Dwarf planet carries shiny coat of ice

MADRID, May 13 (UPI) -- The solar system's fifth dwarf planet, Haumea, and at least two of its satellites are covered in crystalline water-ice, European astronomers say.

The tiny planet, shaped more or less like a rugby ball and about 1,200 miles long, moves beyond the orbit of Neptune.

It rotates on its axis every 4 hours, giving it one of the fastest rotation speeds in the solar system, a release from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology said Thursday.

The frozen water that covers Haumea and its two satellites, Hi'iaka and Namaka, makes them shine in the darkness of space, astronomers say.

Scientists say they believe the two satellites could have been created by another object smashing into Haumea, which could also have started the rapid rotation of the dwarf planet and given it its soccer ball shape.

Haumea is the fifth dwarf planet in the solar system along with Pluto, Ceres, Eris and Makemake. Its existence was confirmed in 2005.

In Hawaiian mythology, Haumea is the goddess of fertility and birth, and Hi'iaka and Namaka are two of her daughters.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/05/13/Dwarf-planet-carries-shiny-coat-of-ice/UPI-45941305335625/.

Israel plans big boost for spy satellites

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 13 (UPI) -- Israel has disclosed that a large, but unspecified, chunk of the funding for its upcoming multiyear defense plan will go to launching spy satellites to provide round-the-clock real-time surveillance of Iran and other "areas of interest."

The air force, which has been responsible for all launches from Israel, says there are six "observational satellites" in orbit, four owned by the state and two privately owned craft.

These provide imagery and other data to the military's Intelligence Corps, which has operational control of the satellites once they're in orbit.

Only one of the six satellites, the high-resolution TecSar 1, which carries an advanced imaging system called Synthetic Aperture Radar, is able to transmit images at night and in bad weather.

But even TecSar, built by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries and launched from India in January 2008 amid considerable secrecy, is only able to observe "areas of interest" every 90 minutes.

The defense establishment wants more low-orbit satellites, with advanced surveillance equipment, in space providing constant coverage of target areas, such as Iran or Syria.

"Our dream, of course, is up-to-date video images of these areas," the commander of the air force's satellite and space unit, an unidentified colonel, told The Jerusalem Post.

"But in practice, the fact that we have a satellite that provides us with dozens of frames from an expanse of targets is an extremely valuable asset."

The other satellites in orbit include three from the Ofek series also built by IAI -- 5, 7 and 9, which was launched in June 2010 -- and the Eros A and B commercial satellites.

However, the military didn't mention the 660-pound Risat-2 satellite launched by India April 20, 2009, carrying IAI sensors to which the Israelis no doubt have access.

Risat-2, a radar-imaging craft with multi-spectral aperture radar, was built specifically for military surveillance with Israeli cooperation following the November 2008 Mumbai massacre by Islamist gunmen.

The Indian launches are vital for Israel. Due to the Jewish state's geographical location, it is only able to launch intelligence-gathering satellites westward against the Earth's rotation.

That limits the range of orbits over Iran. Launching from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southeastern India means that Israel can launch eastward, adding another dimension to its surveillance of Iran.

IAI, flagship of Israel's defense industry, is the lead contractor in military space projects, while the main subcontractors are Elta, Rafael, Elbit Systems' El-Op, Israel Military Industries, Tadiran, Elisra and Specterlink.

Under the defense plan now being formulated, Rafael is believed to be working on technology to enable spy satellites to be launched from Boeing F-15 fighter jet.

"The air force would like to fire a number of satellites weighing (220 pounds) that will cover the field of battle," said Haim Eshed, director of the Defense Ministry's space program.

This will be part of an ambitious plan presented to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, a defense hawk, in August 2010 by Eshed and Menachem Greenblum, director general of the Science and Technology Ministry.

"We have the assets but we're not marketing them," Eshed told The Jerusalem Post at the time.

He said Israel's specialty was producing "mini satellites" like the 650-pound Ofek-9, in contrast to the much larger craft weighing several tons operated by the United States and Russia.

