Report: Petraeus Warns Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mullen that Israel Is Jeopardizing US Security Interests

Veteran military and foreign affairs analyst and author Mark Perry reports that CENTCOM commander General David Petraeus dispatched a team of senior military officers in January to brief Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Michael Mullen on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Perry reports that the briefers told Mullen that “Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardizing US standing in the region.”

Guest:

Mark Perry, veteran military and foreign affairs analyst and author. His latest article in Foreign Policy is The Petraeus Briefing. He is author of the new book Talking to Terrorists: Why America Must Engage with its Enemies.

ANJALI KAMAT: The United States has affirmed its, quote, “unshakeable” and “unbreakable” bond with Israel just days after Israel’s ambassador in Washington said ties between the allies were at their lowest point in thirty-five years. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs softened their tone toward Israel.

ROBERT GIBBS: The Vice President was in Israel to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the security of Israel and its people. As I said earlier, mature, bilateral relationships can have disagreements. And this is one of those disagreements. It does not—it does not break the unbreakable bond that we have with the Israeli government and with the Israeli people on their security.


ANJALI KAMAT: In an interview on Meet the Press this Sunday, Clinton had been sharply critical of Israel’s announcement that it would build 1,600 new homes in the Jewish settlement of Ramat Shlomo, coming as it did during Vice President Joseph Biden’s visit to the country.

SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: It was not just an unfortunate incident of timing, but the substance was something that is not needed as we are attempting to move toward the resumption of negotiations. It was insulting. And it was insulting not just to the Vice President, who certainly didn’t deserve that. He was there with a very clear message of commitment to the peace process, solidarity with the Israeli people, but it was an insult to the United States.


ANJALI KAMAT: Despite the strong words from high-level American officials, Israel’s response has been to apologize over the unfortunate timing of the announcement, but refused to back down on settlement construction. Earlier this week, Netanyahu reiterated that, quote, “Building everywhere in Jerusalem will continue as it has over the past forty-two years.”

AMY GOODMAN: Well, the pro-Israeli lobby has criticized the Obama administration for toughening its stance on Israel. But there’s another powerful lobby that seems to have a different opinion: the US military. Veteran military and foreign affairs analyst and author, Mark Perry, reports at foreignpolicy.com that CENTCOM commander General David Petraeus is concerned America’s policy on Israel might be jeopardizing US security interests in the region. Perry’s piece is called “The Petraeus Briefing: Biden’s Embarrassment Is Not the Whole Story.” He’s also author of the new book Talking to Terrorists: Why America Must Engage with its Enemies. Mark Perry joins us now from Washington, DC.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Mark Perry. Start off by explaining what exactly General Petraeus sent to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. What is his stand?

MARK PERRY: General Petraeus sent a briefing team to talk to Admiral Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to give Admiral Mullen a briefing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the facts of the conflict. But it was also clear from the briefing that this was a central concern among David Petraeus’s area of responsibility, the twenty-two Arab nations of the Central Command, and that in his travels throughout the region the leaders of these countries had made it clear to General Petraeus, the greater the Israeli intransigence on resolving the conflict with the Palestinians, the greater the erosion in American security. It was quite a—quite a blunt briefing.

AMY GOODMAN: How do you know that this briefing took place?

MARK PERRY: Because I talked to the people in the Pentagon who know about the briefing. And in fact, General Petraeus yesterday didn’t take issue with it. When he made his comments in public on the Senate Armed Services Committee, his first action item in his prepared remarks was the effect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on his area of responsibility. And he made it very clear that without progress on this issue, it was going to remain a problem in his area of responsibilities. He made that very clear in his testimony.

ANJALI KAMAT: Yes, Mark Perry, at the Senate panel hearing yesterday, General Petraeus brought up Israeli-Palestinian tensions, and he said, quote, I believe, “The conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of US favoritism [for] Israel. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples.”

But I wanted to play a clip from that hearing. In response to a question from Senator John McCain, he also denied having made a request to include Israel and the Palestinian territories under his command at CENTCOM.

GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS: Neither Israel nor the Palestinian territories are in the Central Command area of responsibility.

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: But yours is all of this—

GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS: Having said that, we keep a very close eye on what goes on there, because of the impact that it has, obviously, on that part of CENTCOM that is the Arab world, if you will. And, in fact, we’ve urged at various times that this is a critical component. It’s one reason, again, we invite Senator Mitchell to brief all of the different conferences that we host and seek to support him in any way that we can when he’s in the Central Command part of the region, just as we support Lieutenant General Dayton, who is supporting the training of the Palestinian security forces from a location that is in the CENTCOM AOR, as well. And, in fact, although some staff members have, various times—and I have discussed in—you know, asking for the Palestinian territories, or something like that, to be added to—we have never—I have never made that a formal recommendation for the Unified Command Plan. And that was not in what I submitted this year, nor have I sent a memo to the White House on any of this.


ANJALI KAMAT: Mark Perry, what’s your response?

MARK PERRY: Well, General Petraeus is exactly right. After I published my piece, I received a call from a senior officer in the Pentagon, who said General Petraeus has never given the request that you mentioned to the White House, but he did give it to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I went back into my piece and changed it, despite the fact that three senior officers in CENTCOM had said it was true. I’m not arguing with General Petraeus. He’s made the claim. He’s not a man who lies. I made the correction. He’s absolutely right.

ANJALI KAMAT: And Mark, I have a question in terms of the broader picture of what’s going on right now. Is this a big rift in US policy toward Israel? You talk about the Petraeus briefing. There’s been the flap created with Vice President Biden’s visit, strong words from Secretary of State Clinton. There seems to be a slight toning down of the rhetoric right now. What’s happening right now? Is this just rhetoric, or is there going to be a real change?

MARK PERRY: Well, you’re absolutely right. There has been a toning down in rhetoric. However, watching the Secretary of State on Sunday, in particular, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so angry about something. And, you know, this is more than a hiccup. Is it a crisis? No, it’s not a crisis. But the United States has made it very clear to the Israeli government what needs to be done here, that this building project in East Jerusalem needs to stop, that there have to be confidence-building measures, and that the Israelis have to go to the peace table in good faith. And I think that’s the expectation. Those requirements have not changed. And we’re waiting for Israel’s answer. This is not a crisis. We’re not going to end our relationship with Israel. But this is certainly more than a hiccup in our relationship. This is an important break.

AMY GOODMAN: And this issue, going back to General Petraeus talking about the US relationship with Israel actually jeopardizing US lives, take that a little further.

MARK PERRY: Well, Israel is not our only ally in the region. We have very close and strong ties with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, with all of these Arab countries. And we have troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. And if you go on the ground in these countries and you talk to the people in Iraq and Afghanistan, they’re concerned about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I mean, it’s really—it’s hard for us to believe, but if you spend any time in the region—I spent twenty years there—this is number one on everyone’s agenda. Not the war on terror, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

So it’s true. If we can solve this problem, if we can push both sides to the table, if we can come up with some kind of a solution, this helps us immensely on the war on terror. If it doesn’t, it’s another excuse for the terrorists, the Jacobins, the hardliners, the let’s-burn-it-down-and-start-over crowd to really go up against us. This is an arrow in their quiver, and we should be able to take it away.

ANJALI KAMAT: Mark Perry, your book is Talking to Terrorists: Why America Must Engage with its Enemies. What’s your assessment of the prospect for a peace process that does not include Hamas?

MARK PERRY: I think it will fail. Hamas won the January 2000 elections in the Palestinian Authority, the most transparent, honest, fair, open elections in the history of the Middle East. They didn’t win by a little bit. They won by a lot. They retain enormous credibility inside the Palestinian territories. And they can disrupt a peace process that only includes one group of Palestinians. They’re not—this isn’t a group of graduates from a charm school. These are tough-minded political people. But they’re committed to their people, they are committed to their cause, they’re committed to democracy. We should bring them into the peace process. We should induce them to sit down honestly. They’re willing to do that. They’ve expressed it many times. I don’t think, without them, that there’s much prospect for success.

AMY GOODMAN: You were once an adviser to Yasser Arafat. How have things changed or not changed since then?

MARK PERRY: That’s a good question. It’s interesting. You know, Yasser Arafat had enormous prestige and stature among his own people. He’s the one man who could have brought a peace process home, with a willing partner, like Yitzhak Rabin. If Rabin had lived and if Rabin had remained prime minister, with Arafat, I think that this would have been done by now. I know we had a problem at Camp David, but that was with Ehud Barak. With Yitzhak Rabin and with Yasser Arafat, this problem wouldn’t be there. I just—I have that confidence. He had—he could make compromises that no other Palestinian leader could, and he was willing to do it if he got his minimal requirements met. At Camp David, he didn’t. It’s a tragedy that we were so close and weren’t able to really bring this thing home. And it’s going to be more difficult now, and it’ll be more difficult as time goes on, if we don’t press both parties right now.

ANJALI KAMAT: But both parties in Israel, including under Rabin’s government, continue to build settlements. As Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said, building—every government since 1967 has built settlements around Jerusalem and in the West Bank.

MARK PERRY: Yes, but Rabin had some principles that Arafat and the American administration agreed to. And that was no surprises. When the Vice President of the United States lands in Israel for a visit of friendship, don’t surprise him with 1,600 units. Make a phone call. That’s all Arafat and the administration here in Washington at the time required: no surprises. You know, when you have a person of Vice President Biden’s prestige and stature from an ally, your strongest and best friend in the world, and you insult him and humiliate him like this, it causes enormous problems. We have enemies in the world who don’t like us who don’t do this. This is supposed to be an ally of ours. I think that this is—there’s a sense that the tenor has changed here, that Israel believes it can push back on us, that we’re an ally of theirs, not the other way around. And that fundamental formula has to change. This was really a shocking thing that happened, and I think it has to be rolled back.

