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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Wayne becomes Whallid Parnell

27 July
By Deena Pillay

Protea cricketer Wayne Parnell has embraced the Islamic faith.

This was confirmed by national team manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee. “It was his choice to embrace Islam,” confirmed Moosajee.

Christened Wayne Dillon Parnell, the left-handed Eastern Province bowler who is also a useful lower order batsman, took the cricketing scene by storm when he captained the SA U19 squad at the 2008 World Cup.

Under 19 coach Ray Jennings tipped Parnell then to step into the shoes of Shaun Pollock.

He became the youngest South African to be awarded a Proteas contract in 2009. Parnell turns 22 on Saturday.

An SMS doing its rounds on Monday attributed his conversion to the influence of fellow Protea players Hashim Amla and Imraan Tahir.

However, Amla’s agent Ismail Kajee said it was not true that the ODI vice-captain had any influence in Parnell’s decision to convert to Islam.

According to the SMS, Parnell’s Islamic name is Whallid, meaning “the great one”.

While acknowledging Parnell’s conversion, Moosajee said he would continue to use his christened name.

Parnell, nicknamed Pigeon, is currently playing county cricket for Sussex in England.

He also turns out for Pune Warriors in the IPL and the Chevrolet Warriors in domestic franchise cricket.

He is expected to observe his first fast for the holy month of Ramadan which begins on Monday.

Attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.

Egypt allows medical aid into Gaza via the Rafah crossing

Thursday 28/07/2011

EL-ARISH (Ma’an) -- Head of the Egyptian Red Crescent Jaber Al-Arabi said Thursday that Egyptian authorities had allowed medical aid and food to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

Three truckloads of medications were received by the Palestinian Red Crescent. They were donated by the Justice for Palestine Center in the UK.

“Egyptian authorities have allowed food aid and children’s milk into Gaza on the occasion of the month of Ramadan, the aid includes 1,200 boxes of five tons of children's milk that were donated by an Egyptian food company and were received by the Egyptian Red Crescent and transferred to Gaza via the Rafah crossing,” Al-Arabi told Ma'an.

Egypt had allowed large amounts of medications and medical goods into Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Wednesday.

Fifteen tonnes of medications were donated by the Egyptian Doctors Union, 60 tonnes of medications from the Islamic Relief Committee, and 100 tonnes of meat delivered by the Islamic Relief Committee and the government of New Zealand.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=409284.

U.S. man tied to fuel scam in Iraq

PALM BEACH, Fla., July 28 (UPI) -- A top Republican fundraiser was ordered to pay $28.8 million to a Jordanian royal in a lawsuit over fuel contracts to supply U.S. troops in Iraq, a court ruled.

A Florida court ordered Florida businessman Harry Sargeant III, a former U.S. Navy pilot and Republican Party fundraiser, to pay $28.8 million to Mohammad al-Saleh, brother-in-law of Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Saleh claimed Sargeant and an associate were involved in a million-dollar scheme against the Jordanian government, MSNBC reports. The money was allegedly used to secure a monopoly over fuel supply lines through Jordan to U.S. forces in Iraq.

The associate was a top terrorism adviser to former President George W. Bush, MSNBC said.

A congressional investigation into the deal and a subsequent audit by the U.S. Defense Department concluded that Sargeant's activity cost the U.S. military as much as $200 million.

A Florida jury found that Sargeant conspired to prevent Saleh from getting 30 percent of the profits from the fuel supply contracts from Jordan.

His defense team told MSNBC via e-mail that they were planning an appeal.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/07/28/US-man-tied-to-fuel-scam-in-Iraq/UPI-64051311854237/.

Thousands have 'disappeared' in Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 28 (UPI) -- Thousands of Syrians have reportedly "disappeared" since the anti-regime protests began in March, the Avaaz campaign group says.

The group said it has contacted the families of some 2,918 people detained by security forces and compiled a list of names, the Lebanese Web site Yalibnan.com reported Thursday.

"It's shocking -- one person per hour is being disappeared. This is the face of the regime," Ricken Patel, executive director of Avaaz, told the Web site.

Nadim Houry, a Syrian researcher for Human Rights Watch, said incommunicado detention in the country is "widespread," the Web site reported.

Activists said Wednesday tanks and troops were deployed in areas around Damascus, scores were arrested and 11 killed, the Web site said.

The Local Coordination Committee activist network that documents protests also said security forces arrested 150 people in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh, Yalibnan.com said.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/07/28/Thousands-have-disappeared-in-Syria/UPI-50331311851771/.

Islamic aid groups meet to help Somalia

July 28 2011

Member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathered in Istanbul on Thursday to coordinate an emergency response to the devastating drought in Somalia.

“In such a large-scale disaster, we need to join hands together and to act collectively so as to counter the spread of the calamity and to save as many lives as we possibly can,” OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of Turkey told a meeting of the organization's relief aid agencies.

“For this reason, we call for the establishment of a large coalition under the banner of the OIC to address the emergency situation in Somalia and the Horn of Africa in general,” he added.

Ihsanoglu also called on warring Somali factions “to immediately stop all hostilities during the holy month of Ramadan and to allow access to all humanitarian actors without distinction whatsoever so as to enable them to freely reach out to all the needy populations.”

The OIC has a humanitarian aid office in the Somali capital Mogadishu and is one of the rare bodies allowed to operate in Somalia by Islamist rebels there.

The United Nations last week officially declared famine in two parts of southern Somalia, as the world slowly mobilized to help 12 million people battling hunger in the region's worst drought in 60 years.

Somalia, which has been affected by almost uninterrupted conflict for 20 years and become a byword for “failed state”, is the worst affected nation but parts of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti are also hit.

Source: Pretoria News.
Link: http://www.pretorianews.co.za/islamic-aid-groups-meet-to-help-somalia-1.1107787.

Exoplanet Aurora Makes For An Out-of-this-World Sight

Cambridge, MA (SPX)
Jul 28, 2011

aurorae, or Northern and Southern Lights, provide a dazzling light show to people living in the polar regions. Shimmering curtains of green and red undulate across the sky like a living thing. New research shows that aurorae on distant "hot Jupiters" could be 100-1000 times brighter than Earthly aurorae.

They also would ripple from equator to poles (due to the planet's proximity to any stellar eruptions), treating the entire planet to an otherworldly spectacle.

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

Earth's aurorae are created when energetic particles from the Sun slam into our planet's magnetic field. The field guides solar particles toward the poles, where they smash into Earth's atmosphere, causing air molecules to glow like a neon sign. The same process can occur on planets orbiting distant stars, known as exoplanets.

Particularly strong aurorae result when Earth is hit by a coronal mass ejection or CME - a gigantic blast that sends billions of tons of solar plasma (electrically charged, hot gas) into the solar system.

