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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Turkey interrogates top officers over alleged coup plot

Turkish investigators question senior military officials detained a day earlier over an alleged coup plot against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On Monday, Turkey arrested over 40 people, including former air force chief Ibrahim Firtina, former navy chief Ozden Ornek and other high-ranking officers both retired and on active duty in Ankara, Istanbul, the western City of Izmir and the northwestern City of Bursa.

They were arrested over alleged links to a purported 2003 plot, which was revealed by the liberal Taraf daily in January.

The daily published what it described as a document drafted in April by a navy colonel on blocking efforts by Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party from "destroying Turkey's secular order and replacing it with an Islamist state."

Turkey's two largest opposition parties slammed the government Tuesday over the latest arrests.

Main opposition leader Deniz Baykal questioned why such a massive operation was mounted against retired generals "watching TV at home in pajamas and slippers" over allegations dating back seven years.

"This is obviously a process of political score-settling," he claimed.

Chief prosecutor said he is examining whether the government is meddling with the judiciary, a move that may, in theory, result in a bid to seek the party's closure at the Constitutional Court.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119326§ionid=351020204.

Sudan to sign peace deal with main rebels

Tue Feb 23, 2010

As Sudan braces for the signing of a Darfur peace agreement on Tuesday, Khartoum's optimism for an end to the conflict contrasts with the region's main rebel group.

The Tuesday's 12-point deal offers the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) a power-sharing role in Sudan, ahead of the country's first presidential and legislative elections in 24 years next April.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said the ceasefire deal to be signed in Qatar on Tuesday by Khartoum and the JEM marked the "beginning of the end" to the Darfur conflict.

The group, however, stated that they were adapting a more realistic approach with regards to the ceasefire and the framework deal for peace negotiations with the Sudanese government, dismissing the likelihood of a final agreement by the March 15 deadline.

JEM rebels also objected for coming under attack by government forces two days after signing a ceasefire deal with Khartoum, according to a Reuters report.
The Sudanese army, however, has denied such charges.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/119324.html.

US to return smuggled Egyptian coffin

Tue Feb 23, 2010

Egyptian Culture Minister Faruq Hosni says his country will reclaim a Pharaonic coffin smuggled into the US more than 125 years ago.

Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass will receive the ornately painted coffin next month, Hosni said in a statement.

The 3,000 year-old relic, bears inscriptions meant to help its occupant in the afterlife and contains the remains of a man named Emus, AFP reported.

Hawass said on Monday that the US Immigration and Customs had contacted him about the coffin in 2008, after confiscating it from a Spanish merchant who had shipped it to Florida for sale. Egypt asked the US to return the coffin in 2009.

"[The Spanish dealer] has no papers proving ownership of the coffin, which indicates the coffin left Egypt illegally," Hawass said in a statement.

"An investigation by US authorities in Florida confirmed that [the Spaniard] has family ties with the special coordinator who owns the Egyptian museum in Barcelona," he said.

Hawass also told AFP that no one appeared to own the coffin and that "It's for the best that it returns to its original owners."

Hawass began to recover Egyptian antiquities since he took the helm of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities in 2002.

The bust of Queen Nefertiti in Berlin's Neues Museum and the Rosetta stone at London's British Museum have been among his top priorities.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/119322.html.

Kurd detained after throwing shoe at Turkey's Erdogan in Spain

Seville, Spain - A Syrian man of Kurdish origin has been detained in Spain after throwing a shoe at Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the southern city of Seville, police sources said overnight. Erdogan was getting into a car after receiving a cultural cooperation award at the city hall late Monday.

The 27-year-old man hurled a shoe at the prime minister, shouting the name of Kurdistan.

The shoe hit Erdogan's car instead of the premier, and was picked up by his bodyguards.

The Syrian national had been living for at least a year in Seville, where the authorities were due to decide whether to expel him or legalize his situation, according to police sources.

The man could now be charged with attacking a head of state and with resisting police.

Another person was also detained at the hotel where Erdogan was staying on charges of calling the premier a murderer and shouting: "Free Kurdistan!"

The man was identified and later released. He was of Kurdish origin and was believed to know the man who threw the shoe.

Erdogan arrived in Seville from Madrid, where he held talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Monday.

The shoe attack coincided with the arrests in Turkey of 49 people in connection with a plot to overthrow the government.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310751,kurd-detained-after-throwing-shoe-at-turkeys-erdogan-in-spain.html.

Leopard attacks villagers; a day after tiger mauled a woman in India

New Delhi - A leopard strayed out of a reserved jungle sanctuary and injured several villagers in the Balasore district of the eastern Indian state of Orissa, media reports said Tuesday in increasing incidents of man-animal conflict due to shrinking space for animals.

The leopard had strayed out of the Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary in search of food. When the villagers raised an alarm and started throwing stones at it, it attacked some villagers, according to a forest official.

There was panic for hours as the villagers tried to scare away the leopard, till forest department officials reached the spot and caught the animal.

This is the second incident of man-animal conflict reported this month and the second this week.

A seven-foot tiger from the Sunderbans tiger reserve, home of the Royal Bengal tiger, had strayed into nearby Songaon village on Monday and where it mauled a woman before the animal was tranquilized by forest officials.

The tigress was found resting in a villager's hut by the forest officials. It had mauled a woman named Tarulata Mondal, who was feeding her chickens in front of her house, when the animal pounced and ripped her face and arms with its claws. She was later rushed to the nearby hospital.

“The tigress will be released in the core area of the reserve after a thorough examination within the next couple of days,” Director, Sunderban Biosphere Reserve, Pradeep Vyas, has been quoted as saying in the Hindu. Newspaper.

“Living in the Sunderbans means that one must be prepared for [a time] when the tiger may come, but in the last few years the frequency of such visits and the extent to which they stray into the villages has increased,” said Shankar Munda, who has seen tigers when he goes fishing in brooks in the forest area.

Just about a year ago, the same village had experienced an instance of straying, he added.

“In the Sunderbans, the fishermen and honey-gatherers have always been threatened by tiger attacks. But now, even those who do not venture into the forest are at threat,” Munda told the newspaper.

While continuous habitat destruction, shrinking prey base and a tendency to stray in the village areas during monsoon months are often cited as reasons for tigers straying, opinion is divided on the impact of cyclone Aila hit the area last year.

State's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Atanu Raha said that some of the places where these attacks occurred after the cyclone were areas which witnessed the most damage during the cyclone.

More than 200 people were feared killed by Cyclone Aila which hit Bangladesh and the eastern Indian state of West Bengal last May. At least 500,000 others were also made homeless by the storm.

