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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Abbas hoists Palestinian flag in Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hoisted the Palestinian flag atop the new Palestinian embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, officials said.

"In these days it delights us as Palestinians to see the Palestinian flag flying in the heart of Lebanon, in the heart of the Lebanese people, and in the heart of every Lebanese who loves Palestine," the Lebanese Web site Naharnet.com quoted Abbas saying at Wednesday's ceremony.

The inauguration of the embassy came after the Lebanese cabinet officially recognized the state of Palestine and raised the level of diplomatic ties, the Web site said.

Abbas, accompanied by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Miqati unveiled a plaque at the entrance to the building.

"We will go with Lebanon to the United Nations to seek a full membership for the state of Palestine at this international forum," Abbas said adding he hoped "to see the day when the Lebanese flag will be hoisted in Jerusalem."

"The Lebanese government will exert utmost efforts within its available resources to improve the living conditions of our Palestinian brothers residing in Lebanon," Miqati said.

Abbas, on a two-day visit to Beirut to garner Lebanon's support ahead of the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations in September, said so far, 122 of the 193 member countries support the Palestinians.

Lebanon takes over temporary presidency of the U.N. Security Council in September.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/08/18/Abbas-hoists-Palestinian-flag-in-Beirut/UPI-25591313671963/.

Dagestan: Martyrdom of Emir Daud confirmed

15 August 2011

The news about the martyrdom of Emir Daud, one of the most experienced commanders of the Mujahideen of the Caucasus, has been confirmed, reports Dagestani news website Guraba.

Since the first war, his dream was to fight hand in hand with his brothers against the Russian invaders and to become a martyr in Allah's path. Since 1999, he was doing Jihad for Allah, and was close to many of Emirs of the Mujahideen of the Caucasus.

In his long struggle, Daud received numerous injuries, but he never left the land of Jihad. Every time he was treated, rose again and continued his Jihad. Daud was hard against the enemies of Islam and gentle with his brothers.

Infidels and apostates greatly feared him since because of him, they repeatedly suffered heavy losses, especially in the battles in the plains of Dagestan and Ichkeria and therefore they made attempts on him on several occasions. But by the will of Allah, Daud survived each time, rose to his feet and continued to fight. Insha'Allah, Allah strengthens the Islamic Ummah by such personalities, in these difficult times.

In order to kill Daud, the infidels and their apostates henchmen created a special "commission", and detained and tortured many brothers and sisters whom they suspected could be associated with him.

By the will of Allah, the infidels were able to assassinate Mujahideen, and Allah in His mercy, has granted Martyrdom (Insha'Allah) to 6 Mujahideen, among whom there is Emir Daud. What the believer feels when someone from the people he knew or heard about, departs by the death of Allah's soldiers?

Yes, there is the bitterness of loss. But is this accompanied by sadness? [No] It's tears of joy for the brethren. They, Insha'Allah, have achieved everything that could be taken from this life. And this worldly life they squeezed with fist, as if they rejected and despised it. [...] They purified their hearts of all that can possibly detract them from attaining the eternal life. And Allah the Almighty fulfilled his promise to anyone who is ready to sell his worldly life for eternal life.

Between us, the veil of worldly life - they easily got rid of it, while we have not yet. They went to settle in the hearts of paradise birds. And while we can not break free from the fetter of this dunya, their souls are probably already flying under the throne of Allah.

The brothers, who only yesterday trampled down this worldly life in forest puddles and in cold tents, stepped into eternity, and disappeared from us. Gaping wreckage of homes, where they fought their last battle against the infidels, they are no longer in this worldly life cursed by Allah. But the curse of Allah will not touch the remembrance and glorification of Him, and that is precisely what the brothers took with them.

Brothers depart and hearts brim with unavoidable sorrow. And tears run of happiness for them and of pure envy for their lot.

May Allah accept their Martyrdom and welcome them into the Gardens of Jannah!

"That was not a difficult loss for us, this entire Jihad, this entire struggle, continues only because Allah strengthens and sustains us, no more and no less... Even if we become Martyrs, Allah will bring better people, better people than we are, to liberate these lands from disbelief so that the law of Allah will triumph in this territory."
(Sayeed Abu Saad on the Martyrdom of the Emir of Province of Ghalghaycho, Abd al-Aziz)

In the end, we want to say to the enemies that since the beginning of Jihad in the Caucasus, the Mujahideen lost great sons... And the infidels screamed every time that the Mujahideen were 'finished'.

On television, they slander the Mujahideen, trying in every way to weaken the morale of the Mujahideen and the people. But during all this time they have failed Alhamdulillah! Yes, there are losses in Jihad and every time we grieve over the loss of Mujahideen but this Jihad is not for any Emirs and commanders, this Jihad is for the sake of the Word of Allah.

Insha'Allah, Allah will give the Jihad in the Caucasus new Mujahideen, similar to the heroic Emir Daud, who will rush to the aid of their brothers. Living heroes never die. Their names are inscribed in blood, into the history of the revival of Jihad in the Caucasus Emirate.

Abu Sayfullah

***

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2011/08/15/14974.shtml.

Thousands Fast in India to Fight Corruption

By Shannon Liao
August 17, 2011

Government accuses movement of being undemocratic.

Thousands of protesters in major Indian cities began a fast on Wednesday evening, not sated by the Indian prime minister’s explanation of why leading anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare had been arrested the day before.

Hazare, 74, and six of his followers had been arrested on Tuesday, on the basis that their plan to maintain a hunger strike until a key piece of anti-corruption legislation passed Parliament was illegal. They were released on Wednesday after the government reached a compromise with Hazare.

The original plan of “fast unto death” was deemed illegal by the police because Hazare’s team had refused six preconditions, including one that limited the fast to three days, explained Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a speech to Parliament.

“Delhi Police came to the conclusion that Shri Anna Hazare and his supporters would commit a cognizable offense and there [could be] a breach of peace,” said the prime minister.

In a negotiated concession, the new fast started Wednesday night and will last 15 days.

The drastic protest is over the so-called Jan Lokpal Bill that is designed to stop corruption, arbitrate grievances, and protect whistle-blowers. Different versions of the bill have appeared before Parliament since 1968, but none have passed. Corruption is rife in India in all levels of government and society.

Anti-corruption watchdog organization Transparency International (TI) said that the Indian government has not been able to stop rising corruption and is instead trying to silence those who speak out against the problem, according to a statement by TI India’s Executive Director Anupama Jha.

While Hazare has proven himself a charismatic leader, the protest is not for his personality, said Partha Turaga, a representative in New Jersey of the India Against Corruption movement that is organizing the protests.

“It’s not just out of emotion. We trust him emotionally, but we also read all the drafts. We’ve seen and understood what this is all about,” said Turaga.

In his speech, Singh blamed Hazare for not approaching things in a democratic manner. “There will be opportunities for Shri Anna Hazare and others to present their views,” said the prime minister, adding that Hazare’s current path “is totally misconceived and fraught with grave consequences for our Parliamentary democracy.”

Singh acknowledged the issue of government corruption, and both the government and the protesters share a desire to see the bill passed quickly.

But they differ on the content of the bill. The version of the bill supported by protesters was drafted with input from civil society and has stronger punitive measures. The government amended that draft into another version.

One of key differences between the two is the independence of the judiciary body. In the protesters’ bill, a new anti-corruption body, called Lokpal, would monitor the judiciary. In the government’s version, the judiciary would be accountable under the Judicial Accountability Bill.

Turaga said that the protesters didn’t concern themselves with whether success was in sight but focused on whether they could make even the slightest impact.

“You’ve got to try your best; you’ve got to do the best you can, and that applies to all of us,” Turaga added.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/thousands-fast-in-india-to-fight-corruption-60503.html.

Railway strike halts train transportation in Egypt's Delta

Wednesday 17 Aug 2011

Railway workers block the railroads, halting train movement in Cairo, Ismailiya, Assiut, Sohag and Aswan to demand for better bonuses.

A strike by train employees has brought all train movement in Egypt's delta region to a grinding halt since early this morning.

According to the head of the National Railways Authority, Hany Hegab, employees of the Cairo, Alexandria, Zaqaziq and Tanta stations have been sitting on the train tracks, blocking all movement since 10 am Wednesday.

The employees demand better incentives and, according to Hegab, the authority is now in negotiations with the workers to end the strike.

Tuesday railway workers in the governorate of Tanta also held a two-hour protest on the train tracks, demanding better incentives. The protest was dispersed after the railway authority agreed to consider their demands.

Strikes by railway workers are not new to Egypt, with various strikes and protests being held by train conductors and maintenance crews in recent months.

On 23 July train conductors stood on the rail tracks in the Ramses Station in central Cairo after one of their colleagues died when his train crashed into a truck. The drivers also called for an increase in their bonuses.

On 15 June railway employees blocked the tracks in Cairo, Ismailiya, Assiut, Sohag and Aswan because they were not happy with their bonuses.

It’s not always railway employees who block the trains, with protesters in the town of Bani Kora in Assiut, blocking the tracks last April over a spat concerning the delivery of subsidized bread to the town. Also last April, protesters in Qena blocked the governorate’s railway crossing after Prime Minister Essam Sharaf appointed a governor they didn't approve of.

Source: Ahram.
Link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/19105.aspx.

