The seed of a peach contains an almond-like nut containing the anti-cancer medicine laetrile

Monday, July 25, 2011
by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) Peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots and almonds are all closely related fruit trees with very similar pits. In all these fruits, the pit must be broken open to reveal the almond-shaped kernel within. In fact, this is what almonds actually are: the kernel within the pit of the fruit of the almond tree!

The kernels of all these species contain high concentrations of a chemical known as laetrile. It's also known as amygdalin or vitamin B-17. Research has shown that laetrile induces programmed cell death in cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. It's sort of like Mother Nature's chemotherapy except that it doesn't make you suffer the way man-made synthetic chemotherapy does.

Laetrile appears to work because the nutrient is actually composed of four separate molecules: two of glucose, one of benzaldyhide and one of cyanide. The latter two chemicals are toxic, but are bound up in a non-bioavailable form. Cancer cells contain an enzyme that healthy cells do not, known as beta-glucosidase. This enzyme actually breaks apart the component pieces of laetrile, and the cell is poisoned by a combination of benzaldyhide and cyanide. Healthy cells do not undergo this effect, which is why they remain unaffected by laetrile.

The medical establishment, learning about this natural "chemotherapy" that killed cancer cells and didn't even require a prescription, quickly began to attack it by spreading lies about the dangers of laetrile. The FDA, long an enemy of healing through nutrition, banned laetrile in 1971. Highly toxic chemotherapy substances, however, remain perfectly legal and continue to kill hundreds of thousands of people every single year. (Most people who "die from cancer" are actually killed by chemotherapy and radiation, not from the cancer itself. "Cancer survivors" are people who miraculously survive chemotherapy.)...

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/033123_laetrile_vitamin_B17.html.

Iraq aims for 200,000 bpd at al-Ahdab

BAGHDAD, July 25 (UPI) -- Oil production from the al-Ahdab field in southern Iraq could reach 200,000 barrels per day next year, the country's oil minister said.

Iraqi officials announced production started at the al-Ahdab field in Wasit province along the border with Iran. Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said oil production would increase from the current rate of 60,000 bpd to around 200,000 bpd next year, Bloomberg News reports.

China National Petroleum Corp. won production rights for al-Ahdab during November 2008 auctions. Field totals are estimated at around 1 billion barrels.

The Iraqi finance minister in May confirmed the first oil export payment to contractors in the Kurdish region. Kurdish Prime Minister Barham Salih said the federal government in Baghdad confirmed payment to the Kurdistan Regional Government for revenues derived from the export of 5 million barrels of oil early this year.

Baghdad doled out dozens of oil and gas contracts since 2003. The country is trying to ramp up oil exports to help stimulate an economy ravaged by pre-war economic sanctions.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/07/25/Iraq-aims-for-200000-bpd-at-al-Ahdab/UPI-45521311601765/.

'Potter' film franchise hits $7B marker

BURBANK, Calif., July 25 (UPI) -- The Harry Potter film franchise has crossed the $7 billion mark at the worldwide box office, Hollywood's Warner Bros. Pictures Group said.

The announcement was made by group President Jeff Robinov.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2," the final installment in the blockbuster movie series, earned $640.2 million worldwide in its initial week.

The success of the movie has propelled Warner Bros. Pictures' combined 2011 domestic box office past $1 billion for an 11th consecutive year, which is an industry record, the studio said.

"It is an extraordinary privilege for everyone at Warner Bros. to share in this piece of cinema history," Robinov said in a statement. "We are extremely grateful to the Harry Potter fans, who have remained loyal to the movies for more than a decade. We also want to congratulate the amazing roster of actors and filmmakers, whose artistry and talent is evident in every frame of every film. But special thanks must go to the woman whose incomparable imagination literally changed the world, Jo Rowling, [author of the Harry Potter books]."

Sue Kroll, Warner Bros. Pictures president of worldwide marketing, added: "Each film has inspired us creatively and it has been exciting to watch the evolution through eight remarkable movies. It has truly been the movie event of a generation, as Harry Potter fans who were there from the beginning have been joined by new fans over the years, and their enthusiasm -- as well as our own -- has never waned."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2011/07/25/Potter-film-franchise-hits-7B-marker/UPI-93721311597721/.

China launches largest dock landing ship

Beijing (UPI)
Jul 22, 2011

China has launched its largest amphibious dock landing warship, the 19,000 metric ton Jinggangshan, in Shanghai.

The 689-foot-long warship can carry 1,000 soldiers, helicopters, armored fighting vehicles, boats and landing craft, a report in the China Daily said.

The vessel is the second Type 071 dock landing ship built by Shanghai's Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding.

The first Type 071 dock landing ship, Kunlunshan, which has no helicopter capacity, was launched in December 2006 and commissioned into the Chinese navy in 2007.

By definition, the U.S. Navy says, an amphibious dock landing ship has a well deck and a ballast system that raises and lowers the vessel in the water. This allows small ships to move into the well and be dry-docked within the ship's well when the vessel is raised in the water.

Analysts said the introduction of both ships gives the Chinese navy a global reach that it hasn't had before. The ships can handle large troop accommodation as well as maintain smaller vessels in far off seas away from China's traditional closer-to-home waters.

In particular, a large helicopter flight deck at the stern of the Jinggangshan is enough to support the operation of two medium-size helicopters such as Z-8/AS-321 Super Frelon, analysts at GlobalSecurity.org said.

A vessel such as the Jinggangshan can be very useful in the South China Sea where China has been flexing its naval muscles this year over its territorial claims to the Spratly Island group.

The Spratly Islands -- the largest group -- lie off the southwestern coast of the Philippines as well as near the coasts of Brunei and Malaysia. China is one of the claimants, which include Vietnam and Taiwan. Philippines and Vietnam in recent months have complained of Chinese vessels encroaching upon their territorial waters near disputed islands.

The belief that the Jinggangshan might be used in the South China Sea is based on the fact that the home port of the first ship, the Kunlunshan, is at China's South Sea Fleet's headquarters at Zhanjiang Naval Base in Guangdong Province, GlobalSecurity.org said.

Analysts also have said the Jinggangshan looks similar to the U.S. San Antonio-class landing platform dock vessel. The Jinggangshan's cargo capacity is possibly as large of the U.S. Navy's Austin-class LPD.

"If this estimation was correct, the Type 071 LPD can carry a marine corps battalion, including 400-800 troops, 15-20 amphibious armored vehicles and their associated logistic supplies," GlobalSecurity.org said.

The consortium China State Shipbuilding and Trading Corp. reportedly has offered to build a modified version of the 071 LPD for the Malaysian navy.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/China_launches_largest_dock_landing_ship_999.html.

US forces to stop joint operations in Iraq's north

Tikrit, Iraq (AFP)
July 23, 2011

In one week US troops will cease joint operations with Iraqi and Kurdish forces, begun in early 2010 to dampen tensions between Kurds and Sunni Arabs in disputed northern zones, a US military official said on Saturday.

Colonel Michael Bowers said that from August 1, American forces will no longer be part of the trilateral operation.

"By August 1, they (operations) will be bilateral" between Iraqi Kurd and Arab forces, Bowers told AFP at the US Contingency Operation Base Speicher outside the city of Tikrit north of Baghdad.

He indicated that US troops would no longer be on the streets in the northern zones.

"Once they're all bilateral supervised, the only place we are is in the command and control centers," said Bowers, the strategist for Major General David Perkins, the Commanding General for the army's US Division North.

He said that out of 22 checkpoints across the disputed zones, 15 already had no US participation. He said seven checkpoints remained with an active US presence, which would stop at the end of this month.

"If something were to go wrong, obviously we could go help mediate," he added.

US forces began the tripartite operations with Kurdish and Iraqi army forces, that are dominated by Sunni Arabs, in the northern areas early last year. That marked a new chapter in the US military's role since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The US military, which currently has 47,000 troops in Iraq, began jointly manning checkpoints and carrying out security patrols in the provinces of Kirkuk, Nineveh and Diyala.

Apart from the oil-rich province of Kirkuk that is claimed by both Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdish government in the north, there are 11 other disputed territories in northern Iraq.

All US forces are scheduled to pull out of Iraq at the end of this year in accordance with a 2008 security pact.

American forces suffered their worst month in three years in June, when 14 soldiers were killed, mostly in rocket attacks that Washington says were launched by Iranian-backed Shiite insurgents.

Four US soldiers have been killed in attacks this month.

The spike in attacks against US troops comes as Iraqi leaders approach decision time on whether they want to maintain a contingent of soldiers after the end of 2011.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_forces_to_stop_joint_operations_in_Iraqs_north_999.html.

Algeria launches hybrid power plant

The opening of the world's first hybrid power station marks Algeria's full entry into the era of clean energy.

By Mohand Ouali for Magharebia in Algiers – 24/07/11

Algeria last week inaugurated the first-of-its-kind gas-solar hybrid power facility. The Hassi R'mel power plant in the Tilghemt region has an overall capacity of 150 MW, including 30MW from solar energy.

The completion of the 350 million-euro project is "an eloquent example of co-operation, a ground-breaking experiment for the whole of the Mediterranean region", said Spanish Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian, who launched the July 14th ceremony with Algerian Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi.

The plant, carried out by New Energy Algeria (NEAL) and Spanish company Abener, is "a viable model for electricity generation in rural and mountainous areas far away from traditional electricity networks", he added.

