to be the root causes of the violence.

UAE thwarts attempted theft of 7.2 billion euros from central bank

Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates' police announced Saturday that they foiled an attempt by a group of fraudsters to steal 7.2 billion euros (10.2 billion dollars) from the country's central bank. Police arrested the group of three Europeans and four Asians after they claimed a transfer from a European bank of 7.2 billion euros, which they tried to present as profits from family investments belonging to the group's leader, according to a police report.

The documents they had submitted were discovered by the Anti-Money Laundering and Suspicious Cases Unit to have been forged.

Once arrested, the group's leader confessed to acting as an intermediary for a trader in his home country.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305385,uae-thwarts-attempted-theft-of-72-billion-euros-from-central-bank.html.

Churches across Lebanon to start donations for Haiti

Beirut - The head of the Lebanese Christian Maronite community Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir announced Saturday a campaign to collect donations for Haiti, which was devastated by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake on January 12. He said churches across the country would collect donations on Sunday January 31, and Catholic institutions - including schools and universities - would collect donations on the first week of February.

"We find ourselves naturally inclined to act in solidarity with the Haitians," said the Patriarch.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305387,churches-across-lebanon-to-start-donations-for-haiti.html.

Haitians bury Catholic archbishop

Port au-Prince - A funeral service was under way Saturday for Haiti's archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, who was killed in the devastating earthquake that claimed some 111,000 lives on the island nation. President Rene Preval was among the mourners, in a rare public appearance since the earthquake struck on January 12. He was seated alongside his wife Elizabeth. The couple were elsewhere when the presidential palace was destroyed in the quake.

Mourners also paid tribute to the Charles Benoit, the vicar general of the Port-au-Prince diocese, whose body was also found in the ruins of the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption cathedral in the capital Port-au-Prince. His white casket stood alongside that of Miot.

The funeral mass took place as Haitians marked a national day of repentance Saturday following the catastrophe that some reportedly regard as divine punishment.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305390,haitians-bury-catholic-archbishop.html.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood condemns sectarian clashes in Nigeria

Cairo (Earth Times) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood condemned Saturday the sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria that left hundreds killed. "We ask the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the African Union to intervene to stop such massacres of innocent people ... and investigate the causes behind these clashes," the group's leader, Mohamed Badei said in a statement.

Christians and Muslims fought for days earlier in the week in Nigeria, burning and looting homes, churches and mosques and forcing thousands to fell.

"We want to remind the Nigerian people of the Muslim and Christian religious values that call for tolerance, coexistence and solidarity to confront the dangers facing Nigeria as poverty, unemployment and oppression," Badei added.

New York-based Human Rights Watch, citing local civil society leaders, said the violence was carried out by sectarian mobs armed with guns, bows and arrows, and machetes.

Minister: Israel likely to face another conflict with Lebanon

Jerusalem - Yossi Peled, Israeli minister and former general, said Saturday that Israel was on the way to a new armed conflict with the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah and that it was just a matter of time, Israeli media reported. Yossi Peled, member of the conservative party Likud, talked today in a cultural event in the southern city of Be'er Sheva and answered "yes" when asked about a new possible war with Lebanon in a cultural event held inthis Saturday.

"Yes, I just don't know when, just like no one knew that the Second Lebanon War would break," the minister said.

"The world had failed in its dealing with (Lebanese militant group) Hezbollah, allowing the organization to accumulate more weapons than it had in his possession in 2006," Ha'aretz reported Peled as saying.

"Lebanon is the only country in the world which has a military organization, Hezbollah, that operates independently of the government and is supported by two foreign countries," the minister added.

He clarified that in case of armed conflict Israel would hold "both Lebanon and Syria responsible."

After monitoring the reinforcement of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on the border with Lebanon, both Syria and Hezbollah are on high alert, the London-based pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Friday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305392,minister-israel-likely-to-face-another-conflict-with-lebanon.html.

