Bangladesh Islamist leader sentenced to hang for war crimes

By Kamrul Khan (AFP)
October 29, 2014

A Bangladesh court on Wednesday sentenced to death the leader of the country's largest Islamist party for war crimes, a long-awaited verdict that triggered violent protests by his supporters.

The war crimes tribunal found Motiur Rahman Nizami, head of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, guilty of mass murder, rape and looting during Bangladesh's war of independence against Pakistan in 1971.

Head judge Enayetur Rahim sentenced Nizami to "hang by the neck until his death" for orchestrating the killing of doctors, intellectuals and others during the conflict as head of a ruthless militia.

"It's a historic verdict," chief prosecutor Haider Ali told reporters outside the packed and heavily guarded court in Dhaka.

Ali said Nizami, Jamaat's leader since 2000 and a minister in a former Jamaat-allied government, led the notorious Al-Badr militia "which took part in many heinous crimes".

Security was tightened across Bangladesh before the ruling after similar judgments against several of Nizami's senior lieutenants plunged the country into one of its worst crises last year.

Jamaat supporters took to the streets in cities and towns to protest against the latest sentence, clashing with police and border guards, but it was quiet in the capital.

Around 1,000 Jamaat activists hurled small bombs at officers who fired rubber bullets and tear gas in response in the northwestern town of Shibganj, police inspector Abdus Sabur Khan told AFP, adding that about a dozen people were injured.

Police also fired rubber bullets and tear gas in the northeastern city of Sylhet to disperse demonstrators, while smaller clashes and protests were reported in more than a dozen other towns and cities.

Jamaat, more than a dozen of whose leaders are being tried for war crimes, called a three-day nationwide strike starting Thursday, saying it was "stunned" by the verdict.

Junior home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said "all sorts of security measures" had been taken across Bangladesh including the deployment of extra police, amid fears the sentence could unleash a new round of bloodletting.

Tens of thousands of Jamaat supporters fought with police and more than 500 people died in the earlier unrest and in subsequent political violence ahead of disputed polls in January.

- Death hit list -

Nizami at the time of the war was leader of the Islami Chhatra Sangha, what was then the student wing of Jamaat. Prosecutors say he turned it into the Al-Badr pro-Pakistani militia which killed professors, writers, doctors and journalists.

The aim was to make the fledgling nation an "intellectual cripple", prosecutor Mohammad Ali said before the verdict.

"When it was clear Pakistan was losing the war, as the chief commander of Al-Badr he ordered a 'hit list' based on which top intellectuals were abducted and killed," he said.

Nizami is already on death row after being sentenced to hang in January for trafficking weapons and trying to ship them to a rebel group in northeast India.

Nizami's defense lawyer vowed to appeal the sentence in the Supreme Court, saying his client was being pursued as part of a government witch-hunt against its opponents.

"It's an unacceptable judgment. The court ruled beyond its jurisdiction. There was no evidence that anyone saw him killing," lawyer Tajul Islam said.

Law minister Syed Anisul Haque said "the government is satisfied" with the sentence, and he would push to have Nizami's likely appeal hearing heard quickly.

Since it was established by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government in 2010, the International Crimes Tribunal has sentenced around a dozen opposition leaders for war crimes.

Rights groups have criticized the trials, saying they fall short of international standards and lack any international oversight.

The secular government maintains the trials are needed to heal the wounds of the conflict, which it says left three million people dead.

Independent researchers estimate that between 300,000 and 500,000 people died in the 1971 war.

Azerbaijan downs helicopter in Nagorno-Karabakh

November 13, 2014

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — The armed forces of Azerbaijan shot down and destroyed an Armenian military helicopter in the Nagorno-Karabakh region on Wednesday, the defense ministries of both countries said.

The incident threatened to set off another cycle of violence between the two South Caucasus neighbors over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but along with some surrounding territory has been under the control of Armenian soldiers and local Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire.

"This is an unprecedented escalation, and the consequences for the Azerbaijani side will be painful," Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Ovannisian told The Associated Press. Azerbaijan said its forces shot down the Russian-made Mi-24 helicopter gunship after it tried to attack its positions.

Nagorno-Karabakh said the helicopter belonged to its armed forces and was on a training flight near the cease-fire line. All three crew members on board were killed, a high-ranking officer with the Nagorno-Karabakh forces told the AP. The officer was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

There have been sporadic clashes in the two decades since the cease-fire ended a six-year war, but tensions rose sharply over the summer and 19 soldiers were killed in multiple confrontations. Last month, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia met in Paris with French President Francois Hollande in an effort to ease tensions. But years of diplomatic efforts under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have made little visible progress in resolving the dispute.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry denounced the Azerbaijani action as a "criminal provocation." ''The Azerbaijani side is grossly violating the commitments on the peaceful resolution of the conflict reached during the recent summits," it said in a statement.

The U.S. State Department denounced the incident as well. "Today's events are yet another reminder of the need to redouble efforts on a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including reducing tensions and respecting the cease-fire," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Washington and Associated Press writer Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, contributed to this report.

Turkish PM criticizes opposition for its silence over Al-Assad's crimes

Monday, 10 November 2014 

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu criticized on Sunday the Turkish opposition for its silence over Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's war crimes, Anadolu news agency reported.

Davutoğlu, who is also the head of the Turkey's Justice and Development Party, was speaking in front a gathering of his party's supporters in Ankara.

Criticizing Turkey's main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party, Anadolu quoted the prime minister as saying that when Al-Assad killed the Syrian people using chemical weapons and Scud missiles, Kilicdaroglu remained silent.

Davutoğlu continued his verbal attack by pointing out that when the attack against Kobani happened, Kilicdaroglu suddenly said "We have to interfere," even though he does not even know where it is located on the map. Davutoğlu described him of losing "just balance," in his mind, what helps us to differentiate between the oppressed and oppressor.

Kilicdaroglu suggested that the Turkish parliament should issue a separate mandate for Turkish military action in Kobani. "Are we going to issue a separate mandate for each province or district? It's such a ridiculous proposal," Davutoğlu remarked.

The prime minister also criticized the opposition Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), whose leader Salahuddin Damirtash and most members are Kurds.

According to Davutoğlu, the BDP leader has not said a word regarding Al-Assad's killing of Syrians over the last four years. Giving an example, he said that when the Syrian Kurds invaded the village of Al-Hasakah and reportedly caused a massacre, Damirtash did not comment because he belongs to the same ideology. However, when Kobani was attacked, suddenly he raised his voice.

The prime minister said that his party came to power in Turkey to care for all humans.

He stressed that they take a stance against the oppressor, whoever he is and whatever his faith, as well as stand beside the oppressed no matter what. "The party is entrusted to protect the human with its soul, mind and descendants," he said.

Source: Middle East Monitor.

Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/15188-turkish-pm-criticises-opposition-for-its-silence-over-al-assads-crimes.

19-year-old fighter from Kobani buried in Turkey

November 08, 2014

SURUC, Turkey (AP) — It was an easy decision to make. Barely out of school, Perwin Mustafa Dihap wanted to follow in the footsteps of three of her older siblings and go to war. Before long, she was on the front line in the Kurdish Syrian city of Kobani, her hometown on the Turkish border besieged on three sides by extremists from the Islamic State group.