Tribes in South Sinai cut road after two members killed

Wednesday 17 Aug 2011

Two young men were shot dead by a security official after failing to stop their car when asked.

South Sinai tribes have cut the road between Cairo and the city of Abu Dreis in South Sinai because two members of the El Sawalha tribe died, after being shot with live ammunition as they headed home.

Moussa Hussein Saleh Abu Gaber, 18 and Salem Saleh Hussein, 22, members of the tribe in Abu Dreis, were heading home in their private car when a security official shot them.

The official had signaled to them to stop the car, but when they did not respond, he fired shots at them, leading to their immediate death.

Only minutes after the shooting, families from the El Sawalha tribe, and others in South Sinai headed to the site of the incident, and cut the road between Abu Dreis and Cairo.

This led to heavy traffic congestion, as cars attempting to leave and enter South Sinai were unable to move.

The families threaten that they will not unblock the roads until the security official that murdered Abu Gaber and Hussein is brought to justice.

The families stress that the two murdered young men were not criminals, were not suspected of any crime and did not have any illegal items in the car.

The families argue that that the two young men probably did not stop the car because they did not hear the calls of the security official asking them to halt.

Source: Ahram.
Link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/19073.aspx.

Egypt Military council cancels poll for presidential candidates after reported rigging

Wednesday 17 Aug 2011

The SCAF Facebook poll, running since 19 June, has been removed due to rumors surrounding its legitimacy.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has removed the online poll for presidential candidates, being conducted on its Facebook page, in the wake of reports claiming that it had been rigged by anonymous people.

Mohamed ElBaradei, former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), topped the list for a while by quite a margin.

Recently, however, Omar Suleiman, the ex-intelligence chief who served as vice president in the last days of Mubarak’s regime, took the lead even though he was only fifth on the list nearly two months ago.

According to El-Masry El-Youm, electronic militias paid a host of Facebook users to vote for Suleiman, who had previously announced that he would not run for presidency.

The poll was launched on 19 June and included 15 presidential hopefuls. Among them were: Mohamed Selim El-Awa, Ahmed Shafiq, Kamal El-Ganzouri, Hamdeen Sabahi and Hesham El-Bastawisi.

Source: Ahram.
Link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/19109.aspx.

Egypt's Islamic and liberal powers agree on general principles for the constitution

Wednesday 17 Aug 2011

The statement, containing five principles, is considered by many to end the debate about the upcoming constitution.

Representatives of liberal and Islamist parties reached an agreement on a statement of general principles for the upcoming constitution, after a meeting on Tuesday night at the Al-Wasat Party.

Abul Ela Mady, chairman of the Al-Wasat Party, told Ahram Online on Wednesday that the different parties' representatives have primarily agreed on the proposed statement and that they still need time to discuss it with their parties. Mady added that there would be another meeting early next month.

The statement contains five principles, all of which are related to the identity of the country and citizenship rights and liberties.

According to Mady, all who signed the agreement see the principles as obligatory. Mady claims that the statement was made to calm those who are concerned with the leadership of the upcoming parliament, and the provisional committee who will implement the constitution. The statement according to Mady is consistent with the results of the referendum.

The parties and groups that participated in the meeting were: the April 6 Youth Movement, El-Asala Salafist Party, the Civilization Party, Al-Jamaat Al-Islamiya and the Salafist Front.

Al-Wasat Party hopes to attract more political parties to sign the statement.

Egypt’s Minister of Health, Amr Helmy, attended the meeting as well.

The meeting, organized by Al-Wasat Party is considered by other political parties and institutions such as Al-Azhar, to end the debate about the upcoming constitution.

Source: Ahram.
Link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/19107.aspx.

Gaza students prevented from leaving for studies abroad

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Aug 18, 2011

JERUSALEM: A Palestinian human rights group is condemning Gaza’s Hamas rulers for preventing teenage students with scholarships to study in the US from leaving the territory.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said in a statement Wednesday that Hamas is refusing to allow eight students leave Gaza. It said the students were granted AMIDEAST scholarships, a program that educates talented teenagers from the Middle East and North Africa for a year in the US

The ban comes a day after rights groups criticized orders by Hamas forcing aid workers and employees of nongovernment organizations to register with them before they travel.

Hamas also recently began auditing aid group accounts.

Hamas overran Gaza from the secular Palestinian Fatah party in bloody street battles in 2007.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article490043.ece.

Eastern Mediterranean olive oil producers seek markets in Far East

August 17, 2011

There’s a revolution taking place in the eastern Mediterranean and it’s all about oil… olive oil.

A decade after planting tens of millions of trees, Turkey expects next year to become the world’s second largest producer of olive oil, surpassing Italy, Greece, Tunisia and Syria, and cater to the growing market in the Far East.

“We have increased the number of trees in past 10 years from 90 million to about double that and so we are expecting an increase in production and in the very near future to be the number one producer of table olives and number two producer of olive oil in the world,” Metin Olken, deputy chairman of the Turkish Olive and Olive Oil Publicity Committee, told The Media Line.

According to Olken, Turkey produced 160,000 tons of olive oil in 2010 and expects a crop of 200,000 tons this year. Within two years it expects to surpass the half-million mark and by 2015, 700,000 tons. While becoming the prince of olive production, Turkey still falls well behind the king – Spain -- which makes 1.2 million tons, or over half of the world’s olive oil.

“We will take over from Greece, Italy, Tunisia and Syria,” Olken said.

According to the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC), Italy produced 480,000 tons, Greece 336,000, Syria 193,000 and Tunisia 120,000 last year. About 95 percent of the world’s olive trees are in the Mediterranean region. Olive oil is so well liked here that according to the UNCTAD, Mediterranean basin countries also account for 77 percent of the world’s consumption.

Italy and Spain have long ago branded themselves as supreme olive oil producers and have virtually cornered the market in North America and Europe. Olken told The Media Line that Italy and Spain supplement their brand by repackaging oil from Turkey, Greece and Tunisia.

Olive oil consumption has dramatically risen over the past decade – largely due to the popularity of the “Mediterranean diet.” World olive oil consumption will reach 2.98 million tons, with a 3.65 percent increase from 2009. New markets have also opened up as the world became aware of the health benefits of the one of nature’s oldest commodities.

Turkey made the strategic move into higher olive oil production during the height of negotiations to enter the European Union as a way to gain European Union agriculture subsidies. Those talks have floundered, but the trees have matured, needing at least seven years to begin producing marketable quantities of fruit. Olken said the government helped boost production of olives by offering financial incentives and subsidies to help cover the cost of planting and cultivation in initial years. Hundreds of thousands of people earn their livelihood from the olive oil industry.

EU members such as Spain, Italy and Greece have a virtual monopoly in the lucrative European market since they not only subsidize their farmers, but also impose heavy duties on imports.

“In the United States or Canada we would have to try and take a share from the Italians and Spanish, but if we go to China and India, these countries are only now starting to know what olive oil is and we don’t have strong competition from the Italians or Spanish yet,” Olken said.

This is one of the main reasons that Jordan, the world’s eighth largest olive oil producer, has decided to reach out to the Far East as well. They are pushing for quality branding over quantity.

“There is no way we can compete with the Italian and Spanish oils. Even the Turks have huge tracts of land and much water. The olive oil production in Jordan is very expensive due to the high cost of water. But our oil is very good,” Ruba Dagmish, the director of the Jordan Olive Products Exporters Association (JOPEA), told The Media Line.

Dagmish said they saw opportunities in Japan because they are willing to pay higher prices for quality olive oil and Indonesia because as a Muslim country they are able to get Hallal certification (religious approval of foods deemed “fit” by Islamic law).

Jordan produced some 24,000 tons of olive oil last year. Only about 30 percent of its olive oil is exported, with the bulk kept for local consumption. Despite the lack of water, olive trees cover around 75 percent of agricultural land in the kingdom.

“We are packaging it in fancy bottles and going for branding Jordanian oil as high quality extra virgin oil. We also export to the Gulf countries,” Dagmish said. “|But it is hard to compete in the Arab countries because they are bringing in cheaper Italian and Spanish oils.”

Source: All Headline News (AHN).
Link: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90057399.

Palestinian factions reconsider relations with Assad

By DAVID E. MILLER / THE MEDIA LINE
08/18/2011

Leadership must decide loyalties as Syrian attacks on refugees lead to turning point in once circumspect policy.

A fierce attack by the Syrians on a Palestinian refugee camp has led Palestinian factions, both Islamist and staunchly secular, to relook at their traditionally close ties with Damascus.

Headquartered in the Syrian capital as the Bashar Assad regime falters, Palestinians were cautious not to badmouth the Syrian president personally as they condemned Sunday’s naval bombardment of the Raml Palestinian refugee camp.

Navy gunships struck at the camp located in the port city of Latakia, killing an unknown number of residents and sparking 10,000 refugees to flee. Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) official Yasser Abed Rabbo condemned the attack as "a crime against humanity," while the United Nation's Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) demanded access to the camp, to survey the scope of damage.

Before the attack on Raml, the Palestinian leadership had been circumspect in speaking out against Assad's regime, which has fiercely oppressed a domestic mass protest movement since March. But the most recent surge of violence, directed for the first time against the country's Palestinian population, may be a turning point in Palestinian policy.