Swiss woman freed in Colombia two weeks after kidnapping

Bogota - A Swiss woman kidnapped from her home in Colombia two weeks ago has been freed after police stormed the kidnappers' hideout, Colombian authorities announced Saturday. The 32-year-old woman, identified as Manuela Frankausser de Cuello, was kidnapped January 9 by unknown armed men from her home in the country's north.

One person was arrested by police. The woman told local media she would remain in Colombia.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305402,swiss-woman-freed-in-colombia-two-weeks-after-kidnapping.html.

A funeral for all of Haiti - Feature

Port-au-Prince, Haiti - The funeral of Haiti's archbishop Joseph Serge Miot on Saturday became a ceremony for all those Haitians unable to offer their loved ones a dignified burial. "It's a symbol for all those who died," said a parishioner standing under one of the tents that protected dignitaries in attendance from the strong sun outside the ruined cathedral. Those dignitaries included Haitian President Rene Preval and the archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan.

The magnitude-7 earthquake catastrophe on January 12 killed more than 111,000 people and has shaken Haiti's richest, its poorest, its government, ministers who lost children, and the whole of the wider world.

"This is for everyone," said sister Lina, a nun from Colombia who came to Haiti four years ago. "Those that couldn't bury their loved ones, those that are still under the rubble, I say that this is a burial in the name of all those who are left anonymous and will never be found."

The ceremony, which took place outside the ruins of the cathedral, included songs and prayers not just for the archbishop, but for a whole nation that has been devastated by perhaps its worst-ever disaster. And this is a country that has already suffered tremendous hardship throughout its history.

"We ask God that for all those that encountered death with this earthquake, that you console their families, who in many cases could not offer a dignified burial to their loved ones," Louis Kebreau, head of Haiti's conference of bishops, offered in prayer during the funeral mass.

About 1,000 religious dignitaries and Haitians at the funeral made the sign of the cross, their minds still seared with images of bodies that lay decaying in the streets for days before being interred in mass graves, as well as those lost in the rubble of Port-au-Prince, which has been nearly completely destroyed.

"In a way, it is like the (archbishop) would deliver all of the dead into the hands of God," said Simon Cabrera of the Dominican Conference of Religious, who came to help Haiti after the earthquake.

No one could forget the archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, who according to Haitian doctor Hans Thomas, "was the only person in Haiti whose job was working for the poor."

On this day, gathered at the cathedral, "there is no individualism," said Franciscan Luc Paul Desplain.

"This giving of thanks concerns all Haitians and should also console the entire world that came to help," he said. "The seat of the church was damaged, the seat of the government was damaged, the seat of Minustah (the UN) was damaged, everyone was affected by this tragedy."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305403,a-funeral-for-all-of-haiti--feature.html.

Last US Marines leave Iraq

Baghdad - The last US Marines operating in Iraq withdrew from the country Saturday following a ceremony in Ramadi, 100 kilometers west of Baghdad, according to US military sources in Iraq. The departing forces of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force handed over command for the region to the 1st Armored Division of the US Army. While the Marines are leaving, US military forces are set to remain in Iraq through 2011.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305408,last-us-marines-leave-iraq.html.

EXTRA: Report: Man alive under rubble in Haiti

Port-au-Prince/Washington - A young man has been found alive under the rubble of a hotel in Haiti's capital, 11 days after a massive earthquake that left much of Haiti in ruins, television broadcaster CNN reported Saturday. French, Greek and US rescue teams were on the scene trying to help free the man from under Hotel Napoli in central Port-au-Prince.

The effort comes as the Haitian government earlier Saturday said that search and rescue operations were ending as the relief effort shifted resources towards aiding survivors.

In total, 132 people were rescued by international search teams since the magnitude 7 quake struck the impoverished Caribbean nation on January 12, the United Nations said.

The quake killed more than 111,000 people, according to the first official estimate by the Haitian government.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305410,extra-report-man-alive-under-rubble-in-haiti.html.

