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Friday, May 7, 2010

Japan awards ex-Iranian envoy

A former Iranian ambassador to Japan is awarded with a Japanese order of merit for his efforts to promote cultural ties between the two ancient nations.

Abdul Rahim Govahi travelled to Japan upon a formal invitation from Tokyo officials on Thursday and was awarded with the Order of the Sacred Treasure on Friday, IRNA reported.

The award was presented to Govahi by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in a ceremony at the Imperial palace, which was also attended by Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano and a number of Japan's cabinet members.

The Iranian diplomat and academician was among the five top foreign researchers who received the decoration along with 30 Japanese officials and elites.

After the ceremony, Govahi and a number of other decorated researchers met with Emperor Akihito.

Govahi served as the Islamic Republic's Ambassador to Tokyo in 1360-65. He also established the Iran-Japan friendship group and chaired the commission for a decade.

Govahi is the third Iranian researcher to receive the Order of the Sacred Treasure from Japan after Hashem Rajabzadeh in 2009 and Mohammad Naqizadeh in 2008.

Govahi has also written a book on Shinto tradition.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125723§ionid=3510212.

Iran's PG naval drills in phase 2

Iran has kicked off the second day of its naval maneuver in the Oman Sea to test its capabilities in securing the waterways in the area and fighting piracy.

The Iranian Army's ground and air forces are also involved in the 8-day drill. On Friday, they began to exercise patrolling the sea routes and escorting passenger and cargo ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

"Passing ships were successfully checked by destroyers, frigates, special operation teams and naval commandos in line with the goal of establishing security and peace in transit routes bound for the Hormuz Strait and the Persian Gulf," ISNA quoted the drill's spokesman Rear Admiral Qasem Rostamabadi as saying on Friday.

Throughout the operation, he said, the vessels were backed by Air Force fighter jets and choppers as well as surveillance drones.

The second phase of the exercise involved the detection and subsequent destruction of marine and submarine targets as well as conducting rescue drills for chemical, biological and nuclear strikes, the spokesman said.

The third phase of the maneuvers, due to start later on Friday, will focus on tactical operations, test-firing of surface-to-surface, land-to-surface and undersurface missiles. Tens of destroyers, frigates and naval helicopters will participate in this part of the drill.

Iranian military officials have said the drills, which will be observed by official guests from three neighboring countries, is aimed to assure Middle East nations that security in the Persian Gulf can be achieved without a foreign military presence in the strategic waters.

The five-phase drill covers an estimated 250,000-square-kilometer area spanning from the strategic Hormuz Strait to the Indian Ocean.

The event comes after a similar practice staged by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in the Persian Gulf.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125718&sectionid=351020101.

War-Torn Yemen Launches $1Bn Tourism Campaign

by Adam Gonn
Thursday, May 06, 2010

Yemen tries to change image by launching costly tourism plan.

Yemen plans to build six beach resorts over the next five years to change the image of the war-torn country and draw tourists.

The Yemen Tourism and Promotion Board announced the plan on Thursday to boost the country’s tourism industry. Each of the planned six facilities along the Yemeni coast is valued at $150 – $250 million. In addition, 44 small-to-medium-sized projects across the country’s mountainous interior will be built, ranging from three-star hotels to mud and stone huts.

“I’m inviting potential investors to invest in the Yemen tourism sector as we have six major projects in the pipeline approved by the government,” said Omar Babelgheith, Yemen’s deputy minister of tourism development.

The projects “will change the image of Yemen tourism,” he said. The total amount of all the projects is estimated at $1bn said Babelgheith, “which will contribute to support Yemen as one of the main destinations of the world.”

“Yemen has been trying to diversify its economy from oil,” Ginny Hill, Project Leader of the Yemen Forum at Chatham House, told The Media Line. “Tourism has been identified as one possible sector.”

“However, unless the security situation improves then Yemen will struggle to attract tourists,” she warned.

Yemen’s dire economic condition is often cited by regional experts as a major cause behind the country’s chaotic political situation.

“There are some obvious problems and some not so obvious ones,” Dr. Stephen Steinbeiser, resident director of the American Institute for Yemeni Studies in Sana’a, told The Media Line.

“The obvious area being security,” he said. “The given picture is that Yemen is an unstable place but parts of the country are relatively stable, such as [the capital] Sana’a and the port city Aden.”

“Daily routine continues on a regular basis and most people don’t encounter that type of violence,” Steinbeiser said, referring to a suicide bomb attempt on the British ambassador last month.”

“Until … foreign tourists can travel freely I don’t think there will be an increase of tourists,” he added.

The central government in Sana’a has been fighting with a militant group, belonging to an offshoot of Shi’a Islam known as the Al-Huthi rebels, in the northeast of the country since 2004.

In addition, the government is fighting a secessionist movement in the south, which accuses the government of unfairly diverting the south’s oil wealth. The movement is also calling for a return to the two-state division, in place before Yemen gained independence in 1967.

For the past two years, there have been increasing fears that Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula is taking advantage of Yemen’s unstable political situation to strengthen its presence in the region.

The fighting in the north has displaced an estimated quarter of a million people. Humanitarian aid is needed for them as well as many Somali refugees who have fled to Yemen as a transit station on their way to reach the wealthy Gulf countries.

However, despite these negative developments, revenue from tourism grew by 2 percent to $903 million in 2009 compared to 2008, according data from the Yemeni Ministry of Tourism.

The United States Department of State currently has a travel warning in place for Yemen stating that it “warns U.S. citizens of the high security threat level in Yemen due to terrorist activities. The Department recommends that American citizens defer non-essential travel to Yemen.”

Copyright © 2010 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.

Source: The Media Line.
Link: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=28771.

Report: Dubai identifies five new suspects in Hamas killing

Dubai - Police in Dubai said they have identified five more suspects in the murder of leading Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in the Gulf emirate, al-Arabiya TV reported on Friday.

The new suspects carried passports from Britain, France and Australia. The news brought the number of suspects in the case to 32 after police had identified 27 suspects before.

Al-Mabhouh was found suffocated to death in his Dubai hotel room on January 20, in what Dubai authorities called an assassination most probably carried out by Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency.

Israel has declined to confirm or deny the allegation.

The Dubai police have been using immigration records and closed circuit TV footage of the suspects to identify the suspects and their moves before the murder.

Al-Mabhouh's assassination caused diplomatic fallout worldwide, as several countries harshly criticized Israel over the use of faked European passports by the alleged killers, while the UK expelled a top Israeli diplomat based on the same allegation.

Al-Mabhouh, who was 50 years old, was one of the founders of the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas military wing, and had been living in Syria since the late 1980s, along with several of the group's main figures, including politburo chief Khaled Meshaal.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322434,report-dubai-identifies-five-new-suspects-in-hamas-killing.html.

Moderate earthquake strikes north-eastern Indonesia

Jakarta - An earthquake measuring 6.0 struck Indonesian islands off North Sulawesi province Friday afternoon, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, officials said.

The quake took place at a depth of 65 kilometers, about 260 kilometers south-east of Tahuna, 2,652 kilometers north-east of Jakarta. It occurred at 2:39 pm Jakarta time (0739 GMT), the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

It was the latest in a series of earthquakes to rock the country in recent weeks.

On September 30, a 7.6-magnitude quake struck off the western coast of Sumatra, killing more than 1,100 people and injuring hundreds of others.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322437,moderate-earthquake-strikes-north-eastern-indonesia.html.

