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Friday, March 12, 2010

11 Siberian tigers starve to death at Chinese zoo

Beijing - Eleven Siberian tigers died of starvation in north-eastern China's Liaoning province after a cash-strapped zoo fed them only chicken bones, state media said Friday. The 11 tigers died over the past three months at the privately run Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo, the China Daily newspaper quoted Liu Xiaoqiang, a local wildlife protection official, as saying.

Liu said the tigers all died from "malnutrition rather than infectious diseases," the newspaper reported.

Because of financial problems, the zoo had "only fed the tigers on cheap chicken bones," Liu was quoted as saying.

"Many privately owned zoos are under financial pressure, and most of them fail to feed the animals well," he said.

Liu said "legal loopholes" meant that it was difficult for wildlife protection officers to take action against private zoos.

The conditions at the Shenyang Wild Animal Zoo were made worse by a local work safety order to cage the tigers after two of them mauled a keeper in November, he said.

The local government had provided food daily to the zoo since the attack in November, but many of the tigers "already had intestinal infections or kidney failure caused by the lack of food," Liu said.

Two more Siberian tigers were shot dead during the rescue of the keeper in November and about 20 Siberian tigers are left, the newspaper said.

It said the zoo keeps about 500 tigers from nearly 50 subspecies, about half the population it had in 2000.

Fewer than 500 Siberian tigers, also know as Amur tigers, are believed to remain in the wild, most of them in Russia's far east.

China has about 800 Siberian tigers in captivity, the newspaper said.

The global wild tiger population is estimated at 3,200, down from 20,000 in the 1980s.

In a report this week, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Wildlife Conservation Society said wild tigers were "lingering on the edge of extinction."

"Within the last decade, wild tiger habitats have decreased by 40 per cent with the species now occupying only 7 per cent of its historical range around the world," the report said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313715,11-siberian-tigers-starve-to-death-at-chinese-zoo.html.

Spanish author Miguel Delibes dies at 89

Valladolid, Spain - Miguel Delibes, regarded as one of Spain's most important 20th century writers, died Friday in the northern city of Valladolid, his family said. Delibes was 89. The author had suffered from colon cancer which practically ended his literary career around 12 years ago.

Delibes was regarded as one of the writers who best understood the Spanish soul, language and landscape.

In his works, he realistically portrayed characters living in his home region of Castile, seeking a harmony between man and nature.

One of the eight children of a Valladolid teacher, Delibes taught mercantile law. He also worked in banking before becoming a journalist, a career that encouraged his literary vocation.

The father of seven children published about 70 books including novels, short stories, essays, collections of articles and travel chronicles. His works were often adapted for the cinema and theater.

A member of the Royal Spanish Language Academy since 1975, the "eternal Nobel candidate" won numerous awards including Spain's National Literature Prize in 1955 and the Cervantes Prize - the most important Spanish literature award - in 1993.

Works translated into English include The Path (English edition in 1961), Smoke on the Ground (1972), The Hedge (1983), The Prince Dethroned (1986), Five Hours with Mario (1988), The Stuff of Heroes (1990), The Wars of Our Ancestors (1992) and Delibes' last novel, The Heretic (2007).

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313741,spanish-author-miguel-delibes-dies-at-89.html.

East German message in a bottle washed up 23 years later

Goettingen, Germany - A message in a bottle, written by an 11-year old East German boy in 1987, has been fished out of the river 23 years later by a lad in western Germany, media reported Friday. Youri Maibohm, aged 9, found the bottle and its faded message, in a pile of flotsam drifting down a river in the town of Goettingen. It had been written by a boy in search of a pen-pal, in the former East German state of Thuringia.

The author of the letter, Marko Bode, said he was "very surprised," by the discovery. The electrical engineer, now aged 34, remembered the day that he and his friends had cast their messages into the river.

"It was very exciting," Bode told daily Goettinger Tagblatt, adding that he would still be interested in meeting the pen-pal, 23 years on.

The communist East German state ceased to exist in 1990, when Germany was reunified after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313744,east-german-message-in-a-bottle-washed-up-23-years-later.html.

Al-Maliki aide expects '100 seats in new parliament'

Baghdad - A senior leader of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawaa Party on Friday said he expected al-Maliki's coalition would win 100 out of 325 seats in the new parliament. Walid al-Hilli's predictions came as the first early results from the March 7 vote began to trickle in. Early returns announced Thursday showed al-Maliki's State of Law coalition ahead in two provinces, and former prime minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqi List ahead in two others, with 30 per cent of the vote counted.

"We expect to get 100 seats in the next parliament," al-Hilli said in a statement, but warned against "prejudging the final outcome of the elections."

Al-Hilli said the estimate was based on al-Maliki's strong showing in early results from the cities of Najaf and Hilla released Thursday, and from unofficial statistics from eight other cities.

Judge Qassim al-Aboudi, a spokesman for Iraq's electoral commission, on Friday called on Iraqi political parties to "be patient, and not to release any statistics on the results of the elections, because the electoral commission is responsible for announcing the results when the counting, sorting, and data entry is completed."

Both Allawi's Iraqi List and the Shiite-led Iraqi National Alliance on Thursday claimed they would place second in the overall vote, based on their own monitors' unofficial tallies.

The commission was likely to release more early results on Friday, and to continuing releasing them until the final tallies were ready, most likely by the end of the month, al-Aboudi told the German Press Agency dpa.

Politicians from the three coalitions leading in the first, early results have said they do not expect to be able to form a government without striking alliances.

Such negotiations would remain in the early stages until the final results were announced, a spokesman for the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq (SICI) said Thursday.

The SICI, a religious Shiite party, is a key component of the Iraqi National Alliance, which early results showed as running a close second to al-Maliki's coalition in the southern provinces of Najaf and Babil.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313745,al-maliki-aide-expects-100-seats-in-new-parliament.html.

China to design special planes for highland airports

China Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. plans to launch a specially designed large aircraft based on the home-made C919 to adapt to highland airports, such as those in Tibet, according to Wu Guanghui, deputy general manager of the company.

Wu, also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said that the special plane is projected to operate non-stop flights to Tibet from inland cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, on the sidelines of the annual CPPCC session.

At present, the flights to Tibet from inland cities have to make transfers in a nearby airport adjacent to Tibet, such as the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, according to the Beijing News.

Wu said that the design of the China-made large aircraft C919 will be completed at the year end. The 150-seat aircraft, designed mainly for domestic routes, is expected to debut its flight in 2014.

The specially designed aircraft should be lighter in weight and have a more powerful engine in line with the air density and special circumstances in the highland airports, according to Wu.

The plane C919's body equipment is entirely designed and manufactured by Wu's company and the airborne equipment like the engine is still imported. But he also added that the research on and development of domestic engines are currently under way.

The Shanghai-based China Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. was founded with a registered capital of 19 billion yuan (2.78 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008. As a State-owned enterprise, it aims to manufacture domestically-made large aircrafts for the country.

Source: China Tibet.
Link: http://chinatibet.people.com.cn/6917674.html.

The Rebellion: CIA uses USAID to be curtained

Baku – APA. “USAID top official acknowledged that CIA uses their organization to fund its operations”, said Eva Golinger in the article published by The Rebellion.

USAID regional manager said recently three of CIA spies were captured in one of the African countries and Cuba. In 1974, the US Congress closed one of the USAID departments, which was used by CIA to fund training, armament of police forces in Latin America, Asia and Middle East. Office of Public Safety (OPS) was founded by President Eisenhower in 1957 for establishing and training of police forces abroad. OSP operations were funded at the expense of resources allocated for USAID.

