Lights out! Sydney's Opera, Big Ben, Empire State building

Washington - As Earth turned and clocks clicked to 8:30 pm, lights went dark on the world's monuments: the Sydney Opera House, London's Big Ben, New York's Empire State building.

At the end of Saturday's fourth annual Earth Hour, aimed at raising consciousness about global warming, more than 4,000 cities in 126 countries had participated, shutting off lights for up to one hour.

Beijing doused lights at the Forbidden City; Dubai, on the world's tallest building, the 828-meter-high Burj Khalifa; Athens, on the Acropolis; and Paris, fleetingly on the Eiffel Tower.

In Berlin, Christine Kolmar of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) helped turn off the switch at the Brandenburg Gate.

"We want to send a signal to protect the climate and show that every one of us can do something," Kolmar said. "But we also demand that the governments do more against climate change."

Hundreds of people gathered at the gate. Passersby used one of the three bicycles to power dynamos and light up the Berlin Bear and WWF panda bear symbols.

Munich, Dresden, Cologne and Heidelberg participated among the 35 darkened cities in Germany.

The action started in the Chatham Islands, about 800 kilometers east of New Zealand, where 600 residents shut off their diesel generators.

While New Zealanders appeared less interested in Earth Hour this year than last, they still shut off their lights and reduced power consumption by 2 per cent, the national grid operator Transpower said. Last year it was a 3.5 per cent drop.

Taiwan shut off the lights on the world's second tallest building, the 508-meter Taipei 101, and other major skyscrapers. In Taichung, Taiwan's second-largest city, thousands of people gathered at the central square to join in the countdown for the Earth Hour lights out.

"This is the fourth year we have joined the Earth Hour event. By turning off lights for one hour, Taiwan can cut 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide emission," Wu Chia-ling, of the Society of Wilderness, told reporters.

The French capital darkened 240 buildings and monuments for an hour, including Notre Dame, a bridge over the River Seine, the Opera Garnier, Place de la Concorde, and the Elysee Palace.

At the Eiffel Tower the lights were only switched off for five minutes, but 1,600 candles forming the numeral 60 were instead lit at the foot of the monument for 60 minutes on the Champs de Mars.

In Washington DC, target of global criticism for its slow action on reducing carbon emissions, lighting was turned out on the National Cathedral. Darkness was to cloak Seattle's Space Needle and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge as 8:30 pm moved westward.

Earth Hour 2010 comes five months after world leaders meeting in Copenhagen failed to agree on concerted action to slow the emission of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley said the Copenhagen fiasco had not dampened desire for multilateral action to reduce emissions.

"After Copenhagen we were really fearful that Earth Hour would die, that people would be fatigued with climate change, but the opposite has happened," he said. "The uptake has been phenomenal."

Ridley, who claims 1 billion Earth Hour participants in more than 125 countries, said the importance was not electricity saved but issues raised.

An antidote to Earth Hour 2010 is Human Achievement Hour, an initiative of climate change skeptics like Cory Bernardi, a member of parliament for the opposition Liberal Party.

His supporters planned to turn up their energy use during Earth Hour to demonstrate their disdain for the idea that Earth's climate is warming up due to carbon emissions.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316119,lights-out-sydneys-opera-big-ben-empire-state-building.html.

Arab League Summit targets positional unity

Arab leaders attending the 22nd Arab League Summit in Libya on Saturday (March 27th) called for Arab nations to overcome political differences, Maghreb and international press reported. The presidents of Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania are in Sirte for the event. In an address delivered on his behalf by Prince Moulay Rachid, King Mohammed VI of Morocco said that inter-Arab reconciliation is "key to the establishment of an influential Arab bloc, at both regional and global levels", MAP reported.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/03/28/newsbrief-04.

Libya, EU lift visa bans

2010-03-28

The European Union and Libya lifted their reciprocal visa bans, local and international press quoted the Libyan Foreign Ministry as saying on Saturday (March 27th). "In the interests of strengthening its cooperation with the EU, Libya lifts the restrictions it earlier imposed on the citizens of the Schengen zone," the ministry communiqué said. The names of Libyans were also removed from a blacklist banning entry to Europe's 25-state Schengen visa zone.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/03/28/newsbrief-02.

Brother of Emirates president missing in Morocco plane crash

2010-03-28

Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al Nahayan, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority chief and the younger brother of Emirates President Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, remains missing after his glider crashed Friday (March 26th) into an artificial lake south of Rabat, local and international press reported. The pilot has been found in good condition.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/03/28/newsbrief-01.

