Iraq protesters rail against lawmaker pensions

August 31, 2013

BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Iraqi cities on Saturday to protest lawmakers' perks despite an intense security crackdown, while bombing and shootings in and west of the capital killed 13 people in the latest bout of sectarian unrest rocking the country.

Protest organizers demanded an end to what they claim are generous pension benefits granted to members of parliament. Demonstrators also aired long-standing grievances about widespread corruption and the poor state of public services.

Iraqi lawmakers are entitled to monthly pension payments of several thousand dollars per month regardless of how long they serve— far more than the amounts government employees and private sector workers typically get after decades of work. Many Iraqis suspect the country's 325 lawmakers in Parliament are in politics only for the money, and they accuse them of being ineffective and slow to address the country's myriad problems.

"We want to tell the officials that they should stop stealing. Enough is enough!" said demonstrator Ammar Abdul-Aziz, a 35-year-old engineer in Baghdad. Authorities did not grant permission for the demonstrations in the capital, drawing criticism from rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Security forces blocked bridges and deployed large numbers of rifle-toting soldiers and police in major squares — an extraordinary show of force that protesters said was mainly taken to prevent demonstrators from congregating in larger numbers.

Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim defended the security operation, saying authorities were concerned suicide bombers might try to attack the rallies. He insisted authorities had no problem with the demonstrations and that his forces were present only to protect protesters.

If someone tried to kill protesters with a "bomb, all the people will say 'why didn't you protect us?'" he told The Associated Press at a Baghdad square protest site. Security forces backed by Humvees and armored personnel carriers there outnumbered the flag-waving protesters, who were surrounded by police preventing journalists from getting near them.

One of the Baghdad protest organizers, Mohammed Abbas, said he was beaten by security forces as he and his colleagues were trying to reach the central Tahrir Square. He declared the day's protests a success despite the low turnout and pledged to mount more demonstrations.

Outside the capital, hundreds of people demonstrated in the southern city of Basra, where one banner declared: "The resources of Iraq are for Iraqis, not the lawmakers." Protests were also reported in Nasiriyah and Hillah, also in the country's mainly Shiite south.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement on his website voicing "support for the protesters' demands" and said he would work to reform lawmakers' compensation. Iraqi authorities cracked down firmly against anti-government protests the erupted at the start of the Arab Spring in early 2011. A new wave of ongoing protests erupted in Sunni Muslim areas in December, the most serious political challenge to the Shiite-led government since U.S. troops left in late 2011.

Hours before Saturday's protests, gunmen using weapons fitted with silencers stormed a Sunni mosque in the capital's southeastern New Baghdad neighborhood and shot at Sunni worshipers praying at dawn, police said. Five worshipers were killed and two were wounded, medical officials at a nearby hospital said.

That night, a suicide bomber set off his explosive belt at a security checkpoint in the city of Ramadi, killing six policemen and wounding five others, police and hospital officials said. Ramadi, a former al-Qaida stronghold, is 175 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad.

In a second attack of such kind on Saturday, two Sunni worshipers were killed and eight others were wounded when gunmen sprayed them with bullets as they were leaving a mosque in western Baghdad after finishing night prayers.

Most attacks on civilians and security forces in recent years have been the work of Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida. But attacks on Sunni mosques have been on the rise in recent months, raising fears that armed Shiite groups are starting to retaliate.

The police and medical officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Violence in Iraq has intensified since April to levels not seen since 2008. More than 4,000 people have been killed over the past five months alone, including more than 590 in August.

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed reporting.

'Without delay': Iraq expels Iran exiles from their camp

2013-09-07

BAGHDAD - Iraq has ordered Iranian exiles to move from a camp where 52 of their members were killed a week ago "without delay", a government official and the UN said Saturday.

Baghdad opened a probe into the events surrounding the deaths of the members of the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, which occurred on Sunday at Camp Ashraf in Diyala province, but accounts of the unrest still differ markedly.

The United Nations and Western governments have condemned the bloodshed, but have been careful not to assign blame.

"The state has the right to order them to leave," Ali Mussawi, spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said.

"There is an order for them to leave."

The UN's mission to Baghdad said in a statement that it believed the Iraqi government "will move to enforce this order without delay".

That would require the 42 remaining residents of Camp Ashraf to be moved to Camp Liberty, a former US military base on the outskirts of Baghdad, while PMOI members await relocation outside of Iraq.

Iraqi officials and the PMOI have offered conflicting narratives of how the 52 died.

The authorities blame infighting within the PMOI for the deaths, and insist no soldiers entered Ashraf.

Those accounts are sharply contested by the PMOI, which charges that Iraqi forces entered the camp, killed 52 of its members and set fire to the group's property and goods.

Last weekend's deaths follow two mortar attacks earlier this year on Camp Liberty in which at least eight people were killed.

Around 3,000 members of the group, which is also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), were moved from Ashraf last year to Liberty, but about 100 stayed on at the old camp to deal with remaining property and goods.

Saddam Hussein allowed the rebel MEK to set up the camp during his war with Iran in the 1980s.

The group was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted him it took up arms against Iran's clerical rulers.

It says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Islamic regime in Iran by peaceful means.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=61186.

Indonesia says it's 'downgraded' Aussie relations

November 20, 2013

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia has "downgraded" its relations with Australia and suspended cooperation on people smuggling following outrage over reported eavesdropping on senior Indonesian leaders' phones, officials said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Australia's Parliament that he would do everything he "reasonably can" to repair relations with Indonesia. Australian Broadcasting Corp. and The Guardian reported Monday that they had documents from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden showing that the top-secret Australian Signals Directorate targeted Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's cellphone and the phones of first lady Kristiani Herawati and eight other government ministers and officials.

Indonesia's intelligence agency chief, Norman Marciano, told reporters Wednesday that he had been assured by Australian intelligence officials that the wiretapping has stopped and will not resume. A spokesman for Australia's top spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, declined to comment on Marciano's claim of such an assurance. The spokesman refused to be named, citing ASIO policy.

Marciano spoke before attending a meeting called by Yudhoyono to discuss the issue with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and Indonesia's recalled ambassador to Australia. Natalegawa said that Indonesia was reviewing bilateral cooperation on issues with its neighbor.

"We have downgraded the level of relations between Indonesia and Australia," he said. "Like a faucet, it is turned down one by one." Yudhoyono told a news conference after the meeting that he expected a formal explanation if Australia wants to maintain good bilateral relations.

"Clearly, I asked for temporary termination of cooperation on intelligence exchanges and information sharing," he said. "I also asked for the termination of joint exercises between Indonesia and Australia, either for army, navy, air force or a combination," he said, adding that the snooping reminded him of the Cold War era.

The termination affects cooperation on the thorny issue of people smuggling between the two countries. Indonesia is a transit country for thousands of asylum seekers hoping to reach Australia's Christmas Island by boat. Many people have died while attempting the dangerous journey, and the immigration issue remains a political hot potato in Australia.

Abbott won elections in September on a promise to stop the asylum seeker boats and is relying on Indonesia's cooperation to achieve this goal. He has also ruled out an apology or explanation on the spying allegations.

On Tuesday, Yudhoyono criticized Abbott for not expressing regret over the spying, which reportedly took place in 2009 under a previous Australian government. In the Australian capital of Canberra on Wednesday, Abbott told Parliament that while he would try to repair relations with Indonesia, he did not "propose to overreact now" to anger over the issue.

"I deeply and sincerely regret the embarrassment that media reports have caused President Yudhoyono, who is a very good friend of Australia, perhaps one of the very best friends that Australia has anywhere in the world," Abbott said. "I do understand how personally hurtful these allegations have been, these reports have been, for him and his family."