Search for survivors ends as Haiti death toll at 111,000 - Summary

Port-au-Prince, Haiti - The Haitian government declared the search-and-rescue phase over Saturday as the first official estimate put the death toll from the devastating earthquake at more than 111,000 people. Yet even as the search slowed and the emphasis turned to relief operations, television broadcaster CNN reported a young man was found alive under the rubble of Hotel Napoli in Port-au-Prince, 11 days after the earthquake left much of the Haitian capital in ruins. French, Greek and US rescue teams were on the scene.

International search teams recorded 132 people rescued since the magnitude-7 quake struck the impoverished Caribbean nation on January 12, the United Nations said. Untold more were pulled out by fellow Haitians digging mostly with their hands.

A massive international effort underway in Haiti now refocuses entirely helping survivors, though there could still be some limited efforts to look for people in the rubble.

To date, the Haitian government counted 111,481 confirmed deaths across the country, which was already the poorest in the Western hemisphere.

Earlier Saturday, about 1,000 people gathered outside the National Cathedral in Port-au-Prince for the funeral of Haiti's archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, which became a ceremony for all those Haitians who had no means to properly mourn their lost relatives and friends. Most of the dead have gone into mass graves.

"We ask God that for all those that encountered death with this earthquake, that you console their families, who in many cases could not offer a dignified burial to their loved ones," Louis Kebreau, head of Haiti's conference of bishops, offered in prayer during the funeral mass.

President Rene Preval, seated with his wife, Elizabeth, was among the mourners in a rare public appearance since the earthquake. Some people followed Preval after the ceremony, protesting and even chanting the name of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted from power in 2004.

Mourners also paid tribute to Charles Benoit, vicar general of the Port-au-Prince diocese, whose body was also found in the ruins of the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption cathedral. His white casket stood alongside that of Miot.

People with means, meanwhile, were being encouraged to seek accommodations beyond the capital. According to UN estimates, about 1 million people might be fleeing the city for the countryside.

Shelter for Haiti's more than 600,000 homeless was a primary concern for the UN, along with an "overwhelming" number of people with untreated injuries.

Now that the initial emergency has passed, staff with Doctors Without Borders said survivors of the earthquake were in desperate need of medical specialists, such as physical therapists and especially psychologists.

"The whole situation is still very chaotic," Anja Wolz, an emergency coordinator for German staff with Doctors Without Borders, told the German Press Agency dpa.

"We have treated about 5,500 patients so far and performed about 1,000 operations."

Most patients her group has helped remain traumatized after the disaster, and sanitary issues in overcrowded camps remain a problem, she said.

Doctors Without Borders warned of increasing tensions and a rise in the number of wounded from gunshots and machete attacks in some slums, which were plagued by violence even prior to the earthquake.

Meanwhile, the UN reported improvements in the massive effort to get aid to those in need, including food and medicine.

The Port-au-Prince airport was pulsing with US Navy helicopters in a non-stop airlift of food and other aid across the country as international officials started considering how best to rebuild the flattened capital.

Officials from 20 nations were set to meet Monday in Montreal to lay plans for coordinating aid to quake-stricken Haiti and set the groundwork for a possible March donor's conference for long-term rebuilding.

Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have announced plans to boycott the meeting, saying they oppose the heavy US military presence in the Caribbean.

The United States has sent massive amounts of resources including troops into the country, coordinating relief efforts with the United Nations and other relief agencies.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305413,search-for-survivors-ends-as-haiti-death-toll-at-111000.html.

Eight killed, 13 missing in Indonesia floods

Jakarta - Eight people were killed and 13 missing after floods inundated villages on Indonesia's Sulawesi island, a health official said Saturday. Dozens of homes were swept away by the floods that struck early Friday following heavy rain in the North Kolaka district of South-East Sulawesi province, said Rustam Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry's crisis center.

Heavy rains have caused flooding in several Indonesian provinces this month, leaving at least 14 people dead before Friday, local media reported.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305319,eight-killed-13-missing-in-indonesia-floods.html.

