DDMA Headline Animator

Saturday, October 30, 2010

US condemns Hezbollah threats over Lebanon tribunal

Fri, 29 Oct 2010

Washington - The United States Friday condemned warnings by Lebanon's militant Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah against cooperation with an international tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

"Efforts to discredit, hinder or politicize the tribunal's work serve only to increase instability and tension inside Lebanon as well as in the region, and should not be tolerated," said US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley.

"We condemn threats as yet another maneuver by Hezbollah to try to deny the Lebanese people the truth and justice that they deserve," he said.

Crowley said he hoped that Hezbollah would not disrupt the court's proceedings.

"We are committed to support the work of the tribunal. And we'll do everything that we can ... not to influence it, just to give it the opportunity to continue its work," he said.

He said Nasrallah's remarks indicated that "Hezbollah does not have the interest of all the Lebanese people."

Hariri was riding in a motorcade when he was killed by a car bomb in February 2005, prompting international outrage and suspicions that Syria was complicit in the attack. Syria has rejected the accusations.

Two investigators affiliated with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the assassination were assaulted Wednesday, raising concerns of potentially violent retributions and political instability.

Tensions have run high in Lebanon since reports surfaced that the UN-backed tribunal is poised to indict members of the radical Shiite movement in the murder.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351078,hezbollah-threats-lebanon-tribunal.html.

Mabhouh TV series, by Dr-Mahmoud al-Zahar

30-10-2010,14:40

Al Qassam website-Gaza- Dr-Mahmoud Al Zahar, a senior leader of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas has announced early of this month his new dramatic work, narrating the life and death of Ezzedeen Al Qassam senior leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh who has been assassinated by the Zionist Mossad agents in Dubai.

Dr-Mahmoud Al Zahar mentioned that he is writing a script for a TV series on the life and death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior leader of the military wing of Hamas killed by Mossad.

Al-Zahar told a conference of Palestinian writers in Gaza this week he is currently working on the script.

Mabhouh's life is certainly worthy of a television drama. Born and raised in Gaza, he was forced to flee the Strip in 1989 due to an IOF manhunt after him. From that time until his death, at the age of 50, he served Hamas from abroad.

The Hamas commander was found dead of unknown causes in his hotel room in Dubai in January, a day after arriving at the emirate. Dubai Police soon found the Mossad responsible.

Al-Zahar says the series will educate the public on a leader who gave his life for the homeland, and preserve his story for posterity, "for which we hope he will set an example".

Al Zahar's new dramatic work is not the first, previously he wrote his first dramatic work shown in a movie script about Emad Akel, commander of the Hamas's military wing who was assassinated by the Zionist occupation in Gaza, in 1993.

Dr-Mahmoud Al-Zahar is a doctor by profession and is one of Hamas major leaders who played an important role in confronting Zionist occupation projects on the Palestinian lands, he was injured severely and he lost two of his sons, the older son Khalid was killed in the Zionist strike targeted their house in 2003 and the other son Hossam who was killed while resisting Zionist invasion east of Gaza city.

Source: Ezzedeen AL-Qassam Brigades - Information Office.
Link: http://www.qassam.ps/news-3689-Mabhouh_TV_series_by_Dr_Mahmoud_al_Zahar.html.

1948 Palestinians commemorate Kafr Qasem massacre

30-10-2010

NAZARETH - Thousands of Palestinians from the 1948-occupied Palestinian territories participated on Friday in a rally to mark the 54th anniversary of the Kafr Qasem massacre under the slogan "against institutional racism and the Israeli racist onslaught".

Arab members of the Knesset participated alongside the residents of Kafr Qasem in the huge rally that started at the town center and moved towards the memorial of the victims of the massacre where a number of speeches were delivered, then the crowd moved on to the martyrs' cemetery and placed flower wreaths were placed on their tombs.

"Thousands of residents of Kafr Qasem participated in the rally against the facist onslaught against the Arabs," said the spokesman for the Popular Committee in Kafr Qasem, Adel Amer, adding that "We mark the anniversary of the massacre, which claimed the lives of 49 of our people, every year. Today we marked the 54th anniversary of the massacre and to foil the transfer conspiracy."

For his part, MK Muhammad Baraka said that the Supreme Arab Follow up Committee has adopted the commemoration at national level because the concept of transfer is being put forward in the official discourse of the Israeli government.

He emphasized that when the IOF committed the Kafr Qasem massacre in 1956, they imposed a curfew on the village and closed it from three directions, leaving the direction towards the West Bank open hoping the residents of the village would flee to the West Bank as they wanted to get rid of the largest number of Palestinians.

MK Ahmad al-Tibi said: "Our loyalty is to the homeland and our principal weapon is steadfastness and survival."

