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Friday, April 23, 2010

Lebanon files complaint with UNSC

Lebanon complains to the UN Security Council about Israel's move to inaugurate a memorial on Lebanese land, which Beirut says is an act of territorial violations.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry on Friday reported the complaint, calling the ceremony "a flagrant violation of international law and UN Security Council Resolution 1701," the AFP reported.

Resolution 1701 ended the 33-day Israeli war against Lebanon in 2006 — which killed some 1,200 Lebanese, most of whom were civilians — and called on Tel Aviv to withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon.

The memorial, according to the ministry, was inaugurated on Wednesday on the Lebanon's Shebaa Farms. Israel has denied any Lebanese claim to the farms, which it occupied during the 1967 Six-Day war.

In a series of provocative actions, Israel recently sent its forces into Lebanon's border town of Abbassiyeh, fired flares over southern parts of the country, and carried out aerial violation of the Lebanese airspace.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124166§ionid=351020203.

Iran, Zimbabwe to lift visa requirements

Fri Apr 23, 2010
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has officially opened the 2010 Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in the second-largest Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo.

The multi-sector and multi-national trade exhibition was opened on Friday in the presence of President Ahmadinejad and his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe.

On Thursday, senior Iranian and Zimbabwean authorities signed 11 memoranda of understanding on tourism, education, transportation, technology and removing bureaucratic restrictions, such as visa requirements.

Tehran and Harare also agreed to form joint ventures in the scientific, agricultural and technical sectors.

Ahmadinejad will leave Zimbabwe for Uganda later on Friday.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/124160.html.

Yasmeen Raja concerned over condition of Kashmiri detainees

Srinagar, April 23 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, APHC leader and the Chairperson of Muslim Khawateen Markaz Jammu and Kashmir, Yasmeen Raja, has expressed concern over the condition of Kashmiri detainees, languishing in different jails of the territory.

According to Kashmir Media Service, Yasmeen Raja in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the occupation authorities were depriving the detainees of basic amenities like food and health in the jails. “Indian police interrogate the relatives of the detainees, come to see their beloved ones in the jails,” she added.

She condemned the puppet authorities for arresting the innocent Kashmiri youth without any reason.

Denouncing the illegal detention of pro-liberation leaders and activists, Yasmeen Raja said that Indian troops were committing gross human rights violations with impunity.

Srinagar, April 23 (KMS):In occupied Kashmir, APHC leader and the Chairperson of Muslim Khawateen Markaz Jammu and Kashmir, Yasmeen Raja, has expressed concern over the condition of Kashmiri detainees, languishing in different jails of the territory.

Yasmeen Raja in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the occupation authorities were depriving the detainees of basic amenities like food and health in the jails. “Indian police interrogate the relatives of the detainees, com to see their beloved ones in the jails,” she added.

She condemned the puppet authorities for arresting the innocent Kashmiri youth without any reason.

Denouncing the illegal detention of pro-liberation leaders and activists, Yasmeen Raja said that Indian troops were committing gross human rights violations with impunity.

Source: Kashmir Media Service.
Link: http://www.kmsnews.org/news/yasmeen-raja-concerned-over-condition-kashmiri-detainees.

OIC invites Mirwaiz to session in Tajikistan

Srinagar, April 23 (KMS): The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) has invited the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to attend the 37th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers to be held from May 18 to May 20 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has been jointly invited by the General Secretariat of the OIC and the Government of Tajikistan.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued in Srinagar, the APHC Chairman confirmed his participation, adding that he would impress upon the participants to speed up their efforts for resolving the long-pending Kashmir dispute in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of Kashmiris.

The statement said that he would also raise the massive human rights violations in occupied Kashmir by Indian troops. “He would also urge the participants to use their influence in getting all the detainees, languishing in different jails in and outside the territory released, unconditionally,” it maintained.

Source: Kashmir Media Service.
Link: http://www.kmsnews.org/news/oic-invites-mirwaiz-session-tajikistan.

New Zealand rejects whaling proposal

Wellington - New Zealand on Friday rejected an International Whaling Commission (IWC) proposal that would have authorized whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully told a press conference in the North Island city of Auckland that the proposal was "offensive" and "inflammatory."

"The catch limits proposed in the Southern Ocean are unrealistic," he said. "The proposal to include fin whales in the Southern Ocean is inflammatory. New Zealanders will not accept this," he said.

The IWC proposal, released Thursday, claimed that between 4,000 and 18,000 whales could be saved over the next decade under a compromise that sets lower catch limits for the whaling nations than their own self-imposed quotas.

Japanese whaling in Antarctica would be allowed to continue, but with a reduced quota, and under rigorous monitoring by the IWC.

Japan's current quota of 935 minke whales would be reduced to 410 whales next season and 205 by the 2015-16 season.

The Japanese whaling fleet frequently hunts within the waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, an area of 50 million square kilometers surrounding Antarctica where the IWC has in theory banned all commercial whaling.

Tokyo has argued that its whale catch is for scientific not commercial purposes and therefore not affected by the IWC ban, which it also says has no legal basis.

McCully said the government would "fairly urgently" explore how to move negotiations toward New Zealand's objective of eliminating whaling in the Southern Ocean altogether.

Australia is considering taking the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and McCully said that New Zealand might do the same.

"We have made it clear that we are putting our efforts into the diplomatic process and if we don't find a good way forward, then we'll have to consider the ICJ route ourselves," he said.

The IWC will consider the proposal at its next meeting in June.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320175,new-zealand-rejects-whaling-proposal.html.

Pyongyang to seize South Korean assets at tourist resort

Seoul - North Korea said Friday it was to seize five South Korean-run facilities at its Mount Kumgang resort in a move to pressure Seoul to restart tours to the cash-strapped Stalinist state.