The Spanish minister underlined his country's desire to become "a strategic partner for Algeria" in the realm of renewable energy.

The site of the facility, 25km north of Hassi R'mel, was chosen due to its proximity to gas installations and the amount of sunshine enjoyed by the region, which is estimated at 3,000 hours per year.

Eighty per cent of the funding was provided by a consortium of Algerian state-owned banks. A team of 70 people, including 65 Algerians and five Spaniards, will be responsible for operating the power station.

In addition to electricity production, the project will benefit the environment by substantially reducing carbon dioxide emissions and saving more than 7 million cubic meters of gas annually.

The opening of the new power plant can be seen as the first step in the realization of Algeria's innovative energy policy.

The government in February adopted a new strategy, designed to expand the country's capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources, particularly solar and wind. According to the plan, alternative sources will produce as much as 40% of electricity production in the next twenty years.

As part of this, the government has committed itself to several partnership agreements. In May, Yousfi announced that Algeria was ready to begin long-term co-operation with the Desertec Industrial Initiative, which aims to deliver energy to Europe from solar farms in North Africa and the Middle East. Siemens, Deutsche Bank and nearly a dozen other European industrial, engineering and finance companies partnered for the 400 billion-euro project. Last December, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to set a joint economic commission to develop the initiative.

Another large-scale project will come to fruition in 2013. The Rouiba factory producing photovoltaic systems and modules will cost about 40 billion dinars (383 million euros), employ 500 workers and have a production capacity of 116 MW per year.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/07/24/feature-01.

Drought-hit - Kuwait relief mission first to arrive in Somalia

- Asif Khalifa
Sunday, 24 July 2011

Global Arab Network - Kuwait Red Crescent Society's mission was the first to arrive in Somalia to offer humanitarian relief aid to the drought-hit Somali people, Head of KRCS mission to Somalia Musaed Rashid Al-Enezi told KUNA.

KRCS has started its work in Somalia with sending two planes loaded with 20 tons of aid immediately following the UN appeal upon instruction from His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

HH the Amir has pledged USD 10 million in aid for the Somali people, who are suffering from malnutrition and famine as a result of the worst drought to hit the nation in 10 years.

The mission was warmly welcomed by the Somali people and government, Al-Enezi said, noting that Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmad has received KRCS mission and hailed HH the Amir's initiative.

"The charitable work of the state of Kuwait is not strange to a country that used to offer all help to Somalia and all Arab nations," he said.

Last week, the UN declared that two regions in the south of the war-torn country were suffering from famine. Hundreds were dying every day across the Horn of Africa region, the FAO said.

The United Nations issued an appeal of aid to address what it is calling the worst food crisis in Africa in 20 years.

Nearly half of Somalia's estimated 10 million people face a food crisis and malnutrition rates there are the highest in the world.

Source: Global Arab Network.
Link: http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/2011072411240/Related-news-from-Kuwait/drought-hit-kuwait-relief-mission-first-to-arrive-in-somalia.html.

Assad's men in Lebanon - Baathist official's ferocious rampage caught on camera

Sunday, 24 July 2011

Global Arab Network - A CCTV video that recently emerged on the Internet has kicked up a storm in Lebanon. It shows five men enter a pharmacy, insult the employees and ransack several displays . But it is the identity of one of the thugs more than the rampage itself that has caused the biggest stir: he has turned out to be a known representative of the local Baath party – which is widely despised in Lebanon for its close ties to Syria.

The incident took place on July 3 in the coastal town of Saida, south of Beirut. The man in the blue T-shirt is Mostapha Al-Awass, a Baath party candidate in the 2009 elections. Other members of his family have recently made headlines as well: last month his brother verbally lashed out at an imam in a Saida mosque because he had denounced the repression of the Syrian regime against pro-democracy protesters.

The Baath Arab Socialist Party was established in 1956 and is a branch of the Syrian Baath Party in Lebanon. The Syrian army pulled out of Lebanon in 2005 after 30 years of military presence, and tensions between the two countries are still rife.

Lina Bashasha is the pharmacist captured in the footage.

It all started when a young boy came into the pharmacy to buy some medicine. The medicine cost 11,000 Lebanese pounds [5 euros] and he only had 10,000 on him. He left the money he had at the till and went to fetch the rest. Shortly afterwards, I received a call from Mostapha al-Awass who told me that the young boy in question was his nephew. He asked me why I hadn’t handed over the medicine, and complained that the price had gone up. When I tried to explain, he hung up on me.

His nephew came to get the money that he had left behind. Shortly after, Mostapha al-Awass showed up with four armed men. They ordered all the customers to leave and one of them at that time rang the police. Then the men started shouting and hurling abuse and me and my husband, before knocking over several displays. Mostapha cursed and insulted the authorities, including the police. At one point, he screamed: “My name is Mostapha al-Awass and God himself speaks to me with respect!” We were really scared; the Filipina cleaning lady was terrified and fainted after they left.

Mostapha al-Awass was arrested and remains in prison awaiting his court appearance. But it is not the first time that he has used such intimidation tactics - many people in Saida are scared of him. He reportedly forces people to lend him money, then never pays them back.

People told me to be careful because who knows what he is capable of doing when he gets out of prison. But for now, it seems that the judge does not want to release him because other complaints have been filed against him and they are being taken into account. I believe that other people were waiting for something like this to happen.

This time we were lucky: the camera footage evidence was irrefutable. I hope that this will put an end to the impunity that Baath Party members currently enjoy.”

Contributors: Lina Bashasha

Source: Global Arab Network.
Link: http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/2011072411241/Lebanon-Politics/assads-men-in-lebanon-baathist-officials-ferocious-rampage-caught-on-camera.html.

Kuwait loans Morocco to fund High Speed Train project

- Mohamed Tamer
Sunday, 24 July 2011

Global Arab Network - The Kuwait Fund for Arab and Economic Development (KFAED) loaned Morocco 712 million dirhams (89.2 million dollars) as part of the first phase of its participation in funding the project of the High Speed Train (HST) linking Tangier to Casablanca.

Two loan and guarantee agreements related to the project were signed, Tuesday in Rabat, by the Fund and Morocco with the attendance notably of Kuwati Ambassador in Rabat Shamlan Abdulaziz Al-Roomi.

This project is part of the ambitious development program meant to reduce the distance between the Kingdom's cities. It also aims to promote high speed rail services to meet the growing demand for this environment-friendly transportation means and support Morocco's development dynamic.

The two agreements were signed, on the Moroccan side, by secretary general of the Economy Ministry Khalid Safir, and director at the railway office (ONCF) Mohamed Smouni, and on the Kuwaiti side, by director general of the KFAED Abdelwahab Ahmed Al Badr.

Source: Global Arab Network.
Link: http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/2011072411244/Industry/kuwait-loans-morocco-to-fund-high-speed-train-project.html.

Sudan: Egypt builds new Khartoum Airport

- Mokhtar Thabet
Sunday, 24 July 2011

Global Arab Network - Al-Nassr Construction and Contracting Company, one of the Egyptian public business sector companies will to carry out the project of building the new Khartoum Airport.

Head of the company Ahmed Fouad Abdul Aziz said that a meeting was held in Khartoum last week between the company's board members and representatives of the Sudanese government to consider all issues related to the building of the airport and other projects Sudan is to carry out this year.

This comes within the government's efforts to further economic cooperation with Sudan.

Unifying stances over Nile water file

Members of the Egyptian-Sudanese joint technical authority, currently in session in Khartoum, stressed that development projects on the Nile river course, including dams, should be established on the basis of what has been agreed upon by all Nile Basin countries.

They added that such projects must be useful to all countries, while avoid damaging the interests of any Nile Basin country.

The authority said that in case of a negative impact on Egypt and Sudan due to any of these projects, the two states have the right to take a stance to amend this project, supported by the technical and legal bases approved by international law.

Dr. Hesham Qandil, head of the Nile water sector and Egyptian chief delegate to the meeting, said that members of the authority stressed the importance of coordination between the two sides on the Nile file in order to unify the visions and agree on a strategy in the next phase.

Source: Global Arab Network.
Link: http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/2011072411246/Aviation/sudan-egypt-builds-new-khartoum-airport.html.

The Dead Sea: Deader than Ever and Getting More So

By Karl Vick / Mount Sodom
Wednesday, July 20, 2011

There is dead and there is dying. The Dead Sea manages both.

It's dead because the water in it contains way, way too much salt — eight times as much as the oceans — for virtually any living thing to survive. With a shoreline at the lowest land point on the globe — 1,388 ft. (423 m) below sea level — and no outlet, millennia of evaporation has left the seabed so caked with minerals the freshwater that flows in turns immediately lethal.

Not that much freshwater flows in these days. That's why the sea is dying, or drying up, at the rate of more than 3 vertical feet (1 m) per year — which on the gradual slope of the western shore can translate into 65 ft. (20 m) of exposed seabed. Most of the damage has been done in the last half-century, when almost all the water that once reached the Dead Sea was diverted to farms and taps. The Jordan River, so mighty in the Bible, is today a puny creek that draws snarls from disappointed tourists. "Everything changed when we started diverting water from the Sea of Galilee," says Mira Edelstein of Friends of the Earth Middle East. "The Jordan River used to bring 1.3 billion cu. ft. [37 million cu m] of water a year. Today it's 50 million. That's 2% of what it was."