A CME can disrupt Earth's magnetosphere - the bubble of space protected by Earth's magnetic field - causing a geomagnetic storm. In 1989, a CME hit Earth with such force that the resulting geomagnetic storm blacked out huge regions of Quebec.

Cohen and his colleagues used computer models to study what would happen if a gas giant in a close orbit, just a few million miles from its star, were hit by a stellar eruption. He wanted to learn the effect on the exoplanet's atmosphere and surrounding magnetosphere.

The alien gas giant would be subjected to extreme forces. In our solar system, a CME spreads out as it travels through space, so it's more diffuse once it reaches us.

A "hot Jupiter" would feel a stronger and more focused blast, like the difference between being 100 miles from an erupting volcano or one mile away.

"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 of CfA.

In the model, a CME hits the "hot Jupiter" and weakens its magnetic shield. Then CME particles reach the gas giant's atmosphere. Its aurora lights up in a ring around the equator, 100-1000 times more energetic than Earthly aurorae. Over the course of about 6 hours, the aurora then ripples up and down toward the planet's north and south poles before gradually fading away.

Despite the extreme forces involved, the exoplanet's magnetic field shields its atmosphere from erosion.

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

This work has important implications for the habitability of rocky worlds orbiting distant stars. Since red dwarf stars are the most common stars in our galaxy, astronomers have suggested focusing on them in the search for Earthlike worlds.

However since a red dwarf is cooler than our Sun, a rocky planet would have to orbit very close to the star to be warm enough for liquid water.

There, it would be subjected to the sort of violent stellar eruptions Cohen and his colleagues studied. Their future work will examine whether rocky worlds could shield themselves from such eruptions.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Exoplanet_Aurora_Makes_For_An_Out_of_this_World_Sight_999.html.

NASA, SpaceX agree on space station flight

Washington (UPI)
Jul 26, 2011

NASA and SpaceX, based in California, have agreed on the private spacecraft company's first date with the International Space Station, the space agency says.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket Nov. 30 and will rendezvous and dock with the ISS Dec. 7, NewScientist.com reported Tuesday.

The original plan had been for two missions, one for a rendezvous and a second for the actual docking, but after a successful test flight SpaceX requested that NASA combine the two missions.

"We technically have agreed with SpaceX that we want to combine those flights," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, said. "We are doing all the planning to go ahead and have those missions combined, but we haven't given them formal approval yet."

The U.S. shuttle program has indeed but the ISS still requires regular resupply, with many seeing commercial, private space flight as the answer.

However, even if the Dragon mission is successful, U.S. astronauts will still depend on launches aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft until the private vehicle is human-rated by NASA.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/NASA_SpaceX_agree_on_space_station_flight_999.html.

ISS to be sunk after 2020: Russian space agency

Moscow (AFP)
July 27, 2011

Russia and its partners plan to plunge the International Space Station (ISS) into the ocean at the end of its life cycle after 2020 so as not to leave space junk, its space agency said Wednesday.

"After it completes its existence, we will be forced to sink the ISS. It cannot be left in orbit, it's too complex, too heavy an object, it can leave behind lots of rubbish," said deputy head of Roskosmos space agency Vitaly Davydov.

"Right now we've agreed with our partners that the station will be used until approximately 2020," he said in comments released on Wednesday.

Space junk is becoming an increasingly serious headache.

A piece of space debris narrowly missed the space station last month in a rare incident that forced the six-member crew to scramble to their rescue craft.

The ISS, which orbits 350 kilometers (220 miles) above Earth, is a sophisticated platform for scientific experiments bringing together space agencies from Russia, the United States, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Launched in 1998, the ISS was initially expected to remain in space for 15 years until an agreement was reached to keep it operating through 2020.

By going into a watery grave, the ISS will repeat the fate of its predecessor space station Mir, which Russia sank in the Pacific Ocean in 2001 after 15 years of service.

Moscow this month proclaimed the beginning of "the era of the Soyuz" after the US shuttle's last flight left the Russian system as the sole means for delivering astronauts to the ISS.

Russia is currently developing a new space ship to replace the Soyuz capsule which is single-use, except for the section in which spacemen return to Earth, said Davydov.

Tests of the ship will begin after 2015 and it will have "elements of multi-use whose level will be much higher than they are today," he said, adding that Russia will compete with the United States in building the new-generation ship.

"We'll race each other."

Davydov said it remains unclear what will come after the ISS and whether mankind will see the need for a replacement orbiting close to Earth.

"Lots of our tasks are still linked to circumterrestrial space," he said, while adding that a new space station could be used as a base for building complexes that will explore deeper into space.

"I cannot rule out that it will be used to put together, create the complexes that in the future will fly to the Moon and Mars," he said, stressing that "a serious exploration" could not be done without manned flights.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/ISS_to_be_sunk_after_2020_Russian_space_agency_999.html.

Fears of old regime haunt new Tunisia

TUNIS, Tunisia, July 27 (UPI) -- Though critics fear a return of the old system, a former regime official in Tunisia said openness is the path to reform.

A protest suicide sparked the Jasmine Revolution in December that ended President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's tenure after more than 23 years in power.

The government that took control after Ben Ali's departure disbanded his secular Constitutional Democratic Rally, or RCD, in March. As many as 9,000 members are barred from competing in an October election for a constitutional assembly.

Former members, however, have reconstituted their political activity in new parties. Mohamed Jegham, a former minister of interior and defense, leads the newly formed al-Watan. He told the Financial Times that not all former regime officials were bad elements.

"There are hundreds of thousands of worthy people who were RCD members but had no involvement in corruption and know how to build up the country," he was quoted as saying. "They cannot be excluded with the stroke of a pen."

Critics, however, say former regime officials are plotting a coup and are working behind the scenes to block true reform in Tunisia.

European leaders early this year agreed to help fund political transition in Tunisia.

Opposition groups told al-Jazeera early this month that demonstrators were blocked from government installations and many of the original grievances remained.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/07/27/Fears-of-old-regime-haunt-new-Tunisia/UPI-90381311778656/.

Tunisia launches voter registration drive

A major information campaign is under way on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and traditional media outlets to urge Tunisians to register to vote.

By Monia Ghanmi for Magharebia in Tunis – 27/07/11

Concerned with a low rate of voter registration, Tunisia's Independent High Electoral Commission (ISIE) is in the midst of a major push to encourage citizens to register for the country's historic October 23rd elections.

Tunisians have until Tuesday (August 2nd) to register to vote for the Constituent Assembly elections. The body chosen in October will be responsible for drafting the country's new democratic constitution.

According to ISIE, only 350,000 Tunisians were registered for the poll as of July 20th, compared with nearly 8 million eligible voters. Anyone over the age of 18 can participate in the upcoming election.

ISIE President Kamel Jendoubi said the numbers were unexpected, but he added that turnout was rising day after day. The commission has opened more than 400 offices nationwide for citizens to register, in addition to six offices for Tunisians living abroad.