"First, we will confiscate all five assets of the South Korean authorities that have already been frozen in compensation for our loss due to the long suspension of the tour," the state-run Korean Central News Agency quoted a spokesman for the General Guidance Bureau for the Development of Scenic Spots as saying.

The assets, which have been frozen since April 13 include a fire station, a duty-free shop and a family reunion center owned by South Korea's Red Cross, the South's Yonhap news agency said.

North Korea said it would either take ownership or turn the assets over to a new business partner. In addition, all other assets would be frozen and all South Korean employees at the resort are to be deported.

North and South Korea were at "the crossroads of a war or peace," the statement said. "It is quite natural that we can no longer show generosity and tolerance to the south side under this situation."

Pyongyang has been attempting to bully Seoul to reopen the lucrative tours, which have brought much-needed cash to the impoverished country.

Visits to Mount Kumgang were frozen in 2008, when a South Korean woman was shot after walking into a nearby restricted military area. Visits to Kaesong, a jointly operated free-trade zone in the north, were also suspended.

South Korea has demanded that Pyongyang guarantee the safety of any future South Korean tourists to the site, and hold a joint investigation into the shooting, before considering further tours.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320177,pyongyang-to-seize-south-korean-assets-at-tourist-resort.html.

Malaysia admits arresting and deporting Sri Lankan rebels

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia has arrested and deported several leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) since the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka last year, officials confirmed Friday.

Key members of the Tamil Tigers were caught and then deported by Malaysian police between August last year and March, Home Ministry officials said.

"We did not want them here any longer than necessary," Director of Special Operations Fuzi Harun said.

"Our preventive action was to stop them from turning the country into their hub or base for global terrorist operations," he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper.

Sri Lanka's military defeated the LTTE last year after 26 years of civil war. Rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed, and the surviving leaders went into hiding.

In a statement issued Thursday, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the arrest of the LTTE leaders was made known to Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the time.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320185,malaysia-admits-arresting-and-deporting-sri-lankan-rebels.html.

Turkey's Premier Erdogan to visit Greece on May 14

Athens - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to pay an official two-day visit to Greece on May 14, Greek officials said Friday.

Erdogan would be accompanied by 10 cabinet members, including the ministers of economy, foreign affairs, interior, European affairs, energy, transport, education and environment.

Neighbors and old rivals Greece and Turkey recently agreed to strengthen contact between their militaries to reduce the chances of conflict between the two countries.

Erdogan's visit is expected to focus on strengthening relations in the areas of foreign policy, European and economic issues.

Last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Devutoglu and acting Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas agreed in talks in Ankara to pursue joint training and military exchange visits.

The two nations have long-running territorial disputes in the Aegean, which nearly led to a military standoff in 1996 over an uninhabited island, as well as differences over the divided eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

Ankara has also complained that Athens neglects the rights of the Turkish minority living in northern Greece.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320208,turkeys-premier-erdogan-to-visit-greece-on-may-14.html.

Muslim woman fined for wearing veil

Traffic police in France have fined a Muslim woman for wearing Islamic face veil while driving, according to her lawyer Jean-Michel Pollono.

The woman was fined $29 in early April in the western city of Nantes, her lawyer said on Friday.

The fine was based on a rule that says drivers should have "freedom of movement and a sufficient field of vision."

Pollono said on France-Info radio that he is protesting the decision, saying a veil is "the same as a motorcycle helmet" in terms of hindrance to vision.

The French government is set to consider a bill that bans Muslim women from wearing full-face veils, known as burqa, in public places.

France is home to the largest Muslim population among the 27 European Union member states. Nearly 10 percent of the 62 million French population is Muslim.

According to the French government, the legislation if approved would affect around 2,000 Muslim Frenchwomen.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124148§ionid=351020603.

Germany Should not Sacrifice the Historical Relations with the Afghans for the Interests of America

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

In World War II, The Allied Countries, American and U.K. being part of them, were waging war against Germany and Japan. They pressed Afghanistan to side with them in the war and urged to give them the German diplomats based in Afghanistan. But the honor and dignity-loving traditions of the Afghans and the close relations of the Afghan people with the people of Germany did not permit kowtowing before might and material incentives and going back on values and close ties. Afghanistan declared its neutrality in the war and ensured safe passage of the diplomats to their country.

After the World War II, Afghanistan and Germany enjoyed close relations. German engineers and other German nationals were living in Afghanistan without fear and security problems. particularly in Khost where they had technical projects. Generally speaking, they were more safe there than in Germany. Afghans regarded them with due respect. But Unfortunately, after October 2001, when America launched its colonialist aggression against Afghanistan under the unjustified name of fighting terrorism, the government of Germany joined hands with the Americans—contrary to the aspirations of the Afghans. They preferred might and material incentives and did not reciprocate the Afghans’ favor.

In the past nine years, the German soldiers have been fighting against the Afghan people for the advancement of the American colonialist interests and goals. They have martyred many Afghans. On 4 September 2009, American fighter’s planes, on information from German commanders, blindly bombarded civilians who were taking fuel from tankers stuck in mud in a river. 140 people were killed; some of them burnt up completely. The American planes had used phosphorus bombs which are banned at world level. Even the surrogate administration in Kunduz on instructions from the Americans, did not allow the injured victims to go to Kabul for medical treatment. They feared, the world will know about their crimes.

It was more becoming and expected of Germany to have announced postponement of their military cooperation with the Americans after this carnage. They should have withdrawn their troops from the country, but contrarily, they pledged 500 more troops for Afghanistan as a gesture to please the Americans. This is in a time that majority of the people of Germany are against the presence of German troops in Afghanistan, according to fresh surveys and have staged several demonstrations as a protest.