"My intention, notwithstanding the difficulties of these days, is to do everything I reasonably can to help to build and strengthen the relationship with Indonesia, which is so important to both our countries," he said.

But Abbott failed to directly answer a question asked by opposition leader Bill Shorten: What progress had been made to restore Australia's relationship with Indonesia? Abbott, however, said he would respond quickly and fully to a letter Yudhoyono told reporters he was writing to the prime minister.

Analysts describe the furor as the lowest point in an often volatile bilateral relationship since 1999, when Australia led a U.N. military force into the former Indonesian province of East Timor following a bloody independence ballot. At that time, Indonesia ripped up a 4-year-old security treaty with Australia. A new treaty has since been signed.

McGuirk reported from Canberra, Australia.

Indonesia recalls ambassador from Australia

November 18, 2013

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recalled his ambassador from Australia on Monday and ordered a review of bilateral cooperation following reports that an Australian security agency attempted to listen to his cellphone in 2009.

Australian Broadcasting Corp. and The Guardian reported Monday that they had documents from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden showing that the Australian agency also targeted the phones of Indonesian first lady Kristiani Herawati and another eight government ministers and officials.

The documents reportedly showed that the Australian Defence Signals Directorate, now the top-secret Australian Signals Directorate, attempted to listen to the president's phone conversations on at least one occasion and tracked activity on the phone for 15 days in August 2009.

The diplomatic spat is the second in less than a month between Indonesia and Australia stemming from Snowden's revelations linking Australia with U.S. espionage. It's an early test for Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's new government, which was elected in September and is anxious to cement ties with it populous near-neighbor before the uncertainty of Indonesian presidential elections next year.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told reporters in Jakarta on Monday afternoon that Yudhoyono had "directly ordered" the ambassador, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, to be recalled. Natalegawa said Indonesia "is very disturbed by this matter."

"This is not a clever thing to do, it's not a smart thing to do," Natalegawa said of the reported spying. "It violates every single decent and legal instrument that I can think of." He said the onus was now on Australia to explain what happened and to make a commitment that it would never happen again.

"In short, it has not been a good day in the Indonesia-Australia relationship," Natalegawa said. He said Kesoema would soon leave the Australian capital of Canberra and fly home. No time frame was given for his return to Australia.

Indonesia's Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs Joko Suyanto said in a statement that all cooperative relationships between the two countries were also under review, as were the postings of Australian officials in Jakarta.

Abbott, who was not in government in 2009, declined to comment on the reports in Parliament. "All governments gather information, and all governments know that every other government gathers information," Abbott said.

"The Australian government uses all the resources at its disposal — including information — to help our friends and our allies, not to harm them," he added. But Bob Carr, Australia's foreign minister until Abbott's coalition won September elections, advised Abbott to assure Yudhoyono that if his phone had been tapped, it wouldn't happen again.

"If the American president can give a guarantee to Angela Merkel of Germany that America won't be overhearing what she says on the phone, then we ought to be able to do it without any trouble to the president of Indonesia," Carr told Nine Network television news.

Second on the target list after the president was his wife, also known as Ani Yudhoyono. Vice President Boediono, who visited Australia last week, was third, and his predecessor, Jusuf Kalla, was fourth. Like many Indonesians, Boediono uses one name.

Also listed was the government's then-foreign spokesman, Dino Patti Djalal, who later became Indonesia's ambassador to Washington. Former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, now a managing director at the World Bank, was also on the list.

Earlier this month, the Indonesian government called in the Australian ambassador for an explanation following reports that the Australian Embassy in Jakarta was a hub for Washington's secret electronic data collection program.

A document from Snowden published last month by the German magazine Der Spiegel describes a signals intelligence program called "Stateroom" in which U.S., British, Australian and Canadian embassies house surveillance equipment to collect electronic communications. Those countries, along with New Zealand, have an intelligence-sharing agreement known as "Five Eyes."

The Australian Embassy in Jakarta was listed as one of the embassies involved in a report from Australia's Fairfax media, along with Australian embassies in Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili in East Timor; and High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

McGuirk reported from Canberra, Australia. Associated Press writer Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.

Indonesia eyes more jet fighters

Jakarta (UPI)
Oct 4, 2013

Indonesia is aiming to create eight new squadrons of fighter aircraft by 2024 as part of military upgrade programs, the head of the air force said.

The Indonesian Defense Force also is set to train more pilots to cope with what could be more than 100 new jet fighters if each squadron has around 16 aircraft, the Jakarta Globe newspaper reported.

"We hope that by 2024 we will have eight squadrons of fighter aircraft," Air Chief Marshal Ida Bagus Putu Dunia said.

He was speaking during a ceremony at the Sultan Hasanuddin Air Force Base in Makassar on Sulawesi Island in which the air force officially received six Russian-made Sukhoi SU-30MK2 fighter aircraft -- the last of a contract for 16 Sukhoi aircraft signed in 2007.

The Jakarta Globe report said each squadron is expected to consist of 16 Sukhoi jets, although the newspaper didn't quote Dunia specifying what the aircraft might be.

Ida said the Sukhoi jets were sophisticated fighter aircraft that offer a high deterrence and will strengthen the Indonesian air force.

The deal on the Sukhois that includes pilot training is for the air force's Squadron 11 at Hasanuddin Air Base in Makassar.

"[We] have a sufficient number of pilots to operate them, but we also are preparing pilots for new fighter aircraft," he said.

In early September the Jakarta Post newspaper reported that the last two Sukhoi fighters had arrived from Russia at the Hasanuddin base in an Antanov An-124 transport aircraft.

The Sukhoi aircraft were in completely knocked-down condition.

"The manufacturer also sent 13 technicians to assemble the aircraft [and] perform a series of tests before handing them over to the government," Hasanuddin base spokesman Maj. Muliadi said at the time.

He said usually it would take a week for the technicians to assemble the aircraft and perform the tests.

Weapons for the aircraft are being procured under separate contracts, he said.

The air force also is looking to replace its old Northrop F-5 Tiger fighter aircraft, Ida said.

"We are looking at our options as it is important to find a more sophisticated replacement," he said.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro confirmed the government's plan to replace its F-5 Tigers, the Jakarta Globe reported.

Yusgiantoro said the military had received a squadron of 16 supersonic advanced trainer T-50 Golden Eagle T-50s -- so-called baby F-16s -- from South Korea at the Iswahyudi Military Air Base in Madiun, on Java Island.

The T-50, which also can be used as a light fighter, was developed by Korea Aerospace Industries and Lockheed Martin and is South Korea's first indigenous supersonic aircraft.

Its maiden flight was in 2002 and it entered service with the Republic of Korea Air Force in 2005.

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Indonesia_eyes_more_jet_fighters_999.html.

Egypt prosecutors interrogate Jazeera team

December 30, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian state security prosecutors interrogated a team of journalists working for Al-Jazeera's English channel Monday a day after they were arrested in Cairo, a security official said Monday.

State security prosecutors usually investigate cases involving national security or terrorism. The official said the journalists from the Qatar-based network were being questioned for broadcasting without permission from a five-star hotel, the Cairo Marriott. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

It was not immediately clear if the team was facing other charges. Egypt has long accused Al-Jazeera of bias in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. But so far its crackdown on the network has mostly targeted its Arabic service and a local branch focusing on Egypt coverage.

The Interior Ministry had said its arrest of the journalists was part of its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood group, which the government branded as a "terrorist" organization last week. The ministry accused one of those arrested, without naming him, of using the hotel suite as a media center for the group from which it broadcast "rumors and false news" and to hold organizational meetings for members of the Brotherhood.

The arrests came as authorities widen its crackdown on the movement. A Cairo court on Monday also sentenced 138 pro-Morsi protesters to two years in prison with labor on charges of rioting and vandalism.