Early this month, the animal-man conflict was reported in two incidents that occurred in Corbett tiger reserve in north India when a woman being killed by a tiger and another of a leopard striking a group of three boys.

The incidents around Dhikuli led to a furious uprising of villagers who besieged forest officials demanding that the big cats be declared "adam khor'' or man-eaters and be destroyed.

The Corbett reserve, billed as one of the success stories to preserve tigers, has a tiger population of 164 out India's 1,411 animals. India holds over half the world's tiger population, according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

The report says the area has become a conflict zone with a teeming tiger population and the high volume of tourists at so-called resorts that offer weekend parties and birthday bashes instead of wildlife viewing.

But in recent years, massive commercialization has been posing an ecological and environmental threat and the attacks, which some say were waiting to happen, have highlighted the state government's failure to notify the park's buffer zone, as required under the Wildlife Protection Act.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310770,leopard-attacks-villagers-a-day-after-tiger-mauled-a-woman.html.

Iran grounds plane with Rigi holding US-issued passport

Iran's security officers grounded the plane carrying the ringleader of Jundullah terrorist group Abdolmalek Rigi in one of Iran's southern ports, informed sources say.

As initial reports indicated that Iran's most wanted man was captured on a flight en-route to Kyrgyzstan from Dubai, a source talking to Press TV on condition of anonymity confirmed that Rigi and one of his deputies were captured after their plane was brought down by security forces in an airport in the Iranian Persian Gulf city of Bandar Abbas.

Iran's intelligence minister says the leader of Jundallah terrorist group was at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his capture, in possession of a US-issued, forged Afghan passport.

Iran's Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi said Tuesday that the leader of Jundallah terrorist group was at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his capture, in possession of a US-issued, forged Afghan passport.

According to Moslehi, the country's intelligence apparatus had been tracking Rigi for five months prior to his Tuesday arrest.

The terrorist leader was at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his capture, the minister added showing a photo of Rigi's presence at the Iranian base taken by Iran's intelligence officers.

According to the intelligence minister, Rigi also met with NATO military chief in Afghanistan in April 2008 and also had links with some EU member states, as well as visiting such countries.

He noted that Iran received no assistance from regional intelligence services in the capture of Rigi.

Jundullah, which has operated in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan's Baluchistan provinces, has carried out a number of attacks against high profile Iranian targets, especially the government and security officials.

Jundallah is responsible for several terrorist attacks inside Iran. In October, the group claimed responsibility for a bombing that left over 40 people dead in Iran's southeast.

Jundallah was also behind a blast at a mosque in Zahedan that killed over 20 people in May 2009.

Rigi's brother Abdolhamid is also in Iran's custody. He has admitted that Jundallah receives orders from the US to carryout attacks in Iran.

An ABC News report in 2007 reported that the Jundullah terrorist group 'has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials' to destabilize the government in Iran.

In another report in July, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that US Congressional leaders secretly agreed to George W. Bush's $400-million funding request last year for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran.

Observers say that it is through such covert funding that the US arms and finances anti-Iran terrorist groups such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and Jundullah.

Other US intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, have their own secret and separate budgets to fund terrorist and insurgency operations against Iran and other nations that do not submit to America's will.

The group's ringleader, Abdolmalek Rigi, has described his terrorist cell as a 'nationalist movement' and denied any links to Washington. However, many Sunni Baluchis were among the victims of the most recent terrorist attack by Rigi's followers.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119318§ionid=351020101.

Rafsanjani criticizes IAEA report on Iran

Head of Iran's Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has criticized the head of the UN nuclear watchdog over his recent report on Iran's nuclear energy program.

Speaking at the opening of an Assembly of Experts meeting, Ayatollah Rafsanjani said the recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) repeated the previous US accusations against Iran.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano's Thursday report stated the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran; however, it accused Tehran of not providing "the necessary cooperation to permit the Agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities."

Ayatollah Rafsanjani said, “It seems all the Western countries were prepared for and informed about such a report, which they welcomed after its release.”

He further criticized the 'failed' US policies in the Middle East, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

The head of the Assembly of Experts singled out the US efforts to bring back former Baathists to the Iraqi parliament which failed in the face of the Iraqi nation's resistance.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119316§ionid=351020101.

'Ethnic clashes' leave 28 dead in south Sudan

Tue Feb 23, 2010

Clashes between Sudanese soldiers and tribesmen in south Sudan have left at least 28 people dead and scores of others injured.

A military spokesman said on Tuesday that the fighting, which broke out in Lakes state, had claimed mostly civilians.

"There are seven SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) killed, including two officers, and seven wounded in action," Major General Kuol Diem Kuol told AFP News Agency.

The fighting started after one tribe broke into a military weapon-storage facility where guns collected in a disarmament campaign were being kept. The tribe was trying to fend off an attack by a rival tribe.

Recently, a sharp rise in ethnic clashes in south Sudan — a common occurrence often sparked by cattle rustling and disputes over natural resources — has raised concerns.

Notably, the tribal fighting killed 2,500 people in 2009, more than the death toll in the strife-ravaged western region of Darfur throughout the same period.

The unrest has also uprooted some 350,000 Sudanese.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/119312.html.

Ahmadinejad vows 'crushing response' to attack

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has waned against an attack on Iran, saying any act of aggression against the country will be met with a crushing response.

"We will welcome a hand which has sincerely reached out for friendship, but if a hand is extended for aggression, the nation will cut it from the arm," he told crowds of people in the northeastern town of Birjand in South Khorasan Province.

Ahmadinejad further said that Iran would stand by regional countries in case of any possible attack by Israel.

“The Zionist regime is provoked by Western countries to attack its neighbors… but what I have understood after talking to the leaders of the regional countries is that one more mistake will mean the end of the Zionists,” he added.

On Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad reiterated that Tehran was not after making an atomic bomb and stressed Iranians do not need such weapons.

The Iranian president said Tehran has mastered the uranium enrichment technology, stressing that the country was resolved to use all domestic capacities for the nation's dignity.

Ahmadinejad, however, added that Iran still welcomed a nuclear fuel swap deal without any preconditions inside the Iranian territory.

Iran needs 120 kilos (264 pounds) of 20 percent-enriched uranium to fuel the Tehran research reactor, which produces medical isotopes for cancer patients and is soon to run out of fuel.

The West has been pressuring Iran to accept a UN-backed deal which requires Iran to send most of its domestically-produced low enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for conversion into the more refined fuel for the Tehran reactor.

