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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

'Referendum will determine south Sudan fate'

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir says that his government will accept secession of southern Sudan if southerners were to vote for independence in a referendum.

The referendum to be held next year is part of the 2005 peace deal which brought to an end more than a decade of civil war.

Addressing a ceremony marking the end of the north-south war, President Bashir pointed out that his Northern Congress Party (NCP) was reluctant for the south to secede.

"But if the result of the referendum is separation, then we in the NCP will be the first to take note of this decision and to support it," he added.

President Bashir struck an unusually conciliatory tone in the speech, which has been well received, analysts said.

"The north and south will continue to be economically and politically connected, whatever the choice of the people of southern Sudan," he noted.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/116625.html.

Iran enters gas talks with Iraq

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

Iran has entered into talks with Iraq for supplying its neighbor with natural gas, a senior Iranian gas official says.

The Deputy Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company, Mostafa Kashkouli, said that Iran is in negotiations with Iraq to pump its gas to the country via two pipelines that cross the border at Dehloran and Khorramshar, but he offered no details.

Kashkouli says the Islamic Republic seeks to increase its share of the gas export market by finding new consumers.

Last year, Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mir Kazemi suggested that Baghdad might benefit from Iranian gas in its efforts to increase electricity production.

Iran possesses the world's second largest gas reserves, which compose almost 16 percent of the world's total. The country is eager to expand its consumer base for energy resources.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116620§ionid=351020103.

Iran's 5th fleet to head for Gulf of Aden

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

The Iranian military has announced plans to dispatch a fifth fleet of warships to the Gulf of Aden to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia.

"The fourth fleet, which included the destroyer Alborz and the Bushehr logistic support vessel, will soon reach the end of its mission in the Gulf of Aden," said the First Naval Operational Zone Chief of the Islamic Republic Navy Admiral Fariborz Qaderpanah.

"It will be replaced by a fifth fleet, which the military plans to dispatch by the end of January," he added.

According to the admiral, the fifth fleet will be send to the Gulf of Aden from Iran's southern ports of Bandar-Abbas and Chabahar.

Iran's naval fleets have been operating in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, after Somali pirates took control of an Iranian ship and held its crew hostage.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116618§ionid=351020101.

Gianluigi Buffon crowned world's best goalie

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) names the Italian national team goalie Gianluigi Buffon as the world's best goalkeeper.

The IFFHS crowned Buffon as the best shot-stopper between 1987 and 2009 on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old Buffon accumulated 87 points to edge out Real Madrid goalkeeper and Spanish national team captain Iker Casillas with 73 points and former Manchester United custodian Peter Schmeichel with 69.

German keeper Oliver Kahn placed fourth, and fifth went to Manchester United's Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar with 60 points.

The world's ten best goalkeepers include:

1. Gianluigi Buffon
2. Iker Casillas
3. Peter Schmeichel
4. Oliver Kahn
5. Edwin van der Sar
6. Jose Luis Chilavert
7. Walter Zenga
8. Petr Cech
9. Michel Preudhomme
10. Claudio Andre Taffarel

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116617§ionid=3510212.

Ahmadinejad urges unity among regional states

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stresses the importance of strengthening unity among regional countries to foil enemies' plots in the region.

"Maintenance of unity and integrity among regional countries will be the only way to thwart the conspiracies of enemies," Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi in Tehran on Tuesday.

"The enemies know that if the Iraqi nation enjoys welfare and security, their equations in the region will change. So, they are making efforts to inflict damage on Iraq," Mehr News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

The Iranian president called on Iraqi authorities to remain vigilant and move toward establishing and strengthening the Iraqi government.

The Iraqi vice president, for his part, praised Iran's role in regional developments and called for enhanced relations between Tehran and Baghdad.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116616§ionid=351020101.

Temple of ancient cat goddess found in Egypt

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old temple as well as 600 Ptolemaic statues in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

The Ptolemaic temple was dedicated to the ancient cat goddess Bastet, a known solar and war goddess of the ancients.

The temple is believed to belong to Queen Berenike II, wife of Ptolemy III who ruled Egypt in the 3rd century BCE.

The interesting aspect of the find is that these royal quarters of the Ptolemaic dynasty confirm that the Greek dynasty of Egyptian rulers continued the worship of ancient animal deities.

Many more ruins of the ancient capital of Hellenic Egypt lie preserved under the modern city, yet to be unearthed, archaeologists say.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/116615.html.

China jails former top judge for corruption

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

A court in China has sentenced a former senior Supreme Court judge to life in prison after being convicted of taking bribes and other corruption charges.

Huang Songyou, the court's former vice-president, confessed to the charges including accepting nearly 3.9mn yuan (USD 570,000) in bribes while he was deputy head of the Supreme Court, the official Xinhua news agency said Tuesday.

Huang was convicted of embezzling 1.2mn yuan in government funds in 1997 when he was president of a lower-level court in the southern province of Guangdong.

Huang's entire estate also was confiscated under the ruling.

He was the first judicial official of his stature to be tried and convicted on such charges since the Communist Party took power in 1949.

China's Supreme Court, formally known as the Supreme People's Court, is the highest judicial panel in China with a wide range of power, including overseeing lower courts and reviewing death sentences.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116605§ionid=351020404.

No Saudi reconciliation initiative tabled, Hamas says

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

Hamas says it has not received a new Saudi initiative to end the internal divisions among Palestinians and to achieve national reconciliation.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV on Tuesday, a member of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ezzet al-Resheq, stated that the Islamic Resistance Movement has not been informed of any such initiative.

He said that no Saudi initiative on uniting the Palestinian factions has been tabled and added that Hamas has called on Arab states to be supportive of the Egyptian role in the reconciliation efforts, which have suffered several setbacks as a result of the inflexibility and intransigence exhibited by certain figures.

"Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar, and Kuwait, together with other Arab nations, are keen to see unity forged among Palestinian blocs, and Hamas has high hopes for the immediate realization of the Palestinian reconciliation process," al-Resheq said.

He added that Hamas seeks to unite the Palestinians and end the discord.

However, Fatah members are obstructing the path to unity, given that the terms of the latest agreement have been dictated by the United States and Israel, he noted.

Apparently, they have bullied acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas into procrastinating in the efforts to establish Palestinian unity and have threatened to cut off financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority if Fatah mends ties with Hamas, he said.

Al-Resheq stated that Hamas is eager to cut a prisoner swap deal with Israel, stressing that the Islamic Resistance Movement hopes to see captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit freed in exchange for long-serving Palestinian prisoners.