Tunisia local elections to feature more female candidates

When Tunisia's ruling party announced that women would hold 30% of all electoral slots in the municipal elections next May, opposition parties quickly followed suit.

By Monia Ghanmi for Magharebia in Tunis – 28/03/10

Tunisia's political parties are gearing up for the May 9th, 2010 municipal elections by widely increasing the number of female political candidates on their electoral rolls.

President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has signaled support for greater female political participation by calling on the ruling Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) to allocate 30% of its electoral slots to women and by telling the RCD political bureau on Thursday (March 25th) to emphasize the role of both women and youth in the political process.

"The decision about the presence of women in the ruling party's electoral rolls was made to enhance the presence of women in public life and political arena," RCD Deputy Secretary-General for Women Abir Moussi said earlier this month.

"Tunisian women have now become aware of the size of responsibility on their shoulders to increase their efforts in order to make this election a success," she added.

Female RCD politicians embraced the move. Zaineb Ben Hssin, who serves in the Chamber of Deputies as an RCD representative, believes this target is a "reasonable" one.

Following the president's lead, Popular Unity Party (PUP) chief Mohamed Bouchiha said: "The PUP will renew trust in women by enabling them to participate in this municipal election with... a percentage of about 30%."

Political observers estimate that 10,000 candidates will run for 264 municipal seats, 75% of which are allocated to the ruling party. Under an April 2009 amendment to the electoral law, however, opposition parties – for the first time in Tunisian history – will receive 25% percent of the remaining seats.

The Green Party for Progress (PVP) plans to go even further. In its first municipal election appearance since securing official approval in 2006, the PVP will "prioritize" women by offering them 50% of the political spaces, party secretary-general Mongi Khamassi said.

Not every party is making such sweeping gestures to incorporate women into their political structures. The Unionist Democratic Union (UDU) will only allot 15-18% of electoral slots for potential female candidates.

Still, UDU Chamber of Deputies representative Nawal Hmissi conceded to Magharebia that "the presence of women has become inevitable in all elections, given the in-depth experience they have acquired and also because of the awareness of parties, especially opposition parties, of the importance of enabling women to exercise their political rights."

After the 2005 elections, the number of female municipal councilors reached 857, or nearly 25%.

Mounira Ben Fadhloun has worked as a municipal chairperson for the past eight years. "It was a successful, enriching experience," she told Magharebia.

"This position requires that the woman be aware of all aspects of legal affairs and public life. She must also be politically mature," she explained.

Ben Fadhloun also hit back at critics who questioned women's capacity to fulfill the duties of a public servant.

"After all," she said, to do this political work, "there is no difference between man and woman."

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/03/28/feature-01.

India tests nuclear-capable Agni I missile

New Delhi - India on Sunday successfully tested its nuclear- capable surface-to-surface missile Agni-I from a defense base in the eastern state of Orissa, a news report said.

The locally-built missile, which has a range of 700 kilometers, was fired from a rail mobile launcher on the Wheeler Island off the state's coast, the PTI news agency reported.

"It was a fantastic mission carried out by the Indian army. The test-fire of the Agni-I missile met all parameters," director of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) SP Dash told the PTI.

India's armed forces had on Saturday successfully tested two nuclear-capable missiles, Dhanush and Prithvi-II from the same state.

Weighing 12 tons, the 15-meter-long missile, which can carry payloads weighing up to one ton, has already been inducted into the Indian army.

Agni-II, which has a range of more than 1,500 kilometers, was first tested on April 11, 1999.

Since 2007, India has also successfully test-fired Agni-III, its longest-range missile, which can cover distances up to 3,500 kilometers.

The Agni series of missiles has been developed by India's Defense Research and Development Organization under the country's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP). The first test of the Agni series was conducted in 1989.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316145,india-tests-nuclear-capable-agni-i-missile.html.

Lebanon aims to become hub for inter-faith dialogue - Feature

Beirut - Lebanon, home to a myriad of religious communities that once fought a long and bloody civil war, is working towards encouraging inter-faith dialogue to send a message of tolerance for other Middle Eastern countries which are often torn by extremism.

Muslim Shiite cleric Sayyed Hani Fahs, a founding member of the Arab Working Group on Muslim-Christian Dialogue, notes that "Lebanon is the result of dialogue."

Scholars in Beirut see Lebanon as the only country in the Middle East in which the Christians, although a minority today, have retained political representation and participate actively in the country's decision-making process.

