German City Ban Israel Flag, could 'Interfere with Passers-by'

03/22/10
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

(IsraelNN.com) Kassel, Germany has banned the Coalition against Anti-Semitism from displaying the blue-and-white Zionist flag because it might upset passers-by and threaten them, the nordhessische.de news service reported. However, city officials previously have approved showing the Iranian flag.

A woman identified by the news service as “Dorothee H.” said that officials told her she could not display the Israeli flag at an information booth she wanted to set up. Pro-Israelis previously have been threatened and attacked by anti-Zionist protesters in Germany.

“I told him that I could not understand this, and that we were not at all dangerous,” Dorothee H. said, but the city official said the booth could be set up only on condition that no Israeli flags were shown. The unnamed official told her that she had to be “considerate” of others.

Dorothee charged that “the employees of the public order told me that all the political information booths will be automatically reported to the national security. This is absurd. You expect the authorities to guarantee freedom of expression, rather than restricting it.”

“A supporter of the group's claim added, "If somebody attacked the activists, the state must just intervene protectively."

Source: Israel National News.
Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136654.

New sibling, new technology surprises long-time hostage - Feature

Rodrigo Ruiz Tovar

Bogota - Life was hectic for Colombian soldier Pablo Emilio Moncayo a day after his release from 12 years of jungle captivity in the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Moncayo, FARC's longest-held hostage, was captured as a baby- faced, 19-year-old Army corporal and freed Tuesday as a grizzled, 31- year-old sergeant.

Reunited with his family on an airport runway in the southern Colombian city of Florencia, Moncayo's mother, Maria Cabrera, held two wonders that didn't exist when he last saw civilization: a digital camera and a little sister.

Four-year-old Laura Valentina was visibly the highlight of the moment for Moncayo, who held the little girl in his arms and kissed her profusely.

The soldier's father, Gustavo Moncayo, who drew global attention to his son's plight in recent years by hiking with chained hands across Colombia and beyond to demand his son's release, described how his son recited a poem for the sister he had just met.

"Laura Valentina became his inspiration. I found that very beautiful," said the elder Moncayo, a schoolteacher in the south- western Colombian town of Sandona.

Following a brief meeting with his family in Florencia, the soldier was taken late Tuesday to a military hospital in Bogota, where he underwent a medical examination.

Hospital director Nohra Rodriguez said that Moncayo has symptoms of hypoglycemia and bears several scars from six bouts of leishmaniasis, a disfiguring skin disease caused by a parasite that thrives in jungle conditions.

Foregoing consultations with psychiatrists and other specialists, Moncayo left the military hospital within hours, heading for a military base in northern Bogota. Hospital officials said he insisted on leaving to spend time with his family.

Gustavo Moncayo described how he awoke Wednesday, as if in a dream, and listened to Maria bringing their son up to date on family matters.

"I felt too much excitement when I opened my eyes and saw that he was talking to his mum," Gustavo said, almost in tears.

While he tried to work out how to make his new camera work, the soldier had breakfast with members of the extended family in Bogota. A private celebration was planned for Wednesday evening.

In his initial comments to reporters, soon after he arrived in Florencia aboard a Brazilian military helicopter used to fetch the prisoner from a secret jungle rendezvous with the rebels, Moncayo asked international organizations to keep up efforts for the release of more than 20 Colombian troops and police officers still held by FARC.

He spoke calmly and said that he had made a decision about his future. But he offered no details, yet.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316681,new-sibling-new-technology-surprises-long-time-hostage--feature.html.

Israelis becoming big fans of Berlin

Katharina Hoeftmann

Tel Aviv - "As a German, you can't go anywhere in Tel Aviv without somebody in the next moment asking you about Berlin."

Georg Blochmann, head of the German cultural center Goethe- Institut in Tel Aviv, is describing what is almost a daily experience about the Berlin euphoria that many Israelis have.

"Virtually everybody will then tell you that their girlfriend is right now in Berlin, or that they had once been there and would soon like to return there soon."

Latest data from the Berlin-Brandenburg regional statistics office confirm his impression: The number of Israeli tourists visiting the German capital has more than tripled since 2000. A likely record of 47,321 Israelis visited the German capital last year, making them the largest non-European group of visitors after those from the United States. This is remarkable for a country of just 7.5 million inhabitants.

In Tel Aviv itself one can feel the Berlin fever at every corner. Some shops even name themselves after the city on the Spree River, such as the "Salon Berlin" in the heart of Tel Aviv which sells second-hand clothes in an atmosphere reminiscent of Kreuzberg, an alternative lifestyle district of Berlin.

Beyond this, almost every week a new Berlin DJ is visiting Israel's gleaming city by the seaside. Berlin offers Tel Aviv's young people "just as much life, dynamism and color as their own home city - and is cheaper on top of it," comments Blochmann in explaining Israelis' enthusiasm for Berlin.

In fact, the two cities have a number of similarities: Berlin is, like Tel Aviv, a kind of island which lives pretty independently from the rest of the country. Both stylish metropolises are shaped by young people and have a strong gay scene.

Avi Efroni-Levi, an Israeli who had lived in the German city of Hanover, got bored there and moved in 1994 to Berlin and immediately fell in love with the city, also sees many parallels.

"Berlin is self-starting, open, unstructured, relatively un- German and more like Tel Aviv. Socialism left its stamp on both cities, and with it came the art of improvisation and a spirit of togetherness."

In the meantime, like every Berliner of the digital bohemian scene, he sits in his regular cafe in Berlin's central Mitte district and works at an internet portal. With "Der Berliton" he has created a platform for his compatriots in Berlin where they can trade ideas, apartment tips and other information.

For Efroni-Levi, the growing passion of Israelis for Berlin is also part of a healing process. It is not about making amends or poking around in old wounds, but rather about learning about the other side. For many years, the Germans were the perpetrators and the Jews the victims. But now young Israelis are a new generation with a changed perception who want to find out who "these Germans" are.

So this love affair with Berlin is a kind of therapy for both sides. But for all the enthusiasm, the path to Germany is not easy for many Israelis. Many are descendants of Holocaust survivors and most of them associate the German language with the hatred-filled tirades of Adolf Hitler.

German shouting still echoes in many peoples' heads and such German words as "raus" (get out) or "Achtung" (attention) are directly associated with Nazi crimes for many.

So Goethe Institut director Blochmann is all the more thrilled at the fact that German language courses are becoming increasingly popular in Tel Aviv. And most of the Israelis have signed up for courses with one goal in mind: they want to go to Berlin.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316685,israelis-becoming-big-fans-of-berlin.html.

Paris no paradise for foreign students

Sabine Vogel

Paris - "I really ought to get rid of that," said Malak Maatoug, pointing at the mildew on the wall. A 22-year-old Berliner who studies cultural sciences, he went to Paris under the auspices of Erasmus, a European Union student exchange program, and lives in an eighth-floor garret measuring 12 square meters.

The black spots on the wall above his bed are not the only problem with his dwelling. The window is poorly insulated and the electrical heater in the corner does not work.

"My room was so cold on some mornings that I didn't dare get out of bed," he remarked.

