Serbia welcomes EU decision over membership - Summary

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Belgrade- Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic on Monday welcomed the European Union's decision to advance Belgrade's application for membership as a sign that Serbia is on the right path.

"This news shows that our efforts so far have been recognized by the European Union," Cvetkovic told reporters after EU foreign ministers agreed to forward Belgrade's membership application to the European Commission for technical analysis.

Cvetkovic said Belgrade would intensify its efforts to become a member of the EU.

Earlier, Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac echoed Cvetkovic's comments. "Serbia's European journey is unstoppable," he said.

The EU, however, has conditioned progress on membership on the arrest of two war crimes suspects, Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic and former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic.

Speaking on the fringe of a conference with visiting defense officials from Namibia, Sutanovac insisted Serbia has the political will to bring the two fugitives to justice.

"The Defense Ministry is giving its full contribution in the search" for Mladic and Hadzic, he said.

Officials at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia have accused Serbia is not doing enough to arrest and extradite Mladic and Hadzic.

Mladic has been charged with genocide in connection with the 1995 execution of 8,000 Muslims in the town of Srebrenica.

Hadzic faces trial for war crimes in connection with the killing of civilians during the Serb and Yugoslav army siege of Vukovar in 1991.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350321,decision-membership-summary.html.

China urged to release jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

New York - Fifteen Nobel Peace Prize laureates have asked Chinese President Hu Jintao to release Liu Xiaobo, 2010 winner of the prize, and to free his wife, Liu Xia, from house arrest, the Freedom Now movement said Monday.

The 15 laureates said in signed letter to the Chinese president last week that releasing Liu would be "an extraordinary recognition of the remarkable transformation China has undergone in recent decades."

The Washington-based Freedom Now released the letter to Hu on Monday. It said the 15 Nobel Peace Prize winners also asked G20 leaders in a separate letter that when they meet November 10-11 in Seoul, they should directly ask Hu to release Liu. China is a member of the G20.

"The (Seoul) summit provides time and opportunity to address Liu's imprisonment," the letter to the G20 said. "We strongly urge you to personally impress upon Chinese President Hu Jintao that the release of Liu would not only be welcome, but necessary."

Liu was awarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize on October 7 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, in recognition of his sustained and non- violent campaign for human rights in China. Liu is now serving his fourth prison term, an 11-year sentence, after Chinese authorities charged him with sedition.

Chinese authorities also put his wife under house arrest in Beijing. Freedom Now said Liu Xia has retained it as a pro bono international legal counsel.

The letter to the G20 included UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, US President Barack Obama, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, one of the 15 Nobel Peace laureate signatories, said that the awarding of the prize to Liu should be viewed by Beijing as a "moment of pride and opportunity for the Chinese government."

"I strongly urge President Hu to release Liu Xiaobo from his imprisonment and to lift all restrictions on Liu Xia's liberties," Tutu said.

The Chinese government called Liu's Nobel Prize a "blasphemy."

The 15 Nobel Peace Prize laureates: Tutu, Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Jimmy Carter, FW de Klerk, Shirin Ebadi, John Hume, the Dalai Lama, Mairead Maguire, Wangari Maathai, David Trimble, Rogoberta Menchu Tum, Lech Walesa, Elie Wiesel, Betty Williams and Jody Williams.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350323,peace-prize-winner-liu.html.

Two soldiers killed in bomb blast in Algiers

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Algiers - A bomb in the eastern part of Algiers killed two soldiers and wounded three others on Monday, but a second bomb nearby was detected and defused, Algerian security officials said.

The officials said the bomb targeted a parked military lorry in Boumerdes, a suburb of the Algerian capital.

A second bomb placed a few meters away was discovered and was defused in time by security forces.

There was no initial indication of who was behind the attack.

Algeria is regarded as the main area of operations of the group Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQMI). Algerian authorities insist that they have terrorism under control the North African country.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350327,two-soldiers-killed-in-bomb-blast-in-algiers.html.

Miners, rescuers hold emotional celebration in Chile

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Santiago- A presidential medal ceremony on Monday for the 33 miners who were trapped for more than two months in northern Chile provided a chance for a meeting between the freed men and the rescue teams who lifted them from the depths of the earth.

They wept together and shared embraces.

"We always felt the support of everybody," said mine worker Franklin Lobos, a former professional footballer.

The miners were honored Monday by Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.

"We are completely grateful to all those who fought for us. It was something we could not have imagined," shift boss Luis Urzua said in the ceremony at Chile's presidential palace, La Moneda, in Santiago.

The miners were trapped underground when the shaft they were working in collapsed on August 5. For 17 days they had no contact with the surface, until they were located and supplied with food, water, oxygen and even communications and television through small exploratory shafts drilled by rescuers.

