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Friday, February 5, 2010

India proposes foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan

New Delhi - India has proposed foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan in the first such formal overture since the terrorist attack in Mumbai in November 2008, official sources said Thursday. "We have proposed foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan. We will approach the discussion with a positive and open mind," the source said.

All relevant issues from India's side, including counter-terrorism, that could contribute to peace and stability in the region would be discussed, the official said.

On Wednesday, Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna had indicated to reporters while on a flight to Kuwait that India may take some steps to normalize bilateral ties with Pakistan.

There were also hints of a thaw with Krishna confirming that Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram would be attending a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting of home ministers in Islamabad scheduled for late February.

India and Pakistan have been engaged in a dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues, including the disputed Kashmir region and border differences, since 2004.

It had led to greater people-to-people contacts, increased trade across their borders and the opening of road and rail links.

India froze the dialogue after 10 gunmen belonging to the Pakistan-based militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba attacked the financial hub Mumbai with guns and bombs, killing 166 people including 26 foreign nationals in November 2008.

Pakistan has been pressing for a resumption of the dialogue, while India has maintained that Islamabad had to take concrete action against those responsible for the Mumbai attack before talks could resume.

India has been under increasing international pressure, especially from the United States, to resume the dialogue with Pakistan.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307535,india-proposes-foreign-secretary-level-talks-with-pakistan.html.

NATO facing 1 billion dollar budget shortfall, say diplomats

Istanbul - NATO defence ministers were set to meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss cuts to the alliance's budget in the face of an almost-1-billion dollar shortfall, diplomats said. A diplomat from a NATO-member state told journalists on condition of anonymity that the alliance faces a 890-million-dollar shortfall out of its 1.8 billion annual investment budget, due to higher-than- expected spending on infrastructure in Afghanistan.

Over the course of 2010 NATO is due to add almost 40,000 troops to the 85,000 already in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

There is also 85 million dollars missing from a 800 million dollars budget for permanent military spending and 30 out of 585 million dollars foreseen for military operations on the ground.

Only the 290 million dollars reserved for the civilian budget, covering salaries and pensions, is said to be fully accounted for.

"We have launched too many projects without thinking about the financial implications," a diplomat another diplomat told reporters Thursday.

Ministers are due to discuss the budget crisis over dinner, but no decision on how to fill the budget gap is expected before March.

One solution being suggested is a 100-million-dollar one-off payment to NATO to cover immediate spending needs, to be split among member states according to a formula still to be worked out.

Further budget worries are expected to surface Friday, when NATO ministers are to discuss operations in Afghanistan. According to information supplied by the alliance, so far member states have pledged only 368 million dollars out of the 1,8 billion required annually for the trust fund established to support the Afghan National Army (ANA).

Even bigger sums of money are to be collected to support the expansion of the ANA from 134,000 to 171,600 by the autumn of 2011, a target agreed by the international community in January.

Defense spending has been put under increasing strain by the financial crisis, which sent deficit and debt levels ballooning in most NATO countries.

The issue is also expected to figure at the Munich Security Conference, an annual high-level meet taking place this weekend in Germany which will be attended by several of the defence ministers present at Istanbul.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307537,nato-facing-1-billion-dollar-budget-shortfall-say-diplomats.html.

Kashmir militants vow jihad against Indian rule

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani militant leaders vowed Thursday to press holy war to “liberate” the divided Himalayan state of Kashmir from Indian control and called for moral support from Pakistan.

They addressed a rally attended by thousands as India proposed foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan, signalling a breakthrough in relations frozen since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which were blamed on Pakistani militants.

“The Kashmir issue cannot be resolved through dialogue. Jihad (holy war) is the only solution to free Kashmir from the Indian yoke,” said Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the 16-party United Jihad Council.

“I want to tell my brothers across the border that we will remain with you until India quits Kashmir,” said Salahuddin, who is also supreme commander of the hardline Hizbul Mujahedin group.

Organizers said more than 5,000 people participated in the meeting held on the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day, which Pakistan will observe Friday.

The public holiday supports the region’s right to self-determination under UN resolutions that call for a plebiscite in Kashmir on whether it should be ruled by Hindu-majority India or Muslim Pakistan.

The Kashmir conference in Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistan-administered zone of the divided state, was attended by more than a dozen political and militant groups.

