DDMA Headline Animator

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Speaker names source of Iran democracy

Thu, 21 Jan 2010

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Wednesday the cornerstone of the democracy in Iran is Velayat-e-Faqih, the rule of the most senior religious authority in Shia Islam.

"Velayat-e-Faqih is the foundation of democracy and religion in the country," Larijani told a gathering of clerics in central Markazi Province.

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, is the current religious jurisprudent. Under Iran's Constitution, the Assembly of Experts chooses and supervises the Leader.

Larinjani called on political factions in the country to adhere to the guidelines of Ayatollah Khamenei to guarantee unity in the country, Fars News Agency reported.

"We should pay more attention to the country's issues under the current conditions," he added. "The events in the country are sensitive but not critical."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116699§ionid=351020101.

Iran plans to lop three zeros off currency

Thu, 21 Jan 2010

Iran will remove three zeros from its national currency, the rial, so it can recover value lost in recent years, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said.

"We are supposed to remove zeros from the currency... as for some reasons the rial has depreciated during recent years," Ahmadinejad told reporters on Wednesday. "We have to restore its true real value to the one existing in law."

Ahmadinejad did not say when the changes would happen and gave no other details.

A 10,000 rial note is currently worth about one US dollar.

Iran's Central Bank chief Mahmoud Bahmani told reporters on Wednesday that he expected "one dollar to become even more expensive during the next year."

In September, Bahmani had announced plans to devaluate the currency by three decimal places but later said the idea had been shelved for further consideration.

The Iranian President directed the Central Bank of Iran in 2007 to mull over the concept of devaluating the national currency.

The decline in value of Iran's national currency over recent decades has caused numerous objective and subjective problems.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116696§ionid=351020102.

US lifts visa ban on Muslim scholar

Thu, 21 Jan 2010

The US State Department said Wednesday it lifted a ban on Swiss Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan entering the country, six years after using the Patriot Act to revoke his visa.

The decision was signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"I am very happy and hopeful that I will be able to visit the United States very soon and to once again engage in an open, critical and constructive dialogue with American scholars and intellectuals," Professor Ramadan said in a statement.

The travel ban on him was imposed in the wake of an accusation that he had contributed to the terrorism from 1998 to 2002 by donating about $1,300 to a Swiss-based charity that provided money to Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

The Bush administration in 2006, under the Patriot Act, revoked Ramadan's visa, as he sought to travel to the US to take up a position as a tenured professor at the University of Notre Dame.

The Oxford University professor argued that he had believed the charity had no connections to terrorist activities and that he had always condemned terrorism.

In August 2009, Ramadan was dismissed from his position at a university in the Netherlands for hosting a Press TV program, which the Dutch authorities said was "irreconcilable" with his position as a guest professor.

The Swiss-born scholar said his dismissal was the result of Western "hypocrisy."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116698§ionid=351020606.

Most disqualified Iraqi candidates failed to appeal

Almost all banned candidates for the next Iraqi election have lost their chance to appeal after failing to submit their cases properly to the election commission.

"Just 37 candidates presented their application to investigate their ban to (the election watchdog)" said the commission spokesman Khalid al-Shami.

"The rest presented their applications to the appeals commission directly, which means they lost their opportunity to review their ban," he added.

Almost 500 candidates were banned from participation in the March 7 parliamentary elections for alleged ties to the former dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath party.

Many of the candidates have been replaced by their parties and some have had their ban lifted, leaving 177 cases in the appeals process, Reuters reported.

But only 37 were lodged correctly, leaving the rest disqualified, Shami said.

The judges decided last week to lift a ban, arguing that they would examine their files after the March 7 polls and would "eliminate" them if they were found to be Baathists.

The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, however, branded the decision as "illegal," calling on the judges to complete the appeals process by February 12, when official campaigning for the ballot begins.

Maliki insisted that to defer the appeals process until after the elections "represented a threat to the political process and to democracy."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118271§ionid=351020201.

Storm forces hundreds to evacuate in CA

Thu, 21 Jan 2010

Hundreds of homeowners in fire-ravaged areas have been ordered to evacuate across California as a powerful storm battered the region.

The storm, the third to hit the region since Monday, was expected to dump up to 10 inches of rain in some areas by Thursday, raising fears of landslides in hilly regions denuded of vegetation by last year's wildfires.

Authorities issued evacuation orders to around 750 homes in the Los Angeles area deemed to be threatened by landslides.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck urged homeowners threatened by landslides to act as soon as they were ordered to evacuate.

Also on Wednesday, a tornado struck near a town in east Texas, causing damage, reportedly injuring several people and trapping others in their homes.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116682§ionid=3510203.

Thirdhand smoke can cause cancer: Study

While secondhand smoke had long been known to have cancer-causing properties, a new study reports thirdhand smoke has the same effects.

"Smoking outside is better than smoking indoors but nicotine residues will stick to a smoker's skin and clothing," said lead researcher Lara Gundel.

According to the study published in PNAS, substantial levels of toxins are found on smoke-exposed material long after the cigarette has been put out.

Nicotine stains on clothing, furniture and wallpaper react with indoor pollutants to form dangerous chemicals known as tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), one of the most potent carcinogens found in unburned tobacco and tobacco smoke.

Nitrous acid — the main pollutant emitted from car exhaust — boosts TSNA levels found on contaminated surfaces by tenfold, the study reported.

Dermal uptake of the nicotine is highest in children, making them the most vulnerable population to the health risks of thirdhand smoke.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118269§ionid=3510210.

Iranian director makes documentary on Cuba

Veteran Iranian director Shahrokh Bahrololoumi is making a documentary about Cuba's recent history starting from 1959.

Fifty-One Years of Independence covers the Latin American country's music, as well as Cuban interest in Iranian music and traditions such as the Persian New Year (Nowruz) celebrations.

"Cuba is a byword for its dance and architecture; every corner is like a tableau," Tehran Times quoted Bahrololumi as saying.

"All of these as well as the people's joie de vivre will be shown in the documentary.”

The idea of making such a film developed when I visited Cuba as an assistant director to acclaimed filmmaker Masoud Kimiai ten years ago, Bahrololomi told ISNA.

He also said that they had found a rare film archive in the country, which some of its films were to be used in the documentary.

The shooting of the 90-minute Fifty-One Years of Independence is scheduled to be finished by the Persian New Year on March 21 and Bahrololumi plans to dedicate it to Kimiai.

“Cuba achieved independence 51 years ago, after which the United States has imposed sanctions against the country,” Bahrololomi said.

“The sanctions have had a negative impact on the culture and daily life of Cubans, but what encourages them to continue with life is their special spirit of struggle.”

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118268§ionid=351020105.

College students rally at EU embassies in Tehran

University students in the Iranian capital of Tehran have rallied in front of two European embassies, calling on the Parliament to limit ties with the "interfering" governments.

The students held demonstrations outside the French and Italian embassies on Tuesday chanting "death to the supporters of terrorism" and "death to Berlusconi" referring to the Italian Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi.

The protestors also hurled eggs and tomatoes at the French embassy in protest, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported. They also held placards calling on the country's lawmakers to sever ties with those European states that have "insulted" the Islamic Republic.

Commenting on the protests, the Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a Senate hearing Tuesday that police had blocked around a hundred of what he claimed to be "Basiji dressed as civilians" from attacking the building of the Italian embassy.

The Iranian police had "stopped a full-blown assault," he added.

Observers emphasize that the Italian foreign minister's reference to the Basij (mobilization) forces is another deliberate attempt by the EU member to demonize and show open disrespect for a major unit of the Iranian defense forces that is people-based, in effect offending the whole Iranian citizenry.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118267§ionid=3510212.

Ankara exhibits modern Iranian paintings

The Ankara State Museum of Painting and Sculpture has mounted an exhibition of paintings by contemporary Iranian painters.

The weeklong event, the first of its kind in Ankara, displays 73 works by 10 Iranian painters.

"The exhibited items are unique and valuable works of art, which will definitely be welcomed by Turkish art-lovers," museum manager Omer Osman Gundogdu told IRNA.

He also invited Iranian painters and sculptors to cooperate in renovating Turkey's ancient monuments.

"Works of Iranian painters have been displayed at 11 group exhibitions in Istanbul, Bursa and Van, but this is the first time that an exclusive show is held for them," said exhibition organizer Adnan Bildirim.

"Works of some 150 Iranian painters have been displayed in Turkey so far," he added, announcing that 14 Turkish painters would also exhibit their works for the first time in Iran over the next two months.

Mehdi Salehi, Yavar Jamshidzadeh, Shahrokh Ekhtiari and Reza Samadi are the painters who have attended the Ankara exhibition.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118260§ionid=351020105.

'Middle East will determine fate of the world'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Middle East is the region that "will determine the fate of the world."

"The Zionist regime and its allies are on the losing side, and the free nations' resistance is empowered," Ahmadinejad said in Tehran on Monday during a meeting with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Secretary General Ramadan Abdullah Shallah.

The Iranian president also advised all nations and resistance movements to maintain unity.

Shallah said the world's oppressed people are following the example set by the Islamic Republic of Iran in confronting the arrogant powers.

