Fate of Uyghur Journalist 'Unknown'

2010-11-01

Gheyret Niyaz's family has heard nothing about his case since a court sentenced him in July.

HONG KONG—A court in China's troubled northwestern city of Urumqi, which was rocked by ethnic violence last year, appears to be stalling an appeal hearing in the case of an ethnic Uyghur journalist handed a 15-year jail term, supporters said.

Outspoken Uyghur economics professor Ilham Tohti said the family of journalist and webmaster Gheyret Niyaz had heard nothing about his fate since a court sentenced him on July 23 for "endangering state security."

Beijing-based Tohti also said Gheyret's family had been unable to secure the best legal representation.

"After the first hearing, three lawyers from Beijing went up to Urumqi and made contact with Harat's family," Tohti said. "But in the end they were unable to take on the case, probably because the authorities wanted to keep it secret."

"Even his family have heard nothing about it to date."

He said no details of any appeal hearing had been released, either.

"According to my information, he hasn't been transferred to prison [from police custody], and the details of the judgment haven't been released," Tohti added.

"Gheyret is still being detained in the Urumqi municipal detention center," he said.

'Wife afraid of her job'

Beijing-based rights lawyer Teng Biao said he was one of the lawyers who contacted Gheyret's family at the time of the trial.

"In the end, his wife was afraid for her job, so she didn't meet with me," Teng said.

"Gheyret is being represented by a local lawyer. We don't know whether the lawyer was appointed by the authorities on his behalf," he added.

"His relatives were frightened, and they didn't want to appoint a lawyer from Beijing."

"I have no information about any appeal. I never heard whether the appeal hearing had begun, either," Teng added.

'Too many interviews'

Niyaz, 51, was detained at his home in Tacheng city in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in early October 2009.

His family received word three days later that he had been formally detained on charges of "endangering state security."

A former deputy director of the official Xinjiang Legal Daily, Gheyret was employed at the official Xinjiang Economic Daily as a journalist at the time of his detention.

Niyaz also served as webmaster and administrator of the Uyghur Online website, run by Tohti.

In its 2009 annual report, the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) noted that Uyghur Online and its staff had been uniquely targeted after the 2009 violence.

When Niyaz was detained in October, he was taken to the Heavenly Mountain District [Tianshan Qu] detention center in Urumqi, capital of the XUAR, friends said.

Police said “he did too many interviews with foreign media about the July 5 Urumqi riots,” one source said.

Three life sentences

Uyghur activists in exile expressed shock at his arrest because he was widely regarded as pro-government, even warning XUAR officials in July that ethnic riots could be imminent, although the exact content of his warning is unknown.

In August, Urumqi authorities also sentenced three ethnic minority Uyghur webmasters to life in jail for alleged separatist offenses.

Dilshat Perhat, webmaster and owner of Diyarim; Nureli, webmaster of Salkin; and Nijat Azat, webmaster of Shabnam were sentenced to five, three and 10 years in jail respectively, also for "endangering state security."

The verdicts were handed down in a series of closed trials at the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court, sources said at the time.

All three websites publish online in the Uyghur language, spoken by the predominantly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority.

Ethnic Uyghurs took to the streets en masse in July 2009 in an initially peaceful demonstration to protest a violent attack weeks earlier against Uyghur migrant workers in far-off Guangdong province, which officials allegedly failed to quell promptly.

The clashes in Urumqi left some 200 people dead, by official count.

Chinese authorities detained hundreds of people in the aftermath and charged an unknown number with fomenting the violence.

Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Copyright © 1998-2010 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

Source: Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Link: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/journalist-11012010101314.html.

Ancient Mars Was Wet, Cozy And Life Friendly

by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 01, 2010

Light-colored mounds of a mineral deposited on a volcanic cone more than three billion years ago may preserve evidence of one of the most recent habitable microenvironments on Mars.

Observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enabled researchers to identify the mineral as hydrated silica and to see its volcanic context. The mounds' composition and their location on the flanks of a volcanic cone provide the best evidence yet found on Mars for an intact deposit from a hydrothermal environment - a steam fumarole, or hot spring. Such environments may have provided habitats for some of Earth's earliest life forms.

"The heat and water required to create this deposit probably made this a habitable zone," said J.R. Skok of Brown University, Providence, R.I., lead author of a paper about these findings published online by Nature Geoscience.

"If life did exist there, this would be a promising type of deposit to entomb evidence of it - a microbial mortuary."

No studies have yet determined whether Mars has ever supported life. The new results add to accumulating evidence that, at some times and in some places, Mars has had favorable environments for microbial life. This specific place would have been habitable when most of Mars was already dry and cold.

Concentrations of hydrated silica have been identified on Mars previously, including a nearly pure patch found by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in 2007. However, none of those earlier findings were in such an intact setting as this one, and the setting adds evidence about the origin.

Skok said, "You have spectacular context for this deposit. It's right on the flank of a volcano. The setting remains essentially the same as it was when the silica was deposited."

The small cone rises about 100 meters (100 yards) from the floor of a shallow bowl named Nili Patera. The patera, which is the floor of a volcanic caldera, spans about 50 kilometers (30 miles) in the Syrtis Major volcanic region of equatorial Mars. Before the cone formed, free-flowing lava blanketed nearby plains.

The collapse of an underground magma chamber from which lava had emanated created the bowl. Subsequent lava flows, still with a runny texture, coated the floor of Nili Patera.

The cone grew from even later flows, apparently after evolution of the underground magma had thickened its texture so that the erupted lava would mound up.