In Washington, Marie Harf, the deputy spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said the United States remains concerned about the interim Egyptian government's Dec. 25 terrorist designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as ongoing detentions and arrests, including for peaceful demonstrators, civil society and political activists.

"We remain deeply concerned about all of the politically motivated arrests, detentions and charges in Egypt," she said Monday. "These actions raise questions about the rule of law being applied impartially and equitably and do not move Egypt's transition forward."

Al-Jazeera network said in a statement that four of its journalists based in Cairo were detained late Sunday, including Australian award-winning correspondent Peter Greste; Al-Jazeera English Bureau Chief Mohammed Fahmy, a producer and a cameraman. The network called their detention "arbitrary", and called for their immediate release.

Al-Jazeera's offices have been stormed several times before. State pressure on the channel has intensified since Egypt's July 3 coup, which followed demonstrations by millions calling for Morsi's ouster.

Al-Jazeera journalists and cameramen have been detained and a court order has barred its local affiliate from broadcasting in Egypt since September, accusing it of endangering national security. The affiliate, Al-Jazeera Mubasher Egypt, has continued to broadcast using its studios in Doha, Qatar, collaborating with freelancers and using amateur videos.

The Al-Jazeera English team kept an office in the hotel for months. The channel's offices were raided this summer and equipment confiscated in late summer as part of a broad state crackdown. In its statement, the network said it was not officially banned in Egypt. "We condemn the arbitrary arrest of Al Jazeera English journalists working in Cairo and demand their immediate and unconditional release," the statement said.

Egypt's military-backed government has accused Al-Jazeera network of bias because its patron, Qatar, is perceived to have supported the Brotherhood, and was one of Morsi's biggest financial backers, injecting billions into the battered economy during his time in office.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Interior Ministry said that the journalists had with them footage and protest materials from university students who staged a demonstration in support of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Meanwhile, riot police clashed with students of the Islamic Al-Azhar University in Cairo, who rallied against the military and in support of Morsi. The government accuses the protesting students of seeking to derail midterm exams. Volleys of tear gas fell inside the campus for the third straight day.

In a new move that appears designed to limit student action, a Cairo court Monday barred university students from protesting without a prior permission from their deans.

Mubarak's sons, PM Ahmed Shafiq acquitted in corruption trial

Dec. 19, 2013

CAIRO, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A criminal court in Cairo Thursday acquitted former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and toppled President Hosni Mubarak's sons of embezzling public funds.

Shafiq and Alaa and Gamal Mubarak were accused of misappropriating funds in the Pilots' Association for Land Development in the 1990s, with Shafiq accused of seizing land belonging to fishing farms and allocating it to the association then selling the land to Mubarak's sons at below-market prices.

Also acquitted were former Air Force Gens. Nabil Shoukry and Mohamed Reda, both former association officials who were defendants with the Mubaraks and Shafiq, Ahram Online reported.

Shafiq, who was tried in absentia, lives in Dubai where he fled after losing the presidential election runoff to the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in 2012. Morsi was ousted this summer by the military.

A verdict in a separate corruption trial against Shafiq was expected to be announced soon.

Alaa and Gamal Mubarak also face separate trials on other corruption-related charges.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/12/19/Mubaraks-sons-PM-Ahmed-Shafiq-acquitted-in-corruption-trial/UPI-14441387460792/.

New protests at Egypt's Al-Azhar university

December 08, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian police fired tear gas Sunday in an attempt to disperse supporters of the country's ousted Islamist president protesting at the dormitories of an Islamic university in Cairo.

Students at Al-Azhar University hurled rocks at the police and tried to block traffic on a major thoroughfare outside the campus in eastern Cairo, a security official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Student Spokesman Mahmoud Salah said the police later left the area, and protesters who had taken cover inside the dorm went out to continue their protest. Salah said the students had lit a fire at the dorm gates to lessen the impact of tear gas fired by the police. He also said a number of students were injured and claimed the police fired shotgun pellets.

The security agencies always deny using them. With the start of the school year in September, Egypt's universities have become the main venue for protests by supporters of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, ousted in a popularly backed military coup in July.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamist group and the one from which Morsi hails, has organized protests, with marches on campuses nearly every day. Many of them have led to clashes with security forces.

But Al-Azhar University, with largely Islamist students, has seen persistent protests against Egypt's military-backed government. Last month, 12 students from the same university were sentenced to 17 years and fined for participating in protests and clashes on the campus. Another 21 students from Al-Azhar were on Sunday referred to trial.

Salah said Sunday's protests were fuelled by the new referral, as well as a crackdown earlier in the day by university security against female protesters. Students also protested Sunday at a university in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, and at Cairo University.

In Mansoura, the students set a police car on fire, another security official said. He too was speaking on condition of anonymity. Authorities have cracked down on Morsi supporters since last summer's coup, widening a net of arrests and legal prosecution to include senior leaders as well as students and protesters.

The crackdown has recently broadened to include other non-Islamist critics of the current authorities, and a new protest law was passed last month that tightly restricts public gatherings and increases penalties for violators.

The trial of three prominent non-Islamist activists referred to court in accordance with the new law on charges of taking part in an illegal protest and assaulting policemen began Sunday. Ahmed Douma, Ahmed Maher and Mohammed Adel were some of the most prominent figures of the 2011 uprising against longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Their referral is the first of activists according to the new protest law.

Defense lawyer Amr Imam said judges booked the case for a verdict on Dec. 22. Besides asking for the defendants' release, the lawyers also said the protest law is unconstitutional for violating the right to free assembly. They asked the court to seek the opinion of the country's constitutional court, Imam said.

Khaled Dawoud, member of the liberal al-Dustour party, said the trial bodes ill for freedom of expression. "I think that today's trial aims at sending a clear message to all activists that the freedoms that the Egyptians have enjoyed after the ouster of Mubarak are no longer allowed," he said. "It's a very negative message that the government is sending to all the activists who fought for freedom" since the 2011 uprising.

Also on Sunday, security officials said the bureau chief of al-Ahram newspaper in the southern city of Assuit was arrested following a complaint by local police. Prosecutors are investigating accusations that Hamada Said "misreported" on a protest in Assuit late last month, by among other things inflating the number of protesters who took part in a pro-Morsi rally and by claiming the police was protecting the rally, held in violation of the new protest law.

Egypt: Police clash with Islamists at Tahrir

December 01, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Police have used heavy tear gas to clear hundreds of supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist president from Cairo's famed Tahrir square shortly after they entered and took over the plaza.

The development, late Sunday afternoon, was the first time in more than a year that Islamists entered the square in significant numbers. The location has been the near exclusive domain of liberal and secular protesters since shortly after Mohammed Morsi took office in June 2012.

The square was the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. That uprising was led by liberal and secular youth groups. Sunday's Islamist protesters came from Cairo University, where they have been protesting the death of an engineering student at the hands of police.

Egypt Islamists rally despite protest law

November 29, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces fired tear gas Friday to disperse hundreds of Islamist demonstrators defying a new protest law that has drawn widespread criticism from the international community and democracy advocates.

Since a popularly backed military coup ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July, his supporters have been staging near-daily protests calling for his reinstatement, with Friday's weekly Muslim prayers a key time for mobilizing their largest numbers. The rallies have often descended into street clashes with security forces or civilians.

In an effort to quash rallies Morsi supporters have managed to sustain despite a sharp security crackdown, authorities adopted the law Sunday, restricting the right to protest. Among other rules, it requires organizers to notify the Interior Ministry three days before holding a protest, while also setting prison terms and high fines for violators.

Since the law was enacted, security forces forcefully dispersed several protests, including one organized by non-Islamist activists. Clashes at a student demonstration left one dead Thursday. The Interior Ministry warned on Thursday that security forces will deal "firmly" with "illegal" protests organized by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group.