At the same time, a unique and thirsty industry has been taking water from the sea, accelerating its decline. At the southern tip of the sea, the sprawling Dead Sea Works leaches huge quantities of the fertilizer potash from the seawater by funneling water through a canal into vast evaporation ponds in what once was the sea's southern basin. The Israeli company puts some of the water back, but combined with a similar operation on the Jordanian side, the result is a net loss for an already shrinking lake. "It's the combined issue of the Jordan River not flowing in anymore and industry drawing out water from the south," Edelstein says. "No wonder the Dead Sea is dying."

It's a spectacular death. Huge sinkholes are opening up, the earth's crust collapsing as freshwater springs follow receding seashore downhill. When the freshwater encounters massive subterranean boulders made of salt, it dissolves them, leaving the crust to collapse under its own weight, or, say, the weight of the woman who dropped 25 ft. (8 m) into the first one to open at the Ein Gedi campground in 1998. The same process is killing sumptuous oases. Three gardens fed by springs are drying as the water heads downslope, the plants unable to follow because the former lake bed is lethally saturated with salt. "Huge oases are disappearing," says Ariel Kedem, an instructor at the field school in Ein Gedi, Israel.

What to do? One especially extravagant option: pipe in water from the Red Sea, 118 miles (190 km) to the south. The Red-to-Dead canal would cost at least $17 billion and risk throwing the ecology of the Dead Sea wildly out of balance, not least because the Red Sea is a piece of the Indian Ocean, while what's been flowing into the Dead Sea for millennia is freshwater. Still, the plan has a fan in the Kingdom of Jordan, which would build a desalination plant on the canal and thereby supply its capital region with badly needed (and hugely expensive) drinking water.

Among those leery of this plan is Dead Sea Works, which has based a $20 billion business (the market cap of owner Israel Chemicals) on the current ecology. "We are afraid the mixture of waters will create something we don't want to see," says Noam Goldstein, vice president for infrastructure.

Potash is usually mined, but at the Dead Sea it is gathered by moving water from one evaporation pond to the next. In the first, the salt falls away, collecting on the bottom. In the next pond what gathers are crystals of carnelite, which are 25% potassium chloride. That's dredged and piped to a nearby factory that looks like something from a fanciful children's book as bulldozers move like toys atop a massive snow white mound of potash. The viewing point off Route 90 is almost a better show than nearby Mount Sodom, the massive, sinister-looking salt mountain with the outcropping known as Lot's wife.

"The real canal to the Dead Sea is the Jordan River," says Edelstein, of Friends of the Earth. "Not everywhere in the world do you have the Jordan River — which we've killed — a river that's holy to half of humanity." Reviving the Jordan, however, would require cooperation from all the countries currently draining it, including two technically at war, Israel and Syria. Such cooperation is also a precondition to the Dead Sea becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site, a designation that seems reasonable enough given its current position as a finalist to be named one of the Seven Wonders of Nature.

"The only thing that can really help is if the Dead Sea won the Seven Wonders," says Kedem, who sees tourism as the best protector of the place. Just now, though, tourism itself is in jeopardy, at least Israeli tourism. Jordan's plush resorts remain unthreatened, but every hotel on the western side was built not on the sea itself but on the shallow evaporation ponds to the south. This was a dubious choice in more ways than one. Guests peer from beach chairs at berms and earthworks. And the ponds are slowly filling up with salt — which means their water levels are actually rising. By 2030, six hotels will be flooded unless Dead Sea Works agrees to dredge the salt. It says it will, but is negotiating with the Israeli government and hotels over who should foot the $1.5 billion bill (about a year's profit).

It's a peculiar twist, given that receding water is the area's paramount problem. Even so, Dead Sea Works wants to dig yet another massive evaporation pond, filled with more water pumped from the actual Dead Sea, further accelerating its demise. Goldstein points out two other factors: the new pond would let visitors to the nearby mountaintop fortress of Masada look down on water again. And, not least: "We would be more profitable." With reporting by Aaron J. Klein

Source: TIME.
Link: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2084164,00.html.

High-Speed Train Collision Kills At Least 32 in China

By Chen Jinghui & Gao Zitan
July 23, 2011

Fourth accident on rail system since July 10.

A fatal train crash on China’s high-speed rail system took place on the night of July 23. On the line from Hangzhou to Fuzhou two trains collided on a bridge. So far 32 fatalities have been reported and more than 191 are said to be injured.

China National Radio reported that the accident was caused by the train D3115, from Hangzhou to Fuzhou, losing power after being hit by lightening, causing it to come to a stop on a bridge in southeast China’s Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province.

Then train D301, from Beijing to Fuzhou, plowed into D3115 from behind.

D3115 was almost fully loaded with about 1,300-1,400 passengers, with about 100 passengers per car. On impact, two passenger cars from D3115 derailed, along with four passenger cars from D301. Two of the derailed cars plunged off the bridge. The driver of D301 was among the dead, his body found at the scene.

Internet users posted messages from the scene of the crash. One blogger wrote, “Help! D301 derailed just outside of Wenzhou South Railway Station! Now the carriage is filled with the sound of kids crying, but not a single crew member has come out to help! Please come help us!”

One blogger wrote that the lights in D301 went out immediately after it violently collided with D3115, and cars one to three fell off the bridge. Many blood-soaked, injured passengers broke the windows to get out of the cars, the blogger said.

One passenger, who was in carriage five of the D301 train, wrote that it was completely dark in his car after the collision and the passengers were not able to break the windows, so they had to escape from an opening in the front of the car.

Over one hundred ambulances have rushed to the scene to tend to the victims, and local hospitals are said to be in dire need of more blood.

Mr. Zhang was near the scene. He said he heard a thundering crash and saw two bullet trains collide with each other. He and many local residents immediately rushed to the scene to help with rescue work.

A blogger described the scene after the collision: “There are so many fire trucks. A friend of mine saw a slow-moving train hit by a fast-moving train from behind. He saw smoke coming out of the trains. Those fire trucks must be heading that way.”

Many netizens posted messages on microblogs, looking for their loved ones.

Mr. Hu, a passenger on one of the trains, told The Epoch Times “There are still a lot of people inside the train waiting to be rescued.”

A patient in Wenzhou Kangning Hospital told The Epoch Times: “I heard that four passengers were seen being sent to the hospital morgue. My friends told me that all the hospitals in Wenzhou are treating injuries from this collision.”

One railroad engineer wrote in a blog post that D3115 stopped at a bridge after being hit by lightening. The rail line’s network system was damaged and failed to detect a train parked on the bridge, which caused the second train to collide with the train before it.

A Wenzhou City resident, Mr. Chen, raised doubts about the explanation given for the crash. “The weather was not good, but those experts should have taken this into consideration. I’m not convinced by this explanation.”

In an interview with Beijing News in June, Chang Zhenchen, a high-speed rail engineer and official with the high-speed rail system claimed that the rail system met European standards. He guaranteed that a collision from behind will not happen.

The accident in Wenzhou City was the fourth accident on China’s high-speed rail system since July 10.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/high-speed-train-collision-kills-at-least-32-in-china-59455.html.

Egyptian Protestors Continue in Tahrir After Clashes

By Shannon Liao
July 24, 2011

Hundreds of Egyptians continued to protest in Tahrir Square Sunday after a night of violent clashes with military forces that left hundreds injured.

Violence erupted after protesters were blocked from proceeding to the headquarters of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), AFP reported.

Earlier that day SCAF had accused one pro-democracy group, April 6, of sowing strife, according to another AFP report.

The Egyptian government reported that 231 people were injured after fighting broke out Saturday night in the neighborhood of Abbasiya in central Cairo.

On Thursday, Egypt’s interim military government rearranged the Cabinet bringing in 14 new faces and keeping 13 from Mubarak-era ministers. The move failed to appease protesters who are upset at what they say is the slow pace of reforms.

For nearly the past month, protesters have returned to the square to demand speedier reforms and the prosecution of crimes committed against protesters during unrest earlier this year that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/egyptian-protestors-continue-in-tahrir-after-clashes-59473.html.

Tamil Party Wins Elections in Former War-zone Regions

By Jasper Fakkert
July 24, 2011

Sri Lanka’s largest Tamil party Saturday won a majority of seats in regions torn by decades of civil war.

The local elections were the first in the country since government forces defeated Tamil Tiger separatists in armed conflict in 2009.

The Tamil National Alliance won with two-thirds of the vote coming away with 18 out of 26 seats in the north and east of the country.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s United People’s Freedom Alliance won all other contested districts in Saturday’s elections, BBC reported.

Tamil politicians and civil society groups had accused the government of using threats and scare tactics ahead of the elections, according to the report.

The United Nations reported that both government forces and the Tigers committed war crimes during the three-decade-long conflict.

According to the U.N., there are credible allegations that the Sri Lankan government killed many civilians in widespread shelling, which hit hospitals and other humanitarian facilities. The rebels are accused of using civilians as human shields and killing civilians indiscriminately, as well as recruiting child soldiers, according to the report.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/tamil-party-wins-elections-in-former-war-zone-regions-59482.html.