"The PLO does not intervene in the internal politics of countries," Taisir Khaled, head of expatriate department of the PLO, told The Media Line. "But the safety of Palestinians in refugee camps must be safeguarded; regardless of the country they live in."

Khaled is a senior member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a Marxist-Leninist Palestinian party, whose leader Nayef Hawatmeh sits in Damascus. He was careful not to blame Assad personally.

"We want political reform in Syria," Khaled added. "It should be a democratic civil state which grants freedom to all its citizens. We hope that a political solution prevails over any other."

The political leadership of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas is also situated in Damascus, explaining perhaps its minimal media coverage of the Syrian attack on Latakia.

In April, the London-based Arab daily Al-Hayat reported that Hamas' political leadership was ordered to leave Syria following its neutral stance towards the country's popular unrest. According to the report, Qatar agreed to host political bureau chief Khaled Mashal, who has operated in Damascus since 1999. At the time, Hamas denied the report, and its leadership remained in the country.

A Hamas spokesman refused the Media Line's request on Wednesday to comment on matters concerning Syria. But Basem Ezbidi, a political scientist at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah, said Hamas was facing the greatest dilemma of all Palestinian groups.

"On the one hand, Hamas does not want the Syrian regime to disappear," Ezbidi told The Media Line. "But on the other hand, how can it justify its strategic alliance with a state that kills Palestinians? Hamas has always regarded itself as a resistance movement which represents the Palestinian people, and that's the bottom line." He said Hamas will find it extremely difficult to reconcile the two conflicting interests.

Ezbidi added, however, that some Palestinian factions will never criticize the Syrian regime, as they are fully funded and protected by it.

"Smaller groups, like Ahmad Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) will forever remain loyal to Syria, which supports it financially, logistically and politically," he said. "Other movements will certainly reexamine their ties with Syria, because what it has done is inexcusable."

Ayman Shaheen, a political scientist at Gaza's Al-Azhar University, said that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization, also led from Damascus, maintained stronger links with Iran than with Syria, making it relatively independent of Al-Assad's regime. However, Hamas, he said, likely would show flexibility in adapting to the new political reality in the region.

"Hamas is wise. It will create a new set of alliances to replace the Teheran-Damascus-Gaza axis," Shaheen told The Media Line. "Qatar is always open to Hamas and there is rapprochement with Egypt as well."

But Taisir Khaled of DFLP said most Syria-based Palestinian movements, including his own, were not considering relocation.

"We will remain in Syria as long as Palestinians reside there," he told The Media Line, noting that between 350-400,000 Palestinians currently live in Syria. "We are not there because of the regime but because of our ties with the Syrian people."

Source: The Jerusalem Post.
Link: http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=234254.

Yemen opposition forms national council

Wed Aug 17, 2011

The Yemeni opposition has formed a broad coalition tasked with leading the country's popular revolution towards the removal of Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime from power.

The 800 representatives of different opposition groups elected the 143-member National Council for the Forces of the Peaceful Revolution on Wednesday, AFP reported.

The move marked a notable blow to the unpopular 33-year-old government, which has been facing countrywide protests since January.

The development comes only one day after Saleh vowed to return to Yemen soon. He is currently being treated for injuries he received in a June 3 RPG attack on the presidential palace in Saudi Arabia.

"The National Council will lead the forces of the revolution, determined to stand strong until Ali Abdullah Saleh's departure," said a key opposition leader, Sultan al-Atwani.

The council includes members of the parliamentary opposition umbrella of the Common Forum, the young protesters, and the north-based Shia minority, which has for long been repressed by the government and Saudi Arabia.

The members will now vote for a 20-member executive committee.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/194379.html.

'US, Israel plan civil war in Lebanon'

Wed Aug 17, 2011

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah says the US and Israel are trying to cause a civil war in Lebanon by destroying people's coexistence.

In his speech on Wednesday, Nasrallah said Washington and Tel Aviv are laying the foundation for sectarian strife in a bid to ruin the social fabric in Lebanon.

The Hezbollah leader also rejected the US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, saying its indictments lack credibility.

The former Lebanese premier and over 20 other people were killed on February 14, 2005 in massive explosions in downtown Beirut.

The STL, which was authorized by a US-sponsored Security Council resolution in 2007, was set up to look into the deadly incident.

The tribunal issued indictments and arrest warrants in June 2011 for four men identified by Lebanese officials as Hezbollah members.

Nasrallah said on Wednesday that the tribunal has refused to consider other scenarios such as Israel's involvement in the murder.

He also accused media outlets and figures associated with the March 14th movement of jumping to conclusions, adding that they make accusations against Hezbollah without any basis.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/194411.html.

'Protesters attacked in Saudi Arabia'

Thu Aug 18, 2011

Government forces have attacked Saudi Arabian peaceful demonstrators in the east of the oil-rich kingdom.

Protesters took to the streets of Awamiyah town in the Eastern Province late on Wednesday, witnesses said.

During the protest, people demanded respect for human rights and the release of political prisoners in the country.

At least two demonstrators were arrested after breaking up the rally, according to reports.

The Eastern Province has been the scene of anti-government protests in recent months.

Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the Middle East, is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate any form of dissent.

Protest rallies and any public displays of dissent are considered illegal.

The government has become increasingly nervous about the protests that have taken the Arab world by storm, toppling the Egyptian and Tunisian leaders, and which reached Bahrain, Yemen and Libya.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/194431.html.

Ramadan Curbs Follow Violence

2011-08-04

China curtails religious practices in Xinjiang during a Muslim holy month.

China is placing restrictions on its Muslim Uyghur population during the fasting month of Ramadan, following a string of violent attacks in its northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, said Ramadan, which runs roughly from Aug. 1-30 this year, has brought a fresh clampdown on Muslims in the wake of violent attacks in the Silk Road cities of Kashgar and Hotan.

The group has said that more than 100 Uyghurs were detained in the wake of an attack on a market in Kashgar last weekend. Most of those detained as suspects were committed Muslims who attended mosque and whose wives wore veils, residents say.

Raxit said the chief restriction lies in a ban on mosques from advertising Ramadan-linked events or in encouraging people to observe the month-long fast.

"If any religious figure discusses Ramadan during the course of religious activities, or encourages people to take part, then they will lose their license to practice," Raxit said.

"The more serious cases will result in arrests for incitement to engage in illegal religious activity," he said.

Ramadan restrictions

During Ramadan, Muslims who are able should take no food, water, or cigarettes during daylight hours. Restaurants in Muslim countries close during the day, re-opening to break the fast after sunset.

However, government campaigns in previous years have forced restaurants to stay open, and required Uyghur government cadres throughout Xinjiang to sign “letters of responsibility” promising to avoid fasting, evening prayers, or other religious activities.

Officials have also targeted Muslim schoolchildren, providing them with free lunches during the fasting period.

Raxit said similar restrictions were in place for government cadres, who risk losing pensions and other benefits. Private companies are offering lunches to Uyghur Muslims, and any who refuse to eat could lose their annual bonus, or even their job, he added.

According to the Beijing-based Uyghur Online website, the government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) has announced a ban on any religious activities during the Muslim holy month.

The restrictions were being imposed "to preserve social stability," the website reported.

An employee who answered the phone at a local government neighborhood committee office in the regional capital Urumqi, which saw deadly ethnic rioting in July 2009, confirmed the restrictions.

"Fasting during Ramadan is a traditional ethnic custom, and they are allowed to do that," she said. "But they aren't allowed to hold any religious activities during Ramadan."

And she added: "Party members are not allowed to fast for Ramadan, and neither are civil servants."

Mosque guidelines

An employee who answered the phone at a mosque in Urumqi said people from out of town are banned from attending mosques in Urumqi for prayers during August.

Everyone attending prayers has to register with their national identity card, he added.

"They have to register," he said. "[After prayers] they aren't allowed to [congregate and] talk to each other."

Foreigners have been barred from entering mosques in the region, mosque officials said.

A Uyghur resident of Beijing said students under 18 are forbidden from fasting during Ramadan.

And an employee who answered the phone at a Muslim restaurant in Urumqi said it would remain open all month.

Kashgar prefecture Communist Party chief Cheng Zhenshan vowed to fight "separatists," "religious extremists," and "terrorists" with "iron fists," following the weekend violence in the Silk Road city that left at least 14 people dead and 40 others injured.

The attacks in Kashgar and those in the nearby city of Hotan two weeks ago in which 20 people were killed are the bloodiest violence in a year in Xinjiang, where Muslim Uyghurs chafe under Chinese rule.

Deadly riots in Xinjiang's regional capital of Urumqi left at least 200 dead in July 2009 following clashes between Han Chinese and Uyghurs.

Chinese commentators say the slew of recent attacks in Xinjiang show that Beijing's policy on ethnic minorities has gone badly wrong.

Source: Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Link: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/ramadan-08042011113617.html.

Checkpoints Circle Urumqi

2011-08-16

Chinese security forces increase patrols in Xinjiang's capital following a series of deadly attacks.

Authorities in the troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang have announced a fresh "strike hard" campaign targeting "terrorism" and "Islamic extremism" following a wave of violent attacks.

Security forces will set up a total of 39 checkpoints encircling the regional capital Urumqi, where nearly 200 people died in ethnic clashes between Muslim Uyghurs and Han Chinese in 2009, according to a statement on the Xinjiang government website.