Citing the West's previous failures to meet its obligations regarding Iran's nuclear program, Tehran has asked for concrete guarantees over the return of the fuel.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119306§ionid=351020101.

New suspects in Dubai terror operation identified

Dubai police have identified four more suspects, carrying British and Irish passports, in the terror operation against Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh last month.

"The UAE has identified two British suspects holding British travel documents, and as part of the ongoing investigation has shared the information with the British government," Reuters quoted a source in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as saying on Tuesday.

Two more suspects holding Irish passports were also identified, the source added.

This brings to fifteen the number of individuals who entered the UAE with European passports to engage in the terrorist murder of al-Mabhouh on January 20 in Dubai, allegedly on behalf of the Israeli government.

Dubai police formerly released the identities of eleven European passport holders, including six British, three Irish, a Germans and a French, who are widely believed to have been Mossad agents carrying forged documents.

Police said that despite Israel's attempts to deny involvement in the assassination, they are "99% certain" that the terror operation was carried out by Tel Aviv's notorious spy agency.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119304§ionid=351020205.

Palestinian PM Haniyeh calls for West Bank uprising

The democratically elected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has called for uprisings in the occupied West Bank over a controversial Israeli plan to confiscate two holy sites in the territory as "national heritage."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that the regime is planning to include Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in a "national heritage plan".

His remarks drew protests from the Palestinians, the United Nations, Jordan and Egypt.

"The decision requires a real response in the West Bank and for the people to rise up in the face of the Israeli occupation and to break every shackle in confronting it," Haniyeh said Tuesday.

"(The project) aims to erase our identity, alter our Islamic monuments and steal our history," he added.

In Hebron there were sporadic clashes near the Ibrahim Mosque above the Tomb of the Patriarchs but there were no reports of casualties.

Meanwhile, in Bethlehem shops and schools were closed in a day-long general strike, AFP reported.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119319§ionid=351020202.

Swiss man hands himself over to Libyan officials

Monday, 22 February 2010

One of two Swiss businessmen who sought shelter at the Swiss embassy in Libya amid a diplomatic row is being transferred to jail, an official says.

The man, Max Goeldi, was driven from the embassy in handcuffs. He faces four months in jail on immigration offenses.

The second man, Rachid Hamdani, who has been cleared, was to leave the country.

The case against the two is widely thought to be retaliation for the arrest of one of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's sons in Geneva.

Last week Libya stopped issuing visas to citizens from many European nations, prompting condemnation from the European Commission.

'Storm the embassy'

Goeldi faces a four-month prison sentence after being convicted of violating immigration rules. His initial 16-month sentence was reduced on appeal.

Libya set a deadline of midday on Monday for Goeldi's handover, and authorities stepped up their presence outside the embassy as the deadline approached, the BBC's Rana Jawad reports from Tripoli.

Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger was cited by Reuters news agency as saying the Libyan police had threatened to storm the embassy if the deadline was not met.

"Last night there were many intense phone calls," he was quoted as saying at an EU meeting in Brussels. "It was announced there was a deadline - either hand over the convicted Swiss citizens or the embassy would be stormed."

He said EU ambassadors had gone to the embassy to show solidarity before "the situation was calmed and an escalation avoided".

Pardon request

Libya's Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Khaled Kaim, said Goeldi was being taken to the Ain Zara jail near Tripoli, an "open prison" where he would be allowed visits.

Goeldi's lawyer told Swiss TV that his client would request a pardon.

Mr Hamdani left the embassy hours earlier.

A lawyer said the businessman, who holds dual Swiss and Tunisian nationality, was heading by car to Tunisia.

Analysts suggest the charges against the two were brought in retaliation for the arrest of Mr Gaddafi's son Hannibal and his wife, Aline Skaf, in Geneva in July 2008.

They were accused of assaulting two servants while staying at a luxury hotel in the Swiss city, though the charges were later dropped.

Libya retaliated by canceling oil supplies, withdrawing billions of dollars from Swiss banks, refusing visas to Swiss citizens and recalling some of its diplomats.

In the same month that the Gaddafis were arrested, Libyan authorities detained Mr Hamdani, who works for a construction company, and Goeldi, the manager of an engineering firm.

The two were later released on bail before being convicted in absentia while sheltering in the Swiss embassy in Tripoli in December.

Libya's move to stop issuing visas came after Switzerland allegedly blacklisted 188 high-ranking Libyans, denying them entry permits.

It covers Switzerland but also 24 other nations in the Schengen zone, which includes European countries that have abolished mutual border controls.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8527995.stm.

AL chief welcomes framework peace deal between Sudanese gov't, rebels

February 22, 2010

Secretary General of the Arab League (AL) Amr Moussa welcomed on Sunday the framework peace deal signed by Sudanese government and rebels.

In statement obtained by Xinhua, Moussa dubbed the deal a "positive and constructive step towards reaching a settlement for Darfur crisis, especially when the general elections, due to be held in April, became so close."

Meanwhile, Moussa said the League is determined to continue development efforts that aim at securing all basic services needed by the people of Darfur. He said the AL is coordinating efforts with the government of Sudan in this regard.

Sudan's government and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on Saturday signed a framework agreement in the Chadian capital of N'djamena, under the patronage of Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno.

The two sides are expected to officially sign a peace agreement on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar, in the presence of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby Itno.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90855/6898512.html.

Libya issues ultimatum to hand over Swiss businessmen

Tripoli (Earth Times) - Libya has said it will retaliate if Switzerland does not hand over two businessmen sheltering in the Swiss Embassy in Tripoli by 1000 GMT Monday. The diplomatic dispute over the fate of Rachid al-Hamdani and Max Goldi, who have been holed up in the embassy since 2008, escalated last week when a Libyan official said the country would stop issuing visas to nationals of 25 European countries.

Libyan Foreign Minister Mousa Kousa summoned ambassadors from EU countries on Sunday night to ask them to put pressure on Switzerland to hand over Goldi to Libyan police and to let al-Hamdani leave the country by midday Monday, Libya's official JANA news agency reported.

"Procedures will be taken if the embassy does not do what is required by the deadline," Koussa said.

"The Swiss embassy is deliberately violating the law and international conventions through its continued detention of the two," the foreign minister charged. "(The Swiss) are deliberately escalating the crisis."

The Libyans want Goldi to serve four months in prison on charges that he violated the terms of his visa, after an appeals court reduced a previous 16-month sentence against him.

Al-Hamdani would be free to leave the country if the Swiss complied with the ultimatum, Koussa said, following a Libyan appeals court's decision to overturn a 16-month sentence against him on the same charges.

