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Thursday, January 3, 2013

China rethinks air pollution reporting

Beijing (UPI)
Oct 4, 2011

China has proposed stricter standards for determining its air pollution index.

Currently China's index is derived from measurements of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants. But the government doesn't include data for the finest particle pollutants, those of 2.5 micrometers or less, known as PM2.5.

Experts say these ultra-fine particles, caused mostly by cars and coal burning, can easily penetrate the lungs and bloodstream.

Such particles account for more than half the weight of industrial dust in the air of northern China, Jinhua Daily newspaper reports.

In smog-blanketed Beijing, the U.S. Embassy has an air quality monitor to measure PM 2.5 particulates on the embassy compound and issues hourly pollution reports via its Twitter account. The embassy's air quality reports are considered more accurate than those provided by the Chinese government.

The embassy's index caught attention with a "crazy bad" determination on a day last November when levels of PM2.5 surged past 500, about 20 times higher than the guideline issued by the World Health Organization.

"The central government has the responsibility to protect residents' health," said Ma Jun, director and founder of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs of China's proposed air pollution reporting change, China Daily newspaper reports. "We need to improve the system now. Monitoring and publicizing the information on PM2.5 is the first step."

But Pan Xiaochuan, a professor with the School of Public Health at Peking University, said that ensuring the standards are reliable and effective would be difficult and a decision has yet to be made whether the PM2.5 standards should be based on a number concentration or a mass concentration.

"The ministry has considered adding PM2.5 into the national air quality standards for many years but hasn't done so. Decisions such as these may be the reason," Pan said.

To clear up smog-draped skies for the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese government implemented a number of measures for the city in advance of the Games, including cutting vehicle traffic in half.

China aims to reduce energy intensity by 16 percent by 2015 while slashing 17 percent from the 2010 level of carbon dioxide emissions by 2015.

But a September report by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment agency and sponsored by the European Commission says that if current trends in China's emissions continue, it will overtake the United States by 2017 as the highest per capita emitter among the 25 largest emitting countries.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/China_rethinks_air_pollution_reporting_999.html.

Vicious queen ants use mob tactics to reach the top

London, UK (SPX)
Oct 05, 2011

Leptothorax acervorum ants live all over the Northern hemisphere, but their reproductive strategy depends on habitat. Colonies are polygynous (more than one queen) in the forest of Siberia and central Europe, but functionally monogynous (only one queen reproduces) on sun-exposed slopes in Alaska, Hokkaido and the mountains of central Spain.

New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Ecology demonstrates that when a colony is functionally monogynous not only do queen ants fight by antennal boxing to become the reproductive queen, but that worker ants reinforce queen behavior by feeding dominant females and expelling, or killing, their weaker sisters.

Researchers from University of Regensburg studied the behavior of L. acervorum in Spain. In these colonies only a single queen was able to reproduce. All the other queens either did not yet have active ovaries, or their ovaries had reverted to an inactive state.

The ants were observed fighting, both queen to queen, and worker ants to queens. However the inter-queen fighting involved ritualistic antennal boxing and mandible threats, while the workers were more vicious, and also pulled and bit low ranking queens.

The top queen was decided by the infighting between the queens. However queen reproductive status was not predicted by worker ants' violence but rather was reinforced by the workers feeding and grooming the more dominant queens.

Juergen Trettin, the lead scientists involved in the research said, "These ants live high on mountain slopes - which makes dispersal and colony formation difficult. Under these circumstances the colony cannot support more than one reproductive queen and limited resources make it inadvantageous for the colony to allow low ranking queens to leave and start their own colonies. Destruction of habitat, for instance due to climate change, may cause this behavior to become extinct."

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Vicious_queen_ants_use_mob_tactics_to_reach_the_top_999.html.

Tree frogs chill out to collect precious water

Chicago IL (SPX)
Oct 05, 2011

Research published in the October issue of The American Naturalist shows that Australian green tree frogs survive the dry season with the help of the same phenomenon that fogs up eyeglasses in the winter.

According to researchers from Charles Darwin University in Australia, tree frogs often plop themselves down outside on cool nights during the dry season in tropical Australia.

When they return to their dens, condensation forms on their cold skin-just like it does on a pair of glasses when we come in from the cold. The researchers found that frogs absorb this moisture through their skin, which helps to keep them hydrated during periods of little or no rain.

Before this study, the frogs' dry-season excursions were a bit mysterious.