No doubt, the current Jihad against the Americans invasion of Afghanistan and of their allies, is an Islamic nationalist resistance. Sooner or later, they will force the invading troops to flee this country. The government of Germany should respect the wants and aspirations of the German and Afghan people. They should not taint the splendid historical chapter of Afghan- German relations with the dark clouds of their partnership in the current unjust and unfair American war against Afghanistan. It is a rationale to do early what is anyway necessary to be done later--then with heavy losses.

We expect the government of Germany to take people- friendly decisions regarding Afghanistan instead of colonialism-friendly decisions and it is more appropriate for them to pull out of Afghanistan. The sooner, the better-- because, it is key to sustaining the trust and dignity of Germany and strengthening bonds of relations between the two people.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Source: Theunjustmedia.
Link: http://theunjustmedia.com/Afghanistan/Statements/April10/Germany%20Should%20not%20Sacrifice%20the%20Historical%20Relations%20with%20the%20Afghans%20for%20the%20Interests%20of%20America.htm.

Russia to invest $5bn in Malaysia

A Russian aircraft maker has decided to build a five billion dollar research facility for the defense and aerospace industries of Malaysia.

Malaysia's Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says the facility would be built by aircraft maker Irkut.

He added that the Russian company would help design and manufacture components critical to the maintenance of services on which the industries in the plant depend.

"In total, Irkut has entered into 28 memoranda of agreement with various local parties to produce locally, under license, an array of parts and components not only for the Malaysian market but also for global requirements," The New Straits Times quoted Zahid as saying on Friday.

The report added that the facility would be built in a technology park in the northern state of Perak.

A spokesman for the minister also confirmed the news.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124136§ionid=351020602.

Peru to buy Russian helicopters

In a new campaign to battle drug traffickers, the Peruvian government has decided to buy eight Russian-built helicopters.

Defense Minister Rafael Rey announced on Thursday that the helicopters were to support military operations "in the fight against narcoterrorism."

Six Mi-17 transport helicopters and two Mi-35 attack helicopters will be bought at a cost of $250 million, Rey added.

The drug cartels are mostly concentrated in the Apurimac and Ene valley, an inaccessible and mountainous region.

The region is located on the eastern slopes of the Andes some 550 km (342 miles) southeast of the capital Lima.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124134§ionid=351020706.

'Haiti quake may have killed 300,000'

The United Nations mission head in Haiti estimates the death toll from the January 12th Port-au-Prince earthquake at 250,000 to 300,000.

The Haitian government had previously announced a projected figure of over 220,000.

Edmond Mulet said on Thursday that 300,000 were also injured and more than one million people have been left homeless.

The UN official also urged people to "not underestimate the size of the task and the challenges that Haiti faces."

He added that the impoverished nation "is ... on the right path" towards reconstruction, and that he was showing "prudent optimism."

The 7.0-magnitude quake devastated the capital Port-au-Prince, causing a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions in a country already considered the poorest in the Americas.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124131§ionid=351020706.

"Living Well" in Harmony with the Environment

By Franz Chávez

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, Apr 20, 2010 (IPS) - The philosophy of "Living Well" enshrined in Bolivia's new constitution is being put forward by the government as the basis for a global movement against consumerism, depredation of natural resources for profit, and current models of development.

Presenting the results of indigenous President Evo Morales' four years in office, Raúl Prada, vice minister for strategic state planning and a former member of the constituent assembly that rewrote the Bolivian constitution, exalted the virtues of the new charter, which arose from a social and political process with extensive grassroots participation.

Prada, a sociologist, proposed expanding the Bolivian government program because it "protects biodiversity, respects the indigenous right to land and territory, and preserves water resources.

According to its proponents, the indigenous concept of "Living Well" contrasts with "living better" because it means having all basic needs met while existing in harmony with the natural world instead of seeking to amass more and more material goods at the expense of the environment.

"It is a proposal that incorporates the traditional indigenous worldview and combines well with anti-capitalist and environmental movements defending the planet," Prada said Tuesday, the first day of the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which runs through Thursday in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

The Bolivian constitution is the ultimate horizon, and is linked to the aim of "Living Well" and economic models that are alternatives to capitalism, he said.

After taking office in January 2006, the leftwing Morales administration promoted the creation of a new constitution that would reclaim the country's natural resources for Bolivians and strengthen the rights of the country's impoverished indigenous majority, workers and women.

One of its pillars is "Living Well", which reflects the interest of indigenous people in preserving nature.

"Living Well" is a fine-sounding phrase, "but we need to define what it means, and how it works in practice," Trond Norheim, a Norwegian environment expert with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), who listened attentively to the speeches by Bolivian government officials, told IPS.

"Although many indigenous communities epitomize 'Living Well', there are a range of different lifestyles in society and we need to know what it means for city dwellers. We need to put more flesh on the bones, not just make speeches," he said.

In spite of this caveat, Norheim is observing the Bolivian model with interest, because it gives low-income sectors the opportunity to demand their rights instead of "leaving everything to the government."

Portuguese sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos, an active promoter of the World Social Forum, said that in his view the validity of the new Bolivian constitution is based on three elements of democracy: representativeness, participation by all social actors, and the recovery of community values.

"The concept of the plurinational state will be long-lived" and will improve harmonious coexistence between peoples, he said Monday night at a lecture organized by the Center for Socio-Environmental Knowledge and Care of the La Plata Basin.

The Bolivian government's proposal attracted the attention of delegates from the United Left of the city of Jaén, Spain: Olga Jiménez, Ana Alcántara and journalist Francisco Sánchez, who writes for the party's magazine "Comunes".

