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Saturday, May 1, 2010

Iraq to host Iran's Kamkars

The Iranian Kamkars ensemble is planning to perform traditional Persian and regional music with the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra (INSO).

“We will hold concerts in the Iraqi cities of Sulaymaniyah and Arbil after the holy month of Ramadan,” musician and leader of the group Houshang Kamkar told Fars News Agency.

“The group will be accompanied with a number of INSO members and musicians from Sulaymaniyah,” he added.

Renowned Kurdish singer Adnan Karim will join the group and perform some pre-recoded pieces composed by the Kamkars members.

A Kurdish family of virtuosic vocalists and instrumentalists, the Kamkars are among Iran's leading musicians who perform traditional Kurdish and Persian music.

They have performed in national and international events across Europe and the US.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125087§ionid=351020105.

China steps up security at schools

China has set up a special task force in a move aimed at beefing up security at schools across the country after three violent campus attacks against young children.

China has been shocked by a sudden spree of attacks on schoolchildren in the past couple of days.

Beijing says the task force has been ordered to protect the country's 270 million students. Authorities say children will be taught basic self-defense tactics.

China is also planning to install cameras at all educational facilities.

The latest school attack happened on Friday. A man armed with a hammer attacked a kindergarten in the eastern city of Weifang. The incident left a teacher and several children injured.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125086§ionid=351020404.

'US weapons' destabilize Middle East

Amid US and Israeli claims of arms transfer against Damascus, Syria says it is the United States' military reinforcement of Israel which harms the Middle East.

"What destabilizes the region is the United Sates supplying significant quantities of sophisticated weaponry to Israel and the fact that Washington adheres to the unjust allegations made by the Israeli government against Syria," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem was quoted by AFP as saying on Saturday in comments to the Syrian Arab News Agency.

Tel Aviv remains the number one recipient of the US arms supplies.

During the former US administration, the military aid helped Tel Aviv muster the readiness to launch the three-week-long Gaza War at the turn of 2009. The current American leadership reportedly continued to dispatch the arms shipments Israel's way following the raids which killed more than 1,200 Palestinians

"The entire world recognizes the constructive role played by Syria in preserving the security and stability of the region, and the public remembers the American slander campaign launched before the war in Iraq," Muallem added according to state news agency SANA.

Among other things, the US accused Iraq of harboring weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) before launching the 2003 invasion of the country.

The WMD claim was found to have nothing to do with the realities on the ground. Over one million Iraqis have, however, reportedly died during the occupation, says California-based investigative project, Project Censored.

"It seems the US administration is now trying to play the same game," added the Syrian foreign minister.

Washington, in addition, has joined hands with Tel Aviv in claiming that Syria supplies the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah with arms.

Damascus, Beirut and the Lebanese movement itself have repeatedly rejected the allegation. Standing by the claim, however, Washington and Tel Aviv have sent threatening signals to Damascus.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday against countering the claim. Assad, Clinton said, had to "hear directly from us" on the allegation or the consequences of his actions would not be clear.

"President Assad is making decisions that could mean war or peace for the region," she said.

Syria and Lebanon, meanwhile, remain technically at war with Israel since as the regime keeps parts of each one's territory occupied since 1967.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125085§ionid=351020206.

Sassanid ossuaries found in Iran

Archeologists have found seven towers of silence and ossuaries, which they believe date back to the Sassanid era, in the southern Fars Province.

A collection of unadorned ossuaries of different sizes were discovered in the southwestern city of Mohr.

Built 2.5 meters above a mountain slope, the ossuaries are hewn in a line and lack specific patterns.

Experts say natural erosion, physical conditions and the structure of the rocks can threaten the ossuaries, CHTN reported.

The 5,000-year-old city of Mohr is one of the richest archeological sites in the region, which houses many ancient fortresses and prehistoric relics.

Archeological finds showed that the city was also a flourishing area during the Achaemenid, Sassanid and Islamic periods.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125084§ionid=351020105.

Ahmadinejad to take proposals to NYC

A senior Iranian presidential adviser says Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will present the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference with "important proposals."

“The president will have important proposals for the revision of the NPT treaty as well as the performance of certain governments in this regard,” Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi told reporters on Saturday.

"The president will raise points about the performance of nuclear and non-nuclear states."

He added that President Ahmadinejad's visit to New York City would take place "with the purpose of defending the rights of the Iranian nation."

The senior aide stressed that the president would "clearly" announce the views of the Iranian nation to the world.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125083§ionid=351020101.

Thailand govt. calls emergency meeting

In Thailand, the government has called for an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss how to deal with the ongoing political turmoil in Bangkok.

A government spokesman says the cabinet will meet Sunday morning in a special session.

Meanwhile, the opposition claim more protesters are on their way from provinces to join the 'Red Shirts' in the capital.

The calls grow on the government to agree to foreign mediation to resolve the dispute between the two sides.

The think tank International Crisis Group has warned that Thailand's political system has broken down and said the standoff could deteriorate into an undeclared civil war.

The government has repeatedly rejected calls to bring in foreign mediators.

The Red Shirts are demanding the government dissolve Parliament and call elections.

At least 27 people have been killed and nearly 1,000 wounded in the violence between protesters and security forces over the past weeks.

The Red Shirts are mainly supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and was later sentenced to two years in jail for alleged corruption.

Thaksin now lives in exile in order to avoid incarceration. Nevertheless, the former prime minister remains popular among the rural poor.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125081§ionid=351020406.

Lawman shot amid immigration row

A sheriff's deputy has been shot and injured in the US state of Arizona by suspected illegal immigrants believed to be involved in marijuana smuggling.

Pinal County Deputy Louie Puroll came upon a group of suspected smugglers when patrolling alone in a rugged area in south of Phoenix on Friday afternoon.

The fire from one of the five drug traffickers found the 53-year-old lawman above his left kidney.

"He was out on his routine daily patrol in the area when he encountered a load of marijuana out in the desert. He obviously confronted the individuals and took fire," Pinal County sheriff's Lt. Tamatha Villar told AP, adding that a team of Purroll's colleagues searched the area for a long time to find him wounded.

Purroll was taken to the hospital and left the medical center Friday night.

A manhunt has been organized by the state's law enforcement agencies to arrest the man and his colleagues.

The incident comes amid a national debate over Arizona's tough new immigration law.

"Regardless of the outcome of tonight's manhunt and investigation, Arizona is now confronted by some of the most vicious and dangerous narco-terror organizations the world has seen," said Arizona Governor Jan Brewer who has recently signed a controversial law on illegal immigrants.

Analysts say the legislation could have huge political fallout.

The law will open the door to racial profiling in the southwestern state.

It has drawn a storm of protests from civil rights activists.

Several rights groups are now challenging the new law in court.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125082§ionid=3510203.

Russia lauds Iran mediation in Karabakh

Russia says it has no opposition to Iran's initiative to mediate between Azerbaijan and Armenia in order to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said on Friday that Moscow does not oppose Iran's proposal to hold trilateral talks involving Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran on the Karabakh dispute, RIA Novosti reported.

"We have nothing against the meeting. If such a meeting is held, obviously, it is necessary to wait for the results and then speak of the possibility of Iran's mediation in the Karabakh conflict settlement," Nesterenko added.

He went on to say that Iran's mediation proposal only referred to a trilateral meeting at this stage.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki suggested a trilateral meeting involving the foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to resolve the dispute "through negotiations and on the basis of justice."

Both Azerbaijan and Armenia have laid claim to the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, which is largely populated by Armenians but located in Azerbaijan.

Armenia took control of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s following a short but bloody war with Azerbaijan in which around 30,000 people lost their lives.

While a ceasefire was brokered in 1994, the dispute continues to remain unresolved despite years of international mediations.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125079§ionid=351020602.

Danish artists wipe Israel off the map

A Danish modern art duo, Surrend, has gained attention over a series of posters in which Israel is wiped off the map of the Middle East.

In the posters, the territory presently named Israel has been renamed "Ramallah" by the two artists Jan Egesborg and Pia Bertelsen.

The posters sport the line "Final Solution" at the top.

Israel has reacted with fury to the artworks, which are currently on display in selected neighborhoods in Berlin, Germany.

In what appeared to be a quick attempt to please Israel, Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit told The Jerusalem Post that "there cannot be any doubt regarding Israel's right to exist. This form of satire is not what I like."

Shimon Samuels, head of the international department of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Paris, also expressed outrage and demanded that the artists be sued for "genocidal incitement" and "Nazi terminology."

However, Egesborg — who is of Jewish faith himself — has argued that the artworks mainly sought to remove taboos about the much-debated creation of Israel, which he termed as a "historical mistake."

"As a Jew, I always thought it was problematic that Israel was built on stolen land. The way the Israeli state treats the Palestinians today is terrible. There is no other answer but for the Jews of Israel to find a new homeland, perhaps in the USA, Germany or Denmark," Egesborg said.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125044§ionid=3510212.