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast," said US novelist Ernest Hemingway, who lived in the French capital in the 1920s. Many foreign students who go to Paris for a semester abroad take leave of such romantic notions during their hunt for a flat, however.

Maatoug's room is a typical Paris student accommodation, namely one that was formerly meant for domestics who, beginning in the mid- 19th century, served in the households of the Parisian bourgeoisie.

"Many students move into a 'chambre de bonne' (maid's room) because they want to live in the city center. For most of them flats are too expensive," noted Alfonso Mostacero, who assists incoming foreign students at Paris-Sorbonne University.

Shared flats among students are less common in Paris than elsewhere and many Parisian students continue to live with their parents.

Monthly rents in Paris average about 22 euros (30 US dollars) per square meter and are higher for small flats. A 10- to 12-square-meter room with neither a kitchen nor a bathroom costs about 400 euros (538 dollars) a month, on average. Landlords are disinclined to renovate the rooms they rent out since demand for them is high.

Domestics in Paris used to eat in the kitchen of their employer, so their rooms seldom had kitchens, not to speak of bathrooms. The toilet is often located, as it was during that bygone era, in the hall and is shared by everyone living on the floor.

Malak's toilet lacks even a lamp, so he lights a candle during his visits. Other toilets have no flushing system, so a bucket of water is used instead.

Finding a place to live can be very difficult for foreign students. Lukas Haupt, a 25-year-old student of economics in Bremen, went to Paris on an internship. A proficient speaker of French, he brought with him all of the documents that Parisian landlords often demand, including a surety from his father, his father's salary statement and proof that his father owns real estate.

"A few times landlords told me right away that they didn't want foreigners because its hard to sue them if they don't pay the rent," Haupt said. He finally landed a rental agreement after looking at 12 rooms over five weeks. The price: 675 euros (908 dollars) a month for 15 square meters.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316687,paris-no-paradise-for-foreign-students.html.

Gold mine cave-in kills three in northern Philippines

Manila - Three gold miners were killed when a 24-meter-deep pit caved in on them in the northern Philippines, a police report said Thursday.

The accident occurred late Tuesday in Itogon town in Benguet province, 225 kilometers north of Manila.

At least 20 miners entered the mineshaft, but only six were at the bottom when mud and rocks crashed onto them, the police report said.

Three of the workers were rescued and rushed to hospital while the other three died at the scene, it said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316693,gold-mine-cave-in-kills-three-in-northern-philippines.html.

US court rules against Bush wiretapping justification

San Francisco - A federal US judge ruled that the administration of former US president George W Bush overstepped its authority when wiretapping an Islamic charity.

San Francisco District Judge Vaughn Walker on Wednesday rejected the administration's justification for warrantless wiretapping of suspected terrorists in the case of the Oregon-based Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The now-defunct charity, one of several plaintiffs in similar cases, was the only one who had evidence of wiretapping.

Claiming he had the authority to override a 1978 law, Bush allowed agents after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to intercept phone calls or e-mails of US citizens to suspected foreign terrorists without a court warrant.

The theory of "unfettered executive-branch discretion" holds an "obvious potential for governmental abuse and overreaching," the paper quoted Walker as saying.

Al-Haramain became aware of the surveillance when the government by mistake sent it a document that showed two of its lawyers had been wiretapped.

Jon Eisenberg, the charity's lawyer, welcomed the decision, saying it showed the Bush administration's wiretapping program had been unlawful.

"Everybody has to follow the law, including the president," he said.

The Justice Department, which has sought to dismiss the case, said it was reviewing the decision, CNN reported.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316698,us-court-rules-against-bush-wiretapping-justification.html.

Key candidate to boycott Sudan polls over rigging fears

Nairobi/Khartoum (Earth Times) - Southern Sudan's main party has withdrawn its candidate from upcoming presidential elections, raising further questions about Sudan's first multiparty elections since 1986.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) said late Wednesday that its candidate Yasir Arman - considered President Omar al-Bashir's main rival - would not stand due to irregularities and insecurity in the restive Darfur province.

As the elections, scheduled for April 11-13, approach, opposition parties and international bodies have increasingly criticized the poll and called for it to be delayed.

The International Crisis Group on Tuesday said that voter registers had been manipulated and that insecurity in Darfur meant many internally displaced had been unable to register.

New York-based lobby group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said last week that conditions were not "conducive for a free, fair and credible election".

"Unless there is a dramatic improvement in the situation, it's unlikely that the Sudanese people will be able to vote freely for leaders of their choice," Georgette Gagnon, HRW's Africa director, said in a statement.

However, al-Bashir has vowed to press on with the elections and on Monday threatened to cancel a referendum on independence for the south should opposition parties boycott the elections.

"Holding elections in the Sudan is a national obligation that should be fulfilled," Arabic broadcaster Al Jazeera quoted al-Bashir as saying.

"We don't have options in this respect. If they took the right to oppose the elections, we do have the same right to reject the referendum in the South."

The election is the first since the end of a decades-long civil war between the mainly Muslim north and the Christian and Animist south.

A 2005 peace deal ended the conflict, but insecurity has continued in the south, where clashes between rival ethnic groups claimed thousands of lives last year.

A timetable for the election and the referendum, due in 2011, was agreed in the peace deal.

While fighting has died off in the western province of Darfur, there remains a huge refugee population and general insecurity.

Al-Bashir also recently threatened to kick out election monitors after the US-based Carter Center, which runs a long-term monitoring mission in Sudan, aid a delay would be wise for logistical reasons.

"We brought these organizations from outside to monitor the elections, but if they ask for them to be delayed, we will throw them out," al-Bashir - who is running for office again despite being wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur - said.

"We wanted them to see the free and fair elections, but if they interfere in our affairs, we will cut their fingers off, put them under our shoes and throw them out."

Malaysian sultan commutes caning sentence against Muslim woman

Kuala Lumpur - A Muslim woman who was sentenced to be caned for drinking beer has instead been ordered to perform community service after a state sultan decided to commute the sentence, her father said Thursday.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 33, was found guilty of drinking beer at a club two years ago. In September, the Islamic sharia court of appeals in her home state of Pahang upheld her sentence of a 5,000-ringgit (1,351-dollar) fine and six strokes of the cane.

After the state religious authorities deferred the caning several times, Kartika sought an audience with Pahang's sultan, who has the power as head of the state's Islamic council to commute her sentence.

Kartika's father Shukarnor Abdul Muttalib said that his daughter received a letter dated March 26 from the state Islamic and Malay Culture Council on Wednesday, informing her that Sultan Ahmad Shah had decided to spare her the caning.

He said the sultan had instead ordered Kartika to perform community service for three weeks, the Star newspaper reported.

Women's rights groups had earlier slammed the ruling, saying it was a violation of Kartika's rights and that it would undermine government efforts to portray the country as moderate.

Rights groups were further enraged when the government announced that three other Muslim women were caned in February for illicit sex.

The case had sparked concerns that conservative and hardline Islamists were gaining influence over the justice system.

Muslims make up almost 60 per cent of Malaysia's 28-million population, which also includes large minorities of Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316706,malaysian-sultan-commutes-caning-sentence-against-muslim-woman.html.

