Israel threatens Syria with war

Israel has tried to justify a war on Syria, claiming it could be attacked by Syrian-supplied missiles of Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement.

Based on allegations that Syria is equipping Hezbollah with Scud missiles, Tel Aviv communicated a menace-laden message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, the British weekly newspaper The Sunday Times reported Sunday.

In the 'secret' message, Israel alleged that Hezbollah may launch an attack on Israel using the projectiles, threatening to engage Syria in a war if such missile offensive by the Lebanese movement materializes.

“We'll return Syria to the Stone Age by crippling its power stations, ports, fuel storage and every bit of strategic infrastructure if Hezbollah dares to launch ballistic missiles against us,” the paper quoted an Israeli minister as saying.

Last week, Syrian Foreign Ministry rejected the Israeli allegations, insisting that the claims were meant to justify military actions against Syria and provide it with the excuse to avoid peace.

Also, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem on Saturday described the Israeli allegations as "cover-up" for its somewhat uneasy ties with the United States and its nuclear arms program.

Both Syria and Lebanon have areas occupied by the Tel Aviv regime and have invariably supported each others' anti-Israeli stance.

Tel Aviv has recently reinforced the verbal aspersions with action by intruding into Lebanese border town of Abbassiyeh and firing flares over southern Lebanon.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123695§ionid=351020202.

Pakistani military holds exercise

The Pakistani army has launched its largest war games since 1989, seeking to exhibit its military might and readiness to face the enemy.

The month-long exercise called "Azm-e-Nau III" — meaning "New Resolve" in Urdu — involves 50,000 soldiers from Pakistani artillery, infantry, and armored corps units.

The first phase of the military drill was completed with an impressive integrated firepower exercise on Sunday, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.

The drill sought to test and validate the military in the field and address all newly analyzed threats, he added.

Pakistani Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani rejected the notion that the military has aggressive intentions toward other countries and reassured the international community that Islamabad is aware of its responsibilities toward peace and stability in the region.

A part of the war games, which started on April 10 and are scheduled to end on May 15, was watched by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, federal ministers, parliamentarians, and other officials.

The officials witnessed the integrated firing of various ground weapons, Cobra gunship helicopters, and Pakistani Air Force fighter aircraft.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123728§ionid=351020401.

Ash clouds shut down Turkish airspace

Days after a volcanic eruption in Iceland disrupted air traffic across a wide swathe of Europe, the massive ash cloud has reached Turkey.

Turkish airspace in three provinces — Zonguldak, Sinop, and Samsun — above the Black Sea was shut down on Sunday. The Turkish Directorate of Civil Aviation issued a statement advising planes plying that route to fly above an altitude of 35,000 feet.

"The volcanic ash cloud has begun affecting the airspace of our country," said the statement. The airspace over the three Black Sea provinces will be closed until 0900 GMT Monday, it added.

Directorate of Civil Aviation Ali Ariduru announced that the ash cloud would most probably affect the airspace over Istanbul from Monday, disrupting international air traffic.

The towering fountain of ash from the Icelandic volcano has grounded flights across Europe since Thursday, leaving thousands of tourists stranded in Turkey — a major holiday destination for Europeans.

The enforcement of a no-fly ruling across Europe is believed to have caused the worst air travel chaos since the September 11 terror attacks in the US.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123729§ionid=351020204.

Eroglu wins election in Northern Cyprus

Hardliner Dervis Eroglu, a staunch supporter of Turkish Cypriot independence, has won the presidential election conducted on Sunday in the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

After the final count, Eroglu, the leader of the right-wing National Unity Party (UBP), garnered 50.4 percent of the vote while incumbent President Mehmet Ali Talat won 42.8 percent.

Eroglu vowed to work for a lingering peace deal. "No one must think that I will walk away from the negotiating table… The talks process will continue," he told Turkey's NTV television.

Talat has conducted 19 months of reunification talks with President Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader.

He also promised to hold "close talks with the mother country" Turkey, which has a 35,000-strong garrison in northern Cyprus.

