Iran to hold 1st intl. calligraphy biennial

Cultural officials from the Iranian city of Qazvin are preparing to hold the country's first international calligraphy biennial.

The 20-day event will kick off on May 12, 2010, showcasing calligraphy works in Nasta'liq, Cursive Nasta'liq, Naskh, Tuluth and modern styles.

"Some 5 panel discussion sessions will be held on the sidelines of the event, focusing on the history of calligraphy and the exhibited works," biennial director Mohammad-Hossein Shafeiha told Mehr News Agency.

Many calligraphy masters will participate in the event from different countries such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, he added.

Shafeiha also announced that the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance would purchase some of the displayed works, if the budget is approved.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122603§ionid=351020105.

Oil minister: Iran sanctions promotes self-sufficiency

Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi says the country has the potential to achieve self-sufficiency in gasoline production amid urgent conditions.

"The oil sanctions against Iran have actually turned out to serve as an opportunity for the country," he said in an interview with Iran's Mehr News Agency published Tuesday.

He added that compared with the past, the number of real and legal entities willing to sell gasoline to Iran has climbed to more than what the country actually needs.

"The rhetoric of sanctions on gasoline against Iran has become an ineffective threat," he said.

Mir-Kazemi noted that Iran is able to secure its needed gasoline through an emergency gasoline production plan in the country's petrochemical complexes.

On Saturday, the head of Iran's Committee for Transportation and Fuel Management said Iran is capable of becoming self-sufficient in gasoline production this year.

"Considering the efforts made by the Oil Ministry, we believe that we can increase gasoline production by 10 million liters (per day) this year," Mohammad Rouyanian said.

Earlier in March, Mir-Kazemi told reporters that the country would secure its needed gasoline from different foreign sources, or through domestic production if faced with gasoline import sanctions.

"Foreign companies will actually sanction themselves if they stop selling gasoline to Iran," Masoud Mir-Kazemi said, adding that those foreign firms will place their names on Iran's black list.

The official said that so far the country has successfully dealt with any problems arising in purchasing gasoline from foreign sources.

"Under an emergency plan, Iran will boost gasoline production by 14 million liters per day if the country finds it necessary," he said.

Some 44.7 million liters of gasoline are being produced daily in seven domestic refineries.

Though Iran is the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, it still has to import up to 40 percent of its gasoline.

In January, the US Senate approved a bill that would allow President Barack Obama to impose new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has recently dismissed threats of imposing sanctions on Iran's gasoline imports and urged the Oil Ministry to expedite the completion of refineries to make the country self-sufficient in gasoline production.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122599§ionid=351020103.

Iran football federation's VP resigns

The Vice-President of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) Mehdi Taj, has resigned from his post, two days after the manager of Iran's Under-23 football team quit his job.

The country's football governing body accepted Taj's resignation, which came on Tuesday.

On Sunday, the FFIRI announced it had failed to reach agreement on the renewal of contract of Iran's U-23s manager Gholam-Hossein Peyrovani. His contract ended in March.

Taj, along with other FFIRI officials, came under growing criticism after Iran's national football team failed to reach the 2010 World Cup.

He further denied that his resignation was due to disagreements with FFIRI President Ali Kafashian.

After repeated demotions in FIFA world ranking, Iran has moved up four spots to stand in the 63rd place.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122600§ionid=3510211.

75 Indian police officers killed in rebel ambush

At least 75 police officers have been killed by Maoist rebels in central India in one of the worst attacks by rebels in years.

The police officers were killed in an ambush by more than 700 Maoist fighters in Chattisgarh state on Tuesday.

Police said the Maoist rebels, who control several areas rich in mineral resources, had retreated into the forest in the Dantewada district of the Bastar region, home to government-owned iron ore miner NMDC Ltd, the largest in India.

"This is a big disaster and it shows the paramilitary forces are obviously not trained to tackle the Maoists' rebellion and they don't seem to have enough intelligence," said retired Major General Ravi Arora, editor of Indian Military Review.

Tuesday's attack was similar to an ambush in February, when Maoists caught police off guard in a daylight attack in the state of West Bengal, killing at least two dozen police officers.

The Congress-led government has been accused of failing to deal with the rebels, and the security issue could be important in several state elections over the next two years.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122601§ionid=351020402.

Saudi Shiites arrested over worship

Several Shiite community leaders arrested in Eastern Province for hosting worship services in their homes.

RIYADH - Authorities in Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia have arrested several Shiite community leaders in the Eastern Province for hosting Shiite worship services in their homes, an activist said Tuesday.

A 30-year old school teacher was detained on Monday in Al-Khobar, where three other Shiites were arrested a week earlier for private services on the Shiite Ashura holiday last December, said Ibrahim Mugaiteeb of the Human Rights First Society.

The arrests follow more than a year of tensions in the Eastern Province over permits for new Shiite mosques in the region.

Authorities have shut down several makeshift Shiite mosques and refused a mosque permit for the 20,000-strong Al-Khobar Shiite community, according to Mugaiteeb.

"They cannot have their own mosques, and they can't pray in a Sunni mosque," he said. "They are not allowed to have prayers in the streets."

He said that three of those arrested were from the same al-Maki family: Hassan Ali al-Maki, the teacher arrested Monday, Abdullah Fahad al-Maki, 73, and Hassan Ali al-Maki, 45.

The fourth man was Mahdi Ahmad al-Khodhair, 64, and all were arrested March 29, Mugaiteeb said.

Mainly concentrated in the Eastern Province, Shiites constitute around 10 percent of the population of Saudi Arabia, where Sunni Islam is the official practice and most Sunni clerics regard Shiism as a rejection of "true" Islam.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38273.

Syrian schoolgirl dropouts rise

Experts say phenomenon of school dropouts affecting girls increased recently in poor areas.

DAMASCUS - Before going to work at a tailoring factory every morning, Laylas helps her mother with household chores. She is just 13 years old and has not been to school for four years.

That was when her family moved from a drought-hit rural village in the north-eastern province of Hasakeh to the slum in the outskirts of Damascus where they live now.

“School is too far and expensive to get to and I want to help my family,” said Laylas, who, nevertheless, looked downhearted.