The newspaper said that USAID together with CIA was responsible for killing of thousands of people within operation Phoenix in Vietnam. Haiti blames USAID in funding the organizations attempting to commit coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristid. USAID opened Transition Period Assistance Bureau in 2002 in Venezuela to fund opposition groups against President Hugo Chavez. Residents of Chapare and El Alto cities of Bolivia accused USAID in interference in their domestic issues and achieved to stop the activity of USAID representation in that county. President Evo Morales suspended official agreement with USAID accusing it in funding of separatist groups.

In 2005, USAID officers were expelled from Eritrea for sabotage. Ethiopia, Russia and Belarus were also forced to ban USAID activity in the country.

The US Agency for International Development was established in 1961 as a humanitarian organization. In 2009, USAID joined the US Interagency Ant-Rebellion Initiative group together with the State Department and Pentagon. The organization has its mobile representations in more than 100 countries and links with more than 300 private organizations, as well as 2500 different enterprises.

Source: APA.
Link: http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=117830.

Abdullah Gul: "Decision of the Swedish parliament is ineffective"

Baku – APA. “We know how this decision was made. It is ineffective from the point of our view”, said Turkish president Abdullah Gul making comments on the decision of Swedish parliament to recognize “Armenian genocide”.

According to APA, Gul said those, who made that decision, were not historians. “I would like to reiterate what I said about the US Congress. If you asked them about the event, they couldn’t be answer even with three words. They are people, whose actions are based on mostly wasted claims. This is very regrettable decision as disrespect to the history. It has no effects. Don’t inflate that. This is no such subject that could be inflated. We shouldn’t swell the issues which are ineffective for us”.

Source: APA.
Link: http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=117793.

Turkish president Abdullah Gul becomes grandfather

09 Mar 2010 12:20

Baku - APA. President Abdullah Gul’s daughter Kubra Gul Sarımermer, last night gave birth to a daughter, APA reports. Kubra Gul Sarımermer gave birth to a daughter at one of the private hospitals in Istanbul at about 23.30 on March 8. Abdullah Gul and his spouse didn’t leave the hospital even just for a moment.

Doctors, said the baby’s health status is good. President Abdullah Gul embraced his first grandchild and loved the lap.

Source: APA.
Link: http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=117537.

1000-candle Gaza protest marks 1000-day Israeli siege

Palestinians in the Gaza strip have lit 1,000 candles and held a peaceful protest near the Erez (Beit Hanoun) border crossing in order to mark 1000 days of Israeli siege and blockade of the coastal enclaves.

"The siege has harmed the people, as well as the environment, health, the economy and social life. It constitutes a serious attempt to suffocate the people and break their will. A thousand days of the blockade on Gaza, however, show its residents' steadfastness and patience despite the Israeli repeated attempts to undermine this determination," Head of the Popular Committee against the Siege on Gaza, Jamal al-Khodari, said on Thursday.

Al-Khodari added that the committee will continue its peaceful activities and protests in order to save the lives of Palestinians living under the deadly Israeli siege on Gaza.

Israel has continued to close all border crossings to the Gaza Strip for more than two years. The illegal Israeli-imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has steadily tightened since 2007, has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the coastal enclave.

Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and the rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80% and 60% respectively in the Gaza Strip.

Three weeks of Israeli air strikes and a ground incursion into Gaza between Late December 2008 and early January 2009 resulted in the death of over 1,400 Palestinians and the injury of about 5,450 people in the Gaza Strip. Most of the victims were civilians.

The carnage also inflicted more than $1.6 billion of damage on Gaza's economy.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120653§ionid=351020202.

Kremlin Prepares to Unveil Its Version of Silicon Valley

By Valery Kodachigov, Natalya Kostenko, Bela Lyauv and Maxim Tovakaido

MOSCOW — In nine days, President Dmitry Medvedev will indicate where the future Russian Silicon Valley will be created, and one of the early favorites is the area near the business school Skolkovo in Moscow.

Among the possibilities for the Center for Research and Development, as it will be called, are St. Petersburg, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Obninsk, Dubna and an area near the Skolkovo business school along Novorizhskoye Shosse and Leningradskoye Shosse, presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said Wednesday.

Rusnano head Anatoly Chubais will be charged with developing the project, and the president will likely announce the details of the project when he meets with Chubais on March 22, Dvorkovich said.

The president will consider several criteria in making the choice: Infrastructure development, size of the territory, proximity to educational centers and attractiveness for business, Dvorkovich told Vedomosti. If the land belongs to the federal government, it would simplify the process, but it is not a decisive criterion, he said.

The development of a business plan and the issue of financing will be worked out by a managing company that the president has ordered to be created, Dvorkovich added.

The federal budget is ready to spend money on developing nonprofit projects and scientific infrastructure. The other facilities, including social facilities, will be built using co-financing. “Construction may start next year, but probably only in the second half,” Dvorkovich said.

The list is very long — only Chukotka and Yakutia do not meet the criteria, one government official joked. Nearly every area named complies with the criteria stated.

A source close to the government said the discussions on obtaining land will be carried out with private landowners. Four Moscow projects were considered: Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye (430 hectares on Novorizhskoye Shosse that are owned by Mikhail Shishkhanov and Sberbank); A 101 (13,000 hectares near Kaluzhskoye Shosse, owned by Vadim Moshkovich); Konstantinovo (more than 1,000 hectares near Kashirskoye Shosse, owned by Yevrasia); and the land near Skolkovo.

The project requires hundreds of hectares of land, and the center should be world-class, a source at a federal agency said. Both sources said the most likely candidate was the land near Skolkovo, the owners of which they declined to name.

The land near Skolkovo could cost $20 million to $25 million per hectare, according to an estimate by Ilya Terentyev, CEO of Zemer Group.

Konstantin Rykov, a member of the State Duma’s Science Committee, told Infox.ru that the United Russia party had opened talks on the Silicon Valley project with Japanese construction company International Dome House, which makes cheap houses from Styrofoam. The company could build a “city of the future” in Russia.

A former Moscow region official said a similar center had been built in Dubna about two years ago. “Offices, factory space and conference centers were built on a huge plot of land, and about $1 billion was invested in it. It’s not clear why they have to start a new project,” he said. The land in Skolkovo belongs to a federal official, who has long lobbied for this project along with Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s holding company Sistema.

Skolkovskoye Shosse is one of the shortest highways, and now it is one of the most elite areas of the Moscow region, said Yevgeny Ivanov, managing director of Zagorod. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and former Mayor Gavriil Popov both live in Skolkovo, a Moscow realtor said.

Members of the United Russia party and two officials in the presidential administration said there was a 90 percent chance that construction of the innovative city would be in the Moscow region, probably near Zelenograd: It’s close to Sheremetyevo Airport, the new Moscow-St. Petersburg highway and the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology.

Making Zelenograd a center for the Silicon Valley would be logical — the city was created as a center for innovative development, a source in Sistema said. The idea to build the center in Zelenograd, which has been lobbied by Yevtushenkov, was rejected, a Kremlin official said.

The Skolkovo option is advantageous from the location point of view, but there are no scientists there, an official taking part in the discussions said. Not only is the location important but so is who will lead the project. Chubais is charged with choosing a candidate, another source in the presidential administration said. “Otherwise it will be the Silicon Gulag.”

Source: The St. Petersburg Times.
Link: http://www.sptimesrussia.com/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=30967.

Putin visits India to sign defense, nuclear deals

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in India for multibillion dollar defense and nuclear cooperation deals.

Putin, who arrived in New Delhi along with a high-ranking delegation on March 12, is scheduled to meet with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

Indian officials say the total value of around 15 documents that are to be signed between the two leaders will exceed 10 billion dollars.