Malaysian couple sue alleged trigger-happy police force

Kuala Lumpur - A Malaysian couple have sued the police for 4.7 million ringgit (1.44 million dollars), accusing its officers of shooting them in an unprovoked incident last year, a news report said Friday.

Siti Nasrinda Tumirin, 23, and her husband Mohamad Fauzi Daud, 26, who were unmarried at the time, were chatting in a parked car on a street in August last year when a police patrol car arrived and flashed its headlights.

The couple drove off, but the two officers started chasing them and allegedly began shooting at their vehicle as they drove through a residential area in the central state of Selangor, the Star newspaper said.

One of the shots grazed Siti Nasrinda's back and waist, while the couple also claimed a "hail" of bullets destroyed the windscreen and damaged the car.

After the incident, Siti Nasrinda and Mohamad Fauzi were investigated for allegedly obstructing a public officer from discharging his duties.

The couple, who are Muslims, were also investigated for having close proximity, an offense under the state's Islamic sharia law.

The couple has since married but claim there have been no further investigations by police into their case, and there has been no inquiry into the shooting.

The two are suing the national police chief, the government, the Selangor state police chief and the two police officers involved.

Malaysian police came under heavy criticism last month after patrolmen fatally shot a 14-year-old boy when he allegedly refused to stop his car.

The incident sparked public outcry, and calls for an independent panel to investigate the matter.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322462,malaysian-couple-sue-alleged-trigger-happy-police-force.html.

Spain rises out of recession in first quarter - Summary

Madrid - Spain's economy rose out of recession in the first quarter, growing by 0.1 per cent after six quarters of negative growth, the Bank of Spain said Friday.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, gross domestic product (GDP) had shrunk by 0.1 per cent.

However, the economy was still declining 1.3 per cent year-on-year, the Spanish central bank said.

The economy contracted by 3.6 per cent in 2009.

Households were now consuming more, though the overall consumption level remained weak, according to the bank bulletin.

Investments were also slow due to concern over the future of the Spanish economy and difficulties in obtaining credit, the central bank said.

The figures issued by the Bank of Spain need to be confirmed by the statistics body INE, which gives the official figures.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has expressed trust that the economy will soon start to recover, despite international concern that Spain could be headed for a Greek-style crisis.

Spain's unemployment surpassed 20 per cent in the first quarter, and the country has a budget deficit of 11.2 per cent.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322461,spain-rises-out-of-recession-in-first-quarter--summary.html.

Arabic websites make history with native script addresses

Internet addresses written in Arabic become first online domains in non-Latin characters.

By Glenn Chapman - SAN FRANCISCO

Internet addresses written in Arabic are making history as the first online domains in non-Latin characters, with Chinese and Thai expected to follow close behind.

"For the first time in the history of the Internet, non-Latin characters are being used for top-level domains," the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said in an online message.

"Arabic has now become the first non-Latin script to be used as an Internet domain name."

Top-level domain names serve as sort of a postal code for online addresses, with widely known examples including .com, .org, and .net.

New top-level domains were designated for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

"All three are Arabic script domains, and will enable domain names written fully right-to-left," Kim Davies of ICANN said Thursday in a blog post.

"Expect more as we continue to process other applications."

Egypt claimed the first non-Latin script Website in a new ".Masr" domain.

Websites with online addresses in Arabic are available in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"Arabic is among the most highly used languages on the Internet today," ICANN said.

"Users in the (Middle East) will now have easier access to the Internet, with the ability to use their primary language for the entire domain name."

It is up to countries with new top-level domains to launch them in ways that give people day-to-day use, according to Davies.

Languages with native domain script names in the final stages of the approval process include Chinese, Sinhalese, Tamil and Thai, according to ICANN.

A request by the China Internet Network Information Center for domain names in simplified and traditional Chinese was listed among the non-Latin script address applications that are well along a "fast track" to approval.

Hong Kong and Taiwan were in the queue for top-level domain names in local script, as were Sri Lanka, the Russian Federation, and several other Arab countries.

"The fast track process is working really well for many countries," ICANN's Tina Dam said on Thursday in an online message.

"We are very much looking forward to seeing how the market will adopt and use these (new non-Latin domain names)."

In January, the global agency overseeing Internet domain names said Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates could begin creating online addresses in their native languages.

ICANN effectively broke the Latin alphabet's three-decade hold on Internet domain names.

As of Thursday, ICANN had received requests for 21 domain names in a mix of 11 languages.

In October, ICANN approved a new multilingual address system which it said would open up the Internet to millions more people worldwide.

In the future it will be possible to write an entire website address in any of the world's language scripts.

ICANN chairman Peter Dengate Thrush has described the new measure as the biggest technical change to the Internet for 40 years.

ICANN says more than half the world's 1.6 billion Internet users use languages with scripts that are not Latin-based.

ICANN, a non-profit body formed in 1998 by the US government, was last year given more autonomy after Washington relaxed its control over how the Internet is run.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=9102242863206465958.

Kurds to back Shiite coalition choice for PM

Iraq's main Kurdish political bloc says 'will not veto anyone' chosen by Shiite alliances.

NAJAF, Iraq - Iraq's main Kurdish political bloc will accept the candidate for prime minister chosen by the new Shiite coalition of incumbent premier Nuri al-Maliki, a top official said on Thursday.

"We will not veto anyone chosen by the alliances to take up the post of prime minister," said Roz Nawri Chawis, the autonomous Kurdish region's deputy prime minister.

Maliki's State of Law Alliance and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) led by Shiite groups announced on Tuesday that they were forming a new coalition following the March 7 parliamentary elections.

The move was aimed at squeezing out a coalition led by ex-premier Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya bloc won the election with 91 seats but failed to build a parliamentary majority.

The new Shiite coalition is also four seats short of the 163 needed to form a parliamentary majority but the Kurdish Alliance, comprised of Kurdistan's two long-dominant political blocs, has said it will join it.

"We welcome the unity of our key allies and we expect to open a serious dialogue with them, because Iraq cannot move forward without the participation of all of its people," Chawis said.

He was speaking in the holy Shiite city of Najaf in southern Iraq after a meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric.

Although Maliki won more votes than any single candidate, he is reviled by the Sadrist bloc of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and by the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, the two main groups within the INA.

According to full preliminary results from the election, State of Law won 89 seats in the 325-member Council of Representatives while the INA, led by Shiite religious groups, won 70 seats.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38861.

Gaza smokers protest new smoking tax

Gazans suffering from many ills of Israeli siege angry with new taxes by bankrupt Hamas.

GAZA CITY - Gazans are trapped in their overcrowded strip by an Israeli siege and are still struggling with the aftermath of the recent Israeli war, and now some of their smokers are also angry with a Hamas-imposed smoking tax.

Some see the new tax imposed on cigarettes smuggled from Egypt as a sign that Hamas in deep financial trouble in the Palestinian territory that essentially survives on aid and a black market economy.

"Egypt has stopped the money from coming in (and) Hamas now badly needs money to pay salaries," said a local journalist, an inveterate smoker, who asked not to be named.

Gaza is still considered under Israeli occupation as Israel controls air, sea and land access to the Strip.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt, Gaza's sole border crossing that bypasses Israel, rarely opens as Egypt is under immense US and Israeli pressure to keep the crossing shut.

