Human rights group warns of civil society crackdown in Azerbaijan

Published 02 September 2013

The oil-rich Azerbaijan has intensified a crackdown on activists and journalists to stifle criticism of long-term leader Ilham Aliyev before presidential elections in October, campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today (2 September).

In the past 18 months, authorities in the South Caucasus nation have arrested dozens, dispersed anti-government rallies and adopted laws curbing freedom of speech and assembly, the organization said in a report.

Azeri authorities could not be immediately reached for comment, but Baku has repeatedly denied abusing human rights in the past.

"Prosecuting people who criticize the authorities and report on issues of public interest is a cynical and transparent attempt to stifle government critics," HRW researcher Giorgi Gogia said.

The European Union and other bodies in June accused the ex-Soviet state of tightening curbs on free expression by making defamation over the internet a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.

"Trumped-up” charges

HRW said authorities had in particular targeted youth activists critical of the authorities on social networks.

Several members of opposition youth movement NIDA were arrested earlier this year accused of plans to instigate violence during protests, and a number of journalists and rights workers were detained on fake charges, it said.

"The authorities have used a range of trumped-up criminal charges, including narcotics and weapons possession, hooliganism, incitement, and treason to lock up these critics."

According to the report, Azeri authorities have also increased fines for unsanctioned protests by up to 100 times and expanded from 15 to 60 the maximum prison term for public order misdemeanors often used to jail protesters.

Western powers are generally critical of Azeri human rights violations, the report said, but the reported abuse has not had a major impact on their relations with Baku.

"That is perhaps due to Azerbaijan's geostrategic importance and hydrocarbon resources," HRW said.

The mainly Muslim Caspian Sea nation, ruled by Ilham Aliyev since he succeeded his father in 2003, has been courted by Western powers because of its role as an alternative to Russia in supplying oil and gas to Europe.

Aliyev, 51, is almost certain to win the upcoming October polls in a tightly controlled political system, despite mounting opposition from Azeris tired of his rule.

Vote monitoring groups have previously criticized the democratic credential of ballots in the country over the past decade.

Source: EurActiv.
Link: http://www.euractiv.com/europes-east/rights-group-warns-civil-society-news-530069.

Istanbul's new rail tunnel links Europe and Asia

October 30, 2013

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey has opened an underwater railway tunnel linking Europe and Asia, and the two sides of Istanbul, realizing a plan initially proposed by an Ottoman sultan about 150 years ago.

The Marmaray tunnel runs under the Bosporus, the strait that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and divides Istanbul between Asia and Europe. The tunnel is 13.6 kilometers (8.5 miles) long, including an underwater stretch of 1.4 kilometers (4,593 feet).

It is among a number of large infrastructure projects under the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that have helped boost the economy but also have provoked a backlash of public protest.

"I wish from God that the Marmaray that we are inaugurating will be a benefit to our Istanbul, to our country, to all of humanity," Erdogan said at the opening ceremony. Officials hope that with up to 1.5 million passengers a day, the tunnel will ease some of Istanbul's chronic traffic, particularly over the two bridges linking the two sides of the city. A more distant dream is that the tunnel may become part of a new train route for rail travel between Western Europe and China.

The underwater portion of the tunnel wasn't dug, but was dropped in sections to the sea bottom — the immersed-tube method used around the world. Turkish officials say that at more than 55 meters (180 feet) deep, it is the world's deepest railway tunnel of its type.

Started in 2005 and scheduled to be completed in four years, the project was delayed by important archaeological finds, including a 4th century Byzantine port, as builders began digging under the city.

Rejecting any fears that the tunnel could be vulnerable to earthquakes in a region of high seismic activity, Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said that it is designed to withstand a massive 9.0 magnitude quake. He calls it "the safest place in Istanbul."

The tube sections are joined by flexible joints that can withstand shocks. Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid is said to have proposed the idea of a tunnel under the Bosporus about a century and a half ago. One of his successors, Abdulhamid, had architects submit proposals in 1891, but the plans were not carried out.

The tunnel is just one of Erdogan's large-scale plans. They include a separate tunnel being built under the Bosporus for passenger cars, a third bridge over the strait, the world's biggest airport, and a massive canal that would bypass the Bosporus.