"We can read a series of chapters in this history book and know that the cone grew from the last gasp of a giant volcanic system," said John Mustard, Skok's thesis adviser at Brown and a co-author of the paper. "The cooling and solidification of most of the magma concentrated its silica and water content."

Observations by cameras on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed patches of bright deposits near the summit of the cone, fanning down its flank, and on flatter ground in the vicinity.

The Brown researchers partnered with Scott Murchie of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., to analyze the bright exposures with the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument on the orbiter.

Silica can be dissolved, transported and concentrated by hot water or steam. Hydrated silica identified by the spectrometer in uphill locations - confirmed by stereo imaging - indicates that hot springs or fumaroles fed by underground heating created these deposits. Silica deposits around hydrothermal vents in Iceland are among the best parallels on Earth.

Murchie said, "The habitable zone would have been within and alongside the conduits carrying the heated water." The volcanic activity that built the cone in Nili Patera appears to have happened more recently than the 3.7-billion-year or greater age of Mars' potentially habitable early wet environments recorded in clay minerals identified from orbit.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Ancient_Mars_Was_Wet_Cozy_And_Life_Friendly_999.html.

China Goes To Mars

by Morris Jones
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Oct 31, 2010

As China's second Moon probe continues its mission, more information is being disclosed about China's ambitions for worlds beyond. China has made no secret of its plans to explore Mars, but we are getting a firmer indication of what to expect.

Vague statements in the Chinese media have suggested that China could launch a mission to Mars in 2013. This is an interesting suggestion for a program that's still largely unknown to us. How does this add to our knowledge of China's Mars program?

China's first planned step to Mars is very well known. In 2011, the Yinghuo 1 orbiter will be launched to Mars in tandem with Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission. We know a lot about Yinghuo 1 already, thanks to some fairly open publicity about the mission. Yinghuo 1 is a small orbiter, which will enter a highly elliptical orbit around Mars.

Its main role is to study the tenuous Martian atmosphere, and help to answer one of the greatest mysteries surrounding the planet. Long ago, the atmosphere of Mars was much thicker, helping to produce almost Earthlike conditions on the surface. Why did Mars change into the barren world of today, and why did most of the atmosphere disappear?

Roughly two years after Yinghuo 1 is launched, a new "launch window" will open between Earth and Mars, as the position of the planets becomes favorable again. NASA plans to send an orbiter during this window, and it will also study the Martian atmosphere. Could China be ready to fly again so soon?

There are plenty of reasons to believe that China could do it. Consider recent events. China has successfully carried out a long mission in deep space. The Chang'e 1 mission was China's first lunar orbiter. Launched in 2007, the spacecraft performed well in mapping the entire Moon.

China has followed this with the launch of Chang'e 2 just a few weeks ago. This spacecraft is essentially a copy of Chang'e 1, with different instruments and some improvements to its sub-systems. Chang'e 2 is performing very well, and has navigated successfully into a low lunar orbit. Chinese space engineers must feel pleased. They've developed a generic spacecraft design and proven that it works well, on two flights out of two.

China has also openly discussed the possibility of sending Chang'e 2 beyond the Moon once its primary mission is complete. While the spacecraft will not be sent to Mars, it has been suggested that Chang'e 2 could be sent into heliocentric orbit, to test communications and control at vast distances from Earth. This is another hint at what China is planning.

This author suggests that the basic spacecraft bus used for the Chang'e lunar orbiters could be modified for use as a Chinese Mars probe. The Chang'e bus, or main spacecraft body, is itself derived from a geostationary communications satellite. Engineers love evolution, taking something that works and modifying it for other purposes. From Earth orbit, to the Moon, to Mars, is the steady path of this robust spacecraft design.

A dedicated Mars mission would require further modifications to the design of the spacecraft. There would need to be changes to the antennas and telemetry systems used, to compensate for the greater distance. One of the changes in Chang'e 2 over its predecessor is the use of a new, advanced radio system with different frequencies. Could this be a precursor of something designed to work at Mars?

Flying to the Moon is, technically speaking, a trip into deep space. But a flight all the way to Mars could expose a spacecraft to even more hazards. The spacecraft could probably use some additional hardening of some of its key components, even if this is just placing extra cosmic ray shielding on the computer.

Getting to Mars requires more energy than a mission to the Moon. China used the Long March 3A for the first Chang'e launch, and then switched to the more powerful Long March 3C for the second. But even this rocket would struggle to send a Chang'e-type probe to Mars.

It's entirely possible, however, that the Long March 3B could do it. Despite its lower alphabetical rank, this rocket is more powerful than the 3A or 3C, and draws much of its extra force from the use of four strap-on rocket boosters. If China really wanted a big boost, it could use the stretched variant of this rocket, the Long March 3B/E.

Right now, this is the most powerful booster in China's fleet. More powerful boosters will be available to China when the Long March 5 family of boosters makes its debut, but this is unlikely to happen before 2014. If China wants to fly to Mars in 2013, the well-tested Long March 3B will be the best choice.

So, we have a rocket that can reach Mars and a spacecraft design that can fly there. What else needs to be addressed? China has a large stable of scientific instruments at its disposal. Some have been tested on the Chang'e missions. Some are already going to Mars on board Yinghuo.

A large Mars orbiter will need a high-resolution camera (currently on Chang'e 2), spectrometers (Chang'e 1 and 2) and some particles and fields instruments (Yinghuo 1 and various Chinese scientific satellites). China just needs to pick and choose.