Hundreds of tunnels that dot the border with Egypt have served to bring in other commercial goods -- anything from motorbikes to Marlboros -- as well as weapons and cash.

But Egypt has recently cracked down on the smuggling, dealing a strong blow to Hamas, which was democratically elected by the Palestinian people in 2006.

Hamas has made it clear it plans to gradually impose sales taxes on a wide range of items in order to address the financial crisis.

"Everybody is angry," says Hassan Abu El Kass, pointing to the stamp that shows the smokes he sells from a tiny street stall have been taxed.

The three-shekel sales tax (0.8 dollars, 0.60 euros) sent the price of a pack soaring by about 60 percent.

"Sales are down, people can't afford such prices," says Kass.

One of Gaza's leftist political factions recently warned in rare public criticism of Hamas that there would be an "explosion" if they continue collecting the new taxes.

But without taxes thousands of government employees would have no income to support themselves and their families.

Hamas is also trying to get people to pay their electricity bills.

Gaza gets about 70 percent of its electricity through power lines from occupying Israel and five percent from Egypt, with the rest produced by the territory's sole power plant that relies on imported industrial fuel.

That plant has been working at only a fraction of its capacity since Israel imposed the blockade, receiving only 2.2 million liters of fuel a week, as opposed to the 3.5 million liters it needs.

Gazans have long been used to power cuts, but the outages have become longer and more frequent since the European Commission stopped funding fuel purchases in November.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, dominated by president Mahmud Abbas' Fatah is now in charge of buying the fuel, and supplies have dropped significantly.

In March, a weekly average of 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel were imported into Gaza. That figure dropped to about one million liters in the last week of April.

The Gaza Electricity Corporation (GEDCO) says it has monthly sales of about 50 million shekels (13.4 million dollars, 10 million euros) but collects only about 35 to 40 percent of the bill.

The accrued arrears of municipalities alone amounted to 413.5 million shekels (110.8 million dollars, 83.3 million euros) by January, according to GEDCO.

"People haven't been paying, Hamas hasn't been paying, municipalities haven't been paying," says Yaser Alwadeya, a Gaza industrialist and independent politician, who has pushed for Hamas to tackle the issue urgently.

In recent weeks, municipal employees have been going door-to-door to collect well-overdue payments.

But the power outages are still lengthy and frequent, affecting just about every sector of life from industrial plants to fishmongers, from sanitation facilities to reconstruction efforts.

And Gaza's blockade-ravaged economy was not much to start off with.

"Nothing works properly: water is not drinkable, there's barely any electricity, there are no services and banks have no money available," says Alwadeya, who says he is among the few business leaders left in Gaza.

Alwadeya's company was once the largest food maker in Gaza, but much of his production line was reduced to rubble by Israel's devastating three-week offensive launched in December 2008.

He paints a bleak picture of the situation in the narrow coastal enclave. "We no longer have an economy in Gaza. Just dealers from tunnels."

The blockade has left many Gazans struggling to eke out a living, and 80 percent of the 1.5 million population depend on food aid.

Fishermen, prevented by Israeli gunboats from venturing more than five kilometers (three miles) out to sea, now sail to the southern border to buy Egyptian fishermen's catch. Some fish is also brought in through the tunnels.

Farmers risk their lives when they venture into fields near the border wall. Israel regularly opens fire on anyone getting to close to the boundary.

The risk does not deter hundreds of people who scavenge for construction materials among the ruined buildings by Gaza's northern border with Israel, using horse-drawn carts to carry their heavy loads.

The closer they get to the border wall, the better the materials, and the higher the risk of getting shot.

A little farther back, a cloud of dust rises from a spot where dozens of people collect pebbles that will be crushed and mixed into concrete.

"It's hard work, it's dangerous," says 12-year-old Motaz as he sifts through the sand just a few hundred meters from the border.

Asked if he'd rather be at school, he mops his brow with a corner of his dusty Mickey Mouse T-shirt, adjusts his red baseball cap and shrugs.

"We need the money."

Human rights groups, both international and Israeli, slammed Israel’s siege of Gaza, branding it “collective punishment.”

A group of international lawyers and human rights activists had also accused Israel of committing “genocide” through its crippling blockade of the Strip.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38860.

Muslim soldiers' graves desecrated in France

Vandals desecrate graves of Muslim soldiers who died fighting for France in World War II.

PARIS - Vandals have desecrated the graves of seven Muslim soldiers who died fighting for France in World War II, the defense minister announced, expressing "deep indignation."

"I wish to express my deep indignation at this ignoble and cowardly act," Herve Morin said in a statement Thursday after the tombstones were toppled at a military cemetery in the southern city of Tarascon.

"I bow before the memory of these soldiers with more emotion now that the ultimate outrage appears to have targeted them for their religious beliefs," he said.

Morin said the soldiers had given their lives for a "free, just and generous" Europe and France.

The regional Muslim council said the tombstones had been toppled and three of them were smashed. There are 130 graves in the cemetery, of which 17 belong to Muslim soldiers.

France is home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority, estimated at between five and six million.

Islamophobic attacks are not uncommon in France.

On April 2008, four youths have been arrested in connection with the desecration of 148 Muslim graves at France's biggest war cemetery.

They are believed to be linked to a group of neo-Nazis who scrawled swastikas on 52 Muslim graves in the same cemetery in April 2007.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=38869.

Martyr killed in Ingushetia was a disabled person

Some details of events became known which occurred a day before in Nazran.

It is to be mentioned that according to the words of Russian invaders, a resident of Pliyevo village, Magomed Gardanov, was killed yesterday near a mosque in Nazran. According to invaders and their local henchman police, Gardanov's car was blocked. At that moment he opened fire on invaders and puppets and was killed during the shootout.

Invaders also reported the killing "a 28-year-old militants' accomplice". Another woman, who was also proclaimed an "accomplice" and 14-year-old child were injured.

However, local residents said that 28-year-old Zainap Bogatyreva, who was killed by Russian invaders, was staying at that time with her relatives in Nazran, and wounded Makka Bogatyreva was working as a nurse in a hospital, where she was brought to after the "special operation" of the invaders.

A 14-year-old child caught in the "zone of special operation" was also mercilessly shot on, but survived.

Gardanov's car has been blocked and shot at (video) 5 meters from the house, where Makka Bogatyryova lives and where at that moment she was visited by her relative Zajnap. Of course, the women were not helpers of Gardanov. Machine guns, mounted on armored troop-carriers, literally pierced holes in apartment houses in the street where the ambush against Gardanov has been arranged. Only by chance this act of Russian terrorists led to no mass casualties.

Sources from Nazran have also reported that Magomed Gardanov was a disabled person. He lacked a leg and moved on a prosthesis. He lost his leg in 2000 during a fighting in the Chechen capital of Jokhar.

Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/05/06/12002.shtml.

Iran, Turkey to discuss fuel swap deal

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will pay a surprise visit to Istanbul to discuss a proposed nuclear fuel exchange deal with his Turkish counterpart.

Mottaki, who was on a five-day trip to New York to attend the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference, will briefly stop in Turkey before returning to Tehran on Friday.

Turkish media sources have confirmed the reports, adding that Mottaki will touch base with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and discuss recent developments in a deal to provide an Iranian research reactor with its required fuel.