MK Jamal Zahalka said: "The mentality that committed the Kafr Qasim massacre is still there and today it is taking the form of an unprecedented racist onslaught that targets our very existence."

He added that despite all what was written about the Kafr Qasem massacre, the true facts have not yet been uncovered, especially the role played by politicians, particularly the role of David Ben-Gurion and the top military command in preparing plans to complete the expulsion of Palestinians from the triangle area.

Zahalka also said that the officers and soldiers who committed the massacre said during their "trial" that they were working within a greater plan and they were carrying out an operation similar to Hagana operations in 1948 to effect a mass exodus from 1948 towns and villages.

He summed up by saying: "We will not allow a new transfer no matter how huge the sacrifices are."

Source: Ezzedeen AL-Qassam Brigades - Information Office.
Link: http://www.qassam.ps/news-3681-1948_Palestinians_commemorate_Kafr_Qasem_massacre.html.

Hamas: PA targeting An-Najah University

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Officials within the Hamas movement accused the Palestinian Authority security services on Saturday of detaining two party supporters for political reasons.

“The Palestinian Authority continues with a detention campaign against affiliates of the movement," a statement from Hamas authorities in the West Bank said.

The two detained were allegedly from Ramallah and Nablus, with the latter said to be a student at the An-Najah National University in the city. The arrests could not be independently verified by Ma'an.

The same Hamas statement said 20 party members and affiliates attending or teaching at An-Najah University in Nablus remain in PA custody.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=328919.

Church building burns down in Jerusalem

30/10/2010

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli settlers were allegedly behind the torching of a church building in Jerusalem on Friday evening, destroying the interior of what was until 1948 the Palestine Bible College.

Church guardian Zakariyya Al-Mashriqi said there was evidence that a "group of extremist settlers broke a window in the back of the two-story building and hurled fire bombs inside," resulting in the torching of the first floor.

Witnesses from the nearby Bikur Holim Hospital later said the fire was the result of an accident, pointing to candles from the church setting the blaze.

An Israeli police spokesperson did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Al-Mashriqi condemned the arson, saying it was meant to create division among Jerusalem leaders and ultimately to expel Palestinians from the area through ongoing attacks on their properties.

According to the government news network WAFA, the building, constructed in 1897, was initially used as part of the campus for the Palestine Bible College, which was shut down in 1948, when employees and church officials fled fighting and sought shelter in East Jerusalem. When Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, church officials returned to the building, which was refurbished in 1967.

The building was located on Prophets Street, which runs through both East and West Jerusalem.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=328887.

Davutoglu: Uighur region important for Turkish people

The communist China changed name of East Turkestan and named it Xinjiang in 1955.

Friday, 29 October 2010

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met on Thursday Nur Bekri, China appointed-chairman of the Uyghur Autonomous Region which Uighurs call "East Turkestan", within the scope of his visit to China.

The communist China changed name of East Turkestan and named it Xinjiang in 1955.

The Uyghur Autonomous Region is the second stop of Davutoglu after Kashgar in his tour to China.

Speaking at his meeting with Bekri, Davutoglu said, "this region has a special importance for Turkey and Turkish people. Turkey and China are far away to each other in geographical sense. First of all this farness should be disregarded. There should be often visits between the two countries."

Davutoglu said Turkey attached high importance to improvement of relations with Asian countries, particularly China, adding that, "it is normal for the two countries, being the emerging countries of their regions, to cooperate often."

Turkish foreign minister said, "we attach importance to improvement of relations with China and 'Xinjiang' region in cultural means," and proposed Bursa and Urumqi to be sister cities and Konya and Kasghar to be sister cities.

Bekri in his part said an organized industry zone would be established in Urumqi and expressed eagerness to boost relations with Turkey in every area.

Davutoglu has become the first Turkish foreign minister ever to visit Uighur Autonomous Region.

East Turkestan, that has 8 million Uighurs, borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has abundant oil reserves and is largest natural gas-producing region controlled by China.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=65718.

Turkish PM starts building of Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Motorway

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid the foundation of the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Motorway in the northwestern province of Kocaeli.

Friday, 29 October 2010

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday laid the foundation of the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Motorway in the northwestern province of Kocaeli.

"Today, we are giving start to one of the biggest projects of the Republican history. This big project crowns the Republic, which the Turkish nation will celebrate the 87th anniversary on October 29. This is a Republic Day present to our people," Erdogan said while addressing the ground-breaking ceremony of the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Motorway.

"We are laying the foundation of a very big project which will link the two big cities of Turkey, Istanbul and Izmir," Erdogan said and noted that the distance between the two cities will reduce to 3.5-4 hours after the motorway was concluded.

Erdogan said construction of a three-km suspension bridge would also start, adding that, "this will be the second longest suspension bridge in the world after Akashi Bridge in Japan."