The projects have provoked charges that the government is plunging ahead with city-changing plans without sufficient public consultation. The concern fueled protests that swept Turkey in June. Tuesday's ceremony on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic was attended by Erdogan and other officials, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose country was heavily involved in the construction and financing of the railway tunnel project.

Japan's Seikan tunnel linking the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido is the world's deepest, getting 140 meters (460 feet) below the seabed and 240 meters (790 feet) below sea level. The Channel Tunnel linking Britain and France is as much as 75 meters (250 feet) below sea level.

Police battle Bangkok protesters with tear gas

December 01, 2013

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand fought off mobs of rock-throwing protesters armed with petrol bombs who tried to battle their way into the government's sand-bagged headquarters Sunday, as gunshots rang out in Bangkok and the prime minister fled a police complex during the sharpest escalation yet of the country's latest crisis.

The protests, aimed at toppling Yingluck Shinawatra's administration, have raised renewed fears of prolonged instability in one of Southeast Asia's biggest economies. Sunday marked the first time police have used force since demonstrations began in earnest a week ago — a risky strategy that many fear could trigger more bloodshed.

At least four people have been killed and 53 wounded in skirmishes so far, according to according to police and the state's emergency medical services. Most of the casualties occurred at a Bangkok stadium where shooting was heard Sunday for the second day and the body of one protester shot in the chest lay face-up on the ground.

Yingluck spent the morning in meetings at a Bangkok police complex but evacuated to an undisclosed location and canceled an interview with reporters after more than a hundred protesters attempted to break into the compound, according to her secretary, Wim Rungwattanajinda.

Several demonstrators interviewed by The Associated Press, however, were unaware Yingluck was inside. Those who made it a few steps into the vast complex stayed only a few minutes, and Wim said they did not get anywhere near the heavily protected building where Yingluck was located.

The unrest forced Bangkok's biggest and glitziest shopping malls to close in the heart of the city and snarled traffic. Mobs also besieged at least three television stations demanding they broadcast the protesters' views and not the government's. One of those TV stations is government run, the other is owned by the military and the third is independent.

Political instability has plagued Thailand since the military ousted Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, in a coup in 2006. Two years later, anti-Thaksin demonstrators occupied Bangkok's two airports for a week after taking over the prime minister's office for three months, and in 2010 pro-Thaksin protesters occupied downtown Bangkok for weeks in a standoff that ended with parts of the city in flames and more than 90 dead.

Any further deterioration is likely to scare away investors as well as tourists who come to Thailand by the millions and contribute 10 percent to the $602 billion economy, Southeast Asia's second largest after Indonesia. It is also likely to undermine Thailand's democracy, which had built up in fits and starts interrupted by coups.

Thailand's latest unrest began last month after an ill-advised bid by Yingluck's ruling Pheu Thai party to push an amnesty law through Parliament that would have allowed the return of her self-exiled brother, who was overthrown after being accused of corruption and abuse of power.

The bill failed to pass after the upper house of parliament voted against it. But the victory emboldened the protesters, who accuse Yingluck of being her brother's puppet. The demonstrators, who mainly support the opposition Democrat Party, want to replace Yingluck's elected government with an unelected "people's council" but have been vague about what that means.

Some of Sunday's most dramatic scenes played out in front of Government House, where more than 1,000 protesters armed with petrol bombs and rocks skirmished with riot police who fired rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas over heavily fortified barricades. At one point, a truck pulled up and tied a green rope to a concrete barrier and tried to drag it away. A few kilometers (miles) away, police drove back another crowd of protesters at the Bangkok police bureau.

"We're all brothers and sisters," police shouted through a loudspeaker before firing tear gas. "Please don't try to come in!" The initial burst of tear gas dispersed the mob but they regrouped and heckled police from a distance. One Associated Press cameraman filming the mayhem was hit the hand by a rock and the leg by a rubber bullet.

The protests, the largest protests the country has seen since 2010, began in November and drew 100,000 people to a rally one week ago. Until this weekend, they have largely been peaceful. But tensions rose Saturday night after pro- and anti-government groups clashed in a northeastern Bangkok neighborhood and unidentified gunmen shot and killed two people. At least 45 people were injured.