Just two months later, the 19-year-old lay dying in a hospital across the border in Turkey, wounded in an Oct. 6 mortar attack on her position in the city. The doctor told her family the young woman's chances were slim, despite her surviving a five-hour operation. Yet Dihap still held out hope.

"We went to the hospital ... and I asked her how she was doing, and she said: 'Don't worry about me. If I get better, I will go back to fight again,'" said her 34-year-old brother, Kemal Mustafa Dihap.

But she didn't get better. As her condition deteriorated, doctors transferred her to two other hospitals in larger Turkish towns in an effort to save her. In the last two days, she was too weak to speak. Dihap died in the early hours of Nov. 5.

"Even though she was really young, she was really brave and strong," her brother said, swallowing hard to keep his emotions in check as he stood outside the morgue in the Turkish border town of Suruc.

He, his mother and his siblings waited to accompany his little sister's coffin to the nearby cemetery where many of the Kurds who die fighting in Kobani are being buried. The framed photographs they carried showed a fresh-faced young woman in uniform, a wisp of her brown hair crossing her forehead, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

Dihap, the youngest of originally 12 children, was buried alongside Emina Mahmoud, believed to be 22, during a joint funeral. Like many Kurds killed in Kobani, Mahmoud's family had not been traced in time for the ceremony.

The two were among hundreds of women fighting in the Women's Protection Units, or YPJ. Kurdish women have fought alongside men for decades in a guerrilla war seeking an independent Kurdistan that would encompass parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

After six months of basic training, Dihap was initially assigned to the police force, said her mother, Fatma Isa Dihap. But the girl insisted she wanted to be in the thick of battle. Their town had come under an intense assault by IS fighters in mid-September, with the extremists taking over parts of the city in fierce battles with Kurdish fighters. A U.S.-led coalition is now carrying out airstrikes against IS positions in and around Kobani.

About 200,000 people have fled into neighboring Turkey, which borders the north side of Kobani. It was Dihap's mother who took her to join up. Two of her other children were already fighters: a son in the battle for Kobani and a daughter fighting in the Syrian region of Afrin, near Aleppo.

"I took her to the comrades and told them: 'I present my daughter to Kurdistan,'" she said. It was a sacrifice she was prepared to bear despite already having buried three of her children, explained her son Kemal. One of her sons was killed in 1996 fighting in the Kurdish guerrilla war, another was killed in a car crash and a third accidentally drowned.

"I am happy and I am proud of my daughter; she is the martyr of Kurdistan and Kobani," said Dihap as she prepared to bury her youngest child. Cheering defiantly and ululating for her daughter outside the morgue and at the cemetery, the mother finally broke down when the coffin arrived at the gravesite.

"Perwin!" she cried, as her daughter's shrouded body was lifted out of her wooden coffin and placed in her grave.

Mohammed Rasool in Suruc, Turkey, contributed.

Istanbul hosts Turkey's largest book fair

07 November 2014 Friday

Turkey’s biggest international book fair will start in Istanbul on Saturday.

The Tuyap Fair in Beylikduzu will run with the theme of ‘100 years of Turkish cinema.’

This year, the 33rd International Istanbul Book Fair will witness over 850 publishers from all over the world, plus panels, seminars and workshops among a total of 270 activities.

As the fair commemorates the centennial of Turkish cinema, this year’s honorary writer will be author and movie critic Atilla Dorsay.

The state of Hungary will be the honorary ‘guest’ of the event which will host prominent Hungarian writers such as Peter Esterhazy, Laszlo Darvas and Dora Csanyi.

The book fair also will bring together 40 foreign writers and scriptwriters such as Polish author Janusz Glowacki, movie critic and history writer Philip Kemp and novelist Tess Gerritsen.

Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his works will be commemorated at an event organized by the Embassy of Colombia in Ankara on November 15.

The fair can be visited between 10.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. every day until November 16. As in previous years, the fair will be free for students and teachers, while the entrance for other visitors will be 5 Turkish Lira.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/147924/istanbul-hosts-turkeys-largest-book-fair.

Turkey, Turkmenistan ties to flourish: Turkish President

07 November 2014 Friday

The already-close ties between Turkey and Turkmenistan will continue to flourish, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

Speaking to the press before starting face-to-face talks with his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Erdogan drew attention to the number of important projects Turkish construction companies are carrying out in Turkmenistan.

He added that relations will also develop in trade, culture and tourism.

Erdogan was welcomed by Berdimuhamedow with an official ceremony on Friday. Turkmenistan is the first Central Asian country Erdogan has visited as president.

"Turkey and Turkmenistan have common stances for establishing global peace and prosperity," Berdimuhamedow said, mentioning that the economic ties between the two countries enrich historic fraternity between Turkish and Turkmen nations.

The two nations also enjoy strong relations in terms of trade and investment, with about 600 Turkish companies registered in the country with more than $34 billion in contract work.

The trade volume between the two countries reached $2.6 billion in 2013.

Energy trade between Turkmenistan and Turkey also has great potential as the former holds some 10 to 12 percent of proven natural gas reserves in the world.

Turkey could have an important role in delivering Turkmen gas into the European market, if the country were to begin gas exports to Turkey.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/147901/turkey-turkmenistan-ties-to-flourish-turkish-president.

Istanbul protesters furious over Israel's Al-Aqsa raid

07 November 2014 Friday

Pro-Palestinian activists chanted slogans and raised flags following Friday prayers in Istanbul as part of nationwide protests over an Israeli security forces raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.

Around 1,000 protesters gathered in the yard of Istanbul's Fatih Mosque, condemning what they called "Zionist aggression on the holy temple."

Israeli security forces had raided the Jerusalem mosque and fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets Wednesday following clashes with Palestinian protesters. The mosque is located on a site holy to both Jews and Muslims in the divided city.

Addressing the crowd, Turkish newspaper columnist Abdurrahman Dilipak described the Israeli forces’ actions as “violent, crazy and hazardous.”

Tension was already high in East Jerusalem due to the closure of the Al-Aqsa compound to Palestinians after an extremist rabbi, who had called for the compound to be liberated from "Islamic occupation," was shot and wounded.

Palestinians were further outraged as Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian man who was claimed to have been been a suspect in the shooting.

Wednesday's raid was first since 1967, when the Israeli army occupied the city.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the incursion as "barbaric."

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews refer to the area as the ‘Temple Mount,’ claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Demonstrations against the incursion also took place in many other Turkish provinces led by NGOs and activist groups in solidarity with Palestine.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/147923/istanbul-protesters-furious-over-israels-al-aqsa-raid.

Erdogan terms Israeli attack on al-Aqsa 'unforgivable'

07 November 2014 Friday

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel on Friday for storming the third holiest site in Islam, the al-Aqsa mosque, in Jerusalem recently.

He made the remarks during his official visit to Turkmenistan.