ANJALI KAMAT: Finally, how hard do you think the US can push? Just a few months ago, the Obama administration basically agreed that the Palestinians should agree to continued expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem as a precondition for talks.

AMY GOODMAN: Unfortunately, we’re going to have to leave that question, Anjali, for the next time we speak with Mark Perry, because we’ve just lost the satellite feed. But we’re going to go to a break, and we’re going to wrap up in a very different place, in New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina. But our guest was Mark Perry, veteran foreign affairs analyst and author, his latest book, Talking to Terrorists: Why America Must Engage with its Enemies.

Source: Democracy Now!
Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/17/report_petraeus_warns_joint_chiefs_of

Iranian warships set sail for Gulf of Aden

Iran has sent a naval battle group to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to confront threats to the country's shipping lanes.

According to an announcement by the country's naval forces, the group was dispatched to the Gulf of Aden and the North Indian Ocean to "combat the ominous phenomenon of piracy."

The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the key commercial shipping lane since November 2008.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union, China, Malaysia and India have independently sent ships to thwart pirates, armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades.

Somalia's nearly 5,000-kilometer-long coast has been the scene of 215 attacks on ships crossing the waterway in 2009.

In 2009, USD 48.4 million was paid in ransom for the total of 46 vessels hijacked during the same period.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121064§ionid=351020101.

AL chief: Peace talks pointless without settlement freeze

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa says a renewal of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks would be "pointless" as long as Israel gives green lights to settlement construction activities in Jerusalem (al-Quds).

"What is happening in Jerusalem (al-Quds) will be a special item on the agenda of the upcoming Arab League summit. As of now, negotiations with Israel have no value," Moussa said in Beirut on Wednesday.

Moussa also said that violent clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and members of the Israeli police in occupied East Jerusalem (al-Quds) on Tuesday were the worst in years.

Israeli forces clashed with hundreds of Palestinians, who were protesting against plans for more Jewish housing nits in predominantly Arab eastern sector of the volatile city and renovation of a synagogue in the Old City near the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

More than 100 Palestinians were injured, while about 60 protesters were arrested.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121065§ionid=351020202.

Ahmadi short-listed for 2010 Little Nobel Prize

Iranian writer of children's stories Ahmad-Reza Ahmadi has been short-listed for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

The Jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announced the 2010 shortlist including five authors and five illustrators.

The jury selected the prominent poet and screenwriter for his “fascinating short stories”, which “speak poetically about humanity, love, nature and peace for children and young adults.”

Ahmadi will compete with David Almond (UK), Bartolomeu Campos de Queiros (Brazil), Lennart Hellsing (Sweden) and Louis Jensen (Denmark).

Known for his new wave poems, Ahmadi has deeply influenced the pioneers of modern Persian poetry such as Ahmad Shamlou and Forough Farrokhzad.

The Design, The Glass Newspaper, Daily Prose, Rhymes were Lost in the Wind and All Those Years are among his better-known works.

The 2010 short-listed illustrators are Jutta Bauer (Germany), Carll Cneut (Belgium), Etienne Delessert (Switzerland), Svjetlan Junakovic (Croatia) and Roger Mello (Brazil).

The jury was led by Zohreh Ghaeni from Iran, who was joined by Ernest Bond (US), Karen Coeman (Mexico), Nadia El Kholy (Egypt), Maria Jesus Gil (Spain), Jan Hansson (Sweden), Annemie Leysen (Belgium), Darja Mezi-Leskovar (Slovenia), Alicia Salvi (Argentina), Helene Schar (Switzerland) and Regina Zilberman (Brazil).

The winners will be announced on March 23rd at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.

Also known as the 'Little Nobel Prize', the Hans Christian Andersen Award is given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) to authors and illustrators, who have contributed to children's literature.

The only Iranian to receive the Hans Christian Andersen Award was the renowned illustrator Farshid Mesqali who won the award in 1974 for his contribution to children's books illustration.

Winners of the 2008 Little Nobel Prize were Italian illustrator Roberto Innocenti and Swiss writer Jurg Schubiger.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121051§ionid=351020105.

US urges Turkey to toe line on anti-Iran sanctions

The United States has urged the Turkish government to support its drive for wider sanctions against Iran over the country's nuclear program.

According to the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Philip Gordon, Ankara must show it is "on board" with the move towards new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Speaking earlier today, the US official further pointed out that Turkey could face consequences if it ignored the US demands.

"Many would be disappointed if Turkey is an exception to an international consensus on dealing with Iran," he threatened.

"Turkey wants to be an important, responsible actor on the international scene. And I think joining the majority of the Security Council in doing this would reinforce that image," he went on to say.

"Not doing so would not contribute to that positive outcome ... I think that's a consequence," he further warned.

The US has in recent months stepped up its efforts to impose new sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, which it says is solely civilian.

Despite what the US official claims, there is no international consensus for expanding the existing sanctions regime against Iran, with permanent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) member China and temporary members Brazil and Turkey already stating their oppositions to isolating Iran.

The US and a number of its Western allies have pushed through three rounds of UNSC sanctions against Iran over its refusal to bow to pressure to halt its nuclear program and are currently lobbying for a fourth.

Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, says its nuclear work is directed at the civilian applications of the technology.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121047§ionid=351020104.

EGYPT: Population Growth Overtakes Literacy Rise

By Cam McGrath

LUXOR, Mar 12, 2010 (IPS) - Literacy programs are teaching millions of Egyptians to read, but are struggling to keep up with the country's high population growth.

"Egypt is one of the most challenging countries for any literacy program," a literacy program administrator at Catholic relief agency CARITAS told IPS. "You can't afford to step off the pedal for a minute."

One in every four Egyptians is illiterate. Despite free education and long- running literacy programs, the number of illiterates has changed little in over two decades. Nearly 17 million adult Egyptians can neither read nor write, according to recent government data.

Development experts prefer to see the glass half full. Ghada Gholam, an education program specialist at UNESCO Egypt, has no illusions about the extent of the problem, but says progress in reducing Egypt's illiteracy rate should not be overlooked.

"In percentage terms literacy rates have improved a lot over the past 10 years, though in actual numbers they (illiterates) have increased. And this is directly related to population growth," Gholam says. "There are lots of successful efforts, but with the increase in the population growth it is really difficult to decrease the number of illiterates."

Egypt's population of 80 million is growing at 1.76 percent a year. The strongest growth is among the rural poor - those most inclined to chose immediate financial security over the long-term benefits of education.

Despite free, mandatory education for children ages 6 to 15, parents in poor communities often remove their kids from the education system to help work at home or in the fields.

"School enrollment is free, but parents don't want to spend money on transport, private lessons or textbooks," says Ayman Tawdros, who supervises CARITAS literacy programs in the southern Egyptian governorate Luxor. "If the children go to school they can't work, and they are perceived as a financial burden on the family."

The dropout rate is highest among girls. Tawdros says parents are less willing to invest in their daughters than their sons because they believe that by their late teens the girls will likely "marry off and move away."

Education specialists say the pressure on girls increases significantly after puberty.

"Once a girl hits a certain age, especially in countries where there's early marriage, her chances of being pulled out of school increase," says Diane Prouty of the Girls' Improved Learning Outcomes (GILO), a USAID-funded project to increase girls' access to quality education in rural Egyptian communities. "In addition, girls spend more hours doing housework and chores than boys, so they have less time to study or sleep."

Women account for 69 percent of illiterates in Egypt.

"Any serious effort to tackle illiteracy starts here," says Prouty. "The literature is really clear that girls who go to school have less mother mortality, lower infant mortality, more discretionary cash and, importantly, are much more likely to educate their own family."

National campaigns to eradicate illiteracy became more vigorous following the creation of the Adult Education Authority (AEA) in 1991. The state agency works with educational institutions and various NGOs to eliminate illiteracy, with priority to individuals between the ages of 14 and 45. It develops the national curriculum and administers literacy exams.

But the numbers are daunting. Educators must teach 1.4 million Egyptians to read and write every year just to keep up with the country's population growth. Only then can they begin to make a mark on the illiteracy rate, shaving off one percent for every 700,000 taught.

National campaigns have helped reduce the country's illiteracy rate from over 40 percent in 1991 to about 26 percent today. Gholam, however, says the statistics may not accurately reflect the significant progress made by organizations and individuals working outside the state education system.

"It's very easy to get statistics for children in schools and those in formal learning- you can follow and track them," she says. "But informal learning is very difficult to track. Literacy is not only taught by the government; it is also taught by civil society, peers and family members."

Literacy campaigns are utilizing informal learning, encouraging university students to instruct their peers and literate family members to teach their relatives. But some say the government needs to show stronger commitment to mandatory education, stiffening the punishment for parents who fail to register their children or withdraw them from school.

The current penalty for taking a child out of school is a 1.80 dollar fine, though it is rarely enforced.

"We must break the cycle of illiteracy that starts with parents deciding not to educate their children," says Heba Youssef, a primary schoolteacher. "Children who grow up illiterate are less likely to improve their economic situation than those who can read and write. And they are less likely to educate their own children."

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/03/egypt-population-growth-overtakes-literacy-rise/.