"Hamas has no interest in holding Shalit. The indirect talks with Israel on the prisoner swap are moving very slowly since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are placing hurdles on the path.”

But as long as the atmosphere isn't appropriate for the release of Palestinian prisoners, Shalit will continue to be held, the Hamas official said.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116602§ionid=351020202.

Israel rules out independant probe of Gaza war

Israel has disdained international calls to conduct an independent probe into the war crimes its forces have been charged with during its 2008 Gaza offensive.

The call for an internal investigation of the alleged - and documented - war crimes is part of a damning report by a UN fact-finding mission led by the South African Judge Richard Goldstone.

The 575-page report mostly highlighted Israeli war crimes such as deliberately targeting centers known to be holding Palestinian civilians and shooting civilians on the run, including some that were waving white flags.

"Israel has no intention of creating a verification commission," Tel Aviv's Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein said in New York on Tuesday, a day after meeting the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. He added that he had informed Ban of the Israeli intentions during their Monday meeting.

The refusal came two days before the Israeli minister submits Tel Aviv's official response to charges of war crimes over the three-week war the regime's forces waged against the densely-populated coastal strip, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and leaving tens of thousands more injured.

Meanwhile, the Israeli media have suggested the possibility of a limited inquiry to help Tel Aviv deflect a portion of the widespread international condemnation it is facing over the Gaza offensive.

In his report, Mr. Goldstone suggested that its conclusions be referred to the Hague-based International Criminal Court if Israel and Hamas fail to carry out convincing probes into their actions within six months.

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly endorsed the report in November, in the face of fierce opposition from Israel and the United States, who pledged to take a stance against the report in support of its closest Middle East ally.

The General Assembly consequently called on both sides to carry out investigations "that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards" by February 5.

Israel has been striving to suppress the Goldstone report since it was released in September, vowing to fight any efforts to bring the Israeli initiators of the 22-day aggression to trial.

On Tuesday, Edelstein made the claim that the report is stirring up “anti-Semitism” and “reinforcing Holocaust deniers,” despite the fact that its South African author is Jewish himself.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117093§ionid=3510203.

US military-industrial complex sends Gates to India

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has arrived in New Delhi, looking to forge closer military links with India.

Gates met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, and other officials on Tuesday, which was the first day of his two-day visit.

Pundits say he made the trip to urge India to buy scores of fighter aircraft, as well as other expensive hardware, from US military contractors.

"There are also a lot of other defense acquisitions that are on the table," AP quoted Lalit Mansingh, the former Indian ambassador to the United States, as saying on Tuesday, shortly before Gates' arrival.

India is expected to become a major customer for the US military-industrial complex over the next few years.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116598§ionid=351020402.

France moves a step closer to barring burqa

Following recent European moves to ban Muslim practices, French lawmakers are seeking a ban on the burqa and other face-covering veils worn by some Muslim women.

After six months of fierce public debate, a parliamentary panel is expected to recommend on Tuesday a partial ban on the veil in public places such as schools and hospitals, but not in private buildings or on the street.

The ban could make it impossible for women who wear the burqa to receive any public services, from buying a bus ticket to picking up a child at school.

Some of the 32 members of the cross-party panel want to go even further with a law that might make wearing a full veil subject to a USD 1,000 fine.

Parliament is not required to act on the recommendation, and it may only result in a non-binding government resolution.

The commission's decision indicates that the lawmakers have heeded warnings that a full ban would possibly pose a threat to France's constitutionally-mandated secularism.

The panel's work began after President Nicolas Sarkozy said in June that the Muslim garment was "not welcome" on French territory.

France's recent move follows other European countries' ban on certain Muslim practices.

In November, 2009, Switzerland became the first European country to ban a Muslim practice when a double majority voted "yes" to a referendum seeking a ban on the construction of minarets - a distinct characteristic of Muslim places of worship — mosques.

Following French footsteps, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has also sought a ban on burqas and other face-covering veils in Britain.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117090§ionid=3510212.

Blockade threatens students' future in Gaza

Many students in the Gaza Strip aspire to a higher education abroad but the Israeli-Egyptian blockade deprives them of setting out on their journey.

Hundreds of Gaza graduates receive scholarship to attend universities abroad, but they are trapped in the impoverished coastal enclave. They are going to lose their scholarships according to a report by Press TV correspondent

Ayman Quader is one of these students. He has finished his bachelor's degree and was awarded a scholarship yet he cannot leave Gaza. The first term of his scholarship begins in February.

Quader told our correspondent that he is being prevented from going out by the complete siege of the Gaza Strip. Quader calls on all those who are concerned with humanitarian conditions in Gaza to support him and his peers who seek a brighter future in schools abroad.

Israel has imposed crippling restrictions on the Gaza Strip since 2007, preventing the shipment of food, fuel and other essentials into the populated region, pushing its impoverished population to the verge of starvation.

The condition has been further worsened by Egypt's refusal to open the Rafah crossing — the only alternative which is a border terminal not controlled by Israel —.

Along with the other residents of the Gaza Strip, students must wait until the next opening of the Rafah crossing. But there are no scheduled openings of the only gate for the 1.5 million Palestinians in the blockaded region.

Academicians in Gaza argue that traveling abroad is one of the fundamental rights of students which must not be violated by political disputes.

"I'm disappointed and frustrated as a teacher because my students are losing golden opportunities to pursue their studies abroad," said a Gaza University teacher, Akreem Habeeb.

Habeeb expressed regret that many of his students with scholarships from European and American universities lost their chance because they have not been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip.

"These students are living in a great fear of losing their seats and universities," Gaza Education Minister Ahmad al-Najjar told Press TV, warning "their future is in a great danger."

Students in the Gaza Strip have held several protests against the enclosure of their homeland, calling upon Egyptian authorities to facilitate their traveling abroad, requests that appear to fall on deaf ears in Cairo.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117076§ionid=351020202.

Iran praises Mauritania for cutting ties with Israel

Mon Jan 25, 2010

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has praised the Mauritanian government for breaking diplomatic ties with Israel.

During a meeting with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz in Tehran on Monday, Ahmadinejad called the move a valuable step which "should set an example for the rest of the Islamic countries."

Mauritania cut its ties with Israel during the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza war, during which over 1400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed.

The Iranian president also called Israel the "root of all the corruption in the region."

Mauritania's president is currently visiting Tehran with a high-ranking delegation.