Gunshots were fired in the same area early Sunday, but it was not clear who was responsible or targeted, said police Col. Narongrit Promsawat. The violence occurred near a stadium holding a large pro-government rally.

At least some of Sunday's gunshots appeared to have been fired into the nearby Ramkhamhaeng University, according to its rector, Wutthisak Larpcharoensap. Police called for calm on television, saying they were helping to escort both sides out of the area safely. Organizers of the pro-government "Red Shirt" rally at the stadium called off the event for safety reasons and sent people home Sunday, after many spent the night camped inside.

During the past week, the protesters had seized the Finance Ministry, turned off power at police headquarters, camped at a sprawling government office complex and briefly broken into the army headquarters compound to urge the military to support them.

Police and authorities have gone to painstaking lengths to avoid using force. But they appeared to have drawn a red line at Government House, and on Sunday fought back for the first time, both there and at the headquarters of Bangkok city police.

Army commander Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha — who said last week the army would not take sides — urged the police not to use force and also called on protesters to avert violence, according to Lt. Col. Winthai Suvaree, an army spokesman.

Most of the protesters are middle-class Bangkok residents who have been part of the anti-Thaksin movement for several years and people brought in from the Democrat Party strongholds in the southern provinces.

Because Yingluck's party has overwhelming electoral support from the country's rural majority, which benefited from Thaksin's populist programs, the protesters want to change the country's political system to a less democratic one where the educated and well-connected would have a greater say than directly elected lawmakers.

Thaksin lives in Dubai to avoid a two-year jail term for a corruption conviction he says was politically motivated.

Associated Press writers Grant Peck, Jocelyn Gecker, Papitchaya Boonngok, Yves Dam Van, and Raul Gallego Abellan contributed to this report.

Turkey donates $850,000 for Gaza's energy needs

23 October 2013
TODAY'S ZAMAN

Turkey has donated $850,000 in aid to Palestine to reduce the energy needs of the Gaza Strip and is preparing to send 10 tons of flour to Gaza for Palestinians in a bid to support its ally, which has been under a blockade since 2007.

According to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, Turkey sent financial aid to the Palestinian government to supply energy to hospitals and sewage plants in the Gaza Strip under a Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA) initiative. The Foreign Ministry statement says that UN agencies in Palestine will help with the delivery of fuel to institutions that are in urgent need of energy.

The statement also notes that the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) will send 10 tons of flour to the Gaza Strip; the shipment is expected to be sent out in November.

Pointing out that Turkey has conducted other projects for Palestine, including supplying medicine and medical equipment, the Foreign Ministry's announcement reiterated that Turkey stands by Palestine, its brother and friend, and is determined to continue its support to the country, which is facing occupation and a blockade.

Last week, Khaled Mashaal, leader of Hamas -- which rules Gaza -- met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara.

Turkey is one of the staunchest supporters of the Palestinian efforts for statehood. It helped the Palestinians in their lobbying attempts to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's observer status at the United Nations from "entity" to "non-member state.” It also regularly sends humanitarian aid to the country. In one such effort, one part of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, was raided by Israeli commandos, resulting in the deaths of eight Turks and one Turkish-American in 2010.

Erdoğan, Palestine's Abbas talk Mideast peace process

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Turkey's prime minister on Tuesday to discuss the Middle East peace process with Israel, Prime Ministry sources said.

The private Cihan news agency reported that Abbas first told Erdoğan he is pleased with the release of two Turkish pilots kidnapped in Lebanon.

Sources said Abbas briefed Erdoğan on the latest developments in the Middle East peace process.

The leaders also agreed to be in touch with respect to regional developments. It was not clear if the officials talked about national reconciliation between Fatah, the party of Abbas, which rules the West Bank, and Hamas.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com//news-329599-turkey-donates-850000-for-gazas-energy-needs.html.

US ally Turkey defends choice of Chinese missiles

Ankara (AFP)
Oct 02, 2013

Turkey on Wednesday defended its decision to enter talks with China to acquire its first long-range anti-missile system, in spite of protests from its ally Washington.

It also made clear that no deal had yet been finalized.