"Every once in a while, we would find frogs sitting on a stick under the open sky, on nights when it was so cold they could barely move," said Dr. Chris Tracy, who led the research. "It was a real puzzle."

Tracy and his colleagues thought this behavior might enable the frogs collect condensation, but the hypothesis had never been tested.

The researchers designed a series of experiments using real frog dens in eucalyptus trees and artificial ones made from PVC pipe. They wanted to see if the frogs could collect enough moisture through condensation to compensate for what they lost being in the cold.

They found that a cold night out cost a frog as much as .07 grams of water. However, a frog could gain nearly .4 grams, or nearly 1 percent of its total body weight, in water upon returning to the warm den.

The researchers also tested how well a frog's skin could absorb water, and found that as much as 60 percent of each water drop could be absorbed.

The results show that frogs can use condensation to hydrate themselves. And in a place as arid as the Australian savannahs during the dry season, where there is essentially no rain from June through August, every little bit counts.

"When there's no water available, even a small amount can mean the difference between surviving the dry season or not," Tracy said.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Tree_frogs_chill_out_to_collect_precious_water_999.html.

Tunisia denies visas for Palestinian bloggers

05 Oct 2011

Eleven out of the 12 Palestinians invited to the Tunis meeting had their visas rejected by the Tunisian authorities.
Yasmine Ryan

TUNIS, Tunisia - As influential bloggers from across the Middle East and North Africa gather in the country where the Arab Spring began to share ideas and tactics, the absence of 11 Palestinians has served as a reminder that even if borders have faded in the online world, they remain a reality in the physical one.

Over 100 delegates from at least 15 different countries are meeting in Tunis, the Tunisian capital, for the Third Arab Bloggers meeting.

Unlike the bloggers and journalists from every other country, 11 out of the 12 Palestinians invited to the meeting had their visas rejected by the Tunisian authorities.

"It's not a good feeling to me, why am I the only one here?" Saed Karzoun, who lives in Ramallah in the West Bank, told Al Jazeera.

Karzoun, who blogs at http://blog.amin.org/saedkarzour/, does not know why his visa was the only one accepted. It could be because his profession is listed as "musician" or because he has traveled to Europe several times, he speculated.

Some of the other Palestinian bloggers spoke to the attendees over Skype on Tuesday afternoon. Despite this attempt to include the online activists, the virtual connection was not enough to allow the Palestinians to participate fully in workshops on skills, including how to present data in hard-hitting infographics and best practice for activists on Twitter.

Speaking to his compatriots back in Ramallah, Karzoun promised that he and the other attendees would demand answers from the country's interior ministry.

Sami Ben Gharbia, one of the co-founders of the Tunisian dissident blog-turned-NGO Nawaat, said that it was unclear who had made the decision to refuse the visas - the embassy in Ramallah or the Tunisian interior ministry - and why they had done so.

The initial reason given by the embassy was that Nawaat was not a legal entity. Gharbia said this was not true, as they had registered Nawaat as an NGO in Tunisia, and in any case, all the other participants had been granted visas.

"It's a huge debate, Tunisians are shocked and ashamed that their country is treating Palestinians this way, because Tunisians have never had a problem with Palestine," Gharbia said.

The interior ministry was unavailable for comment.

Long tradition of solidarity

The Heinrich Boell Foundation, Global Voices Online and the Nawaat Association, which co-sponsored the event, issued a joint statement condemning the decision to refuse the visa requests.

"We demand an explanation from the Tunisian interior ministry and seek clarification as to why Palestinian participants were denied," it read.

"An Arab Bloggers Meeting without participation from Palestinians is an offense to the long tradition of solidarity between Tunisia and Palestine, and deprives participants of a key contingent of the Arab blogging community."

It has provoked discussion at the conference about the wider issue of difficulties Palestinians faced travelling in the Arab world.

An online petition against the decision was launched along with a Twitter campaign under the hashtag #VISArejected.

Razan Ghazzawi, a Syrian blogger participating in the meeting, tapped a sign on her back that read "OK, Pals denied entry. Let's not just tweet about it."

Amra, a Palestinian-American activist based in Ramallah, said that the Palestinians were being discriminated against because of their identity.

"We must ask ourselves, why the Palestinian participants were prevented. Is it a threat, and if so, to who?" she said in an emailed interview.

