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Saturday, June 2, 2012

Irish say yes to EU pact, now seek EU growth deal

June 01, 2012

DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland's voters have agreed to ratify the European Union's deficit-fighting treaty with a resounding 60.3 percent "yes," results Friday showed, but government leaders and pro-treaty campaigners alike expressed relief rather than joy because of the stark economic challenges ahead.

The treaty's approval, after weeks of nervousness in Dublin and Brussels, relieves some pressure on EU financial chiefs as they battle to contain the eurozone's debt crisis. But critics said the tougher deficit rules would do nothing to stimulate desperately needed growth in bailed-out Ireland, Portugal and Greece, nor stop Spain or Italy from requiring aid too.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny agreed, stressing in his stern-faced victory speech that the Irish voters' verdict would strengthen his hand as he seeks, with many other European nations, to shift Germany's opposition to boosting growth through government spending.

"I have consistently argued that budget rules alone will not be enough to overcome the economic crisis that faces Europe. They must go hand in hand with a real and concrete growth program for Europe," Kenny said in a nationally televised press conference on the steps of his central Dublin office.

Kenny said EU and European Central Bank chiefs must agree on a European-wide new system for managing the toxic banking debts that brought Ireland to the edge of bankruptcy in 2010 and now threaten to do the same to Spain. Ireland long has pressed EU partners, particularly Germany, in vain to permit write-downs of Irish banking debts that could ultimately cost Irish taxpayers €68 billion ($85 billion) and have already given Ireland the worst deficits in Europe.

Kenny spoke by telephone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe's leading champion of austerity. In a statement afterward Merkel welcomed Ireland's willingness to vote yes to more cuts as an outcome that "deserves particular recognition and respect."

And Merkel mirrored the language, if not the detail, of Kenny's call for new growth initiatives. She said debt and deficit reduction across the 17-nation eurozone "must go hand in hand with the strengthening of forces for growth and competitiveness." She didn't elaborate, but in recent comments has stressed that those forces needed to be boosting efficiency and competition, not funding state investment through increased debt.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said all EU nations should follow Ireland's example and speedily ratify the treaty, which 25 nations signed in February and which is supposed to come into force by early 2013. Ireland is the only signatory that required public approval before its ratification; the rest require support only from their own parliaments and heads of state.

"The fiscal compact stands for long-term financial policy good sense. If all of Europe decisively commits itself to this course, we will be rewarded with new confidence," Westerwelle said. The result of Thursday's referendum represented a surprisingly strong victory for Kenny, who courted unpopularity by insisting that Ireland — already four years into a brutal austerity program that has slashed 15 percent from many workers' incomes — had no choice but to vote in support of yet more cuts and tax hikes.

And when the official result was announced in Dublin Castle, victorious campaign officials engaged in few of the cheers, shouts and hugs normally associated with the occasion. "There was nobody from the 'yes' camp jumping up and down," observed Gerry Adams, leader of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, which campaigned against the deal. "While people voted yes, they did so through gritted teeth."

Government ministers emphasized that voters' anxiety about the parlous state of the economy — with unemployment stuck on 14.3 percent and hundreds of thousands of households trapped in negative equity — did shadow their every step on the campaign trail.

"The astonishing thing about this campaign was that lots of people voted yes with a heavy heart, and many voted no with a heavy heart. Both sides were really concerned about growth and employment," said Ireland's minister for social protection, Joan Burton, who has overseen cuts in many welfare payments.

Overall, about half of Ireland's 3.13 million registered voters participated in Thursday's referendum, a typical turnout in an officially neutral country that is constitutionally required to hold a referendum on each European treaty.

Public rejection could have blocked Ireland from receiving new EU loans once its 2010 bailout money runs out next year. It also would have sent political shockwaves through other eurozone members, where anger against austerity and bank bailouts runs similarly high but citizens are denied the chance to vote on the treaty.

During the campaign, Kenny warned that rejection would mean even worse austerity measures in 2013, because Ireland would suffer more credit downgrades and lose its key EU source of funding. The treaty proposes that all members who ratify it should reduce their annual deficits to no more than 0.5 percent of gross domestic product. The current eurozone limit is 3 percent of GDP. Ireland is aiming this year for an 8.6 percent deficit and hopes to be back down to 3 percent only by 2015.

Opponents of the treaty argued that the new 0.5 percent deficit limit would force Ireland to keep sucking money out of the economy until perhaps 2020. The government countered that much would depend on whether Ireland's GDP could keep growing against that tide of austerity.

Ireland, unlike much of Europe, has recorded a faint pulse of growth over the past year thanks to strong exports by nearly 1,000 foreign high-tech companies based in Ireland. But the domestic economy — with consumers reducing their own debts and salting away savings after a decade of Celtic Tiger extravagance — has shrunk for four straight years and shows no sign of rebounding.