Laylas is one of thousands of teenage girls who are forced to drop out of school before they complete mandatory, free schooling years.

In Syria, children must legally attend school until the age of 15 but law enforcement in this area remains lax.

The phenomenon of school dropouts, especially affecting girls, has increased recently in poor neighborhoods of big cities and in rural areas, experts and officials say.

Haitham Yahya, a Damascus local government official, said in media reports recently that a large number of girls were dropping out of school in some deprived parts of Damascus and the surrounding area.

Yahya said that many parents were discouraged from sending their children to class when the schools were far from their homes. He also said that there were simply not enough schools in some areas of the city.

The latest national report on population and education in Syria for 2008 showed the number of dropouts increasing and affecting girls more than boys. The proportion of children below 15 who do not attend school was around 22 per cent.

“The phenomenon of girls dropping out of school is alarming,” Sabah al-Hallak, a social worker and primary school teacher, said.

Hallak said one reason was that many poor families were marrying off their daughters at an early age to men from the Gulf.

Syria attracts a rising number of tourists from the region and is depicted as having an idyllic, traditional Arab lifestyle and culture in television dramas seen across the Arab world.

That and a fascination in the Gulf with the Levantine culture leads a number of largely wealthy Gulf men to seek out young Syrian brides. Marrying a girl under 18 is often seen as desirable by Arab men, who think she will be more obedient.

A report by the Syrian Women Observatory, an independent advocacy group, which will be presented to the United Nations children’s committee in 2011, explains the economic, social and legal reasons behind the phenomenon.

It says that parents, especially in underprivileged urban and rural areas, take their girls out of school after they finish elementary level to work in agriculture, house cleaning, and factories.

The report also says that although education is free, families still incur the costs of transport to and from school every day. This is prohibitive especially in rural areas where schools may be far away, it adds.

Some believe that the spread of Islamism has caused many parents to prefer marrying their girls off at an early age over sending them to school.

“There are cases of girls dropping out of school in very conservative areas,” said Mais al-Kraidi, a columnist who writes about women’s and children’s issues.

Some schools have resorted to segregating boys and girls in the same class or focusing more on religious teaching to try to persuade conservative parents to continue educating their girls, she said.

According to the Women Observatory report, some parents say that they do not like to send their daughters to elementary and intermediate schools because toilets are mixed and not hygienic enough.

Some critics say that current laws are not strict enough to discourage parents from taking their children out of school.

Parents who breach the compulsory education laws get a warning letter and after that can be fined ten US dollars. After that the penalty rises to 20 dollars and a month in prison. Anyone employing a school age child can get two months in jail and a fine of 20 dollars.

Sawsan Raslan, an expert on children’s rights, said of the law, "Even this lax punishment is not enforced because school principals often do not inform the authorities about cases of dropouts. Even when they do, the ministry of education doesn't follow up on the matter seriously."

Hallak, the activist, said the government should increase the education budget to support parents and encourage them to keep educating their children.

“The government could offer food parcels to children in poor areas or carry part of the financial responsibility for children at the different stages of schooling,” she said.

Over the past year, the government has adopted policies to try to eliminate the phenomenon of school dropouts against a backdrop of inflation and growing unemployment.

They have offered poor families wheat and other in-kind assistance as long as they continue to send their children to school.

Meanwhile, Laylas hopes that her family’s situation will eventually improve so that she can resume school.

“I feel sad when I see other kids going to school while I am stuck at the tailoring table all day long,” she said.

[The article was written by an IWPR-trained reporter]

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38268.

Human trafficking on the increase in Somaliland

2010-04-05

International Office for Migration seeks to raise awareness on issue of trafficking.

HARGEISA, Somalia - Officials in Somalia's self-declared independent state of Somaliland are concerned over a rise in human trafficking in the region. Children are mainly trafficked from south-central Somalia, because of the lack of government there, says a senior government official.

“Human trafficking is increasing in Somaliland. Before, no one believed that human/child trafficking existed in Somaliland but such kinds of crimes occur here…” Fadumo Sudi, the Minister for Family and Social Affairs, said during a recent ceremony to reunite a girl with her family. She had been trafficked to Hargeisa in February from Qardho, in the autonomous northeast region of Puntland.

“One day, my sister went to school as usual, but she disappeared. We searched for her everywhere but we didn’t find her. Finally, we heard from the media that she had been trafficked to Somaliland and by Allah’s mercy she was saved. We are happy to have her back,” Najib Jama Abdi, the girl’s brother, said.

In January, the Somaliland immigration office in the area of Loyada, along the border with Djibouti, sent home more than 60 minors in the company of about 200 illegal immigrants who were hoping to proceed on to Europe via Eritrea, Sudan and Libya.

Ethiopian Oromian children also travel to Somaliland without their parents in search of work; most end up in petty trade or as street children. Older people, claiming to be the children’s parents, use them to beg.

"The children are used in different ways ... and are exploited for child labor in Somaliland," Lul Hassan Matan, the director of child protection in Somaliland's National Human Rights Commission, told IRIN. "Whenever you see a child in the street crying and ask him or her why, they respond they are not with their parents, but have been brought in to work." (Since speaking to IRIN, Matan has left this position).

Raising awareness

According to Khadar Qorane Yusuf, the victim referral mechanism lead person in the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs, the children are initially enticed with false promises and told not to share the information with anyone, only to be later violated.

"With the collaboration of the International Office for Migration (IOM), we are raising awareness by holding forums to discuss the issue of trafficking, as well as debates and seminars," added Qorane. Information posters have been strategically placed along the borders and airports.

IOM defines trafficking in persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Exploitation includes the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

Forced into sex work

According to Mayumi Ueno, the counter-trafficking project manager at IOM’s Somalia Support Office, the scale of human trafficking in Somalia is not known. “But [a] rapid assessment conducted by IOM indicated [the] existence of international trafficking of Somali women to Djibouti, Kenya ... for sexual and labor exploitation. Moreover, further investigations confirmed the widespread practice of domestic human trafficking of Somali women and children [who are] lured into forced prostitution in some areas of Somalia [Somaliland and Puntland],” Ueno told IRIN.