Relations between Switzerland and Libya have soured since July 2008, when police in Geneva questioned Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi's son, Hannibal, and his wife following a complaint that they had abused domestic staff at their hotel.

Soon after, Libya prevented the two Swiss businessmen from leaving the country, and subsequently tried them on visa violations.

The dispute escalated last week after a senior Libyan official told a Tripoli newspaper that Switzerland had drawn up a list of more than 180 Libyan officials to be banned from entering Switzerland, one of the 25 countries that make up the Schengen zone.

The official reportedly threatened retaliatory measures from Libya.

Switzerland in November asked the 25 European countries that make up the Schengen area to restrict visas to Libyan passport holders.

Following that request, Libyan Prime Minister Baghadadi al- Mahmoudi and other senior officials were denied Schengen visas, a refusal that Libya's deputy prime minister, Khalid Kaim, blamed on the Swiss.

Italy, which has close business ties with Libya, protested the Swiss visa restrictions last week, saying Switzerland was holding Schengen countries "hostage" in its dispute over the two businessmen...

EU to protest over use of fake passports for Hamas killing

Brussels - The European Union is set to issue a declaration condemning the use of forged passports from the bloc's member countries by the perpetrators of the murder of a top Hamas official in Dubai, the Spanish foreign minister said on Monday. Eleven fake passports from Britain, Ireland, Germany and France were used by the alleged killers of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on January 20, in Dubai, provoking expressions of outrage from the EU countries concerned.

"We are extremely concerned that European passports, which are a very rigorous and legal document, can be used in a different manner purpose.

"I hope we'll issue a statement expressing our concern at this situation," said Miguel Angel Moratinos, whose country holds the EU presidency, before a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels.

Moratinos said he would raise the matter with his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, who is currently visiting Brussels. Lieberman is also due to meet his British and Irish colleagues, David Miliband and Michael Martin.

Dubai authorities said they were "99 per-cent certain" that Israel's secret service, Mossad, was responsible for the assassination, but the Israeli government said it was "not correct to assume" so.

Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, also condemned the extrajudicial killing of al-Mabhouh, but stopped short of pointing the finger against Israel.

"These are methods which don't belong to this century ... I can say as little as most people about who was behind it and what their objectives were," he said.

Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310541,eu-to-protest-over-use-of-fake-passports-for-hamas-killing.html.

Police free 33 Israelis who broke into West Bank synagogue

Tel Aviv - Israeli police on Monday released 33 right-wing Jewish activists who had infiltrated into a Palestinian city to pray at an ancient Jewish synagogue. Some 35 activists broke through an Israeli military roadblock late Sunday and into the abandoned synagogue in the West Bank city of Jericho, where they barricaded themselves, an Israeli military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said.

She said the group refused to leave and were forcibly removed by Israeli soldiers, who handed them over to police custody.

Israel Police Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said 33 of them were released "under restrictive conditions," while two who allegedly attacked a policewoman and damaged a security vehicle would be brought before a judge to have their remand extended.

Israeli military officials expressed outrage at the action by the right-wing activists, with a senior commander in the area, Colonel Yohai Ben Yishai, noting they had needlessly jeopardized Israeli soldiers by infiltrating and then refusing to leave the Palestinian- controlled city.

Lawmaker Avishay Braverman, of the left-to-center Israel Labor Party, on Israel Radio condemned the act as an "irresponsible provocation" by Jewish extremists.

An ultra-nationalist legislator, Michael Ben Ari of the National Union, told Israel Radio should return to autonomous Palestinian cities in the West Bank, from which it had withdrawn under the 1993 interim Oslo peace accords.

Palestinian officials too condemned the incident as a "dangerous precedent," a "provocation," and a violation of the Oslo accords.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310550,police-free-33-israelis-who-broke-into-west-bank-synagogue.html.

Ankara seeks Spanish government's assistance in talks on EU membership

21.02.2010

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accompanied by 9 ministers will travel to Spain to attend the Turkey-Spain Summit due in Madrid on February 22, TRT-Russian reported.

Ankara seeks Spanish government’s assistance in talks on Turkey’s EU membership and resolution of Cyprus problem.

Source: PanARMENIAN.
Link: http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=43208.

Somalia: Al-Shabab Forgives Former Members of TFG in Bay And Bakol Regions

Hassan Osman Abdi
21 February 2010

Somalia — The officials of Harakat Al-shabab Mujaheddin have said that they forgave the former members of the transitional government of Somalia in southern Somalia after a meeting attended the scholars, educators, traditional elders and the administration of Bay region held in Baidoa town, official said on Sunday.

Sheik Moktar Robow Ali (Abu Mansour), high profile official and former spokesman of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen who was heading the meeting with the attendees told reporters after the meeting that they had officially forgiven the members of the transitional government in Dolow town in Gedo region and Yeed village in Bakol region who were reportedly making military movement recently and planning to seize the control of several areas in south of the country.

Sheik Moktar asserted that it was not good for the people in southern Somalia to meet with other problems those most of them are under the control of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen saying that the main aim was to keep peace in those regions taking as an example for Salah Badbado, a Somali MP who recently splinted from the transitional parliamentarians in Mogadishu and traveled to the zones under the control of Al-shabab in Mogadishu.

It is not the first time that the Islamic administration of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahdeen display mercy to the former administration and MPs of the transitional Federal Government of Somalia, but it is unclear how the government officials would accept that.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201002220448.html.

Algeria court acquits former Guantanamo inmate

ALGIERS, Feb 22 – The Algiers Criminal Court has on Sunday acquitted of terrorism charges against Mustafa Hemlili, a former inmate of the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Qatar News Agency reported.

The court also postponed the trial of another defendant.

The Algiers Criminal Court found Hemlili innocent of the charges of counterfeit and affiliation to a militant group which is active abroad, according to the court verdict.

Hemlili, his brother and nephew traveled illegally without passports to Bamako, capital of neighboring Mali in 1986, then legally to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

He worked for an international relief agency to help the Afghan refugees in camps in Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas. He was arrested in Peshawar, Pakistan, after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the US with a fake Iraqi passport on him and was flown later on to Guantanamo.

He stayed in the US jail for six years before being released along with another Algerian inmate named as Hederbash Sufian.

Sufian failed to appear in Sunday’s court session due to his bad health condition, so the court postponed his trial.

Sufian’s defence lawyers produced documents showing that he is suffering from nervous breakdown resulting from the torture and maltreatment he received at the US jail.