Deadly Attacks in Norway Bring Sorrow and Solidarity

By Angela Wang
July 24, 2011

“It is nearly two days since Norway was hit by the worst atrocity it has seen since the second world war—On Utoya, and in Oslo. It seems like an eternity. These have been hours, days, and nights filled with shock, despair, anger, and weeping,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to the victims of Friday’s attacks in an emotional memorial service at Oslo Cathedral on Sunday.

The country known to the world as one of the most peaceful is still reeling from the act of right-wing extremist, Anders Breivik, who blew apart the main government building, housing the prime minister’s office among others, and opened fire on members of the governing party’s youth league at their yearly summer camp on an island two hours later. His plan to bomb two more buildings was foiled after police arrested him on the island.

So far, 93 deaths have been confirmed, 7 from the bombing and 86 from the shooting spree. Thirty people are still in critical condition at the nation’s leading Oslo University Hospital. With several people still listed as missing, the death toll it is feared will rise.

’Pure Evilness’

The man who carried out the gruesome killings, described by the prime minister as acts of “pure evilness,” has been identified as 32-year-old Norwegian citizen Anders Behring Breivik. Breivik is currently in detention and is scheduled to attend a closed meeting with the police at Oslo City Court on Monday.

A far-right extremist who believes that what he did was “necessary,” Breivik’s target was the governing leftist and pro-immigration Labor Party. In a YouTube video and a 1,500-page manifesto published online the same day as the attacks, Breivik expressed hatred toward the Muslim presence in Europe, leftists, and multiculturalists.

Breivik describes his ideology as cultural conservatism, seeing it as his goal to “influence the society and the way it is governed,” said lawyer Geir Lippestad according to newspaper VG. Parts of the writings were copied from those of the unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

Adrian Pracon, a 21-year-old who survived the Utoya Island with a gunshot wound in the shoulder, said during the ordeal he came across a teary 11-year-old on his desperate run to escape from the island. “He came and told me that his father died,” Pracon told national broadcaster NRK.

“The situation was so chaotic that he just walked further.” Pracon soon overheard a heartbreaking cry from the child and a plea, “Do not shoot at me. You have shot enough. You already killed my father. I am too young to die,” he said in a direct encounter with the perpetrator. Miraculously, his words saved his life.

With no boats to escape the island, trapped youths took off their colorful clothes, hid in the bushes, under cliffs, or ran toward the beach to try to swim away. According to reports from survivors, Breivik kept shooting and shouting, “You are going to die.”

“He started shooting at us, and shot and shot until no one moved. I was shot in the thigh, but acted like I was dead. I heard him refill ammunition, and that’s the worst moment in my life,” said 16-year-old Ingvild Stensrud who played dead while lying between dead friends, reported NRK.

A Small But Strong Nation

In the face of tragedy, Norwegians are standing in solidarity.

After news of the shooting broke, Norwegian Facebook users set up a group to call for volunteers. Thousands of wall posts offered bedrooms for sleepovers, transportation in private cars and boats, and blood donations.

The city of Oslo, almost emptied for an entire day after authorities ordered people to keep away on Friday, but Sunday was a gathering point for tearful citizens lightening up the town with candles, flowers, and cards.

“I strongly believe that freedom is stronger than fear. I strongly believe in an open Norwegian democracy and society. I strongly believe in the opportunity to live freely and safely in our nation,” King Harald told the nation, as broadcast by NRK.

At the ceremony at Oslo Cathedral, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, fighting back tears, helped 7-year-old Princess Ingrid Alexandra and 5-year-old Prince Sverre Magnus light candles.

Sunday night, tens of thousands people gathered in front of Oslo City Hall for a parade, a rally and a night to stand together in solidarity.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/deadly-attacks-in-norway-bring-sorrow-and-solidarity-59483-all.html.

Anti-austerity protesters return to Madrid plaza

July 24, 2011 — MADRID (AP) — Thousands of protesters angry about Spain's brutal economic woes once again filled Madrid's downtown Sol square Sunday after many spent weeks marching hundreds of kilometers (miles) from far-flung cities across Spain.

Seven columns of marchers converged on the city late Saturday and met at the square where thousands camped out for three weeks in May. They were joined by more who took public transport into the capital.

"Politicians don't represent us! No! no! No!" the crowd chanted, with some waving handmade banners reading "It's not a crisis, it's the system that's wrong." Some protesters began their march 34 days ago and walked 650 kilometers (404 miles) from the southwestern city of Cadiz.

Physiotherapists and masseurs accompanied demonstrators to treat them for aching legs and blistered feet. Protesters say they are outraged with politicians for failing to solve Spain's high unemployment and accuse them of being uncaring, corrupt and inept.

"You will find highly qualified people in this demonstration because we can't get a job," said Amanda Sastre, 24. "All we want is the dignity of being able to earn a living." Two years of recession following a property boom that went bust left Spain with 21 percent unemployment — the highest in the 17-nation eurozone. Joblessness for those aged 16 to 29 stands at about 35 percent.

Spain also has a swollen deficit and is battling to convince investors it can handle its debt and will not need financial help like Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Hell of a Choice: 'Cerberus' Leads for New Pluto Moon Name

Natalie Wolchover
20 July 2011

A fourth moon orbiting the dwarf planet Pluto has just been discovered. The tiny satellite — it's a mere 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km) across — showed up as a faint dot on new, long-exposure photos of the Pluto system taken by NASA's Hubble Telescope.

But enough with the technical details: What will we call the newest member of the solar community?

"It's called P4 for the time being," said Trent Perrotto, public affairs officer at NASA headquarters. "It'll get a name, but it's not up to NASA to decide on it." As usual with newly discovered astronomical objects, he explained, P4's name will be subject to a tough selection process overseen by an organization called the International Astronomical Union.

In an unofficial Facebook poll of SPACE.com readers, the top choice is "Mickey." Unfortunately for them, though, this won't satisfy the IAU's official naming conventions. According to the IAU guidelines, "Objects crossing or approaching the orbit of Neptune … notably [Pluto and its moons], are given mythological names associated with the underworld."

Pluto was the god of the underworld in Roman mythology. Charon, Pluto's largest moon, is named after the ferryman who carried the souls of the newly deceased across the River Styx, which divided the world of the living from that of the dead. Nix, Pluto's second moon, was the Greek goddess of darkness and night, and Charon's mother. Hydra, the third, was a many-headed serpent that guarded a back entrance to the underworld located deep below the surface of a lake.

In choosing a name along these hellish lines for P4, the IAU nomenclature committee will try to honor the wishes of its discoverer: planetary astronomer Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in California. What's his choice?

"This is a topic under discussion," Showalter told Life's Little Mysteries. "We have a lot of colorful names to choose from because all the moon names come from, essentially, the minions of Hades [the Greeks' name for Pluto]. One name that seems to come up most is Cerberus, the dog who guards the gates to hell."

Three-headed Cerberus is Hydra's sibling.

"Cerberus: How could you go wrong with a name like that?" Showalter said. "But, unfortunately, Cerberus is already the name of an asteroid. The IAU balks at the idea of using asteroid names, although it's not necessarily out of the question. Even then, Kerberos, [the spelling that] is closer to the original Greek, would be OK even if Cerberus is not. I don't want to say that's the name we've chosen. There are a lot of interesting names being discussed."

Showalter has been perusing the Internet today (July 20), looking for ideas. He and his discovery team will submit their top choices to the IAU soon, and he thinks they'll choose a name within two months. Perhaps Cerberus/Kerberos will soon be guarding the Kuiper Belt.

Source: SPACE.com.
Link: http://www.space.com/12374-pluto-moon-choice-cerberus-hell.html.

Morocco prepares for legislative elections

Authorities in Morocco are looking to establish new rules for political party financing ahead of early parliamentary elections.

By Imrane Binoual for Magharebia in Casablanca – 22/07/11

Morocco's interior ministry recently introduced two bills on political parties and election observers as part of preparations for early polls.

The ministry on Wednesday (July 20th) launched a series of meetings with politicians and other members of civil society to get feedback on the prospective laws. The draft legislation was originally submitted to political parties on July 14th. The majority of the kingdom's political leaders praised the move to adopt a legal framework for monitoring elections.

"The first bill is to be applauded because it represents the legitimization by Morocco of the presence of both national and international observers at elections. This is likely to guarantee greater transparency in elections," said Abdelhamid Jmahri, a member of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) policy committee.

The preliminary law on political parties, however, stirred up a hornet's nest of heated debate. The most controversial aspect concerns party financing. The proposed text suggests three categories of funding for the parties. One type of funding would be for "legally constituted" political parties as a whole, while a second category would apply to parties with between three and five percent of the votes. Those receiving more than 5% of votes would be given additional funding.

"The fact that all political parties will receive funding is a good thing," according to Abdelouahed Souhail, a member of the Party for Progress and Socialism (PPS) policy committee.

But some politicians said this would allow the creation of parties which were simply looking for money. "This will only encourage the fragmentation of the Moroccan political landscape," Jmahri said.

"We want there to be criteria for the granting of subsidies to political parties, particularly the number of votes received in elections," he stressed.

The Front of Democratic Forces (FFD) general-secretary proposed a different criterion, suggesting that funds be awarded "on the basis of the plans set out by the various organizations".

Another point of disagreement surrounds the issue of party alliances. The proposed bill only discusses mergers between parties and not alliances. Political leaders would like the draft law to provide for blocs too, according to Mohand Laenser, Secretary-General of the Popular Movement, an alliance between three parties.