"The Chinese gave us the best price," Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz told Vatan newspaper, explaining that the system's Chinese manufacturer had agreed to a co-production deal with Turkey.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Gumrukcu said talks were to begin with the Chinese company, but made it clear that the selection process was still ongoing.

"The process has not yet been finalized," he said.

In an official statement last week, Turkey said it has "decided to begin talks with the CPMIEC company of the People's Republic of China for the joint production of the systems and its missiles in Turkey".

China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corp (CPMIEC) beat out competition from a US partnership of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, Russia's Rosoboronexport, and the Italian-French consortium Eurosamrs in the tender.

The original contract was worth a reported $4 billion dollars, but the Chinese bid reportedly came in at a much lower $3 billion according to Turkish media.

The United States reacted with alarm to news that Ankara had chosen the Chinese firm, slapped with US sanctions for delivering arms to Iran and Syria, to build the air defense and anti-missile system.

"We had asked for joint production and a technology transfer," the Turkish minister said. "If other countries cannot guarantee us that, then we will turn to ones that can."

NATO member Turkey is a key regional ally to the United States, and currently has US-built Patriot missile systems deployed on its border to deter incoming attacks from Syria.

Turkey wants to build its own long-range air defense and anti-missile architecture to counter both enemy aircraft and missiles.

NATO has also raised concerns over possible compatibility issues between the Chinese-made system and others used within the alliance.

Yilmaz dismissed its concerns, saying: "There is no problem on that front."

The foreign ministry confirmed that Turkey had been in talks with NATO over the past few days, with Gumrukcu saying that the exchange of views with NATO allies was "only natural."

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_ally_Turkey_defends_choice_of_Chinese_missiles_999.html.

Turkey says it shot down Syrian helicopter

September 16, 2013

ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish fighter jet shot down a Syrian military helicopter on Monday after it entered Turkish airspace and ignored repeated warnings to leave, an official said.

The helicopter strayed 2 kilometers (more than 1 mile) into Turkish airspace, but crashed inside Syria after being hit by missiles fired from the jet, Turkey's deputy prime minister, Bulent Arinc, told reporters in Ankara.

Arinc said he did not have any information on the fate of the Syrian pilots, but Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said rebel fighters captured one of the pilots, while the fate of the other one was unclear.

The incident is bound to ramp up tension on an already volatile border. Turkey has been at odds with the Syrian government since early in the country's civil war and has backed the Syrian rebels, while advocating international intervention in the conflict.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking in Paris after meetings about Syria with his counterparts from other countries, said Monday's encounter should send a message. "Nobody will dare to violate Turkey's borders in any way again," he said, according to Anatolia, the Turkish state-run news agency. "The necessary measures have been taken."

Arinc noted that the Turkish military had put its forces on a higher state of alert and changed the rules for engaging with the Syrian military along the border because of "'constant harassment fire from the other side."

He also noted that a Turkish jet was shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft over the Mediterranean in June 2012. Turkey says it was hit in international airspace, but Syria insisted it was flying low inside Syrian airspace.

Shells from the Syrian conflict have occasionally rained down on the Turkish side of the border, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Damascus that his country would not tolerate any violation of the border by Syrian forces.

AP correspondent Ryan Lucas contributed from Beirut.

Turkish protests take on a more sectarian air

September 13, 2013

ISTANBUL (AP) — When demonstrators rocked Turkey in June, their message was clear: an increasingly authoritarian government needed to learn to listen to dissenters and compromise. But a new round of protests set off by the death of a man in a tense border region with Syria appears more complex, sectarian and volatile.

The latest street unrest shows the grievances that prompted tens of thousands to protest Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government in June have not faded. And his government has been hurt by those protests — for instance, losing the chance last week to host the 2020 Summer Olympics partly due to Turkey's damaged international image.

But this round of demonstrations was sparked far from Istanbul and in a very different way — the death of 22-year-old Ahmet Atakan, killed under disputed circumstances during a protest Sunday in the southern city of Antakya.

Thousands of protesters in Istanbul, Ankara and Antakya, many chanting Atakan's name, have clashed with police every night since then. Young, liberal protesters, the focus of the June demonstrations, have joined, but the epicenter of this week's protests has shifted to Antakya and has been swelled by grievances of minority groups.