Sufian is being treated at a mental hospital in a west Algiers district, the lawyers told the court. He sustained a shrapnel injury in the head when the US warplanes bombed Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, in 2001, before being arrested by the US forces and flown to Guantanamo.

The court decided to separate the trials of Hemlili and Sufian on the grounds that the only link between them is the synchronization of the two defendant’s extraditions to Guantanamo. – Bernama

Source: The Malaysian Insider.
Link: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/53962-algeria-court-acquits-former-guantanamo-inmate-.

Somalia urges Ethiopia to free detained officials

Mon Feb 22, 2010

Mogadishu has urged Ethiopia to release several Somali nationals, who officials say have been in Ethiopian police custody after fleeing violence in the strife-torn country.

Somali authorities said Monday that two lawmakers and several military officials have been in Ethiopian police custody for two weeks.

They have told Press TV that the detainees were on a government mission near the border and were forced to enter Ethiopia after their convoy came under attack by armed Somali fighters.

Somalia's internationally-backed government, which assumed office in 2009 with the hopes of bringing some semblance of stability to the lawless Horn of Africa nation, has been under attack by Somali fighters from the start.

The fighters have vowed to bring down the government of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Violence has killed more than 21,000 people in Somalia since the beginning of 2007.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/119241.html.

Foreign forces should leave region: Mottaki

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says regional problems will not be resolved until foreign forces leave the area.

Mottaki noted that the Middle East issues should be resolved through regional cooperation, reiterating that foreign forces must leave the region.

"Under conditions that occupation and terrorism have caused various problems for the region, foreign forces claim to be fighting terrorism and extremists say they are fighting against occupation, we believe that problems in the region must be resolved through a regional approach," Mottaki said in a meeting with Kenyan Assistant Foreign Minister Richard Onyonka in Tehran on Monday.

He went on to say that the vast potential of Iran and Kenya could pave the way for closer cooperation between the two nations.

Onyonka said that Kenya is interested in boosting ties with Iran and is especially keen to expand economic cooperation with the Islamic Republic.

He also invited Iranian companies to take part in economic projects in Kenya.

On Monday, Mottaki also met with the Sudanese ambassador to Iran, Soleiman Abd-al-Tawwab al-Zein, who praised Iran for its role in helping resolve the Darfur crisis.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119267§ionid=351020101.

Clashes in Hebron, demo in Gaza over Israeli provocation

Hundreds of Palestinians have staged a rally in Gaza to condemn Israel's decision to add two shrines in the occupied West Bank to its list of heritage sites.

On Monday, supporters of the Islamic Jihad movement chanted slogans denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and burned an Israeli flag.

The demonstration was held after Netanyahu announced a plan to include the Cave of the Patriarchs in al-Khalil and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem on the list of around 150 sites that Israel plans to restore.

The United Nations has also expressed concern about Tel Aviv's decision to include the two sites on Israel's list of heritage sites.

UN officials said they are worried about heightened tension resulting from the decision and noted that the sites are of historic and religious significance not only for Judaism but also for Islam and Christianity.

The move sparked outrage in the occupied West bank town of al-Khalil, which is also known as Hebron, where Israeli troops clashed with Palestinians.

Both Hamas and Fatah have denounced the Israeli move as yet another setback for the peace process.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119265§ionid=351020202.

Pakistani MPs take up cause of Aafia Siddiqui

Pakistani lawmakers have passed a resolution in parliament urging the government to pressure the United States to immediately release Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently in prison in the US.

On Monday, parliamentarians from the ruling party and opposition benches in the Pakistani Senate, which is the upper house of parliament, adopted a resolution expressing grave concern over the US court conviction of Dr. Siddiqui last month, a Press TV correspondent reported on Monday.

A jury in the United States found Aafia Siddiqui guilty on charges of shooting at FBI agents and US military personnel in a police station in Ghazni, Afghanistan, where she was being interrogated in 2008.

She was convicted in a New York court on February 3, 2010 and could face life in prison when sentenced on May 6.

The Pakistani MPs passed the resolution one day after thousands of people held an anti-US demonstration in Islamabad in which they called for the release of Dr. Siddiqui.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119261§ionid=351020401.

'Iran will not withdraw from NPT'

Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Director Ali Akbar Salehi says the Islamic Republic has no intention to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"Iran's official stance is to remain a committed member of the NPT," IRNA quoted Salehi as saying on Monday.

And this stance is good for Iran and the entire world, he stated.

Salehi added that Tehran plans to build two more uranium enrichment plants during the next Iranian calendar year, which begins on March 21.

He says Iran needs 20,000 megawatts of electricity to meet the domestic demand for energy.

"God willing, the construction of two new [uranium] enrichment sites may begin in the new Iranian year on the order of the president," Salehi said.

"We intend to use new generation centrifuges at these two facilities," he told the Iranian Students News Agency.

Up to 20 potential sites for the construction of the 10 new enrichment facilities have been located, as ordered by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he added.

Salehi said the new enrichment plants will be similar to the Natanz enrichment facility in terms of production.

In another development, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast dismissed the West's new proposal about the Tehran research reactor, calling it illogical.

In the proposal, the United States, Russia, and France asked Iran to shut down the Tehran research reactor and to purchase medical radioisotopes from foreign countries instead of using the reactor to produce them.

On Monday, Mehmanparast said that Iran will not study the proposal because the Islamic Republic's officials believe it is worthless and illogical.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119259§ionid=351020104.

Iran scientists obtain electricity from microbes

Researchers at Iran's National Center for Oceanography (INCO) have produced electricity by a class of energy-producing microbes living deep in the sea.

The INCO has made the country 14th to access the technology and go green in terms of energy generation.

"Such microbes can convert organic matter into electrical energy. Iranian researchers built a simple battery to collect the electricity generated by the micro-organic creatures," said Peyman Eqtesadi head of biological researches group in INCO.

"The microbes were responsible for generating electricity. Iranian researchers have designed and produced special cells to harvest ocean energy," Eqtesadi told IRNA.

The microorganisms break down the large organic molecules in the mud into acetate. They transfer electrons from the acetate molecules to the graphite electrode, generating a current.

"The cells are placed in Chabahar Bay, located northern Indian Ocean. The technology also aims clean the environment by decomposing and disintegrating pollutants during the electricity generating process," he said.

Electricity-generating bacteria have attracted intensive studies in recent years as an important resource for energy generation.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119206§ionid=3510208.

'Iran will respond forcefully to any attack'

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani says that Iran is not a belligerent country but it will respond forcefully to any act of aggression.