Then there's the tracking and support. China has already demonstrated the ability to track and communicate with spacecraft at the Moon. Through its co-operation with the European Space Agency, it has access to a global deep space network, and can also tap European experience in tracking planetary missions. Control and navigation of both Chang'e missions was impressive.

When all the recent progress in China's unmanned space program is considered, the idea of launching an advanced Mars mission within three years does not sound far-fetched. But China could elect to wait for another launch window, and refine some of its mission goals and hardware.

There are also ambitious feats in the works for China's lunar program, with a robot lunar landing expected in 2012. China is also planning its first small manned space laboratory, which should also receive its first crew in 2012. There's plenty of activity in the near future without going to Mars.

Even if China does not launch its second Mars mission in 2013, the very fact that it can be considered is instructive. It points to a growing confidence in China's spaceflight capabilities, and also gives hints to the type of hardware that would probably be used. As usual, time will reveal the answers to these questions.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_Goes_To_Mars_999.html.

EXTRA: Serra concedes defeat in Brazil: 'True fight' starts now'

Mon, 01 Nov 2010

Sao Paulo - Social democrat Jose Serra conceded defeat in Sunday's presidential runoff in Brazil, and he promised hard work as leader of the opposition to president-elect Dilma Rousseff and her ruling Workers' Party.

"We are only just beginning a true fight," he said.

"We will make our contribution to the country in defense of the homeland, of freedom, of democracy, of the right that all have to be heard when they talk, of social justice," he stressed.

The candidate of the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB), who on Sunday got barely 44 per cent of the votes to Rousseff's 56 per cent, sent wishes that his victorious rival will well serve the country.

He accepted the choice of the people "with respect and humility," he said.

Serra had already lost a presidential runoff in 2002, against current Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351278,true-fight-starts-now.html.

EXTRA: 'I'll know how to honor Lula's legacy,' Rousseff says

Mon, 01 Nov 2010

Brasilia/Buenos Aires - Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rousseff, 62, was self-confident Sunday after victory as the country's first-ever female president who will succeed hugely popular outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"The task of succeeding him is difficult and challenging. But I'll know how to honor his legacy. I'll know how to consolidate his work and build upon it," an almost tearful Rousseff said of her mentor in her first address as president-elect.

"I'll knock on his door a lot, and I'm certain that I'll always find it open," she stressed.

She was speaking to an auditorium filled with Worker Party (PT) officials.

In her speech, Rousseff highlighted her historic position as Brazil's first female president, and she expressed the hope that such a feat can be replicated in other walks of life including business.

"I would really like the fathers and mothers of girls to look today into their eyes and tell them, 'Yes, women can'!" she said.

Rousseff said her most "fundamental commitment" would be the eradication of poverty and the creation of opportunities for all.

She also expressed a commitment to economic development, despite current difficulties.

"In the short term, we will not have the pull of developed economies to boost our growth. For that reason, our own policies, our own market, our own savings and our own economic decisions become even more important," she said.

Still, Rousseff underlined her intention to remain open to the world, and to continue to demand "the end of the protectionism of rich countries, which prevents poor nations from completely fulfilling their vocations."

"In the multilateral sphere, it is necessary to establish clearer and more careful rules for the recovery of financial markets, limiting leverage and excessive speculation, which increase the volatility of capital and currencies.

"We will act firmly in international forums with that goal," she said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351274,lulas-legacy-rousseff-says.html.

Russian military leader injured in road accident: ministry

by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Oct 30, 2010

General Vladimir Shamanov, the controversial head of Russia's airborne forces, was injured in a road accident Saturday after a lorry was in a collision with his official car, officials said.

Shamanov's driver was killed in the accident, which happened near the city of Tula around 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of Moscow, said a statement from the local prosecutor's office.

Shamanov, 53, suffered serious injuries, including a concussion and a broken arm and leg, it added. Two other officers were also injured, it said.

A defense ministry statement said that while his injuries were relatively serious, his life was not in danger.

General-lieutenant Shamanov was transferred to hospital in Moscow, where he was visited by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russian news agencies reported.

Shamanov commanded Russian troops in the brief Russia-Georgia war in August 2008 and has led Russia's elite airborne troops since 2009.

He received a Hero of the Russian Federation decoration for his service in Chechnya, but human rights groups there have accused him of war crimes.

Last year he was reprimanded for abusing power after sending elite troops to prevent a raid on a factory owned by his son, who was wanted for attempted murder.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russian_military_leader_injured_in_road_accident_ministry_999.html.

Saudi minister visits Spain, reportedly for major tank deal

by Staff Writers
Madrid (AFP) Oct 29, 2010

Saudi Arabia's deputy defense minister will visit Spain next week, officials said Friday, and he is reportedly considering the purchase of Leopard 2E tanks for up to three billion euros.

Prince Khaled bin Sultan, Saudi deputy minister of defense and aviation, will meet King Juan Carlos on Monday, according to the Royal Palace's diary.

He will also see Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Tuesday, said a government spokesman, without giving details of their agenda.

Spain's leading El Pais daily this week said the Saudi minister may conclude the purchase of 200 to 270 Leopard 2E tanks for up to three billion euros (4.1 billion dollars), which would be a record deal for the country's defense export industry.

Spanish officials have not confirmed the report.

"There is still no contract. There is the possibility of an acquisition of combat tanks," said Raul Alvarez, spokesman for the defense sector of the major union Comisiones Obreras.

Alvarez said the contract could involve about 200 tanks.

Spain signed a military cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia in June 2008, seeking to strengthen relations particularly in training and scientific and technical cooperation.