"The Palestinians, too, as soldiers on the holy path, along with other forces in the region, stand beside Iran against the arrogant powers,” he added.

The Palestinian official also held separate talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

During the meeting, Mottaki said that jihad and resistance are the keys to success for the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel.

He also stated that Tel Aviv will not be able to realize its goals in the Gaza Strip.

And Israel will never dare to attack Iran because the consequences of such an act "would be unpredictable," Mottaki added.

Shallah briefed Mottaki on the latest developments in Palestine and said that Israel is the main reason for instability in the region.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118210§ionid=351020101.

NATO supply container blown up in NW Pakistan

A container carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan has been destroyed in a powerful explosion that ripped through a convoy of trucks in northwest Pakistan.

Initial investigations indicated that a bomb was planted in one of the containers carrying supplies for the US-led NATO forces before it exploded in the Torkham pass in Khyber tribal region of northwest Pakistan, a Press TV correspondent reported quoting a Pakistani police officer probing the incident.

"The container was completely destroyed by the explosion, but the driver and other vehicles remained safe," the officer said.

Convoys carrying food supplies for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan face frequent threats by Taliban militants.

NATO and the US forces are greatly dependent on Pakistan for supplies as about 80 percent of such cargo pass through the country.

The bulk of the equipment required by foreign troops is shipped through the troubled Khyber tribal region in northwest Pakistan and southwestern Balochistan province.

US officials say northwest Pakistan has become a safe haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who fled the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan and have regrouped to launch attacks on foreign troops across the border.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118258§ionid=351020401.

Pakistani militants confirm Hakimullah dead

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has admitted that their top leader Hakimullah Mehsud died a week ago from injuries ha had suffered earlier.

The militant group, based in northwest Pakistan's Orakzai tribal agency, has confirmed that the leader of the TTP died a week ago due to a neck injury while traveling from the eastern city of Multan to the southern port of Karachi for treatment, Pakistan's English-language Dawn newspaper reported.

US media reports said Hakimullah was injured during a drone attack on the Shaktoi district, near Multan, on January 14. Around 10 other people were killed in the attack.

Sources said that Maulvi Noor Jamal, a native of the tribal area of Orakzai, has assumed responsibilities as acting leader of the Pakistani Taliban.

Experts do not expect the loss of the 28-year-old commander, who engineered a series of devastating attacks and raids on markets, to deal a fatal blow to the pro-Taliban group as it battles the government in the country's Northwest.

Hakimullah was named new chief of TTP after the death of Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in August 2009 in a drone attack on the Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118254§ionid=351020401.

Blackwater mercenaries not welcome in Pakistan

Pakistani political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam condemns the presence of American mercenaries in Pakistan, after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed last month that private security firms were operating in the country.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Chief Maulana Fazal-Ur-Rehman said Monday that approximately 9,000 agents working for the US-based security firm Xe Services LLC (formerly known as Blackwater) are operating in Pakistan.

He said that the number of Blackwater mercenaries exceeds that of Islamabad's police force, which stands at 7,000.

Fazl-Ur-Rehman condemned what he described as foreign aggression in Pakistan, holding Blackwater responsible for Taliban-like terrorist activities in country.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik had repeatedly denied the presence of Blackwater in Pakistan. "No such agency named Blackwater is working in Pakistan," the minister said in January.

However, former Pakistani intelligence chief Asad Durani told Press TV in a recent interview that he was able to confirm the involvement of the infamous US security contractor in US drone attacks on northwestern Pakistan.

Imprecise US drone attacks have killed hundreds of civilians in Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas, resulting in a surge in anti-American sentiments.

Following Islamabad's denials, Pakistani lawmakers, from both sides of the political spectrum, urged the government to break its silence and acknowledge the strong evidences pointing to the presence of Xe Services LLC in the country.

The calls came after the US secretary of defense admitted that Xe Services LLC and DynCorp — both American private contractors — have been operating in Pakistan.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118184§ionid=351020401.

US says will increase troops in Haiti

Thu, 21 Jan 2010

Amid growing concerns of Latin American leaders over the presence of the US military in Haiti, Washington plans to send 4,000 troops to the quake-hit country.

A statement from the US Second Fleet Wednesday stated that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, has made the decision to dispatch the troops.

The 2,000 sailors and 2,000 marines are from the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, according to the statement. Their deployment will increase the number of US troops in Haiti to above 15,000.

Three amphibious ships, the USS Nassau, the USS Mesa Verde and the USS Ashland, will support the latest mission, bringing the total number of US Navy and Military Sealift Command vessels to 20.

A 7.0-magnitude quake struck Haiti last week, killing at least 75,000 people and perhaps as many as 200,000. Almost 250,000 people were injured and around 1.5 million people are without shelter.

Meanwhile, the presence of the US military, which has taken command of distribution of humanitarian aid, has raised the ire of some South American leaders, with the presidents of Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela condemning the US role.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said Haiti seeks "humanitarian aid, not troops."

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez accused the US of seeking to occupy the quake-stricken nation. "The United States government is using a humanitarian tragedy to militarily occupy Haiti. I read somewhere that they even occupied the [presidential] palace."

Bolivian leader Evo Morales said that he would seek UN condemnation of the “US military occupation.”

In Europe, France spoke out against the US role, demanding the United Nations investigate and clarify the US military presence in Haiti.

Three days after the quake, US paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division took control of the main airport in the capital Port-au-Prince.

The US says its primary mission is to speed distribution of aid, in part by providing security at distribution points and escorting aid convoys.

In the past, Washington has been accused of interfering in Haitian internal affairs on many occasions. The US military played a role in the departure of the former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide before his second term was over in early 2004.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116684§ionid=351020706.

Libyan court acquits Swiss businessman

Sun, 07 Feb 2010

Tripoli (Earth Times) - A Libyan court on Sunday acquitted one of the two Swiss businessman who were arrested for visa violations in 2008, just days after police in Geneva questioned Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi's son. Rachid al-Hamdani and fellow Swiss businessman Max Goldi have been prevented from leaving Libya since their arrest in July 2008.

Days earlier, Swiss police had questioned Gaddafi's son, Hannibal, and his wife following a complaint that they had abused domestic staff at a Geneva hotel. The case against them was later dropped.

Al-Hamdani's lawyer, Saleh al-Zahaf, told the German Press Agency...

Sudanese diplomat: genocide charge would undermine peace efforts

Sun, 07 Feb 2010

Cairo (Earth Times) - Sudan's ambassador to Egypt said Sunday that adding genocide to the list of charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir would "undermine" peace efforts for Darfur. Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided it would consider charging al-Bashir with genocide, which it had previously excluded for a lack of evidence.

Ambassador Abdelrahman Ser el-Khitm said that the charge "would undermine Arab and African efforts towards peace in Darfur."

He made the comment after meeting with the Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, in Cairo.

The meeting was called to discuss travel arrangements for the Secretary General and several Arab ambassadors to Darfur, after the Arab League adopted a resolution for the establishment of an investment center in Sudan's southern city of Juba.

The center is set to be established on February 22.

Sudanese Vice President Ali Othman Taha's current visit to Cairo is part of the communication between the two countries and is aimed at an exchange of ideas regarding several issues related to Sudan, el-Khitm also said.

On March 4, 2009, the ICC indicted al-Bashir, 66, on five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes over the conflict between his government and rebels in the region in western Sudan.

NATO seeks new allies and warns of tough Afghan fighting - Summary

Sun, 07 Feb 2010

Munich - NATO should look for permanent cooperation with world powers such as China, India and Russia, the alliance's secretary general said Sunday as top US and British officials warned of rising casualties to come in Afghanistan. The threats to Europe and North America come from so many parts of the world that NATO will only be able to deal with them properly if it can create a "stronger, more inclusive security coalition with NATO as the hub," Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

"What would be the harm if China, India, Pakistan and other countries were to develop closer ties with NATO? There would only be a benefit in terms of trust, confidence and cooperation," Rasmussen told the closing day of the annual Munich Security Conference.

The idea would be to set up a permanent system in which the world's major players could discuss security problems and strategies. The initiative could even lead to joint training or planning.

"With a few exceptions, the various parts of the international community who do peace operations still don't train together, we don't really plan together, we aren't joined up in the field," Rasmussen said. "Ending this fragmentation will require a real cultural revolution."

NATO is currently debating a new overall strategy to deal with "asymmetric" threats such as cyber attacks and terrorism, and sees cooperation with other world powers as a vital part of that push.

But the chairman of the Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee said that his country still felt threatened, not reassured, by NATO's outward push because the alliance is still looking to take in new members among the former-Soviet states.

"The problem is the enlargement, the artificial enlargement, the politicized enlargement. The process by which NATO develops is very important for us," said Konstantin Kosachev.

Moreover, NATO has rebuffed overtures from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russian-led alliance with Armenia, Belarus and Central Asian states, giving the Western-led bloc the appearance of hypocrisy, Kosachev said.

It was not the first time Russian officials have voiced the concern during the three-day conference, and NATO representatives were quick to respond that Russian fears about NATO expansion were unfounded.