Ireland has posted the EU's worst deficits since 2009, including an EU-record 32.4 percent in 2010 and 13.1 percent last year. Both figures were greatly inflated by the exceptional costs of Ireland's decision to nationalize five of its six banks rather than let any collapse. That debt burden overwhelmed Ireland's national finances and pushed the nation into the bailout zone in 2010. Ireland's expected repayments to international bondholders and central banks, plus decades of related interest charges, represent €19,000 ($23,500) for every man, woman and child in this nation of 4.5 million.

Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Egypt's Mubarak sentenced to life in prison

June 02, 2012

CAIRO (AP) — Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison Saturday for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that forced him from power last year. The ousted president and his sons were acquitted, however, of corruption charges in a mixed verdict that swiftly provoked a new wave of anger on Egypt's streets.

Calls have gone out for a massive protest at Tahrir Square, the heart of the uprising, at 5 p.m. After the sentencing, the 84-year old Mubarak suffered a "health crisis" while on a helicopter flight to a Cairo prison hospital, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. One state media report said it was a heart attack, but that could not immediately be confirmed.

The officials said Mubarak cried in protest and resisted leaving the helicopter that took him to a prison hospital for the first time since he was detained in April 2011. Mubarak stayed at a regular hospital in his favorite Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh from his arrest until his trial began in on Aug. 3. The officials said he insisted on the helicopter that he be flown to the military hospital on the eastern outskirts of Cairo where he has stayed during the trial.

Mubarak finally left the chopper and moved to the Torah prison hospital more than two hours after his helicopter landed there. Earlier, Mubarak sat stone-faced and frowning in the courtroom's metal defendants' cage while judge Ahmed Rifaat read out the conviction and sentence against him, showing no emotion with his eyes concealed by dark sunglasses. His sons Gamal and Alaa looked nervous but also did not react to either the conviction of their father or their own acquittals.

Mubarak was convicted of complicity in the killing of some 900 protesters during the 18-day uprising that forced him to resign in February 2011. He and his two sons were acquitted of corruption charges, along with a family friend who is on the run.

Rifaat opened the session with a strongly worded statement before handing down the verdicts. He expressed deep sympathy for the uprising. "The people released a collective sigh of relief after a nightmare that did not, as is customary, last for a night, but for almost 30 black, black, black years — darkness that resembled a winter night.

"The revolution by the people of Egypt was inspired by God. They did not seek a luxurious life or to sit atop the world, but asked their politicians, rulers and those in authority to give them a decent life and a bite to eat," he said. "They peacefully demanded democracy from rulers who held a tight grip on power."

Angered by the acquittals of the Mubarak sons and six top police officers, lawyers for the victims' families broke out chanting inside the courtroom as soon as Rifaat finished reading the verdict. "The people want to cleanse the judiciary," they chanted. Some raised banners that read: "God's verdict is execution."

The charges related to killing protesters carried a possible death sentence that the judge chose not to impose, opting instead to send Mubarak to prison for the rest of his life. Rifaat criticized the prosecution's case, saying it lacked concrete and material evidence and that there was nothing in what has been presented to the court that proved that the protesters were killed by the police. Because those who pulled the trigger have not been arrested, he added, he could not convict any of the top police officers of complicity in the killing of the protesters.

The prosecution had complained during the trial that it did not receive any help from the Interior Ministry in its preparation for the case and, in some cases, prosecutors were met with obstruction. Outside the courtroom on the outskirts of the capital, there was jubilation initially when the conviction was announced, with one man falling to his knees and prostrating himself in prayer on the pavement and others dancing, pumping fists in the air and shooting off fireworks.

But that scene soon descended into tensions and scuffles, as thousands of riot police in helmets and shields held the restive, mostly anti-Mubarak crowd back behind a cordon protecting the court. Later, thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square, birthplace of the uprising, and in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on Egypt's northern coast. They chanted slogans denouncing the trial as "theatrical" and against the ruling generals who took over for Mubarak, led by his former defense minister. "Execute them, execute them!" chanted the protesters in Alexandria.

Mubarak and his former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly, who was in charge of the police and other security forces at the time of the uprising, were convicted of failing to act to stop the killings during the opening days of the revolt, when the bulk of protesters died. El-Adly also received a life sentence.

Most of the dead were either shot or run over by police vehicles in Cairo and a string of major cities across the country. Mubarak and his sons — one-time heir apparent Gamal and wealthy businessman Alaa — were acquitted on corruption charges, with the judge citing a 10-year statute of limitations that had lapsed since the alleged crimes were committed.

Just days before the verdict was made public, the state prosecutor leveled new charges of insider trading against the two sons. It now appears that these charges may have been an attempt to head off new public outrage once the acquittals of the Mubarak sons were made public.

It has appeared all along that prosecutions since Mubarak's fall targeting relatively few high level officials and their cronies have been motivated largely by a desire to appease public anger expressed in massive street protests that continued long after Mubarak's ouster.