A resident of Urumqi surnamed Li said there had been an increase in police patrols on the city's streets in the wake of three deadly attacks in Hotan and Kashgar in recent weeks.

"There were patrols before but they are closer together now, and there are more people than before," Li said.

"They don't really stop cars for checks so much in the daytime. They mostly do it at night."

The campaign, announced on the regional government website on Tuesday, will run from Aug. 11 to Oct. 15, and will increase police focus on potential trouble spots.

It would also include spot checks of identity and searches of people and vehicles, the statement said.

More police manpower would be directed to investigations, and the courts would speed up trials to process the larger number of suspects.

Penalties from theft to endangering state security would be harsher during the campaign, it said.

Kashgar targeted

Residents of Kashgar said they had also seen an increased security presence in recent days.

“All of Kashgar city is experiencing a stepped-up investigation into suspicious activities," said one woman from Kashgar.

"Public security units at all level across the city have been strengthened and security forces are patrolling around the clock in the main Uyghur residential area," she said.

The woman said that police had established checkpoints to check the IDs of residents in the streets.

"Police are conducting searches of the people and their vehicles. They are detaining people without IDs. It's creating fear. Government security personnel have forced women to remove their veils while out walking. If they don’t comply, they will be detained.”

A student in Kashgar told RFA that local authorities had increased ideological education on campuses, instructed students not to gather in groups anywhere in the city, and to carry their IDs at all times.

He added that many of the restrictions were meant to prevent the mostly-Muslim Uyghurs from observing the holy month of Ramadan, which runs from Aug. 1-30 this year.

"People aged 18 and under are not allowed to go to the mosque to pray ... School authorities have been distributing snacks to students to make sure they aren't fasting and preventing students from leaving campus until Friday’s prayers are over,” he said.

Underlying problems

However, an exile Uyghur group said the "strike hard" campaigns have not addressed the root cause of recent violence, which left three dozen people dead across the region.

Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, said the real aim of the campaigns is gradually to strip Uyghurs of their legitimate rights and demands, as part of a system-wide oppression of the Uyghur people.

"Striking hard will only lead to an even stronger backlash," Raxit said of the latest campaign. "I think that the Chinese are provoking and inciting local people."

"If they don't change [their policies], and desist from the 'strike hard' approach, then there will be a fresh wave of unrest in the region," he warned.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Some Chinese commentators say the slew of recent attacks in Xinjiang show that Beijing's policy on ethnic minorities has gone badly wrong.

This year's Ramadan has brought a fresh clampdown on Muslims in the wake of a July 31 attack in the Silk Road city of Kashgar that left at least 14 people dead and 40 others injured.

The attacks in Kashgar and in the nearby city of Hotan two weeks earlier, in which 20 people were killed, mark the bloodiest violence in a year in Xinjiang, where Muslim Uyghurs chafe under Chinese rule.

Riots in Xinjiang's regional capital of Urumqi left at least 200 dead in July 2009 following clashes between Han Chinese and Uyghurs.

Source: Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Link: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/urumqi-08162011120352.html.

Farmers Sent to Reeducation Camp

2011-08-15

Uyghurs who protested farm policies were detained in Beijing.

Seven Uyghurs from China’s restive Xinjiang province who went missing after petitioning the central government last year over what they called unfair farm policies have been sent to reeducation camps, according to relatives of the men.

The seven were part of a larger group of 25 who had traveled to Beijing in November last year by train from Guma county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region’s Hoten prefecture.

They were detained after they attempted to hold a demonstration in Tiananmen Square, demanding a meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao to complain about a policy that required them to sell their produce to the local government in Xinjiang for below-market prices.

The father of one of the detainees, 46-year-old Sirajidin Eziz, said that since that time, the whereabouts of the seven men had been unknown.

It wasn’t until April that he and the other relatives received a notice from the Department of Reeducation of the 14th Division Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), which governs their village of Karataghiz, that the men were being held in a detention center in Sachengzi in Xinjiang’s western Aksu prefecture.

“We only came to know his whereabouts exactly five months after he was taken by police,” Eziz’s father said.

Reeducation camp

The notice, which was read to RFA by Eziz’s son, said that the seven had been detained in the camp since Dec. 4 and were undergoing reeducation through labor because they had created "public disorder" by gathering illegally.

The group had been sentenced to terms of 16-24 months, the notice said, and included Nurabla Nurmemet, 43, Abla Ablikim, 34, Sirajidin Eziz, 45, Eli Hapiz, 43, Ahmet Osman, 51, Ablet Abdurehim, 41, and Omer Salih, 50.

“I’m 94 years old now. I don’t know whether or not I will see him again because he was given two years of reeducation through labor,” Eziz’s father said.

Eziz’s father said the men had never received a court hearing.

“I don’t understand how it can be crime when all you are trying to do is to meet with your prime minister to address your problem,” he said.

Local politics

Ablet Kasim, a Uyghur from Guma county, said that farmers have been losing money for years and are willing to risk punishment to reverse the policy that forces them to sell their produce to state-owned buyers at prices 50-70 percent lower than those on the open market.

They had been forced to sell at a discount for produce such as red dates and cotton.

A brother of one of the detainees said that the local police chief, angered that the farmers had sought assistance from the central government, might have pushed to have the seven sent to the labor camp.

He said that the police chief had warned the 25 Uyghurs when they boarded the train to Beijing last year that they would be punished upon their return.

“’You can go if you want,’ the police chief told them, ‘but you had better know that when you finally come back, I will send you to jail in the first week of your return,’” the brother said.

“Well, he finally did what he said—he showed us his power … I’m surprised he hid this information from us for so long. Maybe he wanted to force us to beg him or he was trying to punish the families.”

Repeated petitions

The farmers originally numbered more than 100 when they first took their complaints to higher authorities in July 2010.

Up until their visit to Beijing, the group filed protests four times to division officials and three times to provincial officials in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi.

In an interview from Beijing last November, Abla Ablikim, one of the seven Uyghurs in the labor camp, said police from Karataghiz village had tried to block the group from boarding the train to the capital at the Urumqi train station in addition to threatening them with imprisonment upon their return.

Eventually, Abla Abilkim said, Uyghur merchants at the station protected the farmers from the police and allowed them to board the train.

Abla Abilikim said authorities at both the local and provincial levels told him they could do nothing to help the farmers because the XPCC has the right to implement a planned economy instead of a market economy.

“Some of them said, ‘The state is building roads, schools, and hospitals for you, so you must support the state companies,’” he said.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Source: Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Link: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/farmers-08152011181847.html.

Pakistan Deports Uyghurs

2011-08-10

Five Uyghurs have been sent back to China, where they face punishment.

Pakistani authorities have deported five ethnic Uyghurs to China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region where they may face persecution on their return, according to the head of a Uyghur exile group.

“According to the information we received, all five were Uyghurs,” said Omer Khan, the founder of the Omer Uyghur Foundation in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

They were believed to have been forcibly repatriated this week to Xinjiang, where Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness.

“The deportation of Uyghurs is happening a lot these days [in Pakistan], but this is one of the rare cases which has been exposed to the media,” Omer Khan said.

On Tuesday, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that five “Chinese citizens” had been arrested in different parts of the country and deported on Monday.

The report claimed that the group, which included two children and a woman, was brought to Benazir Bhutto International Airport where they boarded flight CZ6008 operated by China’s Southern Airline to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

Dawn quoted an unnamed source who said that another “Chinese national,” Abduxur Ablmit, was to accompany “his compatriots,” but was offloaded because the flight captain refused to accept him for “unspecified reasons.”

“Ablmit, blindfolded and handcuffed like the other five, had been allotted a seat on the flight,” the newspaper reported.

Dawn also identified one of the five as Manzokra Mamad, who it said was accompanied by a young girl and boy.

The report said that the reason for the deportation was unclear, but noted that Pakistani security agencies had extradited “Xinjiang separatists” before on at least three occasions—14 in 1997, seven in 2002, and nine in 2009.

Pakistani authorities could not be reached for comment on the deportation or the identities of those involved.

“We have been able to confirm the names of two people—Abdushukur Ablimit and Menzire Memet,” Omer Khan said.

Exile reaction

The Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) issued a statement Wednesday condemning “in the strongest possible terms” Pakistan’s decision to extradite the five Uyghurs, saying the group “will face harsh punishment.”

“Uyghurs who have been extradited to China in the past, were detained, imprisoned, sentenced, tortured, executed, or disappeared after their return to China,” the exile group said.

The WUC said that following a series of violent attacks by Uyghurs on Chinese security personnel in Xinjiang over the last month, Pakistan immediately affirmed that it would extend its full support to China over the Uyghur issue.

“The WUC believes Pakistani authorities acted on request of the Chinese government in order to underline the positive relations between the two countries,” the group said.

It said that by extraditing the Uyghurs to China, Pakistan violated the U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT) which prohibits parties from returning anyone to a state "where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture."

Group detained

Omer Uyghur said that he believed the five deportees may have been part of a larger group of 12 Uyghurs who were captured by police in western Pakistan last year as they made their way to Turkey to seek asylum. He said he was unsure what had become of the remaining seven.

He added that another Uyghur, named Omer Muhter, 33, has been missing from Rawalpindi in Pakistan since last January and may have been deported to China as well.

