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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Malaysian police launch manhunt for Nigerian escapees

Thu, 11 Nov 2010

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian police have launched a manhunt to track down two Nigerian men who escaped while being escorted to the airport for deportation, officials said Thursday.

The suspects were riding in an immigration department vehicle en route to Kuala Lumpur International Airport late Wednesday when they escaped during a stop at a petrol station.

The duo, along with a Palestinian man, were due to be deported after they were caught with expired travel documents.

The two immigration officers who were accompanying the suspects have since been suspended pending investigation, secretary-general of the home ministry Mahmood Adam was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.

A manhunt has been launched to track down the Nigerian men, who fled while still in handcuffs, he said. The Palestinian national did not follow them and has been deported.

Mahmood said police have photographs and thumbprints of the Nigerians.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353025,launch-manhunt-nigerian-escapees.html.

End of Mount Merapi eruptions difficult to predict, expert says

Thu, 11 Nov 2010

Yogyakarta, Indonesia - It remained difficult to predict when the eruptions of Mount Merapi would ease, a vulcanologist said Thursday, as the Indonesian volcano kept spewing clouds of hot ash from its crater.

"We will cooperate with the Indonesian experts to measure the volume of magma of Mount Merapi. We do not know how much magma is left," Masato Iguchi, a vulcanologist of Japan's Kyoto University, said at the Center of Investigation and Technology Development in nearby city of Yogyakarta.

"Until now, the activities of Mount Merapi were still volatile. Eruptions are still ongoing, so we cannot downgrade the volcano's alert status," said Surono, head of the Center of Vulcanology and Geological Mitigation Agency. Like many Indonesians he uses only one name.

The National Disaster Management Agency has raised the death toll to 191 since the volcano began erupting on October 26 with nearly 600 others injured. More than 300,000 residents were displaced.

As many as 233 people were still reported missing, an official of the Yogyakarta police's disaster victim identification team said.

Rescue chief Suseno said the next search would be focused on the area along Gendol river, from which many people were still missing. Efforts to look for at least 20 people in Glagah Malang, a hamlet in Sleman district, had been halted as the volcanic ash blanketing the area was still hot.

"We will resume our search and evacuation efforts on Friday with the hope the ash will much cooler," said Jimmy Ramoz, spokesman of a rescue team from Indonesia's army special forces.

Japan also sent a team of doctors to help survivors dealing with respiratory illnesses, while vulcanologists from the United States and France are monitoring the activities of Mount Merapi.

Surono said Merapi was a natural laboratory for researchers.

The 2,968-meter volcano's deadliest eruption on record occurred in 1930 when 1,370 people were killed. At least 66 people died in a 1994 eruption, and two people were killed in 2006, the latest eruption before Merapi rumbled back to life last month.

Indonesia has about 500 volcanoes, nearly 130 of them active and 68 classified as dangerous.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353027,difficult-predict-expert-says.html.

Case of Iranian woman on death row not out of investigation phase

Thu, 11 Nov 2010

Tehran - Iran's prosecutor general said Thursday that the case of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, who faces the death sentence, had not moved out of the investigation phase.

"More time is needed to finalize the Mohammadi-Ashtiani case and reach a final verdict," Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejehi told the official news agency IRNA.

Mohammadi-Ashtiani, 43, was first arrested on charges of adultery, for which, according to Iran's laws, she would have faced stoning.

She was later charged as an accomplice in the murder of her husband. If convicted on that charge, she would face execution by hanging.

"It is quite clear that the murder charges against her will have priority over the adultery charges," the prosecutor said.

Mohammadi-Ashtiani's death sentence has triggered a wave of international protests.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353040,row-not-investigation-phase.html.

Thousands in Ramallah to honor Arafat six years after his death

Thu, 11 Nov 2010

Ramallah - Thousands of people began gathering at the Palestinian Authority's headquarters in Ramallah on Thursday to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the death of their leader, Yasser Arafat.

More were expected to arrive, as supporters of Arafat's Fatah movement were being bused in from all over the West Bank to the Mukata'a headquarters in the central city.

Many wore black shirts and the checkered Arab headdress that was one of Arafat's trademarks, waved Fatah and Palestinian flags, and held up portraits of the legendary leader, as members of the party's youth movement marched and chanted: "We are Fatah soldiers."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to address the crowd around noon.

Arafat, who spearheaded the Palestinian cause for some four decades, died on November 11, 2004 in a Paris hospital at the age of 75. He had suffered a stomach flue that led to complications, including a blood-clotting disorder and a stroke.