Up to now cooperation has been focused on training Saudi pilots on the Eurofighter at southern Spanish air base of Moron.

Khaled is the de facto head of the defense ministry in the absence of his father, Saudi Crown Prince and Defense Minister Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, whose health has sparked concerns in recent years.

On Wednesday, Khaled said his father was in good health and taking his annual vacation.

Prince Sultan, minister of defense and aviation since 1962 and crown prince since 2005, left the country in November 2008 to undergo surgery in the United States and then to convalesce in Morocco, returning in December 2009.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Saudi_minister_visits_Spain_reportedly_for_major_tank_deal_999.html.

Swedish parties agree on Afghan troop mission extension

Mon, 01 Nov 2010

Stockholm - Sweden's minority center-right government and two opposition parties Monday announced they had agreed on terms for prolonging the Swedish troop deployment in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's government is two seats shy of a majority in parliament and needs backing from the opposition to extend the mission for Sweden's 500-strong force in Afghanistan.

With the agreement in place, the government can this week present its bill on the force's mandate.

Reinfeldt recently opened talks with Mona Sahlin, leader of the opposition Social Democrats.

The premier, Sahlin and Peter Eriksson of the opposition Greens were to present details of the deal later Monday.

Five Swedish nationals have been killed in the Afghan conflict.

The agreement Monday did not include the Left Party that said they stood by their demand that Sweden should begin to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in 2011.

The Swedish parliament in 2009 voted to set a maximum of 885 Swedish troops for deployment in Afghanistan. That decision was backed by the Social Democrats and the Greens.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351322,afghan-troop-mission-extension.html.

Hamas: There is no al-Qaeda presence in Gaza

Mon, 01 Nov 2010

Cairo - Al-Qaeda has no presence and it is also not wanted in the Gaza strip, a minister in the Hamas government told the regional daily al-Hayat Monday.

"We have closed all loopholes, and we do not wish to deal with al- Qaeda," Fathy Hammad, Gaza's Interior Minister, told the paper.

"We are moderates and we value that, we do not like extremists or fanatics," the minister said.

"We don't need jihad fighters or weapons...whoever wants to support us sends us money," Hammad added.

Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, took complete control over the Gaza Strip in 2007, ousting the more secular leaning Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351330,no-al-qaeda-presence-gaza.html.

Ahmadinejad congratulates Brazil's Rousseff on election victory

Mon, 01 Nov 2010

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday congratulated Dilma Rousseff on her victory in the presidential runoff in Brazil, official news agency IRNA reported.

"I am certain that during your presidential term, the course of progress and development in Brazil will continue," Ahmadinejad said in his message to his new Brazilian counterpart.

Ahmadinejad said he hoped that the friendly ties developed between Iran and Brazil during the presidential term of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would not only continue but be further strengthened under Rousseff.

As Iran has found itself increasingly isolated internationally over its nuclear program, which many fear aims to produce weapons, its relationship with Brazil has strengthened.

Earlier this year, Brazil and Turkey put together an ultimately unsuccessful offer to process nuclear fuel on Iran's behalf. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes only.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351321,brazils-rousseff-election-victory.html.

PFLP fighters: We attacked Israeli forces in Gaza

01/11/2010

GAZA (Ma'an) -- The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said Monday that its fighters shelled Israeli forces east of Al-Maghazi, in the central Gaza Strip.

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said in a statement that its forces fired two 90 millimeter mortar rounds at an Israeli military installation in the area at 5:45 AM on Monday.

No fighters returned safely to their bases the statement added. The group also vowed to continue its response to what it called the "crimes and schemes occupiers and settlers against the Palestinian people."

An Israeli military spokesperson denied the report.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329678.

Women's voices have to be heard - Queen Rania

AMMAN (JT) - Her Majesty Queen Rania on Sunday checked on the Jordan River Foundation (JRF) community empowerment programs at Al Karma Center in Jabal Natheef.

Her Majesty also met with women beneficiaries from the Bani Hamida and Al Rayyan projects.

"A woman's voice is very important and has to be heard, whether through electoral participation or in Parliament itself," the Queen said, stressing the importance of women's civic engagement.

She also expressed her pride in their work and their role in changing society's view of women.

Commending the women beneficiaries' work, Her Majesty said they are "role models" for other women, especially in their ability to generate income and help their families, and prove to others a woman's ability to bring about positive change.

The women shared with the Queen the impact that their participation in the JRF programs has had on their lives, their income and their own views of their contributions to society.

The Queen toured the center's facilities, starting with the assembly line kitchen, where 10 women were taking a cooking course. This year, the kitchen was renovated and expanded by the International Relief and Development Organization, which partnered with JRF to train women on cooking and marketing. In addition, chefs from Amman's most well-known hotels regularly give the women supplementary training.

Her Majesty also visited the center's handicrafts workshop where women cut materials, assemble, process, draw, outline and label items that will be sold at the JRF showroom.

Initiated in 1988, the Jordan River Designs Project now operates under the umbrella of Al Karma Center.

The project employs 24 people at the center, and two others at the Wadi Rayyan project.

Both projects contract 255 women as direct beneficiaries to embroider traditional and contemporary home furnishings, gift items and fashion accessories. These women benefit another 849 women as indirect beneficiaries.

1 November 2010

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/?news=31429.

Somali-American becomes new prime minister of war-ravaged Somalia after lawmakers' approval

By Salad Duhul (CP)

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia's parliament on Sunday approved a Somali-American as the country's prime minister, but some are already questioning whether he will be able to make a difference in the war-ravaged country under attack from al-Qaida-linked militants.