Tehran began expanding relations with Nouakchott after the African nation severed its ties with Israel.

In 2009, Iran completed the construction of an ophthalmology center in the Mauritanian capital left unfinished by Israel.

During their meeting, the two presidents discussed bilateral ties as well as regional and international developments.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/117036.html.

US indicts 3 Israelis in intl. bribery case

Wed, 20 Jan 2010

The US Justice Department has indicted three Israeli businessmen for attempting to bribe the defense minister of an African country to win a multi-million military contract.

The businessmen, along with 18 others indicted in the same case, were arrested in Las Vegas, where they were attending a sports and hunting convention, following a 2 and a half year FBI surveillance and sting operation. The 22nd defendant was arrested in Miami.

The Israelis are 50-year-old Ofer Paz and Haim Geri, the presidents of an Israeli company and North Miami Beach, Florida, company, respectively. Both firms act as sales agent for companies in the law enforcement and military products industries.

The third is Yochanan R. Cohen, also known as Yochi Cohen, 47, who serves as the chief executive officer of a San Francisco company that manufactures security equipment.

The defendants allegedly agreed to pay a 20 percent commission to an undercover FBI agent playing the African minister.

The indictments charge the businessmen with conspiracy and substantive violations of the corrupt practices act and conspiracy to engage in money laundering, Haaretz reported.

The charges related to the corrupt practices act could mean the defendants face a maximum five-year prison sentence if convicted, while the maximum sentence for money laundering conspiracy is 20 years.

The case marks the largest single investigation and prosecution of individuals in the history of the 1977 US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans bribery of foreign government officials in order to secure business contracts.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116609§ionid=3510203.

'Russian fighter jet allowed to fly over Iran'

Tue, 19 Jan 2010

Iran has agreed to allow a Russian fighter jet to use its airspace to get to an international air show in Bahrain, a Russian website reported.

On Tuesday, RIA Novosti quoted an official of the Iranian Embassy in Moscow as saying that the Su-27 Flanker fighter had been cleared to fly to Bahrain via Iran's airspace.

The Russian Foreign Ministry had complained earlier in the day that Iran had refused to let the plane use its airspace to take part in the Bahrain International Airshow (BIAS) 2010.

It said permission had initially been granted, but when the plane approached Iran's airspace, the Islamic Republic's authorities banned it from entering “for unknown reasons.”

However, according to some other media reports, the Su-27 was supposed to be transported to Bahrain by a cargo plane.

BIAS 2010 will run from January 21 to 23.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116595§ionid=351020101.

Greek MP returns wine gift to Israeli Embassy

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

The deputy prime minister of Greece has sent back to the Israeli Embassy in Athens three bottles of wine given to him as a gift, because they were produced in the Golan, which “belongs to Syria” and is “illegally occupied.”

The embassy had given the wine to Theodoros Pangalos – MP for the socialist party PASOK and responsible also for co-ordination of the foreign policy and defense committee in the Greek government – as a gift for the Christmas holidays with the wishes of Israel´s ambassador to Greece, Ali Yihiye.

In a letter sent to the embassy with the returned wine, Pangalos said he was taught not to steal and not to accept products of theft.

“I have been taught since I was very young not to steal and not to accept products of theft,” he wrote. “So I cannot possibly accept this gift and I must return it back to you.

“As you know, your country occupies illegally the Golan Heights who belong to Syria, according to the international law and numerous decisions of the international community,” Pangalos added.

Referring to atrocities that occurred during the Second World War and the Balkan War, the socialist MP said: “Actions such as those of these days of the Israel military in Gaza remind the Greek people of holocausts such as in Kalavrita or Doxato or Distomo and certainly in the ghetto of Warsaw.”

While he called for an end to Hamas´ terrorist activities, he compared Israel´s action in Gaza to Nazi Germany´s army.

My hope is that Israel will find security into its internationally recognized borders and the terrorist activities against Israel territory by Hamas or anybody else will be contained and made impossible, but I also hope that your government will cease practicing the policy of collective punishment, which was applied on a mass scale by Hitler and his armies.”

Source: Intifada - Voice of Palestine.
Link: http://intifada-palestine.com/2010/01/25/greek-mp-returns-wine-gift-to-israeli-embassy/.

Red Cross: Humanitarian situation in Yemen worse than ever - Summary

Geneva - The humanitarian situation in north Yemen has deteriorated to the worst level ever amid a raging conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned Monday. "The humanitarian situation in the north of Yemen is now worse than ever before," the organization said in a statement.

"The danger we see is that if more attention is not given to the conflict in the north, the situation will deteriorate to a point where development aid won't make sense anymore," Dominik Stillhart, a senior ICRC official told reporters in Geneva.

He was speaking ahead of an international conference on Yemen in London later this week, with security and poverty reduction in the spotlight.

"As much of the focus is security related, one should not forget the conflict up in the north, (ongoing) since 2004, which is in humanitarian terms, the number one problem of Yemen today," Stillhart said.

"What is haunting people in the north of Yemen... they are much more concerned by the conflict between the government and the Houthi rebels that what will be discussed at the London conference," the ICRC official said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the conference on Yemen after an attempted Christmas Day bombing of an airliner over the United States by a Nigerian man.

The suspect was believed to have been operating on the orders of the Yemen branch of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, which has bases in the south of the poor Gulf country.

However, fighting between rebels and government forces in the north has been ongoing since 2004, with occasional lulls in combat. The violence flared up again late last year, spilling over into neighboring Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh launched cross border attacks against the Shiite Houthi rebels in November, as the conflict spread to more areas geographically and affected more people.

On Monday, rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, announced a unilateral ceasefire with Saudi and said his fighters would withdraw from positions within the kingdom.

Last week, Saudi Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Khaled bin Sultan said the territory around the border area was stable and secure, while announcing plans to build a military base in that area.

At least 150,000 people are believed to have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the conflict in the north. Many more remain civilians were behind the frontlines, with humanitarian aid agencies unable to reach them.

According to the Red Cross, civilians "are the primary victims of the conflict."

Yemen hosts some 155,000 refugees from the Horn of Africa, mostly people who have fled Somalia, which has been locked in a brutal civil war for most of the last two decades.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305667,red-cross-humanitarian-situation-in-yemen-worse-than-ever--summary.html.