Suspicions that Israel poisoned Arafat prevail among Palestinians, although his Paris hospital records state that no traces of toxins, nor an enlarged liver or kidneys, were found.

The Palestinian leader spent his last two years under siege in his Mukata'a headquarters, after being declared an "obstacle to peace" by Israel for his simultaneous support of armed attacks and of peace negotiations. He was flown out to Paris after falling ill.

Hamas, the radical Islamist movement that is Fatah's arch rival, banned commemoration events in the Gaza Strip, which it controls.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353046,honour-arafat-six-death.html.

Myanmar Supreme Court rejects opposition leader's appeal - Summary

Thu, 11 Nov 2010

Yangon - Myanmar's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an appeal by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi against her latest detention, increasing the likelihood of her release this weekend, sources said.

Chief Justice Aung Toe rejected Suu Kyi's appeal in the military government's capital, Naypyitaw.

Suu Kyi had appealed a sentence of 18 months of house detention handed down by a criminal court in July last year for breaking the terms of her previous incarceration by allowing an uninvited US national to swim to her lakeside home-cum-prison in Yangon.

The sentence was due to expire Saturday because it began on May 13, 2009, when she was last arrested.

"With this court ruling, it is more likely that she will be released on Saturday," said a government official, who asked to remain anonymous.

Observers reasoned that if the court had accepted the appeal case, it would have dragged on, keeping Suu Kyi under house arrest for the duration.

Others were expecting the court to charge Suu Kyi, 65, with contempt and impose another detention period on her.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, has spent 15 of the past 20 years under house arrest.

"I think she will be released unconditionally, but we won't get the order until the last minute," the government official said.

Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Than Shwe is the only person empowered to order Suu Kyi's release.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win said Suu Kyi would never accept conditions to her release, and was expected to hold a press conference immediately if freed.

The international community has been calling for Suu Kyi's release either before or after the country's first election in 20 years, held Sunday.

The proxy party of the junta, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), was expecting to win by a landslide at the polls, which have been widely condemned for being neither free nor fair.

In Yangon, Naypyitaw and Mon State, the USDP won 141 of the 182 contested seats, or 77 per cent. The National Democratic Force (NDF), a breakaway faction of the NLD, won 12 seats in the three areas, or 6.5 per cent.

The final results have yet to be announced.

There have been widespread complaints against the USDP of vote-buying and tampering with advance votes to secure its victory.

"The regime may feel they can deflect international condemnation of the election by releasing Suu Kyi," said Win Min, a Myanmar political scientist in Bangkok.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353056,leaders-appeal-summary.html.

Shotgun-blasted koala makes miraculous recovery

Thu, 11 Nov 2010

Sydney - The shotgun-blasted baby koala that vets in Australia had given a slim chance of survival is likely to pull through.

"Frodo is now much brighter and alert and is moving around well in the intensive care unit," Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital veterinary surgeon Amber Gillett said in a statement Thursday.

"Frodo has made good improvements overnight and has started eating leaf on her own, which is a positive sign for her future."

Frodo was found last week at Jimna, near Brisbane, apparently blasted out of a tree with a shotgun. Next to the 16-month-old was her mother, dead from gunshot wounds.

Frodo took at least 15 pellets, which Gillett is removing in batches so as not to stress the 2-kilogram animal too much.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353063,koala-makes-miraculous-recovery.html.

اشتباكات بجنوب الأردن على خلفية الانتخابات

Iranian, Algerian presidents meet for talks in Algiers

AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held two hours of talks with his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika Saturday during a stopover in Algiers on route to New York for the UN General Assembly.

ALGIERS (AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held two hours of talks with his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika Saturday during a stopover in Algiers on route to New York for the UN General Assembly.

Ahmadinejad received full military honors on his arrival at Algiers airport, where he was received by Bouteflika, an AFP photographer at the scene noted.

The Algerian leader was accompanied by Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci.

The two leaders held two hours of talks at the airport's VIP section.

According to the Algerian news agency APS, Bouteflika was accompanied by Ouyahia, Medelci and the speaker of parliament Abdelaziz Ziari; with Ahmadinejad was Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

Following the talks, Ahmadinejad described relations between the two countries as "very good and in full development."

The two leaders have met several times in the past including Ahmadinejad's state visit to Algeria in January 2009.

Algerian press reports suggested that Algeria's ambassador to Tehran has had talks with Iran's Trade Minister Mehdi Qazanfari about developing trade -- and even a free trade accord -- between the two countries.