A US sailor's connection to Haiti's tragedy - Feature

Aboard the USS Carl Vinson - Unlike the thousands of US soldiers, sailors and marines participating in the relief mission, the tragedy that has been unleashed on Haiti has touched Natalia Maxius where it hurts most - right at home. Maxius, 21, spent most of her childhood on the streets of Port-au-Prince, attending school and spending time with her family. She was still a young girl when her father died in 1996.

Her mother lived in Miami, so her mother's best friend Ninive Desir helped raise Maxius until she moved to Florida at the age of 15. The two remained close throughout the years.

Maxius was deployed on the USS Carl Vinson when she learned of the January 12 earthquake that ripped through the impoverished country. The aircraft carrier was heading out for routine exercises when it was redirected to spearhead US relief operations off Haiti's shores.

She then got a call from her mother informing her that Desir, in her 60s, was among the tens of thousands of dead.

"My mom hurt. She didn't want to tell me at first," Maxius said. "When my dad died, she was always there for my mom."

Maxius said her family did not know the location, only that like nearly all of the earthquake's victims, she was buried in a mass grave. "Dumped in a hole," Maxius said.

Maxius was born to Haitian parents in New York City's burrough of Brooklyn. Two months later, they took her to Haiti, wanting her to grow up acquainted with her family's origins.

"They wanted me to learn the language and culture," she said.

After moving back to the United States, she eventually decided to join the Navy at the urging of her two brothers. Her eldest one, now 37, had also served in the Navy. Her 19-year-old brother is a marine deployed in Afghanistan.

Now, as a sailor, Maxius has returned to within eyeshot of her homeland. From the carrier, she can see Haiti's dry, mountainous landscape, which was once flush with trees before falling victim to deforestation.

She fled Haiti in 2004 as the political unrest that would oust then-president Jean Bertrand Aristide was heating up. She and her brother felt their lives were at stake because militias loyal to Aristide made it clear they did not like the siblings' school uniforms.

"They wanted to kill us because we were in private schools," she said.

As soon as she gets a break from the Navy, probably sometime this summer, she and her brothers plan to return to Port-au-Prince to have a look at their family's home. She said they are not optimistic it survived.

In the Navy, Maxius serves as a culinary specialist, cooking up meals for the ship's senior officers. Navy chefs don't have much room to get creative as the service maintains strict dietary policies, but she does have a little leeway to toss in some spices to give the food a little Haitian flavor.

"If you are from Haiti you have to know how to cook," she said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305327,a-us-sailors-connection-to-haitis-tragedy--feature.html.

Some rays of hope amid Haiti's devastation - Feature

Aboard the USNS Comfort - For all of the tragedy that has surrounded the crisis in Haiti, the image of tens of thousands of dead bodies in the streets, the capital city of a devastated country lying in ruins, there have been some happy endings. Take the case of Jean Beline, a 21-year-old woman from Port-au-Prince, who was resting on the USNS Comfort, a US Navy hospital ship floating just a short helicopter flight off the Haitian coast. She told a reporter visiting her Friday that she walked out of her house just before the January 12 earthquake struck based on "premonition."

She stood outside and watched as her home came crashing down. Beline, who was nearing the end of her pregnancy, was eventually evacuated to the USS Carl Vinson, massive aircraft carrier which reached Haiti vicinity before the Comfort.

She gave birth to a baby boy five days after the earthquake and decided to name him Vinson, but not just because of the special significance of the ship serving as her son's birthplace.

"I liked the name Vinson," she said through a translator.

The Comfort arrived in Haiti a couple days ago after departing from its home port in Baltimore, Maryland. The 1,000-bed vessel carries state of the art medical equipment and a landing pad for helicopter transports. It is one of two US Navy ships designed to provide medical care from the sea.

The Comfort's presence is one of many medical responses underway. International organizations like Doctors Without Borders are on the ground, along with the United Nations and teams from several other countries. Israel has been widely credited for quickly setting up a highly advanced hospital on Haitian soil.