Thai demonstrators picket US embassy in Bangkok

In Thailand, tens of thousands of anti-government protesters have protested against the American embassy in the capital Bangkok.

The protesters accuse US intelligence officials of bugging phone conversations of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

They say Washington accused Thaksin of inciting violence after intercepting his phone calls.

Just hours earlier, the demonstrators spilled their blood at the gate of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's house.

The 'Red Shirts' loyal to Thaksin want Abhisit to dissolve parliament and call for snap elections.

The twice-elected Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and later sentenced to two years in jail for corruption.

The former premier remains hugely popular among the rural poor, who have staged frequent rallies calling for his return to power.

Thaksin has been living in exile since the coup of 2006. His supporters call the current government illegitimate.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121041§ionid=351020406.

US states to mark Corrie murder by Israeli bulldozers

Peace activists in many states across America are intended to organize candle light vigils outside government buildings to commemorate the brutal killing of Rachel Corrie who was run over in Gaza by Israeli bulldozers.

The 23 year old student from Washington State was part of an international solidarity coalition in Gaza when she was run over trying to block the American-made bulldozer from destroying a Palestinian home.

Rachel's 7th anniversary comes as her criminal trial against the bulldozer drivers is underway in Israel and Washington and Tel Aviv are in the midst of a heated contention over Israel's direct violation of the proximity talks and international law.

"The timing there is interesting and it is important that enough attention is given to really one of the few people that literally stood in the way of Israel's policies," Yousef Munayyer, the Executive Director of Jerusalem Fund told Press TV's Jihan Hafiz.

It's taken 7 years for the Corrie family to reach civil court in Israel.

They tried unsuccessfully to sue Caterpillar for the death of their daughter, but finally have the chance to redress Israel's flawed investigation into her death. The Israeli investigation labeled her murder, an accident.

International actions are taking place throughout the world to commemorate the Rachel Corrie and honor her final stand against Israeli policy.

"You can bulldoze a body but you cannot bulldoze a spirit, the spirit of Rachel lives in us, lives in her parents lives in the people in Gaza," said Ray McGovern, former CIA official.

Rachel's death has drawn international attention toward the Palestinian plight in the occupied Palestinian land.

This is while the world has turned a blind eye toward the killing of hundreds of Palestinians and the Israeli oppression and suppression.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121038§ionid=3510203.

Hezbollah pledges solidarity with al-Quds protesters

Lebanon's resistance movement, Hezbollah, has condemned the use of force by Israeli police against Palestinian protesters in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The condemnation comes a day after Israeli forces fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse thousands of angry Palestinians who took to the streets of al-Quds to protest the reopening of the Hurva synagogue.

The restoration of the synagogue, just a few meters from the al-Aqsa Mosque, drew a strong response from different Palestinians factions and raised speculations of a third intifada against Israeli violations.

Joining the calls was Hezbollah, who announced complete solidarity with Palestinians and vowed to stand by their side in their struggle against "Zionist crimes being committed around the al-Aqsa mosque."

The resistance movement expressed hope that the building of an Israeli synagogue near the al-Aqsa mosque will lead to more Muslim vigilance and resistance.

The Islamic movement also demanded that Arab and Muslim leaders take concrete action against Israel.

On Wednesday, a Palestinian parliamentary official called on al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, to respond to Israeli practices in East al-Quds.

Fatah's armed wing, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, also called on the Palestinian Authority to return their confiscated weapons and release the group's fighters in jail so that they could join the "al-Quds Intifada" and help protect the al-Aqsa Mosque — the third holiest site in the Muslim world.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121030§ionid=351020203.

Iranian students urge suspension of ties with Sweden

After Swedish newspapers republished a sacrilegious cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Iranian Basij students call on the Foreign Ministry to suspend relations with Sweden.

In a letter to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Basij students from eight main universities in Tehran urged Iranian diplomatic authorities to swiftly cut ties with Sweden until Swedish officials apologize for the move and take meaningful measures against the insensitive media sources.

The letter said that Muslims have been suffering from such biased publicity by certain Western countries in the name of freedom and democracy. It described the move as a Western trend backed by the 'international Zionism' in recent years and added that its aim was to violate the sanctity of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

"We are witnessing the repeat of this nasty conspiracy by certain Swedish newspapers. They hold a grudge against the greatness of Islam and Qur'an," it said.

On March 10, the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reprinted a sacrilegious cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by Swedish caricaturist Lars Vilks after the Irish police arrested seven suspects in an alleged plot to assassinate Vilks.

The cartoons were first published in Sweden in 2007, prompting worldwide protests by Muslims.

"It is surprising and regrettable that the government of the Islamic Republic keeps questionable silence on the case. This silence is very hard and painful for those who love Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)," said the university students in their letter.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast urged Sweden to “seriously deal with” a Swedish newspaper which has republished a sacrilegious cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

“Iran strongly denounces the reprinting of the disrespectful cartoons,” Mehmanparast said, adding that Tehran was concerned about the negative consequences of such “provocative acts.”

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121029§ionid=351020101.

Junta leaders must be brought to ICJ

Kashmir Watch, March 16
Abdur Rashid

Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of genocide (1948) defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious groups” including

1. Killing members of the group,

2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group,

3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,

4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group and

5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The present ruling military junta has been perpetrating almost all the crimes mentioned in Article 2 of the Convention against the Rohingya people without any slightest doubt amounting to genocide. Human Rights organizations have documented in a systematic way to prove that the junta is in fact carrying out genocide against the Rohingya people.

There are hundreds of instances of killing of Rohingya individuals like Zahir Ahmed 47, son of Abul Bashar of Khanripara who was tortured to death on February 4 in Maungdaw military intelligence office called Sarapa and his dead body thrown in to nearby river, almost everyday. In 1994 hundreds of youths had been shot to death extra judicially by the military and dumped in mass graves which were discovered by the public. In 1978 during Nagamin and in 1991-92 during Pyithaya operations hundreds of people were detained, tortured killed and starved to death by the ruling military junta. Are not these killings carried out with the intention to destroy Rohingya community?

Indictment of people with false cases like owning foreign mobile phone sets, secretly trading in narcotic tablets known as Yaba, illegally crossing to Bangladesh, and having links with insurgent groups etc. etc. with the intention of extorting money and torturing them to extract false confession is everyday phenomenon giving rise to a situation of fear in the Rohingya community. Police, Nasaka and intelligence people are roaming around towns and villages to find their prey almost all the time. Are these acts not causing serious bodily or mental harm to Rohingya community?

Revoking the citizenship and depriving the people from their political rights and perpetration of severe human rights violations like restriction on movement, forced labor, confiscation of lands, restriction on trade and business, seizure of agricultural produce in the name of tax have all been carried out under State patronization and direction. Are these acts not imposed on the Rohingyas to bring about a condition of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction?

Since 1980s severe restriction on marriage has been imposed on the Rohingya community. At times no permission is given at all to marry. Couples have to sign documents stating that they will not bear more than two children. Contraceptives injections have been given without the consent of the couple. Are not these measures intended to prevent birth within the Rohingya community?

All the above acts have been perpetrated against the Rohingya people alone among the people of Arakan because they are felt as dangerous, undesirable and a threat to junta’s continuous grip over Arakan. There is not the slightest doubt according to the definition of genocide that it is being carried out against the Rohingya people of Arakan. If Milosevic, Radovam Karadic could be brought to the International Court of Justice by the international community to face charges of war crimes and genocide why not the leaders of Burmese military junta should be brought to ICJ to face similar charges?

Source: Kashmir Watch.
Link: http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showhumanrights.php?subaction=showfull&id=1268777722&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&var0news=value0news.

Australia's teeming millions pine for paradise lost - Feature

Sydney - Australia's 22 million people often say that what they most like about their country is its roominess. It's a big country with big houses and big backyards. Cities are small, cars large and the countryside endless.

Australia's population density of 2.9 people per square kilometer is among the lowest in the world, exceeded only by places like Mongolia and Greenland. Canada, another major destination for migration, has a density rate of 3.4, and sprawling Kazakhstan in Central Asia has twice the density of Australia at 5.8 people per square kilometer.

But what Australians say they love about their country is fading fast. The wide, brown land is filling up. All that fabled space is disappearing - and many are upset at its passing.

In the 1990s, annual population growth was below 1 per cent. Now, with more babies, more immigrants and more people living longer, growth is touching 2 per cent a year.

There used to be 220,000 extra people each year; now, that figure is 443,000. By 2050 there will be 35 million Australians, and the populations of Sydney and Melbourne will have doubled.

"I actually believe in a big Australia," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in October, when the government's population projections came out. "I actually think that it's good news that our population is growing."

Rudd expounds the classic argument for having more people: More taxpayers to fund national defence, more workers to keep the economy growing and a bigger headcount to give the nation's leaders a greater say in world affairs.

Government economists warned that attempting to slow population growth would slow the economy. They claimed that 17 per cent would be lopped of Gross Domestic Product in the next 40 years if immigration - now running at a record high of 244,000 settlers a year - was cut back to 100,000 a year.

"Immigration plays a role in ameliorating the aging of the population, because migrants tend to be younger on average than the resident population," the government report said.

What was as much a shock as the population projections was the fury that greeted them. Rudd was berated all round for his blithe acceptance of a fuller Australia.

The two opposition parties refused to share his enthusiasm and called for an independent inquiry into population growth and its implication.

There was dissent within Rudd's Labor Party.

"The prime minister might also like to explain why the government is telling us we must reduce our carbon footprint while suggesting we double the number of feet," said Barry Cohen, a former minister.