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who has taught at a community college in western New York, is now expected to name a Cabinet in the coming weeks.

The Somali government currently controls only a small part of the capital, Mogadishu. It has accomplished little since its inception in 2004 and the country hasn't had a fully functioning government in nearly two decades.

"Somalia is not America," Amina Nur, a mother of seven children, told The Associated Press referring to Mohamed's time spent in the U.S.

"Like many overseas Somalis that came from Western countries after the collapse of the government in 1991 and are now parliamentarians and government officials, he doesn't know the difficult situation of the country and cannot lead an effective Cabinet in the terms of the setting a comprehensive security plan to combat al-Shabab and terrorists," Nur said.

Mohamed was nominated on Oct. 14 by President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed but the vote on the nomination was delayed several times because of a disagreement between the president and the speaker over procedure. The president wanted lawmakers to vote by a show of hands, while the speaker preferred a secret ballot.

Lawmakers voted by a show of hands 297-92 on Sunday in favor of Mohamed, said Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden, speaker of the transitional parliament.

Mohamed worked in the Somali Embassy in Washington from 1985 to 1988, according to the government's website. He has taught conflict resolution and leadership skills at Erie Community College in western New York and has a master's degree in political science from the State University of New York at Buffalo, according to his resume.

Al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab and allied Islamic militants have been trying for three years to overthrow the government. The militants control much of the capital, Mogadishu, and southern Somalia.

A former governor of one of Somalia's southern regions, Qasim Mohamed Nur, said the new prime minister may succeed where his predecessors have failed because he does not carry any political baggage and is from the country's south, where al-Shabab holds sway.

"I think if he gets support of the Somali people and government officials he would succeed to lead his cabinet on the best way to liberate much of the southern regions from al-Qaida and al-Shabab militias," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Hamas: PA detains 6 supporters in West Bank

01/11/2010

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority forces detained three Hamas supporters in the West Bank, the Islamist movement said in a statement on Monday.

The statement said the six were arrested in Nablus, Hebron, Qalqiliya, and Tulkarem.

Hamas says the Fatah-dominated PA is engaged in an ongoing political crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank. The PA denies arresting people for political reasons.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=329626.

Gul in Yemen next January, Turkish envoy says

[31/October/2010]

SANA'A, Oct. 31 (Saba) - Turkish ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Donamaz announced a visit of Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Yemen on January 2011, the GPC-run almotamar.net has reported.

During a celebration organized by the Turkish embassy in Sana'a on the National Day, Donamaz said that Gul's visit to Yemen would enhance the relations between Yemen and Turkey.

The Yemeni-Turkish economic relations are growing incessantly. The commercial exchange between the two countries reached last year $83 million, the Turkish diplomat said, pointing to efforts to enlarge the commercial exchange volume up to $1 billion in the near future.

Minister of Trade and Industry Yahya al-Mutawakel hailed the Turkish roles supporting Yemen and its issues.

The last visit of the Turkish businessmen has reflected the deep-rooted relations between Yemen and Turkey.

Source: Saba Net.
Link: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news227763.htm.

Turkish president condemns bomb attack in Istanbul

November 01, 2010

Turkish President Abdullah Gul Sunday strongly condemned the suicide bomb attack in the Taksim Square in Istanbul, according to a presidential statement obtained by Xinhua.

Gul expressed his profound sorrow after 22 people, including 10 policemen, were injured when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb wrapped around his body in Istanbul's central Taksim Square.

"I strongly condemn this heinous attack. Fortunately, the attack did not cause any loss of live. All segments of our society, regardless of their political views, should display a solid stance and condemn terrorism after such a cruel and inhuman act of terror, " said Gul.

"It is essential to develop international fight against terror. Such acts of terror do not serve efforts to resolve issues in a period in which democracy and freedom are improving, everybody has mobilized to find solutions to problems and our people display their will to live in peace and tranquility," the president added.

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a visit to the southeastern province of Mardin, reiterated Sunday that Turkish government "will never allow those who aim at disturbing Turkey's stability and security," he told the reporters.

"Such attacks will not prevent us from fulfilling our goals of unity and development. Our unity and solidarity will be the best response." Erdogan addressed.

Source: Xinhua

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/7183372.html.

Yemen frees parcel bomb suspect

Student freed from custody as Saudi bombmaker emerges as key suspect behind bombs found in US-bound cargo.

01 Nov 2010

Yemen has freed a woman suspected of mailing two parcel bombs destined for the US, saying she has been a victim of identity theft.

"Authorities concluded that this was a case of stolen identity by an individual who knew the detained suspect's full name, address and telephone number," a Yemeni official said on Sunday.

Hanan al-Samawi, a 22-year-old student, had been detained a day earlier after she was tracked down through a telephone number left with a cargo company.

But when the shipping agent was called in to identify her, he said she was not the right person. Al-Samawi is now on bail, along with her mother who was also detained.

"Thank god she's been released. The problem is over. The truth is revealed," Mohamed al-Samawi, Hanan's father, said.

The packages, found at a UK airport and in a cargo terminal in Dubai on Friday, were addressed to Jewish synagogues in Chicago.

Theresa May, the British home secretary, said the bomb discovered on the plane that landed in the UK was powerful enough to bring down the aircraft.

A US official and a British security consultant said the device, hidden in a printer cartridge, was sophisticated enough that it nearly slipped past British investigators even after they were tipped off.