Scores of policemen charged with killing protesters have either been acquitted or received light sentences, angering relatives of the victims and the pro-democracy youth groups behind the uprising. Rock-throwing and fist fights outside the courtroom left at least 20 people injured, and a police official said that four people were arrested.

Thousands of riot police and policemen riding horses had cordoned off the building to prevent protesters and relatives of those slain during the uprising from getting too close. Hundreds stood outside, waving Egyptian flags and chanting slogans demanding "retribution." Some spread Mubarak's picture on the asphalt and walked over it.

Mubarak's verdict came just days after presidential elections have been boiled down to a June 16-17 contest between Mubarak's last prime minister, one-time protege Ahmed Shafiq, and Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist Islamist group that Mubarak persecuted for most of his years in power.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Shafiq said he could not comment on court rulings, but added that the Mubarak trial has shown that no one was above the law in today's Egypt and that no one could recreate the old regime.

The acquittal of the six police officers, he added, did not mean that he approved of their "tactics." In contrast, a spokesman for Morsi said the verdicts were "shocking" and vowed retribution. "The blood of our martyrs will not go in vain. We will work as Egyptians for the sake of a just retribution and the retrial of those who committed crimes against this nation," said the spokesman, Ahmed Abdel-Atti.

Morsi and Shafiq will go on a head-to-head presidential runoff on June 16-17.

Associated Press writer Maggie Michael contributed to this report.

'German spies worked with Gaddafi'

Sun Sep 4, 2011

A former senior German official has said that his country's intelligence services had for several years cooperated with the spy network of fugitive Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

“It revolved mainly around information about the fight against terrorism and therefore Germany's security interests,” AFP quoted Bernd Schmidbauer, the former coordinator of the German secret services, as saying on Sunday.

He added that the alleged cooperation took place between 1991 and 1998.

“The Libyan security services had access to sources that the Germans did not have. Thanks to these sources, we were able to defend ourselves against terrorist threats to our country,” Schmidbauer said.

A spokesperson for the German administration declined to comment on the matter, saying, "As in all affairs relating to intelligence, we do not comment."

The development came shortly after documents from Gaddafi's intelligence archives revealed that British and US intelligence services had also continued cooperation with the Gaddafi regime's secret services.

The documents indicate that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had sent terrorism suspects to Libya for questioning, on at least eight separate occasions.

Other reports indicate that the UK had invited two of Gaddafi's sons to the SAS Special Forces headquarters in 2006, as former Prime Minister Tony Blair was attempting to rebuild ties with the Gaddafi regime.

A revolution against Gaddafi's 42-year rule began in Libya in mid-February. Libyan opposition fighters finally overran Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound on August 23, signaling that the battle against the fugitive ruler and forces loyal to him is drawing closer to a conclusion.

Libyans see the revolution as an opportunity for transition to a democratic state.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197417.html.

Saudi Arabia donates 20 tonnes of dates to Gaza

Monday 05/09/2011

EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma’an) -- Head of the Egyptian Red Crescent Jaber al-Arabi said Monday that Saudi Arabia has sent 20 tonnes of dates to the Gaza Strip.

Al-Arabi told Ma'an that the dates will enter Gaza Monday evening via the Rafah crossing.

Egyptian authorities are helping to facilitate the transfer, he added.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417909.

TNC commander urges US, UK apology

Mon Sep 5, 2011

Senior Transitional National Council commander Abdul Hakim Belhadj demands an apology from the UK and US over their secret cooperation with Gaddafi regime.

Secret files found in Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence archives show that Belhadj was arrested by CIA agents in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, in 2004 and forcibly repatriated to Libya, Guardian reported on Sunday.

Belhadj told the Guardian that British spies were among the first to interrogate him after he was returned to Tripoli, and that he was very "surprised that the British got involved in what was a very painful period in my life".

"I wasn't allowed a bath for three years and I didn't see the sun for one year," Belhadj told the daily. "They hung me from the wall and kept me in an isolation cell. I was regularly tortured."

The now top security commander in Tripoli, Belhadj said he was considering suing over the episode, which raises further damaging questions over Britain's knowledge of the rendition and ill-treatment of prisoners.

Belhadj was released from the Libyan version of Abu Ghraib, Abu Selim prison, earlier this year after an amnesty announced by Gaddafi.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197487.html.

Egypt builds wall around Israel embassy

Monday 05/09/2011

CAIRO (AFP) -- The Egyptian authorities are erecting a wall around the Israeli embassy in Cairo as relations between the two neighbors who signed a peace treaty in 1979 are at a delicate phase.

The wall, about two meters high, consists of prefabricated cement slabs that are being installed around the building that houses the Israeli embassy overlooking a bridge in Cairo.

Part of the wall has been painted with Egypt's national colors: black, white and red.

Outraged Egyptians last month staged huge protests outside the embassy and called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador over the border deaths of Egyptian policemen killed as Israel hunted militants.