Joachim Paul, head of the Heinrich Boell Foundation's Ramallah branch, said that it was important that Palestinian bloggers should have the chance to come to such events so that they could be part of the Arab blogging community.

"So many of the issues are also common issues, despite the differences," Paul said.

'Political decision'

Ali Shaath, who runs the Arab Digital Expression Foundation, said that the refusal was nothing new, but that it was disappointing that the Tunisian authorities appeared to be going against the spirit of the Arab Spring.

"It's obviously a political decision," he said.

Organizing events has long been difficult because of such barriers on travel, he said.

"Now with the Arab Spring, we think that this is a popular movement and it should open up borders within the Arab world," he said.

"Maybe a no-visa policy within the Arab world is something that has to be lobbied for."

The rejected bloggers come from the Occupied West Bank, Gaza, within Israel and a Palestinian living in Egypt.

On the first day of the meeting, some were still hoping that the bloggers would still make it.

"It would be an honor to meet such amazing people who have created change," Dalia Othman, one of those stuck in Ramallah, wrote on her blog.

"Here's hoping the Tunisian government would change their mind and grant us a visa!"

With only two days left of the conference and no sign of a change of heart from the Tunisian authorities, it appears Othman and the rest of the bloggers will have to wait until the next meeting.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/10/201110512433882676.html.

Arianespace to launch Mexican satellite Mexsat 3

Paris, France (SPX)
Oct 05, 2011

Mexican government's communications and transport administration, Secretara de Comunicaciones y Transportes, has awarded a contract to Arianespace to launch the country's new Mexsat 3 telecommunications satellite.

Mexsat 3 will be placed into geostationary transfer orbit in late 2012 by an Ariane 5 or Soyuz launcher from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

Mexsat 3 will be built by U.S. satellite manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corporation. With a mass at liftoff of nearly 3,050 kg, it will carry extended C-band and Ku-band transponders.

The satellite will provide next generation communications services throughout the country from its 114.9 degree West longitude orbital slot. Mexsat 3 will have an in-orbit lifetime of over 15 years.

Arianespace Chairman and CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall said: "We are extremely proud and honored to be serving Mexico once again, notably the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes, which has shown its confidence in us for nearly 20 years. The choice of Arianespace is further recognition of the quality and excellence delivered by our launch service and solutions offer."

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Arianespace_to_launch_Mexican_satellite_Mexsat_3_999.html.

About 25 arrested in Moscow New Year's Eve protest

December 31, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — About 25 people reportedly have been arrested in Moscow on New Year's Eve for trying to hold an unsanctioned protest.

The gathering at Triumphalnaya Square in central Moscow on Monday attracted 50 to 100 people. Among those arrested was prominent radical writer Eduard Limonov; the Interfax news agency cited activists as saying about 25 people were taken into custody.

For about two years, activists have tried to rally on the 31st of each month with that many days, a reference to Article 31 of the Russian constitution that guarantees free assembly. Authorities routinely deny permission for the demonstrations. Limonov's faction has fallen out with other elements of the wave of opposition to President Vladimir Putin that arose last year.

In his New Year's Eve address, Putin made no reference to the protests of the past year, saying only of 2012 that "it was very important to us," according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. "We believe that we can change the life around us and become better ourselves, that we can become more heedful, compassionate, gracious" he was quoted as saying. Russia's fate "depends on our enthusiasm and labor."

NKorea's Kim wants better living standards, arms

January 01, 2013

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday called for improving the economy and living standards of his impoverished nation with the same urgency that scientists showed in successfully testing a long-range rocket recently.

Kim's first New Year's speech, delivered on state TV, was peppered with rhetoric, with calls for boosting the military's capabilities and making the science and technology sector world class. But other passages in the speech were also an acknowledgement of the poor state of the country's economy that has long lagged behind the rest of the region.

North Korea has little arable land, is prone to natural disasters and struggles to grow enough food for its 24 million people. The annual New Year's Day message lays out North Korea's policy goals for the year. But Kim gave no indication whether he plans to introduce economic reforms or allow free enterprise, except to say the economy should be underpinned by science and technology.

"The industrial revolution in the new century is, in essence, a scientific and technological revolution, and breaking through the cutting edge is a shortcut to the building of an economic giant," he said.

He then pointed at the success of a long-range rocket that North Korea fired on Dec. 12, ostensibly carrying a satellite into space. "Let us bring about a radical turn in the building of an economic giant with the same spirit and mettle as were displayed in conquering space," he said.