Erdogan termed the Israeli attack "unforgivable" and said the mosque belonged not just to the Palestinians, but the entire Muslim world.

Israeli security forces and a large number of Jewish settlers had stormed the mosque Wednesday. Eyewitnesses at the time said the security personnel shot rubber bullets at worshipers and students which left scores injured.

The violence came in the aftermath of calls made by several extremist Jewish groups to storm the mosque when Rabbi Yehuda Glick was attacked a week ago.

Al-Aqsa represents Islam's third holiest site, while Jews refer to the same area as the Temple Mount, which they consider as the site of two ancient Jewish temples.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/147926/erdogan-terms-israeli-attack-on-al-aqsa-unforgivable.

Istanbul marks 100th year of Turkish women in academia

06 November 2014 Thursday

A three-day event began in Istanbul on Thursday to mark the 100th anniversary of women’s involvement in the country’s universities – at a time when more women work in academia here than in the U.S. or U.K.

The 'Times Higher Education Report 2013' says that Turkey's academic representation of women at universities is 47.5 percent; this number falls to 35.9 percent for the United States and 34.6 percent for the U.K.

In Turkey, over 56,000 women are currently working in different levels of academia, compared to more than 76,700 men.

This is according to the organizers of today’s symposium, which claims that representation is just the first step to equality.

Curator of the Women's Museum Istanbul, Meral Akkent says: "Equality cannot be provided only with representation. It is also important where these women academics are represented.

“The statistics panel in our exhibition (as part of the symposium) points out at which academic levels women are not represented," she adds.

When asked what progress Turkish women have made in universities after 100 years, Akkent quotes the memoirs of a male student from the last century.

"When Inas Darulfunun (the Girl's University of the Ottoman Empire) was closed due to the economic crisis after the First World War and when co-ed education had started, some of the male professors had openly proclaimed that they did not take the girl students seriously, a boy called Macit Gokberk from those classes recalls," she says.

However, although the country became one of the last nations to allow women to take institutionalized university courses, in 1914, the TES report's gender equality rates show that Turkey has not become 'not the least.'

The first Muslim girls' university, Inas Darulfunun, was established in 1914 in Istanbul with departments for literature, mathematics and science.

U.S. women were allowed to register in universities in 1833. The U.K. followed suit 16 years later.

Inas Darulfunun offered courses in Istanbul's Beyazit district, taught by the same teachers but at different times and separately from male students.

Before then, girls had to wait for many years to be taught in institutionalized schools or universities.

The Ottoman education system had used the 'madrasa' system until 1838.

After this period, the Ottomans switched to the Westernized model, where all parts of the education system were separated into certain institutions. Primary schools called 'iptidaiyah', and 'rushtiyah', meaning secondary schools, were established in 1839 but again teaching boys only, says Professor Ali Arslan, head of the History Department of Istanbul University.

In 1845, the idea of building the 'Darulfunun' for males, the first institutionalized university of the Ottoman period – today's Istanbul University – came about, but would be not realized for another 24 years.

However in 1858, the first rustiyahs were opened for girls, who came from co-ed primary schools and had now the chance to gain a secondary school diploma, but still none were able to attend a high school or university, Arslan notes.

The situation started to change when Darulfunun was permanently opened by the Ottoman Emperor Abdulhamit II in 1900, and when high schools for girls were opened too.

'Darulmuallimat', which opened in 1870 to teach girls at high-school level to become teachers for the lower girls schools, was quite active, with 20 graduates in its first year – the first female officials in Turkish education history, Arslan says.

Towards the end of 1920 and the beginning of 1921, co-ed education was legalized by the Ottoman Empire.

"Inas Darulfunun is actually a symbol school of higher education for girls. It is the biggest step of the Committee of Union and Progress took directly for the sake of girls' education, which became the model for countries where girls were not allowed to get a university education," Professor Arslan says.

"There was a huge gap between the number of entering students and graduating ones as the education was quite heavy in Inas Darulfunun.

“When considering this, a married woman's chance of attending courses and graduating was low. Therefore, the regulations of the university did not allow married women to enter," Arslan says.

One hundred years later, and organized by Sabanci University Gender and Women's Studies Forum and Women's Museum Istanbul, today’s symposium will address this milestone anniversary of Turkish women at university with international discussions on further developing policies on providing gender equality.

An exhibition as part of the symposium will also be held at Consulate General of Greece in Istanbul until December 21, introducing Turkish women activists who contributed to women's education throughout the foundation of Inas Darulfunun.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/147889/istanbul-marks-100th-year-of-turkish-women-in-academia.

Headscarf protests resume in Turkey

Pinar Tremblay
September 16, 2014

On Sept. 7, a group of conservative women and men brought together by a nongovernmental organization called Ozgur-Der (Freedom Association) held a protest at Sarachane Park in Istanbul. Some of the protesters were as young as 13 and almost all women wore headscarves. Their quest: freedom to wear the headscarf at any school level. Their slogans read: “New Turkey with old and constraining laws,” “Why can't I attend whichever school I prefer?” “Children are ours, not the state’s” and “Right to wear a headscarf now and everywhere.”

The headscarf has been a sore, highly politicized subject in Turkish politics for the last two decades. Hijabis — the women who prefer to wear the headscarf — suffered years of discrimination in higher education and government employment. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has campaigned intensively since its establishment in 2001 against any ban that would limit Islamic freedoms, and the hijab was at the top of the list. In October 2013, a new law allowed women to wear the headscarf anywhere, except for certain professions with a uniform, such as police officers, soldiers or judges. It was a major accomplishment for hijabis. For the rest of the country, it was assumed that the headscarf would no longer divide the Turkish electorate.

Before the headscarf freedom law, in November 2012, another regulation allowed public school students some freedom of dress. Previously, all students from the first through the 12th grade had to wear a uniform; the November 2012 regulation eliminated this requirement for all public schools. In terms of allowing head coverings, the regulation was less far-reaching, suggesting that girls be allowed to cover their heads only at religious Imam Hatip high schools and during elective Quran classes. This angered many conservatives who felt the regulation did not go far enough in allowing the use of the headscarf. Ozgur-Der’s statement, read by its director Ridvan Kaya, was particularly harsh. Kaya said, “We warn the AKP and the Ministry of Education not to take steps against our beliefs and identity, including bans and coercive regulations in the name of expanding freedoms in this or that area. Our beliefs and identity are non-negotiable. Freedom of religion is a bleeding wound of this country.”

Kaya made a crucial point: “Partial solutions will not resolve issues related to freedom.”

Public schools are allowed to determine their own appropriate dress codes. Most parents at the protest complained that their daughters are told to go to Imam Hatip schools if they prefer to wear the headscarf. The students are left at the mercy of the school administrators. If the administrator chooses not to protest, the girls can cover their heads. If the administrator enforces a strict “no hijab” policy, the girls either have to find a new school or remove their headscarf. This ambiguity leads to further victimization on both sides. In some cases, administrators who enforce these ambiguous rules are punished as well. For example, in March 2011, three administrators had asked a student to remove her headscarf to take the university entrance exam. The girl removed her headscarf but later sued the administrators, and the courts decided the administrators had abused their power. The sentence was five months' jail time.