The reason for the low participation, according to ISIE Secretary-General Boubaker Ben Thabeut, is the absence of a sense of responsibility that is vital to the democratic process.

But the registration drive has not been without problems. Several potential voters told Magharebia that they encountered problems when trying to register.

Jameleddine Chemkhi said that each time he went to Ben Arous municipality to catalog his name for the next election, he found that the computer was down or had poor internet connectivity. He said he was surprised by the problems, saying that ISIE had enough time to prepare. Chemkhi suggested that the difficulties contributed to low turnout.

Others took issue with the 20-day registration period. Zakia Attia said the timeframe was not enough to register everyone.

"It's important to allow as much time as possible for the success of the most important phase in this electoral process," she said. "In addition, this is the summer holiday period, and I think that the officials acted deliberately so as to extend the registration period and thus postpone the election."

As to the possibility of extending the voter registration period beyond August 2nd if the low turnout continued, Ben Thabeut said it was premature to say, noting that ISIE would determine that based on the reports filed to it by the committees that follow up on the registration on a daily basis in different areas across the country.

A number of Tunisians continue to abstain from involvement in politics at a time of continued ambiguity about the future of the country.

"I haven't so far registered because I'm afraid of the election and its results," said Fares Ghazouani. "So far, I haven't found a party that embodies my ideas and meets my aspirations."

Meanwhile, ISIE plans mobile registration offices to traverse the country and allow residents of rural areas to register. Saoud Kalai, the commission's vice president, said that authorities also plan to increase the number of registration offices to further facilitate the democratic process.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/07/27/feature-01.

Libyan rebels gear up for oil shipment

BENGHAZI, Libya, July 27 (UPI) -- The rebel-backed Transitional National Council in Libya is gearing up to load 800,000 barrels of crude oil onto a tanker for shipment Monday, an official said.

Oil production in Libya is shuttered by conflict, prompting the International Energy Agency to call on its member states to release petroleum from strategic reserves to offset the shortage.

Oil tanker Captain X Kyriakou arrived at the Zuetina oil terminal during the weekend to load crude oil stored at the port west of the rebel capital Benghazi. The tanker could leave port by Monday.

Mazin Ramadan, a TNC energy adviser, told the Platts news service the buyer was Vitol but declined to indicate the destination of the crude.

"The oil tanker should leave once the 800,000 barrels are lifted," he was quoted as saying. "The shipment is going to Vitol."

Libya's national oil company is under economic sanctions. The U.S. Treasury Department authorized sales from operators working on behalf of the rebel leadership in Libya, however.

A TNC official told the news agency on condition of anonymity that security was the main inhibitor of oil shipments from rebel-held oil fields.

"There is no damage to the oil facilities and fields and all the equipment and installations are ready for production. Our main problem is security," he said. "We can start pumping once security is guaranteed."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/07/27/Libyan-rebels-gear-up-for-oil-shipment/UPI-84271311768676/.

Hezbollah to defend oil, gas reserves

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 27 (UPI) -- Hezbollah respects Beirut's authority on border demarcation, though reserves the right to avenge attacks on oil and gas installations, its leader said.

Noble Energy announced a "significant" natural gas discovery last year at the Leviathan field about 80 miles off the coast of Haifa in the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The company estimated there are around 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves there.

Lebanon contends that a portion of Leviathan lies within its maritime borders.

In a speech marking the anniversary of the 2006 war with Israel, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said border demarcation was something for state officials.

"We, in the resistance, don't interfere in the border demarcation process and we will deal with the situation as approved by the Lebanese state," he was quoted by Hezbollah's al-Manar news station as saying.

Hezbollah has told Israel not to touch its resources, however, spurring threats of retaliation from the Israelis.

Nasrallah added that Lebanon would rely on support from the military and the resistance to defend the country's natural resources.

"I tell the friends and the foes that Lebanon will rely on all the elements of strength in order to regain its natural resources," he said.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/07/27/Hezbollah-to-defend-oil-gas-reserves/UPI-67591311770806/.

Iran pres. nominates 4 new ministers

Wed Jul 27, 2011

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has nominated four candidates to receive the Majlis (parliament) vote of confidence before running four ministries.

In a letter to the Majlis on Wednesday, President Ahmadinejad named Mohammad Abbasi, Abdolreza Sheikholeslami, Mehdi Ghazanfari and Rostam Qasemi respectively for the posts of ministers at the Ministry of Sports and Youth, Ministry of Cooperative, Labor and Social Welfare, Ministry of Industries, Mines and Trade as well as Ministry of Oil, IRIB reported.

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said that the parliamentarians will discuss the subject of candidates during a session on Tuesday.

On June 29, Iranian lawmakers approved the merger of the three ministries of Welfare and Social Security, Labor and Social Affairs as well as Cooperative into the new Ministry of Cooperative, Labor and Social Welfare.

The legislators also passed a bill to merge the ministries of Industries and Mines and Commerce to institute the new Ministry of Industries, Mines and Trade.

The announcement came after the Iranian chief executive declared the establishment of the new Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, following the Majlis' vote of confidence to Ali Nikzad, the candidate to run the ministry.

The Majlis has also rejected Hamid Sajjadi as the proposed candidate for the new Ministry of Sports and Youth.

Under Iran's Fifth Five-Year Development Plan from 2010 to 2015, the government had to reduce its ministries from 21 to 17 to improve the efficiency of the country's administration.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/190994.html.

UK recognizes Libyan rebels, expels Qaddafi envoys

By AGENCIES
Jul 27, 2011

LONDON: Britain has officially recognized Libya’s main opposition group as the country’s legitimate government, and on Wednesday expelled all diplomats from Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain is unfreezing 91 million pounds ($150 million) of Libyan oil assets to help the National Transitional Council, which the UK now recognizes as “the sole governmental authority in Libya.”

“This decision reflects the National Transitional Council’s increasing legitimacy, competence and success in reaching out to Libyans across the country,” Hague said.

He said the council had been invited to send an ambassador to London, adding that “we will deal with the National Transitional Council on the same basis as other governments around the world.”

The Libyan charge d’affaires was summoned Wednesday morning and informed that all eight remaining staff and their dependents must leave the country within three days, the Foreign Office said.

Qaddafi's ambassador, Omar Jelban, was sent home in May after an attack on the British ambassador's residence in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

A handful of demonstrators gathered outside the embassy in London, with a rebel banner, heckling the diplomats outside and threatening to climb onto the balcony and tear down Qaddafi’s green flag. They were shooed away by police, who stood guard outside the four-story stone and brick building across from the city’s Hyde Park.

Abdelatif Kleisa, a Libyan emigre now living in Sheffield, was among the demonstrators. He said any defections would be welcome but the defectors themselves wouldn’t be treated as heroes.