North Korea has hailed the rocket as a big step in peaceful space exploration. Washington and others called the launch a banned test of ballistic missile technology and a step in Pyongyang's pursuit of a nuclear tipped long-range missile.

North Korea has tested two atomic devices since 2006, both times weeks after U.N. condemnation of a long-range launch. A recent analysis of North Korea's main nuclear test site indicates readiness for a possible third atomic explosion.

Kim made no mention of nuclear weapons, but indicated that military will continue to be boosted. "The sector of defense industry should develop in larger numbers sophisticated military hardware of our own style that can contribute to implementing the Party's military strategy," he said.

"Only when it builds up its military might in every way can it develop into a thriving country and defend the security and happiness of its people," Kim said. The speech itself was a signal that Kim will continue with a leadership style more in line with his gregarious grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung who routinely addressed his people on New Year's Day, than with his father, Kim Jong Il, who avoided making public speeches. He never gave a TV address during his 17-year-rule, and his New Year's messages were published as joint editorials in the nation's three major newspapers.

With the speech — the first televised New Year's Day message by a North Korean leader in 19 years — Kim Jong Un has tried to tap into North Koreans' fond memories of his grandfather, said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in South Korea.

The rocket launch boosted public morale, Koh said. "Now people are expecting him to improve the economy and help them live better economically," Koh said. "Kim Jong Un knows that and feels the pressure of meeting that demand."

Kim, who took power after his father's death on Dec. 17, 2011, has asserted control over the government and the military by dismissing its powerful chief Ri Yong Ho. Some other officials who were viewed as more moderate, including Kim's uncle, Jang Song Thaek, were elevated.

South Korean president-elect Park Geun-hye has said she will make efforts in her five-year term to boost aid and engage North Korea. "If Kim Jong Un is going to engineer a shift from 'military-first' to 'It's the economy, stupid,' he is going to need Seoul's encouragement, and he doesn't have five years to wait," John Delury, an analyst at Seoul's Yonsei University, wrote recently.

He said it's up to South Korea "to unclench its fist first, so that the leader of the weaker state can outstretch his hand." Kim's speech avoided harsh criticism of the United States, its wartime enemy. North Korea has used past New Year's editorials to accuse the U.S. of plotting war.

In other signs of changes in the country — at least at a superficial level — North Korea also had its first grand New Year's Eve celebration, with residents of the capital treated to the boom of cannons and fireworks at midnight.

In Pyongyang, residents danced in the snow at midnight Monday to celebrate the end of a big year for North Korea, including the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung and the first year of Kim Jong Un's leadership. Fireworks lit up the cold night sky, and people stood in fur-lined parkas, taking photos and laughing and dancing with each other in plazas.

Associated Press writer Kim Kwang Hyon contributed to this story from Pyongyang, North Korea.

Central Asian migrants change the face of Moscow

December 30, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — Timur Bulgakov has a black belt in karate, two university degrees, a powerful SUV and a small yet thriving construction company. The 28-year-old's success is impressive for a Muslim migrant from Uzbekistan whose first job in Moscow 10 years ago was as a delivery boy.

But his story is no longer that unusual. The old Moscow, populated largely by Slavs, is rapidly giving way to a multi-ethnic city where Muslims from Central Asia are the fastest growing sector of the population. And they are changing the face of Moscow as their numbers rise and they move up the career ladder, taking on more visible roles in society.

Muslim women wearing hijabs are a growing sight on the capital's shopping streets. Bearded men sport Muslim skullcaps and hang trinkets with Koranic verses in their cars. Many more are non-practicing Muslims who blend in with secular attire, although their darker skin, accented speech and foreign customs often provoke frowns from native Muscovites. Meanwhile, their children — some born and raised in the capital — throng kindergartens and schools.

Russia's Federal Migration Service estimates that about 9.1 million foreigners arrived in Russia to work in 2011. More than a third came from three impoverished Central Asian countries that were once part of the Soviet Union: About 2 million from Uzbekistan, 1 million from Tajikistan and more than 500,000 from Kyrgyzstan. Local experts say the number of Central Asian arrivals is at least twice as high. And hundreds of thousands of Central Asians have already acquired Russian passports and are off the migration services' radar.

The Central Asian migration has been the driving force in boosting Russia's Muslim population to more than 20 million, from some 14 million 10 years ago — a phenomenon experts call one of the most radical demographic makeovers Russia has ever seen.