Iran is currently suffering under the international, UN-approved economic sanctions imposed on it because of its nuclear power program, which critics fear could have a military component.

Ahmadinejad flew into Algiers from Syria's Damascus airport, where he had had a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad.

He is due in New York where from Monday to Wednesday and he is to attend the UN General Assembly, a forum he has used in past years to blast arch-foe Israel.

Source: Iran Focus.
Link: http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21749:iranian-algerian-presidents-meet-for-talks-in-algiers.

Bouabdallah, "Air Algeria aircraft will land in European airports"

10 November, 2010

Algiers- the CEO of Air Algeria, Ouahid Bouabdallah, said after the meeting of member countries of the European Commission for aviation security "SAFA" in Brussels, the company aircrafts will land at all European airports as they represent no danger in these countries.

In a statement yesterday, to Ennahar, CEO of Air Algeria said that the European Commission "SAFA" has drawn a positive report on Algeria Airlines Company, and no aircraft will be prohibited from landing at European airports. This decision was expected given the positive report by the commission after the last visit of the maintenance facility at Air Algeria in Houari Boumediene International Airport.

Air Algeria feared SAFA decision because of attempts by the French civil aviation that would prohibit all landings of its planes at European airports, following the seizure of an Air Algeria aircraft September 30 transporting dangerous products.

July 5, a first ultimatum was issued, which could be read in the Official Journal of the European Union. Since January 2009, checks carried out by SAFA inspectors from the European civil aviation during stopovers at airports, show "deficiencies in the areas of safe transport of goods, airworthiness and aircraft operations and of flight crew licensing.

Ennahar / Habiba Mahmoudi

Source: Ennahar.
Link: http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/news/5172.html.

Algeria and the US to launch a 3-year military program, McMillan

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Joseph McMillan preferred not to comment on demands of Algeria related to purchasing US made military equipments, saying Algeria wants to get access to new technologies and training methods in the frame of war on terror.

Speaking at a press conference at US Embassy in Algiers, McMillan said US government has adopted a “very clear position” regarding the criminalization of the payment of ransoms, adding that “no concession should be made to terrorist groups.”

He further assumed that that “We must now take up the challenge of making the international community approve this approach as proposed by Algeria.”

McMillan's press conference was organized at the end of the 4th session of Algeria-US military dialogue, which recommended developing military and technology cooperation between the two countries.

This session was co-chaired by the Secretary General of National Defense Ministry, Major-General Ahmed Sanhadji, as co-chairman of Algeria-US Military Dialogue, and the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Joseph McMillan.

McMillan revealed, so far, that the Algeria and the US are bounded to a three-year military cooperation program, starting as by 2011.

As far as the controversy over the intervention of foreign forces in the Sahel region to track-down terrorists, McMillan said: “this issue is being discussed between concerned countries; yet there won’t be any military intervention of a foreign force only in a case of absolute necessity”.

11-11-2010

Source: El Khabar.
Link: http://www.elkhabar.com/quotidienFrEn/lire.php?ida=223409&idc=111.

BANGLADESH: Rohingya youth hunger for education

10-11-2010

KUTUPALONG, (IRIN): Ask any one of the 18,000 Rohingya youth at two government-run refugee camps in Bangladesh what they want most, the answer is unequivocally the same: education.

"Our future is blind without education," said Sayed Alam, a lifelong resident of Kutupalong camp, one of two official camps set up to house 28,000 documented Rohingya refugees, 300km southeast of the capital Dhaka.

"Without a proper education I'm nothing," the 17-year-old said.

Apart from primary education classes, members of this Muslim and linguistic minority who fled Myanmar en masse starting in 1991, have little hope of going any further.

Under Article 22 of the International Refugee Convention contracting states shall accord to refugees treatment as favorable as possible with respect to education other than elementary education. Bangladesh is not a signatory.

The Bangladesh government does not permit secondary schools in the camps so boys like Sayed have no choice but to study on their own at home - if at all.
Officially barred from leaving the camps, formalized education essentially comes to a halt for Rohingya youth around the age of 12, presenting a major dilemma for those struggling to assist them.

"Without this community receiving education and opportunity, it's a generation lost," Arjun Jain, a senior protection officer at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Dhaka, told IRIN.

UNHCR believes life skills for self-reliance - education, vocational and income-generating skills, as well as civic awareness - are an integral part of any long-term solution for the Rohingya, one of the most protracted refugee situations in the world today.

Long-standing problem

According to a joint UN assessment of the camp in June, education for the Rohingya remains a key concern.