In 2009, IOM launched a Counter Trafficking Project for Somalia, in Somaliland and Puntland, whose activities include awareness-raising campaigns targeting the local population to inform them of the dangers and risks of being trafficked. It has also supported Somaliland and Puntland in setting up National Counter Trafficking Taskforces.

Challenges remain, however, with the public and authorities not familiar with the concept of human trafficking and the best ways to respond, Mayumi said. “Furthermore, the general lack of social services and issues of culture and social stigma make victims' reintegration extremely difficult.”

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38256.

Obama excludes Iran in ban on US nuke strikes

US President Barack Obama plans to release a review of the US nuclear arms strategy that purportedly restricts the use of its nuclear arms against most non-atomic states except Iran and North Korea.

The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which the US Congress requires all US administrations to submit at least once during their tenure, will be issued one day before Obama leaves for Prague to sign a new nuclear-arms treaty with Russia.

Despite the US claim of planning to stop funding for the development of future nuclear weapons, in its new budget request for 2011 the Obama Administration dramatically increases the funding for new US nuclear weapon production facilities while calling for a spending freeze for such domestic programs as education, nutrition, air traffic control and national parks for three year.

The development comes as Iran prepares to hold an international conference on nuclear disarmament late this month dubbed "Nuclear energy for all, nuclear weapons for none." Representatives from 60 countries are to participate in the two-day conference that focuses on the complete elimination of nuclear weapons across the globe.

The new NPR by the Obama Administration is also to encompass restrictions on the use of US nuclear arms against some non-nuclear countries. So far, nuclear retaliation has been reserved as an option for the US government to use in response to chemical or biological attacks.

The exception will remain for a possible nuclear attack on countries that are not in compliance with non-proliferation treaties 'from the US perspective.'

In a Monday interview with The New York Times, Obama clarified what Washington meant by non-compliance with non-proliferation treaties by claiming that the loophole for violating the stated restrictions would apply to what he called "outliers like Iran and North Korea."

Israel, India, and Pakistan are the only regimes with nuclear warheads that have refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). But, Obama made no reference to any of those nuclear-armed powers. Although Israel has not declared its possession of nuclear weapons, it has neither denied it, nor has it submitted to any international inspection.

The Israeli regime is widely believed to possess over 200 atomic warheads.

While North-Korea has withdrawn from the NPT, Iran has been a long-time member of the pact, in accordance to which its civilian nuclear activities have been placed under wide-ranging supervision by the UN nuclear watchdog inspectors.

The much-awaited review is expected to include an announcement for massive reductions in the United States' nuclear arsenal, as Obama pledged last April, during a major speech in Prague, which won him the Nobel peace prize.

However, based on reports released last month, the US is likely to reduce its arsenal by dismantling costly-to-maintain, older nuclear warheads no longer deployed (warheads that cannot be loaded onto ready for launch missiles).

The new treaty to be signed with Russia already calls on both sides to reduce their nuclear warheads to 1,550, about one-third below current levels.

In the review, Obama's government is also expected to 'clarify' that the purpose of the remaining US nuclear arsenal is fundamentally for deterrence.

The new policy is also to renounce US development of any new nuclear weapons.

In 2003, the George W. Bush administration decided to engage in research for a new generation of small nuclear weapons, especially "earth penetrators".

The budget passed by the US Congress in 2004 eliminated funding for some, but not all of such research.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122594§ionid=3510203.

Circassians demand cancellation of Olympics in Russian-occupied Sochi

23 March 2010

The chairman of the Circassian Cultural Institute in New Jersey, Iyad Yogar, speaking in Tbilisi at the conference "Hidden Nations, Enduring Crimes: The Circassians & the Peoples of the North Caucasus Between the and the Future", said that the Circassian movement has three tasks -

creation of their own state,

recognition of genocide by the Russians

and cancellation of so-called Olympic Games in Sochi.

The conference was organized by the Jamestown Foundation and the International School for Caucasus Studies attached to the Ilia Chavchavadze State University in Georgia.

The conference adopted a resolution and an appeal to the Georgian Parliament to recognize as genocide the massacre and deportations of Circassians by the Russia Empire in the XIX century.

One of Georgian participants who took part in the discussions reminded that the Olympic Charter, which contains the rules for the Olympics, prohibits organizing such games in the areas of mass killings, and said that the recognition by the Georgian Parliament of the genocide could be major reason for the abolition of the Olympic Games in Sochi.

According to the Georgian participant, the Olympic Committee will have to take such decision.

The journalist Fatima Tlisova said in her turn that the prospects for such recognition are high, because Georgia can now use the recognition of the Circassian genocide as a political weapon against Russia which illegally captured and continues to keep by military force one-third of the Georgian territory.

It is to be mentioned that that the territory of Sochi, as well as the entire territory of the Caucasus Emirate, is a war zone for the Caucasian Mujahideen fighting against Russian invaders, and the leadership of the Mujahideen warned the participants of these illegal games that military operations in the region will be held regardless of the Olympics.

In this regard, it is obvious that the lives of athletes, who nevertheless risk to come to Sochi, may be seriously endangered.

The Charter of Olympic Committee prohibits conducting games on occupied territories of other countries and in areas that are dangerous for athletes and organizers.

Department of Monitoring,
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/03/23/11696.shtml.

Nazeri's voice to honor Persian Gulf

Iranian vocalist Shahram Nazeri will give performances in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr on the occasion of Iran National Persian Gulf Day.

He will hold the performances at the Fajr Hall of the south western Iranian city of Bushehr on April 29 and 30; the latter date is concurrent with the Iran National Persian Gulf Day.

The 'Persian nightingale' as he is known, is a renowned vocalist of mystic Persian poetry in Iran and will perform in the commemoration ceremony of Iran's national day of Persian Gulf.

His efforts to spread a message of peace from Iran across the world was the reason Nazeri was chosen for the event.

In September 2007, Nazeri received the French Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres Medal for his significant role in advancing traditional Persian music.

Iran has designated April 30 as National Persian Gulf day, as the Persian Gulf, a historic waterway, is part of the natural heritage of Iran.

Based on irrefutable historical documents,' the body of water lying to the south of Iran is and has always been known as the Persian Gulf.