Jiménez emphasized the opportunity the conference offers to learn about the kind of "Living Well" the Bolivian government supports, making economic models compatible with indigenous lifestyles, while Alcántara said she had confidence the administration would ensure "great strides forward for the majority, if the opposition allows Evo Morales to govern." Prada described the Bolivian model as a coming together of the indigenous peoples' demand for "decolonization" and the renationalisation of natural resources, and cited the October 2003 "gas war" - a month of protests against plans to export Bolivia's natural gas that toppled the right-wing government of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (1993-1997 and 2002-2003) - as the moment the two demands came together.

The renationalisation of gas reserves and the convening of the constituent assembly, which recognized the right of indigenous peoples to exercise social control over the extraction of natural resources were highlighted by Carlos Villegas, head of the YPFB state oil and gas company.

He stated that indigenous communities are now being consulted before companies are allowed to exploit fossil fuel resources in their territories, in accordance with international conventions, and that compensation is being paid, in coordination with the government's oversight mechanisms.

Villegas was talking about people living in the oil and gas belt in southeast Bolivia, containing South America's second largest natural gas reserves - after Venezuela's - with an estimated volume of 49 trillion cubic feet, which provides the Bolivian state with its main source of revenue.

Source: IPS.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51125.

Green Agriculture Growing in Leaps and Bounds

By Isolda Agazzi

NAIROBI, Apr 21, 2010 (IPS) - Organic agriculture using natural farming methods rather than fertilizers and pesticides has made significant gains in African countries – not just among farmers but among consumers too.

Africa needs to triple agricultural productivity by 2050 to keep pace with population growth.

It is difficult to say what the correct level for a country’s food security is, stated Hans Herren, a Swiss agronomist, but if a country could ensure at least 50 percent of the calories its people need, it would be doing well.

Herren, former director of the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe), was participating in a round-table discussion organized by the Media 21 Global Journalism Network in Nairobi, which ended on Friday Apr 16. Icipe is a research institute based in Mbita, Kenya, that studies insects as they "often cause the loss of entire crops and destroy about half of all harvested food in storage".

According to Food and Agriculture Organization research by 400 scientists and co-chaired by Herren, small farmers and organic agriculture are the best way to ensure the continent’s food security.

The research report added that large-scale agriculture could help, provided it does not deplete the soil and contribute to climate change. Moreover, trade must become the exception and not the rule.

Some 52 countries were in agreement and adopted the report, called the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), in 2008.

The IAASTD seems to be largely forgotten, probably because it calls for a radical paradigm shift in agriculture. The report maintains that the world needs a new "green revolution" completely different from the Asian one 40 years ago that increased agricultural productivity with mechanization, pesticides and fertilizers.

That pathway has proven unsustainable. "Agriculture is responsible for 32 percent of greenhouse emissions," Herren pointed out. "Today, with climate change and soil depletion and erosion, we cannot continue with business as usual. We need to turn to sustainable or organic agriculture."

Eustace Kiarii, CEO of the Kenya Organic Agriculture Network (KOAN), added that, "we must change the export-led, free trade-based industrial agricultural model of large farms to instead develop sustainable local, national and regional markets." KOAN is the national coordinating body for organic agricultural activities.

In a country where 99 percent of farmers own between a quarter and two hectares of land and cannot afford to buy pesticides and fertilizers, organic agriculture seems to be the way out.

Prof. Zeyaur Khan, an Indian scientist from Icepe, believes this. To increase agricultural productivity he developed the "push-pull technology", a technique to control pests. A plant called desmodium "pushes" striga and stemborers outside the field where they are "pulled" (neutralized) by napier grass.

Explained Khan: "The green revolution in Africa will come through the adoption of low-cost technologies like push-pull which exploit basic and applied science. These technologies will address food security and the livelihoods of smallholders without requiring extra resources for hybrid seeds, crop protection and soil improvement".

But others differ. The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), a nongovernmental organization funded by the Rockefeller and Bill Gates foundations, promotes fertilizers and seeds to produce more food rapidly.

"But if food production increases too quickly, in two years’ time we will have too much food and prices will go down," argued Herren. "We need the opposite: for farmers to get enough income, the prices of agricultural products must increase."

Khan believes that farmers must earn at least two dollars a day to stay in agriculture – revenue achievable through the "push-pull" technique.

AGRA’s Joan Kagwanja confirmed that her organization "wants to increase the use of fertilizers in Africa. On this continent, farmers use eight kilograms of fertilizers per hectare compared to 300 to 500 kg per hectare in Europe and North America. It is still very low".

Do they also promote genetically modified organisms (GMOs)? "I cannot say yes or no. We don’t promote the use of GMOs but of evidence-based technology. We do support research to increase productivity. We are not opposed to GMOs and we would help countries or organizations that ask for assistance in this matter," she replied.

But United Nations Environment Program (Unep) spokesperson in Nairobi, Nick Nuttall, warned against a one size fits all approach in agriculture.

"One doesn’t have to choose between small and big agriculture. True, sustainable or organic agriculture employs more people than intensive agriculture.

"In the past organic agriculture was seen as a luxury, not as something for small-scale farmers. But productivity has increased: in East Africa, yields have jumped by 128 percent. Organic farming allows better retention of water and improves soil fertility. We have to be smart and not dump lots of chemicals in the fragile soils of Africa."

Su Kahumbu, founder of Green Dream Ltd that promotes organic agriculture, added that "the demand for organic products in Nairobi is growing. It allows better income for farmers. However, the challenge is to add value to the products by transforming them into fruit juice or marmalades, for example."