Over 70 percent of heads of households in the two camps (the other is at Nayapara, further south) have no formal education, while only 18 percent received any primary education, a 2009 Action Against Hunger (ACF) survey cited in the report revealed.

Just 3 percent had attended any secondary education (six or more years of education as opposed to five for primary), the assessment found.

Primary school was first informally allowed in the camps in 1999, but it was not until 2008 that it was formalized.

With support from the UN Children's Fund and NGO Training and Management International (TAI), some 21 primary schools now operate in the camps, including 11 in Kutupalong and 10 at Nayapara, employing more than 150 teachers, half of whom are also refugees.

Of the more than 9,000 students currently enrolled, close to half are girls, with attendance running at around 80 percent.

But despite these successes, advocating anything beyond primary school in the camps remains problematic.

The UN joint assessment "strongly supported continued advocacy for access to higher grades to be made available". However, implementing such a recommendation creates a dilemma.

Surrounding communities also poor

Anti-Rohingya sentiment within surrounding communities, many of which lack basic services as well, is already high, so providing assistance to those inside the camp without taking on board the needs outside would be a mistake, aid workers warn.

Around Cox's Bazar District, one of the poorest regions of the country, where the two camps are located, many Bangladeshi families also face difficulty in terms of health and education services, Chris Lewa, an expert on Rohingya issues with the Arakan Project, said.

"There is so much need for the population around the refugee camps, who are slightly better off, but there is very little difference," Lewa said.

At the same time, Bangladeshi authorities insist any further assistance to the Rohingya - documented or otherwise - would also serve as a magnet for Rohingya across the border; and the authorities are ill-prepared to address any new influx from Myanmar on their own.

Since mid 1992, UNHCR has not been permitted to register newly arriving Rohingya.

According to a report earlier this year by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), more than 200,000 undocumented Rohingya struggle to survive - unrecognized and largely unassisted in surrounding towns and villages in the area. Nearly 30,000 live along the periphery of Kutupalong camp.

If additional interventions are to be successful, the needs of undocumented Rohingya as well as those of the surrounding Bangladeshi communities, must also be taken into consideration, aid workers say.

"What we would like to see is all marginalized communities have access to better education," Jain said, adding: "We are going to have a generation of people who are not properly educated and not fully skilled. This is one reason we also would like to see refugee students allowed to attend secondary schools outside the camps."

To date, the UNHCR has already pumped some US$250,000 into schools outside the camps, and funded various healthcare projects.

Source: The Muslim News.
Link: http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/news.php?article=19044.

Rohingya fear reprisals for NDPD victory

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Buthidaung, Arakan State: Villagers have accused township officials of harassment for not supporting Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidates in Sunday’s national election, according to an election watchdog group in Maungdaw.

Voters from Buthidaung say they have been threatened by Major Sein Win, commander of the Burma’s border security force in Area 9 because they voted for candidates of the National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD).

Despite reports of widespread voter irregularities and violations of election laws, NDPD candidates won more than 80 per cent of the vote in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships.

The authorities of villages also threatened the villagers and told them to support the USDP.

“Zainal Begum, Nurulnar and two other women were put in the stocks by Ngan Chang village authority chairman, Musa for refusing to vote USDP on the election day,” said a local from the said village.

A clash between voters and voting booth attendants occurred in Myint Hlut village, where residents tried to vote for NDPD candidates but were forced to vote for the USDP.

“We tried to vote for the NDPD on the paper ballots, but they gave our vote to the USDP. Nasaka forces entered the area and fired warning shots, before forcing us to mark our ballots for the USDP,” said one resident of Myint Hlut village.

Another voter said an associate of Nasaka prevented entry to the polling station altogether.

“We were not allowed to enter by Syed Alam, a close associate of the Nasaka and a USDP supporter, because he said our votes had already been cast,” said a voter from Kyauk Hlaikhar (Dargadil) in northern Maungdaw.

Khin Zaw, an NDPD organizer from Kyetyoepin (Kyariprang), was arrested on charges of obstructing voting at a polling station, said the election watchdog group.

More than 100 people were detained in Maungdaw and Buthidaung before and after election day for their support of the NDPD, the group said.

“The NDPD must follow up on these arrests and seek the release of those in custody from police and Nasaka officials. They worked for the party, and the party is responsible for them,” said an elder from Maungdaw.

Authorities in Buthidaung have also reportedly told villagers that they could change their vote if they felt that they had cast their ballots mistakenly for NDPD candidates, according to an NDPD organizer, who added that some Rohingya voters were threatened that the community would face further restrictions of their rights if they didn’t vote for the USDP.