Can a secular country allow public school students to wear religious symbols and observe their religious values? In France, headscarves have been banned in public schools since 2004. Can the Turkish Ministry of Education exempt a Jewish student from attending class during the Yom Kippur holiday? Can students be allowed to wear a cross, Star of David, takke or kippah? Observant Muslims believe a girl reaching puberty must wear the hijab.

Seyma, a 15-year-old tenth-grader, told Al-Monitor, “I attend a private school. My mother is a hijabi but not my older sister. Once the hijab was legal and some of our teachers wore it, I wanted to wear it. I wear a hijab in the colors of my school uniform. In my school the policy against hijab is 'Don't ask, don't tell.'” Seyma’s mother, Ayse Akturk, told Al-Monitor, “After Seyma wore the headscarf, everyone thought I forced her. I had not forced her older sister. Why would I force Seyma? There is no coercion in Islam. We are respectful of personal differences.”

Both Seyma and her mother are well aware that the situation is difficult. Seyma’s older sister, Sena, told Al-Monitor, “I went to a public high school. There were only a few hijabis. They would have to remove their headscarf before entering the school. Even after October 2013, when the bans were lifted for teachers, students were told they could not attend the classes with a headscarf.”

Allowing minors to wear hijab is a tricky issue, and the government has chosen a gradual approach in which the public will be eased into having hijabis in elementary and high schools. Secular parties choose to ignore the issue, because it's a lose-lose situation for them. If they oppose the right of minors to wear the headscarf, they will be labeled as the enemy of Islam and against personal freedoms. In 2010, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the chairman of the Republican People’s Party, said, “The headscarf may not be allowed for elementary or high school students. There are certain dress codes we all have to obey, just like a parliamentarian cannot attend a session in the parliament without a tie. We all must abide.” His words were used in conservative neighborhoods during political campaigns since 2010 to convince these voters that if it were not for the AKP, hijabis would not be welcome in public life.

However, if secular parties support the hijab for minors, they will alienate their own base. There is strong fear that minors from secular families — being more susceptible to school or peer pressure — will be coerced or convinced to wear the hijab. After all, conservative Muslim demands do not end there. There have already been requests for gender segregation for classes, complaints about girls and boys using the same stairs and cafeterias from the conservative sectors of society. On Sept. 15, Education Minister Nabi Avci made headlines with his attempt to clarify the confusion of whether Islamic worship is now a requirement in schools. Naci said, “Not all schools are required to have worship areas, just the ones that have a demand for a worship area are allowed to have it.”

The issue of the hijab for minors may not be present in the daily rhetoric of any political party. But the public debate is intense and continuous. One can find hundreds of comments on online public forums and over social media. Conservative media outlets frequently report about young victims of discrimination over the hijab, keeping the issue alive for these communities. These outlets complain that pro-AKP newspapers deliberately choose to ignore the suffering of these young girls.

Ambiguous democratization packages — the AKP’s most prized accomplishments — are indeed causing suffering for both the Islamic and the secular segments of society. The AKP has failed to guarantee freedom for everyone, handing out rights as rewards to certain sectors of society. The Turkish public is now brought to a juncture where it will decide if religious rights are more important than other human rights, and if so, which religion’s rights are the most important. While an Alevi 15-year-old is coerced into attending religion classes, her Sunni classmate is forced to remove her headscarf. Who benefits from their suffering?

Source: al-Monitor.
Link: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/turkey-headscarves-protestes-resumes-education.html.

Albanian premier wraps up 2-day Serbia visit

November 11, 2014

PRESEVO, Serbia (AP) — Albania's prime minister has struck a conciliatory tone as he wrapped up a two-day trip to Serbia with a visit to the ethnic Albanian-dominated south.

Edi Rama said Tuesday the two countries need to overcome a troubled past and work toward EU membership. Relations between Albania and Serbia hit a low during the 1998-99 Kosovo war. Soon after that conflict, ethnic Albanians in Serbia's Presevo Valley staged an insurgency. The conflict ended in 2001 with a deal granting the ethnic Albanian minority more rights.

Rama's visit, the first by an Albanian official in 68 years, was underlined with tensions as he remarked that Serbia has to come to terms with losing its former province. Kosovo's 2008 secession is fiercely rejected by Serbia.

Afghan president has both foe, friend in Pakistan

November 13, 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani this week will make his first state visit to neighboring Pakistan, long blamed by his predecessor for harboring militants, in hopes of finding a way to revive peace talks with the Taliban.

Mutual suspicion still haunts the two countries' relations — and cross-border shelling is common. But Ghani's third trip abroad after recently visiting Saudi Arabia and China appears part of his plan to recalibrate Afghanistan's relations with its neighbor as others pressure it over the militants hiding within its borders.

Islamabad recognized the Taliban when it was in power in Afghanistan and its leadership fled to Pakistan after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Since then, Taliban fighters and other militants have used Pakistan's tribal regions as a base for attacks targeting Afghan and NATO forces. Pakistan's government denies providing support to Taliban fighters and other militants, though many allege the country uses the extremists covertly against its neighbors.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai repeatedly accused Pakistan of using the extremists to pursue own its objectives in Afghanistan. But now, analysts, diplomats and others say Ghani recognizes the need for a good relationship with Islamabad.

"If Afghanistan can negotiate directly with the regional partners — and Pakistan can be separated from the terrorists — then the traditional Taliban could become legitimate players," political analyst Haroun Mir said.

In Beijing last month, Ghani called on the Taliban to "join an inter-Afghan peace dialogue," saying "peace is our highest priority." Unless the violence stops, Afghanistan also will not be able to attract the foreign investment needed for its post-war reconstruction.

Pakistani officials in recent weeks have visited Kabul, including national security and foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz, Army chief of staff Gen. Raheel Sharif and the new head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar.

"The message from Pakistan is very clear: Pakistan's political leadership and military establishment are on the same page, they want a stable Afghanistan," Pakistani defense analyst Talat Masood said.

Ghani inherited a series of challenges when he was inaugurated in September, including a shrinking economy, endemic corruption and, as U.S. and NATO combat troops withdraw at the end of the year, a still-virulent insurgency. Ghani's ambition for a regional trade bloc is backed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has also criticized Pakistan over its alleged support for extremists.

Meanwhile, Iran, bordering Afghanistan's western flank, is being squeezed by Western sanctions, weakening its resolve to support insurgents in Afghanistan, said a Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to media.

"For Iran, it's a question of balance. For India, it's a question of how close India can become to Afghanistan before it becomes a threat to Pakistan; the answer is, not much. Both countries are in the mood to have Pakistan reconsider its policies in the region," the diplomat said.

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Afghanistan sees increase in poppy cultivation

November 12, 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan hit a record high this year, rising by seven percent over the 2013 figure and accounting for 90 percent of the world's heroin supply, officials and the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report that the increased cultivation could produce 6,400 tons (7,054 U.S. tons) of opium, or 17 percent more than in 2013. Afghanistan's Minister for Counter-Narcotics Din Mohammad Mubariz Rashidi urged countries around the world to give fresh impetus to controlling the drug's production and trade.