Eshed and his colleagues see Israel's satellite business as a major export earner. Despite Israel's advanced technology, space platform sales have earned $2.5 billion over the last two decades.

Yet the global space market is worth $250 billion a year and he reckons Israel could get at least 5 percent of that.

If Netanyahu's government approves the new defense plan and boosts Israel's space industry, it might be able to move closer to that objective.

The plan envisions stepped-up exports by 2015, although state-of-the-art payloads and platforms used in operational satellites are not likely to be up for sale.

Israel is already in talks with several countries and defense companies about possible collaboration on satellite ventures. IAI is reported to be looking to work with Northrop Grumman of the United States to produce and market mini-satellites.

The next major step for Israel's satellite industry is launching Opsat 3000, which will have much more powerful sensors than the Ofek series.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2011/05/13/Israel-plans-big-boost-for-spy-satellites/UPI-23251305305923/.

Top German MP warns S. Arabia of 'playing with fire' in Bahrain

2011/05/14

The chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament, Ruprecht Polenz, warned Saudi Arabia of 'playing with fire' in Bahrain by sparking a confessional conflict in the small Persian Gulf kingdom.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament, Ruprecht Polenz, warned Saudi Arabia of 'playing with fire' in Bahrain by sparking a confessional conflict in the small Persian Gulf kingdom.

Polenz told foreign journalists in Berlin on Thursday that the political, social and economic conflict in Bahrain should not be turned into a religious strife by Saudi Arabia which continues to occupy its neighbor.

He urged the Bahraini leadership to 'address the political, economic and social questions' in its country in a bid 'to avoid a confessional conflict.'

The Christian Democratic lawmaker assessed the overall situation in Bahrain as 'volatile,' saying the conflict in the Arab country could spill across its borders.

Dozens of Bahraini protesters have been killed in government crackdowns which included also the use of live ammunition, human rights activists say.

Hundreds of people had been arrested, and hundreds more were fired from their jobs for participating in pro-democracy demonstrations against the Bahraini regime which began in mid-February.

Violence escalated further after Saudi troops were deployed in Bahrain and a state of emergency was declared to help quell the unrest.

Source: Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA).
Link: http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=241401.

Israeli army burns Jordan Valley grazing fields

14-05-2011

Al Qassam website- Jericho- The Israeli army has burnt hundreds of dunums of rangeland in the Jordan Valley during military training exercises in the area.

Military training in the Malih area in the northern Jordan Valley led to the burning of hundreds of dunums of pastoral land, locals reported, adding that the military used heavy equipment and fired several artillery shells.

Separately, Palestinian farmers in the region have reported that local settlers let loose herds of wild pigs to get rid of the remaining pastoral and agricultural land in the area.

The Israeli army has declared the vast Jordan valley a closed military zone. The valley is home to some 15,000 Bedouin Arabs.

In a separate incident on Friday morning, the Israeli army fired indiscriminately east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, amid excavations and land leveling works.

Five military vehicles infiltrated 300 meters east of Al-Qarara and began combing and excavating area amid heavy fire from automatic weapons without report of injury.

Source: Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades - Information Office.
Link: http://qassam.ps/news-4522-Israeli_army_burns_Jordan_Valley_grazing_fields.html.

Indonesia: Govt bans celebrations of Israel's independence

14-05-2011

Al Qassam/Agencies- Jakarta- Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa says the Indonesian government will halt any attempt to celebrate Israel’s independence day, because Indonesia does not officially recognize the state of Israel.

“Our policy on this has been crystal clear — that we will recognize the existence of [the state of] Israel only if it acknowledges [the state of] Palestine,” Marty said Thursday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Earlier, the website eramuslim.com published a story that a Jewish community in Indonesia had planned to organize a local celebration of Israel’s independence day.

The site did not provide details of the location or date of the event.

Source: Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades - Information Office.
Link: http://qassam.ps/news-4523-Indonesia_Govt_bans_celebrations_of_Israels_independence.html.