“It’s too late for them to defect,” said the 48-year-old businessman, who wore a rebel flag pin over his heart. Asked if any of the diplomats could win a place in the rebel movement, he let out an expletive.

“No way,” he said. “They have to get normal jobs like anyone else. We struggled for 42 years. Now it’s their turn to struggle.”

Britain’s diplomatic moves implement a decision made at a July 15 meeting in Istanbul during which the United States, Britain and 30 other nations recognized Libya’s main opposition group as the country’s legitimate government.

A popular uprising seeking to oust Qaddafi broke out in February, but the front lines in the civil war have remained largely stagnant since then. Rebels, backed by NATO air bombings, control much of the country’s east and pockets in the west. But Qaddafi controls the rest from his stronghold in Tripoli, the capital.

Hague said London would invite the council to replace Libya’s diplomats in Britain and free up some funds currently blocked due to an asset freeze on Libyan funds.

“At the request of the Arabian Gulf Oil Company, a Libyan oil company, the United Kingdom is ready to make available 91 million pounds of the company’s assets in the United Kingdom.”

The rebels have long called on nations to give the administration in Benghazi access to Libyan assets frozen abroad so they can cover the daily costs of running the east of the country, which they now control.

They won $1.1 billion at a donor conference in June and received a further boost this week when Turkey dispatched the first cargo of fuel in a multi-million dollar supply deal.

Big boost

The Libyan opposition saluted Britain's decision. Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council, said Britain's recognition "gives us a political and economic boost."

"We will try through this recognition to get our frozen assets," Abdul-Jalil told a news conference in Benghazi in eastern Libya. "This means Qaddafi and his followers are no longer legitimate." He added that the new Libyan ambassador to Britain would be Mahmud Nacua, who he described as a Libyan exile in Britain.

In a sign of Qaddafi's defiance, the Libyan man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing attended a pro-Qaddafi rally. The Libyan state TV images showing the bomber in a wheelchair in a crowd in Tripoli on Wednesday revived criticism in Britain of the decision to grant him early release on medical grounds.

Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi was convicted in the 1988 downing of a Pan Am plane that killed 270 people, most of them Americans, over Lockerbie, Scotland. He was released from a Scottish prison in 2009 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, and at the time was given three months to live. Al-Megrahi returned to a hero's welcome in Libya later that year.

"The appearance of Mr. Al-Megrahi on our television screens is a further reminder that a great mistake was made when he was released," British Foreign Secretary Hague told reporters.

Meanwhile, Libyan expats have become the first to take a stab at forming a political party in Benghazi. “We call ourselves the New Libya Party because everything was destroyed,” said Ramadan Ben Amer, 53, a co-founder of the party, which is the offshoot of an online news website that he helped launch in late February to support the revolution.

“Qaddafi says he has built Libya brick by brick but, especially Benghazi, he has destroyed brick by brick,” Ben Amer said hours before presenting his party at the Uzu Hotel.

Rebels revoke offer to Qaddafi

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Qadaffi and two of his sons, said “justice must be done” irrespective of any political agreement.

The ICC comments follow Britain and France dropping their calls for Qadaffi to quit power and leave the country — seemingly part of a new diplomatic push to end the war as the rebels struggle to make significant gains on the battlefield, despite four months of NATO bombing of Qadaffi’s forces.

This week Hague said for the first time that Qaddafi might be able to remain in Libya, as long as he is not in power.

He said that “Qaddafi is going to have to abandon power, all military and civil responsibility,” but “what happens to Qaddafi is ultimately a question for the Libyans.”

France and the United States have made similar suggestions.

But Libya’s rebel leader said on Wednesday that his council had offered a month ago to allow Muammar Qaddafi to stay in the country provided he step down first but that this offer had now expired.

“This offer is no longer valid,” Mustafa Abdel Jalil told reporters in the rebel-held eastern city of Benghazi.

Abdel Jalil said the offer was made about a month ago through United Nations envoy Abdel Elah Al-Khatib with a two-week deadline attached. The two weeks had passed and the offer was no longer valid, he said.

Despite four months of NATO air strikes on pro-Qadaffi forces, the rebels have failed to make a big gains toward Tripoli and appear unlikely to make a breakthrough before the start in early August of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article478797.ece.

Iran president proposes Guards commander as oil minister

By REUTERS
Jul 27, 2011

TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed to parliament on Wednesday a Revolutionary Guards commander as his choice for oil minister, state radio reported.

“I introduce Rostam Qasemi as the oil minister nominee to the parliament,” Ahmadinejad said in a letter to lawmakers.

Qasemi is head of the Khatam Al-Anbia construction base, an engineering and construction company controlled by the elite Guards. Parliament will debate a vote of confidence for Qasemi on August 3.

The Guards has played a growing economic role in the Islamic Republic since Ahmadinejad first took office in 2005.

The UN Security Council in June blacklisted 15 firms belonging to the Guards Corps. for their alleged role in Iran’s nuclear activities, which the United States and its allies say is a cover to build bombs.

Iran denies this, saying it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity.

Ahmadinejad took control of the ministry in May as he sought to merge it with the Energy Ministry in an effort to slim down the government. The merger plan has since been put on hold.

By law the president has three months after removing a minister — in this case Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi — to introduce a new candidate to parliament. During that period he can act as caretaker himself or appoint someone to the post.

Ahmadinejad came under fire by critics in parliament after he relinquished the role of caretaker oil minister himself — a role both parliament and Iran’s constitutional watchdog said was illegal — and appointed Mohammad Aliabadi, one of his close allies, to the post in June.

Lawmakers said Aliabadi, former head of Iran’s Olympic Committee, lacked experience and knowledge.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article478775.ece.

Villagers flee Iranian clashes with Iraq Kurd rebels

By REUTERS
Jul 26, 2011

SWUNE, Iraq: Iranian shelling in clashes with Kurdish rebels on the border with Iraq’s northern region has killed two civilians and forced hundreds to flee their homes, local officials and aid agencies said on Monday.

Iranian troops have in the past fought along the frontier with Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region with rebels from the PJAK, an Iranian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Kurdish group which fights for an ethnic homeland in Turkey.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday it was providing assistance to more than 800 displaced people in northern Iraq, all driven from their homes by the recent shelling in the mountains of Qandil.

Local Iraqi Kurdish officials have blamed Iranian bombardments for the displacements.

Ali Muhammad Ibrahim, general manager of local Sidakan Hospital, said two civilians had been killed by shelling.

Fleeing residents had settled in makeshift tents along the roadway near their abandoned villages near the Iranian border, leaving behind farmland, livestock and homes.

“There were bombs inside the village. It could happen any time. Sometimes the bombardments were at 3 a.m., sometimes in the dawn and sometimes in the evening,” said Muhammad Abdullah, 26, who escaped the village of Swune near the Iranian border.