Doctors and nurses were scurrying around with intense focus on the Comfort's initial treatment section, where patients are brought based on initial assessments by a team inside Haiti. At the staging area doctors decide who must go into surgery. Others are treated in the center and sent to one of the four floors below for recovery.

The ship is equipped with 12 operation rooms and an intensive care unit. So far, two Haitians have died on the ship, Commander Bob Fetherson, the surgeon who heads the operations unit, said.

Just steps away from Fetherson lies a 9-year-old girl with burns down her right leg. He said the girl will be treated before being flown to burn center in Puerto Rico.

Fetherson said the ugliest injury he has seen so far was a compound break of a women's thigh bone. The end of of the bone which attaches to the knee, protruded through the back of her leg. Doctors repaired it with still plates and screws and she was resting in intensive care. Without the treatment, the woman would have surely died, he said.

Compound fractures have been the main reason countless Haitians had to undergo limb amputations. Trapped under the rubble for days, the wound grows infected and the only way to save the patient is to remove the limb.

In just two days, doctors on the comfort have performed about 20 amputations, "too many," Fetherson said. Doctors in Haiti have spoken of hundreds of amputations in the days following the quake.

But with the more help arriving, people who would have otherwise died are now being saved, including victims of the series of aftershocks that continue to rock the weary nation.

Fetherson acknowledged he sometimes struggles to keep his emotions in check, saying that the state of so many of his patients is among the worst he has ever seen.

He treated a young man who had already been amputated from below the elbow on his right arm, and below the knee of his right leg. He spoke perfect English and aspired to be an engineer. Fetherson said he the encouraged his 21-year-old patient not give up on his dreams.

That was when he could no longer keep the tears back, reminding himself the boy was same age as his daughter. He walked over to a sink to wash his face, a method he says uses to get through the emotions and regain his focus.

Downstairs in the pediatric ward, dozens of children lie in beds, recovering from treatment. Like most earthquake victims, they sustained fractures. One nurse dubbed the facility "babies and broken bones."

Forty per cent of those brought to the Comfort are children. A 5-year-old girl was crying for her mother as nurses wrapped her left leg in a cast to immobilize her broken femur.

A lot of the children are missing their parents, who could not come because there is no space on helicopters for those uninjured, but others were simply scared, like any child visiting a doctor.

"You have to remember that some of these children have never seen a doctor," said Lieutenant Commander Dan Dawrora, who oversees the triage. Dawrora is constantly interrupted while talking to reporters, responding to more urgent requests from his staff.

Ensign Shannon Walker, a nurse in the children's ward, said they communicate with the parents through mobile phones, providing them with updates on the status of their children.

Since the Comfort arrived, more than 200 patients have been ferried to the ship, Dawrora said. About half of them arrive with injuries that if untreated could lead to fatal problems within days.

None of the patients brought to the Comfort have recovered well enough yet to be discharged and ferried back. But it appears the ship's doctors and nurses are winning more battles than they are losing.

"We focus on the ones we can save, we mourn the ones we can't," Dawrora said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305328,some-rays-of-hope-amid-haitis-devastation--feature.html.

LEADALL: Aid shipments in high gear as mourning continues in Haiti

Port-au-Prince - The Port-au-Prince airport was pulsing with US Navy helicopters in a non-stop airlift of food and other aid across earthquake-stricken Haiti as international officials started considering how best to rebuild the flattened capital. A funeral was being held Saturday for Haiti's Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, who was killed in the January 12 quake. The service will be held in the plaza outside the destroyed cathedral of Port-au-Prince, which had been one of the country's most beloved landmarks.

In Geneva, Margareta Wahlstrom, United Nations special envoy for reducing disaster-related risk, said the world must "rebuild a safer Haiti." Tent cities were being planned to house the homeless until a permanent solution can be found.

More than 30 governments and hundreds of international aid organizations were pulling together to resuscitate the traumatized Caribbean country, where up to 200,000 people may have died.