“Iran has no intention of launching a war but will respond strongly to any attack,” AFP quoted the Iranian deputy foreign minister for European affairs as telling the Croatian daily Vecernji List in an interview published on Monday.

Israel has made threatening remarks about Iran and has not excluded the possibility of striking Iran's nuclear sites.

Israel has repeatedly said Tehran has a clandestine nuclear weapons program even though the International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

Asked about Iranian investment in weaponry, Ahani said the Iranian people are “peaceful” and everything that the country is doing in the field has a “defensive character” due to the “threats” made against Tehran.

Iran has made a deal with Russia to purchase the S-300 anti-missile system, which the West and Israel regard as a controversial move.

Ahani, who was interviewed during a visit to Croatia for the inauguration of President Ivo Josipovic, also warned against the presence of “foreign military troops, including NATO… on almost all the borders” of Iran.

"The Western powers also sell enormous quantities of arms to neighboring countries and states throughout the region. In light of this, I think that we have the right to be ready to respond at any moment," Ahani added.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119249§ionid=351020101.

Iran plans to build new uranium enrichment sites

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announces the country's plan to build two more enrichment facilities.

"God willing, the construction of two new [uranium] enrichment sites may begin in the new Iranian year (starts on March 21) on the order of President (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)," Ali Akbar Salehi said.

"We intend to use new generation centrifuges in these two facilities," he told the Iranian Students News Agency.

He added that up to 20 potential sites for the construction of 10 new enrichment facilities have been located, as ordered by President Ahmadinejad.

Salehi noted that the new enrichment plants will be similar to the Natanz enrichment plant in terms of production.

Salehi had earlier told Press TV that Iran needs 20 enrichment sites to fulfill its total electricity demand.

"We are in need of 20 thousands megawatts that means 20 [times the amount the] Natanz [facility can produce]," he said.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119217§ionid=351020104.

Turkey arrests 40 linked with coup plot

Turkey has arrested more than 40 people, including high ranking officers, in connection with an alleged military plot against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"This morning our security forces began a detention process," the prime minister told a news conference during an official visit to Spain.

"As of now, more than 40 people have been detained," he added.

According to Turkish media, former air force chief Ibrahim Firtina, former navy chief Ozden Ornek and other high-ranking officers both retired and on active service in Ankara, Istanbul, the western city of Izmir and the northwestern
city of Bursa, were among the detainees.

They also included at least five other retired top officials, among them Ergin Saygun, the former First Army commander and retired admirals Ahmet Feyyaz Ogutcu and Lutfi Sancar, the reports said.

Those held were brought to Istanbul for questioning by anti-terror police, AFP reported.

The detainees arrested over alleged links to a purported 2003 plot, which was revealed by the liberal Taraf daily in January.

The daily published what it described as a document drafted in April by a navy colonel on blocking efforts by Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party from "destroying Turkey's secular order and replacing it with an Islamist state."

Turkish military chief, Gen. Ilker Basburg, however, dismissed the allegations saying as far as the military investigators were concerned the document was fake.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119232§ionid=351020204.

'Lebanon army should seek help from Iran, Syria'

A member of Lebanon's parliament has called on the country's military to expand its defensive capability through extensive cooperation with Iran and Syria.

"Iran and Syria are the only states willing to assist our country in building a powerful military," Nawaf al Mousawi told lawmakers at the Lebanese Majlis.

Speaking a week after the movement's Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah indicated a new approach toward Israeli aggression against Lebanon, al Mousawi added that "neither the United States nor Europe will provide Lebanon with what it needs to defend itself from Israel."

Nasrallah on Tuesday warned that the movement will strike Israel's infrastructure, including its airports and refineries, in the event of any Israeli attack on Lebanon.

"If you hit Dahiyeh, we will hit Tel Aviv. If you strike Martyr Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, we'll strike your Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. If you hit our ports, we will hit your ports," said the leader known for delivering on his promises.

"If you attack our refineries, we'll attack your refineries. If you bomb our factories, we'll bomb your factories. If you strike our power stations we will strike your power stations," Nasrallah continued.

Tel Aviv's military doctrine requires Israel to maintain absolute military superiority over its neighbors, a belief supported by the occupants of the White House since Harry S. Truman.

"The maintenance of Israel's 'qualitative military edge' over any combination of its potential adversaries has been a cornerstone of US Middle East policy for more than a decade," Shawn L. Twing, editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs says.

According to a 1979 Memorandum of Understanding, the United States has agreed to "endeavor to be responsive to military and economic assistance requirements of Israel."

Washington will "continue to impose restrictions on weapons supplied by it to any country which prohibit their unauthorized transfer to any third party… and will take steps to prevent such unauthorized transfer."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119218§ionid=351020203.

Niger junta names interim president, promises elections

Tue Feb 23, 2010

The leader of a military junta that toppled Niger's president last week has become the country's interim president with plans to draw up a new constitution.

A military decree on Monday said Major Salou Djibo, who heads the junta calling itself the Supreme Council for Restoration of Democracy (CSRD), will function as the acting head of state and government during the political transition.

The junta has also said that it would name a prime minister and government to help oversee the transition, whose duration was not specified.

The announcement came a day after the junta leaders promised a visiting international delegation a return to democracy and a new constitution. They said that they would engage political groups and the civil society in setting up the new constitution.

The delegation comprised of members of the United Nations, African Union and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The authorities promised to establish a body which will draw up new electoral laws and a draft constitution for adoption through the ballot by voters of the uranium-rich, west African country.

Last Thursday, the army toppled President Mamadou Tandja who became unpopular ever since he changed the constitution in order to remain in power beyond a 10-year limit.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/119255.html.

Return Falklands to Argentina, says Chavez to Queen

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called on Queen Elizabeth II of Britain to leave the disputed Malvinas (Falklands) Island to Argentina, saying that the time of empires have long expired.

"Look, England, how long are you going to be in Las Malvinas Queen of England, I'm talking to you... the time for empires are over, haven't you noticed? Return the Malvinas to the Argentine People," AFP quoted Chavez as saying in his weekly TV and Radio address "Alo Presidente" on Sunday.

The Latin American leader warned that in the event of a war over the island, Argentina would not be alone.

"The English are still threatening Argentina. Things have changed," Chavez continued, still addressing Queen Elizabeth II. "We are no longer in 1982. If conflict breaks out, be sure Argentina will not be alone like it was back then."

The British claim over the archipelago is "anti-historic and irrational," said Chavez, asking "why the English speak of democracy but still have a queen?"