Saudi suspect

A US official said Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, a Saudi bombmaker believed to be working with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is now a key suspect in the plot.

Al-Asiri, who tops a Saudi Arabian terrorism wanted list, is the brother of a suicide bomber killed last year in a bid to assassinate Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the Saudi counterterrorism chief.

The latest bomb plot, as well as the failed attack on a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009, involved the use of pentaerythritol trinitrate (PETN), a highly potent explosive which is difficult to detect in security screenings.

At least one of the packages sent from Yemen contained PETN.

"The individual who has been making these bombs ... is a very dangerous individual, clearly somebody who has a fair amount of training and experience," John Brennan, the White House counterterrorism adviser, told ABC News.

"We need to find him. We need to bring him to justice as soon as we can."

Brennan also said evidence suggested the same person constructed the Yemen parcel bombs and the device worn by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who attempted to ignite a bomb in the Christmas Day attack.

Yemeni security officials said they are searching for al-Asiri, who is believed to be in Marib province.

Al-Qaeda's Saudi and Yemeni branches merged in January 2009 to form Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula under the leadership of Nasser al-Wahishi, a former aide to Osama bin Laden who staged a dramatic jail break from a Yemeni prison with 22 others in 2006.

In the past year, the organization has emerged as "one of the most dangerous branches of al-Qaeda", according to a US assessment.

The organization calls for the overthrow of the Saudi and Yemeni governments and has carried out a string of brazen attacks against local security forces.

Although the number of hard core al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen is only believed to number in the low hundreds, they are aided by sympathetic local tribes who see the central government as corrupt and oppressive.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2010/11/201011151839626796.html.

Khadr gets 40-year prison sentence

Canadian citizen and former child soldier will serve only eight more years under plea bargain.

31 Oct 2010

A former child soldier in Guantanamo Bay has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing an American solider on an Afghan battlefield.

But Omar Khadr will only serve eight years as a result of a plea bargain struck with the US military tribunal trying him.

Khadr pleaded guilty to killing the soldier when he was 15, along with other terrorism charges, in exchange for an assurance that his sentence would be capped at eight years.

Even so, a seven-member military panel deliberated for almost nine hours before reaching the decision to hand Khadr a forty-year sentence.

US Army Colonel Patrick Parrish, the judge in the case, said that Khadr would serve another year at Guantanamo, and would then be transferred to Canada for the remainder of his sentence.

Khadr has already spent eight years at US-run prison camp at Guantanamo Bay after being captured, wounded, at the scene of a firefight between US forces and al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan.

Guilty of murder

During the battle, Khadr says he threw a grenade that killed a US soldier. He pleaded guilty to murder in violation of the laws of war, providing material assistance to a terrorist organization and espionage.

Human rights groups have been hugely critical of his treatment, pointing out that he was only a child when his father took him to Afghanistan to undergo al-Qaeda training.

His lawyer had called for Khadr to be sentenced to two additional years to the time he has already served, and said that his years in Guantanamo have permanently damaged him.

"There is no deradicalization program in Guantanamo," Lieutenant-Colonel Jon Jackson said, recalling a psychiatrist who testified that Khadr was beyond redemption and a danger to society.

Al Jazeera's John Terrett, reporting from Washington DC, said that the case had attracted a lot of media attention.

"It's a series of firsts and onlys. Omar Khadr was the only child soldier in Guantanamo Bay," he said.

"He's the only Canadian. He's the last Westerner left there, and he's the only one charged with murder in a battlefield situation."

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/10/20101031221056245624.html.

King condemns Istanbul bombing

2010-10-31

AMMAN- His Majesty King Abdullah II on Sunday condemned the terrorist attack which targeted the Turkish city of Istanbul and left dozens injured.

In a cable sent to Turkish President Abdullah Gul, the King expressed solidarity with the Turkish people and said Jordan will stand by Turkey to overcome this attack and counter terrorism in all its forms.

King Abdullah wished the injured a speedy recovery.

Source: Ammon.
Link: http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=10403.

Indonesian volcano unleashes new powerful eruption

By SLAMET RIYADI, Associated Press

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia – Indonesia's most volatile volcano — one of 22 being closely watched following an increase in activity — unleashed its most powerful eruption in a deadly week Monday, spewing searing clouds of gas and debris thousands of feet (meters) into the air. There were no immediate reports of new casualties.

Hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the west, a break in weather was helping rescuers get aid to victims of an 18-foot (six meter) -high tsunami that slammed into several remote islands, sweeping entire villages to sea.

The twin disasters, occurring simultaneously on opposite ends of the seismically charged country, have killed nearly 500 people in the last week, while severely testing the government's emergency response network.

In both cases, the military has been called in to help.

Almost all villagers living along Mount Merapi's rumbling slopes have been evacuated, some forcibly by camouflaged troops, though many have insisted on returning to their homes during the day to check on livestock and crops.

The latest eruption was accompanied by several deafening explosions.

As massive clouds spilled from the glowing cauldron and billowed into the air — with no sign of slowing nearly two hours after the blast — debris and ash cascaded nearly two miles (six kilometers) down the northeastern slopes, said Subrandrio, who is monitoring activity at the mountain that has already killed 38 people.

More than 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the west, boats and helicopters were ferrying aid to the most distant corners of the Mentawai Islands, where last week's tsunami destroyed hundreds of homes, schools, churches and mosques.

A military helicopter evacuated badly injured survivors who had languished in an overwhelmed hospital with only paracetamol to ease their pain, said Ade Edward, a disaster management official. Among those evacuated was a baby girl born in a shelter after the tsunami and a 12-year-old girl with a life-threatening chest wound.

