Nigeria: Govt, Algeria Meet On N1.8 Trillion Saharan Gas Pipeline

The Nigerian government yesterday held talks with the Algerian government on the 4,300km long, 48-56 inches diameter Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP), which would connect the Niger Delta in Nigeria and Niger, to existing gas transmission hubs to the European Union at El Kala or Beni Saf in Algeria's Mediterranean coast. It is expected to cost $12 billion(about N1.87 trillion naira).

The Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Alhaji Sanusi Barkindo, who led the Nigerian delegation to the meeting held at the NNPC towers Abuja, described the project as one that would have multiplier effect on the economies of the nation involved and the consumers of the product.

"The project has multiplier effects on our economies. It is a competitive project, a source of diversifying sources of energy and strengthening the global interdependency of both consumers and an avenue for producers," he noted

Barkindo stated that the project, which is already attracting the interest of consumers, participants and financiers, is strategic to the European Union (EU) and should not be bedeviled with commercial and technical issues. He therefore called for the signatures of the governments concerned with the project in all commercial and technical issues relating to it.

"The immediate challenge is to clean up the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between our countries including Niger for the signatures of our three governments. All the commercial and technical issues relating to this project should be signed to the joint venture agreement," he offered.

The NNPC boss said the MoU would be the umbrella document setting in broad terms, the objective of going into the project and would demonstrate to the international community, the preparedness of the respective countries involved to pursue it to a logical conclusion.

He declared that the Nigerian Gas Master Plan would be the blue print for both the development of domestic and export gas and would provide infinite flexibility to meet the market demand of consumers. Barkindo said the project is fully in tune with the gas master plan, seeking to balance domestic and export of gas for Nigeria.

Speaking at the meeting the leader of the Algerian delegation and Chief Executive of Sonatrac, Mohammed Meziane disclosed that the project would gulp $12billion and would be completed between 2015 and 2017.He said the project was very complex one and Algeria already agreed to accelerate its development.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200902200400.html.

I'm ready for a grand coalition, says Netanyahu

Jerusalem, Feb 20: The head of the right-wing Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Friday he was ready to form a coalition in Israel with the centrist Kadima party of his main rival Tzipi Livni.

Netanyahu was speaking after a meeting with President Shimon Peres in an effort to build a grand coalition. Peres was also meeting Friday with Livni, who was quoted by Haaretz newspaper as saying she did not rule out joining a Netanyahu-led coalition.

Netanyahu has the support of more of the Israeli parliament's political factions than Livni, even though Likud won one seat less in the Feb 10 general election.

Both sides have claimed the right to form a government, but Thursday Netanyahu moved closer to being able to form a government after a key faction holding the balance of power in the Knesset recommended that President Shimon Peres nominate him as premier.

The Yisrael Beteinu party's recommendation means that the former premier now can count on the support of 65 legislators, enough to form a narrow coalition.

However, Avigdor Lieberman, Yisrael Beteinu's controversial leader, has said that Netanyahu should form a broad-based coalition.

PA gives conditional OK to Israeli change

JERUSALEM, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The Palestinian Authority will work with the new Israeli government so long as certain conditions are met, the official PA spokesman said Friday.

Binyamin Netanyahu earlier was given the go-ahead by President Shimon Peres to form a new government as Israel's next prime minister.

"We will work with any government in Israel as long as it sticks to the two-state solution, previous agreements, the halting of settlement construction and international law," PA spokesman Abu Rodaina said from Bahrain, ynetnews reported.

U.N. seeks contact with American's captors in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – The United Nations appealed on Friday for the kidnappers of an American employee to make contact, saying it feared for John Solecki's health.

A hitherto unheard of militant group called the Baluchistan Liberation United Front (BLUF) has threatened to kill Solecki, head of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees' office in Quetta, unless the U.N. acts on its demands.

It wants the release of 141 women it says have been detained in Pakistan, information on about more than 6,000 missing persons, and the resolution of the issue of Baluch independence aspirations.

Solecki was kidnapped on February 2 after gunmen ambushed his car and shot dead his driver in Quetta, the provincial capital of southwestern Baluchistan province.

"The United Nations once again appeals to those having John to contact us, if not directly, then through a trusted intermediary," the U.N. said in a statement .

The U.N. said it had been told Solecki's health was failing, and expressed concern that his condition could become life threatening.

The group turned down a U.N. request for direct contact on Wednesday, saying talks were unnecessary.

Baluchistan, the largest but poorest of Pakistan's four provinces, lies on the border with Afghanistan. Separatist militants have fought a low-scale insurgency there for decades.