A UN-brokered deal proposed that Iran ship a large proportion of its domestic low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for conversion into fuel rods for the Tehran medical research reactor.

Iran dismissed the deal, arguing that the West had failed to provide enough guarantees that the fuel would actually be delivered to Tehran, and instead proposed the simultaneous exchange of the shipment on its own soil.

Turkey has emerged as a key advocate of a diplomatic solution to the international deadlock over Iran's enrichment activities.

In a recent visit to Tehran, Davutoglu had reiterated that “diplomacy is needed to solve the problem [Since] military means, attacks, sanctions or embargoes will not be fruitful."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125708§ionid=351020104.

Israeli Arabs ban settlement products

Israeli Arabs have launched a wide-ranging boycott on Israeli products in a show of protest against Tel Aviv's ongoing expansion of its illegal West Bank settlements.

Palestinian retailers in the West Bank are to put up lists of settlement-made items in their outlets, notifying shoppers which products they should shun.

Representatives of community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are scheduled to attend a conference in Nazareth on Thursday to formally launch the boycott campaign.

According to the organizers of the movement, the list of settlement-produced goods includes more than 1,000 items ranging from fruits and vegetables to computers.

Among the companies listed to be banned are Ahava Dead Sea health products, Beigel & Beigel pretzels, Super Drink soft drinks and Openheimer chocolates, Ma'an news agency reported.

"We are launching a campaign … to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and to wage a battle against the settlements and the occupation," chairman of the Kafr Kana public committee Mansour Dahamshy said.

"We need to help the Palestinian economy to sustain itself and not leave it dependent on settler-owned companies… As it stands, the settlers take advantage of the Palestinian people."

The boycott is backed by the Monitoring Committee of the Israeli Arab Leadership -- an extra-parliamentary umbrella organization made up of local Arab authorities along with prominent Arab organizations and parties.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, chairman of the committee Muhammad Zidan said the boycott had been part of the commission's agenda since 1998, but was being reinforced more intensively.

"The leadership of the Palestinian Authority has called for the boycott, and similar campaigns are gaining traction in Europe. As part of our commitment to a sovereign Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, we choose to help the Palestinian economy by forcing out the settlers and ending the occupation," Zidan said.

Meanwhile, Israeli right-wing lawmakers protested the move, saying it was impossible to differentiate between the boycott of goods manufactured in the West Bank and a complete boycott of Israeli goods.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125624§ionid=351020202.

Horror and chaos in Wall Street

A computerized error has caused a historic rollercoaster ride in Wall Street, plunging the markets into a loss of almost 10 percent in values in less than an hour, before recovering most of it before the end of the session.

The shockwave, which chilled the investors, even hit the most stable stocks such as Procter & Gamble, the Associated Press reported.

Although the markets recovered about two-third of the loss rapidly in an hour, the loss is still the biggest since February 2009.

Meanwhile the exact cause of the turmoil is still unknown and no one has taken responsibility. However, some reports suggest that the fall was caused by a trader who mistyped an order and instead of entering the numbers in million mistyped them in billion.

Shortly after the markets closed, Nasdaq and NYSE issued statements saying they were canceling the trades carried out during the one-hour disturbance.

The shock came as the markets were already concerned about Greece's debt crisis.

It's been months since Europe's murky economy outlook has caused anxiety in the global markets and fears have intensified during the past weeks over Greece's financial troubles.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125698§ionid=3510213.

Allawi insists on forming Iraqi gov't

Former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi says his Iraqiya list entitles him to form the next government -- regardless of the merger of Iraq's two Shia blocs.

"The Iraqiya list insists on its electoral and constitutional rights. We are interested in having good relations with the political powers, especially the Iraqi National Alliance; this meeting will be the first among a number of meetings that will be taking place over the next days," Allawi made the comments after meeting with leaders of the Iraqi National Alliance on Thursday.

The gathering came shortly after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law Coalition officially joined hands with the electoral rival, Iraqi National Alliance, forming the largest bloc in Iraq's next parliament.

Iraq took a major step towards forming its next government after the merger. The two Shia groups merged in a bid to end weeks of political limbo that followed the inconclusive elections.

However, it is not yet clear who will claim the top job in the Iraqi government.

On the March 7 elections 325 seats were contested and former prime minister Allawi's al-Iraqiya Alliance only managed to claim 91 seats, failing to secure a majority.

Maliki's front, on the other hand, won 89 seats and his rival Shia group 70.

The upcoming alliance of the two Shia fronts is still four seats short of a parliamentary majority.

A recount of the ballots in the key Baghdad constituency has been ordered to help determine the fate of the next ruling party.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125697§ionid=351020201.

Myanmar's NLD party disbanded

Aung San Suu Kyi's Myanmar pro-democracy party is dissolved after it boycotted the elections scheduled for this year.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) was officially abolished at midnight Thursday after NLD refused to re-register as a political party before a May 6 deadline.

Myanmar's ruling junta leaders had announced that any existing party who failed to re-register must be disbanded.

The forthcoming election, for which no date has yet been set, will be the first such election in two decades.

NLD says the laws under which the polls will be held are unfair. The new election laws require the party to expel its detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

A NLD's spokesman has informed that the members of the disbanded party will continue operating from their headquarters in Myanmar.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, is known as a symbol of democracy in Myanmar. She has spent nearly 14 of the past 20 years in detention and house arrest.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125695§ionid=351020406.

Mass grave of Iraqis found in Kuwait

Kuwait says it has found a mass grave where scores of slain Iraqi soldiers were buried during the 1991 US war with the ex-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Kuwaiti Interior Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Saber said on Thursday that at least 55 Iraqi soldiers were buried in the grave in a northern town across from the Iraqi border, the official news agency KUNA reported.

The remains of the soldiers, identified from their uniforms, will be handed to Iraq through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the official added.

The US-led forces that engaged Iraqi troops in 1991 failed to record the location of the grave site.

The ICRC had originally initiated the search in an attempt to find traces of some 600 Kuwaiti citizens and others who went missing during the so-called Persian Gulf War.

The US, aided by its allies, launched an attack against Saddam's military in the area after the ex-Iraqi dictator ordered the invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125689§ionid=351020406.

Turkey reform bill approved

Turkey's parliament approves a bill on major judicial reforms cementing AK Party's grip on power, a move met with opposition from country's chief prosecutor.

The draft to overhaul the judiciary and the role of the military will now go to President Abdullah Gul for final approval, after which a referendum can be held within 60 days.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, in power since 2002, has succeeded in gaining approval for restructuring the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors and reforming the role of the influential military.

Erdogan said he expects to win an overall vote on the proposed constitutional reform draft on Friday.

As for the referendum, the premier said that he will appeal to the people so that he can garner the required 367 votes for it to be approved outright.

This is while the main opposition Nationalist Action Party lawmaker Oktay Vural said the party will appeal to the Constitutional Court to annual the amendments.

The country's chief prosecutor, who had earlier made an unsuccessful attempt to dismantle the AK Party, described the reforms as "undemocratic."

Erdogan, facing elections next year, said the wide-ranging reforms of the judiciary are vital to meet the demands of the European Union which Turkey seeks to join.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125686&sectionid=351020204.

Gazans cut through Egypt's border barrier

By Jon Donnison
BBC News, Gaza

"Every problem has a solution. The Egyptian steel barrier was a problem but we found a solution," says Mohammed, a grimy-faced Gazan tunnel digger who didn't want to give his real name.