The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration said it had also supplied a temporary clinic and relief supplies to the displaced on the border region.

Iran said on Friday a commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards was killed in an explosion during clashes with Kurdish rebels in northwestern Iran. In April, Iran reported four Iranian border guards were killed by a grenade attack.

PJAK, which stands for the Free Life Party of Kurdistan, is branded a terrorist organization by both Tehran and Washington.

Iran has pledged to step up military action against the group, which is seeking greater autonomy for Kurdish areas in the country. PJAK has bases in the mountains where the borders of Iran, Iraq and Turkey meet.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article478409.ece.

Bulgaria to expel Libyan diplomat

By REUTERS
Jul 26, 2011

SOFIA: Bulgaria will proceed with plans to expel Libya’s consul after Libyan rebel forces denied he had joined their ranks in the Transitional National Council (TNC), the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The foreign ministry asked consul Ibrahim Al-Furis to leave Bulgaria on Monday, prompting him to storm the embassy with a small group of diplomats and staff, and to declare that it had joined the rebels.

The ministry declined to give the reason for the expulsion.

“We will proceed with the expulsion once he leaves the embassy,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

The rebels, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, are fighting Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s troops to try to end his 41-year rule in the north African country.

Al-Furis has refused to leave Bulgaria, saying he is waiting for confirmation from the rebel forces of his new position as their legal representative in Bulgaria.

But deputy foreign minister of the TNC, Salaheddin Bishari, told Sofia the consul did not belong to the council and should be expelled.

“The TNC would like to inform (you) ... that the person mentioned in your e-mail does not belong to the TNC. Furthermore we recommend that he should be deported according to the decision taken by the Bulgarian government,” he said in a letter to the foreign ministry.

Sofia, which recognized the TNC last month, has said it will suspend links with the embassy until it is clear who is in charge.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article478373.ece.

New Planetary Nebula Revealed by Kepler

By Andres Cordova
July 26, 2011

A planetary nebula called Kronberger 61, or Kn61, has been discovered on NASA’s Kepler mission, and may help solve the question of whether stellar companions are key in the formation of such nebulae.

The purpose of Kepler’s planet finding mission is to determine the number and frequency of habitable Earth-sized planets orbiting sun-like stars.

"Kn 61 is among a rather small collection of planetary nebulae that are strategically placed within Kepler’s gaze," said co-author Orsola de Marco from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, in a press release.

"Explaining the puffs left behind when medium sized stars like our sun expel their last breaths is a source of heated debate among astronomers, especially the part that companions might play," he added. "It literally keeps us up at night!"

Planetary nebulae form from residual dust and gas left over after stars exhaust their hydrogen fuel. This shell expands and cools down, forming a certain shape which could be influenced by companion stars or planets.

The formation was discovered by Austrian amateur astronomer Matthias Kronberger, and was presented at the International Astronomical Union Symposium: "Planetary Nebulae: an Eye to the Future" in Spain’s Canary Islands.

"Without this close collaboration with amateurs, this discovery would probably not have been made before the end of the Kepler mission," said George Jacoby of the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization and the Carnegie Observatories in California in the release.

"Professionals, using precious telescope time, aren’t as flexible as amateurs, who did this using existing data and in their spare time," he added. "This was a fantastic pro-am collaboration of discovery."

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/new-planetary-nebula-revealed-59595.html.

Families Cry Out for Palestinian Prisoners

By Eva Bartlett

GAZA CITY, Jul 25, 2011 (IPS) - "We could enter the Guinness book of records for the longest running weekly sit- ins in the world," Nasser Farrah, from the Palestinian Prisoners' Association, jokes dryly. Since 1995, Palestinian women from Beit Hanoun to Rafah have met every Monday outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Gaza City, holding photos and posters of their imprisoned loved ones, calling on the ICRC to ensure the human rights of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel's 24 prisons and detention centers.

Since 2007, the sit-ins have taken on greater significance: Gaza families want Israel to re-grant them the right – under international humanitarian law – to visit their imprisoned family members. This right was taken from Gaza's families in 2007, after the Israeli tank gunner Gilad Shalit was taken by Palestinian resistance from alongside the Gaza border where he was on active duty.

The sit-ins have grown, with over 200 women and men showing up weekly. On Jul. 11, ICRC and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) helped facilitate a demonstration from the ICRC office to the unknown soldier park, Jundi, to protest the ban on Palestinians from Gaza visiting their imprisoned loved ones.

"We can't send letters, we can't see him, we can't talk to him," says Umm Ahmed of her 32-year-old son. Ahmed Abu Ghazi was imprisoned four years ago and sentenced to 16 years in Israeli prison.

"Because we have no connection with him, every Monday we go to the Red Cross. But nothing changes. Last week we slept outside the Red Cross, waiting for them to help us talk to our sons and daughters," Umm Ahmed says.

"While our sons are in prison, their parents might die without seeing them again."

For Palestinian prisoner Bilal Adyani, from Deir al-Balah, such was the case. On Jul. 11, Adayni's father died, after waiting for years to see his son again. The ICRC reports that over 30 relatives of Palestinian prisoners have died since the prison visits were cut.

Umm Bilal, an elderly woman in a simple white headscarf, walks among the demonstrators, holding a plastic-framed photo of her son when he was 16. The teen wears a black dress shirt, has combed and gelled hair, and smiles easily to the camera.

"Twenty years, ten months, he's been in prison. I haven't been allowed to visit him in eight years," says Umm Bilal.

"The prison canteen should sell phone cards, clothes, or food, but Israel is making it difficult now. He wanted to study but in prison but he hasn't been allowed."

In December 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled with the Israeli government to deny families from Gaza visitation rights to prisoners in Israeli prisons. Among the stated reasons for the Court's decision were that "family visits are not a basic humanitarian need for Gaza residents" and that there was no need for family visits since prisoners could obtain basic supplies through the prison canteen.

In June, 2011, Israeli Prison Service is reported to have taken away various rights of prisoners, including that allowing prisoners to enroll in universities, and blocked cell phone use.

"The world is calling for Shalit to be released. But he is just one man, a soldier," says Umm Bilal. "Many Palestinian prisoners were taken from their homes. Shalit was in his tank when he was taken. Those tanks shoot on Gaza, kill our people, destroy our land. Take Shalit, but release our prisoners."

According to Nasser Farrah, "there are over 7,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including nearly 40 women and over 300 children. Seven hundred prisoners are from the Gaza Strip."

Other estimates range from 7,500 to 11,000 Palestinian prisoners. "The ‘over 7000’ does not include the thousands of Palestinians who are regularly taken by the Israelis in the occupied West Bank, and even from Gaza, as well as those held in administrative detention for varying periods," Farrah notes.

Under administrative detention, Palestinians, including minors, are denied trial and imprisoned for renewable periods, with many imprisoned between six months to six years.