Egypt launches its first environmental, social, governance index

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

Cairo (Earth Times) - Egypt launched Tuesday its first environmental, social and governance (ESG) index, to become the second worldwide after India, Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieddin announced.

Mohieddin, announcing the index launch, said there were 30 companies initially listed.

"Businesses will be ranked according to their to alignment with international standards in the areas of labor, human rights, environment and anti-corruption measures," Mohieddin told a Corporate Social Responsibility conference.

The index aims at encouraging companies to be more transparent and to disclose their governance, social and environmental practices more clearly to increase their competitive advantage.

Standard & Poor's assisted the Egyptian Institute of Directors (EIOD) and the Egyptian Stock Exchange to develop, calculate, publish and maintain the index.

Malaysia to offer free cervical cancer vaccination next year

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's Health Ministry is to begin offering free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations to 13-year-old girls next year in a bid to reduce the number of cervical cancer cases, the official Bernama news agency said Tuesday.

The free vaccination is due to be offered to roughly 300,000 13-year-old girls by the middle of 2011, and is to cost the government about 150 million ringgit (45.1 million dollars), Deputy Health Minister Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin, said.

Rosnah told Parliament on Tuesday that the vaccination would hopefully reduce cases of cervical cancer and genital warts, adding that studies had shown that teenage girls under the age of 15 had a better immunity response compared with older girls or women.

HPV is a common virus that is passed on through genital contact during sexual intercourse and is a known cause of cervical cancer.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315367,malaysia-to-offer-free-cervical-cancer-vaccination-next-year.html.

Avalanches kill 38 in northern Afghanistan

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

Kabul - At least three avalanches struck villages in northern Afghanistan, killing 38 people including women and children, officials said Tuesday.

One avalanche buried several houses in Zoorabad village in the northern province of Badakhshan on Sunday night, killing 35 people, Abdul Marouf Rasekh, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said.

Five houses collapsed while 15 others were damaged, he said. Police rescue teams and local volunteers retrieved the bodies on Monday afternoon.

Roads in the mountainous district were also blocked by avalanches, making it impossible for aid organizations to get food and blankets to survivors, the state-run Red Crescent agency said.

Three other people were killed in two separate avalanches in Keshim and Tagab district of the province, Red Crescent chief Hemat said, adding that hundreds of livestock were also killed.

Badakhshan, one of the most impoverished provinces in the country, borders China, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

As the weather becomes warmer, the thawing snows trigger deadly avalanches in northern and north-eastern provinces each spring.

More than 170 people were killed last month when at least a dozen avalanches buried hundreds of vehicles at a high-altitude mountain pass, where a 5-kilometer tunnel links the capital Kabul to the northern regions.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315384,avalanches-kill-38-in-northern-afghanistan.html.

Bruneians waste millions of liters of water every day

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei - Brunei's 388,000 people waste about 100 million liters of water each day, media reports said Tuesday.

Abu Hanipah Hj Talip, director of the Water Services Department, gave the figure as World Water Day was marked Monday. He added that the tiny country on Borneo Island has the highest per-capita water consumption in South-East Asia.

Abu Hanipah said Brunei's water usage is 420 liters of water per person per day, compared with Singapore's 150 liters.

The difference has been attributed to Brunei's high subsidies for water, which puts the price of its water for domestic use at about 8 US cents per cubic meter for the first 54 cubic meters and 31 cents for every cubic meter after that.

Brunei is a rich oil nation whose citizens receive benefits that include no taxes, free health care and education, high unemployment benefits and cheap utility bills.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315381,bruneians-waste-millions-of-litres-of-water-every-day.html.

Algeria expects hydrocarbon revenue spike

2010-03-23

Algeria anticipates annual hydrocarbon receipts to grow by $6-7b when the new Arzew Industrial Area becomes fully operational in 2012, Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said during a visit to the Oran complex on Monday (March 22nd). The new facilities will increase "energy products' exporting capacity and…have a positive impact on national economy growth", El Moudjahid quoted Khelil as saying. One Arzew plant will produce more than one million tonnes of LPG per year.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/03/23/newsbrief-05.

New literacy agency will target Moroccan women, rural dwellers

Morocco will continue its internationally-recognized fight against illiteracy by forming a new agency to support literacy initiatives.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 23/03/10

The Moroccan government will create a national agency to tackle illiteracy, according to a bill adopted by the cabinet on Thursday (March 18th).

The agency will propose and implement literacy programs, pursue funding sources and promote international co-operation, Communications Minister Khalid Naciri said. It will also coordinate literacy activities between government and non-government organizations.

The agency's creation follows through on commitments made by the prime minister in 2007, National Campaign against Illiteracy Director El Habib Nadir said.

A legacy of illiteracy poses a significant challenge to the agency's goals, Nadir added, especially since Morocco has only in the last ten years begun to address the problem.

Government officials are creating the agency as part of a literacy campaign that has accelerated over the past ten years. Around 656,000 Moroccans benefited from government literacy programs in 2008-09, according to Illiteracy Prevention Department statistics. That number marks a significant rise from the 286,000 beneficiaries in 2002-03 and the 180,000 beneficiaries in 1998-99.

Almost 4 million Moroccans have benefited from literacy programs over the last six years, according to IPD statistics -- twice as many as benefited from literacy programs in the preceding two decades.

Women make up more than 80% of the beneficiaries of literacy programs targeting Moroccans aged 15 and older. Government literacy programs have prioritized women aged 15-45 in rural areas.

Great efforts are being made to adopt a gender-based approach in efforts to deal with educational and training related issues, and to ban all forms of discrimination between the sexes, Secretary of State for School Education Latifa Labida said March 17th. Labida spoke at a meeting on the school enrollment of girls in rural areas.

Officials have promoted gender equality in education through discussions about the role of women, amendments to school curricula and efforts to purge stereotypes that are detrimental to women from school textbooks, Labida said.

The international community has also taken note of Morocco's advances in literacy. UNESCO awarded Morocco the Confucius Prize for Literacy in 2006.

Despite great advances in literacy rates, the scale of illiteracy in Morocco and the prevalence of school abandonment make it unlikely that the government will eradicate illiteracy by 2015, according to the Ministry of Education.

The Illiteracy Prevention Department has called for key governmental departments to become more involved with social demographics with high illiteracy rates, which in clued farmers, fishermen and craft workers. The department has also called for the government to make literacy a component of sector-specific development projects.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/03/23/feature-02.

New Danish foreign minister visits troops in Afghanistan

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

Copenhagen - Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen, who took office a month ago after a cabinet reshuffle, on Tuesday visited Danish troops in southern Afghanistan.

The visit was conducted under tight secrecy and news of it was withheld for several hours, the Danish news agency Ritzau reported.

"It is important for me to see with my own eyes the conditions the troops are serving in," Espersen was quoted as saying during her visit to a Danish camp in the restive Helmand province.

The foreign minister arrived in Afghanistan on Monday and met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US General Stanley McChrystal, head of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Espersen also inspected a Danish armored vehicle that was hit by a roadside bomb on Monday. No one was reported injured in the blast.

In Denmark, parliament is preparing for talks on the Scandinavian country's continued engagement in Afghanistan.