Among them were senior leaders of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), a charity widely viewed as a front for banned Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) that India and the United States blamed for the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

In December 2008, Pakistan placed the leader of the charity, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, and eight other JuD members under house arrest.

Salahuddin demanded lifting of restrictions on JuD and immediate release of its leaders because “Indian propaganda against JuD had flopped”.

A statement issued after the meeting said: “Jihad will continue until India ends its occupation of Kashmir.

“If Pakistan cannot offer material support, it should extend its political and moral support to the Kashmir movement,” it said.

Kashmir split between the nuclear armed South Asian rivals and claimed by both in full has triggered two of their three wars since independence in 1947.

Source: Khaleej Times.
Link: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/February/international_February199.xml§ion=international.

Israel Exiles A Detainee To Gaza, Aim At Expelling Nine To Jordan

Less than one month after detaining him in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, Israeli soldiers exiled a detainee, Baker al-Hafi, to the Gaza Strip.

Israel also wants to exile nine more West Bank detainees to Jordan.

The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) reported that the Israeli Authorities deported al-Hafi after interrogating him for more than a month.

He is originally from Gaza but has been living in the West Bank for more than ten years. He is married to a woman from the West Bank and together they have two children.

He also owns land and a home in Tulkarem.

The PPS added that nine more detainees are facing deportation to Jordan.
The nine detainees were detained more than three years ago.

They are Palestinians who came from Jordan, and some of them are married while others are university students.

Source: International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC).
Link: http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57865.

Taliban pick leader amid Mehsud rumors

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The Pakistani Taliban appointed Malik Noor Jamal, or Mullah Toofan, as their caretaker leader following reports chief Hakimullah Mehsud is dead.

U.S. aircraft launched a strike Jan. 14 on Taliban hideouts near the border between North and South Waziristan in an operation targeting Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. His cousin and former leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in an August airstrike by the U.S. military.

As many as 10 Taliban were killed in the attack. Local television reports said Mehsud was among those injured when a missile struck a compound in Shatkoi village. January reports on the strike said Mehsud was being treated for head injuries, though his wounds were not considered life threatening at the time.

Council leaders in the Pakistani Taliban announced they appointed Mullah Toofan as the head of the group as Mehsud rumors circulate, Pakistan's Samaa news agency reports.

The names Qari Hussain and Wali-ur-Rehman were mentioned as possible successors, Samaa said, though some reports suggested Rehman was killed in the January airstrike strike as well.

U.S. intelligence officials told The Long War Journal, a Web site monitoring military affairs in Central Asia, there was no reliable information to suggest he was dead, though The New York Times and The Washington Post expressed near certainty that the Taliban leader was killed.

Mehsud was last heard from in an audio tape Jan. 16.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/02/04/Taliban-pick-leader-amid-Mehsud-rumors/UPI-63911265306400/.

Turkey detains banned Kurdish politicians

ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Turkish police Wednesday arrested 16 former members of the banned pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP.

They were detained and questioned as part of an investigation into allegations that they belong to an urban branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, the Anatolia news agency reports. Police raided 25 locations and seized material, the news agency said. Similar raids took place last month.

Turkey's constitutional court outlawed the DTP in December, banning 37 members from politics for five years because of allegations of ties to the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara and Washington.

The DTP has since appealed the decision at the European Court of Human Rights. Many of its former members have now established ties with the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP.

Ankara in 2009 announced it would back cultural considerations for Kurdish citizens and consider amnesty for several militants from the minority community. The court ban, however, threatened to unravel the effort to find a political solution to the Kurdish issue.

The government in the wake of the ban arrested scores of pro-Kurdish officials, including BDP and DTP members, because they delivered speeches in support of the PKK.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/02/03/Turkey-detains-banned-Kurdish-politicians/UPI-39551265230979/.

Mauritania tightens border crossing policy

2010-02-04

The Mauritanian Interior Ministry on Wednesday (February 3rd) officially designated 35 crossing points on the country's borders with Senegal, Mali, Western Sahara and Algeria, Journal Tahalil reported. All foreigners will be required to pass through one of these points. The move comes as part of counter-terrorism measures implemented in the wake of several recent kidnappings of Westerners by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/04/newsbrief-04.