The turnout at the polls was put at 75 percent of the 164,000 registered voters. Five other candidates also contested the poll.

In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Eroglu to ensure that the UN-sponsored peace talks with the Greek Cypriots continue, calling for a settlement by the end of this year.

Turkey is keen to see a settlement to the conflict, which remains a major stumbling block to its own efforts to join the European Union.

Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

Turkey is the only country that recognizes the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123727§ionid=351020606.

Gunmen kill 2 police officers in Turkey

Two Turkish police officers have been killed by gunmen who opened fire on their vehicle in the northern province of Samsun.

According to the Anatolia news agency, unidentified armed men targeted a police patrol car in the Ladik district of Samsun late on Saturday. Police officer Huseyin Koc was killed instantly in the crossfire while Malik Soysal succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

The Turkish police forces believe that three assailants, who took cover at a five-story construction site, were behind the attack.

Samsun Governor Hasan Basri Guzeloglu told reporters on Sunday that initial findings suggested that the attack was a "terrorist ambush." He added that an operation had been launched by the country's security forces to hunt down the perpetrators.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement, condemning the attack.

"Such malicious attacks targeting Turkey's peace, unity, and solidarity can never reach their aims. The damned mentality behind these attacks, which hopes to benefit from terror, is bound to fail thanks to the common sense… of our nation and the determination of our state," Erdogan said in the statement.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123726§ionid=351020204.

5.7 magnitude quake hits Afghanistan

An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale has struck an area in central Afghanistan about 67 miles (107 km) southeast of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The quake occurred at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km) at 12:58 local time (2028 GMT) on Sunday, 124 miles (200 km) northwest of Kabul, the US Geological Survey said.

There have been no reports of casualties or damages yet.

Tremors are a regular event in northern Afghanistan and Pakistan, especially around the Hindu Kush range where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates collide.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123720§ionid=351020403.

Iceland volcano crisis delays Oran energy event, strand Algeria travelers

2010-04-18

Air traffic upheaval following the Iceland volcanic eruption has forced the 16th International Conference on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG 16) to postpone opening in Oran until Monday, (April 19th), Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil announced Saturday. The 10th Forum of Gas Exporting Countries (FGEC), however, will began as scheduled Monday in Oran, Khelil said, since most of the participating foreign ministers have already arrived in Algeria.

In related news, the risk to aircraft from volcanic ash has caused Air Algerie to cancel more than 64 flights, the national carrier announced on Sunday (April 18th). Some 21,000 passengers have been unable to get to Algeria since the volcano crisis began, Tout sur l'Algerie reported.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/04/18/newsbrief-05.

Zimbabwe celebrates 30 years of independence - Summary

Harare (Earth Times) - Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans took part in celebrations on Sunday to mark the 30th anniversary of independence from Britain.

Addressing around 30,000 people at a rally in the National Sports Stadium in Harare, President Robert Mugabe was in typically ebullient form, accusing Britain, of continuing to oppress Zimbabwe, "with the help of the US."

"They keep saying sanctions must remain," he said, referring to the refusal by the US and European Union to lift targeted sanctions which they imposed on the autocratic president and members of his inner circle following violent elections in 2002.

"The land we have is not for the British," the former guerrilla leader, who has ruled Zimbabwe for all three decades of independence, said.

Mugabe also defended attempts by his Zanu-PF party to push through new laws forcing white- and foreign-owned companies to hand over ownership of their assets to black Zimbabweans within five years.

"The indigenization and empowerment policy will broaden ownership and participation in the economy in a manner that recognizes the sovereign right of the indigenous people of Zimbabwe," he vowed.

Earlier this week, a spokesman for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who had opposed the measures, said the cabinet of Mugabe's and Tsvangirai's unity government had agreed to suspend the new regulations, which had sparked alarm in the business community.

Many had compared the laws to Mugabe's disastrous land reform program, in which thousands of white farmers had their lands seized by ruling party faithful, causing agricultural output to plummet.