The galvanizing factors seem to be anger at Erdogan and a call for greater civil liberties. "The government has sought to divide us, but has succeeded in bringing a lot of different people to the same cause," says Oyku Akman, 21, a student at the Middle East Technical University, who has participated in both rounds of demonstrations.

The June protests were larger, but she said the latest demonstrations have taken on a harder edge, as protesters have been launching fireworks and throwing projectiles to provoke police tear gas and water cannon. They are also increasingly using burning barricades.

Atakan, the face of the protests, came from a family of Alevis, a Shiite sect that comprises Turkey's largest religious minority in the mostly Sunni country. Shunned as heretics by many Turks, Alevis have long-standing grievances about discrimination and religious freedom. To complicate matters, they are close to Syrian Alawites, and tend to back the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, an Alawite. A big part of their current grievances is Erdogan's strong stance against Assad.

In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Zafer Atakan outlined his brother Ahmet's grievances, blaming Erdogan's AKP party for egging on outside powers to intervene in Syria. "Ahmet's aim was to stop AKP's fascism and the imperialist interventions all over the world," he said.

Meanwhile, the armed wing of the Kurdish PKK rebels, noting Atakan's death, has called for followers to join the demonstrations this week. The call comes as the group is suspending a pullout from Turkey as part of talks with the Turkish government about ending a nearly three-decade conflict that has cost thousands of lives. The government says it is preparing a package of democratic reforms to meet some of the Kurdish demands.

Protesters say the police have continued the aggressive tactics that turned a local Istanbul protest in late May against the government's plan to demolish a city park into a national expression of dissent.

But the government has changed one tactic: Instead of having Erdogan intervene directly with blunt comments praising the police and deriding protesters, so far he has remained silent on the latest protests, which have also received relatively little attention in the Turkish press.

Asli Aydintasbas, a columnist for the Turkish daily Millyet, says she expects the protests to continue. "The current situation is not sustainable," she says. "Turkey is either going to get more democratic or more authoritarian."

Mehmet Guzel contributed to this report from Antakya, Turkey.

Ukrainian demonstrators converge outside monastery

November 30, 2013

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — About 10,000 anti-government demonstrators angry about Ukraine's refusal to sign a pro-European Union agreement converged Saturday on a square outside a monastery where protesters driven away in a pre-dawn clash with police were taking shelter.

Opposition leaders called for nationwide strikes and for Ukrainians to mobilize en masse. Another big demonstration was called for Sunday. The demonstrators outside the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery were shouting "shame" and "resign." Some vowed to spend the night on the square, as temperatures hovered only slightly above freezing.

"Each of you have to come out and express your own position on what kind of country you want to live in — a totalitarian, police-controlled country where your children will be beaten up or in a European country," said Vitaly Klitschko, a world boxing champion and leader of the opposition Udar party.

Klitschko's call encapsulated the two issues agitating the demonstrators: President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU and the violent dispersal of protests denouncing that decision.

Yanukovych said in an address Saturday evening that he condemned "the actions that led to the forceful confrontation and the suffering of people." He called for an investigation and for those responsible to be punished.

"I confirm that we are united in our choice of a common European future," Yanukovych said. Yanukovych has said he still hopes that Ukraine will one day sign the agreement with the EU, but that the country was too fragile economically and could not afford to sacrifice trade with Russia.

Moscow regards Ukraine as historically part of its orbit and has tried to block the deal with the EU by banning some of Ukraine's imports and threatening more trade sanctions. A 2009 dispute between Kiev and Moscow on gas prices resulted in a three-week cutoff of gas to Ukraine.

The association agreement would have established free trade and deepened political cooperation between Ukraine and the EU, but stopped short of membership in the regional bloc. In the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, where sentiment for European integration is especially strong, 10,000 demonstrators protested the failure to sign on Saturday.

Meanwhile, another prominent protest figure, parliament deputy Arseniy Yatsenyuk, is calling for Yanukovych to be impeached and on his government to resign. Yatsenyuk said opposition leaders were working to organize nationwide strikes.

Early Saturday, officers in riot gear moved against several hundred protesters at Independence Square in the Kiev city center, beating some with truncheons. Some protesters then went to the monastery about 500 meters away to take shelter in its cathedral.