Backbencher Kelvin Thomson went further, attacking Rudd's bigger- is-better credo and calling instead for cuts to immigration, an end to the "baby bonus" that gives new mothers a tax-free windfall and a reform of the tax code to reward those choosing to have smaller families.

"Another 14 million people won't give us a richer country; it will spread our mineral wealth more thinly and give us a poorer one," Thomson said. "It will make a mockery of our obligation to pass on to our children and grandchildren a world in as good a condition as the one our parents and grandparents gave to us."

Rudd quickly backed away from his Big Australia dreaming. The backlash has been so sharp that population is emerging as a critical issue in an election year.

A new, single-issue political party, advocating a population stable at 23 million, is in the making. The 23 Million Party has rich and influential backers and is likely to seal alliances with other minority parties.

Cohen, Thomson and other campaigners stress that there should be no change to the color-blind immigration regime that replaced the White Australia policy in the 1970s. They deny they are racists, noting that they want the birth rate reduced along with the immigration intake. It's immigration numbers they have in their sights, not immigrants.

Bob Brown, leader of the Greens and supporter of a cut in immigration, said Australians should be brave and debate the carrying capacity of a country that is mostly empty desert fringed by a narrow, well-peopled coastal strip.

"We are a humanitarian party and an environmental party," he said. "There's a lot of ignorance, which drives fear of discussing population because you'll be labeled racist."

The evidence from opinion polls - most say they want a cut in immigration - is that Cohen, Thomson and Brown have sniffed the wind. Population is a vote-getter.

Australians overwhelmingly say they want their country to live up to the image it projects abroad: Big, bountiful and unburdened by too many people.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314447,australias-teeming-millions-pine-for-paradise-lost--feature.html.

Israel ends West Bank closure, but remains on alert in Jerusalem

Jerusalem - Israel rescinded Wednesday morning a five-day closure imposed on the West Bank, but police and special forces remained deployed in Jerusalem's streets in anticipation of continued rioting near the Noble Sanctuary / Temple Mount compound. An Israeli military spokesman said the closure had been due to be removed at midnight Tuesday, and a "situation assessment" allowed the lifting of it to go ahead.

The decision to lift the closure came after a Palestinian "day of rage" sparked by the reopening in the Old City of Jerusalem of an historic synagogue.

Palestinian groups urged their supporters to take to the streets, following a rumor that Jews intended to proceed from the synagogue to the Noble Sanctuary compound, 400 meters away, to begin preparations for the "Third Temple."

The compound is holy to both Jews and Muslims and is a frequent Jerusalem flashpoint. Following the destruction of the Second Temple at the site in 70 AD, desire to see the construction of a further sanctuary there has formed a central part of Jewish tradition.

Muslims believe the Noble Sanctuary site marks the spot from where the Prophet Mohammed ascended to Heaven.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314471,israel-ends-west-bank-closure-but-remains-on-alert-in-jerusalem.html.

Turkish PM threatens to expel Armenians amid genocide row

Istanbul - Turkey's prime minister has threatened to expel thousands of illegal alien Armenians amid escalating tension over the alleged genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman era, Turkish media reported Wednesday. In excerpts from an interview with the BBC's Turkish-language service, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the presence of an estimated 100,000 Armenians currently working without a permit in Turkey may no longer be tolerated.

"So what will I do tomorrow? If necessary, I will tell them 'come on, back to your country.' I'm not obliged to keep them in my country," he said.

Erdogan said recent decisions by the Swedish parliament and by a US House of Representatives committee to recognize the World War I mass killings as genocide could have an adverse effect on relations between Turkey and Armenia.

Armenia and Turkey are currently working to restore their diplomatic relations. But Ankara has warned that efforts to tie it with the genocide claim could further damage the already troubled reconciliation process with Yerevan.

Turkey has recalled its ambassadors to the US and Sweden after the recent votes in those countries.

Ankara recalled its ambassador to Canada last year after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper referred to the genocide.

Armenians claim that up to 1.5 million of their people were murdered during World War I. Turkey rejects the genocide claim, saying the number of Armenians killed was much lower and that the deaths were the result of violence that also affected other ethnic groups at the time.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314485,turkish-pm-threatens-to-expel-armenians-amid-genocide-row.html.

Iran unveils national kerosene engine

Amid western threats to impose gas sanctions on Iran, an Iranian inventor has unveiled a new national kerosene engine.

The national kerosene engine was unveiled in Ardebil during a ceremony attended by Ardebil Governor Mansour Haghighatpour on Tuesday.

Manouchehr Bizaban-Moqaddam invented the dual-fuel engine capable of running on both kerosene and gas.

The flexible-fuel engine will run on kerosene and gas separately or mixed together in the same tank.

The new lightweight kerosene engine uses advanced technology to deliver strong power while improving on fuel efficiency.

Iran aims to produce light duty diesel engines to complete its fuel basket.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121024§ionid=351020103.

Somali pirates release chemical tanker, crew

Wed Mar 17, 2010

A chemical tanker and its North Korean crew have been released by Somali pirates after being held captive for four months, a maritime official says.

On November 16 last year, the 22,294 deadweight ton MV Theresa VIII, a Virgin Islands owned and Kiribati-flagged chemical tanker was seized in the south Somali Basin, northwest of the Seychelles with 28 crew members on board.

The vessel was released after they were paid a ransom of about $3.5 million, said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Program.

"MV Theresa VIII is now free and she is underway heading to Mombassa. She is expected here in the next three to four days," said Mwangura.

"MV Theresa VIII and her 28 North Korean crew was hijacked by pirates about 140 nautical miles northwest of Seychelles on November 16 while underway to Mombassa laden with palm oil."

Somali pirates hijacked 47 vessels and took 867 crew members as hostage in 2009. They were also held responsible for more than half of the 406 reported highjack incidents in 2009.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/121016.html.

Tehran court issues sentences for 86 post-vote rioters

Sentences have been handed down to 86 detainees of Tehran's Western-led post-election unrests on charges that include taking part in illegal riots and disrupting public order.

The sentences issued by the Tehran Revolution Court have been transferred to the Implementation of Sentences Bureau, the court's public relations office announced in a Tuesday statement.

It added that most of the sentences that were issued to the 86 are prison terms.

According to the statement, the sentences were issued for charges such as "conspiring against national security, spreading propaganda against the establishment, membership in hostile and anti-Revolutionary groups, taking part in illegal gatherings, and disrupting public order."

Iranian security and justice officials have publicized evidence of US and European involvement in planning and backing the post-election riots in Tehran that included killing and injuring law-enforcement officers as well as destroying and burning public and private properties.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121015§ionid=351020101.

Belarus to build air defense for Venezuela in oil trade

The President of Belarus promises to assist Venezuela build a national air defense system as Caracas agrees to supply crude oil to Belorussian refineries.

"We can do this in a very short period of time," Alexander Lukashenko said following talks with his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez.

Lukashenko added that with the new technology Venezuela will be able to live "peacefully" without worries about enemy conspiracies.

He made the offer during a two-day visit to Caracas aimed at solidifying industrial, commercial and diplomatic cooperation between the two nations.

Relations between Minsk and Caracas have strengthened dramatically in recent years.

Belarus and Venezuela trade about 1 million tons of crude a year (20,000 barrels a day), but beginning next May, the oil-rich South American nation will start exporting 80,000 barrel of oil a day to oil-thirsty Belarus.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121011§ionid=351020704.

Nothing less than right to self-determination acceptable: Gilani

Srinagar, March 17 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani has emphasized that the Kashmiris have rendered unparalleled sacrifices for a sacred cause and they will never accept anything less than right to self-determination. Syed Ali Gilani addressing a gathering in Sumbal said that no ready made solution would be acceptable to the people of Kashmir.

“We won’t accept any solution which is imposed on us,” he said. He urged the people of occupied Kashmir to remain away from pro-India politicians to safeguard the Kashmir cause.

Calling upon the Kashmiri youth to understand their responsibilities, the veteran Hurriyet leader said, “Conspiracies are being hatched to take the Kashmiris away from their culture. The youth need to understand that they have to lead from the front and take the movement towards its logical end, as they are the heirs of the martyrs.”

Source: Kashmir Media Service.
Link: http://www.kmsnews.org/news/nothing-less-right-self-determination-acceptable-gilani.

'Kashmiri youth being arrested under fake cases in India'

Srinagar, March 16 (KMS): The Kashmiri youth are being arrested under fake allegations and being kept in illegal detention in different cities of India.

Recently Indian police arrested Bashir Ahmad Baba (32) of Rainawari area in Srinagar from Ahmedabad under concocted allegations. The relatives of Bashir Ahmad held a protest at Press Colony against his unjust arrest.

The protesters on the occasion told media men that Bashir Ahmad was totally innocent and he was arrested under a conspiracy, as the allegations against him were totally baseless. They demanded his immediate release.

Nazir Ahmad, the brother of Bashir Ahmad Baba, said that his brother had been working with a volunteer organization for last one year. He said that he went to Ahmdabad around a year ago and they had no contact with him for last several days. He said that on Sunday they heard the news of his arrest on television.

The mother of Bashir Ahmad Baba said that her son had gone to Ahmadabad to earn livelihood for his family. “Indian police personnel arrest innocent Kashmiris under false allegations only to get promotions,” she maintained.

Source: Kashmir Media Service.
Link: http://www.kmsnews.org/news/%E2%80%98kashmiri-youth-being-arrested-under-fake-cases-india%E2%80%99.