The bills are expected to be considered before Parliament sometime in the middle of next month.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/07/22/feature-03.

Jordanian protesters burn U.S. flag

AMMAN, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Jordanians held a demonstration Friday, where they burnt a U.S. flag and stressed rejection of America's interference in the region.

During the sit-in in downtown Amman, the demonstrators voiced rejection of any U.S. interference in reform efforts in the country.

Stressing on the importance of unity among Jordanians of all origins, they called for uprooting corruption in the Arab kingdom and ending the "security iron fist."

The demonstrators also condemned police assault against several media personnel during a demonstration last Friday.

The police department in Jordan on Wednesday announced its responsibility for the "limited" attacks against media people during last week's demonstration and said the involved police members will be referred to law.

On Thursday, King Abdullah II of Jordan rejected the beating of journalists by policemen as "unjustified and unacceptable."

The Jordanian king also voiced rejection of any practices and restrictions obstructing the work of media, which has an important role in accurately and independently delivering information to citizens and addressing their issues, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-07/23/c_131003417.htm.

Teargas fired at protesters in Oman's Sohar

July 22, 2011
By Sunil K. Vaidya

According to witnesses, the march started with a handful of protesters but later in the afternoon the numbers kept increasing.

Muscat: Security forces fired tear gas shells on demonstrators in Sohar on Friday and arrested a large number of young protesters as they marched from Shaikh Khalifa Mosque after afternoon prayers, according to an activist from the Industrial Port town about 230km north to Muscat.

According to witnesses, the march started with a handful of protesters but later in the afternoon the numbers kept increasing. After a while the security forces, present in big numbers, intervened.

The protesters, chased from the main road, spread into the nearby streets and gradually their number increased. The police had to fire tear-gas shells to disperse protesters. "Many shells were fired. Some shells fell very close to some of the houses," an activist told Gulf News from Sohar on the condition of anonymity. Protesters handed over a letter listing their demands to a senior police official.

The protesters were demanding the release of those convicted last month for protesting in Sohar last February and March. They were also demanding reforms, better wages and jobs for young Omanis. The protests in Oman started with a peaceful Green March in January earlier this year but later turned violent in Sohar, the last week of February. Since then three people have died during confrontations with the police.

Last Friday no demonstrations were held after only about 50 turned up for demonstration on July 8.

According to witnesses, the number was much larger on Friday and several were also arrested. There are unconfirmed reports of injuries to some of the demonstrations following baton charge by security agencies to break them up. The demonstrators in Sohar ended their protest at around 5.30pm.

"To avoid confrontation with security forces that could have bad consequences, the young protesters decided to end their demonstration and returned home," an activist said. A posting on a social media site claimed that an Omani journalist working for a local English daily was held in Sohar.

Source: Gulf News.
Link: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/oman/teargas-fired-at-protesters-in-oman-s-sohar-1.841690.

Exoplanet Aurorae 1,000 Times Brighter Than on Earth

By Mimi Nguyen Ly
July 22, 2011

Aurorae on planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, could be 100 to 1,000 times brighter than those on Earth, according to new research, and this could also affect their habitability.

On Earth, these magnificent green and red lights flicker across the North and South polar skies when particles from the sun are attracted to the Earth’s magnetic field, and strike our atmosphere, causing air molecules to glow.

On exoplanets, the display is even more spectacular because the lights travel across the planet’s entire surface due to their closer proximity to the stars they orbit.

"I’d love to get a reservation on a tour to see these aurorae!" said lead author Ofer Cohen at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

Strong aurorae can occur due to Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) when large amounts of plasma erupt from the sun’s surface into space. CMEs can cause geomagnetic storms on Earth, interfering with power grids and satellite-based systems like telecommunications.

"The impact to the exoplanet would be completely different than what we see in our solar system, and much more violent," said co-author Vinay Kashyap at CfA in the release.

Many exoplanets are gas giants like Jupiter, and hence dubbed "hot-Jupiters." They are orbiting their stars up to one hundred times closer than Earth’s orbit of the sun.

So what would happen to an exoplanet when its host star emits a CME?

In the computer model, a CME hits the "hot-Jupiter," weakening its magnetic shield, and creating aurorae around the equator up to 1,000 times stronger than on Earth. Yet the exoplanet is shielded from the nearby star’s huge forces.

"Our calculations show how well the planet’s protective mechanism works," Cohen said. "Even a planet with a magnetic field much weaker than Jupiter would stay relatively safe."

To be in the habitable zone, exoplanets associated with red dwarf stars, our galaxy’s most common stars, must be in a close orbit for water to be liquid as red dwarfs are cooler than the sun.

However, this means they would be subject to more violent CMEs, making them potentially less habitable.

The new research was published in the Astrophysical Journal on July 7.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/exoplanet-aurorae-1000-times-brighter-than-on-earth-59434.html.

Indian Kashmir shuts down to protest alleged rape

July 23, 2011 — SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Shops and businesses shut down Saturday in Indian-controlled Kashmir to protest an alleged abduction and rape that triggered two days of violent anti-India demonstrations.

The protests, held in the alleged rape victim's village south of the main city of Srinagar, kindled concerns of a return to the deadly street violence that has consumed the disputed Himalayan region in recent years.

Police have barred public gatherings in Manzgam village, where thousands on Friday marched and threw stones at law enforcement officers, who responded by swinging batons and firing tear gas, police said. At least five civilians and four officers were injured.

Answering separatist leaders' calls for a general strike on Saturday, banks, schools and most other businesses remained shuttered in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. Public transport was not running, and few government workers showed up at their offices.

Police said, meanwhile, that a medical examination of the woman alleging rape by two Indian soldiers showed "no marks of violence or resistance on any part of the body." The investigation continues, and officials assured that justice would be done.

"We've collected the woman's clothes and sent them for forensic examination. We've also videographed the spot where the alleged crime took place," special police investigator Mohammed Shafi Mir said. "The probe will be completed within shortest possible time." The army has opened a separate investigation.

The woman says in her police statement filed Thursday that two soldiers abducted her Tuesday near her Manzgam home and held her in a meadow hut, raping her repeatedly over two days. Her husband later told reporters she was left in the meadow and made her way home in a state of shock, but that she would be able to identify her attackers.

Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani rejected the police and army investigations as biased and called for Saturday's public boycott across the region. Mounting anger prompted Kashmiri officials to call for calm, wary that the case could touch off renewed conflict in the volatile region that is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in its entirety.

Protests by stone-throwing youths and clashes with police have become routine during the warmer months in Kashmir, where anti-India sentiment runs deep among the mostly Muslim population. Human rights groups have accused the Indian military of using rape and sexual molestation to cow the local population.

In 2009, massive protests broke out after allegations that two women were raped and murdered by men in uniform. A federal investigation later decided they had not been raped and had died from drowning.

Local separatists in the Indian-ruled portion have been fighting since 1989 for independence or merger with Pakistan. More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the armed uprising and subsequent Indian crackdown.

Air Algerie workers begin wage talks

2011-07-21

Air Algerie management and cabin crew representatives are expected to launch salary negotiations on Thursday (July 21st), Liberte reported. Flight attendants, who ended a four-day strike last week, are demanding a pay hike of 106%. The national carrier is reportedly ready to offer a 20% increase. Renewed protest actions may resume should the sides fail to reach a compromise, Afrik.com reported.

The Air Algerie strike left hundreds of passengers stranded at Algerian and French airports and caused significant financial damage to the carrier.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/07/21/newsbrief-03.

Disease threatens southern Tunisia refugee camps

Displaced families along the Libyan-Tunisian border complain of scant health services and deteriorating conditions.

By Monia Ghanmi for Magharebia in Tunis – 21/07/11

The summer temperature hike brings new dangers for refugees who fled the war in Libya for southern Tunisia.

Thirty-nine cases of tuberculosis and 29 cases of AIDS have been recorded on the border with Libya, the Tunisian health ministry announced on Monday (July 18th).

The infections are worrisome because they are of long duration, said Mongi Slim, the head of the Tunisian Red Crescent in Medenine. There are regular check-ups for these cases in local hospitals, he added.

Slim, however, reassured that the cases did not constitute an extreme danger and could be addressed and controlled. A number of actions to prevent the spread of the infections had taken place, where carriers of these diseases were isolated from the rest of the displaced families to prevent any intermingling, he said.

According to Slim, the public health administration has intensified its presence in the camps to avoid potential health problems that could result from high temperatures, especially food poisoning, through periodic field visits to refugee shelter centers to determine the availability of basic hygiene conditions.

More than 5,000 wounded Libyans have been recorded on the border along with 40 deaths since the conflict broke out in February, Nabil Ben Salah, a representative of the Tunisian health ministry, told reporters on Monday.

Still, he maintained that the health situation was under control, and hospital facilities were supplied with numerous ambulances, medical and quasi-medical staff, as well as sanitary materials.

The increasing summer heat has exposed many refugees, particularly children and the elderly, to the risks of sun strokes and dehydration.

Relief organizations have failed to perform their duties in providing medicine, food and health care, complained Libyan refugee Salah Al-Magariaf.

In the Remada camp, displaced families were evacuated, with many housed in school auditoriums and with Tunisian families. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the camp hosts 909 refugees.