"During the visit, both sides will review the entire range of bilateral ties and exchange views on how to nurture and further expand our strategic partnership," Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Vishnu Prakash said.

Russia is expected to upgrade Admiral Gorshkov (INS Vikramaditya) aircraft carrier for India and deliver MiG-29K/KUB carrier-based fighters to its south Asian partner.

Further agreements will include a fifth generation fighter aircraft project and work on a multi-role transport aircraft, RIA Novosti reported.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120652§ionid=351020402.

Israel imposes full closure on West Bank

Israel has ordered its military forces to impose a total closure on the West Bank in the occupied Palestinian territory for 48 hours.

The closure was enforced Thursday midnight amid reports on the possibility of fresh protests by Palestinians around the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (al-Quds) after Friday prayers. The closure is to be lifted on Saturday night.

According to witnesses, Israeli police forces are increasing presence in al-Quds due to concerns that riots may break out in the holy city and spill over into the West Bank.

During the closure, entrance to the mainly Arab eastern sector of al-Quds will only be open to some 1,000 church employees, 550 teachers, 50 Palestinian Waqf employees and some 100 employees of religious bodies.

Riots broke out last week in al-Quds following Tel Aviv regime's decision to illegally add the Ibrahimi Mosque and the Mosque of Bilal bin Rabah to its list of Israeli heritage sites.

This week's tensions appear to focus on the new Israeli plan to build 1,600 new Jewish homes in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of the occupied West Bank it has annexed to al-Quds.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120651§ionid=351020202.

Ahmadinejad: Persian Gulf name irrefutable

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insists the name of Persian Gulf is so indisputable that makes it beyond negotiation.

“The name of the Persian Gulf is so irrefutable that it is non-negotiable,” President Ahmadinejad said Thursday in a live televised program in Iran's southern Hormozgan province on the Persian Gulf coastline.

“Some claims lack legal and political values,” the Iranian chief executive added. “Those who make such claims say that they are under pressure to do so.”

President Ahmadinejad further pointed out that all credible maps in the world bear the name of the Persian Gulf.

“Nobody can change Iran's strong relations with the regional countries,” he also reiterated.

Despite the existence of historical and geographical documents that prove, beyond doubt, the authenticity of the Persian Gulf's name, some Arab states over the past years have spared no efforts to violate the international standards and distort the name of these waters to "Arabian Gulf."

Since Persian Gulf occupies a pivotal place in the Iranian history and culture, the false use of the name of the area has always provoked the annoyance of Iranian people and governments.

The historical and geographical name of the Persian Gulf has been endorsed and clarified by the United Nations on many occasions and is in use by the United Nations, its member states, and all other international agencies worldwide. The last UN Directive confirming the name of the Persian Gulf was on August 18, 1994.

The use of the distorted name of the Persian Gulf was also described as 'faulty' by the Eighth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names in Berlin on August 27, 2002.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120641§ionid=351020101.

Iran asks Dubai to track down Rigi passport forgers

Iran is taking steps to investigate how Jundallah terror chief Abdulmalek Rigi obtained forged passports prior to his arrest nearly two weeks ago.

Speaking in a televised address on Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to help identify and arrest the culprits that provided Rigi with forged documents.

"We have asked our counterparts in the UAE to make the necessary arrangements to track down those who issue fake passports and travel documents for terrorists in Dubai," said the Iranian President.

Iranian security officials captured Abdolmalek Rigi, the long-sought leader of the Pakistan-based Jundallah terrorist organization, onboard a Kyrgyz plane on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan, where he was to meet US intelligence and military officials at the major American Menas military base, according to his televised confessions.

Following his arrest, Rigi also confessed on air that the US administration had promised to provide him with unlimited military aid and funding for his terror operations inside Iran.

The US, along with a number of European countries, was quick to deny any links to Rigi or picking up the tab for the many acts of terrorism he committed against Iranians over the past years.

Sadly for them, Ahmadinejad said, Iranian Intelligence agents have gathered more than enough evidence proving the contrary.

"We have concrete evidence that Rigi had received political, financial and publicity support from at least three countries," explained the Iranian President.

"It is clear for us now that these countries, contrary to what they have claimed, are not fighting to curb terrorism in the region, but are in fact nurturing and contributing to the growing number of terror groups," he added.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120649§ionid=351020101.

Landslide in Indonesia claims 8 victims

At least eight people have been killed and several others missing in a landslide in Indonesia's West Java province.

Indonesian Social Affairs Minister said on Friday that the search for people buried alive in the mud is underway.

"The search for people buried alive in the mud is underway at the moment. We also received reports on destroyed houses from the landslide following a flood from torrential rain last night."

The Thursday night incident comes after heavy rains drenched the western city of Cianjur. Nearly 600 people have sought refuge in safer places.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120645§ionid=351020406.

Myanmar allows Suu Kyi's party to relaunch offices

Myanmar's government has allowed the party of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to re-open offices that have been shut for seven years.

A spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD) says about 100 branch offices of party have been re-opened across the country since Wednesday.

The government closed down NLD offices after an attack on party leader Suu Kyi's convoy in May 2003.

The party's spokesman has given a guarded welcome to the government's move.

"Yes, it's a positive step," he said.

The Myanmar's government plans elections at an unspecified date this year.

The NLD won the 1990 parliamentary election but was never allowed to take power.

Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120640§ionid=351020406.

Turkey recalls envoy to Sweden over genocide vote

Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Stockholm after the Swedish parliament branded the killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I as "genocide."

"We strongly condemn this resolution, which is made for political calculations. It does not correspond to the close friendship of our two nations. We are recalling our ambassador for consultations," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement released on Thursday. He also canceled a Stockholm visit scheduled for next week.

Turkish ambassador to Sweden, Zergun Koruturk, told Swedish television program Aktuellt that the vote would have "drastic effects" on Ankara-Stockholm relations.

"I am very disappointed. Unfortunately, parliamentarians were thinking that they were rather historians than parliamentarians. It's very, very unfortunate," Koruturk said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the vote was a "mistake" but that it did not change the position of his government, which supports Turkey's bid for membership of the European Union.

He noted that the vote could complicate efforts between Turkey and Armenia to normalize relations after a century of hostility. Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols last October to normalize relations. Parliaments of the two countries have not passed them yet.

Sweden's parliament narrowly approved the resolution Thursday that described the 1915 killing of Armenians in Turkey as genocide. The resolution was passed by an extremely narrow margin, with 131 parliamentarians voting in favor and 130 against in the 349-seat assembly. Another 88 lawmakers were absent during the vote.

The Swedish vote comes less than a week after the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives also approved a similar resolution. The non-binding resolution was approved by a vote of 23 to 22.

Turkey fiercely rejects Armenian claims that more than a million of its people were deliberately killed as some sort of a social-cleansing campaign.

Ankara points to historical evidence, ignored by Armenian lobbyists and their Western supporters, that puts the figure of Armenian victims at 300,000 and also makes clear that nearly as many Ottoman Turks were killed as well in the civil unrest that led to the downfall of the Ottoman Empire.

US observers have also pointed to the close association of the influential Armenian lobby in the US with the powerful Israeli lobby in pushing through the symbolic resolution as a general publicity campaign against the Muslim state of Turkey, which has become one of the leading critics of violent Israeli policies against the Palestinians.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120642§ionid=351020204.

Gul slams Sweden over Armenian 'genocide' publicity

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has criticized Stockholm over a Swedish parliament resolution that branded the World War I killing of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as 'genocide.'

"The resolution on Armenian allegations which was approved by the Swedish Parliament does not have any credibility. Those who made this decision and voted in favor of the resolution were not historians," Gul said on Thursday.