UNSC extends W Sahara mandate

The UN Security Council has extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara (MINURSO) for another year.

Following seven hours of closed-door consultations, the council unanimously passed a resolution to extend MINURSO's mandate, which had been due to expire at midnight on Friday.

The resolution called on Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement to "continue to show political will and work in an atmosphere propitious for dialogue in order to enter into a more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations."

It also urged the parties to continue dialogue without preconditions to achieve "a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara."

The dispute in the resource-rich former Spanish colony of Western Sahara has been a source of contention between Morocco and Polisario since 1975 when Rabat annexed the territory. A UN-brokered ceasefire came into effect in 1991.

Negotiations seem to have reached an impasse between Morocco's proposal to give Sahara autonomy and Polisario's call for a referendum with full independence as an alternative.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125043&sectionid=351020506.

Top Iranian linguist passes away

Leading Iranian linguist and translator Ali Mohammad Haqshenas has passed away in Tehran after months of illness at the age of 70.

Professor Haqshenas, born in the southern Iranian city of Jahrom in the spring of 1940, passed away at Tehran's Payambaran hospital on Friday.

The late lexicographer and literary critic died of a heart attack after suffering from chronic thyroid problems, reports indicated.

Haqshenas — also known as the father of Iran's Linguistics in academic circles — finished his studies in Persian Language and Literature before getting his PhD in General Linguistics and Phonetics from the University of London in the early 1970s.

He came to prominence for his contributions to linguistics in Iran and his efforts to promote new schools of thought in the field through a myriad of printed works and translations.

Haqshenas also taught at prominent Iranian universities including, Tarbiat Modarres, Shahid Beheshti and Tehran University and chaired the country's Association of Literature and Literary Criticism.

One of his most acclaimed works is the award-winning Farhang Moaser English-Persian Millennium Dictionary which he co-authored with other colleagues.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125042§ionid=351020105.

PKK militants kill 4 Turkish soldiers

Members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have killed at least four Turkish soldiers in the eastern parts of the country, officials say.

The PKK attacked a military outpost near the town of Nazimiye in Turkey's Tunceli province on Saturday.

The commander of the outpost was among those dead, the Associated Press reported.

At least seven other soldiers were wounded in Saturday's clashes.

Earlier on Wednesday, fighting between Turkish soldiers and PKK militants claimed the lives of at least two soldiers.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, including Turkey, Iran, the US, and European Union member states.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125035§ionid=351020204.

Lebanon 'to repel any Israeli attacks'

The commander of Lebanon's Armed Forces, General Jean Kahwaji, has announced that his country will counter any probable offensive by Israel.

"Lebanon's army is watching the enemy's movements and it will counter any attacks with all facilities and at all cost," he said during an opening ceremony of a military garrison in eastern Lebanon on Friday.

"We are committed to defend our country and the enemy's threats will not scare us," Kahwaji added.

He also noted that the Lebanese army should reinforce its capabilities to become completely prepared to face any such threats.

The commander concluded that Lebanon is definitely committed to UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

The resolution ended Israel's 33-day war against Lebanon in 2006 and called on Tel Aviv to withdraw all of its forces from that country. The conflict killed some 1,200 Lebanese, most of whom were civilians.

Meanwhile, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman also said earlier this week that his country was fully prepared to repel any Israeli invasion against it.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125026§ionid=351020203.

US, Russia agree on 3 START annexes

The United States and Russia have agreed to add three annexes to the protocol of their new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

"These Annexes contain the technical information and detailed procedures that will be used in implementing the New START Treaty verification regime," US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley announced on Friday.

Crowley further pointed out that the annexes would "spell out the procedures for the conduct of inspection activities and the exchange of telemetric information."

The annexes will be added to the new treaty that US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed in the Czech Republic last month.

Like previous START agreements between Washington and Moscow, the new pact obliges the two countries to cut back on their nuclear arsenals.

If executed, the agreement will see Russia and the US reduce the number of their warheads to less than 1,550 apiece, or about one-third below current levels.

The two sides exchanged the text of the new additions in the Russian capital Moscow on Friday. Parliaments of both countries will have to approve the annexes before they can be implemented.

According to Crowley, the US State Department would send the annexes, along with other Treaty documents, to the Senate in May for advice and consent to ratification.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125020§ionid=3510203.

Austria to host Iran-Spain friendly

Iran's national soccer team is to play a friendly match against Spain in the near future, Iranian Football Association's spokesman Mohammad Sedeq Doroudgar says.

"The friendly match will be held in Austria," IRIB quoted Doroudgar as saying on Friday.

"The friendly is aimed at boosting sports ties between Iran and Spain," he went on to say.

Doroudgar is currently visiting the Spanish club Real Madrid at the head of a 20-member sports delegation. The Iranian delegation arrived in the Spanish capital on Thursday to meet with Real Madrid's officials and visit the club's sports facilities during the five-day visit.

The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) named Real Madrid as the best club of the 20th century after an exhaustive study.

Real Madrid is the most successful club in European competition history with 11 European trophies, 9 European Cups and 2 UEFA Cups.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125016§ionid=3510211.

Somali troops defect to join al-Shabab

A US-backed plan to train a police force for combat against al-Shabab is crumbling as a host of Somali government troops defect and join the militants.

Somali Defense Minister, Yusuf Mohamed Siyad aka Indha'ade, confirmed to Associated Press that some trainees joined al-Shabab after the men's $100 monthly wages were stolen by their commanders.

"The US promised to pay the salaries of 1,800 soldiers, while other donor countries pledged to pay for some 3,300 soldiers. This is part of plans to fund the upkeep of 10,000 soldiers that would help the government retain the security," he said.

The Somali minister added that the soldiers did not receive their wages for nearly a year.

About half of the Somali troops, trained in neighboring Djibouti, have deserted with their uniforms and weapons after realizing that they are not going to receive their salaries.

"Some gave up the army and returned to their ordinary life and others joined the militants," Somali army Col. Ahmed Aden Dhayow told AP.

International efforts to help train soldiers have been patchy so far. African Union instructors in the main Somali government camp, Camp al-Jazira, are desperately short of equipment and sporadic international training outside the Horn of Africa nation has been uncoordinated.

It is believed militia leaders fear that a national army could weaken their clan-based forces. They also want the payments to go to their own fighters instead.

The international community has, on occasions, tried to rebuild the Somali army since the central government collapsed nearly two decades ago and the army dissolved into feuding militias.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125019&sectionid=351020501.

Israeli settlers call for uprising

Jewish settlers of an Israeli settlement in occupied West Bank have called for an uprising against any construction freeze in the Palestinian territory.

Israeli settlers from the West Bank settlement of Yizthar, released a letter Friday calling on "all West Bank settlers" to fight against any restriction on West Bank settlement works, Israeli daily Haartz reported.

The letter, conveyed to settlements in Har Bracha, Itamar and Elon Moreh, declared, "This is not just Yitzhar's battle but every settler's fight."

"On such days, in which the restrictions on the settlements are multiplying, the battle against them is of great importance," read the letter.

Earlier Thursday, Yitzhar settlers marched through a neighboring village and attacked a Palestinian home. Later in the day, Israeli police arrested 11 settlers, which included senior settlement officials, for the attack. The police, however, released the detainees soon after.

Under the international law, building settlements and expanding them in the territory occupied during the 1967 war, including the West Bank, is illegal.

Jewish settlers, however, usually defy the ban through erecting what are referred to as illegal outposts, namely makeshift homes and residential units. Such moves are usually carried out with the blessing of right-wing Israeli parties.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125007§ionid=351020202.

PA: Arab League to decide fate of talks

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says the resumption of peace talks with the Israeli regime would be decided in an Arab League (AL) committee meeting.

"The decision to go or not to go to the negotiations will be taken during the Arab League's follow-up committee which is meeting on Saturday," said Erekat, quoted by Xinhua news agency on Friday.

He made the remarks after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she expected the two sides to kick-start stalled peace talks next week when US special envoy George Mitchell would return to the region.

Erekat, however, noted that Clinton's remarks were only "predictions," and "we should not deal with these predictions as a reality."

"We will be starting with proximity talks next week," she said during a meeting with visiting Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah.

Clinton had also called the Arab foreign ministers to endorse the resumption of a new round of talks in the Saturday meeting.

"Ultimately we want to see the parties in direct negotiations and working out all the difficult issues," she added.

In a Thursday address to the annual conference of another pro-Israeli lobby group in the US, the American Jewish Committee, the US secretary of state underlined the need for Arab states to "reach out to the Israeli public" and by resuming multilateral discussion on important regional issues, demonstrate that Israel's isolation in the region is ending, AP reported.

Clinton also complained that the US had become the "largest bilateral donor" to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA), calling on Arab states to do more in financing the PA. "Arab states need to share a greater portion of these responsibilities," she emphasized.

The US-mediated peace negotiations have been halted due to Israel's refusal to freeze settlement construction in the occupied territories.