Egypt has asked Israel for an official apology and demanded a probe into the deaths of the five policemen.

During one of the anti-Israeli protests, an Egyptian man scaled the building housing the mission, removed Israel's Star of David flag and replaced it with Egypt's colors, as the crowds cheered him on.

Egyptian officials quoted by the local media have meanwhile stressed that the wall being erected around the embassy was aimed at protecting residents of nearby buildings.

Ali Abdel Rahman, the governor of Giza district where the embassy is located, told Al-Gumhuriyya newspaper the wall "has nothing to do with the protection of the Israeli embassy" but is for the protection of private citizens.

Egyptian opposition party Al Wafd said Sunday that a private contractor had begun to build a security wall around the Israeli embassy in Cairo, Israeli news site Ynet reported.

Egypt is the first Arab nation to have signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417911.

Russian prisons and concentration camps worse than Abu Ghraib

2 September 2011

A well-known Moscow human rights activist Lev Ponomarev published an article on the situation of inmates in Russian prisons and concentration camps. In it, he notes in particular:

"The information on the events in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison became known. It got the whole world talking. Putin said to Americans: you are demanding openness and disclosures from us - and look what is going on in your own back yard. Medvedev also said something similar.

Yes, it was the outright humiliation of prisoners. But they were not killed, they were not even tortured. They were simply photographed without clothes. This is undoubtedly bad and humiliating.

But in Russia, it is a norm to strip prisoners and keep them naked. Several times a day. Then they force you on your knees and look for something in your anus. Supposedly, a mobile phone. Several times a day! In some Russian prisons and concentration camps, it is just a norm.

Not to mention, for example, of a threat of real rape. The prisoner, who writes a complaint and threatens to expose the GULAG atrocities, is told: either you stop or ... silence. Then (I have many such testimonies) they get the biggest, ugliest beast out of criminals to come to you. The beast undresses and masturbates as if preparing for a rape.. And the prisoners break down and sign any papers.

I know that there are cases of real rape, but such complaints never reach higher authorities. Because if a person was raped, neither he nor his family would ever admit it. I know a case where a young man, eighteen or even sixteen years old, I don't remember exactly, was thrown into a cell to most ugly criminals, naked. And afterwards, he hung himself. What happened to him in the cell, we can only guess. The case was not investigated. That's what is scary.

Most terrible are so called torture zones. For instance, in Russian Investigation Prison # 1. A documentary film was made about it. Lawyer Belyak was shot on for it, just a few days ago, there was an attempt on his life. Luckily, it failed. The film is available online, and we distribute it. And there are published reports about tortures in Prison # 1. They name the criminal who tortures and kills for Russian police and the KGB there. That man is finished. He cannot get out. He cannot live outside the prison. As they say, he is a waking corpse. He lives there, in Prison # 1.

But he is provided with comfortable luxurious hotel-type environment. He lives in a separate room, it has a TV set. And (again from the information that we have) he is ordered to carry out the killings in other prisons and camps. If Russian authorities need somebody to get killed, -he is transported to another GULAG zone. He does the killing, and is returned to his home Detention Center # 1.

There are reports on a man who participated in beatings, and possibly murders. He repented and gave testimony. The testimony was recorded by a lawyer. It is on the Internet. We held a press conference about it. The lawyers read the testimony of this man. But Russian authorities never investigated the case".

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2011/09/02/15054.shtml.

Yemen: Mujahideen enter capital of Lahj province. Fightings intensify in Abyan

2 September 2011

The Mujahideen of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) are prepared to liberate another province in the south, Lahj. That was claimed by local high-ranking puppet officials, reports the Yemen Post.

According to them, several large units of Mujahideen from neighboring Abyan have recently entered Lahj. In the ongoing battles in the Emirate of Abyan, al-Qaeda regrouped its forces and directed them to neighboring provinces.

On the streets of the town of Howtah, the provincial capital of Lahj, there were dozens of Islamic fighters last Friday. According to the CNN, at least 100 Mujahideen of al-Qaeda were present there.

However, the provincial puppets are in no hurry to offer any resistance to AQAP:

"We have not received orders from the government to arrest any suspects, but the interior ministry is focusing on this issue with great concern", said a provincial official.

In turn, residents of the province confirmed that representatives of the regime do not hinder the movement of forces of al-Qaeda to Lahj. Among the residents, there are rumors that the "administration" of the province is preparing for a major exodus, as it was in Abyan.

It is to be recalled that government officials of the Saleh's regime, along with its security and military forces, left the Islamic Emirate of Abyan, for fear of bloody fightings with the al-Qaeda Mujahideen, who had been already for some time on the outskirts of Zinjibar.

Such a scenario could happen again. Earlier, the Mujahideen stormed the capital of Lahj, the town of Howtah.

Then the Islamic fighters took control over several administrative buildings and a radio station. However, they left the town later, for tactical reasons.