According to B'Tselem, as of February 2011, Israel is holding 214 Palestinians under administrative detention.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prevents forcible transfers of people from occupied territory. But Israel has been doing just that since 1967, and has imprisoned over 700,000 Palestinian men, women and children according to the UN.

Aside from denial of family visits, higher education, and canteen supplies, roughly 1,500 Palestinian prisoners are believed to be seriously ill, and are denied adequate healthcare.

Majed Komeh's mother has many years of Monday demonstrations ahead of her. Her son, 34 years old, was given a 19-year sentence, of which he has served six years.

"For the last four years I haven't heard from him," Umm Majed says. "He has developed stomach and back problems in prison, but he's not getting the medicine he needs."

Nasser Farrah says this is a serious problem. "Many have cancer and critical illnesses. Many need around-the-clock hospital care, not simply headache pills."

A 2010-2011 report from the Palestinian Prisoners Society said that 20 prisoners have been diagnosed with cancer, 88 with diabetes and 25 have had kidney failures. "Over 200 prisoners have died from lack of proper medical care in prisons," the report says.

One of the ways ill Palestinians end up in prison is by abduction when passing through the Erez crossing for medical treatment outside of Gaza.

"The Israelis give them permits to exit Gaza for treatment in Israel or the West bank, but after they cross through the border Israel imprisons many of them," says Farrah.

"We are a people under occupation. We have no other options to secure our prisoners' rights but to demonstrate in front of the ICRC. It's their job to ensure prisoners are receiving their rights under international humanitarian law."

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56602.

Herschel confirms Enceladus as primary water supply for Saturn atmosphere

Paris (ESA)
Jul 27, 2011

Observing Saturn, Herschel has detected evidence of water molecules in a huge torus surrounding the planet and centered on the orbit of its small moon, Enceladus. The water plumes on Enceladus, which were detected by the Cassini-Huygens mission, inject the water into the torus and part of it eventually precipitates into Saturn's atmosphere. The new study has identified Enceladus as the primary water supply to Saturn's upper atmosphere; this is the first example in the Solar System of a moon directly influencing the atmosphere of its host planet.

Astronomers have detected water, which is a fundamental molecule on Earth, in many different environments throughout the Universe. Given its key role during the formation and evolution of the Solar System, determining the abundance and investigating the origin of this molecule on and around planets can provide crucial insight into the history of our cosmic neighborhood.

The origin of the water in the upper atmosphere of the giant planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - as well as in that of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is particularly enigmatic. The first evidence of this water was found by ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) in 1997 and confirmed, a couple of years later, by NASA's Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS).

These bodies have chemically reducing atmospheres; oxidation reactions do not occur - due to the lack of oxygen - and astronomers do not expect large amounts of water there. Reducing atmospheres are similar in composition to the nebula from which the Solar System originated; the early Earth also had such an atmosphere, which was later supplied with oxygen by the first living organisms that appeared on the planet.

Although chemically reducing, the outer planets' atmospheres do contain traces of water in their warm, deep layers; however, the cold temperatures present at cloud level, which cause water to condense, prevent its transport to higher layers. Thus, the existence of water in the upper atmospheres of these objects calls for an external supply of such molecules, which may vary from planet to planet.

A new study, based on data taken with ESA's Herschel Space Observatory, offers a first answer to the puzzle in the case of Saturn. The main water provider to this planet's upper atmosphere appears to be its small moon Enceladus, whose plumes of water vapor and ice were detected by the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens mission in 2005.

"This is the first time we see a moon directly acting on its host planet's atmosphere and modifying its chemical composition," comments Paul Hartogh from the Max-Planck-Institut fur Sonnensystemforschung (MPS) in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, who led the study. Hartogh is the Principal Investigator of the Herschel Key Program Water and related chemistry in the Solar System, within which the observations have been performed. "This unique situation has not previously been observed in the Solar System," he adds.

The new detection, obtained with the HIFI spectrometer on board Herschel, is fundamentally different from those achieved over a decade ago. Whereas the spectra acquired by ISO and SWAS only revealed emission by water molecules in Saturn's atmosphere, Herschel has unexpectedly recorded absorption lines, as well. Thus, the newly detected water must be located somewhere in the foreground of the planet, along its line of sight to the observatory, and in a colder environment than that responsible for the emission lines.

"The best explanation suggests that the water detected by Herschel is distributed in the Enceladus torus, a tenuous ring of material fed by this moon's plumes and centered on its orbit," explains co-author Emmanuel Lellouch from the Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA) of the Observatoire de Paris, at Meudon, in France, who performed the modelling of the observations. The Enceladus torus is located at a distance from the center of the planet of nearly four times Saturn's radius.

The first sign of absorption was found in spectra taken during Herschel's calibration phase, in the summer of 2009. Further observations performed in 2010 confirmed the earlier detection at various wavelengths. The fact that no absorption was detected by SWAS over ten years ago is due to the varying geometry of Saturn's system of rings and satellites as viewed from the Earth and its vicinity.

The rings and satellites are currently seen almost edge-on, whereas the configuration was much more oblique at the time of the SWAS observations. "This is a further clue implying that the absorbing water revealed by Herschel is distributed in a torus along the planet's equatorial plane," adds Lellouch.

Ultimately, part of the water ejected by Enceladus precipitates into Saturn's and Titan's upper atmospheres, while the rest reaches the other satellites and the rings. The high velocity resolution and sensitivity of the HIFI spectra allowed the astronomers to characterize the torus' dynamics and to investigate the fate of the water molecules.

"Combining Herschel data with models of water evolution in Saturn's environment, we could estimate the source rate of Enceladus and the rate at which water precipitates into Saturn's atmosphere," notes Hartogh.

The source rate is in agreement with in-situ measurements performed by the Cassini spacecraft. The study concludes that the water abundance observed in Saturn's upper atmosphere can be fully explained in terms of an Enceladus origin. On the other hand, Enceladus does not seem to provide enough water to match the values observed for Titan, and the issue of this object's water supply remains open.

"After Cassini's detection of Enceladus' plumes, Herschel has finally shown where the water emanating from this moon ends up - a nice piece of team work exploiting the complementarity of two very different missions in ESA's Science program," comments Goran Pilbratt, ESA Herschel Project Scientist. "We now look forward to hopefully shedding new light on the origin of water in the atmosphere of Titan and the other giant planets as well," he concludes.

Source: Saturn Daily.
Link: http://www.saturndaily.com/reports/Herschel_confirms_Enceladus_as_primary_water_supply_for_Saturn_atmosphere_999.html.

Faith and fashion beyond the burqa ban

by Shenaz Kermalli
26 July 2011

London - Europe’s obsession with the way Muslim women choose to dress is far from over. Several months after France banned the burqa, a garment that covers the face and body, from public spaces, Belgium has followed suit. As of last week, women wearing the burqa in public (who constitute a tiny minority in the country) will be fined and could spend up to seven days in prison.