Certain circles of doubtful reputation have for some time tried to use a distorted name for the Persian gulf, but to those with even a superficial knowledge of world history or geography it remains the Persian Gulf.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122589§ionid=351020105.

Israel: We protect US troops overseas

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Israel's Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren attributes the relations between the US and Israel to protecting the lives of American soldiers abroad.

Oren noted that Israel supplies Washington with the intelligence it needs in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and provides US troops with the equipment they use in the battlefield.

Speaking in an interview with CNN on Sunday, the Israeli envoy said if Israel did not exist, extremists would join al-Qaeda and would form a united front against the United States. "The US is much safer thanks to Israeli-American cooperation," he said.

Brushing away speculations of a purported strain in US-Israeli ties due to the latter's refusal to halt its West Bank settlement expansions, Oren stressed that the allies' relationship is "excellent."

Western media indicated deep tensions between Washington and its close Mideast ally following Tel Aviv's announcement of plans for 1,600 more settlement units in East Jerusalem (al-Quds) while US Vice-president Joe Biden was in Israel to help jumpstart Washington-sponsored "proximity talks" with the Palestinians.

The commander of the US Central Command, Gen. David Patraeus, also made a statement to Congress last month, warning about the Arab nations' response to the close ties between the US and Israel, while most Arab leaders have yet to give a green light for normalization of ties with Israel.

Regarding the settlement construction in East al-Quds, Oren repeated Israel's claim on the city as its capital.

The ambassador's remarks on settlements were followed by those of Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed to push ahead with expansions "in the North and the South, and certainly in Jerusalem (al-Quds)."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122586§ionid=351020202.

Israeli settlers attack Sheikh Jarrah protesters

Israeli settlers have attacked a group of activists protesting Tel Aviv's confiscation of Palestinian land in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem (al-Quds).

Five people were slightly injured on Monday after extremist Jews insulted and later clashed with international and Palestinian activists who had gathered to protest the continued demolition of Palestinian houses in al-Quds.

The settlers stormed the neighborhood near homes belonging to two Palestinian families, both slated for demolition and confiscation by the Israeli government.

Israeli police was soon called in. The forces dispersed the crowd and arrested a Palestinian activist identified as Nasser al-Ghawi, 45.

Israeli security forces had earlier arrested Michael Solsberry at his home in the Pisgat Ze'ev settlement on charges of organizing protests against the takeover of Palestinian land in Sheikh Jarrah.

Around 100 activists have been arrested during Sheikh Jarrah protests, over the past one and half years; but most have been released after appearing before court.

The Palestinian Authority's legal advisory on al-Quds affairs said in March that the homes of some 20,000 Palestinians were likely to be ordered demolished by Israeli courts.

Israeli municipality officials accuse the Palestinians of violating construction rules over the past 10 years and cite the need for renewable licenses, which Israeli Arabs are seldom able to obtain.

The figure does not include homes whose owners have already received final demolition orders from Israeli courts or the Israeli municipality in al-Quds, Ahmad Ruweidi noted.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122578§ionid=351020202.

Turkey plays down Iran sanctions, backs diplomacy

As the US and its allies push for swift UN sanctions against Iran, Turkey urges diplomacy to settle the ongoing dispute over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

"We consider that this affair must be resolved by the diplomatic path," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro published on Tuesday.

Despite stepped-up efforts by the United States and its allies to rally international support for imposing tougher sanctions against Tehran, the Turkish premier said he did not think this was the way to get results.

Iran says its nuclear program is directed at the civilian applications of the technology. The West, however, accuses the country of having the intention to develop nuclear weapons.

Based on the allegation, Washington has been pushing to impose a fourth round of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against Iran.

This is while inspectors of the UN nuclear watchdog, which has conducted the largest amount of inspection in the history of the body on Iran's nuclear program, have not found anything to verify that claim.

As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran says it will not bow to international pressure to abandon its right to enrich uranium for civilian use. The sanctions, which Iran says are illegal, have failed to force Tehran into stopping its enrichment work.

However, the White House campaign has been opposed by China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, which says dialogue is the only solution to the issue. Russia, another veto-wielding member, says sanctions are not "optimal" in dealing with Iran over its nuclear program.

"There are the French, the Germans, the British, the Americans and the Chinese. They are all implicated and still manage, though indirect means, to get their products into Iran," Erdogan said.

"We cannot leave out that reality," he added.

Erdogan criticized the West's policy to focus only on Iran while turning a blind eye to nuclear weapons of Israel, as the only regime that possesses nuclear arsenals in the region, saying, "I don't see why anyone should get bogged down with this case."

Turkey — a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council — has repeatedly rebuked US calls for tougher sanctions against Iran.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122582§ionid=351020104.

Gordon Brown to call general election in Britain

London- Prime Minister Gordon Brown is Tuesday due to call a general election in Britain - likely for May 6. It is expected to be the closest and most unpredictable contest in many years.

Although the poll date has been the subject of intense speculation for many months, Brown's announcement is set to launch a fierce four weeks of campaigning, which will likely be highlighted by unprecedented live TV debates among the main contenders.

After 13 years of Labor government, the Conservatives hope to return to power under their youthful leader, David Cameron. The Liberal Democrats, Britain's third party, hope to increase their share of the vote and play a key role in the formation of the new government, should the outcome be close.

Recent opinion polls have seen a narrowing of the gap between the Labor Party and the Conservatives, leaving the Conservatives only slightly ahead.

The election, coming at a time when Britain is emerging from deep recession, is dominated by the economy, but also by the aftermath of the scandal over parliamentary expenses, which has damaged the reputation of parliament and of politicians in general.

After chairing a cabinet meeting later Tuesday morning, Brown is expected to travel to Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth II to dissolve parliament on April 12. An announcement will follow after that.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317265,gordon-brown-to-call-general-election-in-britain.html.

Thirty policemen killed in Maoist ambush in India

New Delhi - Maoist rebels killed at least 30 paramilitary forces in an ambush Tuesday in a thickly forested region of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, officials said.

Large numbers of heavily armed rebels attacked the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) as they were patrolling the Dantewada region, a Maoist stronghold, a senior police official said over the phone.