The situation for the puppet regime in this province is complicated by the fact that most people of Lahj defected and joined protesters against Saleh.

Meanwhile, a complicated situation, as claimed by western media, is also formed on the outskirts of Zinjibar, the capital of the Islamic Emirate of Abyan.

France-Presse reported, with reference to the Yemeni puppet security forces, that the Saleh's military regime allegedly seized the main approaches to the city and are heading to the center.

During a large-scale offensive, the apostates from the 201st and 209th brigades managed to join the 25th mechanized brigade, which had been besieged for months by the Mujahideen.

The Saleh's military command said that the army had occupied a football stadium, Al-Wahda, earlier liberated by the Mujahideen. However, the claims of the puppets and Western media reports were not confirmed by independent sources.

Severe battles are taking place for the town. Minions are facing strong resistance from the Mujahideen. As a result of the fighting, about 15 Mujahideen martyred, a source claimed to AFP. In this war, the puppets exaggerated the number of martyred Mujahideen exactly 2 times, claiming that 30 Mujahideen had martyred (Insha'Allah). The puppets gave no information about their own fatalities.

It is to be recalled that according to the opinion of doctors working in hospitals in Abyan, the Saleh's regime routinely exaggerates the number of casualties among the Mujahideen.

For example, recently, representatives of the puppet police stated that during the fighting in the Islamic Emirate of Abyan in May alone, up to 300 Mujahideen martyred. The puppets claimed their own fatalities as only 183 soldiers.

However, the experts say that these figures are unreliable. Thus, an expert and political scientist Ali Al-Jarad indicates the discrepancy between the figures that are periodically released by the structures of the puppet regime.

Thus, in February, a so-called "foreign minister" Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said that "just a couple of hundred fighters of al-Qaeda" remain in Yemen.

"If we take in consideration what the "foreign minister" said earlier this year and what the "interior ministry" announced ... there are supposedly no more al Qaeda fighters in Yemen", the expert said.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2011/09/02/15055.shtml.

Turkey talks about possible war with 'Israel'

2 September 2011

Following the statements of the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu about calling off the ambassador from Tel Aviv and reducing the level of diplomatic relations with "Israel", the leader of the Turkish opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, expressed concern about possible clashes between the Turkish and the "Israeli" Navy forces, reports CNN Turk.

It is to be recalled that on Friday, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that diplomatic relations between Turkey and "Israel" went over to the secondary level, in addition, Ankara has frozen its military cooperation with Tel Aviv.

The minister also said that Turkey called off its ambassador from Tel Aviv.

Davutoglu also emphasized that relations between Tel Aviv and Ankara will not be restored until the "Israel" will not bring an apology to Turkey.

Relations between Turkey and "Israel" until recently worked closely in the military-political sphere, deteriorated sharply after attacks of the Zionist militants on humanitarian convoy Freedom Flotilla on May 31 last year that was moving to a blocked Gaza.

After the attack, in which the Jews according to official data killed nine Turks, and wounded many (according to unofficial data there were more victims), Ankara announced a review of relations with Tel Aviv and demanded an official apology for the attack and compensate the families of those human rights activists killed by Jews.

It is to be mentioned in this context that the relations between Turkey and "Israel" began to deteriorate long before the massacre perpetrated by the Zionist forces against international humanitarian convoy Freedom Flotilla.

In 2010, Jordanian sources spread a report that the Turkish security forces managed to thwart an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which was preparing a subversive and terrorist organization Mossad.

Al-Majd newspaper issued in Jordan quoted an informed source in Ankara as saying that the investigations conducted with arrested Turkish and Kurdish terrorist cells, who tried to carry out the assassination operation on Prime Minister, unveiled they were linked to the Mossad in "Israel".

The Turkish source added that the head of the national Turkish intelligence is making great efforts to strengthen the role of this agency in protecting the decision-makers in Turkey after receiving confirmed information that the Mossad is looking for ways to carry out assassinations in the country through the Kurdistan workers' party (a terrorist organization even according to the US-"Israeli" templates) and terror groups inside the country.

He noted that the Turkish political leadership remained silent on this matter for political and security considerations.

The disclosure of such information has taken place as "Israel" announced that its deputy premier would leave for Ankara to meet with Erdogan's opponents.

A year before this publication, in March 2009, Turkish authorities have confirmed reports that Mossad had a clear intention to kill Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

This was become evident by the publication of data by Turkish security forces.

According to the results of investigations conducted in connection with the activity of group Ergenekon, accused of attempting a coup and overthrow the government formed by a democratically elected party Justice and Development (AK Party), the organization has cooperated with the Zionist terrorist service Mossad.

According to intelligence services of Turkey, the head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, has established contacts with the head of one of the Turkish political parties and made it clear that his agents were willing to "accomplish the mission" in case the consent of the political structure.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2011/09/02/15056.shtml.