Palestinians have repeatedly called for a clear framework for the talks and a timetable for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (Al-Quds), which was occupied by Israel in 1967.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125003§ionid=351020202.

Israel snubs Turkey on Barak-8

Israel has refused to provide Turkey with the advanced Barak-8 missile interceptor over fears it could end up in the possession of the Iranian government.

Intelligence sources in Israel and a number of Western countries claimed on Friday that Turkish naval chiefs have made several requests to acquire Barak-8, which was developed by Israel and India in a joint partnership beginning in 2004.

Equipped with a 360-degree coverage offering radar, the Barak-8 system can be installed on warships to intercept incoming missiles within a 500 meter distance.

DEBKA, which is closely affiliated with the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, revealed Friday that Israeli officials turned down the requests lest Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan allow Iran's military to study the Barak-8 and analyze its technology.

According to the report, Israel cannot afford to let Iran get hold of the technology used in Barak-8 as the system is a key defensive component for the Israeli warships patrolling the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The report further added that growing relations between Tehran and Ankara have prompted Israeli officials to cut off all advanced weapons supplies to the Turkish armed forces.

Tel Aviv has kept a watchful eye on military contracts signed with the Islamic Republic in recent years.

Israeli officials have gone to great lengths to stop Russia from selling Iran the mobile land-based S-300 system designed to detect and shoot down aircrafts within a 120 km (75 miles) distance.

Codenamed 'the SA-20 Gargoyle' by NATO, the system also features high jamming immunity and is capable of simultaneously engaging up to 100 targets.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125052§ionid=351020204.

Worshipers killed in Somali attack

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

An attack on a mosque in Somalia's capital Mogadishu has claimed the lives of at least 10 worshipers and wounded more people, reports pointed out.

Two successive blasts hit Abdalla Shideye mosque, a venue used by al-Shabab officials to deliver speeches, in a local market, witnesses said on Saturday.

The row between al-Shabab (The Youth) and Hizbul Islam (Party of Islam) has led to bloody conflicts over the control of southern regions.

The attack is the second blast targeting mosques in the capital city. Another mosque was hit with a landmine that killed one person on Tuesday.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125060&sectionid=351020501.

Toufan helicopters join Iran Air Force

Iran has equipped its Air Force with 10 new domestically-manufactured helicopters in line with a plan to boost its defensive capabilities.

Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Saturday that the Iranian Armed Forces had received 10 units of homemade helicopters dubbed Toufan (storm).

Vahidi said that the helicopter is equipped with “state-of-the-art weapons systems including anti-tank missiles, rocket-launchers and 20mm canons,” adding that the helicopters can be used in naval and ground operations.

The Iranian defense minister also inaugurated the Helicopter 214 composite rotor blades production line. According to Vahidi, Iran is the second country to produce the equipment.

Vahidi described the defense achievements as another giant leap towards the country's self-sufficiency.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125069&sectionid=351020101.

1 dead, 20 injured in Kashmir protest

An anti-India demonstration in Indian-administered Kashmir has left one person dead and 20 others injured in Srinagar.

Srinagar Police Chief Javed Reyaz Bedar has described the death of a bus passenger as murder by the protesters. "A murder case has been registered. We will find the killers," he told reporters after the Friday incident.

Police said that the 42-year-old man was hit in the head as he was traveling through Srinagar, the Kashmiri summer capital. He later died in a hospital.

Fifteen protesters and five policemen were injured in angry demonstrations as protesters pelted stones at security forces.

Later in the day, police fired teargas and charged hundreds of protesters who tried to march to the high-security office of the United Nations to protest against human rights abuses by Indian security forces.

"The elements involved in this killing can never be well-wishers of Kashmir's freedom struggle," said moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. "The act is highly condemnable," he added.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125001§ionid=351020402.

Japan seeks arrest of anti-whaling leader

Tokyo - The Japanese Coast Guard has obtained an arrest warrant for a leader of an anti-whaling group for allegedly ordering his members to obstruct operations by Japan's whaling fleet, Japanese media reported Friday.

The Coast Guard is seeking the arrest of Paul Watson, founder and president of the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, on suspicion of assault and obstruction of business, the Kyodo News agency reported.

Japanese authorities are to put Watson on the international wanted list through Interpol, Kyodo reported, citing unnamed sources.

Watson, a Canadian, is suspected of ordering Peter Bethune, a New Zealand national, to throw a chemical onto a Japanese whaling ship in the Antarctic Sea in February and commit other acts of obstruction, Kyodo said.

Bethune was the skipper of the Sea Shepherd's high-speed trimaran Ady Gil during the society's annual mission to disrupt the whaling season. The trimaran sank in January after colliding with the Shonan Maru Number 2, the Japanese whaling fleet's security ship.

The New Zealander then allegedly boarded the ship to make a citizen's arrest of the Japanese skipper for the attempted murder of the Ady Gil's crew members.

He was detained on board the Japanese vessel in mid-February and was handed over to the Japanese Coast Guard when the ship docked in Tokyo in March.

Bethune was the only one directly engaged in the acts but the Coast Guard decided to arrest Watson because Bethune had reportedly told investigators that he had acted on Watson's orders, Kyodo reported.

Watson told Kyodo Friday on the phone that the arrest warrant did not worry him.

"It is clearly a politically motivated arrest warrant," Watson was quoted by Kyodo as saying. "... It's not an investigation into an infraction. Japan is doing everything they can to stop us going down to the Southern Ocean next year."

Japanese prosecutors indicted Bethune earlier this month on five criminal counts in connection with obstructing Japanese whaling.

A worldwide ban on whaling was enacted in 1986, but Japan uses a loophole in that agreement to continue whaling under the premise of doing it for scientific research.

Its critics, however, have accused it of conducting its annual hunt for commercial purposes, and Sea Shepherd harasses its whaling fleet each year to try to disrupt its catch.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321329,japan-seeks-arrest-of-anti-whaling-leader.html.

Calendar of world events for May 2010

The following is a list of world events for May 2010:

<#> 01 World Expo 2010 opens in Shanghai, China.

* UN's five-year review of Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

* UN rights council review of 15 countries; including Kyrgyzstan, Spain, Sweden, Belarus and Turkey.

* Swiss Life, Q1 results.

* Taiwan to open first travel offices in Beijing and China.

* Latvia celebrates 20 years since regaining independence.

* UBS Q1 results, Geneva.

* Holcim Q1 results, Geneva.

* World Economic Forum on Africa, Dar-es-Salaam.

* British general election.

* Adecco Q1 results, Geneva.

* Swiss Re Q1 results, Geneva.

* Zurich financial services Q1 results, Geneva.

* US unemployment, April.

* Controversial Lithuanian gay and lesbian event in Vilnius.

* ILO report on child labor - Geneva/The Hague.

* State elections in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia state.

* Philippine presidential and general elections.

* Sex trial of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim resumes.

* Christie's Geneva Jewels sale.

* EU-Latin America summits. Madrid.

* Hong Kong by-elections, dubbed a "democracy referendum".

* Polish ruling party names presidential candidate.

* Mexican President Calderon visits US President Obama.

* US inflation figures for April.

* US leading economic indicators.

* Ethiopian parliamentary elections.

* US consumer confidence.

* US economic growth, second estimate for first quarter 2010.

* Czech parliamentary elections.

* Annual Latvian blonds parade.

* Eurovision song contest final, Oslo.

* NATO parliamentary assembly in Riga.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321469,calendar-of-world-events-for-may-2010.html.

Calendar of events in Asia for May 2010

The following is a list of events in Asia for May 2010:

<#> 1 - Chinese President Hu Jintao to meet EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Taiwan party leaders as well as leaders from South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and North Korea in Shanghai

1- World Expo 2010 to open to public in Shanghai

2- Maoists to launch indefinite nationwide general strike in Nepal to topple government

2- Thousands expected to turn out for pro-democracy demonstration ahead of Hong Kong's May 16 by-election

4- Taiwan to open first travel office in Beijing

6- Deadline for party registration in Myanmar ahead of general elections planned this year

7- China to open travel representative office in Taipei

10 - Philippine presidential and general elections

10 - Sex trial against Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to resume

11 - Toyota Motor Corp to release earnings report

16 - Hong Kong to vote in by-election forced by resignations of five pro-democracy legislators and dubbed a "democracy referendum"

21 - Bank of Japan to end two-day Policy Board meeting

28 - Deadline ends for Nepal politicians to draft new republican constitution

28 - Japanese government to release unemployment rate and job availability for April

29 - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak to hold summit on Jeju Island, South Korea

31 - Japanese government to release preliminary industrial production index for April

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321468,calendar-of-events-in-asia-for-may-2010.html.

Abbas meets Chinese, North Korean leaders

Shanghai - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday in Shanghai, where he also held talks with North Korean's number two leader Kim Yong Nam, reports said.

Chinese state media said Abbas thanked Hu for China's support, quoting Abbas as saying the Chinese and Palestinian people had a "long-established, profound friendship."