Mohammed, covered in dust and dirt, is in the process of digging a 750m (2,460ft) smuggling tunnel from Gaza into Egypt. He says he's been digging it for 18 months.

As he hauls up a plastic container of sand with an electric winch from the meter-wide tunnel shaft, he says the new underground Egyptian barrier aimed at stopping smuggling is a "joke."

"We just cut through it using high-powered oxygen fueled blow torches," he says.

The Egyptian government says it began constructing the barrier along the Gaza-Egypt border last year. When finished it is meant to be 11km-long (seven miles), stretching down 18m (59ft) underground.

According to Egypt it is made of bomb-proof, super-strength steel and is costing millions of dollars to build.

'Embarrassing'

Mohammed smiles when he hears this.

"We pay around a $1,000 (£665) for a man with an oxygen-fueled cutter to come and break through it. It takes up to three weeks to cut through but we get there in the end," he says.

Mohammed says the steel barrier is 5-10cm (2-4in) thick.

The BBC spoke to one man in Gaza employed to cut through the barrier. He said he could cut a meter-square hole through it in less than a day.

This news will be embarrassing for Egypt's government.

Encouraged by the United States which gives millions of dollars in military aid to Egypt every year, it says it is trying to crack down on smuggling into Gaza.

The BBC asked the Egyptian government to comment on the fact that Gazans were already cutting through the barrier. The government has not yet responded.

Sheep and shampoo

The Palestinian territory has been under a tightened Israeli and Egyptian economic blockade since 2007 when the Hamas Islamist movement took over the territory.

The blockade was enforced to put pressure on Hamas and to stop weapons being smuggled in.

Egypt's secular government is opposed to Hamas, which has historical ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition movement in Egypt which is illegal but largely tolerated.

Many Gazans are angry with the Egyptian government, which - they say - is increasing their suffering.

The blockade has meant that Gaza is to a great extent dependent on the smuggling tunnels from Egypt. Millions of dollars worth of goods are smuggled in every month.

Everything from fridges to fans, sheep to shampoo comes through the tunnels. The BBC even obtained video footage this year of whole brand-new cars being dragged through tunnels from Egypt.

The UN estimates that as much as 80% of imports into Gaza come through the tunnels.

Big business

The tunnels are not at all hard to find. In the southern Gazan town of Rafah, right on the border, there are lines of them covered by white tents.

Little attempt is made to keep them secret. They are surrounded by huge mounds of sandy earth which have been dug out of the ground.

The air is thick with diesel fuel from the trucks that transport the goods across the Gaza strip.

The openness of the smuggling operation suggests that if Israel and Egypt really wanted to stop the tunnels they could easily do so.

Israel has at times bombed some of the tunnels, but has stopped short of totally shutting them down.

Aid agencies in Gaza say that if Israel or Egypt really forced the smuggling to stop, it would lead to an even more desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza which would be damaging to Israel's and Egypt's international reputations.

Diplomats in the region also believe that so much money is being made in Egypt from the trade through the tunnels that much of the smuggling is likely to continue.

But the head of operations in Gaza for the UN relief agency UNRWA, John Ging, says that ordinary people in Gaza are losing out.

"Everything is expensive because people are hostage to the dynamics of a black market."

Mr Ging stressed that it was the Israeli-Egyptian blockade that was allowing that black market to thrive.

The UN does not use illegal goods and building materials smuggled in through from Egypt.

If the blockade remains in place it seems the tunnel industry will continue to thrive, underground steel barrier or not.

"If they opened the border, we wouldn't need to dig tunnels," says Mohammed peering into the shaft of his tunnel in Rafah. "But until they do, we'll keep digging, whatever they do to try and stop us."

"Every problem has a solution," he smiles.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8664316.stm.

Russian President Medvedev prepares for first official visit to Syria

The Middle East settlement, Iran's nuclear program and bilateral arms trade will top the agenda of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's first visit to Syria on May 10-11.

Russia and Syria resumed high-level dialogue, which had stalled since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 2005, during a visit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Moscow. During the past five years, the Syrian leader has visited Russia three times. His latest visit took place in August 2008, when he met Medvedev in the Black Sea city of Sochi.

The Middle East peace process is expected to be a key topic of discussion during Medvedev's visit, as Syria is a key player in the region and froze settlement talks with Israel following the January 2009 Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Since Iran is Syria's strategic partner in the Middle East and Russia is a member of the Iran Six international mediators group, the issue of the controversial Iranian nuclear program will also be a focus of the talks.

As well as issues of international significance, Medvedev and Al-Assad are expected to discuss a range of bilateral issues, including arms trade and economic cooperation.

In the winter of 2005, Russia canceled 70% of Syria's debt, which at the time stood at $13.4 billion.

Later in 2005, Russia resumed military cooperation with Syria, delivering Strelets surface-to-air missile systems to the country.

Over 40,000 graduates of Soviet and Russian universities live and work in Syria and cultural relations may also be a subject of discussion.

In March this year, Moscow and Damascus signed a cultural cooperation program for 2010-2012. The program, which is meant to improve cultural exchanges, good relations and understanding between the two countries, includes a Russian Culture festival in Syria in 2011 and a Syrian Culture festival in Russia in 2012.

DAMASCUS, May 6 (RIA Novosti)

Source: RIA Novosti.
Link: http://en.rian.ru/world/20100506/158902225.html.

Elephant protest in Thailand

Bangkok - A tour company in Thailand on Thursday dumped 12 elephants outside Chiang Mai's City Hall to protest against the steep decline in tourist arrivals in the northern province which has taken its toll on pachyderm rides.

"We are leaving our elephants at City Hall because there is no work for them anymore," said Anchalee Kalamaphicit, owner of the Mae Tha Man Elephant Camp, situated about 50 kilometers north of Chiang Mai.

The tourism industry has been hard hit by seven weeks of anti-government protests in Bangkok, which have led to bloody street clashes that claimed 27 lives, prompting more than 40 countries to issue travel warnings.

Bangkok is the major hub for air travel to the country's beach resorts and cultural destinations, such as Chiang Mai, 650 kilometers north of the capital, famed for its hill tribes, handicrafts and elephant rides.

Anchalee said the camp usually attracts 120,000 foreign tourists a year, but since the trouble began in Bangkok, arrivals have fallen to fewer than 50 tourists a day.

The main attraction at the camp is elephant rides.

"We have 65 elephants at the camp and elephants are expensive to feed," Anchalee said. "With so few tourists we are not meeting costs, so I'm leaving some of my elephants at City Hall where at least they can get some charity," she told the German Press Agency dpa.

Thailand normally attracts about 15 million foreign tourists a year, making tourism its top foreign exchange earner.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322241,elephant-protest-in-thailand.html.

Goodluck Jonathan sworn in as Nigeria's new president

Lagos - Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as Nigeria's President in a simple ceremony Thursday morning in Abuja following the death of Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

Jonathan was sworn in by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Aloysius Katsina-Alu.

Yar'Adua, 58, died on Wednesday night in the capital city of Abuja after a protracted illness.

Jonathan, 52, had been Acting President since February following Yar'Adua's three-month absence from office due to a heart problem.

Jonathan was governor of the southern, oil-rich Nigerian state of Bayelsa between December 2005 and May 2007 following the impeachment of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha for money laundering.