Ten days on, survivors struggled to balance still-rattled nerves while trying to rebuild their lives, even as they struggle day-to-day struggle for the essentials to survive.

Amid the ruins, dignitaries were bound for Miot's funeral. The 63- year-old Miot was found dead among the ruins of the archdiocese's office in Port-au-Prince.

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who is also chairman of the board of Catholic Relief Services, will attend on behalf of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Rajiv Shah, head of the US government's aid agency USAID, was scheduled to arrive Saturday on his second post-quake visit to Haiti, where he was to attend the Miot funeral and meet with Haitian leaders.

The United States and UN have signed a "statement of principles" on coordination on the ground in Haiti. The document outlines cooperation on getting flights into Haiti and security arrangements between UN peacekeepers on the ground, US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said.

The agreement follows complaints by French aid workers that their shipments were not given adequate priority at the airport, which is being operated by the US military at the request of Haitian officials. The airport's daily capacity has been boosted 10-fold from its pre-quake workload to about 150 landings a day.

US military authorities say that landing clearances are being divided equally between international aid shipments, US aid shipments and US military aircraft.

In one case, a French plane was diverted for five hours to the neighboring Dominican Republic due to inevitable logistical problems such as fuel shortages and slow boarding of evacuees onto departing flights, military sources said.

In places like Mirebalais, 25 miles north-east of the capital, and the Mara Valley, US helicopters and C17s were dropping supplies to sites secured by UN peacekeepers.

The UN's flash appeal for 575 million dollars in emergency relief has received 334 million dollars in donations and pledges, officials in New York said.

"Seldom in the face of such a disaster has the international community acted in such solidarity, nor so quickly in the face of so many difficulties," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

Hollywood celebrities held a televised fundraiser Friday evening to spur individual donations. The broadcast featured live performances from London, New York and Los Angeles featuring songs by pop legend Madonna as well as Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J Blige, Shakira and Sting.

Another aftershock of 4.4 magnitude shook Haiti on Friday.

Haitian President Rene Preval, who has drawn the ire of traumatized Haitians for failing to appear in public and communicate with his people, told the Spanish newspaper El Pais that aid relief to his country suffered from a "general lack of coordination."

He dismissed criticism that he had cut an absent figure in the aftermath of the disaster, saying he went out to see the damage every day.

Preval refuted concerns about the massive US military role, with more than 10,000 troops slated to arrive as part of the recovery effort. Help was coming from "many countries, not only from the United States," he said.

Preval estimated that more than 70,000 bodies have been buried so far.

In other developments:

- US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, at a meeting in Toledo, Spain, made clear that the Haiti earthquake "is not an opportunity to immigrate into the United States." Refugees who try to enter the US illegally would be repatriated, she said. The US has extended temporary stays to tens of thousands of Haitians already in the country illegally.

- The United Nations announced that some 15 children have "disappeared" from hospitals in Haiti since the quake. According to Jean Luc Legrand of UNICEF, the UN children fund, the children had been taken out of hospitals "not with their families."

- Spain, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, urged the 27-nation bloc to speed up adoptions of Haitian children who are already being processed. European Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot said the EU would seek a common "framework" on adoptions, in cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

- In the waters off Haiti, dozens of ships dot the water, including the USNS Comfort, a naval hospital that has treated at least hundreds of Haitians since arriving earlier this week. Navy helicopters hopped from ship to ship, delivering personnel, supplies and injured Haitians.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305329,leadall-aid-shipments-in-high-gear-as-mourning-continues-in-haiti.html.

Taiwan civic groups protest chain stores selling shark-fin soup

Taipei - Taiwan environmentalist groups on Saturday protested against chain stores selling shark-fin soup because killing sharks for their fins can lead to their extinction. The protest was made by 23 civic groups against four chains which are accepting orders for pre-cooked and ready-to-cook meals for the Chinese New Year holidays, which begins on February 14.

The targeted firms are 7-11, Family Mart, OK Mart and Hi-Life, which together operate nearly 10,000 24-hour convenience stores on the island.