Iran nuclear plant linked to grid: atomic agency

Tehran (AFP)
Sept 4, 2011

Iran's first nuclear power plant has been hooked up to the national grid supplying 60 megawatts of its 1,000 megawatt capacity, the country's Atomic Energy Organization announced on Sunday.

"Last night at 11:29 pm (1859 GMT), the Bushehr power plant was connected with 60 megawatts to the national grid," the organization's spokesman Hamid Khadem Qaemi, told Al-Alam television.

The connection of the Russian-built plant in southern Iran to the national grid was originally scheduled for the end of 2010.

The Bushehr plant was started up in November 2010 but repeated technical problems delayed its operations, leading to the removal of its fuel rods last March.

"The capacity will gradually increase and it (is going through its) testing phase and on Shahrviar 21 (September 12) in a ceremony the power plant will reach its 40-percent capacity," Khadem Qaemi said.

The deputy atomic chief in charge of power plants, Mohammad Ahmadian, told state television the plant was expected to reach full capacity at "around the end of Aban or beginning of Azar (November)."

"But it is very important for us to take these final steps with utmost safety concerns in mind. We want to have guaranteed functional operation," Ahmadian added.

In mid-August, Iran's atomic organization chief Fereydoon Abbasi Davani said the plant was expected to reach "full capacity of 1,000 megawatts" in late November or early December.

Russia, which built the plant, has pinned the delays on Iran, saying its engineers have been forced to work with outdated parts. The latest delay in March was blamed on wear and tear at the plant.

Construction started in the 1970s with the help of German company Siemens, which quit the project after the 1979 Islamic revolution over concerns about nuclear proliferation.

In 1994, Russia agreed to complete the plant and provide fuel for it, with the supply deal committing Iran to returning the spent fuel to allay Western concerns over its nuclear ambitions.

Western governments suspect Iran is seeking an atomic weapons capability under the guise of its civilian space and nuclear programs, a charge Iran vehemently denies.

Iran on Friday welcomed as a "step forward" an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on its nuclear activities, saying it highlighted positive steps taken by Tehran towards "cooperation and transparency."

But the UN atomic watchdog said in a confidential report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP on Friday, that it was "increasingly concerned about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed nuclear related activities involving military related organizations."

These included "activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile", according to the report, which is due to be discussed by the IAEA's 35-member board of governors at a September 12-16 meeting.

Source: Nuclear Power Daily.
Link: http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Iran_nuclear_plant_linked_to_grid_atomic_agency_999.html.

Lebanon warns Israel sea border threatens peace

Monday 05/09/2011

BEIRUT (AFP) -- Lebanon warned the United Nations on Monday that Israel's proposed sea border threatens peace and security, as tensions rise between the neighbors over offshore oil and gas reserves.

"Foreign Minister Adnan Mansur has sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rejecting geographic coordinates Israel submitted to the United Nations concerning the northern part of the waters it claims," said the ministry.

It said in a statement that the Israeli claim "infringes on Lebanon's Exclusive Economic Zone," a sea zone that gives a state the right to explore its maritime resources.

"This is a clear violation of Lebanon's rights... over an area of some 860 square kilometers, and puts international peace and security at risk," it said, adding, "We urge the secretary general to take all necessary measures to avoid conflict."

Lebanon and Israel, which remain technically at war, locked horns over the maritime border after the discovery of potential offshore energy reserves.

The Israeli cabinet in July approved a map and submitted it to the United Nations, which has been asked to mediate the growing conflict.

The Israeli map conflicts with Lebanon's proposed borders, which give Israel less territorial waters and was submitted to the United Nations last year.

Beirut argues its map is in line with an armistice accord drawn up in 1949, an agreement which is not contested by Israel.

Israel -- arch-enemy of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah -- has for months been moving to develop several large offshore natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, some of which are shared with Cyprus.

Lebanon's Hezbollah-dominated government has meanwhile warned Beirut will not give up its maritime rights and accuses Israel of violating Lebanese waters, territory and airspace.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah fought a deadly war with Israel in 2006 which destroyed much of Lebanon's major infrastructure and killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417829.

Mercenary Witch Hunt Detains Many Innocents in Libya

By Jasper Fakkert
September 4, 2011

The mercenaries were the most feared and hated men in Libya. Mainly flown in from Chad and Sudan, former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has used them against his own people since February to fight for his crumbling regime.

In the recent battle for Tripoli, where Libya’s rebel army laid siege on the capital, mercenaries were notably deployed as snipers to prevent the rebels from taking full control over parts of the city.

But with Libyan rebels now controlling most parts of the country, including Tripoli, the anger and bloodshed at the hands of the mercenaries has led to a witch hunt for dark African men. Amidst this, rebel fighters are not only to target those who were paid to kill, but also migrant workers and other immigrants who have lived in Libya for decades.

In a report published on Sunday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC), which is now in control of the country, to “stop the arbitrary arrests and abuse of African migrant workers and black Libyans assumed to be mercenaries.”