A Christian, Jonathan was a surprise choice as Yar'Adua's running mate by ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the May 2007 presidential elections.

General elections are due in Nigeria early next year.

Meanwhile, Nigeria's government has declared Thursday as a work- free day in tribute to the death Yar'Adua.

A week-long national period of mourning has also been declared, while Jonathan has canceled all his official engagements.

Yar'Adua is to be laid to rest in his hometown of Katsina later Thursday.

Mauritania plans 10,000 social housing units

2010-05-06

Mauritania plans to provide 10,000 social housing units to indigent citizens, the Housing Ministry announced on Wednesday (May 5th). The initiative, set to be completed over the next few months, is part of a social policy program prioritizing the poorest and most vulnerable Mauritanians, officials said.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/05/06/newsbrief-04.

Mauritania longshoremen set to strike

2010-05-06

Mauritanian dock workers on Wednesday (May 5th) announced plans to mount a general strike on May 10th, PANA reported. Their union seeks wage increases, a collective agreement and protection from foreign competition. During a protest Tuesday, the longshoremen clashed with police.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/05/06/newsbrief-03.

Morocco light bulb project cuts energy consumption

2010-05-06

Morocco's new energy-efficient light bulb program has already led to a 170MW drop in energy consumption during the busiest hours of the day, Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra told legislators, ANSA reported on Wednesday (May 5th). Households that receive the bulbs pay one dirham a month on electricity bills over the next two years. Energy officials say families can save around 20% compared to incandescent lamps.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/05/06/newsbrief-02.

Pak unearths smuggling racket exploiting the NATO supply route

May 2, 2010

KARACHI: Authorities here have unearthed a major smuggling racket involving transportation of contraband goods into Pakistan in containers used by NATO troops in Afghanistan.

A senior official of the Customs Intelligence Directorate did not rule out the involvement of customs officials in the smuggling racket.

"We have impounded around 30 containers registered in the name of NATO which contained alcohol, expensive spices and other contraband items," the official said.

The contraband items were being smuggled into Pakistan in containers shown to be registered for the use of NATO troops in Afghanistan, he said.

The NATO troops deployed in Afghanistan get their supplies via Pakistan with large container trucks starting from Karachi and passing through the Pakistan and Afghanistan border into Kabul and other cities.

The intelligence official said initial FIR registered and investigations had shown that the people involved in the smuggling racket had been using NATO containers for their racket for last few months.

"The information we have is that before this consignment they have already cleared around 45 containers meant for NATO troops," he said.

The official confirmed that NATO containers were not subject to the same stringent checks by customs.

Sources said a shipping agent acted as the front for the import of the NATO containers meant for the troops in Afghanistan.

Source: Times of India.
Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5882984.cms.

EU parliament set to receive 18 extra deputies

Brussels - The European Parliament is set to increase in size, after a proposal to add 18 deputies to the assembly was approved by lawmakers Thursday.

The change is a result of the Lisbon Treaty, which reformed European Union institutions as it came into force last December.

The document allows for the EU assembly to have 751 members of parliament (MEPs), but the current legislature only has 736, as it was elected last June under the previous Nice Treaty rules.

To correct the situation, an amendment of the Lisbon treaty was suggested. With Thursday's vote, parliament approved the proposal, which was originally tabled by EU leaders.

Spain is expected to gain the most from the changes, with four extra MEPs. Austria, France and Sweden are set to gain two, while Bulgaria, Britain, Italy, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia would get one more each.

Germany, the EU's most populous country and the one with the largest representation in the assembly, is the only one expected to lose out, with three fewer MEPs.

But it was allowed to keep its current share of 99 deputies until the end of parliament's term in June 2014, meaning that the EU assembly is set to temporarily grow to 754 members.

However, it is unclear when the reforms will be enacted, as not all EU countries have decided how the extra deputies are to be chosen and the changes have to be ratified by national parliaments in all of the EU's 27 member states.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322342,eu-parliament-set-to-receive-18-extra-deputies.html.

Kosovo's president calls for EU accession

Berlin - The President of Kosovo, Fatimir Sejdiu, petitioned Thursday for his country to become a European Union member and said this would provide a strong incentive for reforms.

"Kosovo needs a signpost to know it has to complete its tasks, so that Kosovo knows where we stand today, where we will be tomorrow and what we need to do the day after tomorrow to complete this task," Sejdiu said during a speech in the German capital.

"It would not be good if Kosovo became an excluded oasis or a black spot in this regard," he added, and called for support and closer cooperation in Kosovo's EU accession process.

The president was speaking about his country's European and Atlantic perspectives two years after independence at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a political thinktank with close links to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.

He thanked Germany for recognizing Kosovo's independence, and hoped countries such as Germany would set an example to those that had not yet done so.

Sejdiu also called upon the United Nations' UNMIK mission to withdraw from Kosovo, since it had successfully reached its goal of enabling the country to found democratic institutions.

"Our demand is for this mandate to be concluded," the president said, adding, "We have never considered UNMIK to be an enemy - they are an international presence that has always played a role."

A total of 66 countries recognize Kosovo as an independent state. Within the European Union, the country's independence is currently not recognized by five state, including Spain.

During his three-day visit to Berlin, Sejdiu also met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Horst Koehler and the head of the Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, Norbert Lammert.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322353,kosovos-president-calls-for-euaccession.html.

Government urges German Muslim group to enter Berlin talks

Berlin - Germany's government urged a hesitant Muslim group Thursday to join upcoming talks with Berlin on bringing Islam classes into more German schools and curing high dropout rates among Muslim pupils.

The Central Council of Muslims had previously complained that not enough devout Muslims were being invited to the three years of planned talks with the government.

The council, which is one of four nationwide alliances of Sunni mosques, has said it is still making up its mind whether to show up at the start of the talks on May 17 or boycott them.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the council was "cordially welcome" to the meeting, which would discuss the spread of Islam classes for Muslim children to more schools, along with state-paid university training for imams and religion teachers.

He said the multi-year talks, entitled the Germany-Islam Conference, was vital to establish a distinction between Islam and Islamism. "The distinction is very important to ensure acceptance of Islam in our society," he said.

The negotiations are to resume 2006-09 talks between Berlin and leaders of Germany's 4 million residents of Islamic background.

The Central Council of Muslims had complained that mosque groups, were under-represented in the government-selected panel, with only four of 15 seats, while too many individuals who are critical of Islam were given seats.

The Central Council also upset that another of the national federations of mosques, the Islamic Council, has been denied speaking rights at the talks, prompting the Islamic Council to boycott them completely.

De Maiziere said the panel would be increased to 17. This means six out of 17 Muslim seats will be held by a range of devout organizations including German Allawites.

Berlin says a non-mosque majority is justified because most Muslims do not pay membership dues to any mosque. It rejected Islamic Council participation because that group's head, Oguz Ucuncu, is under police investigation for alleged financial misdeeds.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322359,government-urges-german-muslim-group-to-enter-berlin-talks.html.

Belgian parliament dissolved, elections on June 13

Brussels - Belgium's parliament voted to dissolve itself on Thursday, paving the way for snap elections on June 13, just two weeks before Belgium takes the European Union's rotating presidency.

The country has been torn by political infighting between the parties of the Dutch-speaking majority and French-speaking minority over their respective rights in the Brussels electoral district ever since elections in 2007.

