Chinese president en route to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan

Sat, 12 Dec 2009

Beijing - Chinese President Hu Jintao left Beijing Saturday for a three-day official visit to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, state media reported. Hu is scheduled to attend the inauguration of a Central Asian gas pipeline, and hold formal talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The 1,833-kilometer gas project, which began construction in 2007, is the country's first transnational pipeline. It runs from the border between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, passing through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before reaching China, the agency said.

"The pipeline will be commissioned on December 14. Starting from that, Turkmenistan will annually supply China with 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas for the next 30 years," Berdimuhamedov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

Saudi Arabia celebrates crown prince's return

Sat, 12 Dec 2009

Riyadh - Saudi Arabia on Saturday began celebrations to mark the return to the country of Crown Prince Sultan, after a year-long absence for medical treatment. The prince, King Abdullah's octogenarian half-brother, left the country in November 2008 for medical treatment in the United States and recovery in Morocco.

He returned Friday, appearing healthy in televised broadcasts in which he spoke briefly about the recent floods in Jeddah, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Afghanistan.

Streets have been festooned with Sultan's photograph, and the Interior Ministry has announced a royal pardon for "some" prisoners to celebrate the crown prince's return.

The Saudi daily Arab News said Sultan's resumption of duties as deputy premier and defense minister would "add his wise counsel" to issues as the conflict in Yemen and the response to the Jeddah floods.

A rally at the Olympic stadium in Riyadh is scheduled for Sunday evening as part of the celebrations, Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Saleh al-Malik announced.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/298983,saudi-arabia-celebrates-crown-princes-return.html.

Russian-Norwegian consortium to develop huge Iraqi oil field

Sat, 12 Dec 2009

Baghdad - A consortium led by Russian energy giant Lukoil and Norway's Statoil on Saturday won the rights to develop Iraq's massive West Qurna-Phase II oil field, the Oil Ministry confirmed. The field, with some 12.9 billion barrels of proven reserves, was the most important field still up for grabs on the final day of the second round of bidding in an auction that began Friday.

The Russian-Norwegian consortium said it would boost the field's production to 1.8 million barrels of oil per day (bpd).

Of the 10 oil and gas fields opened to foreign investment in the latest round of bidding, only the Majnoon, with 12.8 billion barrels of proven reserves, was as large.

A consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia's Petronas energy companies on Friday won rights to develop that field, promising to boost production from 46,000 bpd to 1.8 million bpd, in exchange for 1.39 dollars to the barrel.

Petronas was also part of a consortium led by China's CNPC that on Friday won the rights to develop the Halfaya oil field, which has proven reserves of 4.1 billion barrels.

CNPC, which has a 50-per-cent stake in the consortium, with Petronas and France's Total each holding 25-per cent, plan to raise Halfaya's production to 535,000 bpd, from the 3,000 bpd it currently produces.

The consortium requested 1.40 dollars per barrel for the investment.

Shell and US giant ExxonMobil in November signed a deal to develop the West Qurna-Phase I field.

The auction is taking place in the shadow of a series of bombings that on Tuesday killed as many as 127 people and injured more than 500 in central Baghdad.

Some of the fields still on offer, such as the Nijm field in northern Iraq's conflict-riven Nineveh province, or the East Baghdad field, whose 8.1 billion barrels of oil lie almost exactly beneath the Shiite slum of Sadr City, are in areas with tenuous security.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/298986,russian-norwegian-consortium-to-develop-huge-iraqi-oil-field.html.

Iran dismisses further sanctions as 'unjust and political' - Summary

Sat, 12 Dec 2009

Tehran - Iran said Saturday that any further United Nations sanctions over its controversial nuclear programs were "unjust and political," ISNA news agency reported. The European Union and the US announced on Friday that they were prepared to push for more UN sanctions against Iran should the Islamic Republic refuse to cooperate with foreign demands on its nuclear projects.

"The countries (planning the sanctions) know very well that their plan is totally unjust and political," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told ISNA.

"World public opinion should know that this plan is outside any internationally acknowledged legal framework and especially outside the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," the spokesman said.

The government said Iran has the right to pursue peaceful nuclear development, including uranium enrichment, as signatory of the Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and member of the IAEA.

Tehran also rejects Western charges that it is working on a secret nuclear program to make an atomic bomb.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, currently in Bahrain at a security conference, criticized the world powers' plans of renewed sanction against Iran and said such measures would have the reverse effect.

"The use of force, threats and sanctions for confronting Iran's peaceful nuclear projects and making instrumental and political use of the IAEA would not only have reverse effects but also undermine the NPT," Mottaki was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying.