Sweden's parliament narrowly approved a resolution Thursday, claiming that the 1915 killing of Armenians in Turkey amounted to genocide. The resolution was passed by a very narrow margin, with 131 parliamentarians voting in favor and 130 against, with 88 abstaining in the 349-seat assembly.

Despite Armenian claims that the killing of over a million Armenians between 1915 and 1923 were the result of an orchestrated campaign by Ottoman Turks, Turkish officials strongly reject the idea and the genocide label. They insist far fewer Armenians died and that they were killed in a civil war in which Turks also died.

Ankara points to historical evidence, ignored by Armenian lobbyists and their Western supporters, that puts the figure of Armenian victims at 300,000 and also makes clear that nearly as many Ottoman Turks were killed in the civil unrest that led to the downfall of the Ottoman Empire.

US observers have also pointed to the close association of the influential Armenian lobby in the US with the powerful Israeli lobby in pushing through the symbolic resolution as a general publicity campaign against the Muslim state of Turkey, which has become one of the leading critics of violent Israeli policies against the Palestinians.

Ankara and Yerevan signed an agreement last October to normalize relations, but their parliaments have yet to ratify them to end a century of hostility.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120644§ionid=351020204.

Somalia: WFP to Assist Puntland in Expanding Bossasso Port

11 March 2010

The government of Somalia's Puntland state has signed agreement with the United Nations World Food Program to expand the capacity of the port in commercial city of Bossasso.

In a meeting held in Garowe Presidential Palace and attended by officials from both sides, parties inked mutual aid accord where the world food agency would provide assistance in the expansion of Bossasso port.

"One of the items in the agreement we signed with WFP include the expansion of Bossasso port so that big vessels can dock without any problem," Information Minister Abdihakin Ahmed Guled told reporters after the meeting.

He said the meeting was part of lengthy discussion that was going between WFP representatives and the government of Puntland, adding that his government has given the food agency a green light to establish ware houses in Bossasso.

The meeting was attended by Puntland ministers including Internal Affairs Abdullahi Ahmed Jamaa (Ilko Jiir), State minister for planning and International relations Abdulqadir Abdi Hashi, Finance Minister Farah Ali Shire, Land Minister Abdqani Yussuf Adde, Minister for ports Said Mohamed Rage, and his assistant Eng. Mohammed Isse La'ale and Information Minister Abdihakin Ahmed Guled.

The officials from the WFP include Somalia's representative Salman Omar, Math'ude and Brenda Carter of Logistic department.

The Information minister also announced that the two parties have agreed to settle all disagreement emerged between them through consensus.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201003110903.html.

Israel to limit worshipers at Jerusalem mosque

(AFP)

12 March 2010

JERUSALEM - Israeli police said they would bar Muslim men under the age of 50 from prayers on Friday at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, one of Islam’s holiest sites, fearing clashes.

The move comes after violent clashes at the disputed holy site at last week’s prayers and fresh tensions over Israeli plans to build 1,600 houses in mostly Arab east Jerusalem.

Men under the age of 50 would be barred from the Friday prayers, while women of all ages would be permitted, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that police would bolster their forces.

“We are stepping up security in east Jerusalem after getting information of plans to cause disturbances,” he said.

The compound containing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock is Islam’s third-holiest site, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. It is Judaism’s holiest site, known as the Temple Mount.

Last week riot police stormed the hilltop enclosure when the Muslim protesters threw stones after the main weekly prayers.

The police fired tear gas and threw stun grenades to disperse the protesters, before skirmishes continued in the lanes and alleys of the Old City outside the compound.

Several dozen people were wounded, including about 15 police, before the confrontation ended with the Israeli forces leaving the compound after negotiating with Muslim authorities there.

Source: Khaleej Times.
Link: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2010/March/middleeast_March250.xml&section=middleeast&col=.

Four Tanks of the American Invaders Destroyed in Marjah

Wednesday, 10 March 2010

According to reports from the Jihadic land of Helmand, four tanks of the American invading army were destroyed in Marjah, a part of Nad Ali district. The tanks were blown up in different mine explosions in the area.

The report adds, the first tank was destroyed at Tarikh Nawer area when it was passing a water canal. It hit a planted mine and was destroyed. After one hour from this incident, another American tank was destroyed at Malik Charahi when it was passing a viaduct. Other two tanks were destroyed at Seypang and Taza Gul Square later during the night on 9.3.2010.

According to local leaders of Mujahideen in the area, 15 American invading troops lost their lives as a result of the explosions. All of them were manning the tanks as crews.

Another report from the area says, a mine explosion killed 3 American invading troops and wounded two others when they were on foot patrol. Mujahideen say, the invading enemy lost ten tanks during the past 24 hours in Marjah as a result of mine explosions in different areas of the district center. This is amidst reports that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates who recently visited American soldiers in Marjah, said that America would pull out of Afghanistan even prior to July 2011.

Source: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Link: http://124.217.251.48/~alemarah/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1296:four-tanks-of-the-american-invaders-destroyed-in-marjah.

President Karzai during meeting with Gordon Brown comes under attack in Marjah

HELMAND, Mar. 07 - The reports from Helmand province indicate that the president Karzai during a meeting with the British prime minister held in the center of Marjah came under attack by Mujahideen, on later Sunday, on Mar. 07.

According to the details, 6 missiles landed in the surrounding areas of Lui Char Rahi in Marjah, causing the enemy deadly losses, however, there is no report to confirm the precise number of the casualties caused by the missiles attack.

Shortly after the incident, the combined outposts of the foreign and Afghan troops were attacked by the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate in the same area, causing the enemy loss of life and injuries.

Source: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Link: http://124.217.251.48/~alemarah/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1286:president-karzai-during-meeting-with-gordon-brown-comes-under-attack-in-marjah.

Mujahideen Kill Ghazni Intelligence Chief

Wednesday, 10 March 2010

According to reports from Ghazni province, Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan killed Nasrullah, provincial chief of intelligence of Ghazni province. The report further adds, chief of the provincial espionage agency was on his way to his house, when Mujahideen ambushed him, killing him on the spot. It should be said that he was involved in martyrdom and detention of a number of Mujahideen in the province.

The report further says, Mujahideen returned to their strongholds after successfully carrying out the operation.

Source: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Link: http://124.217.251.48/~alemarah/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1294:mujahideen-kill-ghazni-intelligence-chief.

Mujahideen kill 4 Americans, injures 5 in Marjah fighting

HELMAND, Mar. 07 - There was deadly clash between Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate and the U.S.-led coalition troops through Saturday, on Mar. 06, 2010, according to the report from Helmand province.

The battle that unfolded following an attack from the Mujahideen on the road between Trikh Nawar and Camp areas of Marjah continued through Much of Saturday, indicated the report adding the Mujahideen, besides killing 4 Americans and wounding 5 others inflicted heavy losses on the coalitions during the day-long fighting.

According to the locals of the area, the road between Marjah and Lashkar Gah was blocked of by the Mujahideen day long making the U.S-led troops unable to carry out any kinds of operations and activities in the area.

The fighting came as the U.S and NATO officials announced the end of their operation known as Mushtarak in Marjah and that they would launch rehabilitation work in Marjah.

Source: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Link: http://124.217.251.48/~alemarah/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1285:mujahideen-kill-4-americans-injures-5-in-marjah-fighting.

New Muslim political party launched in Spain

By h.b. - Mar 6, 2010

The PRUNE party has been launched in Granada

The first national political party to have a Muslim character has been launched in Granada. The Partido Renacimeinto y Unión España or PRUNE party of Spain, says it is open to all the world.

Based on Islam, and founded by the writer, poet and journalist, Mostafa Bakkach El Aamrani, it says it intends to contest the municipal elections next year in Málaga, Madrid, Barcelona, Murcia, Valencia, Oviedo and Toledo on a manifesto of ‘justice, equality and solidarity’.