A C-130 transport plane, six helicopters and four motorized longboats were ferrying food and emergency supplies.

Relief efforts were brought to a halt Saturday by stormy weather and rough seas but picked up on Sunday and Monday.

"We're really glad to finally see the relief workers, doctors and rescue teams able to reach devastated areas," Edward said, adding that two navy ships arrived with many more police and soldiers deployed to speed up relief efforts.

The tsunami death toll had reached 450 by Monday, said Nelis Zuliastri from the National Disaster Management Agency.

Indonesia, a vast island nation of 235 million people, straddles a series of fault lines and volcanoes known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The fault that ruptured one week ago, running the length of the west coast of Sumatra island, also caused the 9.1-magnitude quake that unleashed a monster tsunami around the Indian Ocean in 2004, killing 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Twenty-two of the country's 190 volcanoes were rumbling and spewing out clouds of ash Monday — all after being raised to the second- and third- highest alert levels, mostly within the last week — although it was not clear whether that was in any way linked to the recent quake or Merapi's eruption.

"Given the region and all the seismic activity, this isn't especially unusual," said Syamsul Rizal, a government volcanologist. But with temperatures constantly fluctuating, lava domes building up and collapsing, "it's as always, something to watch."

___

Associated Press writers Achmad Ibrahim in the Mentawai islands and Niniek Karmini, Irwan Firdaus and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.

Sudan urged to protect citizenship if south secedes

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's leaders must make clear they will safeguard the rights of southerners in the north and northerners in the south, whatever the outcome of a vote on southern independence, the Carter Center said on Saturday.

The US-based Center, the first observer mission to begin work on the plebiscite, said both sides must stop inflammatory rhetoric that has spread fear that millions of people could end up stateless if the south votes to secede.

Southerners are widely expected to vote for independence in the referendum, scheduled for January 9. The vote is part of a 2005 peace deal which ended Africa's longest civil war, in which some two million people died, mostly from famine or disease.

The citizenship status of millions of southerners living in the north in the event of secession has not been made clear, nor has that of northern nomads who bring cattle into the south.

Khartoum's northern information minister said this month that southerners could lose their citizenship rights if the south secedes, sparking fear and confusion among southerners living in the north. The Carter Center said such comments could jeopardize the referendum itself.

"As Sudanese citizens, irrespective of the outcome of the referendum, they deserve the protection of the state, assurances of their citizenship, and unequivocal commitments that they will not be expelled in the wake of the referendum," it said in a statement released late on Friday.

"A lack of adequate accurate information in the public sphere could result in the spread of rumors and misinformation, creating anxiety or even endangering the process," it said.

The statement also said donors must quickly provide cash so that the commission planning the vote could keep to its ambitious timetable. Delays from donors and the Sudanese government in releasing cash had already disrupted the process.

"Any further delays in funding will severely impact the hiring, training and deployment of key staff and equipment. Any such setbacks could jeopardize a timely, credible referendum."

31 October 2010

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/?news=31411.

China launches national census

This once-a-decade process is being undertaken for the sixth time in the world's most populous country.

01 Nov 2010

China has kicked off its once-a-decade census that will see six million census takers go door-to-door to document the massive demographic changes taking place in the world's most populous country.

The census takers began their whirlwind head count on Monday and will conclude on November 10, with the the main data to be released at the end of April.

A 2000 tally put China's official population at 1.295 billion people.

In the 10 years since, there has been an extensive shift in the population base as millions of migrant workers have poured into urban areas from the countryside.

It is the sixth time China has carried out a national census but the first time it will count people where they live and not where their resident certificate, or hukou, is legally registered.

The change will better track the demographic changes and will find the true size of China's giant cities, the populations of which have up to now only been estimates.

Citizens' privacy concerns could be one of the biggest challenges for the census takers.

After years of reforms that have reduced the government's once-pervasive involvement in most people's lives, some Chinese may be reluctant to divulge personal information, harboring suspicions about what the government plans to do with their details.

Another complicating issue are children born in violation of the country's one-child policy, many of whom are unregistered and therefore have no legal identity. They could number in the millions.

The government has said it would lower or waive the hefty penalty fees required for those children to obtain identity cards, though so far it appears there has not been much response to the limited amnesty.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/11/201011141133201886.html.

Political change will come in Egypt - Baradei

VIENNA (AFP) - Former UN nuclear chief Mohammad Al Baradei blasted Egypt's "authoritarian" government and insisted political change was coming, in an interview Saturday with the Austrian daily Kurier.

"The more unpopular this regime becomes, the more it realizes how much it is hated, the most authoritarian it becomes," Baradei told the newspaper, according to a German transcription of the interview published on Saturday.

"That's untenable in the long term, change will come," the Nobel Peace Prize winner promised.

"The timing only depends on when people will be able to throw off this culture of fear that the regime has created."

Baradei, now an opposition figure who has campaigned for constitutional reform’s at home, said: "Egyptians have lived for so long in an authoritarian system, which tells them what they should or should not do, that they don't even know what democracy really means, what it would change."

But he saw hope in the younger generation.

"They haven't made arrangements with the system yet, they have their future before them. The so-called elite let itself be corrupted by the system a long time ago. It doesn't want any change."

Baradei also voiced regret that the Arab world had distanced itself from democracy.

"Democracy is not like soluble coffee, where you stir it and it's done. You have to educate people and we weren't raised for democracy," he added.