The minority government and their parliamentary backers, the Danish People's Party, have so far rejected setting a date for a Danish troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, as called for by the main opposition Social Democrats and others.

Denmark has a 750-strong force based mainly in Helmand. Thirty-one Danish soldiers have been killed since 2002.

The cabinet reshuffle saw Espersen, 44, the leader of the Conservative Party, become Denmark's first female foreign minister.

Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen also named Gitte Lillelund Bech, 41, from his center-right Liberal Party, as Denmark's first female defense minister.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315449,new-danish-foreign-minister-visits-troops-in-afghanistan.html.

Obama signs landmark health care reform into law - Summary

Tue, 23 Mar 2010
Chris Cermak

Washington - President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed into law a drastic overhaul of the US health care system, the culmination of a year-long struggle that deeply divided the country and threatened to derail his vast domestic agenda.

"Today, after almost a century of trying, today after more than a year of debate ... health insurance reform becomes law in the United States of America," Obama declared to often boisterous applause from supporters gathered in the White House East Room.

The seminal moment came after the House of Representatives on Sunday approved a version of the health reforms passed by the Senate late last year. But a second package of changes also approved by the House will have to go through the Senate one last time this week.

The legislation marks the most significant transformation of the costly health care system in more than four decades and aims to provide nearly all Americans with access to at least some form of health insurance.

Obama signed the bill before lawmakers from his left-leaning Democratic Party and individual citizens whose cases he touted on the health campaign trail during the year. Obama used 20 different pens for the signature that will be given to key supporters as keepsakes.

There were no Republicans in the room. The opposition party fiercely opposed the bill as a government takeover and rejected claims that it will reduce costs over the long term. Conservatives vowed to repeal the bill if they regain the majority in Congress.

The president later gave another speech at the Interior Department to mark the occasion before a broader audience of about 600 lawmakers, health care professionals and lobbyists who supported his reform effort throughout the year.

Also attending the ceremonies was Vicky Kennedy, widow of the late senator Edward Kennedy who had made health reform his lifelong cause as a legislator but passed away in the summer before it could be realized. His niece Caroline Kennedy was also present.

The sweeping overhaul is predicted to expand health coverage to about 32 million uninsured Americans and bans certain practices of insurance companies, such as refusing to provide insurance to people with pre-existing health conditions.

The legislation is estimated to cost 940 billion dollars over 10 years, but is reputed to lower the federal budget deficit over the next two decades and tries to cut costs in a health system that engulfs 17 per cent of the US economy.

Health care had been Obama's top domestic priority since he entered office in January 2009, but his popularity suffered greatly as much of the public viewed the reforms sceptically and worried about its effect on their own insurance coverage.

The year-long debate often took a nasty turn, from angry protests at townhall meetings over the summer to demonstrations in Washington over the weekend by conservatives determined to derail the process.

Passage of legislation had been in doubt as late as January, after Republican Scott Brown won a shocking victory in the left-leaning state of Massachusetts that ended the Democratic Party's super- majority in the Senate.

Brown's victory ultimately prompted Democrats to abandon Obama's hopes of returning a bipartisan style of governing to Washington. The health legislation was approved with a rash of procedural tricks that limited the Republican Party's ability to block the bill.

"Our presence here today is remarkable and improbable," Obama said. "It's been easy at times to doubt our ability to do such a big thing, such a complicated thing."

But "we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations," he said. "We are a nation that does what is hard, what is necessary, what is right."

Republicans hope Obama's gamble will cost his party dearly when much of Congress is up for re-election this November. Most political analysts expect Democrats will drop some seats, but it remained to be seen whether the party would lose its stranglehold on the majority in both chambers.

"I assure you I am not quitting our fight. I believe we must repeal this bill immediately," Senator John McCain, the Republican who challenged Obama for the presidency in 2008, wrote in a message to supporters late Monday.

Conservatives will have one last chance to stall the legislative process, when the Senate this week takes up a raft of changes to the underlying health bill. Obama said he was confident the Senate would "swiftly" approve the so-called "fix-it" bill.

About a dozen Republican states are also gearing up to challenge the health reforms in US courts. They are targeting an individual mandate that for the first time would require all Americans to purchase some form of health insurance.

The White House has said it is confident the court challenges will not be successful.

"My advice from counsel is that ... we'll win these lawsuits," spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315455,obama-signs-landmark-health-care-reform-into-law--summary.html.

Britain to expel Israeli diplomat over Hamas killing - Summary

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

London- Britain is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of fake British passports by the killers of a Hamas official in Dubai, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Tuesday.

Miliband told parliament there were "compelling reasons" to believe Israel was behind the passports used in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on January 19.

The foreign secretary said it was "intolerable" for a foreign country to behave in such away, and the fact that Israel was a close ally added "insult to injury."

"No country or government could stand by in such a situation," he said.

Al-Mabhouh was killed in a hotel room in the Gulf emirate in what Dubai authorities called an assassination most probably carried out by the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. Israel has declined to confirm or deny the allegation.

A dozen British passports and those of nationals from other countries were found to have been cloned by al-Mabhouh's killers.

In February, Israel's ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, was called to explain his country's alleged involvement in the Palestinian militant's murder. At the time, Prosor said while Israel was willing to cooperate, it could shed no light on the situation.

Al-Mabhouh, the founder of Hamas' military wing, had reportedly been involved in the acquisition of weapons for the radical Palestinian movement.

Miliband said he spoke to his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman on Monday about the issue.

"I handed over a letter seeking a formal assurance from him that in the future the state of Israel would never be party to the misuse of British passports in such a way." he said.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the diplomat had technically been "asked to withdraw" from Britain, rather than expelled, and was being given two weeks to leave the country.

The diplomat was not named, but he was believed to be a member of the Israeli embassy.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315457,britain-to-expel-israeli-diplomat-over-hamas-killing--summary.html.

Grandson of former Iranian president freed on bail

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

Tehran - The grandson of former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani has been freed on bail, Fars news agency reported Tuesday.

Hassan Lahouti was arrested at Tehran's IKA airport late Sunday on his return from London and taken to an undisclosed prison.

Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told Fars that Lahouti was released after the completion of investigations, but declined to say when or how much bail was paid.

The charges against Lahouti were not known, but President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his administration have several times accused the Rafsanjani clan of financial misdeeds.

Lahouti is the son of Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh, a staunch opponent of Ahmadinejad who has been arrested several times for attending protest demonstrations against the president.

Rafsanjani was one of the architects of Iran's Islamic system, served as parliament speaker and later as president for two terms (1989-1997).

In line with the opposition, Rafsanjani accused Ahmadinejad of fraud in the June presidential voting and has not yet acknowledged his re-election.

The Rafsanjani clan is one of the wealthiest in Iran. The former president has been accused of nepotism, but the charges have never been seriously followed up.

Ahmadinejad vowed before the presidential election to put an end to any financial abuse by former officials.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315463,grandson-of-former-iranian-president-freed-on-bail.html.

South Korea grants citizenship to first refugee - from Ethiopia

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

New York - South Korea has granted citizenship to a refugee from Ethiopia, the first-ever such decision since it adopted the 1951 Refugee Convention, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Tuesday.