Casablanca-Tangier rail line construction to begin

2010-02-04

Morocco this week signed contracts to launch construction on a high-speed train line between Casablanca and Tangier, ANSA reported on Wednesday (February 3rd). The new route is expected to cut the travel time between the two cities from almost six to two hours. The new line's estimated budget is 2 billion euros, one third of which has already been allocated by France. The high-speed train should be operational by 2015.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/04/newsbrief-05.

Algeria sentences man for Black Decade murders

2010-02-04

An Algiers criminal court on Wednesday (February 3rd) sentenced convicted murderer Mohamed Benziane to death, El Watan reported. Benziane, who was apprehended in 2004, was reportedly a member of Abou Yacine's armed group in Chlef. At trial, he recanted his alleged initial admission to several deadly terror attacks, including the 1999 Tadjena massacre in which at least 50 people were killed and 9 women kidnapped and raped.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/04/newsbrief-01.

Beirut talks of Arab summit boycott

Feb. 4, 2010

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa intervened in a dust-up between Beirut and Tripoli over a threat to boycott the March summit for the Arab League.

Nabih Berri, the Lebanese speaker of Parliament, called for a boycott of the Arab League summit in Libya because Beirut believes Tripoli played a role in the disappearance of Shiite scholar Imam Musa Sadr more than 30 years ago.

"I personally stand with the boycott, but only President Michel Suleiman can decide on Lebanon's participation in Libya's Arab League Summit," the speaker said.

Moussa is speaking with Beirut on the issue, noting a Lebanese boycott would create a similar reaction in the Shiite community, Gulf News reports.

Beirut blames Moammar Gadhafi and his strongmen for the disappearance of Sadr and two of his associates during a 1978 trip to Libya. Beirut believes Sadr was killed following a row with the Libyan leader.

Tripoli, however, contends Sadr was killed amid an internal Shiite dispute after he left Libya for Rome.

Lebanese Shiite leader Abdul Amir Qabalan has described Libya as a "tyrant state" but called on Arab leaders to pressure Gadhafi ahead of the March summit.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/02/04/Beirut-talks-of-Arab-summit-boycott/UPI-87871265307600/.

South Sudan's disarmament drive

04 Feb 2010

South Sudan's authorities are confiscating all civilians' weapons - including rifles, machine guns, mortar launchers, and rocket propelled grenades - as part of a massive disarmament program.

The region is less than a year away from a referendum on independence - but violence and instability in the region are increasing.

Last year more than 2,000 people were killed and around 350,000 displaced from their homes in tribal conflicts.

Al-Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports from Jonglei - a state flooded with weapons - on how the region's disarmament is crucial for future stability.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2010/02/201024135314734401.html.

Hungary tries again to outlaw deniers

Hungary’s caretaker government has introduced legislation to make Holocaust denial punishable by three years’ imprisonment.

Passage of the long-delayed proposal could take place before the April 11 parliamentary elections, said Attila Mesterhazy, the prime ministerial candidate of the ruling Socialists, if the opposition parties agree.

Political observers believe that is unlikely to happen, but the proposal may well pave the way for such law reform by the next Parliament following April’s elections.

Meanwhile, some neo-Nazi movements in Europe are organizing their annual “Day of Honor” in Hungary to mark the last stand of the Nazis and their Hungarian supporters against the Soviet Army at Buda Castle on Feb. 11, 1945.

Source: J Weekly.
Link: http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/41252/hungary-tries-again-to-outlaw-deniers.

New probe on Hezbollah TV

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

BARNEY ZWARTZ
February 5, 2010

HEZBOLLAH'S TV station is to be investigated again to see whether it breaks Australian rules on supporting terrorism, racial vilification and hate speech.

The Lebanese station al-Manar - popular with the Arabic community, which receives it by satellite - has twice been banned in Australia but was cleared last July.

Yesterday the Australian Communications and Media Authority announced it was opening a new and much broader investigation, including specific complaints about content, and would also consider whether it should tighten the anti-terrorism standards.

ACMA chairman Chris Chapman said there had been significant community concern about al-Manar broadcasts and about last year's review. After it, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy forwarded more material and asked ACMA to keep the station under review.

''We have broadened the investigation from anti-terrorism standards to include racial vilification and hate speech, and we have considerable material to work through,'' Mr Chapman said.

ACMA last investigated al-Manar in 2008 after The Age alerted it that the station was being broadcast from Indonesia by a company part-owned by the Indonesian government.