It was presented in a small restaurant in the Albaicín in Granada.
The party’s statues were sent to the Ministry of the Interior in May 2009, and it received the go ahead from the Government on July 23 last year.

Source: Typically Spanish.
Link: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_25332.shtml.

INDONESIA: Waste Composting Project Blazes Cleaner Path

By Kanis Dursin

JAKARTA, Mar 11, 2010 (IPS) - Battling the pain from a boil on his left thigh, 45-year-old Inggit Tukino pulled his two-wheeled cart through the overcrowded alleys of a slum in Rawabebek, Penjaringan hamlet in here North Jakarta.

"Garbage, garbage!" he shouted, announcing his arrival at every house.

Upon hearing his voice, the residents, mostly women and children, rushed out and placed solid household waste into Tukino’s wooden cart. He also collected garbage bags hanging outside a number of other homes.

"You came late today," a woman teased Tukino, who on that day did his rounds 45 minutes later than his usual time of 8:30 a.m. Tukino broke into a pale wide grin, grimacing from the week-old boil.

"Almost everybody in the neighborhood knows me and understands why I am doing this job," said the father of three.

Tukino, who finished a vocational course, is one of two volunteers in charge of a pilot composting project called Mercy Corps, initiated by a U.S. humanitarian organization at Rawabebek neighborhood here in the northern part of the capital in 2007.

After collecting solid waste – both organic and non-organic ones – from the community every day, Tukino brings this to a composting house located under a section of Jakarta’s elevated inner-city highway.

Inside the 590-square-meter, fully fenced center, Tukino and a fellow volunteer, 61-year-old Yatini, sift the organic wastes from the non-organic ones. The organic wastes are later milled and put into 20-liter plastic composters, while the non-organic ones, mostly plastics, are recycled into bags, keychains, notebook covers, laptop bags and other accessories.

"The milled wastes are kept in composters for seven to eight weeks," Yatini said. "Wastes that have become dark rich soil are put in plastic bags ready to be sold, while those that are not yet decaying are placed back into composters," the mother of eight added.

According to Mercy Corps project officer Triyono (one name), the Penjaringan Composting House, known locally as Rumah Kompos, treats 1,200 tonnes of solid household waste every month.

That is still a minuscule amount out of the 6,000 metric tonnes of waste per day produced in Jakarta, a megacity of some 16 million people.

"We are under no illusion that the project will resolve the capital’s waste problem once and for all," Triyono said. "All we want to do is reduce waste and clean the environment as well as provide economic opportunities by selling compost fertilizer."

Most of the city’s waste are dumped at Bantar Gebang in neighboring Bekasi, West Java, but others end up in sewage systems, flood canals, and rivers that crisscross the capital. As a result, flash floods are regular features during the rainy season, bringing traffic to a complete halt.

Even in the Rawabebek neighborhood, where each of some 800 households produces an average of one kilogram of solid waste a day, littering is still a common sight.

"It’s really difficult for the residents to separate organic wastes from non- organic ones or to stop littering," Triyono lamented.

But local resident Agus Raden says this is not easy given the lack of space in the community. "Most of the people here are lodgers, where three or four people cram into a small room. It’s already difficult to find a spot to put their shoes in. How much more for organic and non-organic bins?" he said.

Still, Triyono takes heart from the fact that local authorities have taken over the management of the composting house, including paying the salaries of volunteers Tukino and Yatini.

Local officials have also given tacit support to the otherwise illegal activity by providing the mill used by the center, and attending its activities. Under Indonesian law, building a house or simply staying under a bridge is illegal, but authorities have turned a blind eye to this legal fault in the case of composting facility.

In fact, North Jakarta municipal officials have invited the organizers of Rumah Kompos to give talks on urban waste management or train people from other neighborhoods on how to manage household waste. Some foreign dignitaries have also visited Rumah Kompos, Triyono added.

Meantime, Rumah Kompos’ organizers have a new challenge -- finding buyers for the more than 90 kg of fertilizer they produce every month from the waste they collect.

This is because local authorities, while privately taking pride in the project, appear reluctant to shift from procuring chemical to compost fertilizers. For their part, private enterprises find the fertilizer output negligible to be taken account into their business planning.

"Most companies and individuals we’ve approached are reluctant to buy the products due to concerns over production sustainability, meaning they are not convinced that we can produce the same amount of compost every month," Triyono explained.

"Composting is not yet commercially viable and brings little economic benefits to the people," he added, even if it is more environment friendly.

Although local officials buy compost fertilizer from them once in a while and some residents use it for their plants, Tukino said, "they do not buy regularly and the amount is still very small".

Rumah Kompos sells one kg of compost fertilizer for 2,500 rupiah (27 U.S. cents).

But more than the income from compost fertilizer, the habit of separating household waste and making compost from them has made a difference to the residents’ lives. They say they do see the benefits of this project, even though it has not resolved all of their waste woes.

Muhasrem, a 55-year-old mother of seven, says the campaign has taught residents to separate organic wastes from non-organic ones.

"The garbage collector (Tukino) has also relieved us of stinky smell and rats," she said, adding that official garbage collectors come only every two or three days, when the garbage is already rotting and rats are all over them.

"We used to burn our waste along the railway track every Saturday or Sunday. We don’t do that any more as the garbage is now collected every day," added Parmi, a 61-year-old mother of two.

As for Tukino and Yatini, Rumah Compos has given them some sustenance. They receive a monthly salary of 250,000 rupiah (27 dollars) each, far below Jakarta region’s minimum wage of 1.2 million rupiah a month.

"The salary helps augment my family’s income," said Tukino, whose wife sells coffee and noodles near the center’s entrance.

Asked why she volunteered to work in the composting center, Yatini suggests that she did not really have a choice. "My husband has been without a permanent job for 14 years," she quipped.

But it looks like the two will be busy for a while, because the organizers of Rumah Kompos are thinking of making it the coordinating area for other composting activities Mercy Corps has in west and south Jakarta.

Source: IPS.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50627.

TANZANIA: Weather Changes Turn Farming into Gamble with Nature

By Denis Gathanju

DAR-ES-SALAAM, Mar 10, 2010 (IPS) - Changes in weather patterns have turned agriculture into a gamble with nature for Tanzanian farmers. Prolonged droughts and floods have made the lives of small-scale farmers, who don’t have access to irrigation, extremely difficult.

In Tanzania, where the economy is largely driven by agriculture, the largely poor, rural population has become even more vulnerable.

According to the national Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), agriculture accounts for up to 60 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). More than 80 percent of the population works in the sector, which makes up 60 percent of the country's exports.

A 2009 report by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) warns that Tanzania has two decades to adapt its agriculture to climate change or risk major dents in its GDP. Otherwise, GDP loss could amount to one percent within the first 20 years and rise to between 5 and 65 per cent over the next 75 years, says Muyeye Chambwera, who co-authored the report.

Climate change experts agree that the only way to prevent major economic impact is to change the way agriculture is done.

"The only way forward is to educate farmers on better farming practices, as most are still using outdated farming methods, while others are practicing farming in areas where rainfall is inadequate," said Marc Baker, executive director of Carbon Tanzania, a non-profit organization that helps farmers in Arkaria village, 35 kilometers west of Arusha, to adapt to climate change.

The Tanzanian government has realized it needs to act quickly and initiated a National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) that seeks to reduce green house gas emissions and help small-scale farmers adapt to new agricultural practices and technologies.

It plans to educate farmers on alternative practices, such as crop rotation, zero grazing and growing of crops that need little water, such as millet and sorghum. NAPA also promotes the planting of drought-resistant maize.