Preparations also took off in the Dhiba camp, created by the UAE Red Crescent three months ago, to equip two giant tents with air-conditioning systems for nearly 200 refugees.

Meanwhile, Libyan families from the north of the country continue to find havens in Tunisia following the security deterioration in the areas between Ajdabiya and Brega. The Dhiba border crossing last week saw a fresh influx of refugees, including those who had earlier returned to their towns, thinking that security conditions had improved.

"We thought that the situation had calmed down," said Mohamed Ben Aissa. "I left my children with a friendly Tunisian family. My wife, my brothers and me returned to my town of al-Qalaa in order to rebuild our house before the fasting month, but the on-going battles forced us to go back to Tunisia."

"Here, everyone will feel safe," he added. "I hope the situation does not continue long so soon we can return once and for all."

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/07/21/feature-02.

Tunisian journalists criticize government tactics

Relations between Tunisian journalists and the interim government have soured in recent weeks.

By Houda Trabelsi for Magharebia in Tunis – 21/07/11

Tunisian reporters on Monday (July 18th) staged a protest outside the headquarters of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) to denounce what they say are government efforts to control the press.

The demonstrators criticized remarks made by interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi directed at media organizations. Protestors took particular issue with last week's violent dispersal of the Kasbah sit-in, which left ten journalists injured.

SNJT's executive bureau expressed concern that authorities were seeking to reassert their control over the nation's newly free media. The SNJT issued a statement in which it condemned "insults and humiliation" by the interim administration.

"The bureau is declaring its absolute rejection of the measures that are aimed at marginalizing the media sector and imposing restrictions on journalists," said Najiba Hamrouni, a SNJT chairperson. "The SNJT's executive bureau considers these behaviors a stark aggression on journalists, freedom of opinion and expression, and citizens' right to information."

She added that the syndicate was "warning against the consequences of repetition of such practices and is reserving its legal right to react to them in the way it deems appropriate".

"It is also calling for putting an end to attempts to restrict journalists' right to obtaining information and presenting it to the public opinion neutrally and independently," Hamrouni said.

The union is taking legal action against Interior Minister Habib Essid over the Kasbah clash, according to Mongi Khadraoui, a member of the SNJT executive bureau. He said the clash was a "disgrace in the face of the repressive police apparatus".

"After January 14th, attacks on journalists have taken several forms, starting with rebukes by the police with so much malice, then verbal attacks by several political parties and forces against anyone who reports any information that is not in their favor, and finally assaults and detention by some citizens of journalists while they were doing their job," said Aymen Rezgui, another member of the SNJT executive bureau.

Rezgui accused the government of using the media as a scapegoat for the country's problems, telling Magharebia that "journalists have become the weakest ring and a card that the government plays to mask all of its mistakes and shortcomings".

In his turn, young reporter Aymen Bchini told Magharebia that the prime minister's remarks were "an insult to the people". He added that the government's aim was "to treat journalists lightly, denigrate, intimidate and force them to show their allegiance".

"This is rejected both in form and content; otherwise we will lose our credibility with our people who are still not trusting us and doubting our integrity although they know that journalists' behaviors differ from one person to another. Therefore, the interim minister should officially apologize," Bchini said.

Meanwhile, Anissa Slim told Magharebia that "the government and public opinion's lack of respect for the media is mainly because the fragility of sector and due to some journalists' failure to observe the ethics of profession."

"We don't have any other option but to continue to struggle against those opportunists who have sabotaged the media sector in Tunisia," she concluded.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/07/21/feature-01.

Space Shuttle Era Ends with Atlantis Landing

Houston TX (SPX)
Jul 22, 2011

Space shuttle Atlantis touched down on the Shuttle Landing Facility's Runway 15 at 5:57 a.m. EDT on July 21. After 200 orbits around Earth and a journey of 5,284,862 miles, the landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida brought to a close 30 years of space shuttle flights.

"Although we got to take the ride," said Commander Chris Ferguson on behalf of his crew, " we sure hope that everybody who has ever worked on, or touched, or looked at, or envied or admired a space shuttle was able to take just a little part of the journey with us."

The STS-135 crew consisted of Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim.

"I really want to thank the space shuttle team and the Space Shuttle Program for just a tremendous effort and throughout the entire history of the program. We gave them a tremendous challenge to fly and execute these missions and to finish strong and I can tell you that the team accomplished every one of those objectives," said Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier as he addressed the media at the post-landing news conference.

"I'd also like to thank the nation for allowing us to have these thirty years to go use the shuttle system."

"It is great to have Atlantis safely home after a tremendously successful mission - and home to stay," said Bob Cabana, Kennedy Space Center director, referencing Atlantis' retirement at Kennedy's Visitor Complex.

"I'm unbelievably proud to be here representing the Space Shuttle Program and the thousands of people across the country who do the work," said Mike Moses, space shuttle launch integration manager. "Hearing the sonic booms as Atlantis came home for the last time really drove it home to me that this has been a heck of a program."

"The workers out here and across the country in the Space Shuttle Program have dedicated their lives, their hearts and their souls to this program, and I couldn't be more proud of them," said Mike Leinbach, space shuttle launch director at Kennedy.

A welcome home ceremony for the astronauts will be held Friday, July 22, in Houston. The public is invited to attend the 4 p.m. CDT event at NASA's Hangar 990 at Ellington Field. Gates to Ellington Field will open at 3:30 p.m. The ceremony will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

On the 13-day mission, the STS-135 crew delivered to the International Space Station more than 9,400 pounds of spare parts, spare equipment and other supplies in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module, including 2,677 pounds of food. The supplies will sustain space station operations for the next year. The 21-foot long, 15-foot diameter Raffaello brought back nearly 5,700 pounds of unneeded materials from the station.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Space_Shuttle_Era_Ends_with_Atlantis_Landing_999.html.

UK Defense Equipment Budget Rises As Future Force Takes Shape

London, UK (SPX)
Jul 22, 2011

The Government has committed to increasing the planned MOD equipment budget by over GBP3bn during the Spending Review period after 2015 to fund vital future military equipment.

The longer-term vision for the make up of our military - Future Force 2020 - will be secured by this one-per-cent-a-year real terms increase in the planned equipment and equipment support program.

The culmination of this work has meant the Defense Secretary Dr Liam Fox was able to announce that this funding will allow the MOD to order significant pieces of equipment over the next decade, including:

+ 14 extra Chinook helicopters from 2014 onwards

+ The Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier conversion to catapult and arrestor gear ('cats and traps')

+ Initial spending on the new Joint Strike Fighter fast jets (known as Lightning II) delivering Carrier Strike capability from 2020

+ Development of the Global Combat Ship

+ Three new Airseeker signals intelligence and surveillance aircraft in 2014

+ Upgraded Warrior armored vehicles.

Defense Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "This commitment to increase Defense equipment funding after 2015 will ensure our Armed Forces remain a formidable fighting force on the world stage. I am determined to maintain Britain's position in the international premier league and to ensure that our Royal Navy, Army and RAF are given the tools they need to do their vital work.

"The Government has committed to deliver a package of new money, further efficiencies, and adjustment to the future Defense equipment program, turning the unfunded aspirations of the last Government into real contracts and real equipment. For the first time in a generation, the MOD will have brought its plans and budget broadly into balance, allowing it to plan with confidence for the delivery of the future equipment program."

This funding announcement is part of a broader body of work to implement the Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR), including the publication of the Basing and Reserves Reviews.

The Future Reserves Study 2020 (FR20) identified that the Army can meet the vision for Future Force 2020 in a more cost effective way, by changing the balance between Regulars and Reserves. The Government will proceed with a GBP1.5bn investment package over the next 10 years, GBP400m in this Parliament, to enhance the capability of the Reserves and consequently increase their trained strength.

As a result, the department will plan for an Army of around 120,000 comprising of Regulars and Reserves with a ratio of about 70 per cent regulars to 30 per cent Territorial Army.

Chief of the Defense Staff, General Sir David Richards, said: "This decisions by the Secretary of State represent a key step forward in the radical transformation program Defense is undertaking. If we get it right, this will result in a modern, hard-hitting joint force still capable of operating at the divisional level across the full spectrum of conflict. It will deliver Armed Forces of which we can all be proud.

"Using the Reserves as an integral part of the overall forces available to Defense builds on the 'One Army' concept that has been successfully employed over the past decade of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Balancing the Reserves and Regular forces in all three Services along with the budget increase will also bring the Defense program broadly into balance and represents a major achievement. The Department can plan for the longer term with much greater certainty than before."

Equipment Program
Through the combination of this funding announcement and substantial savings delivered through tough decisions taken in the SDSR, the Government will have addressed the inherited multi-billion pound deficit in the forward Defense program.

For the first time in a generation, the MOD will have brought its future plans and future budget into close alignment, allowing it to plan with greater confidence for the delivery of the equipment program.

The MOD will publish a fully funded and balanced 10-year Equipment Plan by September 2011, and the National Audit Office will conduct an affordability audit of this; the first of its kind.

"This commitment to increase Defense equipment funding after 2015 will ensure our Armed Forces remain a formidable fighting force on the world stage."

The Prime Minister commissioned an independent review of the Reserve Forces known as the Future Reserves 2020 Study (FR20). This was led by Vice Chief of the Defense Staff, General Sir Nicholas Houghton, working alongside Julian Brazier MP and Lieutenant General (Ret'd) Graeme Lamb.