In the early morning action, police took 35 demonstrators into custody. Some protesters were bleeding from their heads and arms after the clash. "It was horrible. We were holding a peaceful demonstration and they attacked us," protester Lada Tromada said. "They threw us away like garbage."

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said in a statement that "the information from different sides which I have at the moment does not allow firm conclusions about who is responsible for this provocation," but said it would be fully investigated.

Kiev police chief Valery Koryak laid the responsibility on the protesters, saying the police were provoked into taking action, the Interfax news agency reported. The European Union and the U.S. State Department condemned the violence against the protesters.

"We urge Ukraine's leaders to respect their people's right to freedom of expression and assembly," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. "The European Union strongly condemns the excessive use of force last night by the police in Kiev to disperse peaceful protesters, who over the last days in a strong and unprecedented manner have expressed their support for Ukraine's political association and economic integration with the EU," the EU statement said.

About 10,000 people had rallied on the square Friday evening to protest Yanukovych's backing off from the pact, which had been eagerly anticipated by Ukrainians who want their country of 45 million people to break out of Moscow's orbit and tilt to the West. Opinion surveys in recent months showed about 45 percent of Ukrainians supporting closer integration with the EU and a third or less favoring closer ties with Russia.

Protests had been held in Kiev over the past week since Yanukovych backed away from the EU agreement. It was to have been signed Friday at an EU summit in the capital of Lithuania, and the passing of that date sparked an especially large turnout of protesters.

Saturday's harsh action was in contrast to the mass protests of the 2004 Orange Revolution, when tens of thousands came to the square nightly for weeks and set up a vast tent camp on the main street leading to the square. Police had a mostly low-profile presence during those demonstrations.

Those protests forced the annulment of a fraud-tainted presidential election in which Yanukovych was shown with the most votes. A rerun of the election was ordered and Yanukovych lost to Western-leaning reformist Viktor Yushchenko.

Yanukovych was elected president five years later, narrowly defeating then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the leading figure of the Orange Revolution. Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in 2011 for abuse of office, a case that the West has widely criticized as political revenge. The EU had set Tymoshenko's release, or at least her freedom to go to Germany for treatment of a severe back problem, as a key criterion for signing the association pact with Ukraine.

The prospect of freeing his archenemy was deeply unattractive to Yanukovych. Tymoshenko's daughter, Eugenia, read a statement from her mother to the crowd outside the monastery calling on Ukrainians to demonstrate "against the dictatorship and violence of Yanukovych."

Far right party protests jailing of leaders

November 30, 2013

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Around 1,000 supporters of the far-right Golden Dawn party have gathered outside Greece's parliament to protest the jailing of its leader and two other lawmakers.

Several Golden Dawn lawmakers spoke to the enthusiastic but smaller-than-expected crowd, some of whom carried torches. The crowd chanted slogans in favor of party leader Nikos Michaloliakos and against Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Two smaller, rival gatherings of leftist activists in Athens, meanwhile, dispersed peacefully. Police had mobilized to prevent the leftists and the Golden Dawn backers from clashing. Michaloliakos and two other Golden Dawn lawmakers were detained following the September death of a leftist rapper; a party supporter confessed to the killing. They face charges related to involvement in a criminal group.

The far-right party's popularity rose in recent years as Greece's economy plummeted.

France to host meeting on Central African Republic

November 30, 2013

PARIS (AP) — An official says France will host an informal meeting on the crisis in Central African Republic next month in Paris.

Leaders of countries including Gabon, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville and Chad are to take part, along with Central African Republic's prime minister and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. A French official who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said the daylong session will come at the end of a broader summit involving some 40 African leaders Dec. 6-7.

France's foreign minister has warned its former colony is "on the verge of genocide" as attacks mount between mostly Muslim fighters and Christian militias. France hopes a U.N. resolution authorizing French troops to end massacres and restore order will pass ahead of the summit on African security issues.

Large protests over Bedouin resettlement in Israel

November 30, 2013

JERUSALEM (AP) — Large protests over a plan to resettle nomadic Bedouin Arabs in Israel's southern Negev desert caused injuries Saturday and led to some arrests as well as condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Protests focused on a bill that would move thousands of Bedouins into government-recognized villages. Opponents charge the plan would confiscate Bedouin land and affect their nomadic way of life, but Israel says the moves are necessary to provide basic services that many Bedouins lack and would benefit their community while preserving their traditions.