Friday's clashes erupted when security forces moved to disperse the scattered protests organized by Islamists across the country. In one western Cairo neighborhood, police fired tear gas as protesters hurled stones and burnt tires, security officials said.

In Cairo's twin city of Giza, residents hurled stones and bottles at Morsi supporters. In the Suez canal city of Suez, army and police fired water cannons to disperse the Islamists. In the industrial city of Mahalla al-Kobra in northern Egypt, police also dispersed protesters.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. Security had been beefed up in the capital in anticipation of the protests, with army and police forces deployed in several main squares, state news agency MENA said.

In one protest in eastern Cairo, Islamists chanted "down with all killers, down with Abdel-Fattah" referring to Egypt's army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the coup against Morsi last July. They also held banners with the outline of a hand raising four fingers, a symbol used to commemorate the violent dispersal by security forces of an Islamist sit-in in mid-August.

Ashraf Abdel Wahab, a demonstrator who came with his wife and eight children to protest in Cairo, said the new protest law would not stop Morsi supporters from marching. "We do not care about the protest law whatsoever," he said. "This is not the first time they attack marches or kill protesters. It's just a cover that they're using."

Syrian opposition group on brink of collapse

January 09, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Two weeks ahead of an international peace conference on Syria, the country's main Western-backed opposition group stands on the brink of collapse, dragged down by outside pressures, infighting and deep disagreements over the basic question of whether to talk to President Bashar Assad.

The crisis in the Syrian National Coalition raises further doubts about the so-called Geneva conference, which is set to open Jan. 22 in Montreux, Switzerland. The prospects for a successful outcome at the talks appear bleak at best: Assad has said he will not hand over power, and the opposition — if it decides to attend — is in no position to force concessions from him.

The U.S. and Russia, which support opposing sides in the conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people, have been trying for months to bring the Syrian government and its opponents to the table for negotiations aimed at ending the war. But with the fighting deadlocked, neither the government nor the rebels showed any interest in compromise, forcing the meeting to be repeatedly postponed.

Now that a date has been set and invitations sent, the decision on whether to attend is placing immense strain on the Coalition. "Geneva is proving to be a road to ruin for the so-called moderate opposition, both the political and military aspects," said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center.

The various competing factions that make up the Coalition are under intense international pressure to attend, Shaikh said, all the while knowing that "if they do, they may very well be entering into a very ill-defined and ill-prepared conference that may not produce anything that they can show to their brethren inside Syria, and further diminish their credibility."

The issue of credibility has haunted the Coalition since its creation just over a year ago. The umbrella group was forged under international pressure for a stronger, more united body to serve as a counterweight to the extremist forces fighting the Assad government.

But the Coalition has never coalesced into the unified and effective leadership outside powers, including the United States and its Arab allies, envisioned, while the rebels and activists inside Syria have accused the opposition-in-exile of being ineffectual and out of touch.

Some of the Coalition's struggles have not been entirely of its own making, and the decision of whether to attend the peace conference has laid bare the group's internal contradictions. The Coalition was never an organic organization that enjoyed broad popular support inside Syria from activists and fighters. Its legitimacy has always flowed from its foreign patrons.

The group could have boosted its credibility with its detractors inside Syria by securing concrete international support — especially weapons — from its allies. But those sponsors routinely balked, fearful that any arms they provided might fall into the hands of the Islamic extremists who have become a dominant force among the armed opposition.

The failure to deliver sapped any goodwill the Coalition might have been able to curry with the fighters, activists and civilians inside Syria. It all began to publicly unravel in September when nearly a dozen of the most prominent rebel factions publicly broke with the coalition and its military wing, the Supreme Military Council. Many more have since followed suit.

Those fighters flatly reject negotiations with the regime. In order to be credible with them, the Coalition must also reject peace talks, but doing so would mean shrugging off the demands of its international allies.

In a sign of how divisive the issue is, the Coalition held five days of meetings over the past week to decide whether to go to Geneva. The gathering descended into chaos, with members storming out in protest. Eventually, the Coalition postponed its decision until at least the middle of next week — less than a week before the peace conference is to begin.

Since then, the number of people who have at least temporarily suspended their membership now stands at 45, said the Coalition's representative in Qatar, Nizar al-Hrakey. "The walkout was a culmination of many misgivings people have had ... for a long time, which have led us to a dead end with the Coalition," al-Hrakey said by telephone from Istanbul. "This includes its operations, its makeup and decision-making process. Last but not least were the disputes over Geneva."

Coalition chief Ahmed al-Jarba sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saying the group would go to Geneva without getting the OK from the Coalition's general council, al-Hrakey said. "This was the straw that broke the camel's back," he said.

Veteran Syrian opposition figure Haitham Manna said he expected the Coalition to splinter ahead of the peace conference. "I always said the Geneva conference will be the end of the Coalition," he said. "The group has an explosive makeup."

Despite the existential threat to the Coalition, its patrons have kept up the pressure to go to Geneva. In Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius pushed for the Coalition to attend, saying the conference was the only hope for creating a transitional government and ultimately ending the fighting.

"We're asking one and all to make an effort to participate," Fabius said. "And then, if Geneva comes together, which we want, there will be a second difficulty, which is to achieve concrete results." As diplomats have maneuvered to try to make Geneva happen, the violence of the war has continued unabated.

On Thursday, a car bomb exploded near a school in the village of al-Kaffat in the central province of Hama, killing at least 17 people, Syria's state news agency said. The explosion occurred amid continuing infighting in northern Syria between rebel brigades and an al-Qaida-linked group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The extremist group has alienated other factions by using brutal tactics to implement its strict interpretation of Islamic law, and by kidnapping and killing of opponents.

A consortium of rebel groups began attacking the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Friday, and weeklong clashes have killed hundreds of people in what has become a war within the war in Syria.

Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

Syria rebels seize al-Qaida base in Aleppo

January 08, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels on Wednesday seized control of a hospital in the northern city of Aleppo that was used as a base for the area by their al-Qaida rivals, activists said.

The capture of the hospital was a boost for the rebels, who only the day before saw 20 of their fighters killed in an al-Qaida suicide car bombing in the northern city of Darkoush, said the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It also underscores the intensity of the rebel infighting that has raged for days between Syrian rebels and their one-time allies, fighters from the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Also in Aleppo, the Observatory said a series of government airstrikes in two rebel-held suburbs late on Tuesday night killed 19 people. There were no further details. The government in Damascus did not comment on the bombings.

The two main rebel camps in Syria fighting against President Bashar Assad's troops — a chaotic array of rebel brigades and the al-Qaida-linked group — turned their guns on each other last Friday. The clashes have since become the most serious rebel infighting since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011.

The rebel-on-rebel fighting began after tensions, which had simmered for months, erupted into the open after reports that the al-Qaida fighters had tortured and killed a popular doctor. It has since spread from the northern province of Aleppo to nearby Idlib and to the province of Raqqa. At least 300 people have been killed in the infighting, said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Observatory.

The clashes add another layer of complexity to the Syrian conflict, less than three weeks ahead of a planned international peace conference to try to resolve the civil war. Syrian rebels seized the hospital in Aleppo's Qadi Askar quarter that the al-Qaida fighters had overrun months ago and used as their main compound or base for the area, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground.

The Observatory said there were reports, still unconfirmed, that dozens of detainees held by the extremists had been freed. One of the most pressing issues in the rebel infighting is the fate of dozens of Syrian and foreign reporters, media activists, aid workers and civilians abducted and held by the al-Qaida fighters since they fanned into the area in March.