The group of 12 came from various parts of Xinjiang and had been living in Central Asian countries working as traders since the beginning of 2000, but after participating in activities sponsored by local Uyghur exiles, found themselves placed on a wanted list by police back home.

They gathered in Pakistan and decided to make their way through Iran to Turkey where they would apply for asylum, but were detained by authorities in the restive Pakistani province of Balochistan because they lacked the requisite travel documents. The next day, they were transferred to a jail in Islamabad.

While in detention in the capital, they met a Turkish citizen named Mujahid Elwerdi and asked him to pass on information about their case to the outside world.

Elwerdi mentioned the situation of the Uyghurs in a phone call to his father, Saleh Elwerdi, who then passed the information on to the East Turkestan Foundation in Turkey.

“The situation of these 12 Uyghurs is severe,” Mujahid Elwerdi told his father. “Their passports are fake and they have no money and one of their kids is sick. If they are deported back to China, they could face execution. You need to inform relevant groups of what is happening to them.”

In a telephone conversation last year in August, a staff member of the Turkish embassy in Islamabad named Ali Beg, confirmed that the group of Uyghurs were being held by Pakistani authorities.

However, Beg said that because the Uyghurs were not Turkish citizens, the embassy could not help them.

Threat of deportation

China has used its economic influence in the region to detain and repatriate a number of Uyghurs who have fled the country after being accused of carrying out “separatist” activities against the state.

Another Uyghur, Nur Muhemmed, was arrested by Thai authorities Saturday for illegally entering the country, and exile groups have expressed concern that he could be deported to China and face punishment.

Cambodia deported the majority of 22 Uyghurs who sought refuge status through the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Phnom Penh shortly after they fled China in the aftermath of deadly ethnic violence that gripped Urumqi in July 2009.

China also used its influence in May to convince Kazakh authorities to deport another Uyghur, Ershidin Israil, a former geography teacher, who was initially given refugee status by the UNHCR and accepted for resettlement by Sweden.

Source: Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Link: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/pakistan-08102011175506.html.

Uyghur Held in Thailand

2011-08-08

Thailand arrests a Uyghur for illegally entering the country.

Authorities in Thailand have arrested a Uyghur fleeing China’s restive northwestern Xinjiang region, according to reports Monday as Uyghur exile groups expressed concern he could be deported home and be severely punished like many of his compatriots.

Nur Muhemmed was arrested by Thai authorities Saturday for illegally entering the country, Japanese newspapers reported over the weekend, quoting Thai sources.

The reports said he may have had fled Urumqi after Chinese authorities accused him of involvement in deadly ethnic unrest in the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in July 2009.

He was allegedly part of a group of Uyghurs that took flight from China in the aftermath of the violence and sought refuge with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cambodia after traveling through Vietnam, according to the reports.

Twenty-two members of that group eventually made it to Cambodia, though most were deported to China and prosecuted.

Muhemmed was believed to have escaped from Cambodia, and moved to Burma and then entered Thailand illegally via the border town of Mae Sai nearly two years ago, according to Thai officials quoted in the reports.

The Thai Foreign Ministry and the Chinese embassy in Bangkok could not be reached for comment.

Concern for fate

Uyghur groups disputed the circumstances under which Muhemmed landed in Thailand, but expressed concern about his fate as they feared that Bangkok would also repatriate him.

Dolkun Isa, general secretary of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC), said Thailand should not bow to pressure from the Chinese to repatriate Muhemmed, where Isa said he could face torture and even death upon his return.

“No matter who he is or how he got there, the reality is that Uyghurs inside and outside of China face various tragedies because of China’s long and strong reach,” he said, calling on members of the international community to prod Thailand to respect Muhemmed’s right as a refugee.

Thailand has repatriated a number of ethnic minorities in the past several years, including the Hmong to Laos and the Rohingya to Burma, where they may face persecution and mistreatment.

“It is no secret how dangerous the current situation in East Turkestan [Xinjiang] is after the Hotan and Kashgar incidents,” Isa said, referring to deadly attacks in the two Silk Road cities by Uyghur groups against Chinese security personnel over the past month.

“It is easy to imagine what the fate of a Uyghur refugee might be in the case of a deportation at this time,” he said.

Isa said Muhemmed may have been one of two men who fled China in March and went missing.

“In March of this year, two Uyghur men seeking help called us from Yunnan province as they prepared to cross the China-Burma border.

They asked for information related to the refugee process in Southeast Asian countries,” Isa said.

“Just two days after the call, when we tried to reach them, we failed. Since then they have been silent and I’m assuming that maybe the person who is facing deportation in Thailand now was one of them.”

Missing in Vietnam

Ilshat Hasan, vice president of the exile group the Uyghur American Association, believed Muhemmed was among two Uyghurs who may have tried to enter Cambodia while fleeing China but ended up in Vietnam.

“It is possible that he was one of the two Uyghurs missing in Vietnam in October 2009,” Hasan said.

Those men later tried to cross into Cambodia on their own, but ended up in Laos where one was apprehended. The whereabouts of the other man were unknown.

“I guess that the one who failed to escape has already been returned to China or is in jail in Vietnam,” Hasan said.

“The other one who escaped probably had hidden in Thailand. Maybe disaster has finally caught up with him this time.”

In addition to the repatriation of the group of Uyghurs from Cambodia, China also used its influence in May to convince Kazakh authorities to deport another Uyghur, Ershidin Israil, a former geography teacher, who was initially given refugee status by the UNHCR and accepted for resettlement by Sweden.

Source: Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Link: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/deportation-08082011175204.html.

Russia's stealth fighter performs first demonstration flight

MOSCOW (BNO NEWS) — Russia’s Sukhoi T-50 5th generation fighter performed its first demonstration flight at the 10th International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS 2011 on Wednesday, Russian agencies reported.

The flight was observed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other dignitaries who attended the MAKS show to address the participants and guests as well as to get familiarized with the exposition of Russian and foreign aerospace equipment, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

However, the pilots did not perform any aerobatic stunts aboard the new T-50 stealth fighter because the plane is still going through a series of test flights.

The T-50 aircraft, developed under the program Future Aviation System for Tactical Air Force (PAK-FA) at the Sukhoi OKB, is Russia’s first new major combat aircraft designed since the fall of the Soviet Union. Since the 1980s, the Russian Air Force has relied on aircraft which are now obsolete.

An operational fighter based on the T-50 will be put into service possibly as soon as 2015, becoming the Russian Air Force’s first stealth fighter which features low-observable technology that makes it almost impossible to detect with radar.

Like its U.S. counterpart, the F-22 Raptor, the T-50 will be able to cruise at supersonic speeds and be capable of pulling high-G maneuvers that older aircraft cannot match thanks to thrust-vectoring exhaust nozzles and a hi-tech flight control system.

The T-50 made its first flight at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur factory airfield in Siberia in January, and since then two prototypes have been undergoing flight tests at the Zhukovsky flight test center near Moscow.

MAKS is an international air show held since 1992 on Zhukovskiy Lll air field near the Russian capital of Moscow. It is one of the world’s largest air forums which its main goal is to demonstrate the latest achievement of Russian and world aviation industry.

Although it started as an entertainment event, MAKS is also important for establishing business contacts and development of industrial cooperation between Russia and foreign aerospace manufacturers.

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/19524/russias-stealth-fighter-performs-first-demonstration-flight/.

Nigeria successfully launches two satellites

ABUJA, NIGERIA (BNO NEWS) — Nigeria on Wednesday successfully launched two satellites into orbit on a Russian rocket, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) said.

The two satellites – the NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X – were launched on a Russian Dnepr rocket from Yasny, which is located in southern Russia. The spacecrafts were built at SSTL in Guildford, United Kingdom, but under the Nigerian National Space Research Development Agency (NASRDA). 26 Nigerian engineers worked at the SSTL, assembling NigeriaSat-X, which weighs around 100 kilograms (220 pounds).

SSTL stated that the satellites would provide Nigeria with the ability to enhance food security through monthly crop monitoring, assist with burgeoning urban planning demands and, through the development of engineering skills, would advance the growth of new technologies in Nigeria.

Director of the National Center for Remote Sensing (NCRS) Gajere Nduke noted that the high resolution of the satellites would not only allow further development for Nigeria, but for the West African Sub-region and all of Africa. He said the NCRS would create a 1:25,000 scale map of Nigeria with the use of the satellites.

In addition, Director-General of the NASRDA, Dr. Seidu Mohammed, said key data will be made available through the satellites, supporting different sectors such as national food security as well as environmental monitoring and evaluation by making data available to the Disaster Monitoring Constellation. NASRDA engineers will control both satellites from their ground station in Abuja.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan congratulated the successful launching of the two satellites, stating that the event was a milestone which could solve different national issues through space technology.

“We will continue to emphasize investment in science and technology as a tool to drive the transformation agenda of this administration,” Jonathan stated, congratulating the “resourceful Nigerians who made this history possible.”

In 2003, Nigeria launched NigeriaSat-1, and while it has surpassed its five-year lifespan, the two new satellites are expected to replace NigeriaSat-1 to ensure data continuity.

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/19525/nigeria-successfully-launches-two-satellites/.