Yemen's Shiite rebels announce ceasefire with Saudi Arabia - Summary

Sana'a, Yemen - The leader of Yemen's Shiite rebels Abdul-Malik al-Houthi announced on Monday a unilateral ceasefire with Saudi Arabia, saying that his followers would withdraw from Saudi territories. "We announce our total withdrawal from all the Saudi positions and territories under the control of the Saudi regime," al-Houthi said in an audiotape sent to journalists by e-mail.

The rebel leader pledged to wage an "open war" if Saudi Arabia continues attacks against his group's positions in the north-western Yemeni province of Saada.

"Its (Saudi Arabia) insistence to continue the aggression after this initiative gives us the legitimacy to open new fronts and to wage an open war," al-Houthi said.

He said the unilateral ceasefire aims at "saving the blood of civilians."

Al-Houthi's announcement comes three days after he appeared in a video recording denying claims by the Yemeni government that he was injured or killed.

The young rebel leader spoke briefly in the 35-second video posted on the group's website showing him sitting on a chair with no visible injuries.

Several government ministers have said in recent remarks to the press that al-Houthi was seriously wounded and may have been killed after an air strike on his hideout in Saada late in December.

Members of al-Houthi group, known as Houthis, have been battling the Yemeni government forces since mid-2004 in Saada located on the border with Saudi Arabia.

They say they are fighting against the Yemeni government's corruption and its alliance with the United States.

The Sana'a government accuses the Houthis of trying to reinstall the rule of Shiite imams who were toppled by a republican revolution in northern Yemen in 1962.

In November, the rebels carried out a cross-border raid, killing a Saudi border guard, and drawing Saudi forces into the conflict.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305666,yemens-shiite-rebels-announce-ceasefire-with-saudi-arabia--summary.html.

Israel's Peres arrives in Germany to remember Holocaust - Summary

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Jerusalem - Israeli President Shimon Peres arrived in Berlin on Monday for a three-day visit in which he is to commemorate the Holocaust and give a landmark address to the German Parliament. Peres, 86, is accompanied by a delegation of German-born Holocaust survivors marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, the date on which in 1945 the Auschwitz death camp was liberated by Soviet soldiers.

In Berlin, Peres is also to meet a series of German officials, including President Horst Koehler and Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He will also hold a memorial ceremony at Platform 17 of the Grunewald Railway Station, where tens of thousands of Berlin Jews were deported to extermination camps during the Holocaust, the Nazi campaign of genocide during World War II.

The service will be attended by several high-ranking German officials and military figures.

In his address to the parliament, or Bundestag, Peres is to mourn the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, among them his grandparents and uncle who were burned alive in the synagogue in Vishneva, Belarus.

The Israeli president also planned to speak about the historical connection between Israel and the Holocaust, and the relationship between Israel and Germany following the war, his office said.

Peres, whose political career spans almost the entire history of the state of Israel, is to present his own vision and hope for the future of Israel, Germany and the Middle East.

His speech is to mark the first time an Israeli president has addressed the Bundestag in Berlin. Before German reunification in 1990, the post-war government of West Germany was located in Bonn.

Before the speech, Peres is to attend a reception hosted by Merkel at the chancellery and walk through the Brandenburg Gate.

The Israeli president is also to receive the Walther Rathenau Prize, awarded annually for outstanding lifetime achievement in foreign policy.

The award is named after a German-Jewish businessman who became Foreign Minister at the start of the Weimar Republic and was murdered in June 1922 by ultra-nationalist extremists.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305669,israels-peres-arrives-in-germany-to-remember-holocaust--summary.html.

EU mission stays in Bosnia; handover prep to Bosnian army starts

Brussels - The European Union's military mission in Bosnia (ALTHEA) is to start planning how to hand over responsibilities to the local army, the bloc's foreign ministers decided on Monday. However, the 2,000-strong ALTHEA mission is set to stay in place until the closure of the Office of the High Representative (OHR), an official nominated by the international community to oversee the 1995 Dayton Peace agreement.

"The Council (of EU ministers) expressed the readiness of the EU, should the situation require, to maintain an executive military role (...) beyond 2010, under a UN mandate," read an official statement released.

But at the same time, EU soldiers are due to "start providing non- executive capacity-building and training support" to the Bosnian army, as soon as "necessary arrangements" are put into place within the ALTHEA mission.

The closure of the OHR is seen as a crucial step to end the international protectorate that was imposed on Bosnia after the 1992- 1995 civil war, which left more than 100,000 dead.

But the decision - which is a precondition to move closer to EU accession - has been delayed since 2006 on account of lingering tensions between the Serbian, Muslim and Croat politicians who rule the country.

EU foreign ministers, who met on Monday in Brussels, urged "all parties" in Bosnia to respect "all decisions" taken by the current head of the OHR, Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko, "and not to seek to challenge his authority."

According to diplomats, the warning was particularly targeted against the Bosnian-Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who threatens to hold a referendum to increase the veto powers of his ethnic province, thwarting attempts to reform Bosnia's dysfunctional federal system of government.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305675,eu-mission-stays-in-bosnia-handover-prep-to-bosnian-army-starts.html.

Spain tries secret agent suspected of selling data to Russia - Summary

Madrid - A suspected Spanish double agent on Monday denied selling confidential information to Russia as a trial of him began in Madrid. Prosecution was seeking a 12-year sentence on treason charges for Roberto Florez, a former agent of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI).

If Florez is only found guilty of revealing secrets, he could be handed a sentence of up to four years.

Florez' lawyer Manuel Olle denied the charges against his client, pledging to seek his acquittal on entering the courthouse in Madrid.

Florez worked with the CNI from 1991 to 2004.

He was detained in 2007 on the Canary Island of Tenerife, where police found evidence suggesting spying in his home.

The evidence included CNI documents, DVDs, CDs, cassettes, computer discs, as well as copies of two letters addressed by Florez to the then third-in-charge of the Russian embassy in Madrid.

In the letters, the Spaniard offered to disclose to Russia information on the identities of Spanish secret agents, on the structure of the CNI and its working methods concerning Russia.

Florez offered to sell the information for 200,000 dollars (150,000 euros), according to prosecution.

The alleged spying would have occurred at a time when Spain was a staunch ally of the United States in the Iraq conflict and could have been thought to possess information which was of interest for foreign intelligence services.

Olle admitted that the letters written by Florez "are there," but promised to explain their existence in court.

Florez' defense was expected to argue that there was no evidence of any classified information ever arriving in Russian hands.

The trial was taking place behind closed doors for concern that classified information would be revealed in court.