There are fears for the fate of the detainees as the fighting rages and as the al-Qaida group seeks to extoll revenge on their rivals. On Tuesday, the Observatory and other groups reported that at least four activists detained in the Aleppo hospital had been killed.

As the rebel infighting continued, so did clashes between Assad's forces and rebels. In Douma, a town close to the Syrian capital of Damascus, three people and a child were killed and several were wounded after a government airstrike targeted a house on Tuesday, reported the Observatory and another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees.

Dramatic footage of the aftermath of the strike was uploaded to social media networks. It corresponded with the Associated Press' reporting of the event. "Be patient, little one, be patient!" a man is seen in one video, calling out to a child who was heard wailing under the rubble of a smashed house. Other men are seen furiously digging to pull out the victims.

Minutes later, a toddler screams as he is seen being pulled out from under the rubble. Another man is seen carrying a dust-covered, lifeless small body to nearby medics who then try to resuscitate the child.

Syrian schools to start teaching Russian as second foreign language next year

Monday, 06 January 2014

The Syrian Ministry of Education has decided to teach Russian as a second foreign language starting from next year. After learning English as a first foreign language in primary school, students will be able to choose between learning Russian and French as a second foreign language from the seventh to the twelfth grades, the ministry announced on its website.

The Syrian Education Minister, Hozan Al-Waz, said: "the ministry has completed all preparations to teach Russian as a second foreign language in a number of schools starting from the next academic year, preparations that included designing the teaching curriculum and recruiting the teachers."

The medium of instruction in Syrian schools is Arabic, the country's official language. English is taught as a first foreign language starting from the first grade, while French is taught as a second foreign language starting from the seventh grade.

Moscow is currently the most prominent ally of President Bashar Al-Assad's regime and has used its "veto power" three times at the UN Security Council to prevent adopting resolutions that condemn the regime in the civil conflict that has been ravaging the country for nearly three years.

The Syrian regime violently confronted a strong protest movement in 2011, which then turned into a bloody conflict claiming the lives of more than 130 000 people according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/9083-syrian-schools-to-start-teaching-russian-as-second-foreign-language-next-year.

Syrian aircraft strike kills 10 in rebel town

January 07, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists say a government airstrike has killed 10 civilians in a rebel-held town in the country's north.

Two activist groups — the Aleppo Media Center and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights — said Tuesday that the dead in the strike on the town of Bzaa included children. The strike happened on Monday. The town of Bzaa lies in a rebel-held area of the northern Aleppo province.

Activists say Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have killed hundreds in bombing of rebel-held areas there in recent weeks. The strike came amid the most serious infighting between Syrian rebels in the north. Activists say rebel-on-rebel clashes intensified Tuesday, as an alliance of opposition brigades tries to rout fighters from an al-Qaida-linked group from the north.

Syrian rebels clash with al-Qaida-linked fighters

January 05, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition fighters battled rival rebels from an al-Qaida-linked faction across parts of northern Syria on Sunday, as deep fissures within the insurgency erupted into some of the most serious and sustained violence between groups opposed to President Bashar Assad since the country's conflict began.

The clashes, which broke out on Friday and have spread to parts of four provinces, pit an array of moderate and ultraconservative Islamist brigades against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an extremist group that has become both feared and resented in parts of opposition-held areas for trying to impose its hardline interpretation of Islam.

The fighting did not appear to be a turn in unison by Syrian rebel groups against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, activists and analysts said, but rather an outburst of violence against the al-Qaida-linked group in certain communities where tensions with other opposition factions were already simmering.

In a reflection of the fragmented and localized nature of much of the fighting in Syria's civil war, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant continued to cooperate with rebel factions against government forces in other parts of the country.

But in some corners of opposition-held northern Syria, the backlash against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been brewing for months. The group, which analysts say boasts more than 5,000 fighters, many of whom are foreigners, elbowed its way into rebel-held areas in the spring, co-opting some weaker armed opposition groups and crushing others as it consolidated its grip on new turf.

That infighting has left scores dead on both sides, and has undermined the broader rebel movement's efforts to oust Assad. It also has strengthened the government's position ahead of an international peace conference for Syria expected in just over two weeks.

For the West, meanwhile, the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as well as another al-Qaida-linked group, the Nusra Front, has been a source of concern, and a major reason that support in Washington and other Western capitals has dwindled in recent months.

Some in northern Syria originally welcomed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant for imposing a degree of order on the villages and towns that fell under its control. But the group alienated many by employing tactics deemed brutal even by the standards of Syria's bloody conflict. Its fighters have beheaded captured government fighters, and kidnapped anti-Assad activists, journalists and civilians seen as critical of its rule.

The latest and most serious bout of infighting began Friday after residents in the northern province of Aleppo accused members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant of killing doctor Hussein Suleiman.

The newly created Islamic Front, an umbrella group of powerful, mostly ultra-conservative Islamic fighters, issued a statement ordering the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to hand over the doctor's killers so they could stand trial. The extremist group did not, sparking clashes between the factions in Aleppo province.

Fighting quickly spread to rebel-held areas of the northeastern province of Idlib and the central province of Hama. On Sunday, the violence expanded again, with clashes in the town of Tabaqa in Raqqa province, said Rami Abdurrahman, the director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

But much of the heaviest fighting Sunday took place in pockets of Aleppo province. In the town of Manbij, rebels seized a compound garrisoned by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, activists said. The Observatory said fighters from the al-Qaida-linked group used car bombs, a tactic usually reserved for attacking government forces, for the first time to defend its territory.

In the town of Tal Rafaat north of Aleppo city, insurgents from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ambushed a rebel convoy, killing at least 14 fighters from the Liwa al-Tawhid brigade, which is a member of the Islamic Front, the Observatory said.

The Observatory's Abdurrahman also reported heavy fighting in the town of Atareb, in several neighborhoods of Aleppo city itself, as well as in areas of Hama and Idlib provinces. In total, at least 59 fighters — nine of them from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — were killed Sunday, according to the Observatory.

The Nusra Front, which despite its al-Qaida-links has more of a Syrian bent and is seen as more moderate than the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has been trying to mediate an end to the clashes, Abdurrahman said.

Some activists hailed the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as a second "revolution," but it seemed unlikely that the battle against the extremist group could unite the constellation of rebel brigades who have failed to forge a unified command over the nearly 3-year conflict against Assad.

While the outburst of fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is certainly significant, its current impact on the trajectory of the broader Syrian conflict is unclear. At the moment, it doesn't appear to have wider repercussions, said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center who closely follows the conflict.

"For now, this simply represents three days of inter-factional fighting with an overtly anti-ISIS foundation," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. "Should ISIS launch a determined counter-attack, then this could come to represent a definitive moment in the Syrian conflict."

"No matter what takes place in the coming days and weeks, ISIS will remain in Syria in some form, and should it be entirely isolated by all other key fighting groups in Syria, it's actions will likely become even more harsh than before," Lister said in emailed comments.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is the rebranded version of al-Qaida's Iraqi affiliate, which emerged in Iraq's Sunni-dominated Anbar province following the 2003-U.S. led invasion of Iraq. Last week, the group's fighters seized control of the key Anbar town of Fallujah, scattering Iraqi government forces. It also claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that targeted a Shiite-dominated Beirut neighborhood.

The Western-backed Syrian opposition in exile has welcomed the fighting against the Islamic State, as it sees the group as hijacking its efforts to overthrow Assad.

Associated Press writers Yasmine Saker and Diaa Hadid contributed to this report.

N. Korea rejects South proposal for family reunions

Seoul (AFP)
Jan 09, 2014

North Korea Thursday rejected a South Korean proposal for resuming reunions for families separated by the Korean War, citing planned South-US military exercises as a major barrier.

The North's main body for inter-Korean affairs said it would like to get the reunions going again, but questioned the South's sincerity.