The authority monitored transmissions from August 28 to September 5, 2008. While it found references to a designated terrorist organization, it did not find attempts to recruit people or solicit funds, which is illegal.

Yesterday Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council director Colin Rubenstein welcomed the new investigation, especially its wider brief and the review of the regulations.

''Al-Manar is well-known for its anti-Semitic content, including the mediaeval blood libel accusing Jews of murdering non-Jews to use their blood for religious purposes,'' Dr Rubenstein said.

He gave examples of material AIJAC had complained about.

ACMA is inviting the public to submit concerns by March 5.

Source: The Age.
Link: http://www.theage.com.au/national/new-probe-on-hezbollah-tv-20100204-ng6x.html.

Israel has no say on Hezbollah -- Hariri

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Hezbollah's right to maintain its weapons is a matter for Lebanon to decide, not Israel, the Lebanese prime minister said.

Beirut in 2009 adopted a measure that allowed Hezbollah, now a member of the Lebanese government, to maintain its arsenal in defiance of U.N. resolutions.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 helped solidify a cease-fire agreement to a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. The resolution calls on Hezbollah to disarm while reminding Israel of its obligation to respect Lebanese sovereignty.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri called for formal recognition that Israel was in constant violation of the cease-fire agreement because of daily military flights over Lebanese territory, Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper reports.

"We ask the international community to be aware of daily Israeli threats and we assure Israel that betting on schism in Lebanon will fail," the prime minister said.

Beirut said Hezbollah has the right to maintain an armed resistance so long as the threat from Israel persists. Israel and opponents of the measure said there would be no need for a defensive posture should Hezbollah disarm.

"It is not Israel who decides what Lebanon wants," said Hariri.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/02/04/Israel-has-no-say-on-Hezbollah-Hariri/UPI-34231265322207/.

Islamists make gains in Somalia's war

Feb. 4, 2010

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- War-torn Somalia seems to be headed for a new spasm of bloodshed as al-Shebab, the main Islamist faction that is aligned with al-Qaida, has been strengthened by merging with one of its main militia rivals while another fell apart.

This is likely to signal a new offensive by al-Shebab -- short for Harakat al-Shebab al-Mujahedin, or Warrior Youth Movement -- against the Transitional Federal Government, which is backed by the United Nations and the West.

There are still divisions among the various militias and clans opposed to the TFG, even within the leadership of al-Shebab, and these are all that is preventing the administration's collapse.

The government in Mogadishu depends on a 4,500-strong African Union peacekeeping force, known as Amisom, for its survival.

But it is all that this force -- poorly trained, and ill equipped and too small to be effective -- can do to protect the few blocks of downtown Mogadishu and the airport that the TFG claims to control.

The peacekeepers, mainly from Uganda and Burundi, are highly unpopular because every time they are attacked by the Islamists they shell civilian areas indiscriminately, causing heavy casualties.

Foreign security firms have been hired to provide protection for government ministers, but these have not proven to be particularly effective.

In July two French agents assigned to guard the TFG president, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, were abducted by the Islamists. One escaped, but the other remains in militant hands.

The shaky TFG's dependence on Somalia's traditional clan rivalries preventing a united front against it may be unraveling.

On Feb. 1 al-Shebab announced that the Ras Kamboni Brigade, a clan-based militia in southern Somalia, was merging with it.

That was a blow to al-Shebab's main rival, Hizb-ul Islam, with whom Ras Kamboni had been allied.

The new alliance underlines al-Shehab's growing influence, particularly in the southwest, where Hizb-ul Islam's standing has been steadily eroding around the key towns of Baidoa and Kismayo some 300 miles south of Mogadishu.

According to military analysts, Hizb-ul Islam has ceased to exist as a potent fighting force.

That may give some comfort to the beleaguered TFG. But al-Shebab's military and logistic organization is reported to have improved in recent months, particularly since the failure of its last major attempt to topple the TFG in May 2009.

The TFG has been bragging that it plans to launch an offensive against al-Shebab beyond the confines of Mogadishu, but that appears to be an idle boast.

For the time being, the TFG can only encourage clan leaders opposed to al-Shebab to move against them.

Al-Shebab's main adversary right now is Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaa militia in central Somalia.

