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Sunday, January 31, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 31, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Egypt's veil wearers see it as barrier to harassment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Snowboarding competition kicks off in NW China's Xinjiang

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

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

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

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

Chinese UN staffers donate food, tents to Haiti orphanage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mossad may be behind Hamas assassination: Dubai

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

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

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

Israel assassinated top Hamas militant in Dubai: brother

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

US upgrades defense of Persian Gulf allies

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Haiti detains Americans taking kids across border

By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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