Mugabe denies the business regulations have been shelved.

Independence Day in Zimbabwe is celebrated mainly by supporters of Zanu-PF, which fought a seven-year guerrilla war against white minority rule in the 1970s before coming the party of power at independence in 1980.

"Mr Mugabe is a lion. He wrestled leadership from them (whites), then land. Now he wants to give us their companies. He's great," Charles Basa, a Zanu-PF supporter, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Others were more interested in a football match afterward, between a team from Harare and the second city of Bulawayo. Earlier, the crowd was treated to a military display.

The run-up to Sunday's anniversary was markedly devoid of excitement.

Many Zimbabweans are disappointed at the decline in fortunes of a country that was a breadbasket of southern Africa at independence and where millions now depend on foreign food aid.

"Things must change quickly so that we feel the so-called independence," Mercy Mhako, a street vendor, who was selling cigarettes and drinks outside the stadium, and carried a baby on her back, said.

Zimbabwe's economy hit rock bottom in 2008, the year Zanu-PF was defeated in general elections by the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe was outpolled by MDC leader Tsvangirai in the first round of voting for president.

After a bloody presidential run-off vote, Mugabe bowed to pressure from the African Union to share power with the MDC.

Tsvangirai, who has been prime minister since February 2009, attended Sunday's celebrations, along with several of his ministers.

The MDC's presence in government has helped stabilize the economy but foreign investment has been coming in at a trickle as investors hold out for more reforms.

German airspace partially reopened - Summary

Hamburg - Six of Germany's 16 international airports were partially reopened for a few hours until Sunday evening, air traffic controllers announced.

Eastbound flights are to resume until 8 pm (1800 GMT) from both airports in the capital Berlin, as well as airports in the cities of Hamburg, Hanover, Erfurt and Leipzig.

Air traffic controllers were still deciding how to proceed after this partial easing of travel restrictions ends at 8 pm. For all other German airports, including Frankfurt, a complete travel ban remained in place until the same time.

Hundreds of thousands of airline passengers have been stranded throughout Europe, as ash from the volcano near Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull glacier has led to an unprecedented shutdown of much of European airspace.

German airspace was shut down late Friday, in line with other northern European countries, due to a cloud of volcanic ash hanging over the continent.

The flight ban delayed Chancellor Angela Merkel's return from a visit to the United States by two days, and created problems for exhibitors traveling to the Hanover trade fair.

Meanwhile, Germany's two largest airlines criticized the decision to shut down the country's airspace, suggesting there was not sufficient evidence that this step was necessary.

"The airspace closure resulted purely from data generated by a computer simulation at the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in London," Air Berlin's chief executive Joachim Hunold told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

The data was used to calculate which areas would be contaminated by volcanic ash from Iceland, the paper said, adding that this led to the decision by Germany's air traffic control center to close down the airspace.

"Not even a weather balloon has been sent up to measure whether, or how much, volcanic ash is in the air," added the CEO of Germany's second largest air carrier.

Both Air Berlin and Germany's largest airline, Lufthansa, flew planes without passengers on Saturday, in order to have machines at the ready once the flight ban was lifted.

"In Frankfurt, technicians examined the planes. There was not even the slightest scratch on the cockpit windows, the shell or in the engines," Lufthansa spokesman Klaus Walther told Bild am Sonntag.

Lufthansa flew 10 planes, up to a height of 8,000 meters.

Thousands of travelers switched to trains instead, and Rail operator Deutsche Bahn put on extra trains to meet the surge in demand.

The German Aerospace Center announced that a research plane would take off Monday to measure airborne ash particles, after they had finished equipping the plane with an ash detector.

Germany's weather service was reportedly not able to carry out detailed measurements from the ground, as five of the country's six laser measuring units were undergoing maintenance work.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/319329,german-airspace-partially-reopened--summary.html.

Tehran nuclear conference warns against attacks on facilities

Tehran - A two-day nuclear disarmament conference in Tehran closed on Sunday with a call for international acknowledgment of the nuclear rights of all countries having signed the Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The final document, read out at the closing ceremony by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, said the legitimate right of all countries having signed the NPT and cooperating with the IAEA to pursue peaceful nuclear programs should be acknowledged.