Thousands protest for Palestinian right of return

May 13, 2011

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Thousands rallied in support of Palestinians on Friday, with demonstrators in Jordan's capital heeding a call by Facebook organizers to demand a sovereign Palestinian state, others near the Jordanian-Israeli border chanting "Death to Israel," and still more activists filling Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Palestinian youth groups called for protests in the West Bank and nearby Arab countries to mark the anniversary of the May 15, 1948, creation of the Jewish state. Palestinians call the anniversary the "day of catastrophe" because of the refugee crisis and loss of land that accompanied the creation of Israel.

About 500 protesters, demanding a sovereign Palestinian state and the right of refugees to return home, marched in Amman's downtown market district, some wearing Palestinian black and white kefiyahs or headscarves and holding keys to family homes left behind.

In Cairo, thousands rallied, beginning a Facebook-generated campaign aimed at marching on the borders of the Palestinian territories.

Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood backed Friday's demonstration but did not favor a march to the borders. On Thursday, Egypt's ruling Military Council called on organizers to cancel the march. A few protesters who drove to North Sinai to reach the Gaza border said they were turned back by authorities.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations are not unusual in Jordan or Egypt, but marches solicited on Facebook are. Organizers are apparently inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and other Arab countries that were heavily dependent on mobilization through social network sites.

In Cairo, where the protest was also called to denounce recent Muslim-Christian violence, Palestinian flags filled the square.

"Egypt is Palestine. All Arab nations are Egypt," said Ola Adel, a 20-year-old law student. "This protest is not about forming an army and heading to Gaza. It is about pressuring our officials to support the Palestinians demands."

The slogans reflected changes in the political climate, including the ousting of long-term leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and efforts by the Palestinians to get the United Nations to recognize their independence. "1948 and 1967 are the catastrophes, but 2011 is the Revolution of the Return," some of the protesters' signs read.

"We want to tell the world that Palestine and its refugees are not to be forgotten," said 21-year-old Amman dentistry student Omar Hassan, whose family hails from Bethlehem in the West Bank.

In the Jordan Valley near the Israeli border, nearly 5,000 Jordanians gathered.

"Enough is enough, the Zionist enemy's 43-year occupation of the West Bank is the longest in history," shouted Hamza Mansour, the leader of the Islamic Action Front, Jordan's largest opposition group.

"The occupation is a disgrace for the international community and it must end," added Mansour to loud applause from the crowd, who urged, "death to Israel."

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were displaced during the Israeli-Arab wars in 1948 and 1967, and the fate of nearly four million Palestinian refugees and their descendants is one of the thorniest issues in the Middle East conflict.

Palestinian refugees live in a number of countries in the Middle East. Jordan hosts the largest number, and the refugees and their descendants are estimated to number nearly two million.

The Palestinians have long maintained that the refugees have a moral and legal right to return to what was once Palestine — including land which is now Israel. But Israel has argued that granting the right of return would compromise the country's identity as the world's only Jewish state.

Associated Press Writers Jamal Halaby in Southern Shuneh, Jordan, and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed reporting.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Islamic Jihad to take part in local elections

Friday 13/05/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Islamic Jihad will participate in local elections, but not in presidential or legislative elections, movement leader Nafeth Azzam said Thursday.

Azzam told Ma'an that Islamic Jihad would take part in National Council elections, as it included Palestinians from the occupied territories and abroad, and the council was not involved in agreements signed with Israel.

Islamic Jihad would also participate in local elections, as they were important to provide services to people and were not related to any agreements signed with Israel.

However, the movement would not take part in presidential or legislative elections as they stemmed from the Oslo Accords, which the movement rejected, Azzam said.

The Jihad official said the party would join the Palestine Liberation Organization, once it was restructured and reformed.

Islamic Jihad was part of the Cairo Agreement of March 2005, in which factions agreed to form a committee of general secretaries, Executive Committee members and independent leaders to manage PLO affairs until elections were held.