The key recommendations of the review are:

+ Reservists bring with them a huge range of skills, experience and capabilities and more investment must be made in recruiting, training and better integrating them into the Regular force.

+ Consideration should be given to the attribution of Reservists to a wider range of military tasks, especially UK resilience and Homeland Security.

+ Defense should adopt a Whole Force Concept, where the Reserve component should be increased. The Reservist element of the Armed Forces must grow to become a far greater proportion of the overall Force Structure.

+ The Review has found that other NATO countries use Reserves to make up a much greater proportion of their Armed Forces. In the UK, the current commitment of Reserve forces is below 20 per cent, whereas in the United States the figure is 35 per cent, in Canada 35 per cent, and in Australia 25 per cent.

Based on the conclusions of the Reserves Review, the Government will now proceed with a GBP1.5bn investment package over the next 10 years to enhance the capability of the Reserves and allow a significant expansion. As the capability of the Territorial Army improves, it is envisaged that this will allow a progressive adjustment of the regular/reserve balance while maintaining the land forces capability set out in the SDSR.

By 2020, if the Reserves develop in the way that we hope, we envisage a total force of around 120,000 broadly in the ratio 70:30 regular to reserve. Details of how this will be achieved will be considered during the next Implementation phase.

Commenting on the findings of the Future Reserves Review, the Vice Chief of the Defense Staff, General Sir Nicholas Houghton, said:

"We firmly believe that this report represents good news for the Reserves, Defense and the UK more widely. This is a once in a generation opportunity to change our Reserve Forces model for the better, to ensure the systemic decline of our Reserves is reversed and to enable our Armed Forces - Regulars and Reserves - to better meet the security challenges of the future."

Rebasing
Moving towards Future Force 2020, and returning the 20,000 personnel stationed in Germany, means the Armed Forces' estate requirements will change. As a result, the MOD has reviewed its future basing needs.

The driving force behind the review of basing is the military requirement. By 2020, the Army will be made up of five Multi-Role Brigades (MRB) of around 6,000 people. These brigades need to be geographically close to suitable training areas so they can prepare for deployment.

The changes to military basing announced by the Defense Secretary include:

+ Former RAF bases and existing Army bases in the east of England will accommodate one Army MRB, concentrated in Cottesmore, North Luffenham, Bassingbourn and Woodbridge

+ Lyneham will be the preferred location for future Defense Technical Training

+ The other Army MRB will be in Scotland, centered on Edinburgh. The base at Kirknewton, south east of Edinburgh, will be developed into a major Army base

+ The Typhoon Force will be built up at RAF Lossiemouth which will become the base for the Northern QRA missions. Leuchars will cease to be an RAF base but will be used to house two major Army units and a headquarters. Flying will continue at both Leuchars and Lossiemouth until at least 2013

+ It is also planned that Army units will move into Kinloss around 2014/15.

The military footprint in Scotland overall will increase over the coming decade.

The Army's Project Avanti has also been working on proposals for restructuring its personnel and support function. At Regional Brigade level, the Army will maintain all 10 Brigade headquarters. The project recommends disbanding HQ 2nd Division at Edinburgh, HQ 4th Division at Aldershot and HQ 5th Division at Shrewsbury and replacing them all with a single 2-star support command, which will be based in Aldershot. The Army has concluded that 19 Light Brigade in Northern Ireland should be disbanded.

Defense Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "This has been an incredibly complex decision and has inevitably been a balancing act. There were many different options and permutations across the UK but we have looked at this very carefully and are sure that the conclusions we have come to are the right ones.

"We will make efficient use of bases that become available for alternative uses; we will sell estate that is valuable and makes no sense to keep, and we will protect vulnerable communities and increase the Defense footprint. Most importantly of all this plan will deliver a basing laydown for the future for our Armed Forces that offers them stability and enables the delivery of military capability."

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/UK_Defence_Equipment_Budget_Rises_As_Future_Force_Takes_Shape_999.html.

'Anonymous' fires back at hacker hunters

San Francisco (AFP)
July 21, 2011

Notorious hacker group Anonymous on posted a defiant message to police Thursday and boasted of plundering sensitive data from NATO computers.

"We are not scared anymore," read an online message that purported to be a response by Anonymous and splinter group Lulz Security.

"Your threats to arrest us are meaningless to us as you cannot arrest an idea... there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- you can possibly do to make us stop."

As if to underscore the point, a message posted at a Twitter account by "AnonymousIRC" claimed to have looted about a gigabyte of NATO data that even the rebel hacker group deemed too sensitive to release.

"Yes, we haz (sic) more of your delicious data," the Twitter post read. "You call it war; we laugh at your battleships."

US authorities arrested 16 people for cyber crimes on Tuesday, including 14 over an online attack on the PayPal website claimed by Anonymous.

The US indictment against the 14 hackers alleges the denial of service (DDoS) attacks on PayPal were "retribution" because the site terminated a donation account for the whistle-blowing group WikiLeaks.

Anonymous hackers called the PayPal attacks "Operation Avenge Assange," in reference to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the indictment said, adding that the US raids were coordinated with police in Britain and the Netherlands.

The PayPal attack suspects were arrested during raids in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio and the US capital Washington.

The cyber attackers used aliases such as "Toxic," "Reaper," "Anthrophobic" and "No."

Separately, two suspects were arrested under similar indictments in Florida and New Jersey, while British police arrested one suspect and Dutch police four.

In all, FBI agents made 35 raids across the United States as part of a probe into "coordinated cyber attacks against major companies and organizations," the FBI said, adding that to date more than 75 searches have been carried out.

Anonymous said its targets are governments that manipulate people with lies and fear, and corporations that lobby and ally themselves with such governments for profits.

"These governments and corporations are our enemy," the message at pastebin.com read.

"And we will continue to fight them, with all methods we have at our disposal, and that certainly includes breaking into their websites and exposing their lies."

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Wednesday tweeted that his Facebook page had been hacked by Anonymous, which took a swipe at the country's independence celebrations.

Anonymous left short phrases that are one of its calling cards, and a link to a video entitled "False Independence" on his personal page as Colombia marks the 201st year of its independence from Spain.

Anonymous also sabotaged Turkish sites last month to protest against Internet censorship.

"The Anonymous bitchslap rings through your ears like hacktivism movements of the 90s," said the online message rebutting FBI comments condemning the group's attacks.

"We're back and we're not going anywhere," it continued. "Expect us."

Anonymous rose to infamy last year with cyber attacks in support of WikiLeaks.

The group was linked to attacks on Visa, Mastercard and PayPal, which blocked donations to the controversial anti-secrecy WikiLeaks after it published a quarter million US diplomatic cables stolen in a cyber attack.

Early this year, Anonymous took credit for breaking into the website of HBGary Federal, stealing tens of thousands of email messages and temporarily routing traffic in retaliation for the technology security company's work in helping hunt the group.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Anonymous_fires_back_at_hacker_hunters_999.html.

New French nuke plant beset by more delays

FLAMANVILLE, France, July 22 (UPI) -- French utility EDF this week announced more delays in its plans to construct one of the biggest nuclear power facilities in the world at Flamanville.

EDF's 1,650-megawatt Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor was already two years behind schedule and $2.4 billion over budget before Wednesday's announcement, in which the utility says it needs to carry out tougher safety inspections in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

Citing "structural and economic reasons" for the new delays, the state-owned company sent notice its flagship plant's costs will increase to $9 billion due to the new requirements while its opening has been pushed back to 2016.

The utility noted there were two fatal accidents at the work site, "including one that partially suspended the civil works for many weeks," and thus work on the project was slowed in the first half of 2011.

Also, it said, it will carry out a "comprehensive analysis" of Flamanville's safety audits and submit the results to the French Nuclear Safety Authority by September.

The latest cost overruns and delays are a blow to the French company and its hopes for the worldwide commercialization of a new type of nuclear reactor, known as a European Pressurized Reactor, manufactured by the French nuclear group Areva.

It also comes at a tricky time politically for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose strongly pro-nuclear stance is coming under attack by his Socialist and Green Party political opponents as the parties prepare for next year's presidential elections.

Sarkozy last month committed to a $1.5 billion investment in France's nuclear power industry at a time when some other European countries have placed moratoriums on new plants and a major poll indicates French public opinion has turned against it.

He said he intends to beef up nuclear safety research and development in a move meant to assure the public nuclear energy is safe and reliable after Fukushima but critics contend the nuclear lobby of EDF, Areva and its unions is preventing the country from joining Germany in phasing out nuclear power and putting more emphasis on renewable energy.

Cecile Duflot, national secretary of the French Green Party, said last month her party is demanding that a commitment to phase out all nuclear power -- as well as to immediately close all nuclear plant more than 30 years old -- be part of any alliance it forges with the Socialists for next year's elections.

EDF operates 58 nuclear reactors in France, which provide more than 74 percent of the country's power, as well as 16 in Britain. Progress on its new EPR is being closely monitored because of its plans to build four identical ones in Britain, the New Civil Engineer trade magazine reported.

The publication said EDF originally planned to start building the new British fleet of EPRs in 2012 to 2013 and have them operational by the end of 2017.