Witnesses who appeared before court included a former CNI director, but the Russian whom Florez' letters were addressed to was not summoned as a witness.

Press reports said Spain wanted to avoid creating strain in its relations with Moscow.

When Florez was arrested in 2007, the Russian embassy denied having had contacts with him.

The trial was described as the first one for treason since Spain became a democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. However, Spanish courts have found two people guilty of illegally appropriating secret service documents.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305677,spain-tries-secret-agent-suspected-of-selling-data-to-russia.html.

British and Irish leaders take charge of Northern Ireland talks

London - The leaders of Britain and Ireland became personally involved in last-ditch efforts Monday to save the Northern Ireland peace process from collapse. Speaking after a crisis meeting in London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Irish counterpart, Brian Cowen, said they would travel to the troubled province of Northern Ireland later Monday to mediate between the political parties there.

The power-sharing devolved government of Northern Ireland has been hovering on the brink of collapse due to the failure of its joint leaders to agree on the crucial issue of transferring the power for policing and justice to the province from the government in London.

Brown said he hoped that the involvement of the two heads of government would "make a difference" to resolving the issue and free the path for the full implementation of the 1998 Northern Ireland Peace Agreement.

Earlier Monday, the leader (First Minister) of the Belfast government, Peter Robinson, of the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein - the mainstream Catholic republican party - held emergency talks in Belfast.

They made no statement as they emerged, but a grim-faced McGuinness urged Robinson to be "positive and constructive" and to "get the business done."

Robinson, who recently got embroiled in a sex-and-fraud affair concerning his wife, Iris, agreed a six-week suspension from his post two weeks ago. But he has nonetheless remained at the center of the crisis talks with Sinn Fein.

Opinion polls have shown that the transfer of police and justice powers to a government in which Sinn Fein plays a key role remains greatly unpopular among Protestants in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein is the erstwhile political ally of the notorious Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305683,british-and-irish-leaders-take-charge-of-northern-ireland-talks.html.

India, South Korea announce strategic partnership, ink pacts - Summary

New Delhi - India and South Korea Monday decided to upgrade their bilateral relations to a "strategic partnership" even as Asia's fastest-growing economies signed four accords to cooperate in areas such as information technology and space. South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and Indian Premier Manmohan Singh met in New Delhi discussed a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues including boosting economic and trade ties, UN reforms and cooperation in civilian nuclear energy, defense and civilian space technologies.

"Considering that India-Republic of Korea partnership is a factor for peace and stability in Asia as well as between the two countries, the two leaders decided to enhance bilateral relations to a Strategic Partnership," a joint statement issued at the end of the talks said.

According to the statement, the partnership will span diverse areas such as trade, science, technology, culture, as well as political and security cooperation and working together in the international arena.

"We are committed to developing a robust and comprehensive framework for strategic engagement with Korea," Singh said in his remarks following the discussions.

"Your state visit today reflects our mutual commitment to strengthen relations between our countries. ... We would like to learn from the Korean experience as we enhance our own efforts to achieve rapid and inclusive growth in India," Singh added.

The two countries signed inked four accords - related to cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space, information technology, science and technology for the year 2010-12 and transfer of sentenced prisoners.

They also agreed to set up a fund of 10 million dollars (with each side contributing 5 million dollars) to promote bilateral research ventures.

During the discussions, New Delhi sought Seoul's cooperation in the area of civil nuclear energy cooperation. Lee said his country was keen to forge cooperation in this field and would examine the possibilities, Indian foreign officials said.

South Korea, a member of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, backed the consensus in the NSG for re-opening global nuclear trade with India in September last year.

The issue of the 12-billion-dollar South Korean Posco steel project in eastern Orissa, the largest direct foreign investment in India, was also discussed.

The plant has drawn protests from local residents. Singh assured Lee that Indian authorities were taking steps to expedite the project...

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305684,india-south-korea-announce-strategic-partnership-ink-pacts--summary.html.

US sends three Guantanamo inmates to Slovakia

Washington - The United States has sent three detainees of the Guantanamo Bay prison to Slovakia, part of a continuing effort to close the controversial facility, the Justice Department said Monday. The names of the detainees were not released for security reasons at the request of the Slovakian government. The transfer took place on Sunday, the department said.

President Barack Obama missed a self-imposed deadline of January 22 to close the detention facility for terrorism suspects in Cuba. More than 190 inmates still remain at Guantanamo.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305696,us-sends-three-guantanamo-inmates-to-slovakia.html.

Saddam's cousin 'Chemical Ali' is executed - Summary

Baghdad - Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid was executed on Monday, a government spokesman said. "The condemned ... has been executed by hanging today," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh announced on state television.

"This penalty is just retribution for the offender," he said. "His body was handed to his family."

Al-Majid, dubbed "Chemical Ali" for ordering the use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds in the village of Halabja in 1988, was sentenced to death last week for premeditated murder and crimes against humanity for his role in that and other attacks.

Chemical Ali, one of the most visible faces of Hussein's family and a leading member of the former ruling Baath Party, was the fifth leading member of Hussein's regime to be executed for crimes against the Iraqi people and humanity following convictions from the Iraqi High Tribunal.

On March 16, 1988, a day Iraqis remember as "Black Friday," Iraqi warplanes sprayed the village with mustard gas, Sarin, Tabun, and VX gas, killing at least 3,200, injuring at least 7,000 more, and causing birth defects for years to come.

Al-Majid was among the architects of the broader Anfal campaign against Iraq's Kurds that killed as many as 100,000 people.

He was unrepentant during his trial.

"I am the one who gave the orders to the army to demolish villages and relocate the villages," he said. "I am not defending myself. I am not apologizing. I did not make a mistake."

In audiotapes obtained by the New York pressure group Human Rights Watch and played during his trial, he said that he had clearly told the regime's allies in one village that he would attack it with chemical weapons.

"I said I cannot let your village stay because I will attack it with chemical weapons. Then you and your family will die," he said. "I will kill them all with chemical weapons! Who is going to say anything? The international community? To Hell with them!"

The former interior minister was arrested in August 2003, months after the US-led invasion toppled the Baathist government.

He was 69 years old when he was executed.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305699,saddams-cousin-chemical-ali-is-executed--summary.html.

British donations for Haiti reach 'generous' 46 million pounds

London - People in Britain have donated a total of 46 million pounds (74 million dollars) so far in response to an aid appeal for the victims of the Haiti earthquake, an umbrella organization for aid groups said Monday. The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) launched its appeal on January 14.