Does her organization target the foreign market? "Our primary responsibility is to feed the people in Kenya. Export may come later," she replied.

African heads of state’s 2003 decision to allocate 10 percent of gross domestic product to agriculture has only been implemented by four countries, concluded Herren.

"This issue is about governance, here and on the other side of the ocean." He believes that the main problem is that the western world spends one billion dollars a day to subsidize agriculture.

Source: IPS.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51138.

Zimbabwe supports Iran's nuclear rights

Fri Apr 23, 2010

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has vowed "continues support" for Iran's nuclear program in the face of Western powers mulling new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

"Be also assured, comrade president, of Zimbabwe's continuous support of Iran's just cause on the nuclear issue," Mugabe told Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a dinner in Harare.

"Because of the principled positions we have taken at both the domestic and international level, Zimbabwe and Iran have been unjustly vilified and punished by Western countries," AFP quoted Mugabe as saying on Thursday.

"Today, both are victims of illegal and unjustified sanctions imposed by Western countries who seek to undermine our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity," he added.

Ahmadinejad arrived in the Zimbabwean capital on Thursday in the first leg of his Africa trip which will also take him to Uganda.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/124123.html.

Bolivia ends climate change confab

The three day "People World Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth" has ended in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Organizers have called the summit an alternative to last year's failed Copenhagen Climate Change talks.

Bolivia has been among the most vocal opponents of the Copenhagen Accord, the non-binding deal from a summit in December backed by about 120 governments and meant to keep any rise in temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.

The organizers have agreed to call for a 50 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

The forum has also recommended the creation of an international climate tribunal to judge countries on global warming.

The forum was organized by Bolivian President Evo Morales.

According to Bolivia, a total 35,351 representatives from social and indigenous movements from 142 countries gathered in Cochabamba since Tuesday for the summit.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124124§ionid=3510212.

IRGC unveils native vessel in PG drills

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has unveiled a native sonar-evading vessel dubbed Ya Mahdi in the initial phase of a new Persian Gulf military drill.

“The domestically-made vessel that carries rockets with powerful destructive capability shows Iran's determined military strength in establishing security in the Persian Gulf,” IRGC's naval commander Ali Reza Tang-siri said Thursday on the first day of the three-day military drill code-named 'The Great Prophet 5'.

High-intensity rockets launched by remote-controlled Ya Mahdi vessels are able to destroy any targets on water surface, added the top commander, quoted by IRNA.

Over 300 vessels equipped with torpedo and guided-missiles are taking part in the massive naval maneuvers that coincide with the 31st anniversary of IRGC's formation.

In the course of the military drills, 50 high-speed Iranian vessels identified hypothetical enemy targets intruding into the Persian Gulf territory. IRGC naval commandos then captured the sea crafts upon disobeying stop orders.

Some 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil shipments pass through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

The main objective of this war game is to preserve the security of the region.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124059§ionid=351020101.

Ahmadinejad arrives in Zimbabwe

Thu Apr 22, 2010
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has arrived in Zimbabwean capital Harare on the first leg of his Africa trip which will also take him to Uganda.

Ahmadinejad, who is heading a high-ranking delegation, was officially welcomed by his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe.

The two presidents will sign on Thursday a raft of trade and cooperation agreements, Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said late Wednesday during a Zimbabwe-Iran joint commission meeting.

"The joint commission agreed to establish a joint investment company to identify and implement projects of mutual benefit to the two countries including in the areas of banking, finance and insurance," said a communique issued after the meeting.

Before his departure at the Mehrabad International Airport, the Iranian president told reporters that the visit comes as part of his administration's plan to consolidate ties with African countries.

He said that he is to inaugurate a production line of tractors in Zimbabwe as well as attending the country's International Trade Fair in Bulawayo.

Ahmadinejad will hold talks with Mugabe on political and economic cooperation as well as regional and international issues.

Officials in Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's office said he would be absent during Ahmadinejad's visit as he "has previous engagements in the region," according to DPA news agency.

The Iranian president will then leave for Uganda, where he will meet with his counterpart Yoweri Museveni and other officials to discuss various issues including "joint economic ventures" and "mining activities."

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, senior aide Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi and the head of the presidential office Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei will also accompany the president on his African tour.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/124042.html.

Palestinian prisoner beaten to death

The Palestinian Authority's (PA) Minister of Prisoners Affairs, Issa Qaraqi, holds Israel responsible for the death of Raed Abu Hammad, 27, who was in an Israeli jail for 18 months.

Hammad was reportedly beaten by Israeli prison guards to death. He was found dead in his solitary confinement cell. Qaraqi said on Thursday that the cause of death was from "a blow to the lower spinal cord with a direct hit."

The minister added that based on reports he had received, the detainee had been kicked strongly in the lower back.

The PA will, in the beginning of next week, request from the Magistrate court in Beer Sheva, to investigate the cause of death based on available reports.

Israeli authorities have dismissed the allegations as unfounded and declined to give any details. More than 7,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli jails.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124121§ionid=351020202.

'Iranian vessels fully cover Persian Gulf'

A senior military commander says the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) can now cover the expanse of the Persian Gulf waters with its new fleet of high-speed vessels.

“Today, on the first stage of the war games, the IRGC successfully covered the expanse of the Persian Gulf waters using native high-speed boats,” Rear Admiral Ali-Reza Tangsiri, commander of the First Marine Division of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, told Fars news agency on Thursday.

Tangsiri was commenting on the first day of a three-day IRGC drill that kicked off across the Persian Gulf on Thursday. The Great Prophet 5 maneuver will continue until Saturday.

He noted that the engineering body of the IRGC has manufactured all the weapons and military equipment that are being used in the war games.