Hu told Abbas that his visit would "help deepen the friendship between the two nations and carry forward the China-Palestine friendship cause," the official Xinhua news agency reported without giving details of the talks.

Ahead of his visit, Abbas told the agency that China could play "an important role as a neutral party" in pushing the Middle East peace process.

"China's prestige as a great nation has given it an international leverage and balanced positions," Abbas was quoted as saying.

He said he planned to discuss the Middle East peace process with Hu in Shanghai.

Israel and the Palestinians will start indirect peace talks next week, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday.

Abbas attended Friday's opening of World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, along with Hu and some 20 other international leaders.

The Palestinian leader also held talks with Kim Yong Nam on Thursday in Shanghai, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

Abbas received a message via Kim from North Korea's top leader, Kim Jong Il, and said the Palestinian people regarded the North Koreans as their "closest friends," KCNA said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321483,abbas-meets-chinese-north-korean-leaders.html.

Crowds flock to first day of World Expo 2010 - Summary

Shanghai - Crowds poured into the World Expo 2010 site in Shanghai on Saturday as the six-month event opened to the public following a spectacular opening ceremony on Friday night.

Tens of thousands of people were queuing before the gates opened.

The organizers said they had sold or distributed more than 350,000 tickets for the opening day.

China said earlier that it aimed to attract an average of around 400,000 visitors daily, or 70 million by the time the expo closes on October 31.

More than 20 heads of state and government attended Friday's spectacular opening of the expo, which featured fireworks and music and dance performances.

In his opening remarks before the ceremonies began, Chinese President Hu Jintao promised a "great and unforgettable" event.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso opened the EU pavilion at the expo on Saturday, calling it "a sign for the special relationship between the EU and China."

"The EU is extremely committed to the special relationship with China ... for better friendship, respect and understanding between Europe and China," said Barroso, who was scheduled to meet Hu later Saturday.

Around 200 countries and 50 organizations have built pavilions on the 5-square-kilometer Expo site straddling Shanghai's Huangpu River.

Some 20,000 performances are scheduled, such as China's famous Shaolin Temple fighting monks and "Cha," a musical celebration of tea culture.

Visitors also have to queue to tour the individual pavilions. The US, UK, Australian, Japanese, Thai and Spanish pavilions were among the most popular during the trial opening days last month.

This year's expo is focused on the challenges of urbanization under the slogan "Better City, Better Life."

Shanghai's 18 million inhabitants put it among the world's 10 largest cities.

With pavilions costing tens of millions of dollars, exhibitors seek to gain returns by encouraging tourism and other investment.

Analysts estimate that setting up the Shanghai event cost some 54 billion dollars, including major infrastructure projects carried out by the city government.

The expo experienced some teething problems during trial openings last month, with long queues forming at security checkpoints and pavilions, and chaos on a nearby subway line.

The organizers said the problems had been solved in time for the official launch.

In a message published in state media on Saturday, Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, secretary-general of the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE), said he expected the expo to be a "magnificent experience that will be remembered for years to come."

Security is tight in Shanghai, with tens of thousands of police deployed and some two million "civic volunteers" on the streets.

The Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Defenders said Shanghai authorities had sent at least 10 local rights activists to labor camps and detained or placed under house arrest dozens of others to prevent them staging protests during the expo.

World Expositions began in the 19th century as celebrations of scientific and artistic creativity, and showcases for the world's finest industrial and cultural products.

Shanghai is the first World Expo since Hanover in 2000, while the 2005 expo in Japan's Aichi was named an "international" event. Italy's Milan is scheduled to host the next World Expo in 2015.

The first expo was London's Great Exhibition of Industries of All Nations in 1851. The Shanghai expo is the first one hosted by a developing nation.

Since 1928, the Paris-based BIE has approved and supervised expos "so that they may continue to educate the public and promote innovation in the service of human progress."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321488,crowds-flock-to-first-day-of-world-expo-2010--summary.html.

World Expo 2010 prepares to open in Shanghai

Shanghai - The official opening of the Shanghai World Exposition 2010 takes place Friday as China prepares to host what it is predicting would be the most well-attended world expo ever.

More than 20 heads of state and government were in Shanghai to attend the fireworks, concerts and indoor show to mark the Expo's launch before it opens its doors to the public Saturday.

Around 200 countries and 50 organizations have built pavilions on the 5-square-kilometer site straddling the Huangpu River to welcome the estimated 70 million visitors expected to visit the expo over the course of its six-month run.

This year's expo is focused on the challenges of urbanization under the motto "Better City, Better Life." Shanghai's 18 million inhabitants put it among the 10 largest cities on Earth.

World expositions, initially known as universal expositions, have been held two or three times a decade since the first one in 1851 in London's Hyde Park.

The Shanghai Expo's website described the event as "the Olympic Games of the economy, science and technology."

With pavilions costing tens of millions of dollars, exhibitors seek to gain returns by encouraging tourism and other investments.

The expo experienced some teething problems during its trial opening over the week before the official inauguration with long crowds forming at security checkpoints and pavilions.

The organizers maintained that the problems have been solved in time for the official launch.

"Shanghai is ready," exposition spokesman Xu Wei said Monday, adding, "The whole city has been mobilized."

Claims of plagiarism have been leveled against the expo's promotional song, the Chinese pavilion's architecture and the design of the cartoon mascot figure.

Expo authorities have defended the originality of the Chinese pavilion and the blue mascot Haibao. They have also approached the Japanese singer of a 1997 pop hit, said to resemble the expo's song, for permission to perform the tune.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321334,world-expo-2010-prepares-to-open-in-shanghai.html.

Durban's new airport opens for service ahead of World Cup

Johannesburg - A new 7.2-billion-rand (986-million-dollar) airport went into service in South Africa's third-largest city of Durban Saturday - a little over a month before the start of the World Cup.

Commercial airlines began landing for the first time at King Shaka International Airport on Saturday morning.

The former Durban International Airport was closed to passenger airlines on Friday night following the last flight from Johannesburg.

Airlines based at Durban International moved their planes overnight to the new airport, where airport and airline staff had been getting ready for the switchover for several weeks.

The move went off without hiccups by mid-morning, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) reported.

"It's an emotional day. We did it!" ACSA's assistant general manager Bongiwe Pityi declared.

The new airport, which is located 35 kilometers north of the Indian Ocean port city in KwaZulu-Natal province, has been built to to process up to 7.5 million passengers a year and accommodate new generation aircraft like the Airbus A380.

King Shaka, which President Jacob Zuma will officially open on May 8, is the first new airport in the past 50 years in South Africa. It is named after the Zulu chief Shaka, a famous warrior who ruled the powerful Zulu kingdom in the early 1800s.

ACSA say the old airport site will first be handed over to the South African Air Force to use as a military operating base for the June 11-July 11 World Cup. After the World Cup, the old airport will be decommissioned.

Durban will host several games during the World Cup, including a semi-final.

King Shaka airport is not without its critics. South Africa's second-largest airline, Kulula, had criticized it as wasteful and likely to push up ticket prices, because landing taxes at the new airport are higher.

Airlines and car rental companies have spent millions on moving their operations to the new site.

SAA said the move had cost it about 35 million rand (4.8 million dollars).

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321501,durbans-new-airport-opens-for-service-ahead-of-world-cup.html.

Iraqi Shiite cleric urges political blocs to form new government

Baghdad - An influential Iraqi Shiite religious leader urged political blocs on Friday to form a new government, amid signs of a mounting crisis one month after the announcement of election results.

In a sermon to thousands of worshipers gathered at the Imam Hussein mosque in Karbala, cleric Ahmed al-Safi, a confidant of revered Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said "he blamed all political parties without making any exception."

Results of the March 7 parliamentary elections showed former prime minister's Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya List winning 91 seats in the 325-member parliament, followed by current Premier Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition with 89 seats.

"Until when would the situation remain like this and who should bear the hard time the Iraqis are having?" al-Safi asked.

"The Iraqi people did what they had to do... but we have to be realistic and speed up the formation of the government," added the cleric.

Allawi's narrow lead is now threatened after a Baghdad court order to disqualify one winning candidate from his coalition because of formerly having had links to the Baath Party.

The court, whose rulings may be appealed, has yet to rule on whether nine other winning candidates should be disqualified retroactively.

However, now all eyes are on the Independent High Electoral Commission which will begin the process of recounting votes in the capital on Monday.

A court ruled in favor of a manual recount of votes in Baghdad, after al-Maliki's coalition appealed, saying it had proof of fraud.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321416,iraqi-shiite-cleric-urges-political-blocs-to-form-new-government.html.

Spain announces more austerity as unemployment mounts - Summary

Madrid - The Spanish government on Friday announced new austerity measures as unemployment mounted and the country's economic solidity was being increasingly questioned.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government said it would save 16 million euros (21 million dollars) annually by cutting the number of public companies and societies by 29 to 77 and by eliminating 32 posts of senior officials in government ministries.