Azzam said Islamic Jihad welcomed the reconciliation agreement signed last week in Cairo. The party had made huge efforts to end the internal division between Hamas and Fatah, and the West Bank and Gaza, he said.

The movement was working to enforce the reconciliation, Azzam said, adding that the next stage would be difficult due to Israel's opposition to Palestinian unity. Islamic Jihad was ready to increase efforts to remove residues of the division from the ground, the official said.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=387236.

Egypt: Islamic Jihad Militants Call on Muslims to Tolerate Coptic Christians

May 13, 2011
By johnthomas didymus

Aboud el-Zomour, ex-army officer and former leader of the Islamic Jihad who had been in prison for 30 years over his role in the assassination of the former President Anwar Sadat seems to have turned over a new leaf. He told a crowd of Muslims gathered outside a mosque in central Assyut that the Islamic Jihad has "turned the page of violence, forever and with no return," and urged the Muslim crowd at the rally to espouse tolerance for the Egyptian Copts. The group Islamic Jihad had been involved in the assassination of Anwar Sadat in the 1970s because he signed a peace treaty with Israel.

Both the Islamic Jihad and another group Gamaa Islamiyah were formed after the The Muslim Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s. The Islamic Jihad later failed in its attempt to assassinate the President Hosni Mubarak who, after escaping assassination attempt, came down heavily on militant Islamic groups, imprisoning and killing thousands of Islamic militants in Egypt. Aboud el-Zomour was imprisoned in 1981.

Al-Zamour was released by the military government in March after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. In a televised broadcast, he apologized to Egyptians for helping to usher in the Hosni Mubarak era by assassination of Anwar Sadat. He statement was not an apology for the assassination of Anwar Sadat as much as it was an apology for the fact that it helped to usher in the Hosni Mubarak era.

Both the Islamic Jihad and Gamaa Islamiyah appear anxious to be seen as Islamic parties willing to participate peacefully in the transition to the civil rule in post-Mubarak Egypt. Yet, strangely enough, a banner of Osama bin Laden was openly displayed in the rally, an action the leader of Gamaa Islamiyah, Mohamed Essam el din Derbala explains as "coincidence of timing." According to Derbala, Gamaa Islamiyah does not support Osama bin Laden's methods but he is, all the same, a hero to be honored for his role in defending Islam against both Soviet and American imperialists in Afghanistan.

Leaders of the Coptic Christian community are, however, taking El-Zomour's apparent transformation with caution, adopting a wait-and-see attitude, explaining that his change would be proven by his actions in time.

Source: God Discussion.
Link: http://www.goddiscussion.com/62533/egypt-islamic-jihad-militants-call-on-muslims-to-tolerate-coptic-christians/.

Yemen's Crisis Mounts Amid Protests, Killings

MAY 14, 2011
By TOM FINN

SAN'A, Yemen—President Ali Abdullah Saleh rejected calls to step down Friday as hundreds of thousands of protesters, backed by army defectors, demonstrated in the Arab world's poorest country and security forces killed at least three people.

Mr. Saleh's defiance came as Qatar announced it was pulling out of efforts to mediate a solution to the crisis, blaming Yemen's president for intransigence. Qatar is one of the members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which is trying to persuade Mr. Saleh to honor a prior deal to step down.

The council is fearful that Yemen's growing instability poses risks to the region and could embolden the powerful Yemeni affiliate of al Qaeda.

Addressing thousands of flag-waving supporters at a Friday prayer sermon in central San'a, Mr. Saleh described protesters as "saboteurs" and advised the political opposition who are seeking his ouster to use the ballot box and "stop playing with fire."

"We will defend ourselves with all our forces and by all means," he said.

Minutes after his speech, security forces fired on a throng of protesters carrying out a burial ceremony in Ibb, a city south of San'a. A local pediatrician said three people were killed and 29 wounded in the clash, bringing the reported overall protest death toll in Yemen to more than 145 people, says Amnesty International.

Two miles north of where Mr. Saleh was addressing his supporters, an estimated half a million antigovernment protesters at San'a University staged their biggest pro-democracy rally since unrest broke out three months ago, filling a four-mile stretch of road with tents, banners and makeshift restaurants.