The 38-year-old Ethiopian, whose name was withheld, fled persecution in his country and arrived in South Korea in 2001. He was given refugee status before being granted citizenship.

"This is a highly significant milestone in Asia, where few countries have signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, and even fewer have extended citizenship to refugees," said UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming.

"We are grateful to the Republic of Korea for its leadership in local integration, one of the three durable solutions available to refugees, and one that is rarely used in Asia," she added.

South Korea adopted the 1951 Refugee Convention in 1994, which includes the granting of citizenship as the most significant step to allow a recognized refugee to integrate into a society.

UNHCR said the Seoul government has received more than 2,000 refugee claims since 1994 and has given refugee status to 175 of them. Seoul also gave humanitarian status to another 93 people who were not found to be refugees but who still needed international protection.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315469,south-korea-grants-citizenship-to-first-refugee--from-ethiopia.html.

Three Guantanamo detainees transferred to Georgia

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

Washington - Three detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility for holding suspects in the war on terrorism were transferred to Georgia on Tuesday, the US Justice Department confirmed.

The transfer is part of President Barack Obama's plan to close the controversial facility at the US naval installation on Cuba, and reduces the number of detainees at the prison to 185.

"The United States is grateful to Georgia for its willingness to support US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," the Justice Department said.

Obama missed a January deadline to close Guantanamo, struggling to find countries willing to take larger numbers of the inmates and with how to try those who can be prosecuted.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315479,three-guantanamo-detainees-transferred-to-georgia.html.

Mauritania to liberalize broadcasting sector

2010-03-31

Mauritania's state-controlled broadcasting sector will be liberalized "between May and June", AFP quoted President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz as saying Tuesday (March 30th) during a visit to the national television office. There are currently two public and two private television channels in Mauritania, as well as two public radio stations.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/03/31/newsbrief-04.

Khalifa extradition to Algeria postponed by UK

2010-03-31

The extradition of corrupt tycoon Abdelmoumen Rafik Khalifa from England to his native Algeria faces another delay, AFP reported on Wednesday (March 31st). British Interior Minister Alan Johnson reportedly requested that the decision be postponed until April 30th.

In 2007, a Blida court sentenced Khalifa, who fled to London in 2003, to life imprisonment on fraud charges surrounding Algeria's largest-ever financial scandal. He is also wanted in France on embezzlement charges and for alleged involvement in the collapse of Khalifa Airways, Antinéa Airlines and Khalifa Rent-a-Car. Algeria's extradition request, however, takes precedence over that of France.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/03/31/newsbrief-02.

Morocco mobilizes pupils to recruit peers for school

Thousands of Moroccan children will help officials conduct a census of un-enrolled youngsters in a new push to encourage education.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 31/03/10

Morocco plans to train schoolchildren to help lure other youngsters into the classroom under a government initiative aimed at boosting enrollment rates.

Some 500,000 schoolchildren will be trained to take part in the "Child for Child" census-taking program that the Department of Education launched on Thursday (March 25th). Students aged 6-15 will work with teachers and officials in April and May to encourage youth who are not enrolled in school to return to their studies.

The aim is to survey and interact on a case-by-case basis with some 800,000 children who either never enrolled in school or dropped out. Education officials hope the program will bring 30,000 potential students into the system, after providing them with intensive catch-up lessons.

The program will also try to place another 45,000 children who never enrolled in school into "second-chance schools", which will tackle child illiteracy and provide job training.

Participation in the program will instill the values of citizenship in children, said Secretary of State for School Education Latifa Abida. The program will also work to mobilize children against the marginalization of less fortunate groups.

The "Child for Child" initiative will involve 7,000 primary schools and 1,500 secondary schools throughout Morocco. Of the 500,000 students working on the project, 50,000 will personally help interview and conduct exercises with out-of-school children. These students will be chosen for their motivation in school and devotion to the project, as well as their proximity to the douars and shantytowns which hold the greatest number of non-enrolled children.

"The operation is intended to raise the awareness of teachers, social stakeholders, pupils and families with regard to school enrollment and school abandonment at primary and secondary levels, with a view to finding local responses to the phenomenon," said the secretary general of the Department of School Education, Youssef Belqasmi.

By conducting case-by-case interviews of children who either dropped out of school or never registered, Moroccan authorities hope to learn the reasons behind the low school enrollment rate. To accomplish this task, every child will be interviewed and given a questionnaire asking what led them to leave the classroom.

Previous research shows that popular reasons for avoiding school include the absence of parents or guardians; parents' inability to afford enrollment and school supplies; obligations to do housework or work outside the home; entering a marriageable age; and fear of being treated badly by teachers.

Potential solutions to the issue of low enrollment may include raising awareness among parents of the importance of education, making school schedules more flexible, providing meals for students and offering transport to school.

Schoolchildren contacted by Magharebia expressed enthusiasm about their role in the new program. Hajjer, 12, said she was already preparing to do her part to encourage other children to enroll.

"There are a lot of children who hang around near our school without being enrolled," she said. "I'd really like to help them get into school and find out why they dropped out."

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/03/31/feature-03.

Search teams recover UAE royal killed in Morocco crash

Moroccan authorities are searching for clues to the cause of a glider crash near Rabat that claimed the life of a brother of the president of the UAE.

By Mawassi Lahcen and Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 31/03/10

The body of a missing Emirati prince was found in a Rabat lake on Tuesday (March 30th). Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the 41-year-old Abu Dhabi Investment Authority chief and younger brother of Emirates President Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, has been the subject of a frantic search by Moroccan and international rescue teams since his glider crashed last Friday near Rabat.

Authorities transferred Sheikh Ahmed's body from Morocco to the UAE on Wednesday (March 31st), an informed source told Magharebia. US rescue workers found the body in the waters behind Mohammed ben Abdullah Dam near Rabat, added the source, who asked to remain anonymous.

The prince's body will be buried today after funeral prayers Wednesday afternoon in Abu Dhabi, the source said. The UAE has declared three days of mourning. Moroccan King Mohammed VI on Tuesday sent his condolences to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the older brother of the deceased.

Sheikh Ahmed, the 15th son of the late UAE president Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, was managing director of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Forbes listed him as the world's 27th richest man.

Rescue workers found the body after a four-day search of the waters behind the dam, where his glider crashed on March 26th. Authorities transferred his body to the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in the capital before returning the remains to the UAE.

News of the prince's death shocked many Moroccans, according to Mohammed Smiri, 24.

"Since Friday, people had been talking about nothing other than this tragic event, and hoping that the outcome would be favorable," he said.

Locals volunteered to help the rescue workers during the search, Smiri said, adding: "People were circulating pictures of him so that he could be recognized if found."

Moroccan security forces sealed off the lake to journalists and locals who came to watch the search-and-rescue operation. Authorities led the rescue efforts from a palace belonging to UAE Interior Minister Sheikh Seif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, which is located near the scene of the crash.

Search teams from Morocco, the UAE, France, Spain, Denmark and the United States, including 100 divers and four emergency doctors, scoured the lake that lies along the 25-mile long dam. Mud, water and debris washed in from recent rains and flooding impeded the search.