"How could separated families comfortably meet for a reunion in the face of ceaseless war practices staged in the South?" the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) was quoted as saying by the North's official KCNA news agency.

South Korea and the United States conduct a series of joint military exercises of varying magnitude every year.

The drills are routinely condemned by the North as rehearsals for invasion.

Earlier this week South Korean President Park Geun-Hye had called for a family reunion event to be held around the time of the Lunar New Year on January 31.

In a press conference, Park said the reunion program would provide new momentum to improving ties following years of high tensions.

A reunion had been scheduled for September last year but Pyongyang cancelled it at the last minute, blaming "hostility" from South Korea.

"In contrast to our genuine efforts, press experts and even government officials in the South made rude comments and displayed bad behavior," the CPRK recalled in its message Thursday to the South's Unification Ministry.

Seoul responded by expressing "regret" that Pyongyang had sought to link a humanitarian issue with the regular joint military exercises it conducts with the United States.

"The North should show sincerity through its actions, instead of talking about improving ties only with words," the Unification Ministry said.

Millions of Koreans were left separated by the Korean War, which sealed the peninsula's division. Most have died without having the chance to reunite with family members last seen six decades ago.

The reunion program began in earnest in 2000 following an historic inter-Korean summit.

Sporadic events since then have seen around 17,000 people briefly reunited. The last such meeting took place in late 2010, before the program was suspended in the wake of the North's shelling of the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong.

About 72,000 South Koreans -- nearly half of them aged over 80 -- are still alive and wait-listed for a chance to join the highly competitive reunion events, which select only up to a few hundred participants each time.

In its message on Thursday, the CPRK also mentioned its frustration at the South's unwillingness to discuss "the proposals of our side" for improving cross-border ties.

Pyongyang has sought to link the family reunions to a resumption of South Korean tours to the North's Mount Kumgang resort -- a source of much needed hard currency.

The South suspended the tours in 2008 after a North Korean soldier shot dead a female tourist who strayed into a restricted zone. It insists their resumption should not be discussed alongside the family reunions.

"There is no change in our government's stance that the family reunion and the agenda proposed by the North are separate issues," the Unification Ministry said.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/N_Korea_rejects_South_proposal_for_family_reunions_999.html.

Taiwan gets US submarine-launched missiles: report

Taipei (AFP)
Jan 08, 2014

Taiwan has received the first shipment of anti-ship missiles which it ordered from the United States for its submarines, strengthening their attack capability; a senior official was Wednesday quoted as saying.

Taiwan ordered the Harpoon missiles in 2008 as part of a $6.5 billion arms purchase which sparked strong protests from Beijing.

The island already has Harpoons installed on its frigates and F-16 fighter jets.

The first batch of such missiles for the navy's two Dutch-built submarines has been shipped to Taiwan, the state Central News Agency said, citing a recent report to a closed session of parliament by deputy defense minister Andrew Hsia.

"The missiles will be able to extend the range of the two submarines' striking capabilities, enabling them to launch a pre-emptive attack when necessary," Hsia was quoted as saying.

The report said Taiwan spent Tw$5.9 billion ($194 million) on the missiles, but did not say how many had been bought and the number delivered.

The missile has a range of 150 nautical miles (278 km), nearly ten times the range of torpedoes which are currently the subs' major weaponry.

The defense ministry declined to comment on the report.

The US deal also included advanced interceptor Patriot missiles and Apache attack helicopters.

Taiwan buys weaponry mainly to deter any attack by China. The two sides split in 1949 but China still sees the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification.

Relations have improved markedly since Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan's China-friendly Kuomintang party came to power in 2008 and was re-elected in January 2012.

But China still threatens to invade Taiwan should the island declare formal independence, prompting it to seek more advanced weapons -- largely from the United States.

Source: Sino Daily.
Link: http://www.sinodaily.com/reports/Taiwan_gets_US_submarine-launched_missiles_report_999.html.

Outgoing German defense minister in parting shot at France, Britain

Berlin (AFP)
Jan 08, 2014

Germany's former defense minister on Wednesday took an unusually undiplomatic parting shot at allies France and Britain, saying Berlin had met its responsibilities when it came to overseas military operations.

Thomas de Maiziere, seen as a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, told a military ceremony marking his departure from the ministry that "Germany has no lessons to take from anyone in Europe on how to organize its military interventions. Not even from France or Britain."

"When it comes to international engagements, we have several times been more involved than France," he said in an apparent reference to the Nato-led operation in Afghanistan where Germany contributes the third most troops behind the United States and Britain.

"Germany does its duty, even when the domestic political situation is difficult. No German government has suffered a defeat on a vote to approve military intervention," he added, in a veiled swipe at British Prime Minister David Cameron's defeat in parliament over possible action in Syria.

"I might not have said this when I was minister of defense, but I thought it," he said to applause and laughter from the crowd.

"When I was a serving defense minister, I sometimes had to hold back in what I was saying. Now, I don't have the same impediment," added the politician from Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats.

De Maiziere held the post of defense minister for two and a half years in Merkel's previous coalition government, during which time Berlin sometimes frustrated its traditional allies with an apparent reticence in foreign and defense policy.

This frustration reached its height in 2011 when Berlin abstained in a United Nations vote on international intervention in Libya.

De Maiziere's replacement as defense minister is Ursula von der Leyen -- the first woman to hold the job in the history of Germany -- who is seen as a possible successor to Merkel herself.

De Maiziere has been appointed interior minister in the new Merkel government.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Outgoing_German_defence_minister_in_parting_shot_at_France_Britain_999.html.

Hollande drives for arms deals in Persian Gulf as U.S. power wanes

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UPI)
Jan 7, 2013

French President Francois Hollande is pushing hard to restore Paris' once-thriving defense links with the Persian Gulf monarchies, especially the major military power Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with the aim of securing major arms deals.

He concluded a two-day visit to Riyadh Dec. 31 designed to restore France's diplomatic clout in the strategic, oil-rich region clearly exploiting Saudi Arabia's growing differences with the long-dominant Americans over their refusal to help topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, and the Obama administration's new strategic objective of a rapprochement with Iran, the kingdom's bitter rival for leadership of the region and the Muslim world.

And so far, Hollande's plan seems to be working: Witness the Dec. 29 announcement that Riyadh has pledged $3 billion to buy weapons from France to strengthen Lebanon's military against Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian-backed movement that's helping Assad, a key Iranian ally, hold onto power against Saudi-backed Syrian rebels.

That should be a major shot in the arm for France's defense industry, which has had a lean time in terms of arms deals in recent months.

Dassault Aviation, one of France's major defense contractors, has a lot riding on its efforts to sell 60 Rafale multi-role combat jets to the Emirates, a contract worth upwards of $10 billion.

Dassault has lost out in several big combat fighter contests in recent years, including a $4.5 billion 36-jet deal with Brazil, and is desperate to secure the gulf contract that would be Rafale's first confirmed export sale.

In 2012, Rafale was tipped as the winner in an Indian competition for 126 combat aircraft worth more than $120 billion, but disagreement with New Delhi over the cost of building 108 of them in India has left the whole deal hanging, with no sign of an early resolution.

If the Emirate contract fizzles, Dassault will have to seriously cut back the Rafale production line amid French defense budget reductions.

France slashed its Rafale order in mid-2013, from 11 per year to 26 over six years, and now the assembly line will be threatened if Dassault can't make a big Rafale export sale in the gulf.

"Rafale relies on the French government for its survival, but Paris can no longer afford to shoulder the $2.02 billion-$2.7 billion annual cost of keeping up production," observed British defense analyst Carola Hoyos.

"Ending Rafale's production ... would maim France's military aerospace industry and undermine the diplomatic and military influence it gains from being one of the few countries able to rely entirely on its own equipment."