"Thanks to the generosity of the British public, our member agency staff and partners are working round the clock to bring food, water, shelter and medical care to tens of thousands of Haitians, its chief executive, Brendan Gormley, said Monday.

However, the needs remained "huge."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305703,british-donations-for-haiti-reach-generous-46-million-pounds.html.

British commander hints at new NATO offensive in Helmand

London - NATO troops will shortly launch an offensive in southern Afghanistan to "assert the control" of the Afghan government in Taliban-controlled Helmand province, a top British commander said Monday. Major General Nick Carter, the British general in charge of forces in Helmand, said in a BBC radio interview that parts of Helmand were "simply ungoverned."

However, he praised the "greater role and responsibility" members of the Afghan security forces were taking in operations in Helmand.

"Helmand is very much a work in progress, with parts simply ungoverned. If they are governed at all, it's by parallel governments provided often by the Taliban," said Carter.

"If we are going to win the argument on behalf of the Afghan government ... then we need to assert the government's control over those areas which are at the moment ungoverned," he said.

Carter said there were signs that Afghan provincial governors, as well as the army and the police, wished to take "greater ownership" of the problems facing them.

"Afghans are standing up and being counted and that makes a big difference to what happens on the ground," the general said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305706,british-commander-hints-at-new-nato-offensive-in-helmand.html.

Afghan elections postponed due to lack of funding - Summary

Sun, 24 Jan 2010

Kabul - Afghanistan's election commission said Sunday that it had to postpone parliamentary elections from May to September 18 due to insufficient funds and security arrangements. "The decision was made after consultations with national and international stakeholders," Fazel Ahmad Manawi, a senior commissioner for Independent Election Commission (IEC) told a press conference in Kabul.

"Due to lack of budget, security uncertainties, logistical challenges ... the IEC has decided to conduct the Wolosi Jirga (lower house of parliament) elections on September 18, 2010," he said.

Manawi said lack of foreign funding was a chief reason to postpone the polls from the original May 22 date. The cost of the elections is estimated at 120 million dollars.

"The international donors pledged the money, but could not provide it on time," he said.

The Afghan government is unable to pay for the elections, and international donors have been reluctant to provide the money before being certain about the transparency of the process.

Western officials have called on the Afghan government to bring reforms needed in the electoral system in order to avoid a repeat of fraud that marred the presidential elections in August.

Nearly one-third of the votes cast in that election were found to be fraudulent, mostly in favor of President Hamid Karzai, who was re- elected after his main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the planned run-off.

Abdullah accused IEC members bias in favor of the incumbent during the election. Legislators recently called on Karzai to remove IEC chief Azizullah Ludin before the parliamentary poll.

The postponement would give more time for Afghan and international communities to clean up the commission.

United Nations top envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said that new date would give additional time for IEC to carry out the necessary preparations for the elections."

"This would have been extremely difficult to do by the original date," he said in a statement. "It also provides time to make improvements to the electoral process based on lessons-learned during the Presidential and Provincial Council elections in 2009.

The US and Canadian embassies in Kabul also welcomed the announcement.

"We will continue to consult with the Afghan government as they work with ?the international community to pursue election reform for the upcoming parliamentary elections and for the long term," the US embassy said in a statement.

"We hope that the Government of Afghanistan will use the additional time available to implement positive electoral change," said a statement issued by Canadian embassy in Kabul.

Sunday's announcement came four days ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan in London, where representatives of around 50 countries are expected to chalk out a future strategy for the country.

The reintegration of former Taliban militants, transfer of more security responsibility from NATO troops to Afghan forces, enhancing good governance and social and economic development are issues to be discussed in London.

Karzai left for Turkey on Sunday, where he is scheduled to meet his Turkish and Pakistani counterparts, the presidential palace said.

The president would also visit Germany, before heading to London on Thursday, where he would co-chair the Afghanistan conference along with Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305472,afghan-elections-postponed-due-to-lack-of-funding--summary.html.

India, South Korea to discuss nuclear cooperation, business ties

Sun, 24 Jan 2010

New Delhi -India and South Korea are keen to work together in the area of nuclear power and the issue is likely to figure in discussions during South Korean President Lee Myung Bak's visit beginning Sunday, officials said. Lee, accompanied by a large delegation of ministers and business leaders, arrived in the southern Indian city of Chennai on a four-day visit.

The South Korean president will be chief guest at India's Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi Tuesday, an honor reserved for India's closest allies.

Lee is scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and other top Indian leaders in New Delhi on Monday.

Discussions between the two sides would cover a range of areas including defense, trade and investment and cooperation in science, technology and space, India's Foreign Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said during a briefing on Friday.

Lee's engagements also include meetings with Indian and Korean businessmen. One of his first engagements in Chennai was a visit to the Hyundai motors plant near the Tamil Nadu state capital. At least 300 South Korean companies have investments in India.

The two countries are expected to sign agreements in the areas of information technology and space technology, foreign ministry official in charge of East Asia Gautam Bambawale said.

Asked about nuclear technology cooperation, Bambawale said India was grateful for South Korea's support at the Nuclear Supplier's Group in September 2009.

"We are also aware of the capabilities that the ROK (Republic of South Korea) has in this area ... Both sides are keen to work in this area which is of interest not only to India but also to ROK."

A South Korean consortium won a 20.4 billion-dollar-contract to build four civil nuclear power units in the United Arab Emirates recently in one of Middle East's biggest energy deals.

India has signed civil nuclear accords with seven countries - the United States, France, Russia, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Argentina and Mongolia and is expected to sign another one with Canada in 2010.

The issue of the 12-billion-dollar South Korean Posco steel project in Orissa, the single largest direct foreign investment in India, is also likely to come up during discussions.

There have been hitches with local people protesting over the location of the plant. But India's federal Ministry of Environment and Forests gave the second stage of environmental clearance for the project in December setting the tone for Lee's visit.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305477,india-south-korea-to-discuss-nuclear-cooperation-business-ties.html.

Gaddafi and Syria's al-Assad hold talks in Tripoli

Sun, 24 Jan 2010

Tripoli (Earth Times) - Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi on Sunday hosted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, for talks. The two met behind closed doors and the country's tightly controlled government press had little to say about it, save that preparations for an Arab summit to be held in Libya at the end of March figured in discussions.