The Iranian foreign minister called on the world powers "to stop discrimination", instead of focusing on Iran, but to also look at Israel.

The nuclear row has reached another deadlock after Iran admitted to the construction of a new enrichment site south of Tehran, and rejected a plan brokered by the IAEA for Iran's low enriched uranium (LEU) being exported to Russia and France for further enrichment and eventually fuel for the Tehran medical reactor.

"The deal is still on, just our proposal was the deal should be made inside Iran: bring the fuel and get the LEU instead," Mehmanparast said, reiterating that Iran needed guarantees that the deal would be correctly implemented.

"The deal can fully be under IAEA supervision and even the fuel can even be delivered inside Iran first to the IAEA (and then to us)," the spokesman added.

Both the IAEA and the world powers have so far rejected the Iranian proposal and gave Iran time until the end of the year to accept the initial IAEA plan or face renewed sanctions.

Following another IAEA resolution last month against the Islamic state, Iran warned it would reduce cooperation with the UN nuclear guardian to a minimum and would even increase the enrichment level of its uranium from around 5 per cent now to 20 per cent by itself.

Tehran however later revised its stance and, as repeated Saturday by Mottaki in Bahrain, vowed to continue cooperation.

Tehran also proclaimed that for covering its electricity needs, the country needed between 15 to 20 new uranium enrichment sites of which ten have already been ordered by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be built.

Morocco says hunger strike is an 'Algerian plot'

RABAT — Morocco on Monday charged that Aminatou Haidar, a Sahrawi activist on hunger strike in Spain's Canary Islands, is part of a "systematic, methodical plot devised by Algeria."

Haidar, 42, has been on hunger strike for almost a month on Lanzarote, after being refused entry to the Western Sahara, which is territory occupied by and claimed by Morocco.

Algeria has long been an ally of the Polisario Front independence movement, which emerged in the Western Sahara as Spanish settlers withdrew in 1975 and Morocco annexed the territory.

Haidar, 42, is claiming her right to return to Western Sahara's main town of Laayoune and accuses the Moroccan authorities of taking away her Moroccan passport. But the Rabat government says she refused "to carry out the usual police formalities (in Laayoune) and denied her Moroccan nationality."

"This lady is at the orders of her masters," Communications Minister Khalid Naciri said Sunday on a public television channel, adding that she was being manipulated in a "plan to divide and destabilize the region."

Asked Monday to explain his remarks, Naciri -- who is also Morocco's government spokesman -- launched into an attack on Algeria.

Algiers "is in a position of weakness in relation to the plan for autonomy drawn up by Morocco for the Western Sahara and which is welcomed by the international community," he told AFP by telephone.

Haidar's case was an "odious instrumentalisation" aimed at "attracting the sympathy of international public opinion," Naciri said, accusing Algeria of "a Cold War discourse. The Berlin Wall has fallen in Europe and another is being built by Algeria."

"We can't take the responsibility for a systematic, methodical plot devised by Algeria. Too much is too much," Naciri added when asked what Morocco planned to do about the Haidar affair.

Haidar was expelled from the Western Sahara on November 14 and began her hunger strike two days later, demanding her right to be able to return to the territory.

She has consumed only sugared water since.

Naciri described Morocco and Spain as "victims of a Machiavellian plan".

Kashmiri Diaspora urged to highlight the abuse of human rights in IOK

LONDON, Dec 14 (APP): The UK Kashmiri Diaspora has been urged to highlight the abuse of human rights in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.A leading Muslim member of the British Parliament, Lord Nazir Ahmed, recently elected as Chairman, All Parties Parliamentary Group on Kashmir, speaking at a seminar organized by the UK chapter of Jammu Kashmir Liberation League to commemorate the 61st UN Human Rights, said it is an important day for the people of Jammu Kashmir and awareness raising activities and campaigns regarding the situation of the human rights in Jammu Kashmir.

He advocated the need for bringing the cause of Kashmir to the notice of the representatives of the people in both houses of parliament in the UK.

Lord Ahmed was of the opinion that political activists and representatives of the Diaspora in the UK and all over the world should take an approach that revolves around the basic rights of the people of J&K rather than being critical of either countries party to the conflict.

Welcoming the participants at the House of Commons and specially Lord Ahmed in his new role as the chair of the APPG,Dr Misfar Hasan, the organizer of the seminar and the senior leader of JKLL, said that recent discovery of more than 2700 unnamed graves in the Indian Held Kashmir is another indication how much people of Kashmir have suffered at the hands of the Indian armed forces.

Talking about the recent attack on a senior political activist of APHC, he said that the incident is an indication that forces with vested interests want to sabotage the dialogue process as ever.