The Flamanville EPR and another in Finland -- which is also facing delays and cost overruns -- were the targets of criticism this spring by environmentalists who demanded France reexamine its power generation priorities.

Greenpeace on May 4 blocked the construction of the Flamanville work site, claiming to have anchored two trucks to the ground, blockaded the entrance and scaled construction cranes.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/07/22/New-French-nuke-plant-beset-by-more-delays/UPI-90751311338555/.

Tortoise gets prosthetic leg with wheel

PULLMAN, Wash., July 22 (UPI) -- Animal surgeons at Washington State University said they attached a swiveling wheel to a tortoise that had to have its leg amputated.

The Pullman school's Exotic Animal Service said Gamera, a 12-year-old African spur-thighed tortoise, lost its left front leg due to thermal injury and tissue damage but was getting around well after having a prosthetic with a swiveling wheel attached to its shell, KCPQ-TV, Tacoma, Wash., reported Thursday.

Dr. Nikol Finch of the Exotic Animal Service said there was concern Gamera would have trouble eating following the surgery so they attached a feeding tube and the tortoise has gained 3 pounds since being admitted.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/07/22/Tortoise-gets-prosthetic-leg-with-wheel/UPI-99201311321600/.

Qatar breaks Arab ranks over Syria

Thursday 21 July 2011
Ian Black

Ian Black: While most Arab states sit on the fence, Qatar is standing up to Damascus over an attack on its embassy.

Qatar lived up to its reputation as a maverick in Middle Eastern politics this week by suspending the operations of its embassy in Damascus. The emir of the small but fabulously wealthy Gulf state has already gone far beyond the Arab consensus by supporting the Libyan rebels, sending cash and weapons to help them in their fight against Muammar Gaddafi. The United Arab Emirates is doing the same, but in a lower profile way.

Qatari investments in Syria have also reportedly been frozen, but the emirate was not reacting directly to Syrian repression. The measures were taken in response to attacks on its diplomatic mission in the leafy Damascus suburb of Ein Rummaneh, which was pelted with stones, eggs and tomatoes in protest at coverage of the unrest by al-Jazeera TV. The satellite channel is owned by Qatar, based in Doha and watched by millions of Arabs.

Qatar's moves, in the words of analyst Karim Sader, were "more like a shrewdly calculated divorce from the Syrian regime than a fleeting spat".

Other, more discreet action, is afoot. Arab media circles are rife with rumors of financial support from Qatar, the UAE and the Saudis for Syrian opposition groups— paying for conferences, communications and perhaps more.

Crucially though, there is no sign that Arab leaders are ready to publicly abandon Bashar al-Assad, five months into one of the bloodiest and most unpredictable episodes of the Arab uprising.

Nabil Elaraby, the new secretary general of the Arab League, certainly stuck to the non-interference script when he criticized Barack Obama for saying that Assad had "lost legitimacy". That was an issue that could be decided only by Syrians, he insisted - a diplomatic disappointment for some critics - after visiting the Syrian president and sounding supportive about his belated, half-hearted attempts at reform.

It was easier for Elaraby's predecessor, Amr Moussa, speaking just before stepping down and launching his bid for the Egyptian presidency. Moussa first criticized NATO's bombing of Libya - despite having being instrumental in providing cover for UN-sanctioned action against Gaddafi - and then spoke of Arab "anger" about the violence in Syria, winning a rebuke from Damascus that he was "unbalanced and politically motivated".

The turmoil in Syria has paralyzed other Arab regimes. The country that describes itself as the "beating heart of Arabism" may not be popular, but it is a powerful regional player with strategic ties to Iran and important relationships with Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories - and it craves a better relationship with the US.

Saudi Arabia, Syria's bitter rival, especially in Lebanon, does not want to see chaos if Assad is forced from power or uses overwhelming violence and repression to hold on. Saudi officials have said nothing in public about the Syrian crisis and have no sympathy for the Arab spring. But they would doubtless like to see Assad cut down to size as a regional actor.

Post-revolution uncertainty in Egypt is a powerful reminder to the conservative Gulf states of the potential risks if "stable" dictators like Hosni Mubarak are abandoned by the US and forced from office. And their fear of fitna, which translates as sedition or sectarianism, look not entirely unjustified - as the ugly events in Homs have shown in recent days.

Syria's neighbors Iraq and Jordan are watching anxiously, but keeping quiet. Their assumption is that the cohesion of the Damascus regime, opposition divisions and above all the near impossibility of Libyan-style foreign intervention all mean that Assad is not about to fall.

Israel is also monitoring the Syrian crisis but keeping uncharacteristically quiet. Its listening posts on the occupied Golan Heights, less than an hour from Damascus, must be picking up some unusual intelligence from Syria's telephone and radio networks – and YouTube is a handy source for tracking defections by army officers refusing to kill their own people. As Binyamin Netanyahu acknowledged in an interview with the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV - which, like its rival al-Jazeera is covering the Syrian uprising closely - anything Israel says will be counterproductive.

But Syria's crisis is mainly a problem for Arabs. This week the Arab Writers Union, meeting in Cairo, held heated discussions about the situation in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere in the region, but its final communique managed only to condemn the crushing of peaceful protests "in more than one country" - without daring to name which ones.

As Ahmed Asfahani, commentator for the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, put it: "If even Arab writers can't protest about what's happening in Syria, what hope is there that their governments will do anything?"

Source: The Guardian.
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/21/qatar-syria-ian-black.

Japan eyes $291 bln for reconstruction: reports

Tokyo (AFP)
July 21, 2011

The Japanese government estimates it will need to spend $291 billion in the next decade to rebuild areas destroyed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, local reports said Thursday.

In the first five years, the government would spend 19 trillion yen or more than 80 percent of the total 23 trillion yen necessary for reconstruction, according to major media, including Kyodo News and the Yomiuri Shimbun.

To pay for the various projects, the government was considering spending cuts, sales of public assets, new bond issues and tax hikes, the reports said.

The plans are expected to be included in basic guidelines that the government is aiming to complete within this month, Kyodo said.

The government earlier estimated that costs resulting from damage from the disasters at 16.9 trillion yen.

Parliament approved a four trillion yen additional budget in May, and it is at the final phase of approving a second extra budget, worth two trillion yen.

A third extra budget is anticipated later this year, with analysts estimating it to be worth 10 trillion yen.

Details of the latest reconstruction plans could change as the government moves to restore Japan's finances, which currently include the industrialized world's largest public debt at around 200 percent of GDP.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Japan_eyes_291_bln_for_reconstruction_reports_999.html.

Spain summons Iraqis over deaths of Iranian exiles

14 July 2011

A Spanish judge has summoned three Iraqi officers over a raid by Iraqi security forces on a camp housing an Iranian exile group.

The UN says 34 people were killed in the raid at Camp Ashraf, in Diyala province, in April 2011.

Judge Fernando Andreu has summoned Gen Ali Ghaidan Majid, the head of army, and two other officers to appear.

He is investigating allegations that crimes against humanity were committed during the raid on the camp.

The investigation is an enlargement of an existing probe on a separate raid which took place at the camp in July 2009, in which 11 people were killed.

Universal justice

Under Spain's universal justice doctrine, grave crimes committed in other countries can be prosecuted.

Judge Andreu said that the Geneva Convention applied to the case, as it addresses the protection of civilians in wartime and all those killed and injured in the attack were considered "protected persons" under the terms of the Convention.

According to documents released by Madrid's investigative court, a total of 377 "protected persons" were injured in the 8 April 2011 raid, 154 with bullet wounds.

More than 3,000 members of the banned opposition group, the People's Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), have been confined by the US military at the camp since the invasion in 2003.

The group, considered a terrorist group by the US and Iran, were given permission to shelter in Iraq by former President Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 war between the two countries and they have lived at the camp ever since.

In January, the judge had said he would close the dossier into the July 2009 attack if the Iraqi authorities opened their own investigation.

Iraq responded by saying it had carried out its own legal inquiry but this was not judged sufficient by Spanish authorities.

The three Iraqi officers have been summoned to appear before the Madrid court on 3 October 2011.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14159897.

Jordan king urges media protection after assault

Friday 22/07/2011

AMMAN (AFP) -- Jordan's King Abdullah II called on Thursday for protecting journalists after several reporters were beaten up as they covered a demonstration in Amman last week.

"The king rejects what the journalists were subjected to last Friday, stressing that it was unjustified," the state-run Petra news agency reported after the monarch met with Jordan Press Association President Tareq Momani.

"He also rejects any practices and restrictions that would obstruct the work of media, which have an important role in accurately and independently delivering information to citizens and addressing their issues."

At least 17 people, including journalists and policemen, were injured when police tried to stop clashes between pro-reform demonstrators and government supporters in central Amman.

Police used batons and other instruments, including a barbecue grill and a ladder, to break up the clashes outside city hall, beating and injuring at least nine journalists wearing orange vests marked "Press."

"The king said he will instruct the government and security services to ensure the protection of journalists as they cover political, social and other activities," Petra said.

"We want active and effective media to help carry our reform vision," he was quoted as saying.

A police report released on Wednesday blamed the demonstrators and the media for Friday's violence, but said "more time is needed for further investigation and determining those who beat the demonstrators and journalists."

"Suspects must be put on trial in line with penal and public security laws," it added.

The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders have condemned the attacks on journalists and called for protecting the media.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=407370.