President Chavez plans to nationalize Venezuela's gold industry

CARACAS (BNO NEWS) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced on Wednesday that he will approve a new law to nationalize the country’s gold industry, the El Nacional newspaper reported.

“Soon I will propose a law to start taking the gold zone and I count with you, because there’s anarchy, mafia and smuggling in that zone,” Chavez said.

Chavez further stated that he has the laws which allow him to nationalize the gold industry in Venezuela, which includes exploration and exploitation of the metal as well as other related activities.

The president urged the minister of Planning and Finance, Jorge Giordani, and the president of the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV), Nelson Merentes, to speed up the process of transferring the Venezuelan gold reserves.

Giordani explained that the government’s decision to nationalize the gold reserves seeks to diversify the resources and enable them for the national economy’s development. “We are going to nationalize the gold and we are going to turn it into an international reserve, because its value keeps increasing,” he said.

Venezuela has around $12 billion in gold reserves, Chavez said. “We cannot allow them to keep taking it away.”

Chavez returned to Venezuela on Saturday after having completed a second round of chemotherapy in the Cuban capital of Havana. The left wing president has been in office since 1999 and plans to run for re-election in late 2012 despite his disease.

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/19527/president-chavez-plans-to-nationalize-venezuelas-gold-industry/.

Pressure rises in Morocco after self-immolation

Suicide as a form of protest has grabbed the attention of citizens and officials alike.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 17/08/11

The suicide of a young Moroccan bread vendor is raising fresh concerns about freedom and reform ahead of the November 25th parliamentary elections.

Hamid Kanouni, 27, set himself on fire outside a police station in Berkane on Sunday (August 7th), stirring up a fresh debate in Morocco and evoking memories of how the suicide of another young man, Tunisia's Mohamed Bouazizi, launched the Arab Spring.

"Hamid wouldn't have set fire to himself if he didn't have good reasons for doing such a thing. It's a real sign that the supposed change hasn't happened," February 20th Movement member Zohra Meliani said. She added that people's grievances have yet to receive a practical answer, and that nothing has been done about scorn and corruption and respect for personal liberties.

But according to student Fadoua Gertouli, young people must not let their despair push them to the point of suicide.

"I can understand the fact that Hamid, after being so badly treated, felt that no-one could vindicate him, given the way that people are going unpunished. But we have to campaign and be patient in the midst of our troubles," she said.

Hmida Taji, a teacher of Islamic education, said that the suicide was a reprehensible act banned by Islam. He called on young people to be aware of this reality and not to believe that anyone using self-immolation as a form of protest can be a martyr.

The February 20th Movement is helping to transport the body from Casablanca to Fez and organize a number of protest marches, particularly in Berkane, where the incident took place. Young people are calling for people to rise up against hogra (scorn).

There were different accounts of the incident given by police and onlookers. According to eyewitnesses, the police beat and insulted the victim, seizing his bread cart following a complaint from the owner of the bakery outside which he was selling his goods.

On Tuesday (August 9th) police denied the accusations of abuse in the Hamid Kanouni incident.

The police claimed that that the man had been overwhelmed when, on leaving the police station, he discovered that his merchandise had been destroyed by an unknown party. This drove him to douse his clothes with petrol and set fire to them.

The government has not yet issued a reaction to the event. Government spokesman Khalid Naciri avoided answering questions about Kanouni at a press briefing on August 10th. Instead, he simply indicated that justice would take its course.

Self-immolation is becoming increasingly commonplace amongst marginalized youth and unemployed graduates, according to Sociologist Samira Kassimi.

"It's a form of political protest against injustice. These young people prefer to draw attention to themselves rather than remain in the shadows," she said.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/08/17/feature-01.

Moon younger than previously thought

Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX)
Aug 18, 2011

Analysis of a piece of lunar rock brought back to Earth by the Apollo 16 mission in 1972 has shown that the Moon may be much younger than previously believed.

This is concluded in new research conducted by an international team of scientists that includes James Connelly from the Center for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen. Their work has just been published in Nature.

The prevailing theory of our Moon's origin is that it was created by a giant impact between a large planet-like object and the proto-Earth very early in the evolution of our solar system. The energy of this impact was sufficiently high that the Moon formed from melted material that began with a deep liquid magma ocean.

As the Moon cooled, this magma ocean solidified into different mineral components, the lightest of which floated upwards to form the oldest crust. Analysis of a lunar rock sample of this presumed ancient crust has given scientists new insights into the formation of the Moon.

Luna rock from Apollo 16
"We have analyzed a piece of lunar rock that was brought back to Earth by the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. Although the samples have been carefully stored at NASA Johnson Space Center since their return to Earth, we had to extensively pre-clean the samples using a new method to remove terrestrial lead contamination.

Once we removed the contamination, we found that this sample is almost 100 million years younger than we expected," says researcher James Connelly of the Center for Star and Planet Formation.

According to the existing theory for lunar formation, a rock type called ferroan anorthosite, also known as FAN, is the oldest of the Moon's crustal rocks, but scientists have had difficulty dating samples of this crust.

Newly-refined techniques help determine age of sample
The research team, which includes scientists from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Carnegie Institute's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and Universite Blaise Pascal, used newly-refined techniques to determine the age of the sample of a FAN that was returned by the Apollo 16 mission and has been stored at the lunar rock collection at the NASA Johnson Space Center.

The team analyzed the isotopes of the elements lead and neodymium to place the age of a sample of a FAN at 4.36 billion years. This figure is significantly younger than earlier estimates of the Moon's age that range to nearly as old as the age of the solar system itself at 4.567 billion years.

The new, younger age obtained for the oldest lunar crust is similar to ages obtained for the oldest terrestrial minerals - zircons from Western Australia - suggesting that the oldest crust on both Earth and the Moon formed at approximately the same time.

This study is the first in which a single sample of FAN yielded consistent ages from multiple isotope dating techniques. This result strongly suggests that these ages pinpoint the time at which this sample crystallized.

The extraordinarily young age of this lunar sample either means that the Moon solidified significantly later than previous estimates - and therefore the moon itself is much younger than previously believed - or that this sample does not represent a crystallization product of the original magma ocean. Either scenario requires major revision to previous models for the formation of the Moon.

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Moon_younger_than_previously_thought_999.html.

What caused a giant arrow-shaped cloud on Saturn's moon Titan?

Los Angeles CA (SPX)
Aug 18, 2011

Why does Titan, Saturn's largest moon, have what looks like an enormous white arrow about the size of Texas on its surface?

A research group led by Jonathan L. Mitchell, UCLA assistant professor of earth and space sciences and of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, has answered this question by using a global circulation model of Titan to demonstrate how planetary-scale atmospheric waves affect the moon's weather patterns, leading to a "stenciling" effect that results in sharp and sometimes surprising cloud shapes.

"These atmospheric waves are somewhat like the natural, resonant vibration of a wine glass," Mitchell said. "Individual clouds might 'ring the bell,' so to speak, and once the ringing starts, the clouds have to respond to that vibration."

The fascinating clouds, including arrow-shaped ones, that result from the atmospheric waves can cause intense precipitation - sometimes more than 20 times Titan's average seasonal rainfall - and could be essential in shaping Titan's surface by erosion.

The research was published Aug. 14 in the online edition of the journal Nature Geoscience and will be published in an upcoming print edition.

Mitchell and a colleague have described Titan's climate as "all-tropics" - the entire planet experiences the types of weather phenomena that on Earth are confined to the equatorial region.

"Our new results demonstrate the power of this analogy, not only for general features of Titan's climate but also for individual storms," Mitchell said. "In future work, we plan to extend our analysis to other Titan observations and make predictions of what clouds might be observed during the upcoming season.

"Titan's all-tropics climate gives us the opportunity to study tropical weather in a simpler setting than on Earth," he added. "Our hope is that this may help us understand Earth's weather in a changing climate."

NASA's Cassini Spacecraft has been in orbit around Saturn since late 2004 and has revolutionized our understanding of Titan, which is larger in volume than the planet Mercury and the second largest moon in the solar system after Jupiter's Ganymede. Titan has a thick nitrogen atmosphere and experiences rain made of natural methane gas.

"Titan is like Earth's strange sibling - the only other rocky body in the solar system that currently experiences rain," Mitchell said.

Titan is an alien world, but strangely not so different from Earth. Like Earth, the main component of its atmosphere is molecular nitrogen. Water, too, is abundant on Titan, although it is all frozen in the crust at very low temperatures.

Methane is thermodynamically active in the lower atmosphere, and much like water vapor on Earth, Titan's methane forms clouds, precipitates and is resupplied from surface sources, Mitchell said. The runoff then weathers the cold surface of Titan, creating what appears to be river patterns.

Scientists think that Earth, shortly after it formed an atmosphere, had large amounts of methane and very little oxygen. Methane provided an important greenhouse warming that probably prevented Earth from staying perpetually in a completely frozen state that otherwise would have resulted from the weaker sunlight from the very young sun, Mitchell said.

"Therefore, by studying Titan's modern climate, we may gain new insights about the way the early Earth's climate was," Mitchell said.

He and his research group have developed an atmospheric model to study the climate and cloud patterns of Titan.

Source: Saturn Daily.
Link: http://www.saturndaily.com/reports/What_caused_a_giant_arrow_shaped_cloud_on_Saturn_moon_Titan_999.html.