Meanwhile, winning candidates from the NDPD could see their victories stripped from them as election officials attempt to alter the number of votes cast in their favor, said a politician from Buthidaung.

An Election Commission official in Buthidaung said that NDPD candidates Mostafa Kamal, Abu Taher and Jahidullah won in the constituencies for which they contested in the election.

However, government authorities have tried to alter their vote counts by adding so-called advance-votes from the army and others to give more votes to their USDP opponents, the politician said.

Reports have also surfaced that election officials have deemed many ballots cast in favor of the NDPD to be “spoiled” ballots.

Leading USDP candidate Aung Zaw Win left Arakan State for Naypyidaw yesterday ahead of official election results.

Residents say they fear that he and his supporters within Burma’s ruling junta might find a way to reverse the success of the NDPD in Arakan State.

Despite such fears as well as no official announcement about election returns in Arakan State, the Election Commission in Maungdaw said that NDPD candidates had won 90 out of 105 village tracts in Sunday’s polls.

Source: BNI Online (Burma News International).
Link: http://bnionline.net/news/kaladan/9764-rohingya-fear-reprisals-for-ndpd-victory.html.

Malaysia to clamp down on rising number of foreign drug traffickers

Wed, 10 Nov 2010

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia will enlist the aid of international enforcement agencies to clamp down on rising numbers of foreign drug smugglers, a media report said Wednesday.

In the first nine months of 2010, 382 foreigners were arrested for suspected drug trafficking, a 70-per-cent increase over the same period last year, said Abu Seman Yusop, deputy home minister.

Myanmar nationals topped the list with 120 suspects, followed by 97 Iranians and 39 Thai nationals. Other nationalities included Indonesians and Nigerians, Abu told parliament.

He said the government was concerned over the increasing number of foreigners being used as drug mules, and promised to strengthen efforts to combat the trade. "These include stepping up cooperation with foreign enforcement agencies to exchange intelligence information and establishing a profile of suspected drug couriers flying into the country," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

He said police would also increase surveillance at international airports and borders.

Although drug trafficking carries the mandatory death penalty in Malaysia, smuggling is rampant as the country is used as a transit point to channel the drugs to neighboring South-East Asian nations.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352819,lily-allen-loses-baby-number-foreign-drug-traffickers.html.

Kashmir militants kill two Indian policemen

By MUKHTAR AHMAD | ARAB NEWS
Nov 10, 2010

SRINAGAR: Militants struck in broad daylight in a highway town in north Kashmir killing two Indian paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers.

Wednesday's strike came as Kashmir continued to remain in the throes of a civilian unrest since June 11 that has so far claimed 112 lives and left hundreds others wounded, some crippled for life.

A senior Indian paramilitary officer said militants fired shots from pistols at two troopers from a close range resulting in the death on the spot of a soldier while another who was hit in the head was taken to hospital for treatment where he succumbed.

He said the two troopers were part of a patrol party when militants fired at them from a close range in main market in Pattan town on the Srinagar Muzaffarabad highway.

"The area was cordoned for searches which, however, drew a blank," Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman of the CRPF, said.

He said militants escaped along with the weapons of the two slain troopers.

This is the first militant hit-and-run strike in Pattan town, 30 kms from capital Srinagar. The over five month long pro-independence unrest was triggered in the aftermath of the killing of a 17-year old student in capital Srinagar.

The continuing unrest saw a sharp decline in the militancy related incidents in Kashmir.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/world/article185729.ece.

Iraqi PM to stay on as political deadlock ends

By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press - Wed Nov 10

BAGHDAD – Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will return to power for another four-year term after Iraqi lawmakers working late into the night Wednesday agreed on a tentative deal to form a new government, lawmakers said.

The deal breaks an eight-month impasse that paralyzed the government, encouraged insurgent attacks and rattled potential foreign investors. The Sunni-backed secular coalition, which had vehemently opposed al-Maliki, finally resigned itself to serving in his government along with the other main political groups.

"Finally, fortunately, it's done. It's finished. All the groups are in it," said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman, who took part in the nearly seven hours of negotiations Wednesday following talks the previous two days.

An official in the Sunni-backed coalition, Iraqiya, also confirmed the deal. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

The deal involves concessions to both the Kurds and to Iraqiya, which is led by former prime minister Ayad Allawi. U.S. officials have worried that a government without the backing of minority Sunnis could spell a return to sectarian warfare.

The White House welcomed the development.