Over a thousand people protested in a Negev village in southern Israel Saturday. The demonstration turned violent when some protesters threw rocks and fire bombs at police and burned tires. Police, some on horseback, responded with water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Hundreds more took to the streets at protests held in Jerusalem, Haifa and elsewhere. Police made more than 40 arrests and 15 officers were injured, Rosenfeld said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement condemning the violence. "We will treat offenders to the fullest extent of the law and will not tolerate such disturbances. We have — and will have — no tolerance for those who break the law, Netanyahu said. "Attempts by a loud and violent minority to deny a better future to a large and broad population are grave. We will continue to advance the law for a better future for all residents of the Negev," he said.

Bedouins are a small group within the Arab minority. Traditionally, they have identified more closely with Israel than their Arab brethren, but their complaints against the resettlement program, known as the Prawer Plan, echo broader sentiments among other Arab Israelis.

The government body dealing with the plan said it calls for the vast majority of Bedouin to live where they are. It said it is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in housing, health, public services and education for the Bedouin.

Officials said in a statement that the body is planning "a variety of rural and urban living options which will allow the Bedouin population to integrate into the fabric of a modern state while preserving their traditions."

It blamed Saturday's violence on "extremists, many of whom are not Bedouin" for using the protests to further their own agenda.

Russian spacecraft with advanced navigation system docks with ISS

Moscow (Voice of Russia)
Dec 01, 2013

An unmanned Russian resupply spacecraft carrying an improved navigation system docked early Saturday with the International Space Station, Russian Mission Control said.

"The manual docking was carried out by cosmonaut Oleg Kotov," Mission Control said.

The Progress M-21M space freighter was loaded with almost 2.5 metric tons of food, fuel, experiment hardware and other supplies for the space station's six Expedition 38 crew members. The craft lifted off aboard a Soyuz-U launch vehicle from the Russian-leased Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

On November 28, the spacecraft conducted flybys of the orbital station and successfully tested a lighter and more efficient automated navigation and docking system, known as Kurs-NA.

The Kurs-NA boasts advanced electronics, a fully-digitized control system and increased docking precision compared to its predecessor, Kurs. The improved system will be used on all upgraded Soyuz and Progress vehicles in the future.

The space station's crew currently comprises Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Tyurin, Sergey Ryazanskiy and Oleg Kotov, NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russian_spacecraft_with_advanced_navigation_system_docks_with_ISS_999.html.

Designer: moon rover uses cutting-edge technology

Designer: moon rover uses cutting-edge technology

by Han Bin Xinhua News
Beijing (XNA)
Dec 01, 2013

China's third lunar probe, the Chang'E Three is set to launch in early December.

In recent years, China has made considerable progress in its space program. In June, three Chinese astronauts spent 15 days in orbit. And this time the country will send a rover to the moon.

A monumental project like the Chang'E Three requires time, money, and people. Han Bin, the Deputy Chief Designer of China's first lunar Rover, says the moon rover marks another breakthrough for China's space exploration.

Noting can hide Jia Yang's pride.

He's the deputy Chief designer of China's first lunar rover, named the "Jade Rabbit". He's been working on it for some ten years.

The moon rover is China's most advanced robot with complete automatic navigation and operation. For Jia Yang, China's third lunar probe is a great leap forward in space exploration.

"China started four decades late in the lunar project, yet the rover design is not a simple copy of advanced nations. It combines an integration of modern technologies of electronics, machinery, and thermal control," Jia says.

The dream of flying to the moon has deep roots in Chinese culture. According to legend, the fairy Chang'E drank a magic potion that gave her the ability to fly there. The dream has already come true for US and Russian astronauts. But it might take China at least another decade.

China has a moon rock at the Beijing Planetarium, a gift from former US President Jimmy Carter. The Chang'E lunar project is also aimed at bringing back materials from the moon in the future.

"China's lunar project will help accumulate experience and technology, which will be crucial for future projects. Making a soft landing and moon rover is a practical step for the long journey of China's space exploration," Jia says.