Dantewada, located 450 kilometers south of the state capital Raipur, is remote and not easily accessible, the officer said, adding that the death toll could be higher.

He said the policemen had spread out for patrolling and were attacked in multiple locations. Reinforcements that rushed to the scene also came under attack.

A team of around 70 paramilitary police had been patrolling the area as part of an offensive against rebels launched in late 2009, NDTV news channel reported.

A helicopter has been sent to move the injured troopers to hospital. A strong contingent of the state police force has also been sent to the site.

Chhattisgarh Home Minister Nanki Ram said there could be more than 60 casualties. He said the rebels surrounded the CRPF patrol party from all sides.

According to the federal Home Ministry, the rebels were active in 200 of India's 626 districts, and were virtually in control of 34.

The Maoists claim they are fighting for the rights of the tribal people, the poor and the landless. They attack police and security officials and establishments at regular intervals.

More than 1,100 people were killed in 2009 in violence linked to the Maoist insurgency, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as the gravest internal security threat facing India.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317272,thirty-policemen-killed-in-maoist-ambush-in-india.html.

Days before nuclear treaty, Russia asks US to end missile shield

Moscow - Days before the Russian and US presidents were to meet in Prague to sign an historic nuclear weapons treaty, Russia once again asked the US to forgo a controversial missile defense program in Eastern Europe, the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday.

The missile defense system - which the US says is designed to repel nuclear attacks from the Middle East, not Russia - has been a regular source of friction between the two countries in recent years.

"This one-sided plan does not add anything to the dialogue," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to Interfax.

Last year, the White House scrapped plans to set up the system in Poland and the Czech Republic, briefly appeasing Russia. But a new version of the program slated to be built in Romania and Bulgaria has renewed the debate.

Russia sees a missile defense shield as a de facto unbalancing of nuclear strength, since it could weaken the effectiveness of Russia's remaining arsenal, even if the two countries do reduce their nuclear weapons stockpiles to similar levels, as envisioned under the treaty to be signed Thursday in Prague.

The Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START) would call on both countries to reduce their numbers of deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 apiece.

Lavrov said he expects the treaty to be ratified by parliaments in the US and Russia "by the end of April." The hope is that other countries will follow suit and reduce their level of nuclear weapons.

On Tuesday, Lavrov also called upon Washington to stop development work on conventional strategic offensive weapons. "This arsenal could destabilize the entire situation. This is a serious topic."

Lavrov is expected to travel to Prague for the signing ceremony between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. There, Lavrov is expected to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss efforts to contain Iran's nuclear program.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317274,days-before-nuclear-treaty-russia-asks-us-to-end-missile-shield.html.

Five bodies found after rescue of 115 from flooded mine

Beijing - Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of five miners, one day after they found 115 miners alive despite spending eight days trapped in a flooded coal mine in China's Shanxi province, state media said on Tuesday.

The workers brought the five bodies to the surface late Monday and were still searching for another 33 miners missing since water poured into the Wangjialing mine on March 28, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Most of the 115 survivors were in a "stable condition" in local hospitals and able to communicate with medical staff, earlier reports said.

The rescue workers had spent nearly one week pumping water out of the mine 24 hours a day before the first team of divers and engineers was able to enter the flooded shaft on Saturday.

Most of the survivors were rescued from a platform above which workers had drilled a vertical hole last week to ensure an air supply and enable them to send packs of glucose solution to the trapped miners, rescue officials said.

"It is a miracle," Xinhua quoted Wei Fusheng, one of the rescue workers, as saying after finding so many miners alive on Monday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317275,five-bodies-found-after-rescue-of-115-from-flooded-mine.html.

Report: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood willing to work with ElBaradei

Cairo (Earth Times) - A senior leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said the group was ready to join former UN nuclear agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei's campaign for political reform, in remarks published Tuesday.

The Brotherhood, which, though banned, is Egypt's largest opposition group, had previously held ElBaradei at arm's length, though individual members had expressed support for his campaign to change Egypt's constitution and electoral system.

But in remarks published in the independent Cairo daily al-Shorouq Tuesday, Mahmoud Hussein, secretary general of the Brotherhood, said his group would be willing to join ElBaradei's National Coalition for Change if the coalition would accept the group's participation.

The Brotherhood's entrance to the coalition would make them by far the largest component in what ElBaradei has cast as a "big tent" movement, saying the "door is open to all Egyptians."

Hussein told the daily that the Brotherhood would join the coalition as an organization, rather than through the membership of individuals.

Brotherhood-affiliated member of parliament Saad al-Katatni, who won his seat in 2005 running as an independent, had already expressed his support for ElBaradei's campaign after meeting him last month.

ElBaradei has breathed new life into Egypt's opposition since he responded to calls to run for president in the 2011 elections by saying he would consider a bid only if the government took steps to amend Egypt's constitution and electoral system.

According to constitutional amendments passed in 2007, ElBaradei would need to have been a senior member of a licensed party for a year before the elections or to have won the support of 250 elected national and local officials.

Since the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has an unassailable majority in all of Egypt's elected bodies, it is unlikely he could find that support without the NDP's blessing.

ElBaradei has called for loosening restrictions on independents' participation in elections, a two-term limit on the presidency, and strengthening judicial oversight of the polls.

Chinese hackers access Indian defense computers, report says

Beijing - An organized group of hackers apparently based in China has infiltrated Indian government computers and accessed confidential documents including sensitive defense material, international cyber espionage experts reported on Tuesday.

The experts found "documented evidence of a cyber espionage network that compromised government, business and academic computer systems in India," said the joint report by the Canada-based Information Warfare Monitor and the international Shadowserver Foundation.

The network also targeted the United Nations and the office of the Dalai Lama, the India-based exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, the report said.

"Numerous other institutions, including the embassy of Pakistan in the United States, were also compromised," it said. "Some of these institutions can be positively identified, while others cannot."

Some 1,500 letters sent from the Dalai Lama's office between January and November 2009 were among the documents recovered during the eight-month study that led to the report.

"The profile of documents recovered suggests that the attackers targeted specific systems and profiles of users," it said.