“The chief aim of the drill is to ensure the security of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and to keep it permanently open,” he added.

The Iranian commander said the Strait of Hormuz belongs to the Persian Gulf states, and for that reason, foreign countries should not be allowed to meddle in the region's internal affairs.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124115§ionid=351020101.

Kyrgyzstan interim government sets elections schedule

Bishkek/Moscow - The interim government in Kyrgystan, seeking to restore political stability in the Central Asian country, aims to hold a referendum on a new constitution in June, followed by national elections in October, a top official said Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Omurbek Tekebayev was cited by Akipress as saying the envisaged new constitution would give significantly less power to the presidency and aim for greater balance in decision- making between the government and parliament.

The presidential role would be that of a referee in political decision-making, he said.

The referendum on the constitution was to be June 27. Presidential and parliamentary elections would follow next October 10.

His reported remarks come amid ongoing unrest in the country after mass protest demonstrations in the capital Bishkek in which 85 people were killed and over 1,600 injured.

The unrest then forced authoritarian president Kurmanbek Bakiyev to flee to the south of the country before he then went into exile in Belarus.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/319996,kyrgyzstan-interim-government-sets-elections-schedule.html.

Belgian vote on burqa ban in doubt as government risks collapse

Brussels - A parliamentary vote that would have turned Belgium into the first European country to ban the wearing of the burqa and other types of Islamic veil risked being canceled Thursday, as the country's government was nearing collapse.

The lower house of the parliament was expected to approve a law making it a crime to be out "in public places with their face completely or partly covered or masked, so that they are no longer identifiable."

But the vote looked likely to be postponed as the parliamentary agenda on Thursday was set to be dominated by a row over the splitting of an electoral district around the country's capital Brussels.

Belgium is divided between the Dutch-speaking majority and the French-speaking minority. They are bitterly at odds over the question of who should have more political rights over Brussels, a largely French-speaking city in Dutch-speaking territory.

One of the five parties that support Prime Minister Yves Leterme's government, the Flemish liberals of the Open Vld, insist that a vote be held on Thursday on the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (BHV) district, despite the fact that no agreement has been found on the redrawing of its boundaries.

The other four coalition members - the socialist PS, the liberals MR and the christian democrats Cdh from the francophone part of the country, as well as the Flemish christian democrats CD&V - are calling for more time to find a compromise.

If the Open Vld were to pull out of the coalition over the issue, the government would technically still have a majority in the parliament, with 76 out of 150 deputies.

However, all politicians say it would be politically impossible for Leterme to hold on in office with the support of only one Flemish-speaking party, because it would leave the Francophones in a domineering position.

On the other hand, several commentators have stressed that a governmental crisis would seriously endanger the country's upcoming presidency of the European Union, which starts on July 1 for a six- months term.

"How will we look in front of Europe if we were to chair it without a government in office?" the former Belgian premier Wilfried Martens, a Flemish christian democrat, told Thursday's edition of the De Morgen newspaper.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/319997,belgian-vote-on-burqa-ban-in-doubt-as-government-risks-collapse.html.

NATO foreign ministers gather in Tallinn - Update

Tallinn - The foreign ministers of NATO's 28 members gathered in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, on Thursday for two days of informal talks on alliance expansion and reform, nuclear weapons and the handover of security in Afghanistan to local forces.

Delivering a keynote speech to launch the discussions, NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance should work to develop a joint missile defense shield and make greater use of common funding, while continuing its mission in Afghanistan.

The alliance "must retain a nuclear capability as long as there are rogue regimes or terrorist groupings that may pose a nuclear threat to us" Fogh Rasmussen said.

"We also need a credible missile defense system providing coverage for all the allies," he added.

National missile defense systems could be connected into "a NATO- wide missile shield to protect all our allies that would be a very powerful demonstration of NATO solidarity in the twenty first century," Fogh Rasmussen said, expressing hope that progress on the issue would be made by the time of the next NATO summit meeting.

Rasmussen also urged the alliance to make greater use of common funding sources instead of present arrangements in which member states pay for their own deployments.

Common funding of NATO activities represents less than half a percent of the defense budgets of all 28 members, Rasmussen said.

"I personally would like to see a much greater use of common funding to finance our alliance and our operations," he said, citing examples of countries willing to send troops or equipment to NATO operations but lacking the cash to do so.

Describing Afghanistan as the most challenging military operation NATO has ever undertaken, Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance was prepared to stay in the country "as long as it takes" to achieve stability.

NATO leaders are due to meet in Lisbon in November to draw up a new strategy for the alliance, and the foreign ministers' meeting is intended to start the debate on the main issues.

The last time NATO drew up an overall strategy was a decade ago, before world-changing events such as the terrorist attacks on New York of September 11, 2001, or NATO's decision to take the lead in the UN-mandated security mission in Afghanistan.

Ministers are also set to debate the question of whether Bosnia has done enough to merit a NATO membership action plan (MAP).

In December, the ministers said that Bosnia would be given a MAP once its leaders proved that they were able to work with one another. The alliance is divided over whether recent moves by the Bosnian presidency were enough to justify a MAP.

On Thursday evening, they are set to debate the question of nuclear disarmament and missile defense, following the recent arms- control deal between the US and Russia.

On Friday, ministers are set to discuss relations with Russia and the best way to hand over responsibility for security in Afghanistan to local forces.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320014,nato-foreign-ministers-gather-in-tallinn--update.html.

Report: French law to fine those who wear burqa

Paris - The total ban of the Islamic all-body veil, or burqa, being drawn up by the French government will be part of a broader law that will make it illegal for anyone to appear in public with his or her face masked, the daily Le Figaro reported Thursday.