Bomb kills 28 at Shiite funeral in Pakistan

By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD – A suicide bomber attacked the funeral of a slain Shiite Muslim leader in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing 28 people and triggering deadly rioting, officials said.

Rising sectarian attacks threaten to further destabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan just as it faces intense international pressure to crack down on Islamist militants.

Meanwhile, a top U.S. official said Washington was worried that a five-day-old cease-fire in the restive Swat valley could "turn into a surrender" to Taliban insurgents behind beheadings, the bombings of schools for girls and attacks on security forces.

Friday's explosion struck a 1,000-strong crowd streaming toward a graveyard in Dera Ismail Khan for the burial of Sher Zeman, a Shiite leader who was gunned down in the city the day before.

Police official Ishtiaq Marwat said a suicide attacker killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 60 others, leaving shoes and torn clothing littering a bloodstained street. Some of the dead and injured were taken to the hospital in wooden handcarts.

Gunfire broke out afterward and police said angry Shiites fired on officers rushing to the scene. Marwat said two Sunni Muslim residents had been shot dead in the rioting.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but past attacks on Pakistan's minority Shiites have been carried out by extremists from the majority Sunni community who regard the sect as heretical.

Fayyaz Hussain, a local Shiite leader, said extremists were trying to start a wider sectarian conflict.

"This attack is yet another attempt to force us to leave Dera Ismail Khan, but we will face the situation and will stay here," Hussain said.

Relations between the two communities are under growing strain following a series of attacks. A car bomb killed 29 people and wounded scores near a Shiite mosque in Peshawar in December. On Feb. 5, a suicide bomber killed 24 at a Shiite mosque in a central city.

Much of the bloodshed has been in the northwest, where the Taliban and other hardline Sunni groups have seized control of swaths of territory, despite a series of military offensives.

International concern is focused on Swat, where troops and militants have been observing a cease-fire since authorities announced a deal to introduce Islamic law if militants lay down arms.

Richard Holbrooke, the new U.S envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Thursday that he had raised concern about the deal during a phone call with Pakistan's president.

Holbrooke told CNN that President Barack Obama was worried "that this deal, which is portrayed in the press as a truce ... does not turn into a surrender."

He said Zardari told him during Thursday's phone call that the pact was an "interim arrangement" while Pakistan stabilizes the situation.

"He doesn't disagree that the people who are running Swat now are murderous thugs and militants and they pose a danger not only to Pakistan, but to the United States and India," Holbrooke said.

NASA's Kepler Mission to Seek Other Earths

Fri, 20 Feb '09

Probe Scheduled For March 5 Launch

NASA's Kepler spacecraft was ready to be moved to the launch pad this week, and will soon begin a journey to search for worlds that could potentially host life.

Kepler is scheduled to blast into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL aboard a Delta II rocket on March 5 at 10:48 pm EST. It is the first mission with the ability to find planets like Earth -- rocky planets that orbit sun-like stars in a warm zone where liquid water could be maintained on the surface. Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life.

"Kepler is a critical component in NASA's broader efforts to ultimately find and study planets where Earth-like conditions may be present," said Jon Morse, the Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The planetary census Kepler takes will be very important for understanding the frequency of Earth-size planets in our galaxy and planning future missions that directly detect and characterize such worlds around nearby stars."

The mission will spend three-and-a-half years surveying more than 100,000 sun-like stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. It is expected to find hundreds of planets the size of Earth and larger at various distances from their stars.

If Earth-size planets are common in the habitable zone, Kepler could find dozens; if those planets are rare, Kepler might find none. In the end, the mission will be humanity's first step toward answering a question posed by the ancient Greeks: are there other worlds like ours or are we alone?

"Finding that most stars have Earths implies that the conditions that support the development of life could be common throughout our galaxy," said William Borucki, Kepler's science principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, CA. "Finding few or no Earths indicates that we might be alone."

The Kepler telescope is specially designed to detect the periodic dimming of stars that planets cause as they pass by. Some star systems are oriented in such a way that their planets cross in front of their stars, as seen from our Earthly point of view. As the planets pass by, they cause their stars' light to slightly dim, or wink.

The telescope can detect even the faintest of these winks, registering changes in brightness of only 20 parts per million. To achieve this resolution, Kepler will use the largest camera ever launched into space, a 95-megapixel array of charged couple devices, known as CCDs.

"If Kepler were to look down at a small town on Earth at night from space, it would be able to detect the dimming of a porch light as somebody passed in front," said James Fanson, Kepler project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA.

By staring at one large patch of sky for the duration of its lifetime, Kepler will be able to watch planets periodically transit their stars over multiple cycles. This will allow astronomers to confirm the presence of planets. Earth-size planets in habitable zones would theoretically take about a year to complete one orbit, so Kepler will monitor those stars for at least three years to confirm the planets' presence. Ground-based telescopes and NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes will perform follow-up studies on the larger planets.