Chinkipora residents fear un-exploded shells under rubbles

Srinagar, March 16 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, three weeks after the destruction of their houses by Indian troops with mortar shelling, another worry that has been keeping the homeless residents of Chinkipora, Sopore, away from starting reconstruction, is the fear of unexploded material left under the rubble.

The affected families told media men that the troops had not cleared the explosive material. “It is sheer negligence on their behalf as four days back when we were digging the debris to extricate the belongings, we stumbled on an explosive device fitted with wires,” said Muhammad Arif, a resident.

The locals said that a mishap had already occurred in the locality four months back, when an unexploded material went off after a gunfight ended. “Four persons, including a woman were wounded when they were clearing rubble of their damaged houses last November here,” they added.

It is to mention here that several houses were destroyed and many others suffered partial damage during a three-day violent military operation after a gunfight between Indian troops and Mujahideen in the area on February 23.

Source: Kashmir Media Service.
Link: http://www.kmsnews.org/news/chinkipora-residents-fear-un-exploded-shells-under-rubbles.

Kashmir center sets up symbolic military tent in Geneva

Geneva, March 17 (KMS): The Kashmir Center Brussels set up a symbolic military tent outside the office of the United Nations in Geneva, which will continue for five days. The Chairman of Kashmir Center Brussels, Barrister Abdul Majeed Tramboo, said that the purpose of the military tent was to convey to the international community that India had unleashed the worst kind of state terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir to prolong its illegal occupation.

The Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is in Geneva, also visited the military tent. Other leaders who visited the tent included the Executive Director of Kashmir Center Washington, Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai and the Executive Director of Kashmir Center London, Professor Nazir Ahmad Shawl.

On the occasion, the violations of human rights by Indian troops were highlighted through a photo exhibition.

Source: Kashmir Media Service.
Link: http://www.kmsnews.org/news/kashmir-centre-sets-symbolic-military-tent-geneva.

Ramallah to name street after U.S. activist Rachel Corrie

By Jack Khoury and Amira Hass

The parents of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer in Gaza, took part in a ceremony in Ramallah on Tuesday, where a street is being named after Rachel.

The ceremony was attended by Palestinian anti-fence protesters as well as members of the International Solidarity Movement, the organization to which Rachel Corrie belonged.

Later on Tuesday, Rachel Corrie's parents were in Haifa to watch a biographical play about their daughter on the seventh anniversary of her death.

The parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, could not conceal their emotions as Lana Zreik took the stage at the Al-Midan Theater in Haifa to portray their late daughter in the one-woman play "My Name Is Rachel Corrie."

The Corries were joined by dozens of others taking in the performance that tells the story of the young American woman who chose to disengage from her quiet life in the town of Olympia, Washington and travel to the southern Gaza Strip as a human rights activist.

Corrie died on March 16, 2003 after she was trampled by an IDF bulldozer. Her family is in Israel to sue the state and the IDF over her death.

The play, which is based on Rachel's diary entries and e-mails she wrote since she was 10 years old, was first staged in London in 2005.

The director of the play, Riad Masarwa, saw the London production and afterward contacted the rights holders, edited the script, and staged an Arab-language version of the play in 2007.

"This is a personal story and a tragedy of a young girl who presented a challenge before each and every one of us," the director said yesterday. "Particularly among the Palestinian people and the Arab world."

Cindy Corrie, who noted that the play has already been staged in many countries, including the United States, said she found comfort in the fact that her daughter's memory is being kept alive by means of words she herself wrote.

Source: Haaretz.
Link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1157048.html.

Lula Tells Palestinians Their First Challenge Is to Break Israeli Blockade

Written by Alexandre Rocha
Wednesday, 17 March 2010

Apart from seeking greater participation in the peace process between Israel and Palestine, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in Bethlehem, West Bank, that Brazil is ready to grant more economic support to Palestine. "We are ready to support the initiatives of Fayyad Plan", said Lula, referring to the economic development project elaborated by prime minister Salam Fayyad.

The plan includes 201 projects, especially in the infrastructure area, for the value of US$ 5.5 billion. At the closing of the Brazil-Palestine Business Seminar, organized by the governments of both countries with the support of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Lula said that part of this support will be through identification of export opportunities for Palestinian products alongside investment.

"We want to collaborate with the Fayyad government plan to modernize the infrastructure and reduce Palestine’s international dependence," said Lula, adding that, for this reason, the governments of Brazil, Spain and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) are going to promote, in São Paulo, a conference on investment in the territories occupied by Israel, in the second half of the year. "The challenge is to attract technology and capital from Brazil to Palestine," he said.

Salim Taufic Schahin, president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, which is participating in the organization of the seminar, said that the objectives of the event will be to "promote the opportunities existing in Palestine among the Palestinian Diaspora in South America and the trade sector." "Sectors previously identified as those with potential are granite and marble, religious tourism, olive products and handicraft," said Schahin.

"Building and infrastructure services, included in the scope of Fayyad Plan, are an entire chapter of opportunities in which Brazilian companies in the sector are ready to cooperate," added Schahin. "I would specially like to thank the Arab Brazilian Chamber, a partner of the government of Brazil in the organization of this event," said Lula.

To the president, the first challenge that needs to be faced for economic development of Palestine is the breaking of the Israeli blockade. The West Bank is currently surrounded by a concrete wall, with control posts, making Palestinian circulation hard, and the Gaza Strip is surrounded by military forces. "The strangulation imposed on the West Bank and Gaza stunts the access to the international trade flows," he said.

According to Lula, "knocking down the wall will only be the first step for reconstruction, after years of suffering and destruction." The president stressed the Brazilian support to the creation of a Palestinian State with conditions for economic development.

Prime minister Salam Fayyad said that the economy of Palestine has improved in recent years, mainly due to countries that donated funds, like Brazil. He pointed out, however, that the occupation has maintained the economic performance far from its potential and sustainable development may only take place after the occupation finishes. "This occupation is going to finish, that is a given. The problem is when," he said.

Peace talks between Israel and the PNA suffered one more setback last week, when the government of Israel announced the construction of new settlements in Eastern Jerusalem, considered occupied Palestinian territory.

Before speaking at the end of the seminar, Lula met with the president of the PNA, Mahmoud Abbas, with whom he should have a formal meeting Wednesday. According to Brazilian Foreign minister Celso Amorim, despite the new diplomatic crisis, the Palestinian leader is still working on negotiations, paralyzed for some time.

To him, for the return of the process, some "practical" action from Israel is necessary, a "new fact", so there may be a minimum of trust among the parties involved. The Israeli decision also irritated the government of the United States. Amorim added that Abbas "called for Brazil to continue greatly interested" in the talks.

At the seminar, Lula said that the "lack of dialogue" causes "things to take a long time to develop". He made the audience clap and laugh several times, among them when he said the solution of two states, an Israeli and a Palestinian one, is a consensus, "but it is yet to be known why it has not taken place until now", and when he said that whenever he asks, both sides say things are "going well". "But I feel that something is not going well."

Lula added, who knows, that maybe this year some result may be reached and also pointed out that Brazil has always been interested in the peace process, "but never engaged in finding a solution as it is now". "I imagine living to see the day when I come to the region and land at an airport within Palestinian territory," he said, referring to the fact that all access to Palestine, by air or land, crosses Israel.

Source: Brazzil Mag.
Link: http://www.brazzilmag.com/component/content/article/83-march-2010/11974-lula-tells-palestinians-their-first-challenge-is-to-break-israeli-blockade.html

Tunisian cultural center to include Muslim, Christian, Jewish prayer rooms

2010-03-16

A proposal for a new interreligious cultural center in Tunisia will be submitted next month to the Ben Ali Chair for Dialogue among Civilizations and Religions, ANSA reported on Monday (March 15th). The building plan includes prayer rooms for Jews, Christians and Muslims, a media library and recreation spaces. Young architect Ouedjene Hachani said the Tunis-area project was inspired by Tunisia's historic role as a crossroads of civilizations and religions.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/03/16/newsbrief-07.

Mauritanian workers mount 3-day general strike

2010-03-16

Four Mauritanian labor unions began a three-day general strike on Monday (March 15th). The Union of Mauritanian Workers (UTM), the General Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CGTM), the National Confederation of Workers of Mauritania (CNTM) and the Free Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CLTM) are protesting what they claim is the "obstinate refusal' of the government to open negotiations regarding workers' living conditions and a requested hike in transport and housing allowances. CGTM and CNTM officials claimed 80% of workers complied with the strike during the first day, PANA reported.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/03/16/newsbrief-05.

Mauritanians shed tradition for healthier beauty ideal

Obesity, once considered a desirable state for Mauritanian women, has now given way to a lifestyle of healthy eating and exercising.

By Mohamed Yahya Ould Abdel Wedoud for Magharebia in Nouakchott – 16/03/10

Many Mauritanian women are turning away from traditional views of beauty to embrace a healthier, slimmer lifestyle.

Meriem Mint Sadigh is one woman who has rejected the notion that obesity is desirable. She works diligently to lose weight by exercising at the gym of a local stadium.

"I think I'm the victim of the tradition of leblouh, which was common in the past decades, and now I'm trying to avoid the health consequences of this tradition," she told Magharebia.

"There are many other women like me," she added.

Leblouh, also known as tesmin, is a traditional practice prevalent among poorer families in rural Mauritania. The tradition holds that young girls must be fattened up to speed up the process of aging, so that they can be married off and give birth at a younger age.

Older Mauritanian women still remember the pain of the leblouh process.