In 2008, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman went to New York to attend a two-day interfaith conference to encourage dialogue and to reject the use of religion as a tool for terrorism and violence.

The idea was enhanced last week when Muslims and Christian managed to celebrate for the first time a joint Christian-Muslim holiday which was seen by many as a first step to encourage the inter-faith dialogue in the Middle East region.

Families from the country's 18 different confessions prayed together at a church mass on March 25 for the Virgin Mary, which is revered by both Christians and Muslims.

The mass came after the Lebanese government had declared the date to be the first national holiday for both Christians Muslims. The decision was confirmed during a recent meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican

Sheikh Mohammed Nokkari, secretary-general of the Dar al-Fatwa highest Sunni Muslim authority in Lebanon and one of the main promoters of the inter-faith dialogue, hoped there will be other messages like the Lebanon message which can be spread to other parts of the world.

He recalled that late Pope John Paul II, during his historic 1997 visit to the country, had described Lebanon as a country bearing "a message of pluralism for the East and the West."

But Lebanon, although a haven of religious diversity and tolerance in the Middle East, still has a long way before becoming a real hub for inter-faith dialogue, as the country still suffers from occasional bouts of sectarian violence.

Many people believe that the core of the problem remains the country's confessional political system itself.

Lebanon is governed by a "National Pact" that stipulates that official positions be distributed along confessional lines.

The president is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim. Even other public offices - including the government, the parliament, the army and the intelligence and security services - are distributed proportionally among the different sects.

During the 1975-1990 civil war, militias mostly based on confessional affiliation fought destructive internecine battles. Today, political parties are also mostly based on confessional affiliation.

The system maintains divisions and favors clientelism that often leads to heightened tensions and encourages the intervention of foreign powers in the country's internal affairs.

Over the last few years, political crises led to deadly street battles between mostly Sunni Muslim followers of the governing majority - backed by regional Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia - and Shiite Muslim activists from the opposition led by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah that enjoys full backing from Shiite Iran.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316151,lebanon-aims-to-become-hub-for-inter-faith-dialogue--feature.html.

Flooded coal mine traps 152 in northern China

Beijing - At least 152 workers were trapped after a coal mine under construction flooded in northern China on Sunday, state media reported.

The accident at the Wangjialing mine in Shanxi Province took place at 2:30 pm local time (0730 GMT), the semi-official China News Service reported.

About 109 workers were thought to have escaped, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the provincial work safety administration as saying.

The Wangjialing mine is a key project approved by the provincial government, the report said. Once in operation, the mine is expected to produce 6 million tons of coal annually

Shanxi, a major coal producing area in China, has a poor mine safety record. In November, 12 workers died after an explosion at a mine in Shanxi's Jiexiu City.

The local government has been attempting to rein in the industry by closing small and medium-sized mines and reducing the overall number of mines through mergers.

However, this latest accident is a reminder that there are ongoing safety concerns at even large government-approved mines.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316154,flooded-coal-mine-traps-152-in-northern-china.html.

Arab leaders call for Middle East free of nuclear weapons

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Sirte, Libya (Earth Times) - Arab leaders on Sunday called for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons during a closed-door session at the Arab League summit in Libya, diplomats at the meeting said.

Many Arab countries view Israel and Iran's nuclear programs with alarm, and have repeatedly called for an agreement to ban nuclear weapons from the region.

In their closing statements, leaders stressed that the development of nuclear weapons threatened peace and security, diplomats who attended the closed-door session told the German Press Agency dpa.

They called for a review of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in order to create a definitive plan for eliminating nuclear weapons development.

They further called upon the UN to hold a conference to establish the Middle East as a nuclear-weapons-free region. However, it is unclear how much weight their calls will carry with Iran or Israel, neither of which is a member in the Arab League.

Some delegations initially called for allowing a few Arab countries to possess nuclear weapons if Israel does not join the NPT within a certain period of time, but that proposal was left out of closing remarks.

One hundred eighty-nine countries, including all Arab states, are party to the NPT. Only Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea are not.

Arab leaders also called on the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, to terminate its technical assistance programs in Israel if the country does not join the NPT and allow inspections to begin.

Leaders and representatives of the 22 members of the Arab League began their two-day summit in Sirte on Saturday.

Israel could recapture Gaza Strip, minister warns - Summary

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Jerusalem - Israel escalated its war of words against the Islamist Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip Sunday, after a weekend in which bloody clashes in the salient left two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians dead.

Addressing ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel held Hamas responsible for the latest violence, and said Israel's response would be "sharp and vigorous."