"(NATO) is not against a country, it is for a concept," said Madeleine Albright, a former US secretary of state who is heading a panel on NATO reform.

"NATO was an alliance against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union no longer exists," she stressed.

The conference also discussed NATO's mission in Afghanistan, which this year is set to receive some 40,000 extra soldiers in a bid to break the Taliban-led insurgency.

British and US officials warned that the troop boost would lead to tough fighting and rising casualties.

"We will have a tough year in 2010. There will be casualties. We need to let our allies know that. It's going to be a very tough year," US Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for Western support for a number of measures to strengthen his government, including a possible return to conscription and the launch of a program to lure militant fighters back into civilian life.

"The environment demands us to engage in some form of meaningful integrated reconciliation and reintegration activity, fully understood in agreement with and backed by our international partners," he said.

The concept of funding militant fighters to give up fighting is controversial in the West, but NATO leaders said it was vital.

"We recognize its importance as a long-missing component" in the campaign, US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said, while stressing that it would only work if the military push delivered victories.

Karzai also urged the West to let his government take the lead in the country, "removing any parallel activity to that of the Afghan government."

NATO-led reconstruction teams, non-governmental organizations, international aid groups and bodies such as the United Nations "must be a support to the Afghan government, not a rival to it," Karzai said, repeating the phrase four times to hammer the point home.

Earlier, the conference focused on the question of Iran's controversial nuclear program, after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he was ready to accept an international deal.

But conference delegates dismissed that declaration as a play for time. On Sunday morning, Ahmadinejad threatened to scrap the deal and re-start uranium enrichment.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307953,nato-seeks-new-allies-and-warns-of-tough-afghan-fighting.html.

Iraqi Shiites protest 'Baathist' election candidates - Summary

Sun, 07 Feb 2010

Baghdad - Thousands of supporters of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawaa Party demonstrated outside the house of parliament in Baghdad on Sunday, to call for the exclusion of "Baathist" candidates from the March polls. Al-Maliki had called for a special session of parliament to meet Sunday to discuss the electoral commission's decision last week to reverse its previous ban on some 500 candidates in the parliamentary elections, imposed because of their alleged connections to the former ruling Baath Party.

But that session was postponed for a day to allow a parliamentary delegation to hear the Iraqi Supreme Court's justifications for lifting the ban, parliamentary speaker Iyad al-Samarrai said in a news conference.

Outside the building, senior Iraqi Shiite leaders allied with the prime minister called for a purge of former Baathists from government.

"We will not allow Baath Party members to return to government," Baghdad governor Salah al-Razak, also from al-Maliki's Dawaa Party, told the crowd gathered in Baghdad's heavily fortified "Green Zone."

"We call on our brothers in other provinces to root out the Baathists from all circles, and not allow a single one to remain after today," al-Razak said.

Similar protests took place in the southern, and predominantly Shiite Muslim, cities of Basra and Najaf Sunday.

The controversy over the candidates has inflamed political debate ahead of the official start of the campaign, which was last week postponed by five days until February 12 to allow for more time to settle the question.

The ban, imposed by Shiite politicians with ties to Iran, had caused anger among many Iraqi Sunni Muslims, many of whom said they had already felt disenfranchised by changes to the country's electoral law late last year that they said would decrease their representation in the new polls.

In the disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, Sunni Arab politicians and their Turkmen allies had called for close international monitoring of voting, saying they feared fraud and voter-intimidation after it emerged that 40 candidates from the city fell under the ban.

They had previously threatened to boycott the polls if the electoral law was not changed to meet there concerns about the representation of Sunni Muslim politicians in the new parliament.

The question of voting in Kirkuk, which many Iraqi Kurds hope to make the capital of a future independent state, has proved so contentious that the city and its environs were left out of previous polls since the 2003, US-led invasion of the country.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307960,iraqi-shiites-protest-baathist-election-candidates--summary.html.

Syria ready to respond to Israeli 'aggression,' minister warns

Sun, 07 Feb 2010

Damascus - Syria is ready to respond to Israeli "aggression", Syrian Minister of Information Mohsen Bilal said Sunday, in an escalating war of words between the two countries. Speaking at a seminar near the Israeli border, Bilal said his country was ready to respond to any Israeli "aggression," and that Syria would "stand in the face of Israeli ambitions."

Speaking just kilometers from the Golan Heights - a strategically important plateau at the intersection of Israel, Syria and Lebanon seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war - Bilal said the plateau was at "the core" of Syria's interests and vowed they would return to Syria.

The Golan Heights "will not remain under occupation," he said.

Bilal reiterated Syria's position that peace could be achieved only with the return of all territories Israel occupied in 1967.

"We are working tirelessly towards true and lasting just peace, in which the occupation ends and the land is returned," the minister said, dismissing Israel's 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights as "worthless."

The Syrian information minister's comments were the latest volley in an increasingly heated exchange between from Israeli and Syrian officials.

"This is the message that should go out to the ruler of Syria from Israel," Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said this week.

"In the next war, not only will you lose. Neither you nor the Assad family will remain in power," he said.

Lieberman was responding to the remarks by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Israel was driving the region toward war, and was "not serious about wanting peace."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307962,syria-ready-to-respond-to-israeli-aggression-minister-warns.html.

Iran starts 20-per-cent uranium enrichment process - Update

Tehran - Iran on Tuesday started the 20-per-cent uranium enrichment process, the head of the country's Atomic Energy Organization said. "The process started in the research hall in the Natanz plant and a cascade of 164 centrifuges have been prepared for the 20-per-cent enrichment process," Ali-Akbar Salehi told ISNA, apparently on his way to the Natanz plant.

"This cascade can produce 3 to 5 kilograms of 20-per-cent uranium per month for the Tehran medical reactor," he added.

He said the process would be supervised by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stationed in the capital Tehran.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said the new enrichment process had nothing to do with the IAEA-brokered plan to ship low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for processing later into fuel for the Tehran medical reactor.

"The talks on the uranium exchange deal could still be continued but as we have to build new nuclear power plants in the near future for covering our energy and medical needs, we also have to consider the relevant fuel for these plants," Mehmanparast said.

Salehi claimed on Monday that Iran would build 10 new enrichment plants within the next Persian year which starts on March 21.

"Some plants need uranium with a [enrichment] grade of 3.5 per cent and others would need a 20-per-cent grade, therefore we have to act according to our needs," Mehmanparast added.

Iran has been sending conflicting signals on its latest enrichment drive. The Foreign Ministry said that the new enrichment process had nothing to do with the fuel swap, but Salehi claimed the higher-grade enrichment would be stopped as soon as the swap deal was realized and implemented.

Mehmanparast rejected Western charges that Iran's position was just a delaying tactic and termed the charges as "political games and merely rhetoric."

"We have clear plans and we have clear nuclear rights and we cannot wait forever for others to make up their minds (whether to cooperate with Iran or not)," he said.

"The issue of the medical Tehran reactor is a humanitarian one as we cannot make sick patients wait for political agreements but should rather seek their cure," the spokesman added.

Mehmanparast also said that plans by world powers to impose renewed sanctions on Iran would be futile.

"Such moves would be a mistake and just lead into another dead-end," he said while reiterating that such threats would not make Iran withdrawing from its nuclear projects.

"We have clear plans and we have clear nuclear rights and we cannot wait forever for others to make up their mind (whether to cooperate with Iran or not)," he said.

"The issue of the medical Tehran reactor (also used for cancer cure) is a humanitarian one as we cannot make sick patients wait for political agreements but should rather seek their cure," the spokesman added.

Mehmanparast also said that plans by world powers to impose renewed sanctions on Iran would be futile.

"Such moves would be a mistake and just lead into another dead-end," the spokesman said while reiterating that such threats would not make Iran withdrawing from its nuclear projects.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308223,iran-starts-20-per-cent-uranium-enrichment-process--update.html.

Egypt nixes plan to put pyramids on flag

Cairo (Earth Times) - The head of Egypt's upper house of parliament refused to consider a plan to change the country's flag to include the Giza Pyramids, a government daily reported on Tuesday. Lawmaker Hussein Abdel-Samei had on Monday suggested placing an image of the three pyramids at Giza at the center of Egypt's flag, to replace the current flag's golden eagle holding a shield emblazoned with the words "Arab Republic of Egypt," Cairo's al-Gomhuriya newspaper reported.

Shooting down the proposal, Safwat al-Sharif, head of the Shura Council, said that Egypt was not a Pharaonic country, but instead rooted in the Pharaonic, Coptic Christian, and Islamic eras.

Al-Sarif said that Egypt's flag represented its struggle during a period of its history. The Egyptian flag consists of the Pan-Arab red, white and black stripes taken from the flag of the 1916-1918 Arab revolt against Ottoman rule.

Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and the Palestinian Authority all use variants of that flag.

British mining firm accused of polluting in eastern India

New Delhi - Indian authorities are ignoring pollution threats from an alumina refinery in eastern India set up by British company Vedanta Resources plc, Amnesty International said Tuesday. The report said the pollution control board of Orissa state had documented air and water contamination from the refinery, operated by a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources in Lanjigarh.