"The international community must fight opium drugs and poppy cultivation in Afghanistan as seriously as they fight terrorism," he said. The area used for poppy cultivation grew to 224,000 hectares (553,500 acres), 89 percent of it in nine provinces with a significant Taliban presence, the U.N. report said. The Taliban, which have been waging war against the Afghan government since 2001, are heavily involved in poppy cultivation and opium distribution.

The report said that the wholesale price of opium was falling because of increased supply, but the value of the crop was equivalent to 4 percent of the country's GDP, which is $22 billion. Andrey Avetisyan, the UNODC's regional representative, said that with the end of the U.S. and NATO combat mission in December, the production of opium had to be tackled if Afghanistan was to develop its post-war economy.

"Without tackling the problem of drugs seriously, no serious economic achievement is possible to develop Afghanistan," he told reporters. "To help Afghanistan with economic development, we all together have to finally seriously do something with the threat of narcotics."

Billions of dollars have been spent on counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan in the past decade, including programs encouraging farmers to switch to other cash crops like wheat, fruit and saffron. The support farmers receive from the Taliban, like fertilizer and cash advances, are strong incentives for poor farmers to stick with poppy rather than wait years for a return on lower-yield produce with uncertain markets and inadequate means of storage and transport.

Syrian air raids kill at least 21 in IS-held town

November 09, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government helicopters and warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes overnight on a northern town controlled by the Islamic State group, killing at least 21 people, activists said Sunday.

The air raids struck the town of al-Bab in Aleppo province late Saturday and lasted through early Sunday morning. The Aleppo Media Center activist collective and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights both reported the attacks.

Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman said there were 10 strikes in total, including seven so-called barrel bombs dropped from helicopters. He said at least 21 people were killed and more than 100 wounded.

The Aleppo Media Center put the death toll at 30, with 85 wounded. Differences in casualty figures are common in the chaotic aftermath of attacks in Syria. President Bashar Assad's air force routinely bombs towns held by the Islamic State group, as well as areas controlled by mainstream rebel brigades.

A U.S.-led coalition also is conducting an aerial campaign against the Islamic State group and other extremists in Syria. Washington says it does not coordinate its airstrikes with Damascus. The international coalition has recently focused much of its firepower on Islamic State fighters attacking the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani on Syria's northern border with Turkey. The extremists launched an offensive against the town, which is also known as Ayn Arab, in mid-September. After making initial gains in Kobani, the Islamic State group's assault has slowed to a bitter grind.

Abdurrahman, the director of the Observatory, said Sunday that more than 1,000 people have been killed in the battle of Kobani, including 609 Islamic State militants. The toll also includes 363 fighters from the Kurdish militia known as the YPG, as well as 24 civilians and more than a dozen Syrian rebels.

In southern Syria, meanwhile, Islamic rebel brigades and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front seized the town of Nawa from forces loyal to Assad, the Observatory said. "Nusra and the rebels control the whole town and the area around it," Abdurrahman said. "The Syrian regime pulled out because they are weak there."

Activists say more than 200,000 people have been killed in Syria since protests against Assad spiraled into violence in 2011. United Nations envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on Sunday in Damascus, the SANA state news agency reported. It said the two men discussed several issues, including the envoy's recent initiative on establishing local cease-fires as a way to try to halt the fighting in the country.

A Syrian state newspaper on Saturday criticized de Mistura for pursuing his idea of local truces, saying he deviated from the "limits of the international mission" with which he was entrusted.

Children in Aleppo Forced Underground to Go to School

By Shelly Kittleson

ALEPPO, Nov 6 2014 (IPS) - Winter has not yet hit this nearly besieged city, but children are already attending classes in winter coats and stocking hats.

Cold, damp underground education facilities are less exposed to regime barrel bombs and airstrikes but necessitate greater bundling to prevent common seasonal viruses from taking hold in a city from which most doctors have fled or been killed.

Only one perilous route leads out of the city and northwards to the Turkish border and better medical care, if required.

On the way to an underground school IPS visited in late October, the children must necessarily pass by shop fronts blown out by airstrikes, a few remaining signs advertising what used to be clothing, hairdressers’ or wedding apparel shops with the ‘idolatrous’ images spray-painted black by the Islamic State (IS) when they briefly controlled the area, before being pushed out by rebel groups.

The jihadist group is still battling to retake terrain in the area, with the closest frontline against them being in Marea, an estimated 30 kilometers away from opposition-held areas of eastern Aleppo.

They must also witness the destruction wrought by the regime, which is trying to impose a total siege on opposition areas and which would need to take only a few kilometers more of terrain to do so.

Even if they only live a block away, the children are forced to walk by buildings entirely defaced by barrel bombs, floors hanging down precariously above the heads of fruit, vegetable and sweets street vendors. A pink toilet and part of a couch are still visibly wedged between the upper, mutilated and dangling levels of one such building on their way.

A few of the children in the co-ed primary school seem shell-shocked, but many smile and laugh readily on the crowded wooden benches stuffed into the cramped, cold spaces. Two boys at the front of one of the rooms sway back and forth with their arms around each other’s shoulders, singing boisterously.

Some of the rough walls have been painted sky blue or festooned with holiday-type decorations to ‘’brighten the children’s spirits’’, one of teachers says. A few comic-strip posters have been pasted in the corridor.

The classes run from 9 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon during the week, one of the instructors – Zakra, a former fifth-year university student in engineering – told IPS.

Zakra, who now teaches mathematics, English and science at the school, said that she gets paid about 50 dollars a month. All of the school’s 15 teachers are women wearing all-covering black garments. Some cover their faces as well, some do not. IPS was told not to photograph them in any case, because many still have family members in regime areas.

‘’The school opened last year,’’ Zakra said, ‘’but then stopped between October 2013 and July 2014, as the barrel-bombing campaign made it too dangerous for parents to send their children to school,’’ even to underground ones.

The young teacher said that she plans on leaving at some point to continue her studies in Turkey but was not sure when, primarily due to economic reasons.

Older students are mostly left to their own devices, because this school and others like it only provide for those ages 6 to 13.

The head of the education department of the Aleppo City Council – who goes by the name of Mahmoud Al-Qudsi – told IPS that some 115 schools were still operating in the area, but that most of them were former ground-level flats, basements or other structures.

Only about 20 original school buildings were still operating, he said, from some 750 in the area prior to the uprising.

Syrian government forces have targeted educational and medical facilities in opposition areas throughout the conflict, and efforts are made to keep the locations secret.

Those preparing for the baccalaureate – the Syrian secondary school diploma – study at home, he said. They then come to centers on established dates to actually take the exams in late June and early July. Word is spread of where they will be held via the Aleppo Today television channel, which broadcasts out of Gaziantep, and posters are put up around the city to announce the times and places.

Turkey, Libya and France currently recognize the baccalaureate exams, Qudsi noted, but ‘’French universities only accepted five of our students last year.’’