The dispute over the Malvinas Island arose between Buenos Aires and London after Argentina found that Britain was planning drilling for oil near the islands that lie around 500 kilometers off the coast of Argentina and almost 13,000 kilometers away from the UK.

Britain deems the southern Atlantic archipelago as part of its sovereign territories, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown reportedly hinting at a possible confrontation in the event of a clash.

Earlier on Friday Chavez had also slammed the US and the UK for what he described as their 'oil hunger' that had sparked tensions over drilling plans near the Falklands or Las Malvinas.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119229§ionid=351020704.

Morocco, Tunisia top Africa for internet connection speed

2010-02-22

Morocco and Tunisia are among the top 10 African countries for both internet connection speed and high-speed connectivity penetration, according to a new report from Akamai Technologies. The city of Tunis ranked second on the African continent, just after the Moroccan city of Rabat, in terms of connection speed, TAP reported on Monday (February 22nd). As to internet connectivity, Rabat ranked number one, Casablanca was second and Tunis ranked seventh among African cities.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/22/newsbrief-04.

Algeria, US resume 'Open Sky' negotiations

2010-02-22

Algeria and the United States have resumed talks regarding the "Open Sky" agreement after a suspension of more than three months, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Sunday (February 21st). "This agreement will open direct trade," US-Algeria Business Council chief Smail Chikhoune was quoted as saying. Chikhoune, who accompanied an American business delegation to Algeria last week, noted that Algerian Ambassador to the US Abdallah Baali is actively working on the agreement. Upon completion of the accord, Delta Airlines and Emirates reportedly plan to open direct lines to Algiers.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/22/newsbrief-03.

Algeria set to launch biometric passports

2010-02-22

Algeria will introduce new biometric passports in the 2nd quarter of 2010, the Ministry of Interior and Local Government announced on Sunday (February 21st). Since all valid Algerian passports will expire during the transition to what the ministry called "this exceptional operation of public service modernization", the filing of new cases will be conducted in two waves. The schedule will be set according to the expiration date of the existing passport. Government officials say that biometric passports will contribute to the fight against terrorism, illegal immigration and organized crime and close the security loopholes of traditional passports.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/22/newsbrief-02.

Rare Sumatran rhino is pregnant in Indonesia

The calf is due to be born in a wildlife reserve on Sumatra island on May 11

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A rare Sumatran rhino in an Indonesian wildlife sanctuary will give birth in May to only the fourth calf of the endangered species born in captivity in more than a century, a scientist said Thursday.

The wild Indonesian-born mother, Ratu, was mated with Cincinnati Zoo-born Andalas, who nine years ago became the first of three rhinos born in captivity in the past 112 years, International Rhino Foundation executive director Susie Ellis said.

The calf is due to be born in a wildlife reserve on Sumatra island on May 11 after a 15-month pregnancy, Ellis said.

Sumatran rhinos are the world's smallest rhino species, standing only 4 feet to 4 feet 9 inches at the shoulder.

Andalas was moved in 2007 from the Los Angeles Zoo, where he grew up, to the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary where he was gradually introduced to his mate.

The wild Sumatran rhino population has more than halved in the past 15 years and now numbers about 200, Ellis said. Another 10 live in captivity, including five in the 250-acre Sumatran sanctuary, which is funded by the foundation.

"The captive population represents not only an insurance policy for the wild population, but also a means to study the basic biology of the species, which we must understand in order to save them," Ellis said.

Only about 24,500 rhinos survive in the wild with another 1,250 in captivity, said the foundation, a global not-for-profit organization.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Source: MSNBC.
Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35520657/ns/world_news/.

Latin American, Caribbean countries discuss creation of new bloc

Cancun, Mexico - Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday opened a two-day summit of Latin American and Caribbean nations that is expected to explore the creation of a new regional bloc. In the presence of 24 country leaders at the Grand Velas Hotel on the Mayan Riviera, some 60 kilometres south of Mexican resort city Cancun, Calderon called for the "union of Latin American and Caribbean nations for development, freedom, justice and democracy."

At the beginning of his address, Calderon expressed his solidarity with Haiti over the devastating earthquake that killed at least 217,000 people on January 12. Haitian President Rene Preval was at the summit.

Members of the Rio Group met in Cancun, which also saw the second summit of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Foreign ministers drafted a proposal over the weekend for the creation of a bloc of the Americas without the United States and Canada.

At the current summit, however, leaders were only expected to make a formal decision about the creation of the new organization. A taskforce was expected to be created to work on the details, with a view to actually launching it at the next regional summit, in July 2011 in Venezuela.

Calderon said such a new institution would allow Latin America and the Caribbean to project themselves at the global level "with renewed vitality." Integration, he said, is "the most powerful means to reach higher levels of growth and development."

The leaders of Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela were taking part in the summit.

Honduras was not invited to take part in the meetings, since its status remains undefined in the light of the June 28, 2009 coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

The Central American nation was suspended from membership of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the wake of the coup, and it has not been reinstated despite the inauguration last month of Porfirio Lobo as the country's new president.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310659,latin-american-caribbean-countries-discuss-creation-of-new-bloc.html.

British firm starts oil drilling in Falkland Islands waters

London - A British rig Monday started drilling for oil in the territorial waters of the Falklands Islands in the South Atlantic - despite the prospect of an escalating diplomatic row with Argentina. Argentina, which fought a war with Britain over the islands' sovereignty in 1982, has warned that the move violated its sovereignty and started to impose shipping restrictions around its shores.

Desire Petroleum, the company charged with the exploration, confirmed Monday that operations had started on a platform towed to a point some 100 kilometres north of the Falkland Islands.

"Drilling operations are expected to take approximately 30 days and a further announcement will be made once drilling is completed," the company said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

"Desire is an oil company and it's exploring for oil and not getting involved in what Argentina is saying ... The rig is sitting firmly in UK waters," the company said.

Argentina has long claimed the islands, which it calls the Malvinas. According to estimates, the Falklands have a total of 60 billion barrels of oil.

In London, Bill Rammell, a junior defence minister, reiterated that the British government would take "whatever steps are necessary" to protect the Falkland Islands - a pledge already made earlier by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Rammell said the Falkland Islands had a "legitimate right" to develop an oil industry within its waters.

"We do, we have, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to protect the Falkland Islands and our counterparts in Argentina are aware of that," said Rammell.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310660,british-firm-starts-oil-drilling-in-falkland-islands-waters.html.