"NAPA’s objective is to enhance the adaptive capacities of vulnerable communities, since Tanzania’s economy is largely dependent on agriculture…," confirmed Abubakar Rajabu, permanent secretary in the Office of the Vice President.

Throughout the country, temperatures are likely to increase between two to four degrees Celsius by 2100, the MoA predicts. This seems a long time away, but it gives an indication that perennial crops, such as maize and beans, will eventually not be able to grow anymore and will have to be replaced with annual crops, such as millet and sorghum.

The production of maize, Tanzania’s staple food, is expected to drop by a third within the next few decades, because the crop needs lots of water to grow, MoA officials further caution. In the drier, central parts of the country, the maize harvest could even decrease by up to 84 percent.

Last year’s planting season is a good indicator that the predictions are coming true, perhaps even earlier than expected. Farmers in Iringa province told MoA officials that they harvested between three and five bags of maize per acre of land in 2009. This is a far cry from the average 15 to 18 bags harvested a few years ago.

Farmers have also observed the effects of changing rainfall patterns. "Maize is no longer doing very well," says Mama Mrema, a small-scale farmer from Arusha. "Now I have turned to growing other crops, such as cassava and sweet potatoes, that do not need a lot of rainfall, to make a living."

In another village, Mwitikilwa in Iringa province, villagers say there have been drastic changes in weather patterns during the last thirty years.

Dr. Emma Liwenga, a researcher at the Institute of Resource Assessment at the University of Dar-es-Salaam who has carried out research in the village in the past year, confirms that climate change has prevented farmers in Mwitikilwa from planting beans, coffee, peas and sweet potatoes. Her research also shows an increase in pests due to the increase in temperatures.

Farmers have been struggling to adjust to changing weather patterns. "The last decade has been really bad in terms of food production, especially in our village where we never used chemical fertilizers to grow our crops. We have been recording fewer harvests, because the dry spells have been longer and more severe while the rains have been irregular," says farmer Maimuna Hamadi.

The usually short rainfalls that occur between April and July have become sporadic, while temperatures between April and August have become abnormally high, the farmers say.

"We are no longer sure when to start preparing the land for planting or when to start planting. It is pretty much gambling with nature. The weather is no longer predictable as it was some 10 or 15 years ago," laments Mwanaisha Mwampamba, another farmer from Mwitikilwa.

"Sometimes the rains are not enough for crop production, while at other times, they are too much. They flood and destroy the crops," she adds. "If the situation persists, then most of us, who have small farms, will sink deeper into poverty, because we depend on agriculture to take care of our families."

Source: IPS.
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/03/tanzania-weather-changes-turn-farming-into-gamble-with-nature/.

ECUADOR: Avatar Downfall a Blow for Indigenous Communities

By Gonzalo Ortiz

QUITO, Mar 9, 2010 (IPS) - Science fiction blockbuster Avatar was the big loser in the Oscar awards ceremony - not only a blow for director James Cameron but also seen as a symbolic reverse in the struggle to recover Amazon rainforest areas in Ecuador from the effects of oil pollution.

Several environmental organizations, like the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and the Amazon Defense Coalition, had asked Cameron to "let his legions of fans know that while Pandora is fictional, what is happening to (indigenous) communities in Ecuador is as real as it gets."

In the film, Pandora, a moon orbiting the planet Polyphemus, comes under threat when human beings decide to extract a mineral essential for energy supply on Earth from its surface.

Rebecca Tarbotton, acting head of RAN, compared Avatar's story-line to the real-life drama of the struggle of Ecuadorean indigenous people who have brought a multi-billion dollar lawsuit for environmental damages against the oil giant Chevron.

After an email campaign last month, backed up by weblog columns and press releases, Tarbotton called on Cameron Sunday morning to make good the promise he had made to use the movie to inspire mass environmental activism.

But Avatar failed to win the Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture, taking awards only in three minor categories out of the nine for which it had been nominated, so Cameron never got a chance to deliver a speech during the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards ceremony held Sunday in Los Angeles.

Cameron has also been swamped by other requests: Survival International, the movement for tribal peoples, for instance, took out an advertisement in Variety magazine asking him to help the indigenous Dongria Kondh people of India, who are struggling to defend their land against a British mining firm bent on extracting bauxite from their sacred mountain.

At any rate, Cameron need shed no tears over not winning the Oscar, as his movie has already raked in 2.5 billion dollars, making it the greatest box office success in the history of cinema.

What has really lost out is the environmental cause, even as the 16-year-long Chevron trial continues to crawl through the courts.

Speaking of records, this is the biggest class action suit ever launched against a transnational corporation: the indigenous communities of northeastern Ecuador, where the oil drilling took place, are demanding 27 billion dollars in reparations for damages.

The plaintiffs, some 30,000 indigenous people and mestizo (mixed ancestry) settlers, have accused Texaco, a company acquired by Chevron in 2001, of ditching 18 billion gallons of toxic waste water and spilling about 17 million gallons of crude into the rainforest during its operations in Ecuador from 1964 to 1990.

These illegal actions contaminated the soil, groundwater, rivers and streams in the area, causing cancer, congenital defects and abortions among the indigenous population, according to the plaintiffs.

At first Chevron refused to be tried before Ecuadorean courts, so the case was transferred to the United States. However, the U.S. courts ruled that Ecuador did have jurisdiction.

The changes in jurisdiction and various legal maneuvers by the defense have dragged the trial out for over 16 years.

Since mid-February the new judge presiding over the trial at the provincial court in the northeastern province of Sucumbíos is Leonardo Ordóñez. He replaced Judge Juan Núñez, who Chevron alleged had taken bribes.

"All we ask of Judge Ordóñez is that he enforce the law transparently and impartially, and not allow Chevron to continue delaying the trial," said Pablo Fajardo, lead counsel for the Amazon Defense Coalition, in a statement.

The U.S. oil company's manipulative strategies have included attempting to block the extension of preferential tariffs in the United States for Ecuador's trade goods, as the former Ecuadorean foreign minister, Fander Falconi, confirmed in January.

According to Falconi, in 2009 Chevron's lobby against the renewal of preferential tariffs for Ecuador was "one of the strongest and fiercest that Ecuadorean foreign policy has ever faced."

By hiring law firms and expert negotiators and engaging in intense action on the diplomatic front, the Ecuadorean authorities managed to neutralize Chevron's political and diplomatic influence in Washington, Falconi said before leaving the post of foreign minister.

The import tariffs he referred to are granted by the United States for hundreds of products from Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, in exchange for cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking. Bolivia was also a beneficiary of the scheme until it was excluded last year.

Source: IPS.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50610.

Air Algerie announces new Constantine-Istanbul line

2010-03-11

Algerian national carrier Air Algerie on March 30th will begin a weekly direct route to Istanbul from Constantine's Mohamed Boudiaf airport, APS reported on Wednesday (March 10th). According to Air Algerie regional manager Bedreddine Mekroud, the new service aims to reach customers who have been forced to go to Algiers or Tunis to connect to Turkey's largest city. The airline is reportedly planning other routes between Constantine and European cities.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/03/11/newsbrief-04.

Bad weather kills 10 in Morocco, 5 in Algeria

2010-03-11

Days of heavy rainfall, high winds and mudslides in Morocco led to the deaths of least 10 people on Tuesday, AFP reported on Wednesday (March 10th). Seven residents of Ksiba drowned in an attempt to cross a swollen river, while three others died in the towns of Taza and Midelt. More than 400 houses in Khenifra were also flooded.