Most of the curriculum remains that approved by the regime, but ‘nationalistic’ parts praising the Assad family have been cut and religion classes now teach that ‘’fighting against the Assad regime is a religious duty.’’

‘’We also want to change the curricula, but we can’t right now. We want it to be a Syrian-chosen one – one designed and wanted by all Syrians – but we can’t do that now, given the situation,’’ said Qudsi, ‘’and we obviously don’t have the money to print new books.’’

Most of the low salaries the teachers receive are necessarily funded by various international and private associations because the city council just does not have the funds, he noted.

The council, ‘’was only able to pay the equivalent of 70 dollars each for the entire academic year but the teachers were happy about it nonetheless, since it shows that we appreciate what they are doing.’’

Qudsi was also adamant that even the most fundamentalist parents had not interfered with their teaching.  ‘’We are all in this together. Their children attend our schools, too.’’

The barrel bombs stopped entirely for a number of days earlier this autumn after rebel forces closed in on the Aleppo air defense factories where the crude bombs made of scrap metal and explosives are assembled by regime forces. The bombing has since resumed following regime gains.

On arriving at the scene of one such attack in late October, IPS saw a body pulled from the rubble by the civil defense forces before they rushed with flashlights around the block to get to the other side of the collapsed building, where three young children had been trapped underneath the rubble. All were later found dead.

Families were crowded on the steps outside of other buildings down the street, and flashlight beams illuminated the faces of clutches of frightened children, an adult or two nearby in the dust raised by the concrete slabs brought down in the impact.

The schools at least give the children a chance to focus on something other than the destruction and death surrounding them, Qudsi told IPS, and ‘’are the only chance of Syria having any future at all.’

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/11/children-in-aleppo-forced-underground-to-go-to-school/.

Hamas creates 'popular army' in Gaza to confront Israel

Sat Nov 8, 2014

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has announced the formation of a “popular army” in the besieged Gaza Strip to counter the Israeli regime’s aggression.

A spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said at a ceremony at the Jabaliya refugee camp on Friday that “the first section of the popular army for the liberation of al-Aqsa and of Palestine” would consist of 2,500 recruits.

Hamas said the new force is tasked with confronting any future Israeli aggression, particularly against the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Mohammed Abu Askar, a Hamas official, also noted that individuals over 20 years old could sign up “to be prepared for any confrontation” with Israel, adding that the popular force has been created “at a moment when the al-Aqsa Mosque is subject to serious Israeli violations.”

The announcement comes as the resistance movement and the people of Gaza are angry over the recent Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the al-Aqsa Mosque.

On Friday, Palestinian protesters held a demo at the Qalandia checkpoint, Beit Lahm and al-Khalil (Hebron) to express their anger at Israel’s decision to deny Palestinians under the age of 50 entry into the holy al-Aqsa Mosque. The Israeli regime’s troops used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.

Earlier in the day, Tel Aviv deployed some 1,300 soldiers in and around the occupied Old City of al-Quds to suppress Palestinians protesting Israel’s violations in the al-Aqsa Mosque.

The mosque has recently been the scene of clashes between Palestinian worshipers and Israelis.

Israel closed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound to Muslim worshippers a day after a 32-year-old Palestinian, Moataz Hejazi, made an attempt on the life of Yehuda Glick, an American-born Israeli settler, on October 29.

The Israeli rabbi ran campaigns for expansion of Israeli access to the mosque.

The al-Aqsa compound, located in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds, is a flashpoint holy Islamic site. The location of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest site after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Over the past decades, Israel has tried to change the demographic makeup of al-Quds by constructing illegal settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/11/08/385192/hamas-forms-antiisrael-popular-army/.

Jordan recalls envoy to Israel over al-Asqa Mosque clashes

Wed Nov 5, 2014

Jordan has recalled its ambassador to Israel and moved to lodge a complaint at the United Nations amid attacks by Israeli troops on Palestinians at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

On Wednesday, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur asked Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh to recall the Jordanian ambassador, Walid Obeidat, from Tel Aviv in protest at what he described as Israeli violations in al-Quds and the holy sites there.

The Jordanian prime minister also instructed the country’s delegation at the UN to file a formal complaint with the UN Security Council against Israel.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, located in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds, is a flashpoint holy Islamic site. The location of the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest mosque after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Jordan is the custodian of the al-Alqsa Mosque compound.

Earlier on Wednesday, dozens of Palestinians suffered tear gas inhalation and at least 20 were injured when Israeli forces fired rubber bullets and hurled tear gas canisters during clashes with Palestinian worshipers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Several Palestinians, among them a minor, were also detained.

Israel closed the al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslim worshipers on October 30, after a 32-year-old Palestinian, Moataz Hejazi, was accused of making an attempt on the life of far-right Israeli rabbi, Yehuda Glick, on October 29. Hejazi was killed during an Israeli raid on his home in the Abu Tor neighborhood.

Tel Aviv then imposed restrictions on male worshipers, allowing only those over 50 into the holy site.

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian national unity government, warned that the Israeli move amounted to “declaration of war.”

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/11/05/384902/jordan-recalls-ambassador-to-israel/.

Gov't cracks down on IS on Facebook and Twitter

Tue 14 October / Oct 2014

AMMAN, Jordan (The Washington Post) — A young man dressed in brown prison garb entered the defendant’s cage in Jordan’s newly empowered state security court and listened politely as an intelligence officer he had never met began testifying against him.

“Sir, I apologize for the interruption, your Excellency, but this is my first time before a court, and I am unsure of the correct proceedings or my rights?” the defendant interjected.

The man in the cage late last month was Wassim Abu Ayesh, 20, a Jordanian from the city of Irbid who was arrested in August and charged with “promoting terrorist ideology and propaganda through social media.” Specifically, the prosecutor alleged, Abu Ayesh had posted an Islamic State YouTube video on his Facebook page — a crime now punishable by five to 15 years in prison.

For years, Jordan’s security apparatus has closely surveilled threats posed by the country’s large refu­gee population, homegrown militants and radical Islamists, especially after Iraqi operatives bombed three Amman hotels in 2005, killing 60 people. There have been both crackdowns and soft-power attempts to encourage moderate expressions of Islam.

Now, the pro-Western monarchy is responding to the rapid rise of the Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq with a tough, recently amended anti-terror law, enacted in June by King Abdullah II, a close U.S. ally. Fearing contagion, Jordan has announced that it will not tolerate any open activity, recruitment or support for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

“Our position is that it is not okay to wave ISIS flags,” said Mohammad Al Momani, minister of state for media affairs. “It is against the law, and you will be arrested.”

The Islamic State and its supporters “will not find a hospitable environment in Jordan," he said.

A Jordanian human-rights activist and legal advocate, Taher Nassar, said the June amendments to the country’s 2006 anti-terror law have given authorities a “blank check” to arrest dissidents and Islamists alike without charges, and to expand crackdowns beyond suspected terrorists to include government opponents.

“Under the new anti-terror law, any phrase, photo or video shared online can be construed as ‘inciting terrorism’ no matter what the content actually is,” said Nassar, whose clients include a journalist and six opposition activists facing terrorism charges at the state security court for comments posted on their Facebook pages.