According to the human rights organization many black Africans are arrested solely because of their dark skin color. “It’s a dangerous time to be dark-skinned in Tripoli,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, in a press release.

“The NTC has legitimate concerns about unlawful mercenaries and violent activity, but it can’t simply arrest dark-skinned men just in case they think they might be mercenaries,” she said.

Although HRW is condemning the broad crackdown on dark African men, it has confirmed evidence that the Gadhafi regime was recruiting mercenaries from Chad and Sudan. It also discovered a large base that has been used by hundreds of African mercenaries since 2011.

Over the past week hundreds of dark African men, including migrant workers, have been arrested by the rebel forces that are mainly young, armed Libyan men.

The dark Africans are being held in makeshift detention facilities across Tripoli, including a soccer field, according to HRW.

One of them in the detention center, a 60-year-old man from Chad named Othman, was allowed by the rebel security forces to talk to a HRW researcher. He said close to 200 men were being held at the soccer field.

Othman himself said he had been in Libya for 30 years, and had become a Libyan citizen in 1991.

Before the start of a popular uprising in Libya in February this year, there were an estimated 1 million to 2 million African migrant workers in the country. Many of them fled the country after the violence erupted when rebel forces in Eastern Libya took up arms against Gadhafi’s regime.

“African migrants have worked in Libya for many years, often carrying out the most unpleasant jobs, and this is no way to treat those who stayed put during the uprising,” said Whitson.

The reprisal arrests of African men have caused migrant workers to seek safety. The men stay in private homes in large groups, allowing only women to go out to buy food and water.

The HRW researcher visited one such house where 30 Nigerian migrant workers were staying. In one instant last week, armed Libyan men had come into the home searching for weapons. Unable to find anything, they instead took their mobile phones, and money worth the equivalent of $252.

Having overthrown Gadhafi’s rule, and now ruling most parts of the country, Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) is faced with the daunting task of rebuilding the country—including putting judicial processes in place.

Keen to avoid losing its legitimacy, leaders of the NTC have on different occasions urged their fighters not to resort to violence in revenge.

According to HRW, however, the judicial system still falls short. “A prosecutor’s office has apparently assumed control of the Maftuah prison and begun investigations. However to Human Rights Watch’s knowledge no detainees in Tripoli have been brought before a judge to review the legality of their detention,” it states.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/mercenary-witch-hunt-detains-many-innocents-in-libya-61157.html.

Talks on surrender of Libyan town fail

Mon Sep 5, 2011

Spokesman for Libyan revolutionaries has announced the failure of negotiations aimed at the peaceful surrender of forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in the town of Bani Walid.

Talks were held on Sunday outside one of Gaddafi's last strongholds of Bani Walid, southeast of the capital Tripoli, AFP reported.

"They (Gaddafi's negotiating team) demanded that the revolutionaries enter Bani Walid without their weapons," said Abdullah Kenshil, a Bani Walid native and the chief negotiator for the Transitional National Council (TNC).

Libyan fighters say loyalists of Gaddafi in his bastion are a small but heavily armed minority group that stokes fear to keep other people in the town from surrendering.

Negotiations with tribal leaders in the besieged town of Bani Walid started several days ago with the aim of capturing the town without bloodshed.

Revolutionary forces say they are now waiting for a green light from their leadership to launch a final attack on the town.

Kenshil said that Gaddafi forces in Bani Walid, numbering between 30 and 50 men “well-armed, with machine-guns, rocket-launchers and snipers,” had been assured they would be treated well if they surrendered.

On Saturday, revolutionaries, having moved within 15 to 20 kilometers of Bani Walid, set a deadline of 0800 GMT Sunday for pro-Gaddafi forces to give up.

The interim leadership has announced a temporary truce until September 10 for forces in Bani Walid as well as in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirt to lay down their arms.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197450.html.

Egyptians urge expulsion of Saudi envoy

Mon Sep 5, 2011

Hundreds of Egyptians have gathered outside Saudi Arabia's embassy in Cairo to demand the expulsion of the Saudi ambassador.

The demonstrators staged the rally on Sunday to protest against the alleged mistreatment of Egyptians pilgrims in the kingdom, Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Alyoum reported.

“We demand the expulsion of the Saudi ambassador to Egypt,” read a large banner posted in front of the Saudi Embassy in Cairo.

Thousands of Egyptian pilgrims were stranded at Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia. They accused the Saudi authorities of failing to arrange enough flights to get them home after the Umrah pilgrimage at the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Some Egyptian pilgrims complained of being left outside the airport building in the heat of the sun for hours without access to any water.

A female pilgrim claimed she had been slapped in the face by a Saudi policeman while she was performing rituals in the city of Mecca.

Riyadh has denied the allegations, saying flight delays did not take place only for Egyptians.