Report: Spanish ministries, agencies targeted by cybercrime

Sun, 24 Jan 2010

Madrid - Key Spanish ministries and agencies were the targets of at least 40 professional computer hacker attacks in the last year, reported the daily newspaper El Pais on Sunday. Foreign espionage agencies are believed to be the main source of the attacks, reported the paper, quoting the Spanish CNI intelligence agency. The CNI and the CCN, a national cryptography agency, were among the targets.

The CCN is responsible for encrypting sensitive data for all government administration. However, the CNI reported that the attacks, which employed primarily Trojan spyware, had not been successful.

Nonetheless, the attacks were of a high-caliber and clearly the work of professionals, reported the paper. At times, Spanish authorities had to issue warnings to other governments.

Spain has come under frequent criticism for lagging other nations in cybersecurity.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305520,report-spanish-ministries-agencies-targeted-by-cybercrime.html.

Aid trickles to Haiti countryside after quake of the century

Sun, 24 Jan 2010

Port-au-Prince - Aid this weekend started trickling through to outlying towns crushed by the recent Haitian earthquake, which is now officially one of the worst of the past 100 years as the government confirmed a death toll of at least 112,000. In Leogane, about 40 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince, hundreds of women waited in 30-degree-Celsius temperatures for food coming from various German and other aid organizations.

Doctors from Japan, Canada and Germany have already arrived here, but the first food aid was being distributed on Saturday and Sunday. The town of 120,000 was nearly leveled by the quake.

Although the search for survivors has been formally ended by the Haitian government, there were still miracles: A French team on Saturday, 11 days after the 7.0-magnitude quake leveled the capital Port-au-Prince, pulled a 24-year-old man from the rubble of a hotel.

To date, dozens of international rescue teams have extracted 133 survivors from destroyed buildings, a difficult task made even more dangerous by a steady stream of aftershocks. Haitians have also rescued an untold number of friends, families and strangers from the wreckage, using bare hands and primitive tools.

An estimated 609,000 people around the capital city alone are homeless, the International Organization for Migration reported in Geneva. IOM spokesperson Jean-Philippe Chauzy said Sunday in Geneva that tents are urgently needed. Meanwhile, more than 130,000 people have, at the urging of the Haitian government, migrated to the relatively undamaged north and west of the country.

The high-powered Hope for Haiti telethon raised 58 million dollars from the US and elsewhere for earthquake relief in the first 24 hours since the event, organizers announced. The Friday night television broadcast featured more than 100 top stars from film, television and music and was seen worldwide.

The total does not include corporate donations, large private donors or iTunes downloads of music from the Hope for Haiti show. Organizers said that the album was the top music download on Saturday in 18 countries.

The Haitian government was coming back to life. Haitian Information Minister Marie Laurence Joselin Lassegue has set up operations on a camp table behind a crooked wall left standing after the January 12 disaster. Her open-air workplace is near the police station at the airport, where the remains of the government are working. She has seven workers sharing two laptops.

Lassegue said there are 329 refugee camps. "We are sending medical aid to those points. That is our current strategy."

Concern was on the rise about the fate of the tiniest survivors, some of whom lost their parents, others of whom were in one of Haiti's many orphanages already in the midst of ongoing adoption procedures abroad...

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305524,aid-trickles-to-haiti-countryside-after-quake-of-the-century.html.

Tense scenes in Haiti as aid workers lose key - Feature

Leogane, Haiti - Under the scorching sun, hundreds of women waited for hours among the rubble of what used to be the town center of Leogane, 30 kilometers west of the capital Port-au-Prince, waiting for food aid to arrive. One end of the town's church, Sainte Rose de Lima, still stood precariously over the scene, the few remaining arches threatening to collapse at the slightest aftershock.

Braving the 30-degree heat on Saturday, the women sang, then suddenly started wailing, pushing and shoving as they caught sight of the red truck approaching up Avenue Grande, the main street in the city of 120,000.

Leogane was the epicenter of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake which nearly leveled Port-au-Prince on January 12. Officials estimate that 90 per cent of the city was destroyed, even greater than the 70 per cent in much of the capital city.

Little aid has reached Leogane so far. Doctors from Japan, Canada and the German province of Bavaria have arrived, and a clinic set up by Save the Children, which has been looking after Haiti's children for 30 years, has been receiving around 100 patients a day.

"We want to install a second base for our aid groups in Haiti here in Leogane," said Volker Pellet, an official from the German embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Pellet was in charge of coordinating the efforts of various organizations arriving in the town over the weekend. These included German government agencies such as the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and the Technical Cooperation Bureau (GTZ) as well as non-governmental ones like Caritas, Humedica, and the Johannite and Maltese aid groups.

The logistical difficulties of food distribution have been compounded by the problem of managing hungry and sometimes desperate crowds. In Port-au-Prince over the weekend, police fired warning shots and tear gas to hold back a crowd at a feeding center.

In Leogane on Saturday, about 100 peacekeepers from Canada and Sri Lanka secured the delivery area while the truck was maneuvered into a small street next to the church that had been cleared of the meter-deep rubble.

The idea was to distribute the food quickly before tensions could rise. But no-one could find the key to the container, and the troops had to hold back the increasingly impatient crowd for a further 45 minutes before the agency workers were able to force the sturdy padlock.

By now several men had joined the women, while hundred more watch from the pitiful shelters they have cobbled together from scrap wood and tin sheeting.

Two thousand food packets of beans, rice, salt and oil were to be handed out.

A large man in yellow shirt sweated his way through the crowd for half an hour carrying a frail elderly woman, before handing her over to the soldiers. A parish member of the local church guided her towards the food distribution point.

After nearly two hours of handing out parcels, the agency workers decided to move on to another site. The crowd of hungry survivors hardly seemed any smaller, but the organizers chose not to send another, smaller delivery truck.

Under the watchful eyes of the exhausted Canadian soldiers, the truck slowly moved away with the two remaining palettes of food, destined for a refugee camp outside Leogane. Only a scattered murmur of discontent spread through the crowd as they dispersed peacefully.

In the refugee camp, medical teams from Cuba and Germany set up a small field hospital to start delivering medical care to people outside Port-au-Prince.

All too fast, the medical workers learned of the horrific conditions of medical practice in post-earthquake Haiti.

"We were not prepared for this - that amputations would be our first priority," says Dr Thomas Geiner of Moosburg, Germany. The volunteer doctors from the Navis organization had brought no amputation saws.

"We are amputating with penknives - in the open air," he said.

Even the better-prepared Cubans, first to arrive on the scene, faced unforeseen challenges.