PLO accuses Syrian forces of 'crime against humanity'

August 16, 2011

DAMASCUS/RAMALLAH: An assault by Syrian security forces on a Palestinian refugee camp in the coastal city of Latakia amounts to a crime against humanity, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization said.

Syria came under sharp Arab and international condemnation after rights activists said gunboats pounded Latakia port, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee a refugee camp Monday.

As activists reported new deaths at the camp, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency reported that more than 5,000 refugees had fled the Ramel camp in southern Latakia under fire Monday.

"The shelling is taking place using gunships and tanks on houses built from tin, on people who have no place to run to or even a shelter to hide in," Yasser Abed Rabbo, the PLO secretary general, told Reuters. "This is a crime against humanity."

Residents of Latakia say Syrian security forces have been targeting areas where demonstrators have been protesting against President Bashar Assad’s rule.

UNRWA, the U.N. agency that cares for Palestinian refugees, Tuesday said its latest reports indicated that Ramel camp, home to 10,000 refugees, was now almost completely deserted.

UNRWA reported Monday, that four refugees had been killed and 17 wounded in the violence. "Our fear is that without access, the figures are higher, but we simply don’t know," Chris Gunness, UNRWA spokesman in Jerusalem, said.

"It’s obviously been the scene of a security or military operation. We remain extremely concerned. UNRWA needs to get in there. We need urgent humanitarian access," he said.

"Things get more and more grim and worrying by the minute. A forgotten population has now become a disappeared population," he said.

Syria’s state-run news agency SANA reported Monday Palestinian factions condemned UNRWA’s statements, labeling the allegations "baseless" and a "provocation."

It said the Palestinian powers’ Alliance Factions condemned allegations of shelling at the Ramel camp, "calling for not involving the Palestinians in the latest events in Syria."

"The Palestinian factions deny what has been included in the UNRWA leadership about shelling the refugees camp in Lattakia, considering this provocation as part of attempts to harm the Syrian and Palestinian stances," official spokesman of the Palestinian Alliance said in a press statement, published by SANA.

It said Ali Mustafa, director of the Arab Palestinian Refugees General Committee called on UNRWA Commissioner General Filippo Grandi to "correct" reports claiming that the Syrian Security forces launch heavy fires inside the camp in Lattakia.

"We would like to bring your attention that what has been included in the UNRWA statement was baseless and untrue … the issue that is being tackled by the Syrian competent authorities takes place in the camp’s neighboring area," SANA reported Mustafa said in a message sent to Grandi.

The United States said it was unable to confirm reports of the Syrian navy shelling Latakia Monday, in what would amount to a dramatic escalation in its bid to crush pro-democracy protests.

"We have been unable to confirm actually the use of naval assets," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters, adding the "jury is still out" on whether or not Syrian warships opened fire.

She added there were "some inconsistencies" in the reporting on the alleged incident but did not elaborate.

"However, we are able to confirm that there is armor in the city and that there is firing on innocents again, in the pattern of carnage that you have seen in other places," she said.

Many residents were allowed to flee Latakia at dawn, but soldiers opened fire at a checkpoint, killing a man and a woman as they tried to leave Ramel, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=8&p=80561&s2=18.

Why Pakistani Military Demands a Veto on Drone Strikes

By Gareth Porter

ISLAMABAD, Aug 16, 2011 (IPS) - Pakistani civilian and military leaders are insisting on an effective veto over which targets U.S. drone strikes hit, according to well-informed Pakistani military sources here.

The sources, who met with IPS on condition that they not be identified, said that such veto power over the conduct of the drone war is a central element in a new Pakistani demand for a formal government-to-government agreement on the terms under which the United States and Pakistan will cooperate against insurgents in Pakistan.

The basic government-to-government agreement now being demanded would be followed, the sources said, by more detailed agreements between U.S. and Pakistani military leaders and intelligence agencies.

The new Pakistani demand for equal say over drone strikes marks the culmination of a long evolution in the Pakistani military's attitude toward the drone war. Initially supportive of strikes that were targeting Al-Qaeda leaders, senior Pakistani military leaders soon came to realize that the drone war carried serious risks for Pakistan's war against the Pakistani Taliban.

A key turning point in the attitude of the military was the unilateral U.S. decision to focus the drone war on those Pakistani insurgents who had already decided to make peace with the Pakistani government and who opposed the war being waged by Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban against the Pakistani military.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was allowed to run the drone war almost completely unilaterally for years, according to former Pakistani military leaders and diplomats, and the Pakistani military has only mustered the political will to challenge the U.S. power to carry out drone strikes unilaterally in recent months.

Gen. Pervez Musharraf allowed the drone strikes from 2004 to 2007 in order to ensure political support from the George W. Bush administration, something Musharraf had been denied during the Bill Clinton administration, Shamshad Ahmad, who was Pakistan's foreign secretary and then ambassador to the United Nations from 1997 to 2002, told IPS.

"Those were the days when we felt that we had to work with the Americans on Al-Qaeda," recalled Gen. Asad Durrani, a former director general of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI), in an interview with IPS.

The choice of targets "usually was done by the U.S. unilaterally", said Durrani. Two Pakistani generals confirmed that point in a separate interview with IPS.

The Musharraf regime even went so far as to provide cover for the drone strikes, repeatedly asserting after strikes that the explosions had been caused by the victims themselves making home-made bombs.

But that effort at transparent deception by the U.S. and Musharraf quickly fell apart when drone strikes were based on faulty intelligence and killed large numbers of civilians rather than Al- Qaeda leaders.

The worst such strike was an Oct. 30, 2006 drone attack on a madrassa in Chenagai village in Bajauer agency, which killed 82 people. Musharraf, who was primarily concerned with avoiding the charge of complicity in U.S. attacks on Pakistani targets, ordered the Pakistani military to take complete responsibility for the incident.

The spokesman for the Pakistani military claimed "confirmed intelligence reports that 70 to 80 militants were hiding in a madrassa used as a terrorist training facility" and said the Pakistani military had fired missiles at the madrassa.

But eyewitnesses in the village identified U.S. drones as the source of the attack and said all the victims were simply local students of the madrassa. Local people compiled a complete list of the names and ages of all 80 victims, showing that 25 of the dead had been aged seven to 15, which was published in the Lahore daily The News International.

Senior military officers believed the CIA had other reasons for launching the strike in Bajaur. The day before the drone attack, tribal elders in Bajaur had held a public meeting to pledge their willingness to abide by a peace accord with the government, and the government had released nine tribesmen, including some militants.

Former ISI chief Durrani recalled that the strike "effectively sabotaged the chances for an agreement" in Bejaur. That was "a very clear message" from the CIA not to enter into any more such peace agreements, Durrani told IPS.

The Bejaur madrassa strike was a turning point for many officers. "So many of us went in and said this is stupid," Durrani recalled.

When Musharraf was pressured to step down as Army chief of staff, and was replaced by Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in November 2007, the unilateral character of the CIA's drone war "pretty much continued", according to Gen. Jehanger Karamat, who was ambassador to the United States from 2004 to 2006 after having retired as Army chief of staff in 1998.

The CIA's drone war became more contentious in 2008, as the Bush administration concentrated the strikes on those who had made peace with the Pakistani government. Two-thirds of the drone strikes that year were on targets associated with Jalaluddin Haqqani and Mullah Nazeer, both of whom were involved in supporting Taliban forces in Afghanistan, but who opposed attacks on the Pakistani government.

Targeting the Haqqani network and his allies posed serious risks for Pakistan. When the Pakistani Army was fighting in South Waziristan, it had its logistic base in an area that was controlled by the Haqqani group, and it had been able to count on the security of that base.

Meanwhile, ISI had given the CIA accurate information on anti- Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud's location on four occasions, but the U.S. had failed to target him, according to a May 2009 column by retired Pakistani Gen. Shaukat Qadir.

In 2009, more of the drone strikes - almost 40 percent of the total - focused on the Taliban under Mehsud, and Mehsud himself was killed, which tended to mollify the Pakistani military.

But that effect did not last long. In 2010, only three strikes were aimed at Mehsud's anti-Pakistan Taliban organization, while well over half the strikes were against Hafiz Gul Bahadur, an ally of Haqqani who had signed an agreement with the Pakistani government in September 2006 that he would not shelter any anti-Pakistani militants.

The Barack Obama administration had made a deliberate decision around mid-2010 that it didn't care if targeting the Haqqani network and other pro-Pakistani Taliban groups upset the Pakistanis, as the Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 23, 2010.

But two events caused Pakistani army chief Kayani to demand a fundamental change in U.S. policy toward the drone war.

The first was the arrest of CIA operative Raymond Davis on the charge of killing two Pakistanis in cold blood in January, which was followed by intense U.S. pressure for his release.

The second was a drone strike on Mar. 17, just one day after Davis was released, which was initially reported to have been an attack on a gathering of Haqqani network officials.

It turned out that the drone attack had killed dozens of tribal and sub-tribal elders who had gathered from all over North Waziristan to discuss an economic issue.

A former U.S. official admitted that the strike was carried out because the CIA was "angry" over the fact that Davis had been kept in prison for seven weeks. "It was retaliation for Davis," the official said, according to an Aug. 2 Associated Press story.