Speaking on the occasion, member of Parliament from Aylesbury and the Shadow foreign minister for the Conservative Party, David Liddington describing discovery of mass graves in the Held Kashmir as unfortunate was of the opinion that organizations like Amnesty International, International red Cross and other Human Rights organizations must have an unfettered access to investigate such unfortunate cases of crimes against humanity.

He further said that his party would accept a settlement of J&K that is acceptable to the people of Jammu Kashmir.

Another Conservative MP Paul Goodman while describing his visits to the refugee camps in the AJK said he has the firsthand account of the torture and use of force by the Indian authorities against the people of Held Kashmir.

He further said that people in different regions may be of different opinions regarding the final settlement of the issue.

Goodman said that they need to keep a focus on human rights violations in Held Kashmir. A resolution that takes into account wishes of the people of J&K would be lasting solution of the problem.

Prof. Nazir Shawl, Executive Director, Kashmir Center, London, presented a report on human rights violation to Lord Ahmed and reiterated that while the Indian government is giving an impression to the International community of talks and peace in the state yet the discovery of another unnamed mass graves in the Held Kashmir valley presents to the civilized world the possibility of mass genocide of many innocent civilian Kashmiris.

Muhammad Khan, a senior leader from Muslim Conference, UK, asked for a unified action to support the cause of the right of Self Determination and hoped that Lord Ahmed would use his good office to evolve some joint strategy in helping towards a political resolution of the issue through mediation.

Dr. Hassan in his closing remarks said that Kashmir is a political issue that must not be taken in context of religions as people of Kashmir with a very diverse culture and religions have lived peacefully side by side for centuries.

He said JKLL as a political party condemns all acts of terrorism anywhere on the globe and advocates a peaceful political settlement of the issue.

The participants agreed to a proposal by Lord Ahmed for an all parties moot in January to develop a consensus on the role of Kashmiri Diaspora to achieve the right of self-determination.

Castro says US on offensive in LatAm despite Obama

By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer

HAVANA – Fidel Castro says President Barack Obama's "friendly smile and African-American face" are hiding Washington's sinister intentions for Latin America — more evidence of a new cooling in U.S.-Cuba relations after a thaw had seemed possible just months ago.

In a letter to Hugo Chavez that the Venezuelan president read at the close of a summit of leftist Latin American nations Monday, Castro said the U.S. "empire is on the offensive again" in the region.

He blamed Washington for a military coup that toppled leftist President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras in June and criticized a U.S. agreement with Colombia that allows U.S. troops greater access to seven of that country's military bases.

"They are obviously the real intentions of the empire, this time under the friendly smile and African-American face of Barack Obama," Castro said.

The 83-year-old former Cuban president heaped praise on Obama when he first took office, calling him intelligent, sincere, serene, courageous, honest and well-meaning. He later endorsed Obama's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize.

But Castro has turned on Obama, saying in an opinion piece in state media last week that the U.S. president's acceptance of the Nobel prize after deciding to send 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan was "a cynical act."

His letter to Chavez is the latest sign that reconciliation between the U.S. and the communist-governed island isn't likely soon. That had seemed a possibility as recently as the spring, when the White House eased restrictions on Cuban-Americans who want to travel and send money to this country and Obama spoke of a possible new beginning in relations.

On Saturday, the U.S. State Department said Cuba detained an American citizen Dec. 5 who had been working in Cuba as a subcontractor for a Maryland-based economic development organization.

Cuba's government has not commented, but word of the arrest came after both sides blamed each other for the postponement of meetings scheduled for this month to discuss immigration issues.

In November, the State Department denounced an assault — allegedly by plainclothes Cuban state security agents — on the island's top dissident blogger, Yoani Sanchez. Obama later sent a lengthy message praising Sanchez and answering a series of questions from her.

Prominent American blacks recently denounced racism in Cuba, which is a touchy subject for this nation, and the Cuban military conducted war games against a U.S. invasion, which authorities here still insist is a real possibility.

The idea that Washington is turning up the heat on the leftist governments in Latin America dominated the two-day meeting of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, a regional trade group known as ALBA that was founded by Chavez as an alternative to U.S.-backed, free-trade consortiums.

Bolivian President Evo Morales said that if the U.S. threatened Latin America militarily, the region would rise up and create "a second Vietnam." Chavez quipped that Obama was the winner of the "Nobel Prize of War."

The Venezuelan leader also responded to recent comments by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who warned Latin American governments to "think twice" about building ties with Iran.

"It's ridiculous, the threat of the secretary of state, and we aren't afraid of her," Chavez said.