Amnesty International said the pollution was threatening the health of residents and their access to clean water.

The government is considering a proposal for a major expansion of the refinery, located near a river and villages, the report said.

Another Vedanta Resources subsidiary along with the Orissa Mining Corporation plans to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills, which threatens the existence of the 8,000-strong Dongria Kondh tribe.

The Dongria Kondh have lived in the area for centuries and considered the Niyamgiri hills to be sacred, yet no effort had been made to consult them on the proposed mine, Amnesty said.

The organization called on the Indian government and Vedanta Resources to block expansion of the refinery, and halt mining in Niyamgiri before full consultation with local people.

The Church of England said on Friday that it had sold its 3.75-million-pound stake in Vedanta, because it was not satisfied that the company had shown the expected level of respect for human rights and local communities.

In face of similar criticism earlier, Vedanta said its projects had the required clearances of the Indian government and that it routinely carried out environment and social impact studies.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308243,british-mining-firm-accused-of-polluting-in-eastern-india.html.

Assembly green-lights 240 South Korean troops for Haiti

Seoul - South Korea's National Assembly on Tuesday approved a government plan to send 240 soldiers to Haiti to help with reconstruction and humanitarian assistance after January's deadly earthquake. The contingent is to include engineers and sanitation experts, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said.

The soldiers are to be dispatched this month to the Caribbean country and remain until December in Leogane, about 40 kilometers west of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The assembly's approval came 20 days after the UN Security Council issued an appeal for its members to 3,500 additional soldiers and police to quake-hit regions of Haiti.

The magnitude-7 quake struck January 12, killing more than 200,000 people, according to the government, and laying waste to large parts of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308246,assembly-green-lights-240-south-korean-troops-for-haiti.html.

Iraqi vice president warns against exploiting sectarian sentiment

Baghdad - Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi warned politicians against exploiting sectarian sentiment for electoral gain, in an interview published Tuesday. His remarks came amid a boiling political dispute over whether some 500 candidates previously disqualified from running in the March elections because of their alleged connections to the former ruling Baath Party should be allowed to run.

"The danger in Iraq is ... that some characters and political entities (are) trying to make people believe that one entity is the enemy," al-Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim, told the London-based daily al- Sharq al-Awsat.

"They are using this to scare people and to send them back to factional and sectarian trenches, to give them victory in the elections," al-Hashemi charged.

Last week, Iraq's electoral commission said it was lifting the ban on the candidates, sparking protests in Baghdad and in predominantly Shiite cities in Iraq's south.

Officials in the mostly Shiite city of Basra, home to some of the world's largest oil fields, threatened to cut oil supplies from the city, the Dubai-based satellite news network al-Arabiya reported Monday.

"We will not allow Baath Party members to return to government," Baghdad governor Salah al-Razak, of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shiite Dawaa Party, told a large crowd of protesters outside parliament the previous day.

"We call on our brothers in other provinces to root out the Baathists from all circles, and not allow a single one to remain after today," al-Razak said.

Al-Hashemi accused "some candidates" of using dangerous and unethical tactics to win votes and to smear his Al-Iraqia Alliance as promoting "Baathist" ideas.

"Al-Iraqia is a political alliance as firm as the national project and the common national identity of Iraqis," he said.

"I do not fear for al-Iraqia's image among voters. I fear for Iraq's social cohesion and national harmony," the vice president said.

The ban, imposed in January by Shiite politicians with ties to Iran, had caused anger among many Iraqi Sunni Muslims, many of whom said they had already felt disenfranchised by changes to the country's electoral law late last year that they said would decrease their representation in the new polls.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308248,iraqi-vice-president-warns-against-exploiting-sectarian-sentiment.html.

Endeavor heads for space station with picture window - Summary

Washington - The space shuttle Endeavor lit up the Florida coast before dawn Monday as it blasted off for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The 1014 GMT start was the final night-time launch for the aging shuttle fleet, which is to be mothballed later this year.

Endeavor is carrying a six-window viewing area that will give astronauts a panoramic look at Earth, the station and visiting spacecraft.

Endeavor's 13-day mission will carry the Tranquility node to the ISS, making the orbiting space lab 90-per-cent complete. It is to dock with the ISS Wednesday at 0509 GMT.

The Italian-made addition is designed as a connecting element that will also provide ISS's permanent crew with more space and house life support and environmental control systems, a treadmill and other equipment.

"It was an important event," Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency director general, said of the launch. "Even more important for us because the shuttle was full of European hardware."

Perhaps the most anticipated part of Tranquility is the cupola that it will attach to the station. The six-windowed space will allow astronauts to operate robotic controls and get a 360-degree view, like a crane operator sitting in a cabin.

It will be the largest window ever flown into space and is made of specially equipped glass that protects crew from solar radiation. The view will allow scientific observations and provide long-term astronauts with a much-need glimpse of home.

The windows come equipped with shutters to protect them from passing space debris and will be closed when not in use. The panes are designed to be replaced in space if need be.

The launch marks the beginning of the end of NASA's nearly 29- year-old space shuttle program, which is scheduled to be mothballed in September. Endeavor will be followed by just four more shuttle flights to complete construction of the ISS.

In 2010 NASA will say goodbye to the shuttle program as each craft takes its final flight. The US space agency decided to retire the aging fleet after the shuttle Columbia disintegrated when re- entering Earth's atmosphere in 2003, but first used the craft to complete construction of the ISS.

The large shuttles are the only existing spacecraft large enough to haul pieces of the station into orbit.

NASA had planned to replace the shuttle with next generation Orion spacecraft that were a throwback to the Apollo program of the 1960s, but President Barack Obama last week scrubbed the so-called Constellation program from his budget.

Instead, he devoted 6 billion dollars over five years to encouraging commercial firms to ferry astronauts into orbit in what would essentially be a space taxi service.

The United States will be reliant on Russian Soyuz craft to take US astronauts into space until an alternative is ready to fly.

Three spacewalks are planned to install and outfit Tranquility.

Endeavor is scheduled to return to Earth on February 20.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308124,endeavour-heads-for-space-station-with-picture-window--summary.html.

Teenagers should be better protected on social networks, EU says

Brussels - The privacy of underage users should be better protected by social networking websites, the European Commission urged Monday, on the eve of the so-called Safer Internet Day. Last year the commission - the EU's executive - got 20 web companies, including industry leaders such as Facebook, Google-MySpace and Yahoo, to sign up to a charter promoting safer internet use, especially for minors.

A year on, it found that just 40 per cent of them "make profiles of under-18 users visible only to their friends by default and only one third replied to user reports asking for help," a press release released Monday explained.

"I expect all companies to do more. Minors' profiles need to be set to private by default and questions or abuse reports have to receive quick and appropriate responses. The internet is now vital to our children, and it is the responsibility of all to make it safe", stressed the EU's outgoing commissioner for Media, Viviane Reding.

YouTube is one of the websites that do not respect recommendations on teenage privacy, according to a fact sheet supplied by the commission.

The others negative examples are Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Hyves, Xbox Live, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, Piczo, Ratee, Skyrock, VZnet, IRC Galleria and Zap.lu.

Facebook escapes criticism on this front. However, it is not among the 14 websites out of 25 surveyed that provide safety tips for minors that "is both easy to find and easy to understand", the commission's fact sheet warned.

The Safer Internet Day is set to be celebrated on Tuesday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Reding, as well as incoming commissioner for Digital technologies, are scheduled to attend.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308133,teenagers-should-be-better-protected-on-social-networks-eu-says.html.

Top Scotland Yard officer jailed for false arrest in private feud

London - A high-ranking Scotland Yard commander was Monday sentenced to four years in jail for misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice. Ali Dizaei, an Iranian-born officer with a colorful 24-year career in British policing, was found guilty by a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London of attacking and falsely arresting a man with whom he had a personal argument over money.

The court ruled that Dizaei should spend two years in jail and a further two years on license. The presiding judge said the sentence was to "send a clear message that police officers of whatever rank are not above the law."

"You knew how the system worked and you thought you would never be discovered," the judge told Dizaei.

Scotland Yard Commissioner Stephenson said: "It is extremely disappointing and concerning that this very senior officer has been found guilty of abusing his position and power."

The court heard that Dizaei, after a private family dinner in a London restaurant in July, 2008, was confronted by Waad Al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi man, over outstanding payment for work on his personal website.

In the course of the argument, Dizaei attacked al-Baghdadi, produced handcuffs to arrest him and called the police emergency line claiming that he had been the victim of an assault and required help with an arrest, the court heard.

A police doctor told the court that the injuries Dizaei said he had suffered were self-inflicted. Dizaei, who has in the past accused Scotland Yard of "racism and systematic discrimination," is expected to be sacked from the force for gross misconduct.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308135,top-scotland-yard-officer-jailed-for-false-arrest-in-private-feud.html.

Spanish King arrives in Lebanon to inspect UN Troops

Beirut - Spanish King Juan Carlos arrived Monday in Beirut on a two-day visit to Lebanon during which he will inspect Spanish troops serving with UNIFIL in southern Lebanon. The king is accompanied by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

Juan Carlos will be hosted by President Michel Suleiman at a state dinner held in his honor, later Monday.