That strike helped galvanize the Pakistani military leadership. ISI chief Shuja Pasha took it as a slap in the face, because he had personally intervened to get Davis out of jail. Kayani shocked the Americans by issuing the first denunciation of drone strikes by an Army chief.

When Pasha went to Washington in April, he took with him the first official Pakistani demand for an equal say in drone strike decisions.

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=8&p=80557&s2=18.

HRW asks what's different post-Mubarak

NEW YORK, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Prosecutors operating in Egypt under military authority aren't much better at permitting dissenting voices than the previous regime, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch said there were a large number of civilians on trial in military courts for what it said were nothing more than "major" attacks on free expression.

Human Rights Watch said military authorities prosecuted youth leader Asamaa Mahfouz for insulting the military.

"The military is using her to silence potential critics, sending the message that criticizing the current military government will land them in jail," Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch said military authorities last week questioned Mahfouz about statements posted on her Twitter account in July complaining the military wasn't doing enough to protect civilians.

As many as 43 cases similar to Mahfouz's are ongoing in military courts, the rights group said.

At least 10,000 civilians were sentenced this year in what Human Rights Watch said were unfair proceedings. All of them should be retried, the group added.

"Egypt needs to urgently review the legal framework which (deposed President Hosni) Mubarak used for years to silence his critics," concluded Stork.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/08/17/HRW-asks-whats-different-post-Mubarak/UPI-27011313593303/.

Two Young Chechens Saved the Lives of 23 Teenagers in the Norway Massacre

Aug 18 2011

Two Chechens Movsar Jamaev and Rustam Daudov first met on Wednesday July 19, this year on the island Utøya. They quickly became good friends, and were going to dinner, when the first shots were fired on Friday, July 22 – says on its pages the well-known Norwegian newspaper “Dagbladet”.

With the prior permission of their parents, they told the reporters of this newspaper about the terrible hours spent on the island of Utoya.

“We heard the first shots and saw a group of teenagers standing near an armed man who was shooting them at a point-blank. Three of them were shot in front of us”, – said the young Chechens. “From there the two young men ran towards the woods, pulling a group of terrified Norwegian youth, who did not know how to save themselves.” 16-year-old Norwegian said he was so frightened that he could not move. “Therefore, Movsar took my arm and dragged me into the forest” – he said. From there Movsar called his father, who gave him instructions, how to behave in a similar situation.

“I have witnessed how people were shot earlier in my country by the Russian occupiers, when I was a kid. After talking with my father, I was able to pull myself together. My dad told me that I must possess myself and that I should think not only about themselves, but also about the other children on the island. He told me that I should tried to save as many as possible. “Attack on the offender should be done properly” said dad”- says Movsar.

“The murderer, dressed in the form of a police officer, shouted to us to come to him. At first I thought to do it, until I realized that he was going to kill us. Soon, he began to shoot the children who came to him, believing that he is a policeman. He did calmly and cooldbloodedly kill defenseless children.”- said Movsar. According to his friend, Rustam, they were armed with stones, decided to stop the offender. Rustam states, that both of them with stones in their hands began to move towards Anders Breivik.

“We were maybe a meter away from him and were going to throw stones at him, but he shot one of our friends. Then we threw stones at him and ran to save our lives and the lives of other children who were still alive – said Rustam. Movsar has no doubt that he got the murderer with a stone. He says that after this killer howled and shouted at him “f***ing nigger”.

After that, the young men decided to seek and rescue the remaining children. They found a cave in the rock, where they hid terrified children (a total of 23 people), among whom was even an eight-year boy. Movsar says that he carried him on his shoulders for nearly an hour.

Then they stood on duty at the cave entrance hoping to protect children. From there, they saw several young people drowning in the water. “I could not let them drown, and swam to help them. Three times I did it, but I was totally exhausted due to the cold water. I did not have the strength to save the boy, who was only ten feet from me. He drowned “. – Movsar said.

Source: The Ugly Truth.
Link: http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/two-young-chechens-saved-the-lives-of-23-teenagers-in-the-norway-massacre/.

Lebanon adopts law regulating smoking

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Lebanon's new no-smoking law bans some tobacco advertising and requires a pictorial warning about smoking hazards on cigarette packs, officials said.

The Parliament Wednesday backed a law putting an end to smoking in all enclosed public places, including bars, restaurants, offices and airplanes, The Daily Star in Beirut reported.

The law bans tobacco advertising on billboards and in magazines, and prohibits tobacco companies from sponsoring events and music concerts. It also requires tobacco companies to print a pictorial warning covering 40 percent of the area on each pack of cigarettes.

Hotels will be allowed to set aside up to 20 percent of their rooms for smokers.

Parliament said businesses will have a set period of time to prepare for the law, although no time frame was mentioned in the report.

Officials said Lebanon was obligated to pass legislation controlling tobacco products since it signed onto the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/08/18/Lebanon-adopts-law-regulating-smoking/UPI-70311313671313/.

حراك الكرك مهاجما بيان '43': النواب جزء من الفساد

2011-08-18

خبرني- هاجم الحراك الشبابي والشعبي في محافظة الكرك البيان الصادر عن 43 نائباً يصفون فيه مطلقي الهتافات خلال بعض المسيرات والاعتصامات بالخيانة وإثارة الفتنة وزعزعة الأمن والاستقرار.
وقال الحراك في بيان صادر عنه الخميس" طالعتنا الصحافة المكتوبة والمرئية والإلكترونية ببيان موقع من بعض نواب الـ (111) يعتبرون الآلاف التي اعتصمت أمام محافظة الكرك بالقلة التي لا تعبر عن إرادة الشعب وتهدف إلى زعزعة الأمن والاستقرار ".
ووصف البيان النواب بـ "جزء من متوالية الفساد والمحسوبية وأنهم نتاج سيء لقانون الصوت الواحد والدائرة الوهمية والتزوير المبرمج" .
وأكد الحراك على مطالبته بإصلاح النظام واحترام إرادة الشعب ومحاسبة الفاسدين بالقضاء المستقل كوسيلة لمنع زعزعة الأمن والاستقرار، وتابع "الاستقرار لن يكون بالعصا الغليظة ولا بالجزرة ، وإنما بإعطاء الناس حقوقهم الدستورية والسياسية ومشاركتهم بصنع القرار السياسي ورفع الوصاية عنهم كون الشعب دوماً مصدر السلطات".
ووجه الحراك تساؤلات للنواب للإجابة عليها، وهي :- هل تبرئة أصحاب الكازينو تعبيراً عن إرادة الشعب ؟
- هل تبرئة الوزراء المعروفين لشعبنا تعبيراً عن إرادتنا ؟- هل ثقة الــ (111) دامت أكثر من أربعين يوماً ؟
- هل تم فتح ملفات الفوسفات ، البوتاس ، الإتصالات ، الكهرباء، المطار … ومجموعة الكابيتال وغيرها وغيرها من اختصاص غيركم ؟؟!!!
وختم الحراك بيانه" نطمئنكم أيها النواب ان التغيير قادم لا محالة".

المصدر: خبرني.
الرابط: http://www.khaberni.com/more.php?newsid=60276.

Sadrists condemn U.S. military action

KARBALA, Iraq, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Alleged movement of U.S. forces into Karbala last week was an act of terrorism that violates bilateral security arrangements, an Iraqi official said.

A lawmaker in the Sadrist political party, loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr, said U.S. forces entered parts of Karbala last week. Tariq al-Khekany told the Voices of Iraq news agency that U.S. forces spent about six hours in a Sadrist stronghold in the city.

"We condemn the said 'terrorist' operation, which stood counter to the (2008) security agreement, signed between Iraq and the United States," he was quoted as saying.

U.S. combat forces withdrew to their military bases in Iraq in June 2009 under the terms of a bilateral Status of Forces Agreement with Baghdad. That agreement left Iraqi security forces in the lead of major operations.

A series of attacks and bombings Monday killed at least 89 people. Iraqi officials blamed national security forces in part for the attacks.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during comments Tuesday said that although no group had claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks, it was likely a sign that al-Qaida in Iraq was "trying to assert itself."

Iraqis are considering whether some U.S. forces would stay beyond a Dec. 31 deadline to withdraw. Sadrists blame the U.S. military presence for many of the country's problems.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/08/17/Sadrists-condemn-US-military-action/UPI-79211313590570/.

Belarus may get gas discount from Russia

MOSCOW, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Belarus could get a discount on natural gas prices for 2012, though Gazprom stressed market conditions were tough.

Inflation in Belarus is in the double digits and the country's president in June threatened to close the borders if there were a fiscal emergency. Minsk blamed rising prices of natural gas from Russia for some of its economic woes.

A gas discount from Russia would expire this year, after which natural gas prices will be pegged to market conditions.

Putin said Minsk would start to get a better gas price formula starting next year, noting the matter was tied to Gazprom taking on the remaining 50 percent stake in Belorussian gas transportation company Beltransgaz, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.

Alexei Miller, the chief executive officer at Gazprom, said negotiations could begin as early as September and new contracts could be signed by the end of the year.

"Hydrocarbon market conditions are hard for consumers," he stressed. "Gas prices are high and it is tough for former USSR republics, including Belarus."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/08/16/Belarus-may-get-gas-discount-from-Russia/UPI-19541313497896/.