"Today, we're standing on the verge of a powerful demographic explosion, a great migration period equal to the one that took place in the first centuries A.D.," said Vyacheslav Mikhailov, a former minister for ethnic issues and a presidential adviser on ethnic policies.

Muslims are expected to account for 19 percent of Russia's population by 2030, up from 14 percent of the current population of 142 million, according to the U.S. government's National Intelligence Council report on global trends published this month.

"Russia's greatest demographic challenge could well be integrating its rapidly growing ethnic Muslim population in the face of a shrinking ethnic Russian population," the report said. The changing ethnic mix "already appears to be a source of growing social tensions."

By the most conservative estimates, 2 million Muslims now live in Moscow, a city of nearly 12 million. Polls show that nearly half of Russians dislike migrants from Central Asia and Russia's Caucasus — another source of Muslim migration. They have become the bogeymen of Russian nationalists, accused of stealing jobs, forming ethnic gangs and disrespecting Russian customs.

"If you build a mosque in downtown Moscow, slaughter sheep on your holiday and impose your traditions on us, no one will want you as a neighbor," said Dmitry Demushkin, a veteran Russian neo-Nazi skinhead who heads a nationalist party.

Central Asian labor migrants for years have filled the lowest paying jobs, working as janitors, street cleaners, construction workers, vendors at outdoor markets and unlicensed cab drivers whose run-down cars are popularly known as "jihad taxis." Many live in trailers on construction sites, in squalid basements and overcrowded flophouses or sleep inside their cars. The uncertain legal status of many of the migrant workers has left them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation from employers. They also have fallen victim to xenophobic attacks.

But in recent years, they are increasingly becoming more established members of the work force. And a significant minority, like Bulgakov, now run their own successful businesses. The undisputed star among Russia's Central Asian business figures is ethnic Uzbek Alisher Usmanov: His interests in mining, telecoms and Internet startups have made him one of Russia's richest men, with a fortune estimated at $18.1 billion, and he is the co-owner of British soccer club Arsenal.

Filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, who was born in Kazakhstan and educated in Uzbekistan, has directed some of Russia's most top grossing movies. Recently he moved to Hollywood, directing this year's "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and before that "Wanted," a 2008 action flick with Angelina Jolie.

Uzbek native Mirzakarim Norbekov has penned half a dozen bestsellers based on the medical teachings of Muslim medieval scholar Avicenna, who was born in what is now Uzbekistan. His medical training center in Moscow charges hundreds of dollars for short healing courses.

And while the Central Asian influx has caused frictions, there are also abundant signs of non-Muslim Muscovites embracing things seen as quintessentially Central Asian. Uzbek restaurants, fast-food joints and clay-oven bakeries that churn out round flat-cakes and meat pies have become ubiquitous; fashionistas sport oriental silk scarves and pashminas that resemble hijabs; and many ethnic Russian housewives buy halal meat believing it to be healthy and devoid of chemical preservatives.

The trend may have deep roots in Russian history: Unlike most West European capitals, Moscow has absorbed Muslims into its population for centuries. The principality of Moscow emerged as a regional power some 700 years ago, when the Golden Horde, a state dominated by Mongols and Muslim Tatars, controlled parts of what is now southern Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. As Moscow took over the Horde's territories and invaded lands that once had been conquered by Arabs, Persians and Turks, Muslim nobles became part of the Russian elite and Muslims were free to practice their faith under the czars.

Novelist Vladimir Nabokov proudly wrote that his aristocratic family descended from Nabak, an illegitimate son of Genghis Khan. Composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and writer Mikhail Bulgakov were the offspring of Tatar nobles.

"Muslims are not newcomers here, and all the current problems are temporary," said Vladilen Bokov, a devout Muslim and member of the Public Chamber, which advises the Kremlin on social issues. The Central Asians are far from a homogeneous group: Kyrgyz are proud of their militant nomadic heritage, while Uzbeks and Tajiks extol their cultures that produced poets and scholars who contributed to medieval Muslim civilization.

Czarist armies finished the conquest of Central Asia by early 20th century and Stalinist purges decimated their elites. The Soviet era reshaped their economies and agriculture and made "Russification" a key to success for several generations of their best and brightest. In the 1980s, Central Asian conscripts became a majority in the Soviet Army as birth rates among ethnic Russians plummeted.