A US rescue team used special cameras designed for exploring shallow water to identify potential bodies at the bottom of the lake. Divers checking those points eventually found the body of Sheikh Ahmed.

Investigators have not established why the prince's glider plunged into the water, according to one source. Sheikh Ahmed managed to unfasten his safety belt and jump before the crash, another source said, but the flooded lake's waters apparently proved overwhelming.

Fishermen rescued the glider's Spanish pilot in the evening on the day of the crash. The pilot also managed to jump out of the glider before it went down, and rescuers rushed him to the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rabat. Locals were surprised that the pilot had survived while the prince had died, said one resident, Fatima.

"We are waiting for the findings of the inquiry so we can understand what happened," she said.

The prince was the second son of Sheikh Zayed to die in an aviation incident. Sheikh Nassir Bin Ahmed Al Nahyan died in a helicopter crash in the Arabian Gulf in June 2008.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/03/31/feature-01.

Druze leader meets Assad in Syria

Beirut/Damascus - Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt met Syrian President Bashar al Assad on Wednesday, the official Syrian news agency SANA said.

Jumblatt, who was considered a strong critic of Syria and has accused it openly for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafik Hariri, said recently he wants to "open a new chapter" with Damascus.

Lebanese media quoted Jumblatt as praising Assad's policies "and his keenness towards Lebanon's security and stability."

Jumblatt is accompanied by his son Taymour and Transport and Public Works Druze minister Ghazi Aridi on his visit to the Syrian capital.

Damascus has always denied involvement in the bomb blast in Beirut that killed Hariri on February 14, 2005.

The secretary general of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, was scheduled to speak later Wednesday on the Hariri assassination, which is being investigated by UN special tribunal.

Media reports in the past few weeks said Hezbollah members were questioned by the UN team in Beirut in connection with the Hariri murder.

On May 23, 2009, the German magazine Der Spiegel claimed the tribunal had evidence that Hezbollah "planned and executed" the assassination.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316600,druze-leader-meets-assad-in-syria.html.

Winning coalition to visit Iran and other neighboring countries

Baghdad - The winning parliamentary election coalition, the Iraqi List, said Wednesday it would be visiting Iraq's neighbors to explain moves to form a government.

A statement said the coalition will be "sending delegates on a regional tour to several neighboring countries to discuss the political situation and the List's steps towards forming a national coalition government."

The Iraqi List, headed by former prime minister Ayad Allawi, won the highest number of seats in the March 7 parliamentary elections. However, since no group secured one third of the seats, the formation of the new government remains unclear until new blocs are formed.

According to independent news agency Aswat al-Iraq, the Iraqi List's regional negotiation tour will include a visit to Iran.

Hussein al-Shaalat of the Iraqi List said delegates would be sent to Iran "with the main goal of meeting Muqtada al-Sadr, an important leader in the Iraqi political scene."

Current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, which came in a close second in the race, held talks with the influential Shiite cleric earlier this week in an attempt to gain his backing.

The move was then criticized by Allawi and his coalition, who called it a clear example of foreign interference in internal Iraqi affairs.

Al-Sadr's followers ran with the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition of Shiite religious parties that came a close second to al- Maliki's bloc in many predominantly Shiite provinces in southern Iraq.

The INA's 70 seats in the new parliament could make it an indispensable part of any ruling coalition.

Sadrist politicians, who won 40 of the INA's seats, have expressed reservations about a government led by Allawi, who presided over a joint US-Iraqi military campaign against them when he was prime minister in 2004.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316609,winning-coalition-to-visit-iran-and-other-neighboring-countries.html.

Drunken Britons annoy Spaniards at tourist resort

Tarragona, Spain - Thousands of British students have descended on a north-eastern Spanish seaside resort, annoying locals with their rowdy behavior, media reports said Wednesday.

More than 8,000 students from dozens of universities are participating in an annual event called Saloufest in Salou south of Tarragona during the Easter holidays.

The event, organized by a British travel agency, is supposed to feature sports contests, but the students were also being given discounts at bars and pubs, reports said.

They had come to Salou in search of partying, cheap alcohol and sex, according to the daily El Pais.

The students were drinking so heavily that several of them were hospitalized for alcohol poisoning.

"Of course it is drinking tourism," a hotel manager said. "But these young people are good clients."

A municipal spokesman said there had been no official complaints, but many residents expressed outrage over the presence of scantily or fancily dressed revelers who vomited and urinated on the streets at night.

"We cannot sleep, they do whatever they want and nobody prohibits anything," Jose Maria Ciria complained.

"And these holidaymakers are among the educated ones," a reader wrote to the daily Diari de Tarragona. "What will happen to us when the uneducated ones come here?"

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316610,drunken-britons-annoy-spaniards-at-tourist-resort.html.

Belgium set to become first EU country to ban burqas

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Brussels - Belgium on Wednesday moved a step closer to becoming the first European Union country to criminalize Muslim women who hide their faces in public, as the interior affairs committee of its parliament passed a resolution against burqas and niqabs.

Burqas are full-length garments which obscure a woman's face completely, usually with a semi-transparent section that allows the wearer to see out. Niqabs are face veils, usually black, that expose only a woman's eyes, covering everything else.

Belgian media reported that according to the draft law approved by the committee, anyone caught "in public places with their face completely or partly covered or masked, so that they are no longer identifiable," should be punished with a 15 to 25 euros fine (20 to 34 dollars) and/or serve from one to seven days in prison.

The draft law would also allow local authorities to slap offenders with administrative fines of up to 250 euros, in case they are let off by the criminal justice system.

Exceptions are to be made for policemen, firemen and motorcyclists wearing helmets, as well as for people taking part in public events authorized by the police.

The proposal - presented by socialist, liberal and conservative parties - was approved unanimously. Only the Greens expressed reserves, warning that the new law could fall foul of the Belgian Constitution or of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Similar concerns have been expressed by a top administrative court in France, where a similar ban is being debated.

Critics say that burqas and niqabs should be banned because they are symbols of female submission. Opponents of a ban stress that they are a religious symbol, and should be respected as such.

According to a poll published in early March by the daily newspaper Financial Times, outlawing Muslim face veils is a popular measure in Western Europe.

Around 70 per cent of the population in France, 65 per cent in Spain, 63 per cent in Italy, 53 per cent in Britain and 50 per cent in Germany are said to support the move, compared to 33 per cent in the United States.

Muslim face veils were banned from French state schools in 2004, when a law against wearing religious symbols was passed. But Belgium would be the first member of the EU to introduce a total ban.

The European Commission, whose Brussels-based staff would also be subject to the proposed Belgian law, refused to take a position.

"I have no immediate comment to make on this," said Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen, spokeswoman for commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

The burqa and niqab ban is expected to enter into force before the summer, as the full assembly of the Belgian parliament is set to give its final assent to the new law in mid-April.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316615,belgium-set-to-become-first-eu-country-to-ban-burqas.html.

Ukraine to cooperate with Russia on global military satellite net

Kiev - Ukraine's aerospace industry will cooperate with Russia on the expansion and operation of a global military navigation satellite network, officials in Kiev said Wednesday.