In Algeria, five people died since Monday in road accidents triggered by snow and rain, APS reported. Heavy snowfall has forced the closure of roads linking Tizi-Ouzou to Bouira and Illoula Oumalou to Bejaia province. In the last few days, mountains in Blida have recorded "exceptional" snowfall.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/03/11/newsbrief-01.

Algeria resurrects death penalty debate

Islamist groups and human rights organizations are clashing over the idea of abolishing capital punishment in Algeria.

By Ademe Amine for Magharebia in Algiers – 11/03/10

Islamists and human rights activists are locked in a heated public debate over the future of capital punishment in Algeria.

Both sides have used conferences and the media to present their positions, with Islamist groups strongly supporting the death penalty. According to a 2009 Amnesty International report, Algeria ranks fourth in the world in terms of handing down death sentences, even though actual executions have been suspended since 1993.

Farouk Ksentini, who presides over the National Advisory Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, revived the debate by vowing to lobby government officials for an end to capital punishment.

Upon returning last month from the 4th World Congress against the Death Penalty in Geneva, Ksentini told reporters that the punishment had been "irrelevant" for 20 years, and that Algeria must "get rid" of it.

But some leaders in Algeria's religious community have since challenged Ksentini's stance.

"We must preserve the death penalty as a precept set forth by the Qur'an," the Movement for Society and Peace announced in a March 2nd press release, which adds that putting a halt to such punishment would contradict sharia.

The head of the High Islamic Council, Sheikh Bouamrane, said on March 2nd that his organization "could never endorse the abolition of the death penalty", because doing so would "jeopardize several verses of the holy Qur'an".

"A criminal who kills a child and sells his organs, for instance, can't flee the death penalty," APS quoted Bouamrane as saying in a press conference on March 3rd.

The minister for religious affairs and endowments, Bouabdellah Ghlamalah, added his voice to the discussion. "I oppose the abolition of the death penalty," he said on March 1st in Algiers during the National Week of the Holy Qur'an.

Meanwhile, other rights activists are rallying to Ksentini's side. Ali Yahia Abdennour, who founded the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights in 1987, told Magharebia on March 2nd that the death penalty "must be abolished".

Abdennour said that Algeria's justifications for capital punishment ring hollow. He claimed that there has not been a significant drop in the number of crimes committed since the death penalty became legal, and that the religious justification is weak.

"In the Qur'an, there are only two verses that call for the 'law of retaliation', leaving room for other options before the execution of this sentence," he said.

At least one government representative has publicly rejected Islamists' claims that ending capital punishment would go against Islam.

"We won't defy the religion by abolishing the death penalty, if that will benefit society," the Foreign Ministry's director of political affairs and international security, Benchaa Dani, said on national radio. He did not, however, indicate that the current situation would change.

"We are in the phase of applying the suspension" put in place in 1993, he added.

The death penalty has not been applied since 1993, when then-president Liamine Zeroual declared a moratorium on executions. Since then, the courts have continued to pronounce death sentences for crimes ranging from treason to murder.

On the international front, Algeria has signed several accords that support the abolition of the death penalty, and in 2004 lawmakers ratified the new Arab Charter of Human Rights, which rejects the use of capital punishment.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/03/11/feature-02.

New railway links north and south Sudan

JUBA, Sudan, March 11 (Reuters) - Sudan on Thursday inaugurated a railway linking the north and south for the first time since decades of civil war ripped Africa's largest country apart.

Officials said the railway will provide a crucial economic link and lower commercial transportation costs.

The 446 km (277 mile) railway was originally built in the 1960s and will re-connect the town of Babanusa in central Sudan to Wau town, deep in the war-ravaged south.

"It will be the lifeline of the area, the cheapest way to bring in goods including from Port Sudan," said Mohammed Bashir, the engineer in charge of the project.

Two million people died, mostly in the south, during the civil war that ended with a peace deal in 2005. It gave the south a semi-autonomous government and a 50 percent share of oil revenues from southern wells.

Relations between the north and south remained troubled, with fighting erupting at least three times. It is widely expected that the south will choose to separate from northern Sudan in a January vote on independence.

There are a few, poor roads between the south and the north but they become almost impassable during the long rainy season, said Nhial Bol, Director General of Railways in the semi-autonomous south's transport ministry.

He said restarting the rail link was delayed by arguments over whether the north or south should fund the project.

The railway was paid for by the World Bank-administered Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF). Two-thirds of the $46 million cost was provided by the Sudanese government and the rest footed by international donors, Bashir said.

Bol said commercial trains will begin running soon once the ticketing system is organized. He said a tender had recently been released looking for a company to assess the feasibility of extending the railway from Wau through three other southern towns including Juba and then to northern Uganda.

Source: Alertnet.
Link: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MCD174610.htm.

Latvian Prime Minister marks turbulent first year in office

Riga- Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said Thursday he was pleased with progress made to restore the Baltic state's financial footing but warned of possible political instability in the run-up to an October general election. Asked if he would still be in power at the time of the election, Dombrovskis said the probability was "certainly more than 50 per cent" and that the public understood his program of austerity measures was necessary to stabilize the Latvian economy.

Speaking on the eve of his first anniversary in office, he said increasing support for the government's work is reflected in opinion polls.

"The message is getting through, though it would help if there was less political fighting and more constructive work within the coalition," he told the German Press Agency dpa.

Dombrovskis was installed as prime minister on March 12, 2009, after the collapse of the government of Ivars Godmanis.

One of Dombrovskis' first acts was to say Latvia was on the verge of bankruptcy, after which he managed to rescue a faltering 7.5- billion-euro (10-billion-dollar) loan package involving money from the European Union, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and regional governments.

Thursday saw the transfer of the latest 500-million-euro payment from the European Commission's contribution to the loan package.

In the intervening 12 months, Dombrovskis has successfully negotiated several crucial parliamentary votes to keep Latvia's assistance package on track. These moments represented both the best and worst moments of his premiership so far, he said, as they involved making huge cuts to public spending.

"The main problem is not political instability but not to allow pre-election fighting to translate into some kind of macroeconomic or financial instability. This would be the worst thing that could happen," he said.

Dombrovskis spoke on the same day that official data confirmed that the Latvian economy contracted by 18 per cent during 2009, representing the largest recession in the European Union.

Despite some recent signs of recovery, such as an improving current account balance, the Latvian economy still faces severe challenges.

Unemployment, which currently stands at around 23 per cent, according to Eurostat figures, would remain the "biggest social problem" at least until the end of 2010, Dombrovskis said. He insisted that Latvia remained on track to join the eurozone in 2014.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313618,latvian-prime-minister-marks-turbulent-first-year-in-office.html.

Libya says Swiss must make move to end diplomatic row

Geneva (Earth Times) - Libya made four demands Thursday that it said Switzerland would have to fulfill if it wanted the diplomatic row between the two countries to end. It also blamed Bern for refusing to negotiate on the matter.

The demands included the lifting of a Swiss visa ban on many top Libyans. The restriction extends to most of Europe, with Tripoli enacting tit-for-tat measures.

Speaking in Geneva, the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Aldredi, also said the fate of Max Goldi, a Swiss citizen jailed in Tripoli, was up to the courts to determine.

Aldredi was quoted by the Swiss news agency ATS as saying that Libyan courts were "independent."

The row dates back to 2008, when Geneva police briefly detained Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi, along with his wife, after receiving complaints they were abusing their servants.

Libya arrested Goldi and another Swiss businessman, since released, on visa charges a few days later.

Aldredi said Libya wants Switzerland to put on trial those responsible for Hannibal's arrest and launch an investigation into a leak of the son's arrest photos to a local paper.

Geneva authorities say an inquiry into the source of the leak is already under way.

Switzerland must also agree to an arbitration commission to decide on penalties in the affair, the ambassador said.