The Chamber of Representatives, Belgium's federal parliament, approved a list of constitutional amendments to be dealt with by the next legislature, a formal step which triggers the automatic dissolution of the body, a parliamentary spokesman told the German Press Agency dpa.

The dissolution will take effect as soon as the motion is published in Belgium's official journal, the Monitor. The next edition is due to be published on Friday, while the next elections are to be held on June 13, he said.

The long-running feud between the language groups has bedeviled Belgium's government since the 2007 elections. The fourth administration to hold power since that poll fell on April 26.

The crisis comes at an embarrassing time for Belgium. The country is set to take over the EU's rotating presidency on July 1, and to chair debates on issues such as justice, home affairs, agriculture and economic and financial affairs.

In theory, the June 13 date would allow a government to form before the presidency begins. However, it took former premier Yves Leterme nine months to build a coalition after the last election, raising the question of whether his successor will manage a swifter transition this time round.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322360,belgian-parliament-dissolved-elections-on-june-13.html.

Argentine president warns Greece against austerity measures

Buenos Aires - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner warned Greece Thursday against austerity measures that might trigger social problems like those that Argentina faced early in the last decade.

"The recipes that are being imposed on Greece are identical to those that were applied here in 2001," Fernandez de Kirchner stressed.

Greece's parliament on Thursday passed an austerity bill that will allow the country to receive a joint European Union-International Monetary Fund emergency loan. As the country was swamped in often violent demonstrations, the government said the measures are the only chance to avoid bankruptcy.

But Fernandez de Kirchner was not convinced, as she underlined the similarities between Greece's complex situation and the severe social, political and economic crisis that shook Argentina before the country actually defaulted on its foreign debt.

"Savage austerity measures are going to be resisted," she warned. "They are going to end badly."

Argentina suffered from a severe recession beginning in 1998, and it needed to keep borrowing. It had both trade and budget deficits at the time, and it needed to honor interest on its outstanding debt. Global lending institutions like the IMF and the World Bank imposed conditions on Buenos Aires, basically in the form of a demand for cuts in government spending.

These conditions soon proved to be too much. Government spending was by then the pillar of a crumbling economy, and, with a fixed exchange rate in place at the time, Buenos Aires - like Greece with the euro in place - could not print more money.

The Argentine government at the time implemented unpopular austerity measures, including cuts in the salaries of pensioners and public servants. Eventually, it even froze deposits held in private bank accounts. There were riots on the streets, and for weeks there was a series of revolving-door presidencies.

"In a very troubled world in which paradigms have collapsed, where we see a world that is very well-developed but which thinks up the same solutions that delivered the same results, I think it takes a los of intelligence," Fernandez de Kirchner said Thursday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322362,argentine-president-warns-greece-against-austerity-measures.html.

Greece passes austerity measures; protests continue - Summary

Athens - Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Athens on Thursday as parliament passed an austerity bill that will allow Greece to receive a joint European Union-International Monetary Fund emergency loan.

The demonstrations yelled anti-government slogans and carried a black banner outside the legislature, just as lawmakers inside passed a new austerity bill by a vote of 172-121. Prime Minister George Papandreou expelled three of his deputies who abstained, kicking them out of his ruling Socialist party.

The course of action still leaves the prime minister with a comfortable majority of 157 deputies in the 300-member parliament, but illustrates the tension over the measures, which include salary and pension cuts as well as tax hikes.

The government said the measures are the only chance for the country to avoid bankruptcy.

Riot police later fired tear gas to disperse about 200 protesters who hurled bottles and stone in from of parliament.

The demonstrators could be seen running through the streets of Athens setting garbage cans on fire.

"The situation today is simple - either we vote and implement the deal or we condemn the country to bankruptcy," Papandreou told parliament, one day after riots against budget cuts and tax hikes left three people dead.

He said the government had no choice but to impose tough economic measures in exchange for a 110-billion-euro (160 billion dollar) loan.

Papandreou has defended the measures, which foresee 30 billion euros in savings, saying the government will do everything possible to prevent Greece from defaulting.

"The government has the responsibility of implementing the most difficult financial measures ever taken in this country," said Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou.

Greece urgently requires the EU/IMF bail-out as it faces a May 19 deadline on a debt it says it cannot repay without new funds.

The European Union had hoped that by activating the three-year Greek rescue program it would calm markets and give the government leeway to overhaul its heavily indebted economy.

Renewed investor concerns that the Greek crisis could spread to other eurozone countries and sent Europe's common currency to its lowest level in more than a year while also causing stocks to plumet in the US.

European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said it was essential to contain the fire in Greece so that it will not pose a threat to financial stability for the European Union and its economy as a whole.

On Wednesday, more than 100,000 people took to the streets to protest the spending cuts demanded by the IMF and other European countries before debt-ridden Greece gets the 110-billion-euro bail- out package of loans to keep it from defaulting.

The riots were the worst to hit the country since the police shooting of a teenager in 2008.

Masked rioters, armed with slabs of marble, bottles and Molotov cocktails clashed with police, torched buildings and cars, destroyed shops and tried to storm parliament.

The bodies of three people, including a pregnant woman, were discovered inside a bank in central Athens after rioters broke a window and threw firebombs inside.

Crowds of people could be seen leaving flowers and candles outside the burned windows of the bank throughout the day Thursday.

The deaths were the first during a protest in Greece in decades.

At least 45 people, including 29 police officers, suffered injuries in what Civil Protection Minister Michalis Chrisohoides called a "black day for democracy."

Police officials said 25 people were arrested and another 70 detained during the riots in Athens, the port cities of Thessaloniki and Patras, the city of Ioannina and Iraklio on the southern Mediterranean island of Crete.

The protests came amid a 24-hour nationwide strike that grounded flights to and from Greece, paralyzed sea and rail transport, shut down schools and government services and left hospitals operating with emergency staff.

While many Greeks believe some of the cutbacks are necessary to put their economy back on track, public anger is expected to escalate as many people begin feeling the effect of the austerity measures.

With unions vowing more protests in the next few weeks, the large- scale social unrest and violence is seen as a blow to the ruling Socialist government.

In recent polls, one in two Greeks said they are prepared to take to the streets to fight the austerity plans, which they say are due to corruption and political mismanagement of the economy.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322367,greece-passes-austerity-measures-protests-continue--summary.html.

Exit polls: Conservatives largest party in Britain

London - Britain's opposition Conservative Party could emerge as the biggest party in Thursday's general election, according to exit polls, which also show a hung parliament likely.

The polls, announced as polling stations closed, predicted that David Cameron's Conservatives will have 307 seats, nine short of overall majority. They could have to look to the Liberal Democrats, the third party, to form a government.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322374,exit-polls-conservatives-largest-party-in-britain.html.

Taliban deny link to New York bomb plot

Islamabad - Pakistani Taliban on Thursday denied any link to the botched attempt to explode a car bomb in New York's landmark Times Square.

Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized US citizen of Pakistani origin, faces terrorism charges for planting the bomb and US officials say the suspect has admitted to receiving training in Pakistan's militancy-plagued tribal region.

"We do not know Faisal Shahzad. He is not a member of our network neither have we provided any assistance to him," said Azam Tariq, chief spokesman of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Despite denials from the Taliban, indications are mounting that Shahzad, the son of a former air vice marshal, might have links with some militant groups in Pakistan.