"Lured by high profits, fishermen kill sharks only for their fins. They cut off shark's fins and dump the sharks into the sea and let them bleed to death," said Wang Yu-min, director of the Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan.

"Each year, some 4,000 to 7,000 sharks are killed for their fins. The International Union for Conservation of Nature warned that 111 species of shark are being threatened, of which 20 species are seriously threatened and 25 species face extinction," she said.

"Sharks are the biggest predators in the sea and are at the top of the marine food chain. Killing sharks will disrupt the food chain and ecosystem of the sea," she said.

The statement demanded the franchises remove shark-fin soup from their Chinese New Year menu, and urged restaurants, hotels and families to refrain from selling and consuming it as well.

Shark-fin soup is one of the traditional Chinese New Year dishes and an important dish at wedding banquets. Many Chinese believe the soup is nutritious and being able to afford it reflects one's wealth and social status.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305330,taiwan-civic-groups-protest-chain-stores-selling-shark-fin-soup.html.

China to reinforce control over Tibet with development plan

Beijing - China's leaders have outlined a 10-year development plan for Tibet, aimed at improving incomes and infrastructure to stabilize a region plagued by ethnic tensions, state media reported Saturday. At the first high-level meeting on Tibet since deadly ethnic clashes broke out in 2008, President Hu Jintao said the government would aim to raise the per-capita net income of farmers and herders in Tibet to the national level by 2020, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Hu also said promised more public investment in infrastructure and public services, including medical services and education.

But the president stressed that awareness of being part of the Chinese nation must be enhanced, and said the government would continue its efforts to stamp out "penetration and sabotage" by Tibetan separatists.

In March 2008, ethnic clashes broke out on the streets of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, leaving 18 people dead and hundreds injured according to official figures.

Since then, the government has tightened controls in Tibet and surrounding areas, turning away journalists, limiting access of foreign tourists and cutting off communications in some places.

Recent shifts in Tibet's leadership look set to reinforce Chinese control.

"Stability is of overwhelming importance. We will firmly oppose all attempts at secession, safeguard national unification and security, and maintain unity among different ethnic groups in Tibet," the region's new governor, Pema Trinley, was quoted as saying last week by Xinhua.

With hardliner Zhang Qingli still in top position as Tibet's Communist Party Secretary, "there is no evidence in this case that the changes signal any new approach on policy," the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet said on Saturday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305336,china-to-reinforce-control-over-tibet-with-development-plan.html.

Train derailed in north-eastern Iran, at least seven killed

Tehran - A train derailment in the north-eastern Iran province of Khorasan killed at least seven passengers, state media reported Sunday. A local official said the train was carrying 50 passengers from the provincial capital Mashad to Tehran when it derailed near the town of Joqatai, apparently due to problems with the brakes.

The official said the death toll could rise because at least

12 passengers were critically injured.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305338,train-derailed-in-north-eastern-iran-at-least-seven-killed.html.

BASIC countries to discuss climate strategy at Delhi meeting

New Delhi - Officials from Brazil, South Africa, India and China (BASIC) are scheduled to meet in New Delhi Sunday to devise a common strategy ahead of formal climate-change negotiations. The bloc of emerging powers seeks to persuade more developing nations to support the Copenhagen accord, official sources said.

The four countries are also likely to announce a climate fund for the most vulnerable developing countries, the sources said.

Twenty-six nations including the BASIC group agreed to the accord, a non-binding agreement that emerged from the fractious conference in the Danish capital in December.

The accord has a January 31 deadline and the signing countries are expected to set national emission targets.

The targets would not be binding but the accord was expected to provide the base for further negotiations leading up to a legally binding treaty at a meeting in Mexico scheduled for November.

Brazil and South Africa have already signed the accord, while India and China have yet to do so.

"India's signing the accord would depend on the outcome of the BASIC meeting in Delhi," an Environment Ministry official said.

Another official, who was part of the negotiations at Copenhagen, said India was one of the five nations that brokered the accord and could not avoid signing it.