The experts said they uncovered a "complex and tiered command and control infrastructure" that used free social media systems such as Twitter, Google Groups, Blogspot, Baidu Blogs, blog.com and Yahoo Mail.

Compromised computers were ultimately directed to a "stable core of command and control servers" in China, the report said, adding that links were found to two known hackers in China's Chengdu city.

It said the hacking network had accessed many sensitive but non-classified Indian defense documents, including some linked to the Pechora missile system, the Iron Dome missile system, and the Project Shakti artillery combat command and control system.

They also accessed 14 documents from the computer system of the Indian National Security Council Secretariat, including two marked secret, the report said.

Reacting to the report on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu reiterated China's position that it "opposes all cyber crime, including hacking."

"Cyber crime is an international issue," Jiang told reporters. "We believe that the international community should work jointly on this issue."

Jiang did not deny Chinese involvement in the hacking, but she said the authors of the report had "never shown any evidence to the Chinese side and never requested an investigation."

Information Warfare Monitor is a joint activity of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and the SecDev Group, an Ottawa-based security consultancy.

The Shadowserver Foundation is a voluntary group of security professionals.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317293,chinese-hackers-access-indian-defence-computers-report-says.html.

'Allah Akbar!' graffiti appeared in Moscow subway

Russian media outlets report that graffiti "Allah Akbar" ("Allah is Great!") and "Death to Russians!" appeared on the southern wall in the hall of Planernaya subway station. Police is trying to find the authors of these inscriptions, the Interfax news agency reports.

Russian press writes that xenophobic mood in the city have been intensified after the subway bombings.

A woman, who allegedly saw young people who wrote these words on the wall, reported the incident to police. According to her testimony, four young people made these inscriptions with cans of paint on Saturday night. She told that they were natives of the Caucasus.

Searching for graffiti authors on the wall in the subway station is difficult because there isn't a single camera in the station hall, the Russian terrorist police laments.

Meanwhile, foreign media outlets write that fear of the people who came from the Caucasus, or just Muslims, is growing in Russia due to recent subway blasts.

"They fear those whom the "white" Russians call the "darks": Muslim women are considered to be potential terrorists", the Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve writes. Police stops for strip-search only Russian citizens of Caucasian origin, "who are easily recognizable by a dark skin, thick hair and eyebrows, and women by headscarfs".

According to another Swiss paper, Le Temps, the Caucasian type of appearance becomes tantamount for a charge in a crime. Muslims and natives of the Caucasus are afraid of becoming victims of xenophobia. A parishioner in the Moscow mosque in Zamoskvorechye said that he was afraid to let his wife to the street, because she wears headscarf. "I think everyone looks at her", the man said.

In this situation, as the paper writes, ultra-national movements are particularly active, using the situation and people's fears for their own purposes. The KGB-sponsored neo-Nazi Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) supports "cleaning" Moscow and the areas nearby from immigrants from the Caucasus under the pretext of "treatment against the Islamist infection".

Department of Monitoring,
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/04/05/11788.shtml.

SCANDAL. YouTube could not bear Dokku Umarov

From the evening of March 31 and till noon of April 5, about 650 thousand people saw the video statement by the Caucasus Emirate's Emir Dokku Umarov on the YouTube. The administration of YouTube could not bear it and removed the video.

Obviously, the YouTube decided that this is too much when the topic of Russian crimes in the Caucasus and the reasons of Moscow blasts became more popular than most spectacular presentations of Hollywood stars and video gossips about the private life of Western high society.

It should be noted that the YouTube is being increasingly engaged in scandals removing videos, which are disliked by this or that regime in different countries.

The champion here is, of course, is Russia, which reacts very sensitively to any piece of truth about its crimes. Just remember how the Kremlin fell in hysterics, demanding from the UN to remove all references to secret tortures prisoners in occupied Chechnya from a report by the UN special commission.

On the request of Moscow, the YouTube previously removed more than 300 clips from the Kavkaz Center, motivating its actions with "inappropriate content", i.e. telling the truth about Moscow crimes is inappropriate for the YouTube.

Curiously, the administration of the YouTube removed not only the clip, uploaded by the KC, but all the videos with the Emir Dokku Umarov's statement uploaded by other users.

It is to be mentioned that, taking into account the number of viewings of the statement by Dokku Umarov in other accounts of the YouTube, the total number of people who watched this video exceeded 800,000 in 4 days. This has become a kind of a record for the YouTube.

Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/04/05/11793.shtml.

Forest fire in north India destroys woodlands

Forest fire in India's northern state of Uttarakhand destroys vast tracts of woodlands, causing breathing problem to residents in the surrounding villages.

The massive fire in the Kumaon mountainous region is disrupting normal life for the villagers. Forest life, wild animals, medicine, flora and fauna have been destroyed in the blaze, divisional forest officer said late Monday.

The dense smoke emanating from the fire is causing suffocation among the people residing in the nearby villages, he said.

The forest rangers, with the assistance of locals, are engaged in measures to douse the fire, the cause of which is yet to be determined.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122560§ionid=351020402.

Erdogan fires another broadside at Israel

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has fired another broadside at Israel over its aggression against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“We cannot watch the murder of children in Gaza with indifference. This is not humane,” he said as Turkish officials gathered to mark the launch of Turkey's first round-the-clock Arabic language TV network, El Turkiye, Israeli website Ynet News reported on Monday.

"Arabs and Turks are brothers and we share the same values," he added.

Turkey has repeatedly censured Tel Aviv since the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza war in which Israeli forces massacred more than 1,400 Palestinians during artillery, aerial, and naval bombardments of the Gaza Strip.

Tensions mounted after Tel Aviv's humiliating treatment of the Turkish ambassador to Israel in response to a Turkish prime-time TV show in which Mossad agents were depicted as child-killers and kidnappers.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded to Erdogan's comments by issuing a statement saying, "Israel is not looking for a confrontation with any country, including Turkey. However, it appears as though the Turkish prime minister is looking to integrate into the Muslim world at Israel's expense.”

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122559§ionid=351020204.

Mauritania, Turkey sign security accord

2010-04-05

Mauritania and Turkey signed a co-operation agreement Sunday (April 4th) in Nouakchott, ANI reported. Mauritanian Interior Minister Ould Mohamed Boilil and his Turkish counterpart Besir Atalay agreed to boost reciprocal visits and work together to fight the threat of organized crime and terrorism.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/04/05/newsbrief-02.