The declaration, which is to be forwarded to United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, further considered any military attacks against nuclear facilities of NPT signatories as contrary to all international laws on relevant UN charters.

The Tehran conference, titled "Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for No One", was attended by 10 foreign ministers - including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Armenia - 14 deputy foreign ministers - including Turkey -and nuclear experts from 60 countries.

China was represented at the conference by a low-ranking foreign ministry official and Russia by a deputy minister.

The other three UN Security Council permanent members - Britain, France and the United States - were reportedly represented by "delegations."

The conference was focused on disarmament, but analysts said the main aim would be another effort by Iran to persuade the international community that its nuclear projects are solely for peaceful and civilian purposes.

Iran says that as NPT signatory and member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program while rejecting Western charges of pursuing a secret nuclear program.

The final document further called on the world countries to push towards global nuclear disarmament and considered this as a "legally binding move without any discrimination."

Referring to Iran's primary antagonist, Israel, the document said the outcome of the conference should also be a "clear message to those countries whose doctrine is still based on nuclear weapons but still try to deceive the world opinion."

"The Zionist regime (Israel) should be obliged to become committed to the NPT and accept supervision of its nuclear plants by the IAEA,"the document said.

The final paper also called on the world powers to end pressure against countries pursuing peaceful nuclear technology and instead stop ignoring the Israeli nuclear arsenal and the Jewish state's rejection of following NPT regulations.

A demand by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday to suspend the US membership in the IAEA should due to its use and threat to use nuclear weapons against other countries was not included in the final document.

At the opening ceremony of the conference on Saturday, Ahmadinejad had not only called on the exclusion of the US from the UN nuclear watchdog but also for reforms of the global non-proliferation regime and the UN Security Council and criticized Israel and the Western powers.

"The conference believes that the NPT has not seriously been followed up the issue of nuclear disarmament in the world and especially the Middle East and this shortage should be revised and improved," Mottaki said at the end of closing ceremony.

According to the Iranian foreign minister, the next nuclear disarmament conference will be held in April next year again in Tehran.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/319338,tehran-nuclear-conference-warns-against-attacks-on-facilities.html.

Hardliner ahead in Turkish Cyprus election

Istanbul - Early results from Sunday's presidential elections in Northern Cyprus give Dervis Eroglu, a hardliner who has expressed his skepticism about the divided island's ongoing peace talks, a lead in the polls, according to officials.

According to partial results issued by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus's election committee, after 48 percent of the votes have been counted, Eroglu has 49.6 percent of the vote, compared to 43.1 percent for the incumbent, Mehmet Ali Talat.

A run-off is required if not candidate receives over 50 percent.

Eroglu, leader of the National Unity Party (UBP), has stated that if elected, he would revisit the ongoing reunification talks being conducted by Talat.

Talat, leader of the left-leaning Republican Turkish Party (CTP), supports reunification of the island, which has been split into Greek and Turkish sides since 1974. Eroglu has said he would like to see a two-state confederation.

Turkey's troubled EU-membership drive is inextricably tied up in the Cyprus problem.

The Greek-speaking south of the island joined the bloc in 2004, and has since used its position in Brussels to frequently stymie Ankara's EU bid.

Turkey, meanwhile, is using its NATO membership to retaliate, blocking enhanced cooperation between the EU and the defense alliance in protest of what it sees as Brussels' being held captive to the Cypriot agenda.

EU officials are also pressuring Turkey to open up its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels, something Ankara has so far resisted doing.

Some 164,000 Turkish Cypriots were eligible to vote. Observers say much of Eroglu's popularity can be attributed to Turkish Cypriots' sense of being betrayed by the international community after they voted in favor of a 2004 United Nations plan to reunite the island. The Greek Cypriots then rejected the plan.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/319341,hardliner-ahead-in-turkish-cyprus-election.html.