Whether such a ban might ever be implemented in the UK is less clear. Despite the British government’s statement that it would never adopt such measures, calling them “un-British”, public opinion doesn’t appear to agree. In a YouGov poll taken after the French ban, two-thirds of the British public favored banning the burqa in Britain.

This trend highlights the need to improve understanding of Islam and Muslims.

Fortunately, there are many humanitarian organizations in the UK that aim to both empower young Muslims and build greater understanding and trust between faith communities. The London-based Three Faiths Forum (3FF), for example, builds bridges between Jews, Christians and Muslims, as well as atheists and those belonging to non-Abrahamic faiths, through regular events and mentoring programs.

3FF’s most recent event was a short design course, called “Faith and Fashion”, held earlier this month at the London College of Fashion (LCF). The course was held exclusively for Muslim and Christian girls from local faith schools to explore how faith can inspire fashion, showing that the two can be linked in a positive way and need not only be negatively associated, as with burqa bans.

During the class, Reverend Joanna Jepson, a chaplain at the LCF who designed the course, said she wanted to create a safe space for young girls to engage in meaningful dialogue. “The program was about getting the students to understand their own identity and hear each other’s stories, as well as to learn the artistic journey from concept to finished design.”

Interestingly, many of the Muslim students in the course who wore the hijab (headscarf) and/or abaya (a long over-garment) said that they found it immensely important to their identity to wear a visible marker of their faith, despite the hostile stares they often received when out in public.

Zainab Niaz, a 15-year-old student at a Muslim school in east London, said fashion played a huge role in her decisions about what clothing to wear, primarily because she was Muslim. “If you didn’t have Islam, you couldn’t show what religion you were, which is an important part of where you’re from.” When asked why letting people know which faith she belonged to was important, Zainab said, “It adds to the diversity of the city.”

Sadiya Ali, 14, from a Catholic school in north London, said: “I don’t think of fashion as beauty. I think of fashion as the clothes that you wear religiously. ”

Sporting a neatly tied black scarf tucked into her Catholic school uniform blazer, Sadiya said she has faced continual harassment at her school and in public for her decision to cover her hair. She is adamant though, that people respect her for who she is.

“I’m not afraid to [wear the headscarf] and I’m not forced or scared into wearing a scarf. Sometimes people will judge you by what you wear and they stereotype you before they meet you. But whatever people say you should just ignore it because at the end of the day, it’s your choice and what you want to wear,” Sadiya added. “Don’t follow other people – be yourself.”

The voices of the young may not always be the loudest or the most powerful but they often carry more weight than policy-makers appreciate. If the state continues to target Muslims by dictating what to cover and what not to cover, they risk further isolating a community that already feels disengaged. The next generation deserves better.

Source: Common Ground News.
Link: http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=30119&lan=en&sp=0.

No honor in 'honor killings'

by Rasha Dewedar
26 July 2011

Cairo – Women in Arab countries have become increasingly visible in demonstrations for democracy, especially in Egypt and Tunisia. However, they still face several hurdles, many of which were discussed at a recent training program in Stockholm for opinion makers from the Middle East and North Africa. As a journalist from Cairo, I had the opportunity to get to know different people from the rest of the Middle East, as well as Sweden, to understand what women experience in different contexts.

One of the most important issues women face are so-called “honor” killings. Across the world, too many women are murdered by their male relatives, because they have “dishonored” their families by engaging in “unacceptable” relationships.

Although having a sexual relationship outside of marriage is what usually comes to mind, causing “dishonor” may also include marrying a man from different religion or sect, or even a husband the family simply doesn't accept.

Sadly, “honor” crimes continue, primarily because of the absence of effective regulation and the lack of implementation of existing laws, in addition to negative attitudes towards women.

But slowly, governments are doing something about it.

According to the Ma’an News Agency, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ordered an amendment to the existing “honor killing law” in May, which states that perpetrators of crimes “in defense of family honor” should no longer receive lenient sentences. This decision came after the Ma’an News Agency highlighted the case of Ayah Barad'iyya, a 20-year-old woman from Hebron who was drowned by her uncle because he disagreed with her about the man she had chosen to marry.

Earlier, in 2009, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree to amend the Syrian Penal Code with an article that confers a more severe sentence for “honor” crimes than before.

Article 548 of the Syrian Penal Code previously stated that anyone who commits an “honor killing” could claim mitigating circumstances and receive a reduced sentence. The new article, however, clearly states that murder in the name of “family honor” would result in a sentence of no less than two years. Article 548 was amended again in January 2011 to increase the penalty from two years to five to seven years.

However, Bassam El-Kady, the director of the Syrian Women Observatory (SWO), one of Syria’s main women’s rights organizations, said that the “article should be cancelled, not amended”, echoing sentiments of many women’s rights activists who believe the sentence isn’t harsh enough.

Individuals and organizations are also working to end these crimes. Breaking the silence around the act is one of their most important tools.

One of these efforts is Murder in the Name of Honor, a book written by the Jordanian journalist and activist Rana Al-Husseini in 2009 to raise awareness of the brutality of these killings. The book chronicles Al-Husseini’s 15-year journey to uncover stories of violence against women and draw attention to the fact that this is a global epidemic, not something that only happens in Arab or Muslim communities.

In Egypt, the Center for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance (CEWLA) started a project four years ago, focusing on four governorates in Upper Egypt. The group uses different activities and media programs on local radio and television channels to break the taboo around discussing crimes of “honor” by allowing those listening to the shows to call and ask questions or share their stories.

A Facebook group, “No Honor in Crime” also works to raise awareness about the issue and talks about positive steps taken to combat “honor” crimes.

The Jordan-based group, which reaches out to Arab activists in all countries, decided not to focus on honor and human rights, but instead on debating “honor” as a concept.

By creating spaces where “honor” was discussed as a concept, participants had to subject their current understandings of honor to logic and reason, and therefore had to take a more critical attitude to the issue. The mission of the group therefore became a “society-wide conversation to reclaim honor”.

But another factor in women’s lives might actually have the greatest impact. According to the September 2005 Population Reference Bureau Report, Arab women now have similar or higher levels of education compared with their husbands, especially in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine. Women are fast becoming more educated, and information is an important source of empowerment, as education will offer women more opportunities to work and become financially independent. In a few years, this could result in more women speaking up for laws that protect their rights – and countries instituting more policies that show they are listening to women.

Source: Common Ground News.
Link: http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=30118&lan=en&sp=0.

First Euro Hawk Unmanned Aircraft System Touches Down in Germany

Manching, Germany (SPX)
Jul 26, 2011

Euro Hawk, the first high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE), signals intelligence (SIGINT) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) based on the RQ-4 Global Hawk produced by Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) for the German Bundeswehr, successfully touched down in Manching, Germany.