This formulation is an attempt to sidestep objections formed by the country's highest administrative court, the Council of State,on the legality of a law targeting only the wearers of the veil.

President Nicolas Sarkozy decided Wednesday to have the government draw up a draft bill on a total ban of the burqa on French territory.

In March, the council said there was probably no legal foundation for a total ban of the burqa, but suggested that it could be part of a more general law on public order and security.

According to the report, police officers will have the right to demand anyone appearing in public with a mask or veil to uncover his or her face. Those refusing to do so will be sent a ticket for an as yet undetermined fine.

In addition, any man forcing his wife to wear the veil will also be sanctioned under the draft bill, Le Figaro said.

An estimated 2,000 women wear the all-body veil in France, most of them French women converted to Islam.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320001,report-french-law-to-fine-those-who-wear-burqa.html.

Cyclone kills four in India's north-east

New Delhi - At least four people were killed and over 50 injured when a tropical storm hit parts of India's remote north-eastern state of Tripura, a news report said Thursday.

Rains accompanied by strong winds and hailstorms left a trail of destruction Wednesday night, damaging more than 2,000 houses and killing many heads of cattle, the IANS news agency reported.

"North, west and south Tripura districts were worst hit by the thunderstorm. Most people have lost all their belongings and cattle," a relief department official was quoted by the IANS as saying.

Four people, including a 14-year-old girl, were killed when houses collapsed and trees fell on rooftops in west Tripura, the report said.

The storm uprooted hundreds of trees, snapped communication and power lines and affected the movement of vehicles.

State agencies and officials were engaged in rescue and relief operations. The government was also working to restore communication lines and power supply.

A storm ravaged parts of India's eastern states of Bihar, West Bengal and Assam mid-April leaving 130 people dead, damaged over 100,000 houses and caused large-scale destruction.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320003,cyclone-kills-four-in-indias-north-east.html.

Northern Iraqi oil pipeline bombed

Mosul, Iraq - A bomb destroyed a section of the oil pipeline linking northern Iraqi oil fields with the Turkish port of Ceyhan, police said Thursday.

A tower of flame, "huge clouds of smoke" and "large quantities of crude oil" were pouring from the pipeline near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police told the German Press Agency dpa.

Emergency response teams had rushed to the scene in an effort to extinguish the flames and repair the pipeline, police said.

The pipeline, which links oil fields near the disputed northern city of Kirkuk with international markets via Turkey, has frequently come under attack in the past.

The incident came as Iraq's Oil Ministry announced that the country's revenue from oil exports topped an estimated 4.35 billion dollars in March.

Iraq relies on its current 2.5 million barrels per day production for more than 90 per cent of its government revenue and about 60 per cent of its gross national product.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320011,northern-iraqi-oil-pipeline-bombed.html.

Algerian municipal workers plan May protest

2010-04-22
Algeria's National Autonomous Union of Public Administration Personnel (SNAPAP) will stage a sit-in protest at the Labor Ministry on Sunday (May 2nd), Tout sur l'Algerie reported. SNAPAP is demanding that government officials meet with union representatives to discuss salary and other provisions in the Labor Code. The municipal workers also plan a two-day protest in mid-June.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/04/22/newsbrief-02.

New Sahel-Saharan joint military command opens in Algeria

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

A new military command in Tamanrasset aims to co-ordinate regional efforts against terrorism and trans-national crime.

By Walid Ramzi for Magharebia in Algiers – 22/04/10

Algeria, Mali, Niger and Mauritania joined forces Wednesday (April 21st) to fight terrorism with a new military command in the Algerian city of Tamanrasset.

The Algerian Ministry of Defense announced the formal establishment of the joint operational staff committee in a Wednesday statement. The command will implement plans developed by army chiefs of staff at the Sahel-Saharan security summit that ran April 12th-13th in Tamanrasset, according to the statement.

The "Tamanrasset Plan" calls for officials from Algeria and the three Sahel countries to co-ordinate intelligence-gathering in a campaign against terrorism, organized crime, arms smuggling and kidnapping. The plan also calls for military patrols in shared border areas to monitor and control the movement of terrorist groups.

"[The] establishment of a committee to co-ordinate among the four countries aims at drawing up a framework … to confront terrorist groups that are active across the borders of these countries, and to disrupt links among these groups and organized crime and arms and drug-smuggling gangs," security affairs reporter Jocine Boulahia said.

The Wednesday announcement marks "the first practical step toward embodying the co-ordination between these countries, which has in the past been restricted to intelligence co-operation," Boulahia said.

Multilateral co-operation has significant advantages over a unilateral approach, international relations professor Ahmed Brahimi said.

Algeria's coordination with the Sahel states "will enable them to overcome some of the problems related to fighting terrorist groups on the shared borders of these countries, and will especially enable regular forces in the countries concerned to cross the border in case of chases that don't end at [their] border", he said.

"Moreover, there is talk of ensuring the training of officers from other countries, Mauritania, Mali and Niger, by the Algerian security agencies, given their experience in dealing with terrorism," Brahimi said.

The initiative follows calls by Algerian officials for a joint anti-terrorism effort, and as well as increased regional threats from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

"Effective and multi-faceted co-operation among the regional countries is ... vital for responding to the challenges facing security and development in the region", Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said at the opening of March 16th's conference of Sahel-Saharan foreign ministers.

Medelci stressed "the need for a firm move by the regional countries to seriously evaluate the terrorist threat, which is witnessing dangerous developments and … new dimensions with strong links between terrorist groups, organized crime networks and the illegal trade in weapons and drugs".