Baradei, who stepped down as director general of the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA in February, has called for constitutional amendments to allow independent candidates not affiliated to an existing party - such as himself - to run in Egyptian presidential elections next year.

He has also called for a boycott of next month's parliamentary polls.

31 October 2010

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/?news=31415.

Iranian opposition party allowed to resume activity

Sun, 31 Oct 2010

Tehran - The Iranian opposition party Etemad Melli (National Trust) has been allowed to reopen and resume its political activity, the party's deputy head said Sunday.

"The main office has been unsealed (by the judiciary) and we were told that we can resume our activity," Rassoul Montajabnia told ISNA news agency.

Etemad Melli is led by Mehdi Karroubi, a former parliament speaker and since last year one of the most vehement critics of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Karroubi and former prime minister Mir-Hossein Moussavi last year lost to Ahmadinejad in the presidential election but accused him and his government of fraud, refusing to acknowledge his re-election.

The two have since formed the main local opposition with Karroubi having made an informal coalition with Moussavi's Green Movement, considered as the main opposition bloc.

Etemad Melli's main office in Tehran and its branches in the provinces had been closed after the widespread political protests and unrest which follow last June's election.

The party's newspaper was also closed and the website filtered due to alleged propaganda against the establishment.

"Even if re-opened, we still have to evaluate what form of political activity we can at all pursue in the current situation," Montajabnia said, referring to the suppressive methods used against the local opposition following the political unrest.

Due to Karroubi's harsh criticism of Ahmadinejad and his government, including allegations that male and female post-election prisoners were raped in jail, resuming the party's activity as it was before the election seemed unrealistic.

Both Karroubi and Moussavi have stressed that the government must release all post-election prisoners, including more than hundred opposition activists, former reformist officials, journalists and students, who have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351250,party-allowed-resume-activity.html.

Rousseff elected Brazil's first female president - 2nd Update

Sun, 31 Oct 2010

Rio de Janeiro - Ruling-party candidate Dilma Rousseff won Sunday's presidential runoff in Brazil and is to become the country's first-ever female president, according to official results.

With close to 95 per cent of the votes counted, Rousseff had over 55 per cent of the valid ballots, compared to 44 per cent of her rival, social democrat Jose Serra.

Her election means a continuation of the policies of popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who nominated his one-time chief of staff as the candidate of his Workers' Party (PT).

Earlier, an exit poll made by the private Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics (IBOPE) estimated that Rousseff would get 58 per cent of the valid votes to Serra's 42 per cent.

If the results are eventually confirmed, Rousseff, 62, would be inaugurated on January 1 with a four year mandate.

Rousseff already comfortably won the first round of the presidential election on October 3 with 47 per cent of the votes, but fell short of the more-than-half of all votes requirement to avoid a runoff.

An economist by training, she once also trained as a guerrilla fighter during Brazil's military dictatorship, and later made her mark as Brazil's energy minister and government chief of staff under Lula.

The hugely popular Lula, 65, is barred from serving more than two consecutive terms. He however pulled his weight behind Rousseff, who has vowed to build on her mentor's legacy.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351263,president-2nd-update.html.

PROFILE: Economist and former militant Rousseff will lead Brazil

Sun, 31 Oct 2010

Rio de Janeiro - Dilma Rousseff, 62, a long-time left-wing activist who trained as a guerrilla in her youth, is to become Brazil's first-ever woman president on January 1.

The center-left Rousseff won Sunday's runoff with 56 per cent of the votes, to the 44 per cent of challenger Jose Serra, a social democrat.

She had been billed as the clear favorite after claiming strong backing from popular outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and being the top vote-getter in the first voting round.

The candidate of Lula's Workers' Party (PT), Rousseff is a veteran of politics even if this presidential election marked the first time she stood for office.

Lula, barred from serving more than two consecutive terms, actively campaigned for his one-time chief of staff - a decision which was not universally greeted. Critics denounced her for lack of political experience and history in the party itself.

Few expect her to deviate from Lula's path, which has brought Brazil onto the world stage and into a thriving economy.

"My proposal is to continue the policies of the Lula government and to build on them," Rousseff says.

During a tough campaign, Serra accused Rousseff of being a mere puppet and having "no ideas."

The daughter of a Bulgarian-born poet-businessman and a Brazilian schoolteacher, Rousseff left her strict Catholic schooling behind when she joined a Marxist group at 17, during the heavy years of the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985).

Radical guerrilla training followed with the Command of National Liberation, attracting the attention of the political police. She went underground in 1969, was captured, tortured and held prisoner for two years.

She was resilient when released, pursuing her economics degree in 1977 from Rio Grande do Sul Federal University and re-entering the world of politics - this time with the Democratic Workers' Party (PDT).

Using her political and managerial skills, she rose to serve several offices as provincial minister in the fields of finance, energy, mining and communications in Rio Grande do Sul in the '80s and '90s.

Soon after joining the PT in 2001, she met Lula at a meeting with energy sector experts and was named his energy minister when he took office in 2003, putting her in charge of one of the most vital economic sectors of the South American country, which is energy self- sufficient through the combined use of biofuels and fossil fuels.

Rousseff is tough - she survived lymphatic cancer last year - and she is set to govern with a ruling-coalition majority in both houses of the Brazilian Congress.

However, she will face the challenge of a likely power struggle among PT factions and between the party and its allies, including the powerful centrist Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement.

She has one child, Paula, born to fellow activist and lawyer Carlos Araujo.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351264,militant-rousseff-lead-brazil.html.