This is backed by neighboring Ethiopia, which invaded Somalia with U.S. backing in December 2006 to drive out a short-lived Islamist government and install the TFG.

Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaa was established when the Ethiopian military withdrew from Somalia in January 2009 as a means for Addis Ababa to contain the Islamist threat on its border.

Al-Shebab and the Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaa, whose fighters are more moderate Sufi Muslims, clashed inconclusively around the central town of Dusa Marreb in January.

Al-Shebab has seized several areas in the south and center, but analysts differ over whether it has the strength or popularity to take over the country and impose its strict version of Islamic law.

U.S. and other Western intelligence services say al-Shebab has a large number of foreign jihadists in its ranks and is backed by al-Qaida. But that remains questionable.

It undoubtedly has some non-Somali fighters, but it is not thought these number more than a few score at most. Still, the West is concerned that Somalia is becoming a haven for international terrorists and that al-Qaida cadres from Afghanistan and Pakistan are moving into the region.

Many of al-Shebab's leaders are radical Somali veterans of the wars in Afghanistan. In 2008 Ahmed Abdi Godane, aka Abu Zubeyr, became its top commander. He has been described as a "hardcore jihadist."

On Feb. 2 al-Shebab declared for the first time that it has formally aligned with al-Qaida. It said in a statement that the "jihad of the Horn of Africa must be combined with the international jihad led by the al-Qaida network."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/02/04/Islamists-make-gains-in-Somalias-war/UPI-67131265322130/.

Burundi tries 'mutinous peacekeepers'

February 5 2010

Bujumbura - Burundi on Thursday began trying 33 soldiers accused of mutiny while serving as peacekeepers with the African Union force in Somalia.

Military prosecutor Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Claude Nzigamasabo said that on January 9, 2009, the junior officers gathered and took arms without permission and disobeyed their superiors.

The officers did so "to demand 6 000 dollars, claiming that their superiors had embezzled the money promised by the AU", Nzigamasabo told the court.

"All the 33 soldiers are being tried for revolting and incitement to revolt. They took arms and positioned themselves in all the strategic areas at Mogadishu university," the prosecutor said.

Only 23 of the accused were present during the hearing, five having deserted and five others were absent.

"The army defrauded us of 100 dollars on our monthly salary, 10 dollars on our daily food rations and 2 000 dollars on our deployment fee, which makes a total of 6 000 dollars per soldier," one of the accused officers told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The incident had been kept under wraps and the soldiers were arrested when they returned home weeks after the stand-off.

Burundi and Uganda are the only countries to have deployed troops to Somalia for the AU peacekeeping mission.

The oft-delayed salaries of the AU's Burundi force is a sensitive issue among the troops serving in the pan-African body's mission in Somalia.

Source: iol.co.za.
Link: http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/burundi-tries-mutinous-peacekeepers-1.472590#.VIajnzGUeqE.

Green Tea Extracts Halt Growth of Prostate Cancer Tumors

Friday, February 05, 2010 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) An extract made from one of the main antioxidants found in green tea may be able to slow the progression of prostate cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers from Louisiana state University and published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Researchers gave 26 prostate cancer patients between the ages of 41 and 68's four capsules of day of Polyphenon E, an extract of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) made by Polyphenon Pharma. EGCG is a powerful antioxidant to which many of the health benefits of green tea have been attributed. The dosage given to the participants in the study was equivalent to that acquired from drinking 12 cups of green tea per day.

After 12 weeks, the researchers found that levels of the prostate cancer markers Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) had fallen by an average of 18.9 percent, 9.9 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively, indicating a slowed progression of the disease.

PSA is a marker of inflammation, and indicates disease severity in prostate cancer patients. HGF and VEGF are both produced by prostate tumors as they spread to other parts of the body.

In some patients, HGF and VEGF levels fell as much as 30 percent upon treatment with the EGCG extract.

The researchers were cautiously optimistic about the study findings.

"It's still in an early stage," researcher Jim Cardelli said. "Green tea can keep cancer from growing very fast, but it may not be able to shrink tumors. But it can be a good addition to traditional therapies, like chemo (chemotherapy) or radiation."

Researchers do not know whether the same effects could be seen in other cancers, but the antioxidants in green tea have previously been linked to a reduced risk of a variety of cancers, skin and autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular disease and inflammation.

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/028099_green_tea_prostate_cancer.html.