Communist Moscow tried to win sympathies of Central Asians — and uproot their Muslim traditions — by building schools and universities. Their graduates are still qualified to work as bank clerks, computer engineers, artists and medical doctors in Russia. Employers often praise them for their hard work, career ambitions and indifference to alcohol — Russia's proverbial scourge.

The 1991 Soviet collapse was followed in their overpopulated republics by ineffective economic reforms, political unrest a resurgence of Islamic traditions and a gradual loss of Soviet mentality. But the number of Russian speakers remains high. They visit Russia visa-free and can stay here for up to three months, or longer if they get work or residence permits.

Construction company owner Bulgakov has faced his share of hardships. Square-jawed and burly, he recalled over a cup of steaming tea how he stole some undercooked buckwheat from a dormitory kitchen several days after losing a job. He lost another job after beating up his supervisor for calling him a "churka," a pejorative term for Central Asians. Bulgakov said that during a hospital visit he heard a doctor reproaching his ethnic Russian wife for failing to "find a decent Russian man."

After several years of selling construction paint, Bulgakov started his own company. Now his company renovates apartments of affluent Muscovites and works on occasional contracts with the Defense Ministry. He also has joined Kremlin's United Russia party and wants to run for office in the Moscow suburb of Ivanteevka where he lives with his wife and two children.

Bulgakov, who sports a white-gold ring with a sparkling diamond, has this advice for fellow Central Asians seeking a better life in Moscow. "If you want to work, just work," he said, "If you don't, you'll find a thousand excuses — 'I am being oppressed, abused, beaten.'"

Macedonian protesters demand budget cuts

December 29, 2012

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Several thousand supporters of the leftist opposition, led by Social Democrat leader and former Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski, have staged a demonstration in front of the ruling party's headquarters to protest violence that erupted during a parliamentary debate over the budget.

Macedonia's parliament approved the budget on Monday amid clashes outside Parliament between rival groups of protesters that left 11 police officers and at least 3 opposition lawmakers injured. Opposition deputies and journalists were expelled from parliament ahead of the vote.

The opposition, which held Saturday's peaceful protest in Skopje, argues that the conservative government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is spending too much money on grandiose monuments and expensive cars and furniture for state officials. The opposition is demanding spending cuts and says it will boycott parliamentary proceedings indefinitely.

Israeli-Palestinian clashes erupt in West Bank

January 01, 2013

TAMOUN, West Bank (AP) — An arrest raid by undercover Israeli soldiers disguised as vegetable vendors ignited rare clashes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, residents said, leaving at 10 Palestinians wounded.

Israeli army raids into Palestinian areas to seize activists and militants are fairly common. The raids are normally coordinated with Palestinian security forces, and suspects are usually apprehended without violence.

The clashes began early Tuesday after Israeli forces disguised as merchants in a vegetable truck arrested one man. Regular army forces then entered the town, prompting youths to hurl rocks to try to prevent more arrests.

Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition as youths set tires and bins on fire to block the passage of military vehicles. In several hours of clashes, dozens of masked youths hid behind makeshift barriers, hurling rocks and firebombs at soldiers.

Faris Bisharat, a resident of Tamoun, said 10 men were wounded, some by live fire. Bisharat said the wanted men belong to Islamic Jihad, a violent group sworn to Israel's destruction. It wasn't clear how many men Israeli forces sought to arrest. There were no immediate details on how seriously the 10 were hurt.

The Israeli military said it arrested a "terrorist affiliated with the Islamic Jihad terror group." It said two soldiers were injured during the raid. The fighting, which broke out in several parts of the town of some 8,000 people, were a rare, angry response. It was also unusual for Israeli forces to use live fire toward Palestinian demonstrators. Israel says it uses live fire only in extremely dangerous situations.

Egypt's president warns against dangers to economy

December 29, 2012

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist president used his first address before the newly convened upper house of parliament on Saturday to warn against any unrest that could harm the country's battered economy, as he renewed calls for the opposition to join in a national dialogue.

In the nationally televised speech, Mohammed Morsi said the nation's entire efforts should be focused on "production, work, seriousness and effort" now that a new constitution came into effect this week. He blamed protests and violence the past month for causing further damage to an economy already deteriorating from the turmoil since the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak early last year.

In an alarm bell over the economy, the central bank announced soon after Morsi's speech that foreign currency reserves — which have been bleeding away for nearly two years — are at a "critical" level, the minimum needed to cover foreign debt payments and buy strategic imports.