In December, the Emirates dropped the Eurofighter Typhoon, built by a European consortium headed by Britain's BAE Systems, boosting Rafale's prospects. But Dassault, which has been negotiating with the Emiratis for years, could still lose to Boeing's F/A-18.

"France will pursue its efforts to increase its defense market share in the gulf despite the commercial tensions this will create with its U.S. and U.K. allies," observed Oxford Analytica.

"Defense ties should become stronger as France responds to further requests for security assistance from the gulf states. Yet its quest for renewed diplomatic influence in the region cannot be pursued alone, and will require U.S. and U.K. support."

Restoring defense and trade ties with the gulf has been one of Hollande's priorities since his May 2012 election.

"Hollande's new team was eager to turn the page after the Sarkozy presidency's inconclusive partnership with Qatar and distant relations with the Saudis and the Emiratis," Oxford Analytica noted.

"Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has invested considerable time and energy to fulfill that objective, resulting in a major improvement in ties."

Indeed, Le Drian has visited Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and gas-rich Qatar, which seeks 72 new strike jets and could become a Rafale customer, no less than 13 times since mid-2012. Hollande's visit to Riyadh was his second in a year.

In the 1980s France supplied Saudi Arabia with several frigates and other warships under the Sawari naval program and these now need to be replaced. Paris hopes to secure the contract, worth around $13.8 billion, for six advanced frigates and 5-6 submarines.

France is also hoping to secure a $2.72 billion contract to upgrade the kingdom's air defense system, known as the Mark 3 Program.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Hollande_drives_for_arms_deals_in_Persian_Gulf_as_US_power_wanes_999.html.

C. African Republic leader is subject of summit

January 09, 2014

N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) — The rebel leader-turned-president of Central African Republic is at a regional summit where he's expected to face renewed pressure to step aside less than a year after he seized power.

Michel Djotodia was installed as president after his rebel fighters stormed the capital of Bangui in March. The country has since deteriorated into near anarchy. Violence between Christians and Muslims left more than 1,000 people dead in December, and nearly 1 million have fled their homes in fear.

Djotodia is attending a regional summit Thursday in the Chadian capital along with presidents from Chad, Congo and Gabon. His spokesman has issued a statement denying rumors that Djotodia will step down at the meeting.

Djotodia's critics say he has failed to stem the attacks blamed on his fighters. In a message to the summit, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "'The danger of further upheaval along religious lines is real and poses a long-term danger to the country."

Ban also said that the United Nations intends to establish a commission to "document abuses and human rights violations. Together, we must send a strong message that those committing atrocities will be held accountable."

Associated Press writer Peter James Spielmann contributed from the United Nations.

African migrants march in Israel demanding rights

January 05, 2014

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — About 10,000 African migrants marched in Israel's financial center of Tel Aviv Sunday and gathered in front of City Hall in their largest demonstration yet to demand work rights and better treatment from the Israeli government.

Over the past eight years, roughly 60,000 African migrants, mostly Sudanese and Eritreans, have crossed into Israel from Egypt either to escape war and hardship or to seek work. The influx has placed Israel in a tough situation with many believing that the Jewish state, founded in part as a refuge for Holocaust survivors after World War II, has a responsibility to help the downtrodden, while others fear that taking in so many Africans will threaten the country's Jewish character.

Chanting "we are refugees, we need asylum," the protesters asked the government to allow them to stay. Organizers announced that they have embarked on a three-day strike to protest a crackdown on migrants and called on the government to allow them to work legally.

"This protest is over our rights as human beings. We are not treated like humans," Muttasem Ali from the Darfur region of Sudan said in Hebrew in an interview with Channel 2 TV. Many migrants have found their way to the impoverished neighborhoods of south Tel Aviv. The area has so many migrants that Israelis have renamed it "little Africa" and the influx has caused tension with locals who accuse them of being responsible for rising crime rates.

The government has scrambled to stop the flood of migrants by erecting a fence along the 130-mile (220-kilometer) Egyptian border and a massive detention center in the remote southern desert. The government has offered incentives for them to leave but is unable to deport most of them because they would face harm if they returned to their countries of origin.

Orbital to attempt launch to space station Thursday

Washington (AFP)
Jan 09, 2014

Orbital Sciences Corporation is aiming to launch its unmanned Cygnus cargo ship Thursday on the company's first regular supply mission to the International Space Station.

The decision to go ahead with a launch -- its third attempt -- was confirmed late Wednesday, hours after turbulent space weather caused by potent solar flares forced the delay of a planned liftoff.

The postponement was made over fears that high levels of space radiation from the solar flares might interfere with the Antares rocket's electronics, but those concerns have since been allayed, company officials said.

"Orbital Sciences has confirmed it will proceed with a 1:07 pm (1807 GMT) launch attempt of the Orbital-1 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, Jan. 9, pending closeout of all remaining pre-launch reviews and tests," said a statement.

"Upon a deeper examination of the current space weather environment, Orbital's engineering team, in consultation with NASA, has determined that the risk to launch success is within acceptable limits established at the outset of the Antares program."

Solar flares are bursts of magnetic energy that originate on the Sun, unleashing radiation that can briefly disrupt radio signals, GPS and satellite communications.

However, the radiation from a flare is unable to pass through Earth's atmosphere and therefore cannot harm humans on the ground.

A Thursday liftoff from Wallops Island, Virginia, would allow the cargo ship to reach the ISS by January 12.

Orbital's attempt was previously delayed in December due to a cooling system breakdown at the ISS which required American astronauts to make two spacewalks to replace an ammonia cooling pump.

When the launch finally goes ahead, it will mark the company's first regularly contracted mission and its second trip to the orbiting outpost, coming on the heels of a successful demonstration launch in September.

That mission proved "that the company can reliably carry out regularly scheduled operational missions to the ISS for NASA," said David Thompson, Orbital's chairman and chief executive officer.

Orbital has a contract with NASA worth $1.9 billion for eight cargo resupply missions to the global space lab.

Orbital and SpaceX are two private companies that have stepped in to ensure the United States' ability to reach the ISS, after the retirement of the 30-year space shuttle program in 2011.

SpaceX, owned by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, became the first commercial entity to reach the space station with its Dragon cargo ship in 2012, and has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

Unlike SpaceX's Dragon capsule, Cygnus cannot return to Earth intact, but will burn up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, disposing of any unwanted cargo.

This time around, the Cygnus is saddled with 2,780 pounds (1,260 kilograms) of gear including science experiments, supplies and hardware.

It is ferrying some unusual science experiments for the astronauts aboard the station in cooperation with students back on Earth.

One is an experiment called "Ants in Space" that aims to help students compare the behavior of ants in orbit -- recorded by video cameras at the ISS -- to ants on Earth.

Another is an experiment aimed at helping understand drug-resistant superbugs. It includes 128 test tubes that will measure 38 different concentrations of antibiotic on E. coli bacteria.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Orbital_to_attempt_launch_to_space_station_Thursday_999.html.

NASA extends space station life to 2024

Washington (AFP)
Jan 08, 2014

The $100-billion International Space Station will be extended by four years, or until at least 2024, allowing for more global research and scientific collaboration, NASA said Wednesday.

The orbiting outpost, the largest space lab ever built, was launched to fanfare in 1998 and had been expected to remain in operation until 2020.

"What a tremendous gift the administration has given us to go look at extending this space station," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.

Science on the station ranges from studying drug-resistant bacteria, to probing the origins of the universe, to examining how people may one day venture deeper into space, perhaps to Mars, he said.

"We want to push out beyond low-Earth orbit. We are going to have to use this small foothold called the International Space Station to go do that. This is our only opportunity."