"The apparent agreement to form an inclusive government is a big step forward for Iraq," said Tony Blinken, national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, the administration's point man for Iraq. "All along we've said the best result would be a government that reflects the results of the elections, includes all the major blocs representing Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups, and that does not exclude or marginalize anyone."

But the return of al-Maliki to the premier's post underscores Iran's rising influence in Iraq at a time when American forces are leaving. It was Iran that engineered al-Maliki's recent endorsement by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who controls 40 seats in the new parliament. The two men, fellow Shiites, had been enemies in the past.

It was unclear what role al-Sadr and his hard-line Shiite faction might play in a new government — and whether al-Maliki's partnership with the Sadrists could derail pro-Western security and commercial policies.

One of the leaders of the Iraqiya coalition, Saleh al-Mutlaq, blamed Iran for al-Maliki's likely return to office.

"The pressure of Iran was too much," he said.

Lawmakers familiar with the negotiations described the general outlines of Wednesday's deal as follows:

Allawi's bloc will choose the parliament speaker. It was not known who that would be, but their pick was expected to be ratified when lawmakers meet Thursday for only the second time since the March 7 election.

The government will also create a new council with authority over security issues. That is intended as a concession to Allawi's coalition, which has pushed heavily for ways to reduce al-Maliki's power in exchange for offering its support.

But details apparently still need to be worked out, and it was not immediately clear that Iraqiya would end up controlling the council or that it will have real authority.

Allawi's bloc also won a concession to end the so-called de-Baathification law in two years, according to the Iraqiya official. The law regulates efforts to purge members of Saddam Hussein's former regime from government jobs. Sunnis detest the law because they consider it a thinly veiled attempt to keep them from power.

It was uncertain what role, if any, Allawi himself would play in the government. Othman said Allawi had signed off on the deal.

The Kurds, who have played the role of king-maker in Iraqi politics since the fall of Saddam, were granted their demand that President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, keep his largely ceremonial job.

Unclear, though, is whether the Kurds won any other concessions. They had wanted firm guarantees in exchange for their support, including a referendum to decide control of the oil-rich region around Kirkuk. The area lies just outside the Kurds' semiautonomous zone, but they are part of a three-way contest for influence along with ethnic Turks and central authorities in Baghdad.

The marathon negotiating session began with Iraqiya demanding the presidency but swiftly seeing their choices narrow. The Iraqiya official said the Shiites came in assured of the prime minister's post and the Kurds held firm to the presidency.

"They offered Iraqiya the speaker of the parliament and said: `Take it or leave it,' " he said. "We did not have a choice, knowing full well they will form a government with us or without us."

U.S. officials tried repeatedly to get the Kurds to give up the presidency in favor of Allawi — but to no avail, a sign of waning American influence.

Ever since the election, Iraqi lawmakers have tussled back and forth over who would lead the new government. Iraqiya was able to capitalize on widespread Sunni frustration to get 91 seats in the election, compared to 89 for al-Maliki's bloc.

But despite Iraqiya's bragging rights as the victor, it was never able to find the political partners it needed for a parliamentary majority. That paved the way for al-Maliki, who had to make peace with bitter rivals among fellow Shiites.

Al-Maliki came from political obscurity four years ago when he was chosen as a compromise candidate to lead the country at a time when Sunnis and Shiites were battling in the streets. He presided over a return to relative stability.

But his critics say he ruled with a heavy hand and grabbed too much power. His commitment to the rule of law was called into question with recent revelations of widespread abuse of prisoners by Iraqi security forces and reports that Iraqi forces ran a secret prison in Baghdad where Sunnis were allegedly tortured.

Wednesday's political deal came just hours after suspected Sunni militants took aim again at Baghdad's dwindling Christian community, setting off a dozen roadside bombs and sending terrified families into hiding behind a church where walls are still stained from blood from an attack nearly two weeks ago.

Five people were killed and 20 were wounded in the bombings and mortar attacks that targeted Christians across the city, police and hospital officials said. Iraqi Christians are already reeling after the earlier attack on a Sunday Mass service left 68 people dead, and many are now wondering whether it's time to leave their homeland.

At a house on the grounds of Our Lady of Salvation Church, Karim Patros Thomas was under no illusion that the community is under siege.

On Oct. 31, Thomas' brother-in-law bled to death on the church floor after militants stormed the building, shot congregants in the first row, held others hostage and then set off bombs when Iraqi forces came to the rescue. Then Wednesday morning, two bombs went off in quick succession outside his home.

"We are terrified," Thomas said, who sought refuge with his family Wednesday at the church. "I cannot go back to my house. They will attack again. They want to kill us."