Morsi's strongly worded address to lawmakers appeared aimed at sending a message to the mainly liberal and secular opposition not to engage in any new protests, depicting unrest as a threat to the priority of rebuilding.

All sides must "realize the needs of the moment" and work only through "mature democracy while avoiding violence," Morsi told the 270-member upper house, or Shura Council. "We condemn and reject all forms of violence by individuals, groups, institutions and even from the nation and its government. This is completely rejected."

He appeared to chide the opposition for not working with him. "We all know the interests of the nation," he said. "Would any of us be happy if the nation goes bankrupt? I don't doubt anyone's intentions. But can anyone here be happy if the nation is exposed to economic weakness?"

The mainly liberal and secular opposition accuses Morsi of concentrating all power on the Muslim Brotherhood, from which he hails, and other Islamists and steamrolling any alternative voices. The main opposition groups have refused to join a national dialogue convened by Morsi, saying past talks have brought no compromise. They also stayed out of the president's appointments last week of a few opposition figures to the overwhelmingly Islamist Shura Council, calling the move tokenism.

The bitterness between the two sides was inflamed by the crisis of the past month leading up to the referendum that passed the new constitution. Mass street rallies were held by both the opposition trying to stop the charter and by Morsi's Islamist supporters determined to push it to victory. Clashes that erupted left 10 dead. The charter was approved by 64 percent, but with a low turnout of around 33 percent. Civil society groups and the opposition also point to incidents of fraud in the vote they say have not been properly investigated.

Opponents fear the new charter will consecrate the Islamists' power. The document allows for a stronger implementation of Islamic law, or Shariah, than in the past and has provisions that could limit civil rights and freedoms of minorities.

Morsi has depicted his national dialogue as a chance for all factions to have a voice in planning the next steps and drawing up key legislation to put before the upper house, including a law organizing parliamentary elections. So far, mainly Islamists and only a few small opposition parties are participating.

Liberal former lawmaker Amr Hamzawi said the president's speech offered no new insights and failed to acknowledge significant opposition to the Islamist-drafted constitution. Hamzawi was among those who walked out in protest of the Islamists' handling of the draft process earlier this year.

"We need binding mechanisms to amend the flawed constitution, guarantee that the legislative role of the upper house of parliament will be temporary and to ensure fair elections," he said. "We will not enter into fraud elections each and every time."

Morsi's address aimed to set the tone as the Shura Council begins work on a slate of new laws. The upper house normally has few powers but it will now serve as the law-making body until a new lower house is chosen in national elections expected within a few months. Two thirds of the Shura Council members were elected in voting last winter, but few Egyptians bothered to vote, and Islamist allies of Morsi swept the chamber.

The ultraconservative Salafi al-Nour Party, the second strongest party after the Brotherhood's political wing, suffered a blow this week when its founder and chief Emad Abdel-Ghafour resigned to start a new party, Al-Watan. He took with him around 150 members, including many who were elected to office. The fracturing of the party may bolster the Brotherhood in the coming elections.

In his speech, Morsi repeatedly said it was time to return to "production" and "work." But he did not give details on an overall economic program, including crucial questions like how the government will tackle a crippling budget deficit or carry out expected tax hikes or reductions of subsidies.

The impending austerity measures are major concerns in a country where some 40 percent of the 85 million population live near or below the poverty line of surviving on $2 a day. Morsi's government has requested a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to bridge the budget deficit, but talks are on hold after the government reversed plans for tax hikes this month.

Instead, Morsi denounced those who he said were spreading panic about Egypt's economy, saying the country will "not go bankrupt." He underlined that banks were healthy, after a rush to buy dollars the past week over fears of devaluation of the Egyptian pound.

"Those who talk about bankruptcy, they are the ones who are bankrupt. Egypt will never be bankrupt and will not kneel, God willing," he said to a round of applause. He directly blamed the past month's violence for Standard & Poor's downgrading this week of Egypt's long-term credit rating one level this week to B-, six steps below investment grade.

Morsi presented the country's foreign currency reserves, currently at $15 billion, as up slightly from last year, though he acknowledged they were still down dramatically from around $36 billion in 2010.

After last year's anti-Mubarak uprising, foreign investment and tourism — one of the country's biggest money makers — dried up. With fewer dollars coming in, the central bank has been spending reserves furiously to prop up the currency and pay for key imports. The slight uptick in reserves from last year is mainly due to hundreds of millions of dollars provided by the Gulf nation of Qatar.