Before the cabinet session, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz had told Israel Radio that Israel would recapture the Gaza Strip if left with no other choice. He added that Israel would also not allow Hamas to rearm itself with long-range missiles.

The weekend clashes broke out Friday afternoon, after Israel sent a force into the salient after spotting two men placing explosive devices along the border fence.

It was the first deadly incident in which Israeli soldiers were killed since Israel's devastating offensive against Gaza militias 14 months ago.

The Israeli force left the Strip Saturday morning.

"Israel's policy of response is sharp and vigorous," Netanyahu told the cabinet.

"We will respond sharply to any attack on our citizens and soldiers. This policy is well-known and will continue. Hamas and the other terrorist organizations must know that they will bear the responsibility for their actions," an official cabinet communique quoted him as saying.

Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but launched the winter offensive a year ago in response to ongoing rocket and mortar attacks from the coastal enclave at its southern communities. Both it and Hamas have faced allegations of war crimes committed during the war and in the run-up to it.

Hamas had largely observed an unwritten truce for much of the past year, but recent weeks have seen sporadic launchings of rockets from the Strip against Israel. Although other Gaza militias are behind those launchings, Israel holds Hamas, as the de facto authority in the Strip, responsible.

Israeli analysts Avi Issacharof and Amos Harel, however, said that the recent violence does not mean Hamas is interested in inciting another war.

"There is no doubt that Hamas is satisfied with the renewed attention the media has given to an area that has ceased to interest the world, but it does not appear that, at this point, there is a will in Hamas to begin a real escalation," they wrote in the Ha'aretz daily Sunday.

"The organization," they said, "is mainly interested in reminding Israel, the PA, and the United States, that it still exists."

An Israeli military spokesman, meanwhile, announced Sunday morning that the West Bank will be closed off from midnight Sunday until midnight, April 6, for the duration of Passover holiday.

However, persons needing medical attention will be allowed to enter Israel, and humanitarian aid, as well as doctors, NGO workers and lawyers will be able to enter the West Bank.

The closure is in keeping with the Israeli practice of sealing off the occupied territories ahead of Jewish festivals, fearing militants might try to launch attacks to disrupt the festivities.

On March 27, 2002, a Hamas suicide bomber killed 30 people and injured 140 more when he blew himself up in an Israeli hotel at the beginning of the traditional Passover feast.

Passover, which commemorates the Exodus of the Israelis from Egypt, begins this year at sundown Monday, and ends at sundown, Tuesday April 6.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316161,israel-could-recapture-gaza-strip-minister-warns--summary.html.

Italian regional elections get off to slow start

Rome - Only about 10 per cent of the electorate had turned up by midday to vote in Italy's regional elections on Sunday, 3 percentage points less than in the elections of five years ago, the Interior Ministry reported.

Voters in 13 of the country's 20 regions have until Monday 3 pm (1300 GMT) to go to the ballot boxes.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom Party (PDL) is attempting to wrest control of 11 of those regions from the center-left, led by the main opposition Democratic Party.

The 73-year-old billionaire and media magnate has declared the regional elections to be a "national test" for his conservative coalition government, which he has led for two years.

The most recent polls have predicted that the prime minister faces a low turn-out and losses for his anti-immigrant coalition partner, the Northern League.

Berlusconi's alleged attempts to avoid corruption charges by changing the law, as well as further corruption scandals embroiling members of the PDL and its allies are said to have led to disillusionment among voters.

In addition, the PDL has suffered the embarrassment of having several of its candidates excluded from standing in Rome's Lazio region, after party officials missed a deadline to submit its list of candidates.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316166,italian-regional-elections-get-off-to-slow-start.html.

ANALYSIS: Merkel's Turkey visit dominated by EU entry dispute

Berlin - Conservative Germans were outraged last week when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded Turkish-language schools be set up in Germany - but that issue is minor compared to the main disagreement between the two nations.

Turkey wants to join the European Union as a full member and Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to keep it out. When she visits Ankara and Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday, nobody will be able to put that profound disagreement out of their minds.

Erdogan's point about schools was more of a teasing nature, and is not expected to play much of a role in the policy talks.

Merkel and her Christian Democrats have argued for years that a largely Islamic state with a distinct culture and history has no place in the EU, a club that Germany co-founded.

Whereas Turkey, which has been in NATO for half a century, sees its future in integration with western Europe, Merkel wants to preserve the EU's "special character," as her aides express it.

Berlin opposes entry by nations that do not share that character, but is willing to offer Turkey something less, a closer relationship described as a "privileged partnership," without voting rights.

Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc and its junior coalition party, the Free Democrats, signed a policy accord last year when they formed a new government, which sets it out this way: "The negotiations directed at accession and begun in 2005 are to be an open-ended process.

"If the EU is not able to let it in, or Turkey is not capable of fully meeting all the undertakings involved in membership, then it should be bound into European structures as closely as possible in a way that further develops its privileged relationship with the EU."

This week's visit to Turkey will be Merkel's second as chancellor.

Since her October 2006 visit, EU accession talks have proceeded at a snail's pace.

On one of the central sticking points, Cyprus, there has been no change from Berlin's point of view.

Ankara was warned in 2006 that the talks would stall if Turkey did not opens its ports and airports to visits by Cyprus-registered ships and planes by the end of the year. Ankara never did.

The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 into a Turkish Cypriot section in the north and a Greek Cypriot section in the south. The two sides have been in talks since 2008 on reunification, but not for the first time.

The Republic of Cyprus, led by Greek Cypriots, has been an EU member since 2004. The republic of northern Cyprus, led by Turkish Cypriots, is only recognized by Turkey. Greek Cypriots are determined to block Turkey's EU entry till the day the island's division ends.

Thus, Merkel has made very clear that vessels from any and every EU nation must have rights of access to the ports of a future "partner."

Erdogan by contrast is not willing to make do with something less than EU membership. He insists that reforms to bring Turkey's governance to EU standards are proceeding steadily.

When the ships issue came to a head, EU leaders called a halt to accession negotiations on eight of the 35 chapters, or topic groups.

So far only 12 chapters are under way, and only one has been brought to a conclusion.

"That leaves a huge amount still to be done," point out officials in Berlin.

Accession talks and reforms to qualify for EU entry generally take several years, whatever country is involved, so the current government in Berlin sees little likelihood that it will have to make any yes-no choice over Turkish entry, which the FDP views with greater sympathy.

The next German general election is scheduled for September 2013.

"It's not a decision for now, or for the next three and a half years," said one person close to the government who asked not to be quoted by name.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316170,analysis-merkels-turkey-visit-dominated-by-eu-entry-dispute.html.

'No talks' between Iraq's al-Maliki and front-runner Allawi

Baghdad - Incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition remains "committed" to seeing him serve another term, a spokesman said Sunday.

Al-Maliki has vowed to challenge results from the March 7 polls announced Friday, which gave former prime minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqi List a two-seat lead, despite Allawi's invitation to "all parties" to join in talks aimed at forming a government.

"We are still committed to nominating Nuri al-Maliki as the only candidate to head the next government," Hajim al-Hosni, spokesman for al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, told the German Press Agency dpa.

"We are not having any talks with the Iraqi List," he said.

Al-Maliki has said he will seek a court ruling requiring a manual recount of the votes, saying he had evidence of instances of fraud, particularly in Baghdad and Mosul.

In another move that could tilt the results in al-Maliki's favour, Iraq's Justice and Accountability Commission on Saturday said it might also disqualify an additional 50 candidates, including some from Allawi's coalition, for their alleged past connections to the banned Baath Party.

The same body ignited fierce controversy ahead of the elections by banning hundreds of candidates from standing in the polls.

Friday's results gave Allawi's list 91 seats out of 325 in the new parliament, to the State of Law's 89. The Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition of mostly Shiite religious parties, won 70 seats.

The Kurdistan Alliance, a union of the two parties that have for decades defined Kurdish politics, won 43 seats, enough to cement their role as a crucial part of the new government.

"We are talking with the INA and the Kurdistan Alliance because we believe these two entities are close to our platform, vision, direction, and faith in the constitution," State of Law's al-Hosni told dpa.

There had recently been "a marked improvement" in the negotiations, he said, adding that al-Maliki's coalition hoped to form an alliance in the coming days.

The INA and the Kurdistan Alliance, both of which have also been in talks with Allawi's list, remained noncommittal.

"We are for partnership agreements and the participation of all winners in the formation of the upcoming government," the INA's Maen al-Khadhimi told dpa.

The INA and the State of Law coalition were "close," he said, but talks between the two on forming a government "had not yet reached a solid position."

The Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, the largest party in the outgoing parliament and the largest component of the INA, left al- Maliki's coalition last year because it wanted the prime minister to be drawn from the council's ranks, a condition al-Maliki's Dawaa Party refused.

Kurdish politicians remained similarly ambiguous when discussing the current state of negotiations to form a new government.