The trip by King Juan Carlos comes after the UN Spanish battalion took command of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), from the Italians last month.

According to the Lebanese Central News Agency the king's visit to Lebanon is not a state visit, but a trip to inspect his country's troops in southern Lebanon.

The Spanish king is expected to pay a 3-day state visit to Lebanon along with his wife Queen Sofia in July or ultimately by September, according to the news agency.

UNIFIL currently has 13,000 troops from 29 countries. Italy has the largest contingent with 2,500 soldiers, while Spain contributes 1,100 soldiers.

In June 2007, a UN patrol belonging to the Spanish battalion was targeted by a car bomb blast, killing six Spanish peacekeepers.

The number of UN peacekeepers was increased in 2006, following 33 days of war between Israel and Hezbollah. The main task of the peacekeepers is to monitor a fragile ceasefire at the Lebanese-Israel border.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308141,spanish-king-arrives-in-lebanon-to-inspect-un-troops.html.

PROFILE: Laura Chinchilla - Costa Rica's first female president

San Jose, Costa Rica - "I am the best alternative," Costa Rica's first female president Laura Chinchilla said during the election when asked why voters should choose her over her male competitors in Sunday's balloting. The differences between the 50-year-old and her nearest rival, Otton Solis of the Citizen's Action Party, were not always clear. But Chinchilla came out with more than 46 per cent of the vote, making her the Central American country's first female leader.

"I want to thank the pioneering women who years ago opened the doors of politics in Costa Rica," Laura Chinchilla told supporters Sunday. "My government will be open to all Costa Ricans of good faith."

She has pledged to fight crime, strengthen the police and increase prosperity.

Towards the end of the campaign, it was unclear whether Chinchilla - of outgoing President Oscar Arias' National Liberation Party (PLN) - would be able to clear the 40-per-cent hurdle needed for a clear victory without a runoff. Analysts speculated that she would not be able to overcome a united opposition in a runoff campaign.

The political scientist is the mother of one son and the wife of Spanish businessman Jose Maria Rico. Her political career began in the 1990s, when she served as acting security minister from 1994 to 1996. Since 2002, she has been a member of parliament and in 2006 Arias named her his vice president.

Chinchilla has promised to fight for the poor and weak in her nation, in particular by bringing Costa Rica out of its economic downturn.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308143,profile-laura-chinchilla--costa-ricas-first-female-president.html.

Election official: Yanukovych has won presidential vote - Summary

Kiev - Viktor Yanukovych has effectively won Ukraine's presidential election with a 3.14 percentage-point margin of victory over his opponent, and practically all ballots counted, a senior election official said Monday. "Factually one can say, that there is an obvious victor of this election," said Myhailo Ohendovsky, chairman of Ukraine's Central Election Commission (CEC), at a Kiev press conference.

Yanukovych's margin was based on a 99.44 per cent count of all ballots cast in the Sunday vote, and it appeared impossible for his opponent, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, to overhaul Yanukovych's lead, Ohendovsky said.

The pro-Russia opposition leader Yanukovych received 48.81 per cent of ballots cast in the Sunday vote, while Tymoshenko obtained 45.61 per cent of ballots cast, according to the CEC.

Turnout was just under 70 per cent, with almost 5 per cent of voters marking ballots "neither candidate."

Yanukovych declared victory some three hours after polls closed on Sunday evening and called on Tymoshenko to concede defeat.

"A good democrat must also be, at times, a good loser," Yanukovych said at a Kiev press conference.

Some 1,000 Yanukovych supporters gathered Monday in minus 11 Celsius temperatures at a square some three kilometers from Kiev's centre to attend an outdoor rally.

Yanukovych's victory would mark an impressive come-back for the Donbass region politician, who won the 2004 vote only to have the Supreme Court cancel the result as fraudulent, after hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians led by Tymoshenko took to the streets in protest in the so-called "Orange Revolution."

"I too have been defeated in my time, now it is her (Tymoshenko's) turn," he said. "Let us build our country together."

But at a Sunday evening press conference of her own, Tymoshenko said that the race was much too close to call, and she called on her supporters to await the final ballot count. Any violation of election law, or incorrect count, would be challenged in court, she said.

A Tymoshenko press conference planned Monday was delayed twice, before organizers canceled it without explanation.

Tymoshenko on Monday warned that if official tallies showed evidence of substantial vote fraud committed by the Yanukovych camp, she would lead "millions" of Ukrainians in mass demonstrations.

"We believe that when the count is complete, it will be inevitable that Ms Tymoshenko will admit her defeat," said Anna German, Yanukovych's senior spokeswoman, on Monday. "Our margin of victory is clear."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308150,election-official-yanukovych-has-won-presidential-vote--summary.html.

Pakistani Taliban confirm leader's death

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Hakimullah Mahsud was injured in a missile strike by a U.S. drone last month. He is the group's second leader killed in six months.

By Alex Rodriguez

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan - The Pakistani Taliban confirmed Tuesday that their leader, Hakimullah Mahsud, died from injuries suffered in a U.S. drone missile strike last month, an attack that forces the insurgency to find a new leader for the second time in six months.

The death of Mahsud, engineer of a devastating series of suicide attacks and raids on markets, mosques and security installations across Pakistan in the latter half of 2009, gives the U.S. another major victory in its ongoing campaign of drone missile strikes against top Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders.

A drone strike last August killed Mahsud's predecessor, Baitullah Mahsud. Missiles fired by drones over Pakistan's tribal areas along the Afghan border have also killed 15 senior Al Qaeda commanders since 2004.

However, experts do not expect the loss of Hakimullah Mahsud, 28, to deal a fatal blow to the Taliban as it battles the government in the country's northwest.

After Baitullah Mahsud's death last summer, the Taliban was able to regroup and launch some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistanis in years, including the Oct. 10 commando-style raid on army headquarters in Rawalpindi, a sprawling, heavily guarded complex. The raid left 14 military officers and civilian workers dead.

"Obviously, it's a great setback for them in terms of morale and organizational problems. There's no doubt about it," said Talat Masood, a security analyst and retired Pakistani general. "It will take time for them to recover, but they will definitely recover because they have support in those tribal areas."

Pakistani authorities initially believed that Mahsud had been injured in a Jan. 17 U.S. drone strike that targeted two cars in North Waziristan, a largely Taliban-controlled district in the tribal areas.

However, Taliban sources said their leader was wounded in a drone strike Jan. 14 in Shaktoi, a village in South Waziristan near the North Waziristan border. The sources said militants were trying to move Mahsud to Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, for treatment, but he died in the southern Punjab city of Multan, 460 miles northeast of Karachi.

Source: Los Angeles Times.
Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-hakimullah-mahsud10-2010feb09,0,6139722.story.

Taliban claim to debut new bomb 'Omar'

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The Taliban claimed Tuesday to have developed a new bomb nicknamed Omar after their fugitive leader and which they say is impossible Western mine sweepers to detect.

The biggest killer of Western troops in Afghanistan are home-made bombs, known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, which the Taliban deploy to wide effect in their eight-year insurgency and detonate by remote control.

Western military intelligence officials have said most foreign troop deaths, which hit a record 520 last year, are caused by IEDs.

But the Taliban claimed -- ahead of a major assault by foreign troops on the southern Taliban stronghold of Helmand province -- to have created a new IED using materials that make them undetectable.

The militia, which is leading an insurgency to bring down the Western-backed Afghan government and evict foreign troops, routinely exaggerates its claims.

The network's spokesman, who identified himself as Yousuf Ahmadi, said the new bomb had been named after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahed, believed to be based in Pakistan.

"Omar is our latest weapon in the war against the invaders," he told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"It's a very effective bomb, it can't be detected by mine-sweeping vehicles and it causes more deaths," he said.

He refused to provide more details, saying "it's our military secret" but added that each Omar cost around 100 dollars to make.

"With a 100-dollar mine we are able to destroy the enemy's multi-million-dollar anti-mine vehicles," he claimed, referring to heavily armored vehicles used in Afghanistan by US and other NATO troops.

Ahamdi charged the "Omar bomb" had already been used in attacks on Western forces, but his claim could not be verified immediately.

Around 113,000 foreign troops are deployed to Afghanistan under US and NATO command fighting a Taliban insurgency that increasingly relies on IEDs and suicide bomb attacks as its tactics have morphed into guerrilla warfare.

So far this year 62 foreign soldiers have died in the Afghan theater, according to an AFP tally based on the independent icasualties.org website.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.

Another major storm headed to snowy Mid-Atlantic

By BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – A second major snow storm in less than a week was blowing Tuesday toward the Mid-Atlantic region, where plows still hadn't touched some roads, utility workers were struggling to restore power and shovels were in short supply.

The storm hit the Midwest early Tuesday, closing schools and greeting commuters with slick, slushy roads from Indianapolis to Chicago. Powerful wind and snow were expected to crawl into Mid-Atlantic states by the afternoon, and could leave as much as 20 inches of new snow in Washington and 18 inches near Philadelphia — a Northeast travel hub — by Wednesday night.

Parts of the region were already buried under nearly 3 feet of snow.