The Euro Hawk took off on July 20 at 2:50 PDT (11:50 Central European Summer Time) from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and landed at 10:06 Central European Summer Time July 21 in Manching Air Base.

The Euro Hawk will carry a new SIGINT mission system developed by EADS Deutschland GmbH (Cassidian) and integrated in Manching, Germany.

"Today's arrival of the Euro Hawk on German soil marks a significant step in delivering this highly capable and unique system to the Bundeswehr," said Nicolas Chamussy, head of UAVs, Cassidian Air Systems, and member of the board of directors, EuroHawk GmbH. "Our trans-Atlantic partnership with Northrop Grumman has helped the entire team achieve this outstanding milestone, which also reinforces Cassidian's role as a leader for complex UAS solutions in Europe."

Delivery of the first Euro Hawk demonstrator to the Bundeswehr is scheduled for mid-2012, with another four systems scheduled tentatively between 2015 and 2017.

"Soon, the Bundeswehr will be able to independently cover their needs for SIGINT data collection and analysis, thus contributing to NATO, European Union and United Nations operations," said Neset Tukenmez, chief executive officer, EuroHawk GmbH. "Euro Hawk will also serve as a working model for other programs and countries."

The Euro Hawk marks several important milestones - it is both the first international version of the RQ-4 and the first HALE SIGINT UAS in Europe. NATO's AGS will follow close behind and mark the second international RQ-4 and the second HALE UAS in Europe.

"As a leader in advanced UAS, Northrop Grumman has the unmatched experience to provide a strong foundation to produce extraordinarily capable and reliable unmanned surveillance systems," said George Guerra, vice president, HALE Systems, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

"Today is a wonderful step towards delivering the Euro Hawk to the German air force, and a great testament to the Northrop Grumman and the EADS Deutschland GmbH (Cassidian) team who worked diligently to make it happen."

With a wingspan larger than most commercial airliners, endurance of 30 hours and a maximum altitude of more than 60,000 feet, Euro Hawk is an interoperable, modular and cost-effective replacement to the fleet of manned Breguet Atlantic aircraft which was in service since 1972 and retired in 2010.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/First_Euro_Hawk_Unmanned_Aircraft_System_Touches_Down_in_Germany_999.html.

Villagers Tie up Police, Douse with Gasoline, Over Land Conflict

By Chen Yilian
July 25, 2011

Villagers in Guangdong Province tied three plainclothes policemen to the base of an overturned truck and doused them with gasoline on July 23, before pelting them with rocks in apparent retaliation for land confiscations over a period of years.

It was the latest eruption of raw violence against the authorities in China. Desperate citizens have resorted to force in a string of cases in recent months, attempting to make their feelings known to a system whose formal mechanisms for redress often end up leading to further victimization.

Land confiscations are one of the most acute points of contention between Communist Party officials and ordinary Chinese, as corrupt cadres collude with real-estate developers, and often gangs of thugs, to forcibly evict people from their houses before selling the land. Compensation is promised more often than it is honored.

Photographs of the incident in Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong Province, were uploaded to Sina Weibo, a microblog service, soon after it took place on July 23.

The three men in the photograph appeared to be struggling to free themselves and appealing to onlookers. Witnesses said that angry villagers regarded the men as no better than gangsters and threw stones at them. Elderly villagers cried as gasoline was poured over the three policemen, though they were not set alight.

More than 1,000 riot police later descended on the village, capturing at least 30 villagers and injuring many others.

A resident, Mr. Deng, told The Epoch Times that contrary to state-run media reports, the conflict was about land confiscation and not fishing rights. “We don’t have much land left; most of it was taken by the government. Without land for farming, we will not have any food to eat,” he said.

“The land was taken for construction, but the government gave very little compensation to the villagers,” he added.

Mr. Deng said that the three policemen had first apprehended several villagers before others came to their rescue, subduing the men and lashing them to a truck that had been overturned.

The local Chencun Police Station would not comment on when the villagers arrested after the incident would be released. The operator said that information about the incident goes through Party authorities.

In May and June a series of bomb blasts were orchestrated by citizens against Communist Party buildings, many of them the culmination of years-long protests against land seizures. Premeditated violence of that kind had hardly been seen before in China. Commentators saw it as a turning point in how Chinese people are responding to the injustices of Communist Party rule.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/villagers-tie-up-police-douse-with-gasoline-over-land-conflict-59513.html.

Mongolians Beaten After Protesting Land Seizure

By Matthew Robertson
July 26, 2011

Over a dozen Mongolians were hospitalized last week after being beaten by thugs hired by a Chinese millionaire who was trying to take over their land, according to a rights group.

The protest took place in Inner Mongolia’s Bairin Right Banner on July 18, according to the Southern Mongolia Human Rights Information Center. Over 1,000 herders had gathered to resist the efforts of a business known as Sui from taking over a large portion of their grazing land.

Sui had enlisted the help of hundreds of Chinese to intimidate locals and kill their livestock with heavy vehicles and bulldozers, the group said.

Locals clashed with the hired militia and dozens were beaten in the melee.

In response, communist authorities dispatched 300 riot police to crack down on the protest. It is unclear whose interests the police were defending, but the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center quotes locals who said, “We must stand up to defend our human rights rather than being silently killed by the Chinese army.”

The initial protest was triggered when one man, Mr. Baatar, was reportedly “brutally beaten” while tending his sheep on the morning of July 18, sustaining a broken skull and brain injuries. He was taken to the hospital where he remains in critical condition.

After that, his peers came out in large numbers to protest.

An online appeal letter sets out the grievances of local Mongolian herders. “After the death of Mr. Mergen that ignited the large-scale protests in May, this is another serious case in which again Mongolian herders risked their lives for defending their land,” the letter said.

“We have been impoverished; we have lost our lands to the Chinese; we have been plundered of our natural resources; our livestock are perishing; many of us have become homeless on our own lands. We are treated with no dignity. We must stand up to defend our human rights rather than be silently killed by the Chinese army.”

Bairin Right Banner has more than 80,000 Mongolians, most of whom are herders. Some in the region are now calling for a “long-term, large-scale, nonviolent resistance movement” to defend their rights against Chinese encroachment.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/mongolians-beaten-after-protesting-land-seizure-59547.html.

Tunisia voter registrations spike

2011-07-25

Some 104,000 new voters registered on Saturday (July 23rd) for the October 23rd constitutional assembly elections, TAP reported. "The massive influx recorded on Saturday in registration offices shows the Tunisian citizens' confidence in the regularity of voter registration," TAP quoted Boubaker Thabet, the head of the Higher Independent Authority for Elections (ISIE) as saying. More than 500,000 Tunisians have registered to vote since the drive began on July 11th.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/07/25/newsbrief-05.