After the Swiss imposed the visa ban on some 180 top Libyan officials, the elder Gaddafi declared a jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland.

Most economic ties, including financial services and oil, had already been cut, with more restrictions since announced by Tripoli.

Switzerland's decision to refuse visas to many senior Libyans was this year extended to the entire Schengen zone of free movement, which spreads across most of Europe.

Two killed in clashes with separatists in south Yemen - Summary

Sana'a, Yemen - At least two people were killed and 16 injured in clashes between police and separatist protesters in southern Yemen on Thursday, police and witnesses said. Witnesses said one protester was killed and four injured in clashes in Dhalea, about 300 kilometers south of Sana'a. They said three policemen were injured after armed separatists opened fire at police.

Another protester was killed and seven injured in Tour al-Baha city of the neighboring Lahj province. Police said three activists were arrested in Tour al-Baha.

Police fired in the air to disperse dozens of armed protesters who tried to storm a local government building in Tour al-Baha.

In the southern city of Taiz, two people were injured when police tried to break up a rally organized by the opposition to show support to the southern separatist movement.

The opposition said 22 of its supporters were arrested by police in Taiz.

Around 5,000 people attended a sit-in in Sana'a called by the main opposition parties to denounce the violence in the south.

Violence has been on the rise in southern cities in recent months where disgruntled southerners increasingly take to the streets to support calls by the Southern Movement to split the once independent south from a united Yemen.

North and South Yemen were united in 1990, but separatist groups in the south claim that the central government in Sana'a neglect the people in the south and discriminate against them.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313623,two-killed-in-clashes-with-separatists-in-south-yemen--summary.html.

Egypt to investigate officer accused of beating ElBaradei supporter

Cairo (Earth Times) - Egypt's public prosecutor on Thursday decided to open an investigation into accusations that a state security officer tortured a supporter of former UN nuclear chief Mohammed ElBaradei, judicial sources said. The public prosecutor's decision to call in the officer from Egypt's domestic intelligence agency followed a strong statement of protest from ElBaradei, whose return to Egypt late last month and campaign for political reform has energized the country's opposition.

Taha Abdel-Tawab was detained on Sunday and badly beaten by officers from the Egyptian Interior Ministry's State Security Investigations service, after trying to organize a rally in support of an ElBaradei presidential bid, his lawyer alleged.

The officer accused by Abdel-Tawab, a doctor from the Egyptian oasis of al-Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, will face questioning on Saturday, judicial sources told the German Press Agency dpa.

ElBaradei had condemned "the barbaric assault on this innocent citizen," in a statement from the coalition of opposition groups he formed late last month to campaign for political reforms in Egypt.

Abdel-Tawab, who is in hospital in al-Fayoum, had started a hunger strike to call for the officer's prosecution.

Upon hearing of the public prosecutor's decision, he ended it, said opposition politician Gamila Ismail, who had visited Abdel-Tawab in hospital to express her solidarity with him.

Thousands of supporters greeted ElBaradei at the airport on his return to Egypt last month and called on him to run for president in the 2011 elections.

Following 2007 amendments to the constitution, ElBaradei, as an independent, could run only with the support of 250 elected national and local officials.

Since the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) dominates Egypt's national and local assemblies, it is unlikely he could secure a nomination without the NDP's blessing.

The coalition of opposition groups that formed around ElBaradei last month called on the government to institute seven reforms that the coalition said would provide for more free elections.

Brazil's economy contracts in 2009 for first time in 17 - Summary

Rio de Janeiro - The Brazilian economy contracted for the first time in 17 years in 2009, falling by 0.2 per cent, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said Thursday. It was the first annual contraction of gross domestic product since 1992.

Brazil's GDP fell to 3.1 trillion real (1.77 trillion dollars), leaving the country of 199 million with a per capita GDP of 9.263 dollars, the institute said. In 2008, Brazil's GDP stood at 2.9 trillion real (1.8 trillion dollars) in 2008.

The drop reflects the effects of the global economic and financial crisis, which were strongly felt in the South American giant in the first few months of 2009. However, fourth quarter figures show a vigorous recovery.

According to the IBGE report, GDP grew by 2 per cent in the October to December period over the previous quarter. Growth was as high as 4.3 per cent when compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the most acute phase of the crisis.

Brazilian industry contracted by 5.5 per cent in 2009, although it recovered towards the end of the year, while agriculture also shrank by 5.2 per cent. Only the service sector grew, by 2.6 per cent.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313634,brazils-economy-contracts-in-2009-for-first-time-in-17.html.

Pinera inaugurated as Chilean president to succeed Bachelet

Valparaiso, Chile - Conservative businessman Sebastian Pinera was inaugurated Thursday as Chilean president, to succeed Michelle Bachelet. The brief, austere ceremony was held at the Chilean Congress building in the port of Valparaiso north-west of capital Santiago. The inauguration ceremony was preceded by three strong quakes, which are among hundreds to have shaken Chile in recent weeks.

Several Latin American presidents, including Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina, Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Jose Mujica of Uruguay, Alan Garcia of Peru and Fernando Lugo of Paraguay were in attendance.

Pinera, 60, asked his cabinet to focus on reconstruction efforts in the wake of the quake and tsunami which devastated the country February 27 and claimed hundreds of lives. He is one of the richest men in Chile and is worth 2.2 billion dollars according to Forbes magazine.

Incoming Finance Minister Felipe Larrain on Thursday estimated that the disaster is to cost Chile 20-30 billion dollars.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313635,pinera-inaugurated-as-chilean-president-to-succeed-bachelet.html.

Turkish trio on trial for running far-left terror group

Dusseldorf - Three Turkish nationals went on trial in Germany on Thursday, accused of raising money to help finance a series of radical left-wing terrorist attacks in Turkey. The high-security wing of the Dusseldorf court was filled with spectators, who clapped and shouted out rallying cries as the trial opened.

The two men and a woman face sentences of up to 15 years, for alleged membership of the DHKP-C, a radical Marxist-Leninist group that has mounted bomb attacks in pursuit of its goal of overthrowing Turkey's government.

Defense lawyers called for the trial to be postponed until the European Court of Justice had answered legal questions relating to the case.

They also called for the accused to be released from pre-trial custody, after they were apprehended 16 months ago. Hearings at the European court are to start on May 12.

The accused are charged with having collected more than a million euros (1.4 million dollars) over the years to finance the group's "armed conflict" in Turkey.

State prosecutors allege that the woman, aged 34, is the head of DHKP-C's German and European operations. She could face additional sentencing as the group's ringleader.

The DHKP-C, or Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, has mounted a series of bomb attacks in Turkey and also used suicide bombers in a bid to overthrow the state and establish a communist system.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313636,turkish-trio-on-trial-for-running-far-left-terror-group.html.

US report cites European discrimination against Muslims

Washington - The US State Department's annual report on human rights released Wednesday warned of increasing concern that discrimination against Muslims was on the rise in Europe. The human rights report for 2009 cited Switzerland's ban on the construction of minarets on mosques enacted in November, as well as continued bans or restrictions on headscarves and burkas worn by Muslims in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

"Discrimination against Muslims in Europe has been an increasing concern," the report said.

Germany and the Netherlands have prohibitions against teachers wearing headscarves or burkas while on the job, and France bans the wearing of the religious garb in public, the report said.

The report particularly focused on problems in the Netherlands, where Muslims number about 850,000. The report said Muslims face societal resentment based on the belief that Islam is not compatible with Western values.

"Major incidents of violence against Muslims were rare, but minor incidents, including intimidation, brawls, vandalism, and graffiti with abusive language, were common," the report said, adding that right-wing politicians play a role in fueling the resentment.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313645,us-report-cites-european-discrimination-against-muslims.html.