"Kepler is a critical cornerstone in understanding what types of planets are formed around other stars," said exoplanet hunter Debra Fischer of San Francisco State University in California. "The discoveries that emerge will be used immediately to study the atmospheres of large, gas exoplanets with Spitzer. And the statistics that are compiled will help us chart a course toward one day imaging a pale blue dot like our planet, orbiting another star in our galaxy."

FMI: www.nasa.gov/kepler

Iraqi says he threw shoes at Bush to restore pride

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD – The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush did not apologize as his trial began Thursday, and instead struck a defiant tone — telling the judges he wanted to hit back at the humiliation Iraq had suffered at U.S. hands.

It was Muntadhar al-Zeidi's first public appearance since he was arrested in mid-December for hurling shoes at Bush during a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The act turned the obscure 30-year-old reporter into a cult hero throughout much of the Middle East.

"What made me do it was the humiliation Iraq has been subjected to due to the U.S. occupation and the murder of innocent people," al-Zeidi told the court. "I wanted to restore the pride of the Iraqis in any way possible, apart from using weapons."

He also said he had been tortured with beatings and electric shocks during his interrogation — allegations the Iraqi government has denied. The trial was later adjourned until March 12.

Dozens of cheering and ululating supporters greeted al-Zeidi as he arrived at the courthouse in western Baghdad in an Iraqi army Humvee. As the journalist walked into the courtroom, his aunt handed him a scarf imprinted with a red, black and green Iraqi flag, which he kissed. He wrapped the scarf around his neck and wore it proudly during his 30-minute testimony to the three-judge panel.

Many people in the region — angry over the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq — have embraced al-Zeidi. They have staged large street rallies calling for his release, and one Iraqi man erected a sofa-sized sculpture of a shoe in his honor that the Iraqi government later ordered removed.

When al-Zeidi threw his shoes at Bush, he shouted in Arabic: "This is your farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

The shoes did not hit Bush, who ducked, and al-Zeidi was quickly wrestled to the ground by guards and dragged away.

Al-Maliki was deeply embarrassed by the assault on an American president who had stood by him when some Arab leaders were quietly urging the U.S. to oust him.

Al-Zeidi told the court Thursday that he did not intend to harm Bush or embarrass al-Maliki, but he did not apologize for his actions.

He conceded he had recorded himself planning to insult Bush at a news conference in Amman, Jordan, two years ago but he ended up not going to the neighboring country.

"And, yes, I said that to the prime minister's guards after I was beaten and suffering from electric shocks," he added.

He denied, however, that the December action was premeditated, saying he decided to throw his shoes after becoming enraged as Bush spoke about his achievements at the news conference — held a little over a month before the president handed the war off to his successor, Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it.

"I was seeing a whole country in calamity while Bush was giving a cold and spiritless smile," al-Zeidi testified. "He was saying goodbye after causing the death of many Iraqis and economic destruction."

Al-Zeidi's lawyers say he has been charged with assaulting a foreign leader, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. They unsuccessfully tried to get the charge reduced, contending the act didn't merit such harsh punishment.

The defense argued Thursday that the current charge is not applicable because Bush was not in Baghdad on an official visit, having arrived unannounced and without an invitation.

"The visit was not formal because Bush is an occupier and he was received by the commander of the U.S. Army and it was an undeclared visit," lawyer Ghalib al-Rubaie said. "President Jalal Talabani and the prime minister did not receive him when he arrived."

Judge Abdul-Amir al-Rubaie recessed the trial until next month, saying the court needed time to ask the Iraqi Cabinet whether Bush's visit was "formal or informal." Visits to Iraq by foreign dignitaries are rarely announced in advance due to security reasons.

Al-Zeidi, who wore a beige suit and a black shirt, spoke confidently during his testimony and showed no signs of the injuries he allegedly suffered at the hands of security officers at the time of the incident.

The case's investigating judge has said the journalist was struck about the face and eyes, apparently by security agents who wrestled him to the ground.

Two Cabinet protocol employees denied this allegation Thursday, testifying that members of the audience beat al-Zeidi, but government security officers had not.

One of al-Zeidi's lawyers, Karim al-Shujeiri, said the court should have called independent witnesses, not government employees.

Supporters who rallied in front of the courthouse said al-Zeidi should be praised for confronting Bush, not punished.

"What Muntadhar has done is revenge for Iraqi widows and for the bloodshed caused by the occupation and policy of Bush," said al-Zeidi's aunt, Nawal Lazim.