___

Associated Press writers Barbara Surk and Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah contributed to this report.

Elections could be solution for headscarf issue, Turkish PM says

Wednesday, November 10, 2010
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said elections and a new Constitution will be crucial in providing a solution to the headscarf problem in Turkey.

“I consider the general elections and a new Constitution important to solving the headscarf problem. I think that with the new Constitution, the problem will be solved,” Erdoğan told reporters prior to his departure for South Korea on Wednesday.

“I am not inclined to make an individual statement on the definition of freedoms, as my belief in freedoms is different. We will prepare the new Constitution after the elections. Afterwards, there will be no need for such statements,” Erdoğan said, responding to journalists’ questions on First Lady Hayrünnisa Gül’s remarks on the headscarf in London.

Gül had said it was not acceptable for girls to wear the headscarf in elementary schools.

Asked to comment on whether a caricature portraying the main opposition party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in dancers’ clothing was acceptable within the limit of freedom of the press, Erdoğan said the cartoonists should be asked themselves.

“You didn’t say anything when the prime minister was portrayed as a cat and a dog. You were defending those at that time, saying that cartoonists do such things,” Erdoğan said. “The question should be asked to cartoonists. I can’t learn the limits of their freedom.”

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=pm-indicates-elections-for-solution-of-headscarf-problem-2010-11-10.

Jordan loyalists sweep election

Supporters of King Abdullah II win majority of seats in assembly, in poll boycotted by opposition Islamic Action Front.

10 Nov 2010

Loyalists of King Abdullah II have won a majority of seats in Jordan's next parliament, in an election that the opposition Islamic Action Front (IAF) boycotted in protest against electoral laws they said were unfair.

Tuesday's vote saw 763 candidates vying for 120 seats in the lower house of parliament, in which they will serve a four-year term.

Wednesday's official results showed that most of the house will be filled by loyalists and tribal-linked candidates likely to continue Abdullah's pro-Western policies.

The figures showed 17 of those elected were from opposition political parties, not including the IAF, and that 78 MPs were newcomers to the house.

Officials said the turnout was 53 per cent, but the IAF, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, disputed the figure, saying most voters had stayed away. Turnout in Amman, the capital, was just 34 per cent.

The outcome of the election ensures Abdullah will encounter little opposition in the legislature but there are signs of growing unrest on the streets.

Many Jordanians are grappling with poverty and are increasingly coming to resent the government's failure to confront Israel more forcefully over stalled Middle East peace efforts.

There were 53 violent incidents across the country during Tuesday's voting, including the killing of a 25-year-old man in a shootout in Imraeh, a small town near the southwestern city of Karak, between supporters of rival candidates.

Police in Amman had to use tear gas to disperse crowds of clashing political rivals.

There was a fresh round of clashes in Imraeh on Wednesday with no reports of injuries.

Flagging economy

Taher Masri, the president of Jordan's upper house, which is appointed by the king, said: "Voters have showed their desire for change by electing new faces, which is a positive thing.

"People chose those who are professional in public work, and they did not vote for those who have focused on their personal interests and not parliamentary work."

Among the winners were 20 former cabinet ministers, with many of the newcomers from Bedouin tribal families that form the bedrock of support for Abdullah.

"These are not new lawmakers; they're cabinet ministers, relatives of government officials or people the state wanted to win," said Subhi Abu Hamad, a 23-year-old street vendor, reflecting widespread pessimism that the vote would bring any change.

Jordan's flagging economy, the crawling pace of political reforms and the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace effort were some of the main campaign issues.

"The new deputies should work hard to improve the economy and help the poor find jobs to feed their children," said Nasser Khalayleh, a 39-year-old Amman bookkeeper .

The new parliament will help Abdullah keep a steady course on his central foreign policy goals: continuing his strong alliance with the US and limiting criticism of Israel.

Palestinian representation

About half of Jordan's six million people are of Palestinian families, displaced by Israel following two Middle East wars since 1948.

Nisreen el-Shamayleh, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Amman, said that since 1989, Jordanians of Palestinian origin in parliament have never exceeded 20 per cent.

She said Tuesday's elections had led to a sharp decrease in Palestinian representation in parliament down to around 12 per cent.

The IAF boycott surrounded an electoral law adopted in May that it said gave less weight to votes cast in areas where it has the most support.

Only one of its candidates, Ahmed Qudah - who went against the boycott and ran as an independent - won a seat in the new parliament.

The group had six seats in the previous parliament, its power far reduced from the majority it last held in 1989.