Some pilgrims said the reason for the mistreatment by Saudi airport officials and security forces was that they were angry at Egyptians for their historic revolution that toppled the US-backed regime of Honsi Mubarak, who had close ties with Saudi Arabia.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197463.html.

'Blackwater stayed in Iraq despite ban'

Sun Sep 4, 2011

Leaked US diplomatic cables show that hundreds of notorious US security contractor Blackwater's employees continued to operate in Iraq despite Baghdad having revoked the firm's license.

“There are many former Blackwater employees at other private security companies in Iraq," said a January 4, 2010 cable, leaked by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, AFP reported on Sunday.

Another cable from January 11, 2010, which was similarly exposed by the website, said, "The [US] embassy understands that Triple Canopy (another US security firm) currently employs several hundred former Blackwater employees."

Blackwater, which has changed its name to Xe Services, LLC, is notorious for misusing its US State Department-issued gun license as an excuse for committing atrocities.

On September 16, 2007, guards hired by the company opened fire in Baghdad's Nisoor square, killing 17 Iraqi citizens in an act of aggression, which Iraqi officials have described as 'unprovoked.'

In January 2009 and in response to the bloodshed, the Iraqi government said it would not renew the company's license to operate.

Reports say the company also continues to be extensively involved in Afghanistan, where Washington has deployed thousand of forces.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197405.html.

Yemenis call for intensified protests

Sun Sep 4, 2011

Yemeni protesters have held demonstrations in several cities across the country, calling for intensified anti-regime protests until victory is achieved, Press TV reports.

Demonstrators took to the streets on Sunday, one day after the chairman of the Yemeni National Council rejected a deal initiated by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Mohammed Basindwah warned on Saturday that the Yemeni opposition would accept the deal unless Ali Abdullah Saleh resigns first.

“We have a plan of escalating peaceful protests to stave Yemen off bloodshed, chaos and civil war that is being plotted by Saleh's regime, “ Basindwah said in a meeting of the 143-member National Council in the capital, Sana'a.

On Saturday, Yemenis once again rallied against the US and Saudi interference in their country's internal affairs. Demonstrators accused Riyadh and Washington of making efforts to save Saleh's ailing regime.

Saleh and five other high-ranking officials fled to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment following a rocket attack on the Yemeni presidential palace in Sana'a on June 3.

The Yemeni opposition also demands the exclusion of granting Saleh and his family immunity from prosecution from the [P]GCC-brokered deal.

Hundreds of people have been killed and many more injured in Yemen since January as a result of the brutal crackdown on anti-government protests by military forces and thugs loyal to Saleh.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197407.html.

Gaza school children plagued by siege

Mon Sep 5, 2011

Hamas Deputy Minister of Education Mohammed Abu Shkeir says Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip has caused troubles for school children in the enclave, Press TV reported.

"There are about 400,000 school children in Gaza schools, including governmental, UN-run, and private schools," he told Press TV.

"There are shortcomings in classrooms and students have to study in two shifts due to lack of schools, which is a direct result to the blockade," the Hamas official added.

More than 80 percent of public and UN schools work double shifts in the morning and evening due to lack of classrooms, according to figures released by UNICEF.

Israel's blockade, which has been imposed on the sliver since 2007, has caused poverty among families and put children at risk of school dropout and psychological distress.

Tel Aviv's restrictions on importing construction material into Gaza has forced schools to place students in cramped rooms and cut the class time by third.

Private school owner Umaima Abulkheir said families, who could afford private schools in previous years, are not able to enroll their children in these schools this year because of high cost of living and unemployment.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197469.html.

Bahraini teen's family to sue Manama

Sun Sep 4, 2011

The family of a teenage boy killed by the Saudi-backed regime forces in Bahrain plans to file a lawsuit against the Manama regime, Press TV reports.

Ali Jawad's family has decided to lodge their complaint with an international court.

The 14-year-old boy died on Wednesday after a tear gas canister fired by Bahraini forces struck his head during an anti-government protest after the Eid al-Fitr prayers.

Meanwhile, a Bahraini physician working at Salmaniya Hospital told Press TV that the authorities have jailed 20 doctors for treating anti-regime protesters.

Ebrahim al-Araadi, who is now in Europe, said 12 of the medical personnel are on an open-ended hunger strike, adding that at least two of them have slipped into comas.

Al-Araadi said Bahrain's medical society is going to take legal action against the regime.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of anti-regime demonstrators attended the third and final day of Jawad's funeral ceremonies in the Bahraini city of Sitra. Several protesters were injured when Saudi-backed regime forces opened fire on them.

Jawad was killed just three days after a televised speech by Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on August 28, in which he announced a decision to pardon the demonstrators arrested during the popular uprising that began in February.

Immediately after the speech, demonstrations were held by Bahrainis, who deemed the remarks an insult to the hundreds of political activists held in regime prisons and the majority of the Bahraini people, who have turned against the Al Khalifa dictators.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197431.html.