The men were finally lifted to the surface through a larger shaft on October 13.

Pinera thanked rescue teams for their efforts and noted that Chile has to draw lessons from the tragedy, with a new approach to labor relations.

One of the miners, Mario Sepulveda, said that their plight under the Atacama Desert should be used as an opportunity for change: "This is the time we have to start reviewing things. This is the time we have to fight for workers to be treated with dignity."

Pinera, accused by some in the Chilean opposition of exploiting the rescue politically, recalled the tension of the spectacular operation.

"We were searching blindly. We did not know where you were, and the truth is we were not sure that you were alive," he told the miners.

The men received medals in the same order that they emerged from the mine.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350336,hold-emotional-celebration-chile.html.

NASA green lights Discovery launch

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Washington - NASA has given the green light to the launch of Discovery on November 1 after resolving a problem associated with a small fuel leak.

Discovery, which will be making its last voyage to space as NASA winds down the space shuttle program, was cleared for blastoff at 2040 GMT after completing a flight readiness review, the space agency said Monday.

NASA engineers drained a fuel line and replaced two seals to ensure a leak would not persist.

NASA is planning at least one more launch of a space shuttle after Discovery some time next year and has not ruled out a second flight.

Discovery will be carrying the last US module to the International Space Station, designed provide additional storage and laboratory space. Discovery will bring additional spare cargo and a new, different kind of resident - the first human-like robot in space, called Robonaut 2 (R2).

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350339,green-lights-discovery-launch.html.

Karzai confirms receiving cash payments from Iran

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai admitted Monday that his office regularly received cash payments from Iran to pay for his "special expenses" and presidential "donations," but insisted it was though official channels.

"The Iranian government has been providing us with 5 or 6 or 7 hundreds of thousands of euros once or twice every year," Karzai told reporters in his fortified presidential palace.

"This is transparent," the president insisted. "This is nothing hidden. We are grateful for the Iranian help in this regard."

Karzai was responding to a report in The New York Times accusing Tehran of passing bags of money as part of secret and steady payments intended to promote its interest in Afghanistan.

The report, citing Afghan and Western officials in Kabul, said Karzai chief of staff Umar Daoudzai received millions of dollars in cash in Iran and Afghanistan. The president used the money to buy the loyalty of Afghan politicians and tribal elders, the article said.

"Daoudzai is receiving that help under my instruction," Karzai said.

Asked what Tehran wanted Kabul to do in return, he said: "They have asked for good relations in return and lots of other things."

"We have also asked a lot of things in return in this relationship, so it is a relationship between neighbors, and it will go on, and we will continue to ask for cash help from Iran," Karzai said.

He said the US government was aware of the Iranian aid.

"The cash payments are done by various friendly countries to help the president's office and to help dispense assistance in various ways to the employees around here, to people outside, and this is transparent, and this is something that I have discussed," he said.

US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley told reporters in Washington that the United States supports the Afghan government receiving aid from any country but questioned Iran's motives and its dedication to a stable Afghanistan.

"We have concerns about Iran and the role that it's played in affairs of many of its neighbors, including Afghanistan," he said.

As far as US cash payments, Crowley confirmed, as Karzai noted, that Washington once provided the Afghan government with aid in the form of cash because in the early period of the US intervention Kabul did not have the institutional capacity to handle electronic transfers.

Karzai suggested the Times' report was related to his government's decision to dissolve all private security companies in Afghanistan.

He accused some Western officials of attempting to put pressure on the government and to defame Daoudzai by talking to the media.

NATO officials and Western diplomats in Kabul publicly supported Karzai's move to dismantle the security firms. But they have also expressed concerns that the ban would cause the closure of many national development projects protected by private security guards.

Karzai reiterated Monday that his decision on private security contractors stands, but said his administration was willing to reconsider the continuation of some private contractors currently guarding national projects.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350341,receiving-cash-payments-iran.html.

US awards Jordan 275-million-dollar grant to improve water

WASHINGTON — The United States on Monday awarded Jordan a 275-million-dollar grant to improve water distribution and wastewater collection in the northeastern city of Zarqa.

The money was granted under the US-run Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) which helps developing countries reduce their levels of poverty as long as they meet performance criteria on the rule of law and democratic principles.

The compact signed in Washington on Monday "will increase the supply of available water by improving water delivery, wastewater collection, and wastewater treatment," the MCC said in a statement.

The signing was witnessed by visiting Jordanian Foreign Minister Nassar Judeh and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who announced plans for the grant during a visit to Jordan last month.

Jordan, one of the closest US partners in the Middle East, is a key Arab mediator in the protracted Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

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