Airlines that shut down flights to Washington over the weekend warned that more would be canceled and that travelers who didn't depart by Tuesday night were likely out of luck. Washington resident Chris Vaughan was fortunate enough to land a seat.

"I'm done with city, urban snow life," said Vaughan, who was going skiing in Utah. He dodged a $100 taxi "snow fare" by having a friend drop him off at Reagan National Airport — in exchange for a bottle of wine.

Others were filling their pantries in case they get stuck at home again.

"Getting around is a pain right now as it is, so slushy and sloppy," said Meghan Garaghan, 28, as she stocked up on staples and sweets at a supermarket in Philadelphia, which got 27 inches of snow. "I don't want to think about what it's going to be like with another foot and a half of snow dumped on top of this mess."

Some spots, including parts of Maryland, had nearly 3 feet of snow from the earlier storm. One scientist said if all that fell on the East Coast were melted, it would fill 12 million Olympic swimming pools or 30,000 Empire State buildings. Philadelphia and Washington each need about nine more inches to give the cities their snowiest winters since 1884, the first year records were kept.

Jerry Bennett, manager of the Strosniders hardware store in Silver Spring, Md., said he sold 500 snow shovels in two hours Friday. Since then, customers have been stalking shipments.

"Every third question is, 'Do you have shovels?'" Bennett said. "Every three hours, we can answer 'yes,' and then they're gone."

The storm that began Friday closed schools, and some 230,000 federal workers in Washington had Monday and Tuesday off. Power was still out for tens of thousands of homes and businesses, and utilities said deep snow was hindering some crews trying to fix damaged power lines before the next storm hits.

The snowbound U.S. Senate met only for a few minutes Monday, and the House called off floor votes on Tuesday.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, wearing a V-neck sweater over his usual shirt and tie, said it was difficult to make it to work on snow-clogged streets and the subway system was running on a limited basis.

Planes weren't the only way out of town. Union Station was bustling with long lines as many passengers decided to try Amtrak after flights were canceled.

Manuel Bernardo, 30, of Bethesda, Md., was on his way to Barcelona, Spain. He bought a ticket to New York and was hoping to make it there in time to catch his flight to Madrid.

"Until this morning, I was happy as pie, because I love snow," he said.

In Falls Church, Va., a Washington suburb, Jeff Patmore, 43, was trying to get his Jeep out. The State Department employee's family was running low on supplies — particularly milk for his three young children.

Patmore attempted a grocery run Saturday, but didn't make it far.

"I thought my car could do anything, and I was wrong," he said. "My wonderful neighbors dug me out, and I limped back with my pride injured but everything else intact."

Greg Ten Eyck, a spokesman for Safeway Inc., said road conditions are making it hard for many stores to restock following the "epic" crowds before last week's storm.

A new wave of cold residents was checking into the Hilton in Silver Spring, including Bill and Ann Hilliard and their two elderly cats. Temperatures in their powerless home had dropped into the 40s and with another foot of snow forecast, they didn't want to stay home.

Ann Hilliard recently had part of her leg amputated and their neighbors helped them out of the neighborhood.

"There was no way to get her out otherwise," he said.

Defiant Iran accelerates nuclear program

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran began enriching uranium to a higher level Tuesday over the vociferous objections of the U.S. and its allies who fear the process could eventually be used to give the Islamic republic nuclear weapons.

Even before the announcement U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he believed the U.N. should slap new sanctions on Iran in "weeks, not months," according to his spokesman Tuesday.

France and the U.S. said Monday Iran's action left no choice but to push harder for a fourth set of U.N. Security Council sanctions to punish Iran's nuclear defiance. Russia, which has close ties to Iran and has opposed new sanctions, appeared to edge closer to Washington's position, saying the new enrichment plans show the suspicions about Iran's intentions are well-founded.

Iranian state television said that the process began in the presence of inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. Uranium has to be enriched to fuel nuclear power plants and Iran needs the 20 percent enriched fuel for a research reactor producing medical isotopes.

Enriching uranium to 90 percent, however, creates the material for nuclear weapons, which many countries are afraid Iran is seeking. Iran denies the charge.

In effort to defuse the crisis, the International Atomic Energy Agency brokered a deal last year in which Iran would ship out its low enriched uranium to be processed abroad and returned a year later.

Iran initially rejected the deal, then later said that if an acceptable alternative could be reached, it would not continue the high level enriching process.

Ali Akbar Salehi, a vice president as well as the head of the country's nuclear program, said the further enrichment would be unnecessary if the West found a way to provide Iran with the needed fuel.

"Whenever they provide the fuel, we will halt production of 20 percent," he told state TV late Monday.

Iran has so far enriched uranium to a level of 3.5 percent, which is suitable for use in fueling nuclear power plants.

On Tuesday, the spokesman of Iran's Foreign Ministry, Ramin Mehmanparast said any plan by the West to impose new Security Council resolutions would not be helpful.

"If they attempt another resolution, they are making a mistake. It is not helpful in resolving the nuclear dispute between Iran and the West," he said. "They are completely wrong if they think our people will back down even a single step."

Salehi said Iran has been trying to buy the higher enriched fuel for its research reactor for the past several months, but the West made providing the fuel conditional on Iran's acceptance of the U.N.-drafted agreement to ship its uranium stockpile abroad first.

That plan would come with some safeguards, because the enriched fuel provided to Iran would be in a form that would be difficult to further process to make weapons.

According to the report on state TV, the higher level enrichment began after Iranian scientists injected 25 kilograms of 3.5 percent enriched UF6, or Uranium hexafluoride, gas into a cascade of 164 centrifuge machines at a laboratory in central town of Natanz, some 150 miles south of Tehran.

The machines are expected to produce some 2.5 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium out of 25 kilograms of gas every month, according to the report.

It said inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency were present during the injection.

When asked about the enrichment process, Gill Tudor of the IAEA only said that the agency had inspectors at the site already.

"The agency continues to have inspectors in Iran conducting normal safeguard operations," Tudor said.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates believes a new U.N. resolution would lay the legal groundwork countries need to impose sanctions independently and pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear program.

No new U.N. Security Council sanctions can be passed, however, without unanimous agreement from all members, including China, which has been reluctant to impose new punitive measures on Iran.

China called for more talks on Tuesday, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu, saying "I hope the relevant parties will step up efforts and push for progress in the dialogue and negotiations."

Russia, another Security Council member, has also been reluctant to back new sanctions.

The nation's security chief said on Tuesday, however, that Iran's decision to enrich uranium to higher levels has added to doubts about its nuclear program.

"Iran says it doesn't want to have nuclear weapons. But its actions, including its decision to enrich uranium to 20 percent, have raised doubts among other nations, and these doubts are quite well-founded," Nikolai Patrushev was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Iran says it needs the 20 percent enriched fuel for a research reactor producing radio isotopes to treat cancer and manufacture radiography materials. Iran says more than 850,000 people need the products for their illnesses.

Afghan avalanches kill at least 28, strand 1,500

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – Avalanches roared down a mountain pass north of Afghanistan's capital killing at least 28 people and stranding another 1,500 in their vehicles on snow-blocked roads, officials said Tuesday.

Another 70 people were injured and transported to hospitals as the military and police continued rescue efforts to dig out those trapped in the snow, an Afghan Defense Ministry statement said.

The avalanches struck Monday following heavy snow in the Salang Pass that links the Afghan capital Kabul with the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

In a statement, President Hamid Karzai ordered the ministries of public works, defense and disaster control to "use all possible means to get the roads unblocked and rescue those trapped and stranded in the heavy snow."

He also expressed condolences to the families of the victims who were killed or injured.

About 100 Afghan soldiers were mobilized to join police and others in the rescue efforts, along with four helicopters, several ambulances and several bulldozers, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.

"Unfortunately there were more avalanches this morning, which made our work a little difficult, but we are trying to rescue people," he said.

Rescuers worked through the night to save more than 200 people, said Gen. Abdul Rahman Sayedkhail, Parwan provincial police chief.

"There's still danger from avalanches there so that's why our work is a little slow," Rahman said.

Military helicopters were dropping food packages to people stuck on snow-blocked roads, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemerai Bashary said.

Earlier, Afghan reports said some 300 cars and buses were trapped on the mountain pass.

Raid Khoury – Christian Arabs remain the best situated to combat the demonization of Islam

According to Christian tradition the above quote is attributed to Jesus of Nazareth by Matthew as part of the famous Sermon on the Mount, a compilation of Jesus' sayings epitomizing his moral teachingindus. Speaking in the setting of his time, Jesus was understood to be discussing false prophets, but a more general and timeless understanding of this warning is vigilance against deception and false messages of all types.