Erdogan said 50,000 people would be employed during the construction period, and noted that this would also have a positive impact on construction sector. "The cost of the project is 11 billion Turkish Lira and planned to be concluded in seven years. I believe that it will be concluded less than seven years thanks to the efforts of the consortium."

The motorway will connect Gebze town of the northwestern province of Izmit with the Aegean province of Izmir via Orhangazi town of the northwestern province of Bursa and another northwestern province, Balikesir.

Earlier this month, Cahit Turhan, the director general of the General Directorate of Highways, said the contracting firm was eager to first open the Gebze-Bursa and Izmir-Manisa sections of the motorway to traffic, and complete the construction of the bridge on Izmit Gul in three and a half years.

The directorate had opened a number of tenders for construction of the motorway, including a Izmit Gulf suspension bridge and by-ways, and Nurol-Ozaltin-Astalsi-Yuksel-Gocay consortium won the last tender for construction and operation of the motorway for 22 years and four months.

The Bursa-Balikesir-Izmir will be 420 kilometers long, and there will be a 3,000-meter-long suspension bridge on the Izmit Gulf.

Within the framework of the project, 30 viaducts, 4 tunnels, 209 bridges, 18 booths, 5 highway maintenance-operation centers as well as 7 service and park areas will be constructed.

It will take only two-and-a-half or three hours to travel between Bursa and Izmir after the motorway is inaugurated.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=65715.

US shuttle Discovery launch postponed due to leak

Fri, 29 Oct 2010

Washington - The final flight next week of the US space shuttle Discovery has been postponed at least one day after engineers discovered a leak in the craft, space agency NASA said in a statement Friday.

The Discovery shuttle had been slated to launch on Monday afternoon for its last flight. The take-off has been tentatively rescheduled for 4:17 pm (2017 GMT) Tuesday.

NASA said its managers were meeting Friday to consider ways of repairing helium and nitrogen leaks in one of the shuttle's engine pods.

Discovery is the oldest craft in the US space shuttle fleet and will be the first to be officially retired after this final mission, an 11-day trip to the International Space Station.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351039,us-shuttle-discovery-launch-postponed-due-to-leak.html.

Arab League urges punishment for abuse revealed by WikiLeaks

Fri, 29 Oct 2010

Cairo - The Arab League said Friday the cases of abuse against Iraqis revealed on the website WikiLeaks were "serious crimes" that should be punished.

Ahmed Bin Helli, the organization's deputy secretary general, told reporters the leaked US military logs on the website revealed crimes "that are equal to crimes against humanity and violations against the Iraqi people."

He called for those responsible to be tracked down.

The WikiLeaks documents, published online last Friday, revealed cases of Iraqi detainees who were abused at the hands of Iraqi security forces, and that the US military turned a blind eye to evidence of torture.

The leaked logs also appear to show the details of 15,000 previously unrecorded civilian deaths in Iraq.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351041,punishment-abuse-revealed-wikileaks.html.

German defense cutbacks pass key test

Fri, 29 Oct 2010

Berlin - Proposals to radically trim the German military and end conscription passed a key political test Friday, with the center- right Christian Social Union (CSU) adopting the policy at a party conference in Munich.

The vote, which reverses the party's long-standing support for the draft, followed a speech by the CSU's rising star, Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, in which he called the decision "patriotic."

He also stressed the benefits the changes would bring for serving personnel when they return to civilian life.

"We need to ensure that whoever has served our country has advantages, not disadvantages afterwards. We need to bolster up our reservists, not weaken them," he said. "Soldiers are telling us you have to act."

A panel of experts advised Guttenberg this week to cut the army, navy, air force and joint supply corps from 250,000 to 180,000 and eliminate half of the 100,000 civilian jobs with the forces. The forces have been told to reorganize because of spending cuts.

Guttenberg proposes suspending conscription and replacing it with voluntary service for young people of up to 23 months. Most personnel would be professionals, as in neighboring nations like France and Italy.

Delegates of the Bavaria-only CSU, meeting in a huge exhibition hall, adopted the proposed changes almost unanimously on a show of hands, after almost no debate. The chair said there were only about 5 votes against in the crowd.

The next step for Guttenberg is to win approval next month at a conference of the allied Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, which is active in the other 15 of Germany's 16 states.

If implemented, the changes would be the biggest since West Germany established its own armed forces in 1955, then wound back troop numbers and shifted to peacekeeping after the Cold War ended in 1989. Germany's other parties broadly favor the changes.

Guttenberg, a conservative, has used his public popularity to assure center-right Germans that defense cuts do not mean the country will be weaker. He consistently tops polls asking which German politician is best liked.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351053,cutbacks-pass-key-test.html.