Students sacrifice holidays to see World Cup kickoff

Strikes, holidays and the 2010 World Cup have left Algerian students with little time to prepare for this year's exams.

By Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers – 05/04/10

Algerian baccalaureate students are racing to complete their studies in time for the 2010 World Cup.

"The most important thing is for me to pass my baccalaureate without having to worry about the national team's matches," final-year math student Samir said.

On March 21st, the Ministry of Education announced its decision to move Algeria's baccalaureate exams to June 6th. The original exam date of June 13th overlapped with the World Cup, which is scheduled to take place June 11th - July 11th.

Algeria has earned a spot in this year's World Cup for the first time since 1986. The football tournament's timing played a role in the ministry's decision.

"All Algerians have the right to watch the World Cup in peace, and we will take that into consideration," Education Minister Boubekeur Benbouzid said in a March 13th meeting with local education chiefs.

The move shortened a study schedule already disrupted by this year's labor dispute between teachers and the Algerian government. Students fell behind after a bargaining impasse and a series of demonstrations – most recently a three-week strike preceding the spring holidays – left Algerian secondary-school classrooms without teachers.

Minister Benbouzid decided to eliminate this year's holidays for final-year students, who have to prepare for exams under stringent UNESCO standards.

"Only those classes that have been affected by the disruption to the academic year will be subject to catch-up lessons," the minister said following the March strike. "The catch-up classes will be run in accordance with the delays experienced by each school."

For some students, the World Cup is worth the sacrifice.

"We've spent too much time doing nothing," final-year literature student Selma said. "Because of the strikes, we sacrificed our spring holidays so that we won't have to take our baccalaureate exams right in the middle of the World Cup."

Teachers have also adapted to the tighter schedule.

Saliha, a science teacher, said that she would have liked to spend the holidays with her children.

"But my professional conscience forbids me from abandoning my pupils, who I have been with ever since their first year of secondary school, just two months before their baccalaureate exams," she said.

The ministry's change of the exam date ended months of anxiety from students and parents. Benbouzid said March 13th that officials were undecided between June 7th and June 13th exam dates, and that the entire government would have to weigh in on the decision due to its complexity.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/04/05/feature-01.

Egypt releases ElBaradei backer

Monday, 5 April 2010

The Egyptian publisher of a book supporting the former UN nuclear watchdog head Mohamed ElBaradei has been released from jail, officials say.

Publisher Ahmed Mahanna was detained on Saturday and released a day later.

Mr ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has recently returned to Egypt and launched a campaign for political reform.

He is emerging as a potential challenger to Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for nearly three decades.

The unnamed official did not give any reason for the detention, it was reported.

Appeal

The Arab Network for Human Rights said that Ahmed Mahanna's office was raided and his computer confiscated.

Mr ElBaradei has hinted he may stand against 81-year-old President Mubarak, who has ruled since 1981, in an election due in 2011. Observers believe Mr Mubarak wants his son Gamal to succeed him.

Analysts say Mr ElBaradei's appeal for many Egyptians is that he is a civilian in a country long ruled by soldiers, and that he is untainted by corruption allegations.

But detractors writing in state media have portrayed him as a figure who is out of touch with Egyptian life, having lived abroad for so many years.

Mr ElBaradei, 67, built a strong reputation as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8603420.stm.

Supporters celebrate birthday of jailed Kurdish leader in Turkey

Istanbul - Thousands of supporters of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan gathered in his hometown Monday morning to celebrate his birthday, Turkish media outlets reported.

Some 8,000 of his followers descended on the village Omerli, which lies in the Sanliurfa province in south eastern Turkey.

For the first time, security forces allowed 500 people to enter the village. The group included politicians from the Peace and Democracy Party, who placed a pair of red carnations at the site where two Ocalan supporters were shot last year during clashes with police.

Others had their pictures taken in the house and room where Ocalan, the leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, was born. They grabbed handfuls of earth out of the garden as souvenirs.

Relatives of Ocalan reportedly welcomed the supporters, handing out sweets and homemade bread, and letting their hands be kissed.

"Good that you were born, Ocalan," the crowd shouted.

One of his sisters, speaking in Kurdish outside the house, called for peace and an end to bloodshed.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317192,supporters-celebrate-birthday-of-jailed-kurdish-leader-in-turkey.html.

Ancient Assyrian capital in danger of falling into Tigris river

Sharqat, Iraq - A 4,500-year-old fortress city, the first capital of ancient Iraq's Assyrian civilization, is in danger of falling into Iraq's Tigris River, an antiquities official warned Monday.

The archaeologist, from the antiquities department for central Iraq's Salah al-Din province, said the river has already washed away more than 30 meters of the ancient city of Assur, the religious capital of ancient Iraq's Assyrian civilization.

"This season, the river washed away dozens of clay tablets and statues because there is no protective flood wall," Mohammed al- Jabouri told the German Press Agency dpa.

The ruined city, now known as Qalah Sharqat, or "Castle of Earth," dates back to 2,500 BC. It was named for its patron god, Assur, who also gave the Assyrian civilization its name.

German archaeologists partially excavated some parts of it during a 1913-1918 expedition, but left after World War I. Since then, al-Jabouri said, no work has been done to unearth whatever artifacts might remain on the site.

He called on the central Iraqi government, the provincial government, and all those interested in world heritage to speed the release of funds to build a wall to protect the castle from the river.

"The antiquities department in Salah al-Din province has repeatedly asked the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to protect the castle from the flood, but the ministry has done nothing so far, as if this is a matter of no concern," al-Jabouri said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317197,ancient-assyrian-capital-in-danger-of-falling-into-tigris-river.html.

Largest UN peacekeeping force to withdraw from Congo in 2011

New York (Earth Times) - The United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world's largest, has been asked by the government there to leave by September 2011, a report to the UN Security Council said Monday.

The report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said one reason for the draw down of the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC) was that the country has been mostly "conflict free." Its relations with neighbors have been normalized and reconstruction efforts are gathering pace.