The number of state-owned enterprises will be reduced through mergers and 14 closures, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said.

The measures were part of government attempts to bring Spain's 11.2-per-cent budget deficit below the European Union threshold of 3 per cent by 2013, Vega said, pledging that Spain would "do its homework well."

The government announced the new measures shortly after the statistics body INE said unemployment had risen past 20 per cent for the first time in 13 years.

The rating agency Standard & Poor's lowered Spain's credit rating earlier this week, prompting calls from analysts on Zapatero to take urgent action to prevent Spain from drifting towards a Greek-style economic meltdown.

The unemployment rate was 20.05 per cent in the first quarter of this year, up from 18.83 per cent in the last quarter of 2009. More than 4.6 million people are now unemployed in Spain.

Economy Minister Elena Salgado admitted that the unemployment figure was "serious," but said the shedding of jobs had slowed down.

Secretary of State for the Economy Jose Manuel Campa said the government expects a jobless rate of 19 per cent for the entire year, excluding the possibility of the unemployed pool reaching 5 million people.

Spain's jobless rate - twice the European Union average - is seen as one of the biggest threats to the country's economic stability.

The effects of the global crisis were worsened by the collapse of Spain's important construction sector, plunging the country into its deepest recession in 60 years.

The government has adopted massive public works programs, creating temporary jobs for hundreds of thousands of people, but that has failed to keep unemployment at bay.

Another main problem is the country's high debt levels, with public debt standing at 53 per cent and private debt at 178 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The government says the economy will start growing in 2011, but growth is expected to remain sluggish.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321417,spain-announces-more-austerity-as-unemployment-mounts--summary.html.

North Korea evicts South Korea resort personnel

Seoul - North Korea on Friday ordered most of the South Korean staff at a disputed mountain resort to leave the country, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said.

The joint Mount Kumgang tourism project is located on the North Korean east cost, but was built and operated by the South Korean government and state tourism agency.

The resort has been at a standstill for almost two years, ever since South Korea suspended visits to the resort after a North Korean soldier shot a South Korean tourist there.

South Korea has refused to resume visits despite repeated demands from Pyongyang.

North Korea has now stepped up the pressure, announcing that only 16 of the 70 remaining South Korean staffers can stay at the resort for communication purposes. The rest must leave North Korea by Monday, the ministry said.

Last week, North Korea had already confiscated five buildings run by the South Korean government at the resort. It also took control of privately run establishments this week, including hotels and a golf course.

The highly symbolic joint project was an important source of revenue for North Korea, which blames South Korea for the economic losses it has incurred. The country now wants to find new business partners to run the resort.

South Korea has condemned the North's actions and announced counter measures.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321422,north-korea-evicts-south-korea-resort-personnel.html.

Owner of Russian Stalin museum murdered

Moscow - The owner of Russia's only museum dedicated to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was murdered Friday in Volgograd, the former Stalingrad, the Interfax news agency reported.

Three unidentified men attacked businessman Vasily Bukhteyenko on a tennis court with a stun gun and brutally beat him, leaving him with fatal injuries, a police spokesman reportedly said.

It was unclear if the attack was related to the museum, as Bukhteyenko also owned the Cafe Stalingrad and several hotels.

The police have not ruled out a contract killing.

Coming to terms with the Stalin era is still splitting Russian society, 57 years after his death.

A replica of Stalin's office in the Kremlin is among the displays set up in the four-room museum, which opened in 2006.

The museum sits near a memorial commemorating the battle of Stalingrad. Germany's 6th Army surrendered in the city on February 2, 1943. The battle, which left more than 700,000 dead, was a turning point in World War II.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321444,owner-of-russian-stalin-museum-murdered.html.

Taiwanese president: peace with China, but arms for self-defense

Taipei - Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jou said Friday in an interview with CNN that Taiwan wants peace with China, but needs to buy modern weapons from the United States for self-defense.

Ma said Taipei-Beijing relations have greatly eased since he took office in 2008. But he reiterated that Taiwan must maintain independence and does not consider a "one country, two models" system like Hong Kong's workable.

He also appealed to the US to supply modern weapons to Taiwan for self-defense.

"But we will not ask the US to fight a war for us," he said.

Ma also voiced support for autonomy for Tibet and backed the Dalai Lama's moves to speak with China, "because this is the only way to solve the Tibet issue."

When asked if he will consider attending the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) leaders' summit, to be held in Hawaii, if he is invited, Ma called it a hypothetical question. "In the past, Taiwan has been unable to send a high-level delegates to the summit. So I don't think it can be changed in the near future."

China, which sees Taiwan as its breakaway province, has barred Taiwan's president from attending the APEC leaders' summit, allowing Taiwan to send only an economics official instead.

But as Beijing-Taipei ties have warmed, China has allowed Taiwan's former vice-president Lien Chan to attend the APEC summit.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321445,taiwanese-president-peace-with-china-but-arms-for-self-defence.html.

Pacific islanders spotlight Czech power plays - Feature

Katerina Zachovalova

Prague - When a small Pacific islanders' country asked the Czech Republic to halt a refit of one of its outdated coal-fired power plants, arguing that it would threaten its existence, the news made international headlines.

But the request by the Federated States of Micronesia earlier this year was really more of a distraction from the real power plays going on in the Czech Republic, officials have said.

Instead, the case is a testimony to domestic political battles before the Czech Republic's May 28-29 general election and to the influence of the country's energy giant, CEZ.

"CEZ is capable of pushing its interests with all political parties. It leads people to say that this is not the Czech Republic but CEZ Republic," political scientist Jan Kubacek, who lectures at Prague's Charles University, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Earlier this week, the energy firm recorded yet another victory.

After numerous delays and one minister's resignation, the Czech Environment Ministry approved the CEZ plan to upgrade the Prunerov II power plant in the country's north - the controversial project opposed by Micronesia and the environmental groups.

"Building these large, inflexible, remotely sited power plants is old thinking. It represents an out-of-date approach to electricity," Walt Patterson, an energy expert at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told dpa.

At the core of the dispute is the planned refit's efficiency and resulting emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Countries like Micronesia fear the climate change as scientists expect melting ice to raise sea levels and flood such islands.

Prunerov II, in operation since the early 1980s, is the Czech Republic's dirtiest power station in terms of CO2 emissions. In 2008, it belched out 6.4 million tons of the greenhouse gas and ranked the European Union's 43rd biggest emitter, the EU data showed.

CEZ has insisted it is installing technology that would greatly ease air pollution in the plant's vicinity and cut its current CO2 emissions by nearly one third, the company said.

The selected technology, however, would annually emit 205,082 more tons - or 5 per cent - of CO2 than the best technology available for such a refit, found an independent study commissioned by the ministry.

The cleanest option has been out of question for CEZ as it allegedly does not make business sense. It would increase the project's 25-billion-koruny (1.3-billion-dollar) price tag by another 7 billion to 8 billion koruny, a company spokesman said.

CEZ only seldomly loses its battles. Last year, the parliament passed a law under which CEZ gets carbon credits worth 60 billion koruny (3 billion dollars) for free, rather than paying for them to the state.

The company's critics say that CEZ is increasingly confident when approaching politicians.

"In general, CEZ was used to, even in matters that were at odds with existing legislation, approaching us and telling us this is the way it will be," former deputy environment minister for the climate, Ales Kutak, recently told Czech Television.

Kutak was fired shortly before the ministry approved the Prunerov renovation. He said that CEZ already tried to get him sacked, chiefly over his critical stance to the refit, a year ago.

Observers note that the Czech cabinets have been schizophrenic in their dealings with CEZ, in which the state owns a majority stake.

Politicians appear to prefer using the highly profitable company as a public finance cash cow, giving up their voters' interests. Their pre-election promises already count upon rising CEZ profits, based upon upwardly surging household energy prices.

"You can either defend the interests of the public against CEZ or you want high profits that often come at the expense of the citizens," Erik Tabery, the editor-in-chief of the Respekt weekly, told dpa.

But standing up to CEZ rarely reaps political reward.

Jan Dusik, a former environment minister who was nominated to the Czech caretaker cabinet by the Greens, resigned in mid-March rather than saying no to the project fiercely opposed by his party.

He was replaced by Rut Bizkova, a former spokeswoman of CEZ's coal-fired power plants, who gave the project a green light, fired Kutak and dissolved Kutak's climate change department.

Weeks before the polls, the ministry was under tremendous pressure to approve the renovation. The refit even made a list of government- backed projects aimed at creating jobs amid the slacking economy.

"The government included Prunerov in its package to fight unemployment," Tabery said. "CEZ gets anything it sets its eyes on."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321452,pacific-islanders-spotlight-czech-power-plays--feature.html.

Ahmadinejad tops UN speakers' list; US won't meet with him

Washington/New York - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will hold the top position of speakers when the United Nations opens nuclear non-proliferation talks on Monday.

But the United States said Friday it definitely won't be meeting with him during the talks, even though US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will attend Monday's opening.