UN biodiversity conference adopts 'Nagoya Protocol'

Fri, 29 Oct 2010

Nagoya, Japan - Delegates from around the world adopted early Saturday an international protocol aimed at protecting biodiversity and sharing the benefits of natural genetic resources.

Senior ministers and government officials from more than 190 countries had gathered in the central Japanese city of Nagoya to discuss how to stop environmental destruction and the loss of plant and animal species.

After stalled talks, parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) reached agreement on the adoption of a protocol for the equitable sharing of benefits derived from the use of genetic resources such as plants from which big businesses develop drugs, cosmetics and others products.

On the final day of the 12-day talks, Ryu Matsumoto, chairman of the meeting and Japan's environment minister, presented his own proposal to try to break the deadlock after negotiators failed to reach agreement Thursday.

The adoption of the protocol on access and benefit-sharing of genetic resources was described as a "long-cherished dream" by Matsumoto.

The CBD, born out of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, along with the United Nations climate change convention, has three main objectives: to conserve biological diversity; to use biological diversity in a sustainable way; and to share the benefits of genetic resources fairly and equitably.

Developing countries had demanded not only shares of future profits from resource commercialization but also retroactive ones. A clause that included the latter was taken out of the final document.

But the draft took the view of developing countries into account when seeking the creation of a global benefit-sharing mechanism. Such countries were also urged to consider the need for immediate access to genetic resources, such as pathogens, during medical emergencies.

Without the adoption of the protocol on access and benefit sharing, termed an "anti-bio-piracy protocol," by activists, the Nagoya conference would not be considered a success, many participants said.

Some said Japan did not want the conference to be seen as a failure because of the effort and money the government had put into the gathering.

But Matsumoto told reporters Friday morning, "This is certainly not about saving Japan's face. It is about considering participants' thoughts and fulfilling them."

Friedrich Wulf, head of international biodiversity policy at Friends of the Earth Switzerland, said developed countries were also "well aware that if they cannot get the protocol, that would affect other key issues," such as strategic plans, mapping out efforts through 2020 to preserve biodiversity.

How much marine areas are protected was another sticking point.

The European Union first demanded 20 per cent of coastal and marine areas be protected by 2020, but later compromised, dropping to 15 per cent while China insisted on 6 per cent. The parties ended up agreeing on 10 per cent.

"At the very least, the target should be 20 per cent," Wakao Hanaoka, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace Japan, said "Greenpeace has proposed that 40 per cent should be protected as a long-term goal so that we could ensure the sustainability of fishing. That would also enable future generations to eat fish."

However, Hanaoka said, one of the positive developments at the conference was the very adoption of a document on marine and coastal biodiversity.

"It gives instruction such as where marine protected areas are established, how those areas are designated, how those areas should be protected and by whom," he said. "Marine protected areas should be set up so that we can continue to catch and eat fish."

WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) International described the overall agreement in Nagoya as "the new 10-year biodiversity rescue plan."

"This agreement reaffirms the fundamental need to conserve nature as the very foundation of our economy and our society," Jim Leape, director general of WWF International, said.

"Governments have sent a strong message that protecting the health of the planet has a place in international politics and countries are ready to join forces to save life on Earth," he continued.

"The Nagoya Protocol is an historic achievement, ensuring that the often immense value of genetic resources is more equally shared," Leape added.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351060,conference-adopts-nagoya-protocol.html.

Caterpillar Corporation stops shipment of armored bulldozers to Israeli military

Saturday October 30, 2010

Peace activists around the world are celebrating Friday's announcement that the Illinois-based company, Caterpillar, has decided to hold off shipment of dozens of armored bulldozers to the Israeli military while a trial about the killing of Rachel Corrie is ongoing in Israel.

Corrie was run down by a Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer in 2003 while trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian doctor's home in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Her parents launched an unsuccessful lawsuit against Caterpillar Corporation in the US for their role in her death. Now, they are pursuing a lawsuit in Israel against the Israeli military and the soldiers involved in her death.

Sydney Levy with Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the organizations that have been pushing for Caterpillar to divest from its contracts with the Israeli military, wrote on Friday, “We take this as an indirect admission by the company that these bulldozers are being used to violate human rights and to violate the law. The Corrie story is sadly just one of thousands of stories of loss and pain. A suspension of the sale of bulldozers is what we have been asking Caterpillar for over seven years now. “

He added, “Caterpillar's irresponsible behavior comes with a heavy price tag. In the last ten years, at least 11,795 homes have been demolished. These statistics, gruesome as they are, cannot do justice to the pain of so many families, to their razed livelihoods and their shattered dreams.”

Caterpillar itself has not made any statement apart from the notice of suspension of the sale. But activists are claiming a victory in their campaign against Caterpillar, and noting that this is the first time that Caterpillar has taken any action regarding the issue.

Source: International Middle East Media Center.
Link: http://www.imemc.org/article/59790.