"On the first day we carried out 17 amputations," said Alfredo Taset, a physician from eastern Cuba. "Now the number has dropped."

Medical experts fear that many Haitians wounded in the earthquake will continue to die from their injuries and infections because of a lack of medical attention.

Some have even refused amputation, opting to turn down their only chance of survival rather than face the hopeless alternative of living in a country that has lost what little it had.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305580,tense-scenes-in-haiti-as-aid-workers-lose-key--feature.html.

Laos plans elephant festival next month

Vientiane, Laos - Laos is to host an elephant festival next month in an effort to promote local appreciation of the endangered species, state media reports said Monday. The 2010 Elephant Festival, with 50 pachyderms in attendance, is scheduled for February 20-21 in Viengkeo village, Hongsa district, Sayabouly province, the Vientiane Times reported.

"The festival is a significant way to let local people and visitors learn about the plight of the endangered species," said Gilles Maurer, manager of ElefantAsia, the Laos-based conservation organization behind the annual event.

"This year we are also collaborating with the Lao Illegal Wildlife Trafficking Campaign in order to highlight the need to protect the nation's species from extinction," he added.

This will be Laos' fourth elephant festival since the event was first held in 2007.

Activities will include elephant processions, bathing, rides, ceremonies, a logging demonstration, treks and an Elephant of the Year competition.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305583,laos-plans-elephant-festival-next-month.html.

Gaza Power Station To Shut Down By This Weekend

Gaza's only power plant may close by the end of this week due to the European Union's decision to stop buying fuel to power the plant.

According to Rafeeq Maliha, director of the power plant in Gaza, "The EU, since November, has stopped funding the diesel purchase for the station."

Maliha warns that without intervention from the Palestinian Authority, the densely populated Gaza Strip will be without many basic services that require an adequate amount of electricity.

Engineer Imad Canaan, vice president of the Palestinian Power Authority, also corroborated upon the EU's decision to stop paying for fuel. He explains that the power authority is unable to continue providing adequate energy resources to the citizens of Gaza. The Israeli blockade and the suspension of EU support has reduced the output of the station 50%.

The Gaza Power Plant has been repeatedly and deliberately bombarded by Israel, most notably during the recent Operation Cast Lead. The Israeli blockade upon Gaza has prohibited materials from entering that could repair the plant, returning it to full operational capacity.

Source: International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC).
Link: http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57749.

Algerian, US diplomats discuss airline security measures

2010-01-25

Algerian Deputy Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs Abdelkader Messahel and a US official met Sunday (January 24th) to discuss heightened US airport security screening measures for Algerian travelers, APS reported. "It is a policy that is under revision and I think that there will some modifications," US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Janet Sanderson told reporters after the meeting in Algiers. For his part, Messahel confirmed that such assurances had also been given to Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/01/25/newsbrief-03.

Algeria, Qatar sign co-operation accords

2010-01-25

Algeria and Qatar concluded their fourth joint commission meeting on Sunday (January 24th) in Algiers with the signing of ten new co-operation accords, local press reported. The agreements expand scientific, investment, educational, athletic and environmental partnerships. One reciprocal deal lifts entry visa requirements for diplomatic and special passports holders.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/01/25/newsbrief-04.

What the Colonialists Do to Occupied Nations

Saturday, 23 January 2010

The imperialist and colonialist powers, as their official policy, kill scientists, professionals and eminent literary and social figures of the Islamic Ummah. The same is true of Afghanistan where the notorious Blackwater is given free hand to carry out this wicked task under the supervision of Joint Special Operations—a Pentagon undercover army which was previously under the command of Mc Crystal, the current top American commander in Afghanistan.

The aim is to pave the way for uneducated, ignorant and unaware stooges to remain at the helms of power thanks to multi-faceted support of imperialism. Then the Western powers bind their surrogates by various agreements at the expense of national, cultural and religious values and vital interests of the nation. They take hold of all strategic assets of a country including telecommunication, dams, transportation, mines etc.

After that, colonialism tends to plunder the wealth and natural resources with both hands. Similarly, the invading powers distribute national wealth among members of society unfairly and unequally, giving a lion share to their flunkeys and hirelings. As a result, majority of the society faces economic problems. Here, the colonialism benefits from the people’s poverty and use the poor people as servants to achieve goals of the invaders.

Imperialism encourages a negative competition among people for wealth and social statues to. During such competition, the competitors often do not think about their honor, culture, history and religion which is the very aim of colonialism because in such atmosphere, they can easily employ citizens of an occupied country to work for the objectives of colonialism. At the same time, colonialism spreads racial biases and differences in the society. This makes it possible for the colonialist powers to play some ethnicity groups against another and thus ensures its rule over the occupied society.

This is what are happening in Afghanistan today. On the one hand, America speaks of democracy and human rights but at the same time she supports warlords in Afghanistan whose hand are stained with blood of thousands of innocent people.

Murderers like Abdul Rashid Dostum are flourishing under the very wing of Washington by giving him top slots in the Kabul administration instead of putting him on trial for the murder of thousands of miserable Afghans. In addition to this, colonialist powers send their religious groups, in this case, Christian missionaries to the occupied societies like Iraq and Afghanistan to convert Muslims to Christianity because they believe that the converted people honestly work for their political, economic and religious goals.

Many Afghan observers have regularly expressed their consternation about the presence of Christian missionaries in Afghanistan. This Western machination was exposed clearly when Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan captured 23 Christian missionaries of Saemmul Presbyterian Church, Seoul in Ghazni province.

Currently, both troops and Christian missionaries operate side by side in Afghanistan. They have opened offices in the country to Christianize Afghans. Some NGOs are also encouraging them to convert young Afghans. They give them Bibles and promise them citizenship in Europe and America.

They have rented houses in Kabul, apparently under the name of schools for students-- some of them for students of Helmand province. They pay the money indirectly via some officials of Helmand province like Amir Shir Mohammad, ex-governor of Helmand province who has a leading rule in renting the houses.

The missionaries arouse the students against the current Islamic Jihad and invite them to Christianity. No one is allowed to know about which that is actually happening inside the compounds of these schools. Local agents encourage students to get themselves enrolled in these schools. They blame Taliban for all the anarchy, the country is passing through and support American invasion of Afghanistan. Here, we see that how innocent students are misused for politically-motivated goals of the American colonialism. They do not care about trampling principles and violating internationally recognized human rights norms.

Source: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Link: http://www.alemarah.info/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1090:what-the-colonialists-do-to-occupied-nations.