The station has more living space than a six-bedroom house and comes complete with Internet access, a gym, two bathrooms and a 360-degree bay window offering spectacular views of Earth.

Partnering agencies are NASA, the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The entire structure of the ISS is made up of various working and sleeping modules, and extends the length of a football field (357 feet, 109 meters), making it four times bigger than the Russian space station Mir and about five times as large as the US Skylab.

Although it is near-weightless in space, the space station has a mass of 924,739 pounds (420,000 kilograms).

It is maintained by a rotating crew of six astronauts and cosmonauts who have hailed from 14 countries, NASA said.

"People love the International Space Station," said David Weaver, NASA's associate administrator for the Office of Communications.

He said this is the second time the life of the station had been extended under the administration of President Barack Obama, and was done based on the science promise that could come from more years in orbit.

"We need a longer planning horizon than we currently have," Weaver said.

Gerstenmaier said the decision to extend goes until "at least 2024," and noted "the hardware can last to 2028."

From the US perspective, he said, the decision would not require any immediate funds or Congressional approval, since the NASA budget has already allowed for ISS activity through 2020.

Funds that were to be used for de-commissioning the station after 2020 will be reapplied for the extension of its life, he said.

The NASA announcement was not immediately echoed by the other global space agencies that are engaged with the ISS, and Gerstenmaier said that might take time.

"This really isn't a US-only decision. We have talked to our partners about this," he said.

"They want to go forward with this, it is just working through the government approval, through their individual groups to get where they want to be."

Gerstenmaier said the costs of maintaining and servicing the station are about three billion dollars per year.

Asked what would happen if other space agencies were unable to contribute, he said: "We are prepared to do what we have to do in case the partners need to take a different path."

Astronauts and cosmonauts currently gain access to the lab by launching three at a time aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The Americans' ability to reach the lab ended in 2011 with the retirement of the 30-year space shuttle program.

However, US companies SpaceX and Orbital Sciences have since succeeded in sending unmanned cargo capsules to the outpost, and new US crew ships are expected to launch in 2017.

The aging structure requires regular maintenance, which is done by astronauts who don spacesuits and venture outside the lab.

One such repair was completed on Christmas Eve when two Americans stepped out to replace a failed ammonia pump that served to cool equipment at the ISS.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/NASA_extends_space_station_life_to_2024_999.html.

Political swipes in India show rape a voter issue

January 07, 2014

NEW DELHI (AP) — The 16-year-old reported that she had been gang raped, only to be raped again by the same men the next day and later threatened for going to the police in eastern India. By the time charges were filed more than two months later, she had been set on fire and died from her injuries.

The girl's death on New Year's Eve in West Bengal came more than a year after a deadly gang rape in New Delhi raised awareness and outrage over chronic sexual violence in India and government failures to protect women. The New Delhi rape was considered a major reason for why voters ousted the capital's government last month, and a furious response to the West Bengal case suggests that with general elections just months away, politicians are anxious to impress voters who are demanding that women's safety become a police priority.

The teen's family, allegedly run out of town by her assailants, accuses police of trying to cover up the crimes. Improving sensitivity by police officers and medical workers is crucial to improving women's safety in this country of 1.2 billion, activists say. Even as the government has promised to improve justice for rape victims, some trying to report sexual crimes have said they were harassed by officers making lewd comments, demanding bribes or simply shooing them away.

The girl reported being gang raped on Oct. 25 and 26, but Kolkata police did not arrest anyone until the girl ended up in a hospital Dec. 23 with severe burn injuries. Doctors then determined she was pregnant. Police initially told reporters she had attempted suicide, but the girl's family disputed that, saying she was set on fire by associates of those who had gang raped her.

After the girl's death led to a public uproar, police arrested and charged six suspects in the gang rapes and another two accused by the girl of setting her alight. A fast-track court will hold a first hearing in the both cases Jan. 15. Meanwhile, a forensic laboratory is determining the age of the girl's fetus in order to establish whether she became pregnant from the rapes.

The case has reinforced the widespread view in India that police are a major part of India's chronic problem with sexual violence. Massive protests erupted in Kolkata, with critics including artists, rights activists and opposition politicians saying authorities ignored the family's complaints of harassment and moved too slowly to arrest the suspects.

Critics question why police filed a case over the first reported gang rape, but not the second. Both the opposition and the girl's taxi driver father are demanding that federal investigators take over the case.

"The fact that politicians and public figures are speaking in such strong terms is surprising," said Abhilasha Kumari, a New Delhi-based sociologist and women's right's activist. "Historically, the concerns of women have never mattered much to the political community, but in the past year safety and security of women have become a political issue, and it will be even more so now with elections coming."

The girl's family accused police of trying to cover up the crimes, and even of hijacking the hearse carrying his daughter's body in an attempt to take it for cremation against the family's wishes. A street brawl broke out as opposition supporters tried to block police from taking the body from the mortuary, where protesters had planned a rally to criticize a lack of sensitivity by authorities.

Police said they had taken the highly unusual step of seizing the body in an attempt to help the family during a difficult time and to spare the city any more upset from the case. The incident shocked Bengalis. Filmmaker Aparna Sen said she was "devastated." The girl's remains were eventually cremated Wednesday night with the family's consent.

"Those who have gang raped my daughter should be given death penalty," the grieving father told reporters last week after meeting with the state's governor to complain about a "tyrannical" police response. Neither the girl nor her father is being named by Indian media under laws guarding the identity of rape victims.

The father said police threatened him, demanding that he leave the state or else have his taxi business shut down. West Bengal's government, led by a woman chief minister, has said little about the case apart from defending its response.

Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra pledged financial aid for the family and reiterated "our commitment for zero tolerance to attacks on women." The state's urban development minister accused critics of politicizing a tragedy. "The state government has taken appropriate action in the case," Firhad Hakim said.

The nationwide outcry over the 2012 gang rape in New Delhi led the federal government to rush legislation doubling prison terms for rapists to 20 years and criminalizing voyeurism, stalking, acid attacks and the trafficking of women. The law also makes it a crime for officers to refuse to open cases.

But the same gang rape case helped bring down New Delhi's local government in a ballot last month, with many Delhiites questioning how a so-called "fast-track" court took more than seven months to deliver a guilty verdict.

Police in Mumbai earned praise for quickly rounding up five teenagers accused of raping a photojournalist within a day of her reporting the attack, but the death of the girl in West Bengal stoked public demands that police be held accountable for their response to sexual violence.

"The girl should have been protected, and since there was no protection she was raped again and subsequently killed," said Mamta Sharma, chairwoman of the National Commission for Women. "The public anger on the incident is genuine. All parents want to see their daughters are safe," independent Kolkata political analyst Subir Bhowmik said. "The government wants to show that they are not at fault and working for the people. Opposition parties also want to reap benefit from this issue."

Some activists warn that political posturing could harm efforts to improve women's safety by turning particularly savage cases like the one in West Bengal into opportunities for media hounds and voyeurs.

Little publicity was given to the case in the weeks after the girl reported being gang raped in October and left in a field near her home in the Madhyamgram suburb of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta. A day later, while returning with her parents from reporting the crime to police, her family said she was abducted by the same men and gang raped again before being left unconscious by railway tracks.

When the family fled to a new home in another suburb called Dum Dum, they said they were visited on Dec. 23 by associates of the girl's attackers and threatened with violence if they didn't withdraw their police complaint. Later that day, the girl was set on fire in her home. She died from her injuries on Dec. 31.

"The West Bengal government is responsible for inaction, but the opposition is equally insensitive in terms of politicizing the rape of a child," said Ranjana Kumari, a women's activist with the Center for Social Research. "We need all parties to set politics aside and address an issue that affects us all."

Associated Press Writer Manik Banerjee contributed to this report from Kolkata.