Raising the specter of a broader conflict, they protested under the watchful eyes of soldiers and tanks sent by Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a former Saleh confidant who has since joined the opposition.

On Wednesday, Major Ali Mohsen's forces clashed in San'a with the elite Republican Guard, a force headed by the president's son. The four-hour gun battle left at least ten protesters and one soldier dead.

The prolonged conflict is threatening to worsen Yemen's already crippled economy. Tribesmen blockading Yemen's oil- and gas-producing Marib province are creating a fuel crisis that is costing the country $3 million a day in blocked exports.

Fuel shortages mean dry parts of the country have not received water shipments and even the capital San'a is grappling with power cuts that last up to 10 hours a day. Food prices have skyrocketed and cooking gas quadrupled in a country where some 40% of the population of 23 million people live on less than $2 a day and a third face chronic hunger.

Oil and Minerals Minister Amir al-Aydarous warned on Thursday that Yemen was on the verge of an "economic disaster,"

"If the problem persists, the government will be unable to meet the minimum needs of the citizens. The situation will pose a catastrophe beyond imagination," Mr. Al-Ayradous said.

Qatar's withdrawal from the initiative is the latest chapter in weeks of steadily souring relations between Doha and San'a following a statement in March by Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr al-Thani, calling on Mr. Saleh to step down. The president responded by recalling Yemen's ambassador to Qatar and went on to accuse the oil-rich sheikhdom and its state-funded news channel, Al-Jazeera, of "funding chaos in Yemen, Egypt, Syria and throughout the Arab world."

Yemen's official news agency Saba said Friday that Mr. Saleh's party accused Qatar of siding with the protesters and welcomed its withdrawal from the talks.

Despite Qatar's withdrawal, the other council members appear committed to push their Yemeni transition plan, which is backed by the U.S. and the European Union. Council secretary-general Abdullatif al-Zayani is due to arrive in San'a on Saturday to try to resuscitate it after Mr. Saleh suddenly refused to sign the deal last week.

The accord, which was accepted by the opposition, would see Mr. Saleh surrender power within 30 days of signing the deal in exchange for immunity for prosecution for himself and his relatives. It remained unclear whether Mr. Saleh was holding out in the hope of a better deal such as a guaranteed position in a future government or whether he intended to try and ride out the popular demands for his resignation until his term ends in 2013. He has only agreed to resign as leader of the ruling party.

Yemen's youthful protesters, meanwhile, have welcomed Qatar's withdrawal and are calling on the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council to scrap the plan, which they say is merely letting the president buy more time.

"We call on the rest of our brothers in the Gulf to ditch this plan, which is acting as a fig leaf for the regime and shielding it from prosecution despite all the killings" said Adel Al-Surabi, a member of the Civil Coalition of Revolutionary youth.

Source: The Wall Street Journal.
Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703864204576321334194576812.html.

Assad out of touch, Erdogan suggests

ANKARA, Turkey, May 13 (UPI) -- Damascus can no longer deny the Syrian people's request for democracy, the Turkish prime minister said Friday.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is facing mounting international and domestic pressure on his regime. Human rights activists put the death toll from Syrian violence at close to 850. Damascus is accused of sending the military to respond to widespread protests though the regime attributes the violence to insurgents.

Assad is said to have urged restraint and last month enacted a series of reforms meant to address protester concerns. Washington said that the escalation of violence, however, showed Assad wasn't serious about reforms.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a close ally to Assad, told American broadcaster PBS from Ankara that democratic reform movements sweeping across the Middle East are "irreversible and "indispensable requests for peace and democracy" can't be ignored.

Mark Toner, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said international pressure on Damascus means the "window is narrowing" for Assad.

European lawmakers complained this week that Assad was left off a list of individuals sanctioned by the European Union. Toner added that there were "other options" on the table.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/05/13/Assad-out-of-touch-Erdogan-suggests/UPI-24871305308197/.