The Kremlin and Kiev are close to an agreement that would make Ukraine's state-run National Space Agency (NSAU) a major participant in the Moscow-run GLONASS global positioning system, said Yury Alekseev, NSAU head, at a Kiev press conference.

GLONASS is a Russia-developed navigation satellite network similar to the US' already-operating GPS network, and China's Compass navigation system.

The currently is used primarily by Russia's military for missile targeting and combat unit navigation. Ukraine's government would gain full access to GLONASS once a joint operation agreement is signed later this year, Alekseev said.

"There is a shared interest here for both Russian, and Ukrainian specialists," Alekseev said, according to an Interfax report.

Ukrainian ground control stations would participate in GLONASS satellite communications and monitoring, he said.

Ukraine's aerospace industry is well-developed, with state-run factories in Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv producing satellite components and rocket boosters regularly used by the international telecoms industry.

Russia's government in 2001 embarked on a program aimed at making the GLONASS network fully operational, and expanding its global coverage, at the time planning substantial use of Ukrainian launch vehicles.

An anti-Russia government coming to power in Ukraine in 2004 brought a halt to Kiev's participation in the Kremlin-run GLONASS.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russia politician inaugurated in office in February, has named a renewal of tight collaboration between Ukraine's and Russian's aerospace industries as a top priority for his government.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316617,ukraine-to-cooperate-with-russia-on-global-military-satellite-net.html.

Number of Catholics declines in Spain

Madrid - The number of people describing themselves as Roman Catholics is declining in Spain, traditionally regarded as one of the most staunchly Catholic countries in the world.

A poll showed Wednesday that 75 per cent of Spaniards regard themselves as Catholics, down from nearly 85 per cent in 2000.

About 13.5 per cent of the 2,500 people interviewed for the poll, which was conducted by the Center of Sociological Investigations (CIS), defined themselves as non-believers. Nearly 8 per cent said they were atheists.

About 1.5 per cent followed a religion other than Roman Catholicism. The arrival of immigrants has increased the number of Muslims and Protestants in Spain in recent years.

Only about 15 per cent of those interviewed said they regularly attended mass or another religious service.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316620,number-of-catholics-declines-in-spain.html.

Taiwan student sentenced to 18 months for killing cats

Taipei - A court in Taiwan has sentenced a former graduate student to 18 months in jail for torturing and killing cats, in what was the stiffest-ever punishment against animal abusers on the island, a judge said Wednesday.

Lee Nien-lung, 34, a former marine engineering student, was found guilty of torturing and killing at least three kittens he adopted from others or homes for stray animals, judge Huang Chun-ming said.

"As an educated person, he should not have tortured and even killed domestic animals just for his own satisfaction," Huang said. "Nor would he show remorse for what he had done."

At least 10 kittens adopted by Lee were mysteriously found dying tragically in late 2008, having been skinned and had their tails chopped off, prompting those who gave away the animals to start a series of investigations. One woman who gave her kitten to Lee officially took the case to the judicial authorities for investigation early last year.

Huang said Lee was found to have tortured and killed at least three kittens, including placing one in a spinning machine and squeezing another kitten wrapped by a towel until it suffocated.

Huang, who said he would appeal the ruling at the high court, was the first Taiwanese getting such a stiff penalty for violation of the animal protection law. Previous punishments were usually three-month imprisonment convertible by fines.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316624,taiwan-student-sentenced-to-18-months-for-killing-cats.html.

UN calls for well-invested, coordinated aid in Haiti - Update

New York - A United Nations conference to assist in the recovery and reconstruction of earthquake-ravaged Haiti on Wednesday stressed on international aid that is well invested and well coordinated for the long-term benefits of Haitians.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton opened the one-day donor conference at UN headquarters in New York, insisting that the post-quake relief and a 10-year plan for reconstruction be carried out with effectiveness and discipline.

"As we move from emergency aid to long-term reconstruction, let us recognize that we cannot accept business as usual," Ban told the conference attended by more than 130 government envoys and others from the European Union and World Bank.

Haitian President Rene Preval also pledged his government's commitment to work hard and adopt discipline in using international aid to be given to Haiti.

Clinton, whose husband former US president Bill Clinton was also present at the meeting, pledged 1.5 billion dollars for the long-term reconstruction.

The EU pledged a total of 1.6 billion dollars.

Brazil pledged a further 172 million dollars as the country has already provided significant financial aid as well as military troops for the UN mission in Haiti.

The UN is seeking 3.9 billion dollars for the first 18 months of recovery and reconstruction and a total of 11.5 billion dollars for the 10-year plan.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316623,un-calls-for-well-invested-coordinated-aid-in-haiti--update.html.

Bulgarian ruling coalition fails to impeach President Parvanov

Sofia - The conservative coalition grouped behind Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on Wednesday failed to muster enough votes in parliament to impeach the Socialist President Georgi Parvanov.

The impeachment petition required the support of 161 of the 240 legislators, but was backed by only 155 deputies, with 72 voting against. Thirteen deputies were absent.

Borisov's coalition moved to impeach Parvanov claiming that he violated the nation's constitution during his public feud with the Finance Minister Simeon Djankov.

The row between the minister and the president broke out last month when Djankov commented on Parvanov's reputed wealth in a television talk show.

The two later met to discuss the incident, but Parvanov then released the transcripts from their meeting without authorization. Borisov's camp said that Paravanov violated the law and Djankov's privacy by publicizing their confidential conversation.

Borisov's GARB party swept the Socialist-led coalition from power in July elections, promising to rid the country of corruption.

Parvanov's second and final five-year term expires next year.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316622,bulgarian-ruling-coalition-fails-to-impeach-president-parvanov.html.

Why Obama Used the Cover of Night for His Flying Visit?

Wednesday March 31, 2010

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

By making a 6-hour unannounced trip to Afghanistan last night, Obama proved that his military strategy and surge of 30,000 troops, his morale-boosting propaganda, all have failed to make a dent. The Mujahideen have further driven the enemy into the corner, to the extent that now he is not able to visit Afghanistan in the light of the day. He comes during the night and hurries back in the darkness, ironically acting like a thief.

Similarly, the brief speech of Obama to American soldiers in a military base, being dotted with his low-pitched and jittery-fraught voice was demonstrating the scope of the American military's fear and mistrust in Afghanistan. There was no word in Obama's speech, indicating any military achievement or at least giving good news to troops to boost their morale. Obama admitted in clear terms that their enemy (Taliban) were a determined and resolute opponent. However, he claimed that they would not defeat the Americans.

Obama's admission that the Taliban are a determined force, in fact, exposes the invading Americans acknowledgment of the fact that the Taliban are waging an unflinching struggle with unwavering determination. During the past nine years, the invaders have not been able to force Taliban to retreat from any given small area a or a village of any mention despite the invading American resorting to committing brutalities and using all military power at their disposal.