She will be the highest-ranking US diplomat to attend the talks in 10 years.

"Iran knows what our address is - it's the P5-plus-1," quipped the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, at a press briefing. "If Iran has something to say, it knows where to find us."

As the only head of state attending the talks, Ahmadinejad has claimed top billing of individual country speakers at the General Assembly opening.

He is expected to follow opening remarks by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a representative of the Non-Aligned Movement, for which a nuclear-free world is a major goal.

Clinton is to speak in the afternoon.

Rice was referring to the group that is working towards a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for defying international demands that it stop enriching uranium, a step that could precede nuclear weapons manufacture. The group includes the five permanent members of the Security Council - France, Britain, China, Russia and the US - and Germany, an added party to the talks.

The sanctions' talks are expected to absorb a good bit of the sidelines' talks in New York as more than 180 countries gather to discuss the way forward with the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Iran has sent its Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki around the globe in recent weeks seeking allies to fend off the proposed sanctions.

Rice said that the sanctions' discussions are proceeding at a "significant pace and intensity." China is apparently doing the most foot dragging against the sanctions, insisting on further talks.

"We are working with that sense of urgency. I can't tell you exactly when it will all be cooked," she said.

Ellen Tauscher, under secretary of state for arms control, said the US would be seeking at the NPT talks more authority and money for the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"We want a fully-funded IAEA, but one with teeth," she said.

Tauscher also emphasized the "great value" that US President Barack Obama puts on NPT membership. She referred to Obama's recent nuclear posture review, which pledged never to use nuclear weapons first against states that comply with non-proliferation treaties.

The new pledge - a first for the US - leaves open a nuclear strike against countries that have signed on to the global non-proliferation treaty but stand accused of violating its terms.

Obama has told the New York Times that the loophole would apply to "outliers" like Iran, which is an NPT member, and North Korea, which has withdrawn from the treaty while exploding two nuclear devices in past years.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/321457,ahmadinejad-tops-un-speakers-list-us-wont-meet-with-him.html.

Farming continues to wither in Iraq

Domestic wheat, rice production in doldrums as Iraq faces new difficult agricultural season.

BAGHDAD - Iraq is planning to import 80 percent of its wheat and rice requirements in 2010, according to Hussein Ghazy, a spokesman of the state-owned Grains Company affiliated to the Trade Ministry.

Trade Ministry figures show Iraq imported 3.55 million tons of wheat and 1.17 million tons of rice last year - up from 2.54 million and 610,000 tons respectively in 2008.

Rising imports are being triggered by the low water levels in the Euphrates and the Tigris, which is causing reduced production, said Aoun Thiab Abdullah, a senior official in the Water Resources Ministry. He warned Iraq could face another difficult agricultural season this summer.

“The amount of water we receive from the Euphrates at the border with Syria is still low at about 250 cubic meters per second… As for the Tigris, we have seen a 50 percent drop in the flow rate from 1,680 cubic meters per second [in and prior to April 2003] to 836 cubic meters per second. He noted that reservoirs fed by the Tigris were at a reasonable level at present.

However, the three biggest reservoirs fed by the Euphrates - Haditha Reservoir, Mosul Dam and Habaniyah Lake - have severe water shortages, he said.

Because of water shortages and high levels of soil salinity, the government decided in 2009 to halve the area planted with rice, all of which is dependent on water from the Euphrates.

“This situation worries us, especially as the summer season is coming and it could even affect the beginning of the next winter season, when the first irrigation [in October and November] is needed,” Abdullah said.

Weak agricultural sector

Most of Iraq - 78 percent - is not viable for agricultural use. Almost half of the remaining 9.5 million hectares is marginal land used mainly for seasonal grazing of goats and sheep, according to a June 2004 report for the US Congress. Agricultural output accounts for only about 4 percent of gross domestic product.

Agriculture has been paralyzed by decades of war and insecurity, underinvestment, and the unchecked cutting down of trees for firewood, which had worsened salinity and desertification. According to the Agriculture Ministry, salinity affects at least 40 percent of agricultural land, mainly in central and southern Iraq, while 40-50 percent of what was productive land in the 1970s has been affected by desertification.

A Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report estimated that “one third of the Iraqi population resides in rural areas and depends upon agriculture for their livelihoods. However, this segment of the population suffers disproportionately from poverty and food insecurity as 69 percent of all Iraqis living in extreme poverty and food insecurity reside in rural areas.”

FAO noted that Iraqi wheat farmers saw a 55 percent reduction in production during 2008 due to severe drought conditions, and dependence on imports is estimated to have risen in 2008 to 74 percent for wheat and 69 percent for all cereals.

A joint report by FAO and the Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit (supported by major UN agencies and offices in Iraq) entitled Iraq Food Prices Analysis, said food prices in Iraq had risen at a steeper rate than global food prices, largely because of an 800 percent rise in domestic fuel and electricity prices in 2004-2008.

According to Mahdi Al-Qaisi, undersecretary in the Agriculture Ministry, Iraq produced 117,000 tons of rice and 1.281 million tons of wheat in the 2008-09 season. These figures are only for production communicated by farmers to the Trade Ministry, so they could be on the low side, al-Qaisi said.

Total consumption of wheat in 2010 is expected to be 4.5 million tons, and rice 1.227 million tons, Grains Company spokesman Ghazy said.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38736.

Seven charged in Turkish coup plot

Former Istanbul mayor, colonel among charged with plotting against Turkish democracy.

ISTANBUL - A veteran Turkish politician and a colonel were among seven people charged Thursday over a plot to discredit and topple the democratically elected government, risking life in jail, media reports said.

It was the seventh charge sheet to emerge from a probe into a purported network of soldiers and civilians which allegedly plotted to foment chaos and spark a coup against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The suspects include Bedrettin Dalan, a former Istanbul mayor, and Dursun Cicek, a colonel at the army headquarters.

Prosecutors argued that Dalan -- who is abroad refusing to return -- was among the network's leaders and financiers, the NTV news channel said.

He allegedly aspired to take over as prime minister once the AKP, it said.

Colonel Cicek hit the headlines in June when the Taraf newspaper published a purported document bearing his signature and outlining a plan to discredit the AKP and its supporters.

Cicek insists the document is a fake and his signature has been forged.

The military, which is also investigating the document, said in March it had obtained "some evidence" that might prove the paper was genuine.

The plan outlined a strategy "to break popular support" for the AKP and the powerful brotherhood of cleric Fethullah Gulen on the ground they sought to undermine Turkey's secular system, according to Taraf.

It said raids were planned on student houses run by the Gulen community in which "the discovery of weapons and munition will be ensured" to secure the brotherhood's classification as an armed terrorist group.

The suspects will go on trial on June 28 on a series of charges, including "membership in a terrorist organization" and "attempting to overthrow the government or prevent it from functioning," Anatolia news agency reported.

The prosecution is seeking life sentences for Dalan and Cicek and jail terms ranging between seven and 57 years for the remaining suspects, it said.

Launched in 2007, the probe into the so-called Ergenekon network saw police dig up several weapons caches and was hailed by many as a success in a country where the military has unseated four governments in as many decades.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38725.

Israel PM claims 'victory' against party hardliners

Israeli media dismiss Netanyahu's procedural vote as no more than unnecessary 'spin'.

TEL AVIV - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed a major victory against hardliners in his right-wing Likud party in a procedural vote some media on Friday dismissed as a major spin campaign.

The party's 2,525-strong central committee voted by 77 percent in favor of the premier's proposal to delay by a year internal party elections amid concerns a more hardline makeup could have tied Netanyahu's hands in any future US-brokered peace negotiations.

Netanyahu had gone all out to rally the troops for the vote that was painted as a make-or-break battle against hardliners.

But some Israeli newspapers wondered whether the premier really needed the vote.

"Benjamin Netanyahu could allow himself a smile after the Likud central committee vote ... but it seems that the real winner in the Likud yesterday was the spin," the Maariv daily said.

Israel Hayom, which is considered close to Netanyahu, said: "It is not at all certain that Netanyahu needed these elections."

The impressive, and higher than expected turnout -- more than 80 percent -- clearly showed the premier has undisputed control of the party, the newspaper said.

Commentators had claimed earlier that Netanyahu would face an uphill battle to gain the two-thirds majority necessary to win Thursday's vote.

The prime minister himself had insisted ahead of the vote that achieving such a majority was "an almost impossible mission."

Opposing him was a group led by hardline settler Moshe Feiglin, convicted of sedition by a court in 1997 after organizing a campaign of civil disobedience against the 1993 Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestinians.

Feiglin's supporters wanted a party convention to be held now so they could rally opposition to Netanyahu and limit his ability to end Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian East Jerusalem and other thorny issues in the peace process.

Movement towards a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks, suspended since Israel's war on Gaza on December 2008, has shown signs of picking up. On Sunday, Netanyahu said he expected indirect, US-brokered negotiations to get under way within days.