"Talk of creating alliances between the winning coalitions is premature. There are discussions, but I think they will have a broader scope once we are done with the appeals and have fully verified the election results," leading Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman told dpa.

Talks "should tackle all issues, based on the constitution and (a spirit of cooperation, to solve all problems," Othman said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316175,no-talks-between-iraqs-al-maliki-and-front-runner-allawi.html.

German states eye lost millions hidden by communists

Berlin - German states which were formerly under communist rule are hoping to regain hundreds of millions of euros siphoned away by former communist party bosses, legislators said Sunday.

The states' hopes for a windfall have risen after a Swiss court directed Italian-owned UniCredit Bank Austria to pay 230 million euros (306 million dollars) to the five states and the city-state of Berlin.

UniCredit Bank Austria, which reportedly said it would appeal, warned stockmarkets that its exposure might be 240 million euros.

German investigators found 128 million euros mysteriously vanished in 1992 from the accounts of Novum, a trading arm of the old communist party.

They claim Novum's chief executive switched the funds in small transactions to other accounts with help from Bank Austria's predecessor.

News reports said the Thursday ruling requires the bank to compensate the states, which have been the rightful owner of former communist party property since East Germany ceased to exist in 1990. The bank must pay for the loss of the funds plus interest.

Michael Kretschmer, a senior Christian Democrat in Germany, said in remarks to appear Monday in the newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung that the sum was just the "tip of the iceberg," with banks liable for other nest-eggs siphoned away by former communists.

An ex-legislator who investigated the pillage of the funds, Vera Lengsfeld, told the same newspaper, "This is only one tenth of the siphoned-off assets."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316185,german-states-eye-lost-millions-hidden-by-communists.html.

Fraser calls for expulsion of Israeli diplomats

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has called on the Federal Government to expel Israeli diplomats from Australia.

Four Australians apparently had their passports forged and used as part of the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai.

It is believed the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, is responsible for the murder.

Mr Fraser says the Government must protect the rights and identities of Australians overseas and take action against the Israeli government.

Mr Fraser says Australia must follow Britain's lead and expel diplomats.

"I believe that is totally and absolutely unforgivable and Australia's disapproval should be registered by an action not less than that which the British took," he said.

"I think there's been a long history, if you like, of double standards. People will not do, in relation to Israel, what they would do if the same action was conducted by some other country," he told ABC Radio's Jon Faine.

The Zionist Council of Victoria says the Government needs to wait for the results of an inquiry into the passport scandal before taking action.

Council president Danny Lamm says Mr Fraser has overreacted.

"I think Malcolm Fraser has shown an unhealthy obsession with attacking Israel," he said.

"It's got worse and worse and worse. And at the same time he wants to indicate that Hamas is almost pure."

Source: ABC.
Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/29/2858768.htm?site=melbourne.

Iraq's PM Defeated, New Government Starts to Form

By Peter Sedik
Epoch Times Staff

Leader of the winning party in Iraq’s parliamentary election has begun negotiations to form the biggest bloc of seats in a bid to become the new prime minister.

Ayad Allawi, leader of the secular Iraqiya alliance, said at a news conference on Saturday that he hopes the Kurdish and Shi'ite parties will join his block to form the new government.

Mr. Allawi, whose bloc won 91 seats in the national parliament, defeated his rival State of Law Party of the current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who got 89 seats. The Iraqi National Alliance (INA) ended up third with 70 seats, followed by the Kurdistan Alliance with 43.

However, Prime Minister Maliki has not yet accepted the election results, saying that he plans to file a legal appeal due to the allegation of fraud in the polls. The U.N. and U.S. envoys to Iraq said the elections were credible.

Mr. Maliki is also negotiating the merger with the Iraqi National Alliance, with the intention that the newly formed bloc could earn the right to form a government first. Iraq's Supreme Court responded to Mr. Maliki’s query on Thursday, saying that the “largest Council of Representatives bloc,” as mentioned in the constitution, could include an alliance formed after the election.

Iraqiya Party can also lose some of its candidates, since the officials responsible for clearing the government of the former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party are planning to disqualify 52 candidates, most of them from the Mr. Allawi’s bloc.

Although the two leading parties could have a majority in the Council of Representative’s 325 seats to form a government, this scenario is very unlikely. Mr. Allawi expects that his bloc Iraqiya will form an alliance with Kurdish parties, who already confirmed that they entered into the negotiations.

However, to secure the prime minister post, Iraqiya will have to find additional partners, as even with the Kurds they will still fall short of having the majority of seats.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/32287/.