As many as 2,000 Jordanians have fought in Syria over the past three years, according to estimates by the London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization — not only for the Islamic State, but also for various religious militias as well as the Free Syrian Army. In recent months, small, scattered demonstrations of support for the Islamic State have taken place in Amman, Zarqa and Maan, where masked youths have waved homemade Islamic State banners.

According to Islamists and their attorneys, between 60 and 90 Jordanians have been arrested for alleged ties to the Islamic State under the new anti-terror law. So far, only 11 have been referred to the security court.

Of those, the case of Abu Ayesh, the accused Facebook poster, was the first to be heard.

In this opening session, presided over by three military judges, the first witness was Mohammed Youssef Ibrahim, an officer with Jordan’s General Intelligence Department.

The defendant was represented by Moussa Abdallat, a feisty defense attorney for Islamist movements, who wore a rumpled suit and stained tie. The courtroom was empty, except for guards and a couple of foreign journalists.

The trial got underway with the defendant, Abu Ayesh, swearing that during his many interrogation sessions, he repeatedly told the intelligence officers: “I am against killing and I am against the Islamic State in Jordan.”

He added that while in prison he was handed a statement written by his interrogators and made to sign his name without reading it.

Attorney Abdallat: “Did Wassim or did Wassim not tell you that he was against killing and against the Islamic State in Jordan?”

The intelligence officer paused, looked at the ceiling, and answered, “I don’t remember.”

The defense told the judges that the video in question was not made by the Islamic State.

Attorney Abdallat: “In Wassim’s ‘confession,’ did he or did he not tell you that the video in question that he put on his Facebook page had to do with the Abu Ghraib prison [in Iraq] and the abuses by the Iraqi government there and was not in fact a pro-Islamic State video?”

Agent Ibrahim: “I am not sure.”

Attorney Abdallat: “‘I am not sure?’ Is there not a big difference between a video about Shiite abuses against Sunni Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison and a video promoting the Islamic State? Did he not say this?”

Agent Ibrahim: “I do not remember.”

Attorney Abdallat: “Did you, personally, see his Facebook page? His Twitter posts?”

Agent Ibrahim: “I do not know how to use Facebook or Twitter.”

Attorney Abdallat (incredulously): “Then how do you know my client promoted Islamic State propaganda on Facebook?”

The intelligence officer said he never questioned the defendant and had only read the case file of evidence assembled against him. The defense attorney demanded to see the file. The intelligence agent replied, “It is classified.”

The judge reminded the attorney, “You know intelligence department files are classified.”

After this exchange continued for another 10 minutes, the defendant pleaded not guilty. The judge said the trial would reconvene later in October.

Source: al-Ghad.
Link: http://www.alghad.com/articles/830572-Jordan-cracks-down-on-Islamic-State-on-Facebook-and-Twitter.

Bombs in Libya cities housing assembly, government

November 12, 2014

CAIRO (AP) — Three car bombs including one driven by a suicide attacker struck Wednesday in two eastern Libyan cities that are temporary homes to the nation's elected parliament and government, killing five and injuring 21 others, officials said.

The near-simultaneous attacks, blamed on Islamic militants, brought Libya's violence for the first time to the relatively peaceful eastern cities where the elected authorities took refuge after Islamist-allied militias took over the capital Tripoli and the second-largest city, Benghazi, in August. Hundreds from the two sides have been killed in recent months.

The two car bombs went off in Tobruk, in front of an oil institute, army spokesman Mohammed Hegazi said. One person was killed and at least 21 were injured, including three in critical condition, according to hospital records.

Hegazi said the attack was meant to "terrorize" state institutions and the parliament, as well as deliver a "we are here" message. He blamed militants in the eastern Islamist stronghold of Darna who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Simultaneously another suicide car bomber hit an air base used for civilian flights in the eastern city of Bayda, which is home to the Libyan government, killing four troops, officials said. Shortly after the bombings, the Libyan army launched several airstrikes on Darna, killing three militia fighters, the officials added.

Three of the city's anti-Islamist activists were found beheaded in Darna on Tuesday, after voicing support for the government's battle against militias, according to an activist. The officials and the activist spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

After the takeover of Tripoli and Benghazi, the elected parliament was forced to relocate to Tobruk. In Tripoli, Islamist-allied militias from the powerful western city of Misrata revived an old parliament and formed a self-proclaimed government in the capital. Each claims to be the country's legitimate leadership, while their allied forces battle on the ground.

The United Nations Envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon has been shuttling between eastern and western Libya to try strike a compromise.

Spanish leader calls Catalan secession vote a flop

November 12, 2014

MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday dismissed Catalonia's non-binding vote on secession from Spain as a failure, and prosecutors were considering legal action against Catalan officials for conducting the ballot.

Rajoy said that in addition to being illegal, few Catalans voted on Sunday, despite months of pro-independence campaigning by authorities. "Two out of every three Catalans didn*t bother taking part," said Rajoy. "The pro-independence plan was for it to be a show of strength and (instead) it has shown us its weakness."

Catalan officials say that out of 6.3 million potential voters, 2.3 million cast ballots, with 80 percent of them approving secession. The 6.3 million total included 1 million immigrant residents and citizens aged 16 and 17, who normally would not be on the region's electoral census.

Catalan regional President Artur Mas nevertheless claimed the poll was a success, and on Tuesday he demanded talks with Rajoy about a possible official independence referendum similar to the one held in Scotland in September. The "no" voters won that referendum.

Rajoy said he was open to dialogue but rejected having a preset outcome and opposed any interference with national sovereignty. He urged the Catalan government to accept reality and begin ruling for all Catalans, not just those who favor independence.

The non-binding referendum was held even though Spain's top Constitutional Court called for its suspension while considering the government's claim that it would be unconstitutional. Prosecutors who are independent of the government are now studying possible legal action against Mas and other Catalan officials for having gone ahead with the vote, even though it was presented as non-binding.

Angry at Spain's refusal to give their wealthy region more autonomy, Catalan politicians have been pushing for an independence vote for two years.

Big welcome for Serb nationalist as he goes home

November 12, 2014

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian far-right leader Vojislav Seselj, accused of recruiting notorious paramilitary forces during the bloody Balkan wars, arrived home to a boisterous welcome Wednesday after U.N. war crimes judges approved his provisional release due to ill health.

Hundreds of cheering supporters, carrying banners reading "Seselj the Serb Hero" and chanting "Victory! Victory!" greeted him as he landed at Belgrade airport. In neighboring Bosnia and Croatia, however, his release triggered outrage.

"The judges are mocking the victims," said Bakira Hasecic, head of a Bosnian association of women raped during the wars in the 1990s. "It's a shame for the whole world to release Seselj without a verdict," said Ruzica Barbaric, a rape victim from the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar, which was overrun by Serb troops, including Seselj's paramilitaries, in 1991. "I personally felt on my skin what his people, these criminals, have done here ... and all of them were Seselj's pupils."