Ameal Haddad, a local activist and supporter of the "Christian Zionist" movement, is a pastor in Southern California. He has been traveling to Arab countries promoting a sinister agenda and appearing in Arabic-language media outlets. The activities of this virtually unknown Muslim basher first came to light with an appearance on Al-Arabiya's popular weekly, socio-economic talk show "Idaat". In a one-hour interview with Turki Al-Dakheel, Haddad deliberately misrepresented his theological beliefs, views, and agenda as he set out to take advantage of a prominent platform to pursue his efforts at scavenging for a niche on the fringe of the Muslim bashing industry. Haddad remains a virtual unknown in the U.S. much as Wafa Sultan, another Southern California resident, was prior to her own infamous appearance on an Al Jazeera talk show where she publicly disintegrated with a hate-filled rant ensuring she will not be invited to participate in any public discussion and will no longer be taken seriously anywhere in the Arab world. Haddad seems to have learned from that vulgar appearance, dispensing with the invectives and opting for a more subdued approach. But for those of us who know Haddad the message remains the same. Islam is a terrorist religion and Muslims are backwards and terrorists.

Since 9-11, when Haddad and his fellow American Evangelical partner formed their misnamed outfit, the Arab and Muslim bashing industry has been thriving. An unrestrained virulent campaign against Islam and Arabs, along with the required propaganda in preparation for war on Afghanistan and Iraq, and the ongoing activities of a relentless pro-Israel lobby, has provided an opportunity for almost anyone to play a role in this effort and spew their venom. This cottage industry has enlisted a motley crew of pseudo-academics, "democracy" and "human rights" activists, and religious bigots, all united in a single, determined effort to spread a campaign of incitement, lies, and hate against Islam and Arabs.

Among the most vociferous and vile of these groups is a segment of evangelical Christians with a theology that elevates support for the Zionist project in Palestine to a religious duty. This group proved to be a critical and convenient base of support for a U.S. administration that decided to invade Iraq to achieve a set of objectives among which is the re-shaping of the security environment in favor of Israel. For an evangelical, political movement that espouses a worldview where the gospel is identified with the ideology of empire, colonialism, and militarism, a neo-colonial endeavor in the heart of the Arab world dovetailed nicely with the post-Cold War concept of a clash of civilizations. The politically inspired, academically flawed paradigm of Samuel Huntington provided a framework for a neo-conservative dominated administration by which to narrate their policies and rally the pre-disposed, political simpletons of the evangelical right to their cause. It is from this anachronistic world view that the ostensibly innocent alternative of a Christian-Muslim dialogue springs, as if military campaigns by the West and the resistance of occupied peoples is an inherent religious struggle unrelated to traditional geo-political imperialist designs and analysis.

A tactic favored by the evangelical movement is finding Christians from the Arab world who abandoned their traditional churches (usually as a result of previous proselytizing by Westerners from the English-speaking world) and adopted one form or another of Western Protestantism. They are assigned various tasks, such as playing the role of persecuted minority or offering "native insight" into the religion of Islam. These individuals are later paraded as indigenously credible sources affirming all the anti-Muslim lies and distortions promulgated by them. This is where people like Haddad can play a valuable role within the movement. An Arab who abandoned the earliest churches established, in both the history of Christianity and within the Arab world, and adopted the doctrines and agenda of this unusual and recent form of Protestant theology, is considered a prize among this group of American evangelicals.

In light of the current climate of hate and religious bigotry, Haddad's hitherto minor and local role in this campaign, and his recent travels and appearances in the Arab world, it is imperative the truth about this person and the agenda he represents be made known to the Southern California Arab and Muslim communities. It is particularly critical that such individuals, with their poisonous message of division and religious agitation, are not permitted to claim to represent the voice of Christian Arabs. In the past 20 years I have had numerous discussions with Haddad about Christianity, Islam, and theology. His primary objective has always been to convince me and anyone who will listen of the inherent evil and immorality of Islam. His consistent single minded determination to smear Islam, its history, and teachings constitute the very essence of his personal message and ideology. After his well publicized interview on Al-Arabiya, a major Arabic-language news channel, I would be surprised if he expected those of us who know him locally to remain silent in the face of a deceitful public performance diametrically opposed to all that he has stood for over the years.

In that interview Haddad made numerous and laughable references to peace, love, brotherhood, and mutual respect. Unless he has had a change of heart towards Islam and Muslims no less transformative than St Paul's experience on the road to Damascus, such proclamations are nothing more than a cynical attempt to advance a hidden agenda and promote the same message of hate Wafa Sultan was much more honest in conveying. The salient moment in the interview came when the very effective host pressed Haddad for his own view on the belief among many evangelicals that the creation of the Zionist state in Palestine in 1948 is a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. With a smile Wafa Sultan could never muster for her Arab audience, and one betraying a self-conscious deceit, Haddad adamantly refused to answer. However an answer to that question and an explanation for his refusal to answer it can be found in the doctrinal statement of the religious seminary where he received his evangelical training. That statement says "The nation of Israel, having been redeemed, will play a central role in bringing the blessings of salvation to all nations during the millennium in fulfillment of Biblical prophecies."

Let me be clear, I am not a religious person and would describe myself as a secular humanist. Yet my primary conflict with Haddad has always been my assertion that despite doctrinal differences, both Christianity and Islam share a common set of moral teachings and universal human values which include a message of peace and non-violence. I found Haddad immovable in his insistence that Islam is not only a false religion (presumably he has a monopoly on absolute truth), but that it also commands its adherents to commit acts of violence, a centuries old Western cliché to which many Evangelical Christians openly subscribe. Each time I pointed out to Haddad that Christians have also committed acts of violence he would respond by telling me "that is because they were not real Christians" and were not following the peaceful teachings of Jesus Christ. In other words, acts of violence by Muslims are carried out as part of their faithful adherence to a violent religion, but acts of violence carried out by Christians are committed because they did not faithfully pursue the peaceful, non-violent teaching of Christianity. While I immediately took notice of the fallacious nature of this circular argument, I could never really determine with certainty what motivated such ludicrous statements.

Over time it became clear his views are a product of something far more malevolent than simple ignorance. In the late 1990s Haddad invited better known Baptist Minister Anis Shorrosh to his church in the Los Angeles suburb of Bellflower. Shorrosh is the unabashed Muslim-basher who gained notoriety with a buffoonish performance in which he donned traditional Arab garb in a debate with the late Ahmad Deedat. Unlike Haddad, Shorrosh does not publicly deny his "Christian Zionist" beliefs. His hate-filled rants have been financed and printed in book form by evangelical organizations and he's been a frequent guest on Pat Robertson's 700 Club program. Shorrosh is the person peddling the "True Furqan" and claims Islam has a twenty-year plan to take over America. This writer interviewed two persons who attended Haddad's church and learned Shorrosh had been invited by Haddad to conduct a one-week workshop designed to train evangelicals in proselytizing among Muslims. His literature, videos, and audio recordings were made available free of charge to all who attended. Not content with two first-hand accounts I took advantage of my next encounter with Haddad and asked him if it's true this preacher of hate was invited to his church as a guest preacher. Haddad informed me directly that Shorrosh was indeed invited to his church to conduct a workshop, that he (Shorrosh) "specializes" in preaching to Muslims, and that he (Haddad) shares his views and was proud to call him a friend.

The target of this aberrant and fringe element of Christian Arabs and other American evangelicals of this variety has always been Islam. An example of this mindset can be found in this interview in which Haddad, while discussing the U.S. invasion of Iraq through the false prism of the official American narrative states, "It is encouraging that so many Muslims have signed the declaration, because it says that they are willing to stop the killing and sit down and talk…", and then goes on to add "only 10 to 15 percent of Muslims believe in violence. The rest are open to discussion." He continues by expressing his "hope" that Muslims "will end the violence and very soon…they have the most to gain." Apparently unaware of the condescending and racist nature of his own words, he may actually believe he was being generous. We can only wonder about the methodology employed by this American evangelical in reaching the conclusion only 10-15 percent of one and a half billion Muslims are violent, or how after one and a half Million Iraqis were killed in an immoral war launched by the U.S., of which his fellow evangelicals were the most enthusiastic supporters, he has the audacity and arrogance to lecture Muslims about non-violence.

Haddad's true message and agenda which he was visibly straining to hide in his Al-Arabiya interview has been remarkably consistent all along. It includes three main components: Islam is an evil religion and the root cause of violence in the world; Muslims must be converted and saved from their own teachings; and the creation of Israel in Palestine is a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. According to this twisted version of Western Protestantism, which inspires the activities of Haddad, Shorrosh, and others within this strand of the U.S. evangelical movement, Israel is locked in a divinely pre-ordained, existential struggle for survival against a hostile Arab and Islamic enemy which will herald the return of Jesus.

To that end these preachers of hate seek the "right" to proselytize in the Arab world among both Muslims and Christians. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion…" The Holy Qur'an recognized this same principle sixteen hundred years before the drafting of the UDHR in 1948 in the verse "let their be no compulsion in religion," (Al-Baqarah: 256). According to the UDHR itself, and consistent with Islamic teachings, such a right applies to individuals. Such a right does not extend to non-human entities such as organizations and institutions seeking to proselytize in the country of their choosing. This is where Haddad's propaganda brochure, which he referred to 15 times as a "document" (wathiqa in Arabic) during his interview, becomes very revealing. The poorly drafted, jumbled sections of Haddad's "wathiqa" is not as he described "a call for love and peace", but an attempt to claim a "right" for any organization to enter any country for the purpose of proselytizing and other endeavors of which we may not be aware. No such right exists. For those preachers who are genuinely interested in spreading a message of non-violence, peace, and love they would be well advised to spend their time and energy here in the U..S among their fellow evangelicals where such a message is desperately needed.