The government of President Joseph Kabila has called for completing the draw down in September next year, with the first of the 22,000 military, police and civilian personnel beginning to leave in June this year.

"Consistent with the principles set out by the government, the complete withdrawal of MONUC force from the eight provinces will ensure that national institutions formally assume full responsibility for independently maintaining law and order, and the necessary security arrangements there, without the presence of the MONUC," Ban said in the report.

He said Kinshasa has requested that MONUC train and equip 20 police battalions, with 550 personnel each, which would take three years to complete. Kinshasa requested that three battalions be trained in the first year, eight in the second and nine in the third year.

Ban asked the council to renew MONUC's mandate, which will expire next month, for a further 12 months during the draw down process.

The 15-nation Security Council will send a delegation to Congo, Rwanda and Uganda for a nine-day visit beginning on April 17.

Ban said he agreed with Kinshasa's assessment of the situation that the level of security and stability in conflict-free provinces would permit MONUC's departure "without creating an unmanageable risk of renewed instability."

But he warned that provinces where fighting has continued would be a challenge to Kinshasa.

Congo, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence from Belgium in June, has called for an official schedule for MONUC's withdrawal by then. The country is planning for general elections next year.

MONUC was first deployed in Congo in 1999 to assist Kinshasa deal with conflicts on its territory involving armies from neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.

Campaign to save animals in troubled south Sudan

2010-04-05

Indian soldiers help south Sudanese animals amid inter-ethnic clashes, food insecurity.

MALAKAL, Sudan - As a region still recovering from years of brutal civil war and battling inter-ethnic clashes and food insecurity, southern Sudan would appear to have bigger worries than animal welfare.

But when so many people rely on animals for their survival, improving their health and tackling rising death rates is of critical importance, veterinarians say.

“People’s lives depend on animals but the services for them are very few,” said Sukhir Singh, a vet, who runs a basic but busy animal clinic in the dusty southern Sudanese town of Malakal, capital of the underdeveloped but oil-rich Upper Nile state.

“Most cannot afford even the drugs that are available,” added Singh, a lieutenant colonel in the Indian army, which runs the animal unit as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) operations.

Long lines of cows and donkeys arrive each day for free treatment. Their owners are in no doubt about the benefits of this service.

“I have two donkeys but this one is sick,” said Yahir Adam Hassan, who delivers river water in converted oil drum carts pulled by the donkeys. “I don’t have enough money to pay for treatment, so without help, I would lose my livelihood.”

Sudanese students help the Indian vets, who provide training for students and community animal health workers, who then take their skills to more remote areas.

Most patients are working animals – cows, donkeys, horses, as well as sheep and goats – but one young boy carries in his thin puppy for treatment too. A goat with a broken leg has its limb cast in plaster, while the dog gets an injection to kill internal parasites.

The clinic has treated more than 55,000 animals since 2006, with a second opening this February in Bor, the state capital of Jonglei, Singh said.

Wealth and death

Cows represent wealth and status for many people in southern Sudan and are the source of regular raids and revenge attacks.

More than 450 people have been killed in inter-communal clashes in the south this year, after 2,500 were killed in 2009, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in southern Sudan.

Poor or badly timed rains, combined with insecurity, have also affected animal health, with organizations now boosting efforts to vaccinate cattle in an attempt to cut rising rates of infection.

“People primarily depend on livestock for their income, and the death rate among animals has been rising steadily,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a 16 March statement.

“Drugs to treat sick animals are either prohibitively expensive or unavailable in the local markets,” the ICRC added, warning that many animals had not been vaccinated since 2006.

“In order to alleviate the hardship of both resident and displaced communities it has now become crucial to improve the health of their animals.”

It is working alongside Veterinarians without Borders to vaccinate 50,000 cattle before rains close roads to many areas. More than 30,000 have already been vaccinated, including in the remote and swampy Pibor county area of Jonglei state. The campaign is targeting four major cattle diseases, including pneumonia.

“The animals – mainly cows – are not only a source of food and milk but are also used for trading,” the ICRC said. “The loss of wealth makes it increasingly difficult for pastoralists to meet their families' needs.”

The few centers such as Malakal’s clinic are therefore highly valued.

When heavy fighting broke out in February 2009 between northern and southern soldiers in the town, nearby university buildings were badly damaged by tank and mortar shells, but the clinic was spared.

“People did not want to destroy this [the clinic],” said John Malak, who had brought his cow to be treated. “They said, ‘This is something that is for everybody’.”

Many travel long distances to reach it.

“I live across the other side of the river, so I had to bring my cow across by boat,” said Peter Augustine, a cattle herder.

Mobile clinics

The team also runs mobile clinics in more remote areas, treating more than 8,000 animals over the past year.

Outside Mayom in Unity state, the vets erect a tent, and Indian soldiers and cattlekeeping boys work together to put cows into a restraining pen for the vet to examine.

“Many have problems with worms, ticks and other parasites,” said Singh, injecting a cow to kill internal worms, one of more than 280 cows, sheep and goats treated in the two-day camp.

“It takes a little while for the message to get out that we are here,” said Singh. “But once the first animals have been treated, the news travels very quickly and many more come.”

The center also provides training for community animal health workers, who can provide basic advice to improve livestock health across wide areas.

Radio programs also advise to farmers on how to prevent diseases – and what to do if they think their animals are sick.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38255.

Court bails Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members

Monday, 5 April 2010

An Egyptian court has ordered the release on bail of 16 senior members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, the group has said.

The men were arrested in February and accused of forming a "terrorist group" and plotting against the government.

It is not yet clear when the 16 will be released. In the past, the government has used the country's emergency laws to override similar court decisions.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the country's largest opposition movement.

A verdict in the case against the 16 men has not been reached.

The organization denies the allegations made against its members and says it wants to achieve an Islamic state in Egypt by peaceful means.

Among those detained is Muslim Brotherhood deputy leader Mahmud Ezzat.

The son of another detainee told the AFP news agency he was expecting his father to be given bail, but that the order had not been carried out because of a public holiday.

The Muslim Brotherhood gets around a ban on opposition parties by running independent candidates in elections to Egypt's parliament.

Members are frequently detained and their homes raided.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8603401.stm.