Feiglin said on Thursday that Netanyahu was preparing to make significant moves to the Arab side and accused him of trying to immobilize internal Likud opposition.

US President Barack Obama has been pressing Israel to relaunch peace negotiations.

The Palestinians have refused direct talks unless Israel freezes illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which Israel illegally seized by war in 1967, in a move condemned by the internationally.

Netanyahu has declared a partial moratorium on new construction in the West Bank but refuses to freeze building anywhere in occupied Jerusalem.

The Israeli media have said Netanyahu has quietly put the brakes on illegal Jerusalem settlement activity as a gesture to Washington, but Netanyahu and members of his government have adamantly denied the reports.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38730.

Somalia, Sudan rank most dangerous for minorities

NGO: minority communities face greatest risk of violence amid absence of rule of law.

NAIROBI - Somalia and Sudan are ranked first and second respectively among countries where minority communities face the greatest risk of violence from armed conflict, political violence, displacement and absence of the rule of law, according to a new analysis.

Other countries listed in Peoples under Threat 2010 by Minority Rights Group International (MRG), a London-based NGO, are Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Chad.

“With the absence of an effective state authority or an accepted rule of law in Somalia, marginalized minorities outside the clan system, like both the Bantu and Gaboye, are at particular risk of persecution,” Marusca Perazzi, spokeswoman for MRG, told IRIN at the launch of the report in Nairobi on 27 April.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Bantu minority are Somalia’s “forgotten people”, and together with other communities, such as the Gaboye and other caste groups like the Tumal, they experience discrimination and lack effective security.

The minorities at risk in southern Sudan include the Murle, Kachipo, Anyuak, Jie and Longarim, Didinga and Boya. They face the risk of attacks from the dominant Dinka, MRG said, clashes between groups, land and cattle-related conflicts, poor or no government representation and climate change.

Also at risk, says MRG, are the Fur, Zaghawa, Massalit in Darfur.

“We believe that when minorities are not protected or do not have a voice in the government, sooner or later it will lead to violence,” said Perazzi. “Thus, the massacres in the country were supported by the fact that foreign countries failed to address these nuanced details when preparing for negotiations and during their aid interventions.”

Early warning

The MRG analysis is based on indicators of good governance from the World Bank, conflict indicators from the Center for Systemic Peace, as well as credit risk classifications published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

MRG says the three states that have risen most prominently in the table in 2010 are Sudan, the Russian Federation and the Philippines.

Countries that have risen sharply up the table have later proved to be the scene of gross human rights violations, Perazzi told IRIN.

Prior to Kenya’s election-related violence MRG had signaled that Kenya was on the brink of ethnic conflict if the government failed to demonstrate a commitment to addressing deeply ingrained historical social injustices shaping Kenya's ethnic landscape.

In the latest rankings, Kenya has dropped from 14th to 41st, a significant improvement, according to Mohamed Matovu, MRG's Regional Information Officer, because of recent political reforms and the possibility of International Criminal Court indictments for perpetrators of violence.

According to MRG, some Kenyan minorities (including Somalis, Ogieks, Endorois, etc) face risks because of forced land grabbing and displacement, leaving them voiceless within national political and decision-making processes.

“The difference between our statistical analysis tool and other products is that ours is an early warning system, not an assessment done in the aftermath of events. Minorities are not defined by numbers but by the lack of participation and exclusion from the decision-making process. This creates political instability and for us, is an indicator and clear warning that the future of the country is at stake,” Matovu told IRIN.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38735.

Iraq's Allawi could lose narrow poll lead

Iraqiya warns of instability, political influence over courts as votes are recounted in Baghdad.

By Abeer Mohammed and Charles McDermid - BAGHDAD

The winning coalition in Iraq’s national elections has charged the ruling alliance with using the courts to overturn the bloc’s slim victory and warned that political influence over judicial decisions could destabilize Iraq.

The order from Iraq’s Electoral Judicial Commission last week to manually recount ballots in Baghdad, and a subsequent ruling to disqualify at least one winning candidate from the Iraqiya list of former premier Ayad Allawi, could potentially erase Iraqiya’s two-seat lead over the State of Law coalition headed by incumbent prime minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Should this reversal occur, politicians and analysts fear a protracted period of political deadlock and possibly a return to sectarian tensions that could plunge Iraq into civil war.

In a statement released on April 27, the leadership of Iraqiya called on the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, which oversees judicial affairs, to protect the “judiciary from political influence, as this may have serious ramifications for the stability of the country”.

The coalition said it would hold to account those responsible for “distorting the election results by the appropriation of the electorate’s votes through malicious disqualification”.

Iraqiya said it was considering a formal request to the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League to press for a rerun of national elections in an “environment free of any political manipulation”.

“Iraqiya will hold legally liable those who are trying to undermine the political process and steal the voices of the people, harming Iraq’s security and its social peace and drawing it into the unknown,” the statement concluded.

Iraqiya has been negotiating with other parties to form a government since winning 91 seats – the most of any bloc – in the nationwide vote last month. If the reconfigured results shift the majority of seats to Maliki’s State of Law coalition, it will be a victory for the prime minister and a boost for his bid for a second term. State of Law won 89 of Iraq’s 325 parliamentary seats.

“The court is clearly targeting the Iraqiya list,” Usama al-Nujaifi, a senior Iraqiya leader, said. “This is another attempt to prevent Iraqiya from exercising its constitutional right to form the next government. It is one of many continuous attacks against Iraqiya. We will reconsider our participation in the political process if we find out that it will not be a truly democratic one.”

State of Law officials have strongly denied manipulating the courts or the electoral process.

“Iraq’s judiciary body is independent and so is the electoral commission. We don’t have any power over them. We practiced our right by going to the judiciary and it is up to the judiciary which complaint they accept and which they refuse. We do not interfere in judiciary,”Eisa al-Freji, a senior State of Law official from the Dawa Party, said.

“Recounting will not cause a dramatic change to the election results. There will be slight change, but recounting will assure Iraqi voters their right is protected and that law is the only authority in this country. No one can affect people’s will. Also, recounting will return our right to [form the government] and of course it will show people that we were right when we insisted on recounting,” Freji added.

But for many Iraqis, power struggles in Baghdad are all too familiar. Some are now worried that a war of words between the Shia-led ruling party and the mainly Sunni and secular Iraqiya could spill out into the streets.

“Things are going to be explained this way: the body that issued the ban and the recount is Shia, while the parties that will be hurt by these decisions are Sunni. So any possible progress in negotiations between Maliki’s [majority Shia] lists and Allawi's Sunni and secular parties has become a very difficult, if not an impossible, option,” said Abdullah Jaafar, a political analyst and retired political science professor at Baghdad University.

“On the ground, the court’s decisions can only create more problems between the sects. Sunnis who voted for Iraqiya now believe that becoming part of the government is a distant dream. Their next step could be to take up arms again; they feel there is no other hope for them,” he added, referring to the Sunnis’ perception of disenfranchisement that fuelled sectarian violence after the 2005 elections.

A review panel of the Independent High Electoral Commission, IHEC, on April 26 upheld the recommendation of the controversial Accountability and Justice Committee, AJC, to throw out the votes cast for 52 candidates who stood in the March 7 vote. Among those banned, the only winning candidate was Iraqiya’s Ibrahim al-Mutlaq, who was disqualified for his alleged ties with the outlawed Baath Party of Saddam Hussein. The AJC is tasked with rooting out Baathist influence in Iraq.

Mutlaq won a parliamentary seat in Baghdad, in a constituency once held by his brother, the prominent Sunni secular politician Saleh al-Mutlaq, who was barred prior to the election by the AJC. An additional six to nine other winning candidates, all aligned with Iraqiya, are expected to be ruled on next week, according to local media.

The votes cast for any banned candidates will be discarded. Although candidates have a right to appeal against the disqualification, analysts see this option as extending the already lengthy period required to form a government. The United States, which plans to remove 50,000 combat troops from Iraq by August, has pressed for a new administration to be in place by the time of withdrawal.

“There have been obvious attempts to take the right to form a government away from Iraqiya. All of these moves will only prolong the negotiations needed to form a government. It is necessary to have a government in place as soon as possible in order to prevent terrorists from exploiting the political vacuum,” senior Iraqiya official Alia Nesaif told IWPR.

Last week, the same electoral court ruled in favour of State of Law’s appeal for a recount in Baghdad, where 70 parliamentary seats are at stake.

Several parties and coalitions appealed for recounts in various provinces, cities and voting stations, but were all denied by the elections commission.

Iraqiya officials have pushed for the recount to be expanded to all provinces and have expressed concern that the ballots may have been tampered with in the six weeks since the election.

The elections commission has stressed that the Baghdad recount will be monitored by all political parties and representatives from the UN and NGOs.

According to Iyad al-Kenani, an IHEC commissioner, the recount should take no more than seven to ten days once the process is approved by IHEC officials. He admitted to reluctance within the elections commission to the court-ordered process.