Arabs — both Muslims and Christians — have been the target of a ferocious propaganda campaign in this country. Responding to this onslaught is more than enough to keep them busy without having to contend with a contingent of self-hating Arabs and religious agitators in their midst. As an Arab who happened to be born into a Christian family, I cannot remain silent as individuals on the margins of the Arab American community are enlisted in this demonization campaign as representatives of Christian Arabs. For Christian Arabs their Christianity is an indigenous religion, and Islam is their indigenous civilization. Christian Arabs have lived for centuries in harmony with Muslim Arabs. They form an integral part of the Arab world and Islamic civilization. They share with their Muslim Arab blood-brothers a common Semitic Arab origin, language, culture, and history. Attacks on Islam also constitute an attack on the civilization, culture, and identity of Christian Arabs, whose continued presence in the Arab world is a living testament to the tolerant and peaceful history of Islam, belying the vicious distortions of this great religion and civilization, and making them ideally situated to set the record straight.

Source: Palestine Think Tank.
Link: http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/02/09/raid-khoury-christian-arabs-remain-the-best-situated-to-combat-the-demonization-of-islam/.

Turkish PM: Israel Could Lose Turkish Friendship

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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February 7, 2010

Israel should consider “what it would be like to lose a friend like Turkey,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned.

Erdogan made the threat last Sunday in an interview with Euronews, according to reports.

“We have important ongoing agreements between us,” the Turkish leader said. “How can these agreements be kept going in this climate of mistrust? I think Israel had better take another look at its relations with its neighbors if it believes it is a world power.”

Erdogan referred in the interview to the treatment of his country’s ambassador by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who called in the envoy earlier this month and publicly humiliated him over a Turkish television series that portrayed Israeli soldiers as baby killers.

He added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed a diplomatic faux pas by saying recently that he does not trust Erdogan, but rather puts his trust in French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“We have done our best for Israel-Syria relations, but now we see Benjamin Netanyahu saying ‘I do not trust Erdogan, but I trust Sarkozy’. Do you have to give a name? This is diplomatic inexperience, too, because when you say this … How can I trust you if you say you don’t trust me?” Erdogan told Euronews.

The relationship between Turkey and Israel has deteriorated since last winter’s Gaza war, when Erdogan criticized Israel’s actions against Hamas.

Berlusconi Feels Pain of Shoah Victims, Gaza Palestinians

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expressed his empathy for Israel and the Palestinians during the final day of a three-day visit to Israel.

“Today, the safeguarding of Israel’s safety and its right to exist as a Jewish state is an ethical choice and a moral decree against the possibility of the return of anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and a loss of memory by the West,” Berlusconi said during an address Wednesday to Israel’s Knesset.

Later, during a visit with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, Berlusconi said, “Just as it’s right to cry for the victims of the Shoah, it’s right to show pain for what happened in Gaza.”

Earlier in his visit, the Italian leader said that his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial “was like being punched in the stomach.”

During the visit, Berlusconi and seven of his ministers held a joint Cabinet meeting with their Israeli counterparts.

Berlusconi noted in his address in Italian the strong ties between Jerusalem and Rome, saying that “Italy is like a big brother to Israel.”

“We are fighting and will continue to fight together with you against every instance of anti-Semitism in Europe and around the world,” Berlusconi said. “We will also stand with you in Israel’s struggle for peace and security, and work to establish democracy in nations throughout the world and defend freedom as inalienable requirements for every human being.”

Berlusconi called for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, noting that the two parties, as well as the European Union, the United States and the West’s most important allies were in agreement over the need for a negotiated settlement for two states.

The Goldstone report “tried to incriminate Israel for its justified response to Hamas rockets,” Berlusconi said, amid applause from the lawmakers. “We are proud that Italy knew how to act when Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were bombed.”

During his visit, Berlusconi also called for Israel to be admitted to the EU.

Berlin Holocaust Memorial Architect Wins Wolf Prize

The American who designed the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin was one of two architects recognized with a 2010 Wolf Prize.

The selection of Peter Eisenman, as well as British architect David Chipperfield, to receive the prize in architecture was announced Wednesday.

Eisenman designed the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin in memory of the Jews of Europe who perished in World War II. Inaugurated in 2005, the memorial is situated south of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the site of the Third Reich’s headquarters, which housed Adolf Hitler’s office.

He also designed The City of Culture of Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and the Wexner Center at Ohio State University.

Chipperfield designed Berlin’s Neues Museum, as well as London’s River & Rowing Museum and the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, Germany.

The Wolf Prize is awarded yearly in the arts, in rotation, in architecture, music, painting and sculpture. The $100,000 prize will be conferred by Israeli President Shimon Peres during a special session of Knesset on May 13.

The Israel-based Wolf Foundation was established by the late German-born inventor, diplomat and philanthropist Dr. Ricardo Wolf, who served as Cuban ambassador to Israel from 1961 to 1973.

Source: Baltimore Jewish Times.
Link: http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/israel_news/turkish_pm_israel_could_lose_turkish_friendship/16921.

India unhappy for being kept out of Afghan meet: PM to tell Turkish Prez

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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India's unhappiness for being kept out of a regional conference on Afghanistan held in Turkey recently is expected to be conveyed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Turkish President Abdullah Gul during their meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday.

A whole range of bilateral and regional issues are expected to be covered during the talks that Singh and Gul will have.

Among the regional matters, the discussions are expected to be dominated by the issue of terrorism and Afghanistan and the role of the international community to bring about peace and stability there.

The two leaders are expected to take stock of the situation in Afghanistan, where both the countries have stakes, sources said.

In this context, the Prime Minister is expected to convey India's disappointment for being kept out of the regional conference hosted by Gul on January 25, the sources said.

Turkey did not invite India for the conference at the behest of Pakistan. India has lodged its protest with Turkey over it.

Singh will be conveying the same message at the highest level as India believes that it should be at any regional meeting where Afghanistan is discussed considering its high stakes in peace and development there, the sources said.

Pakistan wants to keep India out of affairs relating to Afghanistan as it is paranoid about India's developmental works in Afghanistan which has earned it a huge popularity there.

Source: Hindustan Times.
Link: http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/newdelhi/India-unhappy-for-being-kept-out-of-Afghan-meet-PM-to-tell-Turkish-Prez/Article1-506719.aspx.

Turkish President accorded ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan

New Delhi, Feb 9 : Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who is on a six-day visit to India, was on Tuesday accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh were present on the occasion along with a host of other dignitaries.

Gul said, "My expectation from this visit is to have Turkey and India discover each other. In fact, the process has already started and we have to speed it up. Turkey and India have many similarities, both countries are secular and we have free market economy and our economies are booming."

During the visit of the Turkish President, the two countries are expected to hold talks on bilateral relations, economic and political ties.

The Civil nuclear cooperation will also be discussed between the two countries.

Source: New Kerala.
Link: http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-47922.html.

Ex-Army chief arrested in Sri Lanka - Summary

Colombo - Sri Lanka former army commander General Sarath Fonseka, who spearheaded the final phase of military operations against Tamil rebels was arrested Monday with officials accusing him of conspiring to topple the government. News of the arrest was first divulged by a military spokesman Major General Prasa Samarasinghe, who said Fonseka was arrested by military police at his political office in the capital for a military offense.

Later, Director General of the Media Center for National Security, Lakshman Hulugalle said that Fonseka would face charges in a military court of conspiracy against the government.

Hulugalle said that Fonseka was arrested for discussing with the opposition to conspire to topple the government and creating divisions within the army when he was the commander.

Fonseka had unsuccessfully contested last month's presidential elections.

Earlier Monday, the government claimed that Fonseka along with the opposition planned to assassinate President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was elected for a second term at the January 26 presidential elections.

Soon after the news of the arrest, opposition politicians who backed him at the presidential elections arrived at his office to show their solidarity.

Fonseka was planning to contest the parliamentary elections set to take place in April.

The ex-army commander was praised by the government for his role in defeating the Tamil rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after killing the entire rebel leadership including its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in May last year.

But soon after, Fonseka fell out with the government after he was asked to step down from the commanders position and told to take up a posting as the Defense Chief of Staff, a ceremonial post.

Fonseka entered politics after he stepped down from the Defense Chief of Staff position in November and contested elections with the backing of three of the main political parties including the main opposition led by the opposition leader in Parliament Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The ex-army chief was able to secure only 40 per cent of the vote against 58 per cent for Rajapaksa.

Since the elections, more than 20 personal staff of Fonseka including a retired Major General and 15 ex-military personnel have been arrested.

Hours before Fonseka was arrested he met with family members of those who have been arrested.

"Don't think we have forgotten the families of those who have been arrested. Our lawyers are closely monitoring their cases," he said.

Rajapaksa, who is on a three-day official visit to Russia, is due back in the country on Tuesday morning.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308154,ex-army-chief-arrested-in-sri-lanka--summary.html.