During the Tamanrasset meeting, Algeria's army chief of staff, Gen. Ahmed Gaid Saleh, criticized past failures to co-operate and the "absence of a unified vision".

"We will be stronger if we do it together based on close and effective co-operation, in the service of peace and stability as the guarantee of welfare and dignified living for our peoples, who are linked by the bonds of history and geography," Saleh said.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/04/22/feature-01.

Spanish doctors perform world's first complete face transplant

Barcelona - Spanish doctors have performed the world's first complete face transplant, medical team leader Joan Pere Barret announced Thursday.

A team of 30 experts performed the transplant at Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron hospital on a young man who had been injured in an accident five years ago.

The patient was unable to breath, swallow or speak properly, Barret explained.

He received new facial muscles, skin, nose, lips, jaw, teeth, palate and cheekbones in the 22-hour operation, which was performed on March 20.

The patient's new face did not resemble that of the anonymous donor, but was created in the likeness of the face he had before he was injured.

The patient was doing well, Barret said.

He was expected to start "talking and eating, and also smiling and laughing" within a few weeks' time, the doctor explained.

The patient was expected to be able to lead a "practically" normal life after recovering from the operation.

Around 10 face transplant operations have been performed around the world, but all of them were partial ones, according to the Spanish medical team.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320089,spanish-doctors-perform-worlds-first-complete-face-transplant.html.

Germany re-opens massacre inquiry against former SS officer

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Hanover, Germany - Germany has re-opened a criminal inquiry into a former SS officer accused of massacring Jews in Lublin in occupied Poland in 1943, a prosecutor said Thursday.

The 95-year-old has never been charged for lack of evidence, but re-analysis of a letter he wrote in 1943 to a girlfriend implies that he was with his unit at the time it took part in mass shootings of 30,500 Jews in the Lublin area, news reports said.

Charges were earlier dropped after he claimed he had been at home on leave at the time. He was a captain in the SS, the Nazi Party military organization, and commanded a police unit.

But the address on the October 31, 1943 letter gives his address as "OO", a German military code for being in military housing.

The massacre took place three days later.

"We are checking if he took part in the Lublin massacre of November 1943," a prosecutions spokeswoman in Hanover said. "This is a very difficult inquiry as there are hardly any witnesses alive."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem on Thursday put the man's name on its list of 10 most wanted suspects from World War II.

Most German media withheld his name under privacy and defamation guidelines.

Hamburg prosecutors sought evidence against him in the 1960s and 70s but then closed the file. Fresh inquiries last year in connection with a massacre in Warsaw also failed to turn up evidence that would stand up in court.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320096,germany-re-opens-massacre-inquiry-against-former-ss-officer.html.

Twenty-four people killed in vehicle rollover in northern Yemen

Sana'a, Yemen - Twenty-four people from a single family - including six children and 17 women - were killed in a high-speed rollover of a pickup carrying them north-east of the Yemeni capital Sana'a on Thursday, the state news agency Saba reported.

The agency said the truck veered off a highway in Marib province, around 170 kilometers north-east of Sana'a, after its driver lost control of the truck.

It said the speeding vehicle rolled over several times down a hillside.

The only survivor from the accident was a ten-year-old boy, Saba reported, quoting the head of the traffic police in Marib, Muhammad Abu-Luhoum. The boy was rushed to a hospital in Marib for medical treatment, Abu-Luhom said.

Traffic accidents claim the lives of around 3,000 people in Yemen every year, according to official figures.

In the first three months of this year, 625 people were killed and 4,578 injured in 3,420 accidents across the country.

Some 3,041 people were killed and 19,828 injured in accidents during 2009, according to traffic police data.

Authorities usually blame traffic accidents on excessive speed, recklessness and chewing of the mild stimulant drug khat by drivers.

Some 37,819 people were killed and more than 224,000 injured in road accidents in Yemen during the period from 1990 to 2007, according to figures published by the Interior Ministry.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320098,twenty-four-people-killed-in-vehicle-rollover-in-northern-yemen.html.

Pakistan announces policy to ease energy crisis

Islamabad - Pakistan's government on Thursday announced measures to ease an energy crisis that is fomenting public anger and threatening wider unrest.

The measures include temporary expansions of weekends for government employees, early closures of markets and a 50-per-cent cut in power usage at government offices.

Announcing the steps, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Minister for Water and Power Raja Parvez Ashraf said the main reason for the energy crisis is the increase in power demand in recent years and the previous government's failure to boost power output.

"We inherited this problem," Gilani told reporters, vowing to do everything to solve the problem.

He said the government of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf did little to make fresh investment in the power sector, find additional energy resources or improve a faulty distribution infrastructure.

The shortfall of around 5,000 megawatts has resulted in power cuts lasting as long as 20 hours in some rural areas and a crippled economy.

Several cities have seen increasing numbers of protests - rioting in some cases - in recent weeks.

Gilani said the government was releasing 116 billion rupees (around 1.4 billion dollars) to pay debts to various private power producers. Many of these companies had stopped production due to nonpayment.

The government also decided to disconnect electricity to commercial billboards and neon signs, and switch off 50 per cent of street lights.

Night-long wedding parties have been restricted to three hours and power supply to agricultural water pumps will be cut during from 7 pm to 11 pm (local time) - the peak hours of electricity demand.

The measures will conserve around 500 megawatts, while an additional 400 to 600 additional will be generated by independent power plants nearing completion.

Five rental power plants that are in the process of installation will add another 605 megawatts, Ashraf said.

The business community rejected the government plan, saying it will further cripple the ailing economy.

"The country's exports may drop by 2.5 billion dollars," said Abdul Majeed, president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320101,pakistan-announces-policy-to-ease-energy-crisis.html.