Hamza Mansour, the leader of the IAF, said the new parliament is "worse than the last one because many won through their family connections and by spending money to buy votes that could have been given to the poor".

'Credible' vote

The government agreed, for the first time, to allow 250 international observers to monitor the election alongside about 3,000 local representatives of non-government organizations.

The International Republican Institute, an organization funded by the US government, said in a statement that the vote was "credible, an improvement on previous elections and a significant step forward for the Middle East".

However, it also criticized the electoral law, saying: "There remains much room for improvement in Jordan's elections. Jordan's new election law should strengthen representation for all Jordanians.

"The over-representation of rural districts is accentuated by the controversial single non-transferable vote system, thus further diluting the representation of urban voters."

Jordan has been without a parliament since November 2009 when Abdullah dissolved a 2007 legislature and called an election two years early after press allegations about ineffectiveness and corruption among MPs.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/11/2010111011597439770.html.

Iran falls short in bid for UN Women panel - Summary

Wed, 10 Nov 2010

New York - Iran, often criticized for violating human rights of its citizens, on Wednesday lost in the election of 41 countries that will serve on the executive board of UN Women, a newly established umbrella organization in the United Nations.

Iran's candidacy had been challenged by human rights advocates, including Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The US also opposed Iran's joining the board.

Until the last minute, Iran was one of 10 candidates for Asia's ten seats on the board, raising expectations it would be a shoe-in for the board. But East Timor came forth as a candidate in the 11th hour and received enough votes to unseat Iran's bid.

Iran received only 19 votes while other Asian countries elected won more than 50 votes in the ballots conducted by the 54-member UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

US Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters following the vote that Iran "lost, and they lost handily."

"Several countries with less than stellar records on women rights and human rights were elected," Rice admitted when asked why the focus was on Iran while other countries, which abuse women rights, including Saudi Arabia, were elected.

Saudi Arabia joined the board, along with Norway, Spain, Britain, the United States and Mexico, in the traditional donor group of candidates.

Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian rights activist and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said Tuesday it would be "a joke" if Iran were elected to the panel.

"How can a country that handles women as second-class citizens and discriminates against them ... speak for the rights of women?" she asked at a press conference.

The board is comprised of 10 African countries, five Western European countries, 10 Asian countries, four from Eastern Europe, six from Latin America and the Caribbean, five from Western Europe and the six donors.

Asian countries elected are: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea and East Timor.

African countries are: Angola, Cape Verde, Congo, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Libya, Nigeria and Tanzania.

From Eastern Europe, Albania, Hungary, Estonia and Russia were elected.

The six Latin American and Caribbean nations are Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada and Peru. The Western Europeans are Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Sweden.

The 41 executives will serve from January 1, 2011, for two- or three-year terms, decided by drawing lots.

The election by ECOSOC was one of first steps to launch UN Women as the sole entity dealing with gender equality. The new agency, called UN Women, brings together four separate UN women-related organizations including UNIFEM (UN Development Fund for Women) and the office of the special adviser on gender issues.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352958,women-panel-summary.html.

New York museum to return Tutankhamun's tomb artworks to Egypt

Wed, 10 Nov 2010

New York - A breakthrough agreement has been reached between New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Egypt over the return of 19 ancient Egyptian objects that were found in ancient King Tutankhamun's tomb, the museum said Wednesday.

Thomas P. Campbell, director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, said jointly that the 19 objects are immediately Egyptian property.

"Research conducted by the Museum's Department of Egyptian Art has produced detailed evidence leading us to conclude without doubt that 19 objects, which entered the Met's collection over the period of the 1920s to 1940s, originated in Tutankhamun's tomb," Campbell said.

He said the agreement formally acknowledged that "title to the objects belongs to Egypt."

Hawass said the US museum has demonstrated a "wonderful gesture" by returning the objects.

"For many years the museum, and especially the Egyptian art department, has been a strong partner in our ongoing efforts to repatriate illegally exported antiquities," Hawass said.

The museum said the small objects - ranging from study samples to a 1.9-cm-high bronze dog and a sphinx bracelet-element - can be attributed "with certainty" to the tomb of King Tut, as he is affectionately known.

The tomb of the famed Egyptian boy king was discovered by British archeologist Howard Carter in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings.

The Egyptian government has decided to display the 19 objects in the Tutankhamun exhibition in New York's Times Square until January. The objects will then go back to The Metropolitan Museum of Art for exhibition in the Met's Egyptian collection for six months.

The objects will return to Egypt in June 2011.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352964,tutankhamuns-tomb-artworks-egypt.html.