Fatimetou Mint Salem, 52, still recalls her mother hitting her to make her eat. The goal was to make her the fattest girl in the village, so she would be an attractive bride for her 30-year-old cousin.

"I was eating and vomiting constantly," Salem told Magharebia. "[My mother] used to teach me that it is better for women that aren't fat to die, because it would bring shame to their families."

Salem has now been diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure, and is determined to follow her doctor's advice to lose weight. She also vows that her daughters will not equate obesity with beauty.

"I have successfully planted these convictions in the minds of my daughters, and I hope that every mother does the same," Salem added.

Women born in the 1980s and 1990s are now the least affected by the pressure to be fat, thanks to changing Mauritanian attitudes and the infiltration of Hollywood gossip, Turkish films and Mexican serials, all of which feature tall and slim actresses.

"I like the figures of some universal series' actresses and I absolutely believe that beauty has, by far, nothing to do with fatness or size," said Ahlam Mint Babe, 21, who keeps in shape by working out regularly at several sports clubs in Nouakchott.

Social historian Ahmednah Ould Mohamed notes there has been a seismic shift in Mauritanian attitudes on obesity in recent years.

"The influence of the media, economic life, the search for fitness, keeping up with fashion – are all factors that helped convince Mauritanian women to refrain from traditional aesthetic values, based primarily on obesity," he noted.

Mauritanian men have also rejected the idea that fat women are desirable, and now understand the multitude of health risks that being overweight can bring.

"I don't like fat women because they're not suitable for this era," car salesman Diop Seidou, 40, told Magharebia, adding that obesity is a "dangerous" health hazard.

Seidou said women are no longer confined to the home and are now active members of the public sphere. "Women are partners with men in the development process, and they must be prepared for that," he said.

In a recent poll carried out by the Mauritanian organization Together for Social Welfare, 70% of Mauritanian youth said they did not like the image of fat women. A further 80% of women were found to be aware of the health risks of leblouh.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/03/16/feature-02.

Iran grills Israel over synagogue reopening

Iran has deplored Israel's reopening of a synagogue near al-Aqsa mosque, demanding the international community to take action against the move.

Israel on Monday reopened the Hurva synagogue in East Jerusalem (al-Quds), as part of what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Israel's "heritage."

The move has sparked protests by Palestinians in the holy city and elsewhere in the West Bank. Clashes have also been reported between the police and angry Palestinians.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Tuesday condemned Israel's move as a “catastrophe that has distressed the Islamic world.”

He said the world community was expected to stand up against the move.

“We condemn the move and call on the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Arab League and the United Nations to take appropriate measures to stop this occupying regime,” Mehmanparast said.

He also condemned Israel's plan to increase settlement activities.

Israel announced last week that it would erect 1,600 new settler houses in al-Quds, as US Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel over the so-called peace talks with the Palestinians.

Mehmanparast said Biden's visit was not aimed at stopping Israel from settlement activities, saying it was, in fact, a “cover-up” for Israel's measures.

He said the US had to take into account “numerous considerations” when it came to Israel.

Although the US criticized Israel for stalling peace talks through settlement activities, it backed Israel's reopening of the rebuilt synagogue.

The US State Department said Palestinians' criticisms of the reopening of the building could "only serve to heighten tensions.”

Despite Israel's insistence that there is no political motives behind the move, the reopening of the synagogue is regarded as part of Israel's plan to judaize al-Quds.

Head of al-Quds international institution, Dr. Ahmed Abu Halabiya, said the reopening of Hurva synagogue in al-Quds was part of an Israeli plan "to build a Jewish temple on al-Aqsa ruins."

Hatem Abdel Qader, the Palestinian Authority's official in charge of al-Quds affairs also expressed concern over what he described as "not just a synagogue."

"We warn against this action by the Zionist enemy to rebuild and dedicate the Hurva synagogue. It signifies the destruction of the al-Aqsa mosque and the building of the temple," he said.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is Islam's third holiest location.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120943§ionid=351020101.

Yemeni Houthis free 178 prisoners of war

Yemeni Houthis have released 178 prisoners they had captured during months of fighting and said they are complying with a ceasefire that ended the battles on February 12.

"Houthis led by Abdul Malek al-Houthi turned over 178 prisoners to us in (the northern city of) Sa'ada. Officers, soldiers, and civilians will be taken to Sana'a," mediator Ali Nasser Qersha said on Tuesday.

Qersha added that the Houthis had acted after receiving assurances from Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh that their prisoners would be released.

Earlier on Tuesday, Shia fighters in northern Yemen pledged to free soldiers they are holding within two days and said they expected that government-held prisoners would also be released.

"The prisoners of war will be freed within 48 hours and we expect our prisoners to be freed in return," Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam said.

"This issue, once resolved, will serve the cause of peace," he stated, adding that the Shia fighters have not dragged their feet in implementing the terms of the ceasefire.

He went on to say that the Houthis believe the army should return to its barracks in the north, but they have no objection to civil servants returning to their posts in the region.

The Yemeni government agreed to a ceasefire with the Houthi fighters on February 11, saying they hoped to put an end to a six-year war that has drawn in neighboring Saudi Arabia and diverted resources from the struggle against al-Qaeda's growing influence in the country.

President Saleh had announced that the ceasefire would take effect at midnight February 11 and that four committees would be formed to monitor compliance in the northern districts where the conflict has raged since 2004. The Houthi leader, Abdel Malik al-Houthi, also released a statement accepting the truce.

The ceasefire terms include the dismantlement of checkpoints, the release of prisoners, and the handover of Houthi weapons.

The conflict between Sana'a and Houthi fighters in northern Yemen began in 2004. The conflict intensified in August 2009 when the Yemeni army launched Operation Scorched Earth in an attempt to crush the fighters in the northern province of Sa'ada.

Saudi forces began fighting against Yemeni Shia resistance fighters, known as Houthis, and bombing their positions on November 4, 2009 after accusing the fighters of killing Saudi border guards.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that since 2004, up to 175,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Sa'ada and take refuge at overcrowded camps set up by the United Nations.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121002§ionid=351020206.

Victims of chemical attack on Halabja commemorated

Thousands of Iraqi Kurds have taken part in a ceremony commemorating the chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja, which occurred during the closing days of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

Kurds gathered in the town on Tuesday to commemorate and honor the victims of the carnage, which was ordered by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The Kurdistan Regional Government issued a statement marking the anniversary of the Halabja massacre.

"Through remembrance of the victims of the Halabja attack, we are continuing the process of healing from decades of atrocities committed against the Kurdish people," KRG representative to the United States Qubad Talabani said on Tuesday.

Halabja is 81km (50 miles) southeast of Sulaimaniyah and 364km (226 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

It was subjected to an aerial chemical weapons attack in March 1988 carried out by the air force of the Baathist regime.

The death toll was widely estimated as 5000, with more than 10,000 injured.

The first session of the Halabja trial, with some of the alleged planners and perpetrators of the attacks in the dock, took place on December 21, 2008.

The Iraqi High Criminal Court reached its final verdict on the case on January 17, 2010 and sentenced the major criminals to various prison terms.

However, Ali Hassan al-Majid, or "Chemical Ali," was sentenced to death and executed after being found guilty of orchestrating the atrocities against the Kurdish people.

The Iraqi appeal commission recognized the attack on Halabja as "genocide" on March 1, 2010.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121001§ionid=351020201.

Turkish soldier commits suicide over Ergenekon case

A Turkish soldier has reportedly committed suicide in Karabuk province in the Black Sea region of Turkey as the probe into the Ergenekon underground terrorist organization continues.

Erdem Acar — a member of the gendarmerie unit in Karabuk province — ended his life on Sunday when he shot himself at his home in the Emek neighborhood in the Safranbolu district of Karabuk, the Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.

Another soldier recently committed suicide.

Lt. Ibrahim Unal Sarioglu was found dead inside his home on March 12. Sarioglu served at the military post in Ankara's Polatli district and is survived by wife and a 4-year-old son.

Two cases have been pressed so far in Turkey as part of a thorough investigation into the clandestine Ergenekon group. Turkish police launched a probe into the shady network on June 12, 2007 after a house full of ammunition and weapons was discovered in Istanbul's Umraniye district.

In the Ergenekon case, charges have been filed against more than 200 people accused of seeking to establish an unlawful organization to provoke a series of events that would pave the way for a military coup in Turkey.

The Ergenekon group has been indicted for at least two violent attacks — the bombing of a secularist newspaper in 2006 and an attack on a court in the same year in which a judge was killed. Prosecutors argue that the network plotted assassinations and political unrest to discredit the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

However, many believe that the Ergenekon investigation is a government plot to suppress the opposition.

The controversial case has raised tension in the political arena and deepened the rift between Turkey's secularists and the ruling government.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121003§ionid=351020204.

Respect difference, says Koehler, at Islamic art premiere in Berlin

Berlin - German President Horst Koehler called Tuesday for people to respect one another's differences, at the Berlin opening of the Aga Khan exhibition, which includes some of the world's most important Islamic art. "To admire the art of another, it is first necessary to respect what the other person thinks and feels," Koehler said, expressing his hope that the exhibition would encourage a cultural dialogue, "which respects otherness."

The exhibition comprises around 200 items from the Aga Khan's world famous art collection, including paintings, drawings, manuscripts, ceramics and wood carvings, spanning more than 1,000 years of Islamic cultural history.