The US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks terrorist groups online, said Sunday it had discovered a video posted by TTP in which the group claimed the responsibility for the incident.

But Tariq told German Press Agency dpa on Monday in his first-ever response to the Time Square bombing attempt that his group had not placed the video on the YouTube website.

"When we want to carry out any attack we have the ability to do it by our own resources," said Tariq, warning that the TTP was planning "destructive suicide attacks in America."

"The Americans have waged a war on us with the drones and we will take revenge for that."

The militant spokesman however praised Shahzad's plan that if successful could "teach a lesson to the Americans who are committing crimes against Muslims."

A street vendor in Times Square on Saturday spotted smoke rising from a parked vehicle and alerted police, who discovered a homemade bomb that failed to detonate.

A senior Pakistani security official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that authorities had arrested a friend of Shahzad for his suspected links with terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The arrest took place in the southern port city of Karachi, where 30-year-old Shahzad spent five years. His in-laws still reside in the city.

A Pakistan Army spokesman expressed doubts on Wednesday that Pakistani Taliban had the ability to carry out attacks overseas, but Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that it was unlikely that Shahzad acted alone.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322344,taliban-deny-link-to-new-york-bomb-plot.html.

Israelis attack Apartheid Wall protesters

Israeli forces have clashed with Palestinian demonstrators and international activists protesting the Israeli Apartheid Wall in the West Bank.

The scuffles occurred on Thursday when the demonstrators sat in front of the armored bulldozers near the village of Wallaje in al-Quds (Jerusalem), trying to stop the Israeli forces, Reuters reported.

Palestinians have been regularly staging demonstrations against the "apartheid wall," saying the land, which is being confiscated by Israel to build the barrier, belongs to local families.

Israel has been pushing ahead with the construction of the wall - whose course encompasses Israeli settlements in the West Bank - since 2002 under the pretext of "security fortification."

Estimated to run some 720 km across the West Bank, the wall isolates acres of Palestinian fruit orchards and olive grooves, inflicting a heavy blow on Palestine's already crushing economy.

Locals believe that the barrier is part of Tel Aviv's attempt to annex or fragment the territory sought by the Palestinians for their future state.

The International Court of Justice declared the barrier illegal but Israel has ignored the non-binding ruling.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125619§ionid=351020202.

Russia says Iran attack 'disastrous'

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has highlighted the “necessity” of political discourse with Iran in ending an impasse over its civilian nuclear program.

In a meeting with ambassadors from Arab states on Wednesday, Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow's support for diplomatically engaging Tehran and warned against the “disastrous” consequences of taking military action.

“It was generally felt that there is no alternative but to solve the Iran's nuclear program problem by politico-diplomatic methods and avoid regionally disastrous military options,” said a foreign ministry statement.

Lavrov also called on the international community to “proceed from the imperative of maintaining and expanding cooperation by Iran with the IAEA, as well as from the necessity to continue political dialogue with Tehran.”

The statement further highlighted Moscow's commitment to “dialogue on the implementation of the resolution…on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.”

The nuclear deadlock revolves around allegations by Washington and its allies that Iran is secretly pursuing a military nuclear program.

Powerful UN Security Council member states Britain and France have joined forces with the US to impose a fourth round of tough sanctions against Iran.

Iran rejects the accusation and insists that its nuclear program is peaceful.

Tehran argues that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it has the right to a civilian nuclear program.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125641§ionid=351020101.

Biden threatens Iran with 'isolation'

US Vice President Joe Biden renews western accusations against Iran's nuclear program, which he alleged could trigger an "arms race" in the Middle East.

"Iran's nuclear program violates its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and risks sparking a nuclear arms race in the Middle East," said Biden, at the start of a European tour in Brussels on Thursday.

"Tehran faces a stark choice; abide by international rules and rejoin the community of responsible nations, which we hope for, or face further consequences and increasing isolation," AFP quoted Biden as saying.

Washington accuses Tehran of pursuing a military nuclear program -- a claim strongly rejected by the Islamic Republic.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has conducted the largest amount of inspection in the history of the body on Iran's nuclear program, has not found any evidence to support such a claim.

Tehran, which is a member of the IAEA and a signatory to the NPT, has repeatedly declared that its nuclear program is solely aimed at the peaceful applications of the technology.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125662§ionid=351020104.

Iran's exports to EU up by 10%

Iran's non-oil exports to EU member states rose by 10 percent in the Iranian year ending March 2010, the Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) of Iran has said.

Iran exported more than $2 billion in non-oil products in the year 1388, which ended on March 21, 2010, up from $1.8 billion in the previous year, said Reza Tofiqi, an official for the TPO international affairs.

He added that Iranian imports from the European Union dropped to $14 billion last year from $16 billion the previous year, which showed a fall of 13 percent.

According to the European Commission statistics, the EU is Iran's largest trade partner and accounts for one-third of all Iranian exports.

Experts say Iran's trade with the EU has significant growth potential; however, its development has been hampered due to a standoff over Iran's nuclear issue.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125657§ionid=351020102.

Turkey train collision leaves 32 injured

Thirty-two people, including a pregnant woman, have been injured in Turkey after a coach derailed, colliding with a train coming from the opposite direction.

The accident occurred in Kocaeli Province, some 100 km (60 miles) east of Istanbul, Governor Gokhan Ozer of Kocaeli told state television.

Medical workers and survivors carried the injured on stretchers to ambulances, television footage showed. Most of the injured were taken to a nearby hospital, Ozer said.

The collision occurred when a train carriage traveling from Adapazari to Istanbul derailed at 7:40 p.m. (1640 GMT), hitting a train coming from the opposite direction.

Train accidents are common in Turkey. The last train accident occurred on January 3, killing one person and injuring several others.

In Turkey's worst train accident in recent years, a newly inaugurated high-speed train, traveling from Istanbul to Ankara, derailed in 2004, killing 37 people and injuring 95 others.

Turkey's rail network is beset by signaling malfunctions, ill-equipped trains, deteriorating tracks and a lack of barriers at road crossings. The government says it is working to improve the country's rail system.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125661§ionid=351020204.

Cobras join Iran's PG naval drills

Cobra choppers have joined the second day of Iran's military maneuvers in the Straight of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, successfully carrying out tactical operations.

Cobra helicopters were flown to the south of Iran on Thursday, where they attacked and shot down surface and sub-surface mock enemy targets.

Iran's helicopter gunships were also dispatched to the area to act as covers for Cobra choppers during the tactical operation in Iranian territorial waters.

According to Fars news agency, Iranian Navy destroyers accompanied by frigates and submarines carried out reconnaissance missions during Thursday's maneuvers.

Admiral Qassem Rostam Abadi, the maneuvers' spokesperson, said the reconnaissance missions were aimed at securing Iran's shipping routes in the Sea of Oman.

The Iranian army is scheduled to carry out electronic and anti-electronic warfare later on Thursday and gather radar information in the region, the military official added.

Meanwhile, Brigadier General Kiumars Ahadi -- another commander with Iran's Military -- said troops and military hardware will be dispatched to the area during the drill through special heliborne operations.

Iranian Navy commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said earlier that by holding the maneuver, Tehran sought to send out a message of "peace and friendship" to regional states.

The military drill dubbed Velayat 89 is due to last eight days.

Around 40 percent of the world's crude passes through waterways in the south of Iran.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125618&sectionid=351020101.