If they had any spectacular achievement or any tangible results, particularly, in the recent operations of Marjah, he would have refereed to them in his speech, to put them on display in front of his audience. On the other hand, Obama's visit to Afghanistan in the darkness of evening and even not informing Hamid Karzai, the Head of the Kabul puppet administration until he was in a helicopter on his way to the Afghan presidential palace for a 25-minutes long meeting with the surrogate, shows how arrogantly the Americans behave with their henchmen. The surrogates may obediently betray their religion, honor and conscience but still they would not obtain pleasure of their masters-- who are not ready to consider them an entity of any stature to reckon with.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Source: Theunjustmedia.
Link: http://theunjustmedia.com/Afghanistan/Statements/March10/Why%20Obama%20Used%20the%20Cover%20of%20Night%20for%20His%20Flying%20Visit.htm.

Does America Want Peace in Afghanistan?

Tuesday March 30, 2010

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

This is a main question every one asks. Does America want peace in Afghanistan? However, the following data can help us reach a rationale conclusion: At the beginning of 2009, American had 30,000 troops in Afghanistan which they increased to 68,000 soldiers until the end of the year. This shows 110 percent boost of military man power. In December 2009, US president Obama announced 30,000 more troops for Afghanistan, showing further 30% increase.

In January this year in London Conference on Afghanistan, US supported Hamid Karzai program of reintegration and reconciliation with Taliban i.e. the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Two weeks later, on 13 February, Pentagon launched a massive military operations against Marjah township in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, violating their own commitment to work for peace in the country. Now they are talking of taking the offensive to Kandahar.

So far, America has built 700 bases in the country, the major of them being in Kandahar and Bagram. They allocate hundreds of millions of dollars each year for construction of more bases in Afghanistan. In view of these facts, no one can say America wants peace in Afghanistan. They have hidden and long-term colonialist objectives, not only in Afghanistan but in the whole region.

By using Afghanistan as outpost, Washington wants to follows its policy of expansionism, regime change and disintegration in the neighboring countries. No doubt, America has been flaring up racial discord and religious differences among the people in Afghanistan and the neighboring countries. CIA agents and black water operatives have been given task to destabilize the region as per the long-term American strategy. Those who express common cause with America, should know that Washington would never become their strategic friend. Rather it is a tactical ally which wants to use them against their own people for its colonialist objectives and then discard them as it has done this in the past.

In Afghanistan, the White House rulers and the Pentagon generals do not want peace but only want to weaken the momentum of the war. They never intend to end the war. That is why on the one hand, Robert Gates, says Taliban leadership is irreconcilable or now it is not the right time to talk with Taliban but on the other hand, they offer cash, jobs and retirement bonuses for Taliban's ranks and files. The reason is that Pentagon is not interested in ending the war but they only want to reduce the scope of attacks on their soldiers.

The Afghan Mujahideen are aware of this war stratagem of the enemy. They have shown that Americans can't deceive them by phony overtures of peace. If America really wants peace in Afghanistan, they should draw up a national strategy of reconciliation; stop blind bombardment and night raids; release innocent prisoners and remove the blacks list, send black water and CIA agents back home from Afghanistan and close down all secret prisons in American military bases in Afghanistan which are run by intelligence teams of the Special Force.

There, innocent prisoners are tortured, killed by the Special Force and drowned in Helmand River and other rivers in Afghanistan during the night, with their hands being tied up, without any legal verdict of court. The Americans are committing gross violation of human rights in Afghanistan. However, no one, including the human rights advocacy entities all over the world, raise their fingers because all these are done under the name of promoting democracy and fighting terrorism. The world still has to know that the war started under the name of terrorism is, in fact, an illegitimate war of neo-colonialism, being waged for subjugation of the Afghans and all free people.

We call on all those with wake and free conscience to raise their voice against the American brutalities and violation of humane values in Afghanistan. All should know that Americans kill children, women and old men with impunity and cross all limits in their brutalities.

Source: Theunjustmedia.
Link: http://theunjustmedia.com/Afghanistan/Statements/March10/Does%20America%20Want%20Peace%20in%20Afghanistan.htm.

Karzai Endeavors for Reconciliation and the American Belligerent Policy

Saturday March 27, 2010

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

It is now clear as the broad day light that nothing can happen in the Kabul Administration without the consent of the Americans. These range from nomination and appointment of high ranking officials, enactment of laws to formulation of all military, political and social programs and their implementation. Even Karzai is not able to nominate a governor of a province, or a provincial police chief or intelligence Head without prior agreement and affirmation of American generals, let alone nominating cabinet members and deputy-ministers who are routinely introduced by the American embassy in Kabul before commencement of their official appointment procedure. In short, Karzai is divested of authority, ironically to the extent that he is not able to appoint his government officials. Moreover, he can't release a single prisoner from Bagram, Kandahar, Guantanamo and Pulli-Charkhi jails. So it is unambiguously beyond his authority to keep on the peace process with the opposition, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, still more until the achievement of a tangible result!

Karzai knows that the current Taliban Resistance is not aimed at achieving some material goals like property, power, wealth, international stature nor it is being waged for tribal feuds but it is a common reaction to the illegitimate occupation of Afghanistan by the Americans and the presence of more than one hundred thousands soldiers in the country.

The Afghans, both men and women, will never, accept the presence of foreign troops on their land or bow to them even for a while though decades may fleet. But Karzai has not been tired of not repeating his demand for so-called pseudo-reconciliation, none the less his knowing pretty well the nature of the stand of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

He makes his assertion about reconciliation in every forum and gathering even in a gathering in Uruzgan a few days ago, he claimed to have sent invitation to leaders of Taliban to participate in the peace assembly of elders which is to be held in Kabul.

In our opinion, such baseless and unsubstantiated claims portray Karzai loyalty and obligation for the task which has been placed on his shoulders by the Americans to ostensibly speak of peace and reconciliation (to deceive the man in the street) while the Americans will, de facto, continue to implement their policy of intransigence and warfare in the country.

Why they do not know that the Islamic Emirate, in the first place, elected to accept the ousting of their regime rather than preferring kowtowing to a foreign rule. They accepted death, injury, imprisonment, sufferings and bowed not to foreign pressure and subjugation, nor did they accept restrictions on the implementation of Islamic rules and principles.

Karzai and his colleagues should know that peace will not exist even for a single day in the presence of foreign troops in the country. Accepting the presence of foreign troops on our soil is against the noble traditions of the Afghans and it is contrary to their magnanimity and history.

Karzai speaks of reconciliation in a time that the Americans are not ready to put an end to the war in Afghanistan but as the time passes, they announce initiation of new battles. They are nurturing to turn Afghanistan into a hotbed of long-term colonialist conspiracies and ambitions.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan believes that Karzai, Americans, and other circles have been trying to drive a wedge among the ranks of the Taliban leadership by launching the phony process of reconciliation and by claims of having contacted Taliban leadership.

During the past nine years, they have failed to permeate into the ranks of the Islamic Emirate, now with the help of Allah (SWT), it is impossible for the enemy to pervade into their ranks nor is it possible that any one will ever tend to accept the unrealistic, farcical and misleading reconciliation process.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Source: Theunjustmedia.
Link: http://theunjustmedia.com/Afghanistan/Statements/March10/Karzai%20Endeavors%20for%20Reconciliation%20and%20the%20American%20Belligerent%20Policy.htm.