"The collection shows how diverse and wonderful Islamic art is," museum director Gereon Sievernich told the German Press Agency dpa. "With this exhibition we want to influence the dialogue with the Islamic world in a different, positive way."

Karim Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of 20 million Ismaili Shiite Muslims, was expected to be among the guests on Tuesday evening.

The Aga Khan called for a better understanding between East and West ahead of Tuesday's opening, adding that ignorance on both sides led to the "battle of civilizations."

"Germany, and Berlin in particular, is a living example of a cultural and ethnic pluralism which has developed from the last decades of its history," the Aga Khan added.

The exhibition includes items from Islamic societies around the world, ranging from China to the Iberian peninsula.

One of the showpieces are pages from "The Great Book," a national epic of the Persian people, written 1,000 years ago by the Persian poet Ferdowsi.

The Berlin exhibition will include five pages of the book, decorated with intricate illustrations, which was torn apart by an American collector in the 1960s, and sold in separate parts.

"These miniatures are considered to be the Van Goghs of Islamic art," said curator Benoit Junod, adding that it would be a long time until items would be exhibited again on German soil.

The Aga Khan, who lives in France and is considered a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed, plans to display his art collection in a purpose-build museum in Toronto from the year 2013.

Several items in the Berlin exhibition illustrate the particular importance of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

The entire holy book is written in tiny ink on a large, green cotton cloth from India, while another exhibit is the famous north African "Blue Kuran," dating to 9th or 10th Century.

One verse of the Koran is even inscribed in calligraphy on a chestnut leaf from Turkey.

Numerous other exhibits display the common elements uniting Islam with Christianity and Judaism.

These include an antique water bowl which stems from the shared tradition of washing before prayer. A silver Spanish measuring tool combines Arabic, Jewish and Christian symbols.

"If you are only praying to one God, it must be the same one," Junod said.

The exhibition runs until June 6, at the Martin Gropius Bau in central Berlin.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314395,respect-difference-says-koehler-at-islamic-art-premiere-in-berlin.html.

Russian parliament boss threatens block of new arms deal with US

Moscow - Russia's top parliamentarian warned Tuesday that the legislature would block a new US-Russian arms reduction deal if it excluded the issue of US missile shield plans in Eastern Europe. The warning came from Boris Gryzkov, speaker of the State Duma, regarding the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which the two superpowers are close to wrapping up.

According to Interfax, Gryzkov warned that the State Duma would block ratification of the followup treaty if it permitted the United States to pursue further its plans for a missile defence system in Eastern Europe.

But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov quickly assured that the issue would be dealt with in the new treaty, which would succeed the START-1 accord of 1991 which expired last December.

"There are no grounds for excitement. There will be no problem,2 he said. The new treaty would address the question of the US plans, Lavrov said, without going into details.

The Gryzkov warning comes a week after US and Russian negotiators resumed talks in Geneva to try to hammer out the final details of the new treaty, and two days before US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives in Moscow.

According to Sergei Prichodko, an adviser to President Dmitry Medvedev, "only small technical details" needed yet resolving, but no fundamental issues.

Medvedev and US President Barack Obama recently spoke by telephone about progress in nuclear arms reduction talks.

Negotiators are working out the details of a joint understanding issued by the two presidents in July 2009, calling for cuts in nuclear stockpiles from an existing limit of 2,200 warheads to a range of 1,500 to 1,675 warheads.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314397,russian-parliament-boss-threatens-block-of-new-arms-deal-with-us.html.

Ban urges world to stand by Haiti as generosity cools off

New York - The international community should stand by Haiti as it struggles to recover from the devastating earthquake in January while funds for the quake relief are disappearing, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday. Ban said he has asked Haitian President Rene Preval to attend the international donor conference at UN headquarters in New York on March 31 to present his country's priorities in quake relief and reconstruction.

Ban and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will preside over the conference, which will discuss long-term funding for relief and reconstruction in Haiti, which is estimated to cost more than 11 billion dollars.

"We are in a race against time," Ban told a press conference after he visited Port-au-Prince on Sunday. "Now is the time for the international community to stand by Haiti."

"The last thing the Haitian people need is a second humanitarian crisis on top of all they have suffered already," he said.

Ban said only 49 per cent of the 1.4 billion dollars being sought by the UN since last month to help Haiti's 3 million quake-affected people, including 1.3 million people without housing, had been funded.

The magnitude-7 earthquake on January 12 killed more than 230,000 Haitians and destroyed key public buildings as well as residential areas. About 700,000 of the 1.3 million displaced people have been housed in tent and tarpaulin cities, while the rest are under the threat of the coming rainy season in April and the hurricane season that starts in June.

The UN had formed a team of experts from the UN, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Commission to draw up a needs assessment project for Haiti's post-quake period. The team was meeting in Santo Domingo this week to go over its findings.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that estimates reached by the team amounted to 11.5 billion dollars for a three-year period for recovery and reconstruction. The amount includes 3.25 billion dollars to rebuild houses, 600 million dollars for schools, 294 million dollars for hospitals, 100 million dollars for city roads and 50 million dollars to rebuild Port-au-Prince.

The team estimated that the earthquake caused overall damage valued at 7.86 billion dollars, or equivalent to 120 per cent of Haiti's economic output last year.

There were an estimated 300,000 people injured by the quake and 8.5 per cent of workers lost their jobs. The quake destroyed 105,000 houses and damaged 208,000 others. A total of 1,300 schools and 50 hospitals collapsed or cannot be used.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314405,ban-urges-world-to-stand-by-haiti-as-generosity-cools-off.html.

Iran to issue 100,000-rial notes

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) plans to issue 100,000-rial notes in the next Iranian year — a move which analysts consider the result of rising inflation.

CBI Deputy Head Hamid Pourmohammadi said on Tuesday that the decision was part of the bank's plans to slash three zeros off Iran's national currency, ILNA news agency reported.

According to Fars News Agency, the announcement comes as the head of Iran's Bank Tejarat, Majid-Reza Davari, said 500,000-rial notes would also be issued in the next Iranian year, which begins on March 21.

Pourmohammadi said the decision is part of CBI's “monetary reform plan” but analysts say rising inflation has led the government to issue high value notes. A US dollar is currently about 10,000 rials.

The Iranian Parliament last week approved the budget bill for next year, which includes an economic reform plan to cut costly subsidies.

Although the rate of inflation has dropped from last year's record high to about 9 percent, economists believe the cutting of subsidies will stoke up inflation.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120970§ionid=351020102.

Iran's Larijani urges West to quit mischievous policies

Iran's parliament (Majlis) speaker Ali Larijani advises the West to pursue a diplomatic approach in resolving their differences with Tehran on the issue of its nuclear program.

Speaking at a press conference in Tehran Tuesday, Larijani reiterated that the US, France, Britain and Germany have sought to delay the supplying of fuel to Iran for Tehran's research reactor through "mischievous" acts.

"They eventually came to the understanding that Iran is only willing to act according to the [International Atomic] agency's framework; so they abandoned the 'carrot and stick' approach, only to resort to sanctions," he added.

The United States and its mainly Western allies are stepping up efforts to rally support for a forth round of sanctions against the Islamic Republic for its refusal to bow to pressure by nuclear powers to halt its peaceful nuclear program.

According to a draft proposal, the new sanctions intend to restrict access of Iranian banks to international operations, falling short of imposing sanctions against Iran's oil and gas industries.

Iran, as well as many heads of state and analysts, has insisted that the planned sanctions against the Islamic Republic will prove futile, given Iran's growing expansion of economic and political ties with many non-Western countries.

Furthermore, reports indicate the unlikelihood of the passage of an anti-Iran resolution in the UN Security Council, as China and Russia continue to voice reservations about the US-led move. Both Washington and Europeans have thus issued threats of imposing unilateral sanctions against Iran.

The Western powers claim Tehran's nuclear program is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, a charge that the inspectors of UN's nuclear watchdog stationed in Iran have been unable to substantiate.

Iran, on the other hand, is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

No country has ever been subjected to more voluntary IAEA inspections than Iran. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly called for the elimination of all nuclear arms across the globe, a call ignored by nuclear powers, especially the West.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120965§ionid=351020101.

Kyrgyz opposition daily seized ahead of protests

All copies of a Kyrgyz opposition newspaper Forum have been confiscated by police forces ahead of a planned anti-government protest, the paper's owner says.

"The print run of 7,000 copies has been seized," the newspaper's editor-in-chief Ryskeldi Mombekov said.

The opposition forces were planning to hold a protest on Wednesday in capital Bishkek due to the rising public discontent over an economic slump in the poor ex-Soviet republic.

In the meantime, several websites critical of the government have been inaccessible in Kyrgyzstan in recent days, drawing opposition complaints. The government has denied blocking access to the sites.

US-based rights group Freedom House said the government was also exerting pressure on broadcasters.

"Once considered a regional leader on issues of freedom of expression, the Kyrgyz government has begun putting pressure on independent media organizations, leading to increased self-censorship," Freedom House claimed in a statement on Monday.

Opponents say President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who came to power in 2005 after street protests toppled his predecessor, has tightened his grip on power and failed to alleviate poverty and corruption.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120971§ionid=351020406.

World's smallest man dead at 21—Guinness World Records

LONDON—The world's shortest man, He Pingping, who stood just over two feet five inches tall (75 centimeters), has died, Britain's Guinness World Records said Monday. He was 21.

He -- a native of China who had a form of primordial dwarfism and measured 74.61 centimeters -- was in Rome taking part in a television show when he suffered chest problems.

He was taken to hospital, where he died over the weekend.

Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of London-based Guinness World Records, recalled measuring He in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia in 2008.

"For such a small man, he made a huge impact around the world," Glenday said.

"From the moment I laid on eyes on him, I knew he was someone special -- he had such a cheeky smile and mischievous personality, you couldn't help but be charmed by him," he said.

"He brightened up the lives of everyone he met, and was an inspiration to anyone considered different or unusual."

Guinness World Records said it would announce He's successor as the world's shortest man in due course.

Khagendra Thapa Magar, 18, from Nepal, who is reportedly 51 centimeters (20 inches) high, declared in February that he is the rightful holder of the title.

Source: The Inquirer
Link: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20100317-259127/Worlds-smallest-man-dead-at-21Guinness-World-Records.

China Mulls Plans for New Moon Rock Lab

By Leonard David
SPACE.com's Space Insider Columnist

China is mulling plans for a facility to handle returning moon rock samples as part of a step-by-step plan to explore the lunar surface with robotic probes.

China's multi-step program calls for lunar orbiters to scout the moon, followed by a soft landing on of the surface using an automated lunar rover to reconnoiter the crater-pocked landscape. That rover would then be followed by the touchdown of a lunar lander to collect bits and pieces of the moon and rocket them back to Earth for detailed analysis by Chinese specialists.

A delegation of Chinese space experts touched upon those future moon plans and presented results from the country's Chang'e 1 lunar orbiter earlier this month at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in Texas.

China's moon rock plan

China's interest in handling specimens from the moon would seem to mirror in intent NASA's Apollo-era Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) at the space agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Between 1969 and 1972, six Apollo missions brought back 842 pounds (382 kg) of moon rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust.

In 1979, a Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility was built to serve as the chief repository for the returned Apollo samples. It was constructed to provide permanent storage of the lunar sample collection in a physically secure and non-contaminating environment.

As of now, there are few details about what progress is being made in China to set up a laboratory to handle incoming lunar samples, be it by robotic means or perhaps by way of human transport.

"I am aware that there have been inquiries about our curation of lunar samples and I infer that they are interested in our procedures," said Gary Lofgren, a senior planetary scientist and the Lunar Curator at the Johnson Space Center.

Lofgren said that he was not able to make direct contact with China authorities keen on setting up a lunar receiving lab due to procedures that have to be met for foreign nationals to visit NASA. "I anticipate that we will communicate in the future though there are no specific plans at present," he said.

Microwave moon

China is now preparing a Chang'e-2 lunar orbiter slated for an October of this year sendoff. According to earlier statements by Chinese space officials, the missions in the following two phases will be to conduct a robotic lunar landing via Chang'e-3 in 2013 and an automated sample return in 2017 by Chang'e-4, a spacecraft system capable of hauling back to Earth some 4 pounds (2 kg) of lunar samples.

Jingshan Jiang, deputy principal investigator of Chang'e-1 and the principal investigator of the lunar orbiter's microwave sounder, confirmed China's multi-phased lunar schedule. He is from the Center for Space Science and Applied Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Jingshan discussed the "microwave moon" as seen by Chang'e-1, an investigation that included a look at helium-3 deposits in the lunar surface as well as probing the presence of water on the moon.

Also presenting at LPSC was Liu Dunyi, apparently the key sparkplug behind efforts to set-up China's lunar sample curatorial facility. Liu is the Chairman of China's national committee of the International Geoscience Program (IGCP) and also holds high positions in China's space exploration program.

Chinese space scientists took part in the pre-LPSC Microsymposium 51, sponsored by Brown University, The Vernadsky Institute of Russia, and the Brown/MIT NASA Lunar Science Institute.

China's long march

"It was fascinating to see scientists from China [at both meetings] enthusiastically outline their plans for rapidly upcoming lunar landers, rovers, and sample return missions, all in preparation for having Chinese taikonauts explore the moon in the near future," said James Head, a leading planetary geologist in the Department of Geological Sciences at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

"I have no doubt," Head told SPACE.com, "that China is on a 'long march' to the Moon and I have little doubt that taikonauts will successfully explore the moon, almost certainly before the United States astronauts return."

Ray Arvidson, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri, also commented on China's lunar exploration ambitions.

"Planning and implementing the lunar sample receiving lab is a logical part of the aggressive Chinese program for lunar exploration," Arvidson said. He told SPACE.com that China's current plans, as he understood them, are to launch another lunar orbiter, then a robotic lunar rover, and then move onto a robotic lunar sample return mission.

"In addition they have started participating in discussions for the International Lunar Network (ILN) mission. And there is discussion of having a launch and deep space transfer capability to Mars for robotic missions by 2013," Arvidson added.

NASA is leading the ILN idea, a concept whereby landed stations on the moon from multiple countries serve as nodes to collectively form a large geophysical network of scientific instruments.

Source: SPACE.com
Link: http://www.space.com/news/china-moon-rock-lab-plans-100316.html.

معتقلون أبرياء بسجون العراق

تواصل الحكومة العراقية احتجاز أكثر من 30 ألف متهم عراقي مضى على حصولهم على براءتهم عدة أشهر بعد أن أمضوا سنوات في السجون.

وقبل إجراء الانتخابات وجه سياسيون اتهامات مباشرة للحكومة، وقالوا في تصريحات صحفية، إن إبقاءهم رهن الاعتقال وراءه أهداف انتخابية، في إشارة إلى إعطاء أصواتهم للقائمة التابعة للحكومة، لكن بعد انتهاء العملية الانتخابية تجددت المطالب بضرورة تسوية هذا الملف.

وباءت محاولات الجزيرة نت بالفشل للحصول على تصريح من مسؤول في وزارة العدل يوضح فيه أسباب إبقاء السلطات على هؤلاء المعتقلين دون إطلاق سراحهم، ورفض أي مسؤول الرد على مثل هذه التساؤلات.

وكان مكتب رئاسة الوزراء أعلن قبل شهرين من الانتخابات أن العمل يجري على إغلاق ملف المعتقلين، وجاء في بيان له أن لجنة مختصة شكلت لهذا الغرض، إلا أن العوائل العراقية التي ظلت تنتظر أبناءها من الذين برأتهم المحاكم، لم تحصل على إجابة بشأن أسباب الإبقاء على آلاف المعتقلين دون إطلاقهم.

دوافع سياسية

وأكد نقيب المحامين العراقيين ضياء السعدي أن هناك دوافع سياسية تقف وراء ذلك. وقال للجزيرة نت إن أبرز أسباب عدم الاستجابة للمطالب المتصاعدة لإطلاق سراح المعتقلين دوافع سياسية وأمنية، وأن قانون العفو العام الذي صدر قد أفرغ من مقاصده الأساسية ووضع العديد من العقبات والآليات التي حالت دون تنفيذه.

وأضاف أن "المعتقلين في مراكز الاعتقال الأميركية الذين تم تسليمهم إلى السلطات العراقية يعانون من الأمر ذاته، رغم مرور فترات طويلة على اعتقالهم دون توجيه تهم لهم أو إجراء تحقيقات معهم، خلافاً للقواعد التشريعية والقوانين والمواثيق الدولية".

وقال السعدي إن "هذه الحالة يعاني منها جميع المعتقلين في العراق مما يسهم في إسقاط الحقوق القانونية والإنسانية لهؤلاء المعتقلين، ويقلل من أهمية واستقلالية القضاء العراقي، لهذا فإننا نعتقد أن الدافع الأساسي لعدم إطلاق سراح هؤلاء المعتقلين هو دافع سياسي".

وأشار المحامي السعدي إلى أن النقابة طالبت بضرورة إطلاق سراح المعتقلين السياسيين، وعقدت ندوة متخصصة طالبت فيها بإيقاف الاعتقال التعسفي خارج نطاق القانون.

وعن إمكانية مقاضاة الحكومة قال إنه "من حق المواطن الذي يعتقل بشكل تعسفي وتثبت التحقيقات براءته رفع دعوى ضد الحكومة والمطالبة بالتعويضات، لا سيما أن التهمة التي وجهت إليه جاءت بسبب تقارير سرية من المخبرين السريين وأكثرها كيدية لأسباب شخصية أو سياسية".

الحيف الكبير

ومن جهته قال المحلل السياسي العراقي حسين درويش العادلي إنه "من الواضح أن أسباب تأخير إطلاق سراح هذا العدد الكبير من المعتقلين المبرئين، ارتبط بالتحضير للانتخابات"، مضيفا أنه "لا وجود لسبب واحد معقول للإبقاء على الآلاف خلف القضبان".

وقال العادلي للجزيرة نت إن "الانتهاء من مرحلة الانتخابات يجب أن يضع هذا الملف في الواجهة لتخليص هؤلاء من هذا الحيف الكبير الذي يقع عليهم".

أما السياسي العراقي رئيس جبهة الحوار الوطني وعضو البرلمان السابق خلف العليان فقال إن "جميع محاولاتنا لإطلاق سراح آلاف المعتقلين لم تفلح، ولكن بعد انتهاء الانتخابات يجب إعطاء الأولوية لإغلاق ملف التجاوزات الخطيرة والانتهاكات الواسعة لحقوق الإنسان".

وأضاف للجزيرة نت أن "ما يجري في المعتقلات يفوق تصور الكثيرين، وأن هناك معتقلين منذ عام 2003 لم توجه إليهم اتهامات ولا وجود حتى لملفات لهم في المعتقلات".

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/EXERES/DEF1E4A0-6E64-4937-B46B-95702D970EA6.htm.