Iran to start building two new enrichment sites - Summary

Tehran- Iran plans to build two new uranium enrichment sites inside of a mountain to protect them from a possible attack, the country's top atomic official said Monday. Ali-Akbar Salei told ISNA news agency that work on the sites would start in the new Persian year, which begins March 21. He gave no further details about the date but said that the sites would be built inside mountains so that they are secure from military attacks.

Salehi added that, according to a long-term plan, 10 new enrichment sites are to be built. Locations for five have already been found, and spots for the remaining five were to be earmarked shortly, he said.

The Iranian government announced last year that the country needed 10 new enrichment sites to meet its power generation and medical needs. Iran's expanding nuclear work has drawn increased concern by the United States and its allies worried that Tehran is getting closer to having a nuclear weapons capability.

"This is further evidence that Iran refuses to engage cooperatively and constructively," US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said in Washington.

Iran operates an enrichment plant at Natanz where a total of 8,500 enrichment centrifuges are installed but not all of them are operating. The site is monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Last year, Iran disclosed work at a second site, at Fordu, south of Tehran. The IAEA criticized Iran for violating its obligations to report new nuclear facilities to the UN's nuclear guardian at planning stage.

The Natanz site enriches uranium to 3.5 per cent, which is enough to produce nuclear fuel, but since February stepped up some enrichment to 20 per cent.

Iran says it needs the higher-grade uranium for producing medical isotopes for cancer treatment.

The move raised concern among the international community, echoed by an IAEA report last week, that Iran is aiming to enrich uranium to the 90 per cent needed for weapons-grade fissile material.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310677,iran-to-start-building-two-new-enrichment-sites--summary.html.

Hungarian parliament votes to criminalize Holocaust denial

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Budapest - Hungary's parliament voted on Monday in favor of making Holocaust denial a criminal offense, punishable by up to three years imprisonment. The law was passed in a final vote with 197 in favor, 1 against, and 142 abstentions.

It had been proposed by Attila Mesterhazy, prime ministerial candidate of the governing Hungarian Socialist Party.

A motion by the center-right opposition party Fidesz to extend the law to cover the denial of other crimes committed under the Communist regime was rejected by 178 votes to 146, with seven abstentions.

The law, which is due to come into effect in 30 days, was passed on the final session of parliament until after general elections that are due to be held in April.

New legislation is subject to review by Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom, who has the power to return it to parliament for reconsideration.

Fidesz, whose lawmakers abstained in the final vote, is far ahead of the Socialists in opinion polls and is widely expected to form Hungary's next government.

Some 450,000 Hungarian Jews are thought to have perished during the closing months of the World War Two at the hands of the Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross Party, backed by Nazi Germany.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310667,hungarian-parliament-votes-to-criminalise-holocaust-denial.html.

BANGLADESH: Rohingya waiter Solim Ullah, "I live in fear every day"

COX'S BAZAR, 22 February 2010 (IRIN) - Born and raised in Bangladesh, 17-year-old Solim Ullah* is a documented Rohingya refugee. He has a job as a waiter at a restaurant in Cox's Bazar, southern Bangladesh's most popular beach resort, but following a recent crackdown (http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88145) fears arrest.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are an estimated 200,000 Rohingya - an ethnic and linguistic minority who fled neighbouring Myanmar en masse decades ago - in Bangladesh. Of these only 28,000 are documented, including 11,000 at the official Kutupalong refugee camp outside Cox's Bazaar, and another 17,000 further south at Nayapara camp.

Solim told IRIN about his life - his hopes and fears:

"My family has lived in the Kutupalong refugee camp since 1991. For me it is nothing more than a prison.

"Although we receive assistance, there is no life for me there. We are barred from leaving the camp, barred from working, barred from doing anything that would make any person happy.

"It's been four months since I left the camp and the authorities still don't even know I am gone.

"There are a few other guys from the camp here working as well, but I don't associate with them. I don't dare, in case they get caught as well.

"I know what I'm doing is illegal. In fact it's dangerous, but what choice do I have? No one here knows that I am Rohingya. If they did, I would be fired and be arrested. Worse still, I would probably be beaten.

"But that is the reality of being a Rohingya in Bangladesh, and I live in fear every day of being discovered.

"My family is from northern Rakhine State in Myanmar, where my father worked as a farmer. Life was OK, but we faced lots of problems there.

"Over time, things began to worsen and eventually our land was confiscated. At one point, the authorities demanded every Muslim household hand over one boy for work. And no, the idea of refusing wasn't an option.

"Ultimately, we fled to Bangladesh where I was born and have lived ever since.

"But we are hardly welcome here either. In fact, many Bangladeshis look down upon us. They discriminate against us. They say we don't belong here and should return to our country - a country I've never even been to. Some see us as less than human and take advantage of us. And if we do work, we are always paid less.

"I would like to do something with my life, but there are limited educational opportunities in the camp, and I want more.

"Isn't that normal? To want to make the most of your life? To do what you want freely? Every day on the beach I see people doing just that. Doing what they want, being free. Surely I should have the same right. I am human after all."

Source: Reuters Alertnet.
Link: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/789625ef5b62c8cb90cae23fad99332d.htm.

Dutch Troop Pullout May Be Unavoidable

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

A Dutch troop pullout from Afghanistan appears unavoidable and there is concern other NATO members may follow suit, military analysts said.

The Dutch developments come with the collapse of the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, stemming from disagreement over extending the troop deployment in Afghanistan.

"If the Dutch go, which is the implication of all this, that could open the floodgates for other Europeans to say, 'The Dutch are going, we can go, too,'" Professor Julian Lindley-French at the Netherlands Defense Academy told The New York Times. "The implications are that the U.S. and the British are going to take on more of the load."

The prime minister conceded he cannot prevent the troops from being withdrawn this year following the political development in his country, The Times of London reported.

"Our task as the lead nation (in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province) ends in August," Balkenende was quoted as saying -- meaning all 1,950 Dutch troops would be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2010.

The report said governments in other NATO member nations are faced with rising public opinion turning against the Afghan war. Among them, Canada has suffered the highest percentage of casualties and is committed to withdrawing its 2,800 troops by the end of next year.

The government of Australia, which has 1,000 troops, is not willing to take charge in Uruzgan after the Dutch troops leave, the London Times report said. France already has refused to send more and Germany is still debating the issue.

Uruzgan Gov. Asadullah Hamdam was quoted as telling the BBC a Dutch pullout would affect peace and reconstruction efforts in his province. The troops may be replaced by U.S. troops but that would affect the operation against the Taliban elsewhere.

Source: OfficialWire.
Link: http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=100544&catid=855.