In its statement Saturday, the central bank announced the introduction of a new auction system for banks buying and selling U.S. dollars, urging citizens to "ration usage" of foreign currency in favor of the Egyptian pound.

Amr Adly, who heads the Social and Economic Justice Unit at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said Morsi's speech failed to outline a real economic recovery plan. "We need to know the reality of the economic situation and have an idea of the measures that will be taken to address this situation," Adly said. "We are not bankrupt yet because we can still service the debt, but we are on the verge of bankruptcy."

AP writer Mariam Rizk contributed to this report from Cairo

Arabs plan $63 billion air power buildup

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UPI)
Oct 4, 2011

Middle Eastern states, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are focusing on building up their power and air-defense capabilities, a military air market expected to generate $62.9 billion over the current decade.

This concentration on procuring military aviation assets is presumably linked to current force upgrades by the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council to counter an expansionist Iran the Arabs say is determined to acquire nuclear weapons.

This concern has been a boon for U.S. and European defense contractors who are faced with major cutbacks in military spending to supply the GCC states with the advanced systems they seek, even some that Washington had been reluctant to provide Arab states.

A recent analysis by Frost and Sullivan, a leading growth strategies consultancy, said that a procurement surge in 2011-15 "highlights ongoing big-ticket purchases, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates."

These are GCC military heavyweights and both have built up strong air forces, primarily to meet the threat from Iran.

These air arms are increasingly focusing on offensive, rather than purely defensive, operations, largely aimed at taking out Iranian missile launch sites and strategic command centers.

The composition of the massive U.S. arms package worth some $67 billion, largely for the GCC states, unveiled in 2007, emphasizes the focus by the Saudis and the Emirates on bolstering air power while acquiring theater ballistic missiles that can threaten Iran's missile forces, its main military strike capability and its command centers.

The package includes the first-phase sale of 84 new Boeing F-15 strike jets to Saudi Arabia to replace the kingdom's older F-15 air-defense variants, plus upgrades for 70 F-15 jets already in service.

The second phase involves the delivery of 72 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, the U.S. Army's main anti-tank helicopter, along with 70 Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters.

The third segment consists of upgrades for the Saudis' Raytheon-built Patriot Advanced Capability-2 air-defense missiles.

The Emirates is expected to soon finalize a $7 billion deal with Lockheed Martin for the high-altitude THAAD system, including 147 missiles. That would be the first foreign sale of THAAD, underling the U.S. commitment to establish a Persian Gulf-wide shield against Iranian ballistic missiles.

Discussions are under way for a similar sale to Saudi Arabia. Washington is urging the Saudis to upgrade their 16 Patriot Advanced Capability-2 batteries, which have 96 missiles, to PAC-3 standard.

"In the area of Theater Ballistic Missiles, GCC states clearly have a disadvantage," veteran analysts Anthony H. Cordesman and Abdullah Toukan wrote in an August 2009 study for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"The challenge for the GCC states is to design an effective multilayered Ballistic Missile Defense System to counter the full range of ballistic missiles."

The Frost and Sullivan report, "The Middle East Air Market -- Revenue Opportunities and Stakeholder Mapping," concluded that procurement of air assets has been spurred by the recognition that advanced air platforms are force multipliers.

"The GCC countries are moving toward an integrated air-defense network to include air platforms, air-defense batteries and air surveillance systems under the Peninsula Shield initiative but the progress has been slow," the report observed.

Peninsula Shield is the GCC's collective military force established in 1984, when the alliance was formed during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

But it remains underdeveloped because of rivalries among the ruling families of the gulf monarchies.

The smaller GCC states, such as Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, resent Saudi domination of the alliance and the Peninsula Shield force, which has a current strength of 40,000 and is based at King Khaled Military City near Hafr al-Batin in Saudi Arabia.

The United Arab Emirates have been pressing for a gulf-wide air defense network for more than a decade but a lack of coordination has meant progress has been patchy at best.

"Political influence weighs heavily in defense acquisition decisions" in the GCC states," the report noted. "As a result, most new procurement is being sourced from the United States under Foreign Military Sales."

Although the Americans dominate the GCC military market, "there have been efforts to balance this relationship through procurement from elsewhere, including from Europe and Russia."

Britain and France are the primary European arms suppliers to the GCC.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Arabs_plan_63_billion_air_power_buildup_999.html.