The commission “did not want to recount ballots. We think we did our job properly and there is no need for recounting. We refused requests made by other parties but an order from the Iraqi judicial authority is binding”, Kenani said.

“We can guarantee a transparent recounting process and we would like to assure all political parties that they can send representatives to attend the recounting sessions,” he added.

Even so, State of Law’s legal adviser, Tariq al-Harb, has little doubt about the results.

“We think that hand counting will be foolproof and it will put State of Law ahead of the other lists. State of Law will gain one or two seats from Iraqiya or the Iraqi National Alliance,” said Harb, who filed the recount appeal for the coalition.

“I have been asked by the head of State of Law (Maliki) to be in charge of this issue, and I will win,” he added.

This possibility has some observers concerned about the fallout from such an abrupt election turnaround that would reassign the right to initiate the next government.

“Political blocs should be aware of the dangerous direction in which Iraq is beginning to drift. If things keep going in this direction, the certain result is a serious intractable sectarian war,” Jaafar said.

“This time there will be no solution, and no way out.”

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38729.

Turkey orders probe over Noah's Ark

Pieces of wood, claimed to from Noah's Ark, taken from Turkey to China by evangelicals.

ANKARA - Turkey's culture minister has ordered a probe into how pieces of wood, claimed to be remains of Noah's Ark, were taken from Turkey to China by evangelicals, media reports said Friday.

"How did these objects get there?... I am having this investigated," Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay said in remarks published in the Milliyet newspaper.

A team of Chinese evangelicals reportedly displayed the wooden pieces at a recent press conference in Hong Kong, claiming they took them from Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey.

"It's not 100 percent that it is Noah's Ark but we think it is 99.9 percent that this is it," Yeung Wing-cheung, a Hong Kong documentary film-maker and member of the 15-strong team from Noah's Ark Ministries International said on Monday.

The team said they took wooden specimens from a structure that carbon dating proved was 4,800 years old, around the same time the ark is said to have been afloat.

The Turkish minister stressed he supported research on Noah's Ark in Turkey, hailing it as a "bonus" for the country's tourism sector, according to Milliyet.

The story of Noah's Ark says God decided to flood the earth after seeing how corrupt it had become, and told Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal species.

After the flood waters receded, the story goes, the ark came to rest on a mountain. Many believe that Mount Ararat, the highest point in the region, is where the ark and its inhabitants came aground.

Gunay also said the inquiry aimed to shed light on the presence of Turkish officials at the press conference in Hong Kong, without Ankara's permission.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38731.

Turkey Plans First Nudist Hotel

by Rachelle Kliger
Monday, April 26, 2010

The majority Muslim nation plans to diversify its tourism industry with its first nudist hotel.

The Turkish government will allow the country’s first nudist hotel to open next month, in a move seen by some as part of liberalization efforts intended to gain Turkey membership in the European Union.

Hotel Adaburnu-Gelmar will be opened in Datca, on the southwest coast of Turkey, on May 1. The hotel will have its own beach, but guests will not be allowed to venture into other nearby sea sides.

“We have the go-ahead from the Turkish government,” Lynsey Pittaway, an operations and sales executive for Peng Travel, a UK-based provider of naturist holidays, told The Media Line. “It’s hotel standard, it’s all inclusive and it’s in a remote area so it’s taken off quite well.”

“We know it’s a Muslim country but it’s remote,” she said of the location, adding that clients have not shown concern over attending a nudist hotel in a country with a relatively modest, conservative culture. “After 20:00, everyone is fully dressed anyway.”

The hotel will allow nudity on the hotel grounds from 8a.m. to 8p.m.

“Whilst guests are expected to cover up indoors, there is a pool bar serving drinks and an outdoor dining terrace by the pool where guests may eat au-naturel,” reads an advertisement for the hotel on the Peng Travel website. “The hotel has its own serviced naturist beach a 20 minute drive away and provides a free shuttle service.”

To date Peng Travel has taken around 100 bookings for the pre-summer season, with most clients from Britain but some from Turkey.

While the hotel caters exclusively to tourists, Turks who make a reservation through a foreign tour operator can be classified as tourists.

Though Turkey maintains a staunchly secular society, much of the population still nurtures traditional values and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK) has conservative religious leanings.

Some see the hotel’s opening as a move towards the West, in an effort to present Turkey as upholding liberal values.

But over the last few years Turkey has been forging strong ties with its Muslim neighbors while continuing its bid to become a member of the EU.

Ebru Ilhan, assistant program officer at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), downplayed the political aspects of opening a nudist establishment in Turkey.

“The current government is known for staunch neoliberal policies and it’s an area where they’ve been consistent,” Ilhan told The Media Line. “They are pro-market and pro-integration with the EU for the sake of expanding opportunities and they’re also in favor of investment. So when you see new developments it’s less a political message and more of an economic one.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily call this an anomaly because there is already a lot of diversity in the new liberal markets that Turkey is offering,” she said. “There are these conflicting developments and that’s normal because Turkey is far from being uniform in its lifestyle preferences or in the extent of cultural and commercial products which it consumes and offers.”

Source: The Media Line.
Link: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=28677.

Mega Mecca

by Benjamin Joffe-Walt
Monday, April 26, 2010

After decades of underinvestment, Islam's holiest city is finally getting an airport.

Saudi Arabia's legislature has approved plans to build an international airport outside Islam's holiest city in an effort to cater to more than two million pilgrims who visit the city each year.

The Shura Council, Saudi Arabia's advisory legislature appointed by the king, unanimously approved the airport. It was part of a proposal in the General Authority for Civil Aviation's annual report to the body.

Since only Muslims are permitted to enter Mecca, the council recommended that the new airport be located outside the city center, so as to allow both Muslims and non-Muslims to fly into the region.

The new airport is part of a Saudi government decision to end decades of underinvestment by allocating tens of billions of dollars to improve the kingdom's transportation infrastructure so more Muslim tourists vacation there and spur the economy.

"You have two types of growing aviation economies in the Middle East," Philip Butterworth-Hayes, an aviation expert and the editorial director of PMi-Media Ltd, told The Media Line. "There are those based on domestic demand and those based on international demand. Saudi Arabia has always had a huge domestic potential aviation sector which has not yet been fully realized. If you look at the potential number of business jet operators and first class passengers, the potential growth is enormous."

"The problem is the industry has been very heavily regulated," he said. "So growth in aviation in the region has gone to the UAE, which has become a major global aviation player. People are now transferring through Dubai rather than Frankfurt or Asia, but Saudi Arabia has actually been much better placed to take on that role because it has the funding and huge amounts of international traffic."

"Now, Saudi is starting to take it's proper role as the next gulf based aviation powerhouse," Butterworth-Hayes said. "So it's not just new airport construction, there are new airlines, business aviation, and new aerospace manufacturing - the four markets which until now have been the reserve of Abu Dhabi and Dubai."

Last year Saudi aviation officials announced plans to invest more than $12 billion in the next decade overhaul the kingdom's airports. It will be setting up a new holding company to manage a total of 27 eventual aviation hubs. Abdullah Rehaimi, president of Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Civil Aviation, has indicated that the company will initially be government owned but will "likely" be privatized "when the time is right."

The plans include new airports, the expansion of of existing airports, a much more extensive rail network, new highways and a new, dedicated pilgrimage airline.

The International Finance Corp, an arm of the World Bank, is assisting Saudi Arabia in the development of three international airport cities in Jeddah, Dammam and the capital Riyadh.

Next month Saudi aviation authorities will float a tender to build the kingdom's first privately owned airport in the Islamic holy city of Medina. The facility, to be built at an estimated cost of at least $1.8 billion, will have a capacity of eight million passengers a year when completed around 2014. It will replace the existing Prince Mohammad Bin Abdul Aziz domestic airport.

David J Bentley, an aviation expert and Joint Managing Director of Big Pond Aviation, said that after watching the boom in its neighbors' aviation industries, Saudi Arabia is beginning to emerge as a serious player.

"While religious tourism remains critically important, thus explaining the investment in airports at Medina and Mecca, the authorities must cast an envious eye in the direction of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, the other emirates that are starting to build a tourist product of their own and Oman, which is rapidly joining them," Bentley told The Media Line. "Almost 25 Saudi Arabian airports are being expanded or built in order to attract foreign vacationers and 'airport city' complexes are to be added to some, for example at Jeddah, Riyadh and Damman,"

"We see the decision by the Saudi authorities to allocate billions of dollars to airport investment as being testament to the changing tide of opinion inside the Kingdom in favor of a more relaxed approach to both Gulf area and wider, global, incoming tourism after decades of inertia," Bentley said. "The sheer scale of this investment ensures that foreign expertise and capital will be required. Shortlisted companies for the Jeddah Airport City project for example, include both Australian and US concerns and it is likely that some innovative financing variations on the traditional and popular build-operate-transfer schemes will evolve in what is a new investment climate for foreign investors."

Source: The Media Line.
Link: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=28678.