Brazil, China, South Africa and India along with the United States brokered the deal near the end of the Copenhagen meeting, after which it was presented to the other 187 nations.

The stated objective is to hold the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius. Some non-governmental organizations have said at the current level of commitments, temperatures would rise more than 3 degrees.

Several developing countries in Africa and Latin America accused the BASIC bloc of having moved away from the larger G-77 grouping of developing nations.

The accord is regarded by some as falling far short of the more ambitious goals set for the Copenhagen meet.

"The BASIC bloc has to get the backing of more developing nations for muscle power. It has also to show it is looking at the interests of wider developing world," an Indian official said on condition of anonymity.

The bloc is expected to announce a fund with contributions from all four countries to help the most vulnerable nations combat climate change.

"With 41 per cent of the world's population, 11 per cent of global gross domestic product and accounting for 30 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the four nations have a major responsibility to lead the world in finding solutions to the climate crisis," a Greenpeace statement said.

"BASIC ministers will take stock of all issues arising from the Copenhagen conference and the steps needed to ensure the interests of the developing countries," an unnamed senior Environment Ministry official was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.

Brazil's Minister for Environment Carlos Minc, his South African counterpart Buyelwa Sonjica, and the vice-chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission Xie Zhenhua are expected to attend the meeting convened by Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

The ministers are also scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305341,basic-countries-to-discuss-climate-strategy-at-delhi-meeting.html.

Biden in Iraq for talks on 'blacklisted' election candidates

Baghdad - US Vice President Joe Biden will meet with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad Saturday to resolve the issue of the candidates banned from forthcoming parliamentary elections. Some 511 candidates and 10 groups have been banned from running in Iraq's parliamentary election, scheduled for March 7, because of their links to the outlawed Baath Party.

Biden, who arrived in Baghdad Friday night, will meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Head of Parliament Iyad al-Samarei.

The list of banned candidates was finalized by the Accountability and Justice Commission, an independent body which replaced the de-Baathification Committee.

President Talabani, who supports the inclusion of non-Saddamist Baathists in the Iraqi political process, cast doubt on the legality of the Commission and its decision.

"We asked in an official letter to judge Madhat al-Mahmoud (president of the Iraqi Supreme Court) that he rule on the legality of the integrity and accountability committee," he said earlier in the week.

The ruling Baath Party of former dictator Saddam Hussein was overthrown in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The Baath Party is now outlawed in Iraq, but Talabani says the ban only applies to Saddamist Baathists.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305342,biden-in-iraq-for-talks-on-blacklisted-election-candidates.html.

Hezbollah hits back at Kouchner attack

Beirut- The Lebanese Shiite movement, Hezbollah, hit back at French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner Saturday, over his recent comments condemning the group and linking it to Iran. "Israel is our friend, and if there was a threat to Lebanon, it will only come from a military adventure carried out by Hezbollah in the best interest of Iran," Kouchner reportedly told the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri during a visit to Paris on Friday.

"Kouchner's statement carried clear echoes for the Israeli voice and a full denial for France's history and its legacy in resisting aggression and occupation," said a statement by Hezbollah.

"This stance is an attempt to acquit Israel and to cover up its relentless violations of Lebanese sovereignty, the thing which represents a shield for its occupation and an encouragement for it to pursue its aggressions," Hezbollah said.

The statement refers to daily Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, in breach of UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon.

The UN Security Council has listed 388 Israeli airspace violations on behalf of Israel against Lebanon, in its report last June.

Last week, Ehud Barak, Israel's defense minister, warned Hezbollah to "avoid entering in conflict with us."

Israel has said that it will hold the Lebanese responsible for any violations by Hezbollah of United Nations Security Council resolution 1701.

Barak reiterated that should Hezbollah carry out any attacks, Israel would retaliate against not just Hezbollah, but Lebanon and anyone else who helps Hezbollah.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305343,hezbollah-hits-back-at-kouchner-attack.html.