Judges at the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands, released Seselj so he could get medical treatment in Serbia on condition that he does not interfere with victims or witnesses and that he returns to the tribunal if summoned. Serbian doctors who visited the 60-year-old say he is suffering from colon cancer that has spread to his liver.

"I won the battle against the Hague tribunal, and that was my goal," Seselj told the crowd before the headquarters of his ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party. "The tribunal is a wounded globalist beast that is still destroying lives of distinguished Serbs."

The firebrand right-wing said his priority will be to oust Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic from power. The men were his close party allies but formed their own party while he was imprisoned and won the latest Serbian election.

"(They are) outcasts who sold their honor and character, renounced the Serb nationalism and became Western servants," Seselj declared. Seselj, who once said he would like to gouge out the eyes of rival Croats with a rusty spoon, has been in custody in The Hague since surrendering in 2003.

He was charged with war crimes including planning the capture of towns in Croatia and Bosnia as part of a criminal plot involving other Serb leaders, including former strongman Slobodan Milosevic, to drive out non-Serbs using massive destruction and terror. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Judges have delayed passing the verdict several times because of different legal obstacles during the often chaotic, marathon trial of the outspoken advocate of the Serb war campaigns. One of the three judges was removed from the case, another was chosen and he is reading evidence to see if they can reach a verdict.

U.N. prosecutors have demanded a 28-year prison sentence for Seselj. They said Seselj's hate speeches at rallies "planted the seeds of ethnic hatred and helped them grow into ethnic violence against non-Serbs."

Associated Press journalists Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Amer Cohadzic and Aida Cerkez, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Eldar Emric in Vukovar, Croatia, and Jovana Gec in Belgrade, contributed to this report.

French parliament to vote on Palestinian state

November 12, 2014

PARIS (AP) — France's National Assembly will vote this month on a largely symbolic resolution in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state, hoping it could help end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, officials said Wednesday.

Approval by the lower and more powerful chamber of parliament would send a signal to President Francois Hollande's Socialist government, which has the final say. Hollande supported "international recognition" of a Palestinian state on the campaign trail two years ago, and parliamentary leaders have recently consulted Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on the matter.

The National Assembly will vote on the resolution Nov. 28. The Senate will vote on a similar one floated by the Communist Party on Dec. 11. Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll suggested on Wednesday that even if parliament supports recognition of a Palestinian state, France would only act as part of a broad international effort to help end years of violence and conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

"The government's responsibility is not just to recognize a state — a Palestinian state. It's to make sure that it's recognized on an international scale," he told reporters. He cited a two-track approach: A debate in France's parliament on the matter, and a French diplomatic commitment to reach a resolution on the issue at the U.N. Security Council.

In an online briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal noted a recent "deterioration of the situation" in Jerusalem, Palestinian territories and Israel, saying France will "have to do what it takes" if peace negotiations don't resume or fail. He didn't elaborate.

Last month, British lawmakers voted in favor of a similar, symbolic vote, and Sweden became the biggest Western European country to outright recognize a Palestinian state — prompting a protest from Israel, which swiftly withdrew its ambassador from Stockholm.

Jamey Keaten contributed to this report.

Israel approves 200 new homes in east Jerusalem

November 12, 2014

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities gave preliminary approval Wednesday for construction of 200 new homes in a Jewish area of east Jerusalem, a move likely to ratchet up already heightened tensions in the city.

The decision came shortly before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was to arrive in neighboring Jordan on a mission aimed at restoring calm in the Holy Land after weeks of unrest. Much of the recent violence has stemmed from tensions surrounding a sensitive holy site revered by Muslims and Jews. The collapse of U.S.-brokered peace talks, Israel's bloody war last summer in the Gaza Strip and continued Israeli settlement construction in east Jerusalem have added to it.

Brachie Sprung, a spokeswoman for the municipality, said city officials approved 200 homes in the Ramat area. Sprung said the approval was just a preliminary stage of the planning process — meaning construction would be years away.

She also said city officials approved an additional 174 homes for construction in an Arab neighborhood. Any Israeli construction for Jewish areas of east Jerusalem risks setting off a diplomatic firestorm — especially in the current fragile environment.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed the area in a move that is not internationally recognized. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their capital. The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty in the area and opposes settlement construction. More than 200,000 Jewish Israelis live in developments like Ramat that ring east Jerusalem to help cement Israeli control.

The Israeli announcement came before Kerry was to arrive in Jordan and meet King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the situation in Jerusalem. There was no immediate plan for Kerry to travel to Israel.

Under a longstanding arrangement, Jordan holds custodial rights over Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, including the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Visits by Jewish worshippers to the site have raised concerns among Muslims that Israel is secretly trying to take over the site. The tensions have boiled over into violent demonstrations and deadly violence. Abbas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week of leading the region toward a "religious war."

In the latest unrest, an attack against a mosque in a West Bank village earlier Wednesday ignited a fire that destroyed its first floor. Faraj al-Naasan, the mayor of the village of Mughayer, north of Ramallah, blamed Jewish settlers for the blaze.

Israeli police also said someone threw a Molotov cocktail at an ancient synagogue in the Israeli-Arab town of Shfaram late Tuesday night, causing light damage. Also Wednesday, Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian leader serving a life sentence in Israel for his role in the Palestinian uprising last decade, was sentenced to a week in solitary for calling for more violence and for the Palestinian Authority to stop its security cooperation with Israel. Israeli media interpreted that as a call for a third Intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

Meanwhile, an Israeli border policeman was arrested in connection with the death of a Palestinian demonstrator near Ramallah in May, police said. Israeli security forces said they used only rubber bullets to disperse the protesters, but Israeli media reported that the border policeman may have used live ammunition.

Cosmic 1st: European spacecraft lands on comet

November 12, 2014

DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) — The European Space Agency celebrated a cosmic touchdown Wednesday by successfully landing a spacecraft on a comet for the first time in history.

The agency said it has received a signal at 1603 GMT (11:03 a.m. EST) from the 100-kilogram (220-pound) Philae lander after it touched down on the icy surface of the comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

"We definitely confirm that the lander is on the surface," said flight director Andrea Accomazzo. While further checks are needed to ascertain the state of the lander, the fact that it is resting on the surface of the speeding comet is already a huge success. It marks the highlight of the decade-long Rosetta mission to study comets and learn more about the origins of these celestial bodies.

The head of the European Space Agency underlined Europe's pride in having achieved a unique first ahead of its U.S. counterpart NASA. "We are the first to have done that, and that will stay forever," said ESA director-general Jean-Jacques Dordain.

The landing caps a 6.4 billion-kilometer (4 billion-mile) journey begun a decade ago. Rosetta, which was launched in 2004, had to slingshot three times around Earth and once around Mars before it could work up enough speed to chase down the comet, which it reached in August. Rosetta and the comet have been traveling in tandem ever since at 41,000 mph (66,000 kph).

The mission will also give researchers the opportunity to test the theory that comets brought organic matter and water to Earth billions of years ago, said Klim Churyumov, one of the two astronomers who discovered the comet in 1969.

Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.