This is just a mini model of the rover. If all goes well, Jia Yang and the world will see the real rover on the moon, from the pictures taken and sent back from the Lander.

Jia Yang's dream is to see the "Jade Rabbit" running on the moon. He also believes the country will go beyond the moon, to Mars and other celestial bodies.

This mission shows China's resolve to bridge the gap with other space going nations. The Chang'e-3 is just one more example of the country's increasing technological capabilities. For scientists, like Jia Yang, the next part of the space dream could be clear, sending astronauts to the moon.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Designer_moon_rover_uses_cutting_edge_technology_999.html.

China pursues "zero window" launch for lunar probe

Beijing (XNA)
Dec 01, 2013

China will strive to launch its Chang'e-3 lunar probe at the optimal time within the launch window, the Xichang Satellite Launch Center said on Friday.

China is scheduled to launch the probe in early December. It will be the first time for a Chinese spacecraft to soft-land on the surface of an extraterrestrial body.

The center said it will pursue a "zero window" launch for the mission, referring to a launch at a pre-determined optimal time for the probe to reach its intended target. If a "zero window" launch is not achieved on time, it must be delayed until the next launch window.

If a zero window launch is achieved, Chang'e-3 will not need to make trajectory correction before entering the pre-selected orbit, and fuel can be saved during orbital transfer, according to the center.

The zero window launch can be achieved through timing control of the rocket ignition, said Zhao Ming, deputy commander in charge of China's lunar program launching site system.

However, the launch will be influenced by a variety of factors, including the project's targets, the motion of the earth, moon, and sun, as well as the weather conditions at the launch site, Zhao added.

"Achieving a zero window launch is difficult, and success will reflect the ability for the project's different systems to coordinate and cooperate," Zhao said.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_pursues_zero_window_launch_for_lunar_probe_999.html.

Deep Space Perils For Indian Spacecraft

by Morris Jones
Sydney, Australia (SPX)
Dec 01, 2013

There's no turning back. India's Mars Orbiter Mission has left Earth orbit and is heading for the red planet. After a flourish of media coverage before and shortly after launch, attention on this mission is likely to fade for several months. The MOM now has a long journey to reach its destination. It will arrive at Mars in September 2014.

Despite the spotlight moving on, it should not be assumed that this phase of the mission will be uneventful. Hopefully, things will go well, but the risks should not be underestimated. This is the most adventurous space mission ever launched by India, and probably its most hazardous.

What could go wrong? MOM has already had a minor problem with a backup fuel system, but this was not a threat to the mission. The spacecraft seems generally healthy right now, and has survived some of the most stressful parts of its mission already.

Launch, deployment, checkout, engine burns and velocity changes have gone well. Nevertheless, the longer the mission stays in space, the higher the chance that some component will malfunction.

Then there's the environment. Interplanetary space holds dangers that do not always threaten spacecraft that stay close to Earth. There is a higher level of exposure to radiation and particles. Thermal stresses are also potentially higher. There's no shadow of the Earth or magnetic fields to protect the spacecraft. MOM is designed for these conditions but it will still need careful management.

Space is also unpredictable. Solar storms can throw particles into deep space that pose hazards for local satellites. In deep space, it can be even worse. Some deep space missions have been damaged by solar activity. Although we can monitor these outbursts, there is often nothing that can be done to protect a spacecraft from their influence.

The hazards of deep space gave rise to the legend of the Great Galactic Ghoul, a mythical monster that lurks in space and devours spacecraft. The Ghoul has been implicated in the loss of several missions, and seems very eclectic in its tastes. It eats spacecraft from America, Russia, Japan and other nations. Does the Ghoul like Indian food? It's never been tempted this way before. Hopefully it will not bite.

Surviving the journey is just one task now facing MOM. Some of the instruments could be used to measure conditions in deep space even before the spacecraft approaches Mars. This gives controllers practice and confirms the successful operation of the experiments. It also boosts the scientific return. Most of this activity will not grab headlines but it will steadily chalk up the overall performance of MOM.

If the mission attracts little media coverage for the next few months, it will probably be a positive rather than a negative. It will probably mean that no surprises have developed. In the hazardous environment of interplanetary space, no news is usually good news.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Deep_Space_Perils_For_Indian_Spacecraft_999.html.