Armenians Plead Guilty in Georgia to Uranium Smuggling

By Loretta Duchamps
Epoch Times Staff

Nov 9, 2010

Two Armenians have pleaded guilty to smuggling nuclear bomb-grade uranium from their country into Georgia, as decided during a secret trial, said officials on Monday according to AFP.

In March, the two men, Sumbat Tonoian and Hrant Ohanian, attempted to sell 18 grams (0.6 ounces) of the smuggled uranium for $1.5 million. Their client turned out to be an undercover agent posing as an Islamic radical, said Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili according to AFP.

The uranium, about 90 percent enriched, was smuggled by the two in a cigarette box on a train from Armenia’s capital Yerevan to Tbilisi.

“Most likely, the materials were stolen in the mid- or early 90s when a big amount of material disappeared. It’s hidden somewhere and from time to time, someone is trying to find new buyers,” Archil Pavlenishvili, who heads a nuclear smuggling unit in Georgia’s Interior Ministry, told The Guardian.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili communicated about the case with world leaders in April at a nuclear summit, but details couldn’t be made public before the two had been found guilty, reported Civil.ge.

The United States has equipped Georgia with radiation detection equipment at all land, air, and sea border crossings.

To safeguard the identity of the undercover agents, the trial took place in Georgia behind closed doors. The men face prison terms of a minimum of 10 years, reported Radio Free Europe.

This case is the third nuclear smuggling incident exposed in Georgia.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/45648/.

Religious affairs ministry warns of ideological war

09-11-2010

Al Qassam website - Palestine’s religious affairs ministry in Gaza warned the Israeli government’s announcement to relaunch the Jerusalem 2020 project, which would reduce the city’s Palestinian population to 20 per cent, could spark a “painful” ideological war in the holy city.

The ministry’s Jerusalem committee said in a statement it issued Monday that the plan would mean obliterating Islamic holy sites and landmarks around the Aqsa Mosque in hopes of taking control of the mosque, destroying it and building the alleged temple on its ruins.

The committee added that the Israeli government seeks to transfer the largest possible number of Jews to the holy city and adjoin communities to achieve this goal and transform it from a “fundamentalist Jewish city into a city of life”.

The ministry underlined that the construction of thousands of apartments and a train system between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and a railway linking the city’s Gush Etzion settlement community places the city as a national priority.

Jerusalem’s Arab population reached 300,000, but with the separation wall isolating 120,000 residents, and 14,000 family’s who were denied citizenship as a result of identity card revocation, and Resolution 1650 that deprived thousands of family reunification, the number of Arab residents plummeted to 175,000, while the number of Jews in east Jerusalem rose to 200,000.

In a separate development, an official report issued by the Israeli insurance foundation noted a significant increase in the poverty level in 2009 in 1948-occupied Palestinian territories.

The report issued Monday said the majority of family’s under the poverty level since the beginning of last year are Arabs living in territories occupied by Israel in 1948.

The foundation said the poverty level rose by six per cent, with 15,000 Palestinian and Jewish families falling below the poverty line, most of them Palestinians and Jewish extremists.

Source: Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades - Information Office.
Link: http://www.qassam.ps/news-3746-Religious_affairs_ministry_warns_of_ideological_war.html.

Protesters shout down Netanyahu in New Orleans

09-11-2010

Al Qassam website - New Orleans- Angry protesters interrupted Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a prominent American Jewish group on Monday, the same day his government said it would move ahead with hundreds of new illegal housing units in the occupied east Jerusalem.

The angry protesters, members of the Young Leadership Institute of Jewish Voice for Peace, stood up and shouted at different times during Netanyahu's speech to the Jewish Federations of North America.

The five Jewish-American and Israeli protesters stood up and held banners denouncing the illegal settlements.

The first protester, who interrupted Netanyahu barely moments after he began his 30 minute speech, was ejected while shouting "the loyalty oath delegitimizes Israel".

Subsequent interruptions of regular intervals protested Israel's occupation, claiming that it too delegitimizes what so clled "Israel".

Rae Abileah, a 28-year-old protester from San Francisco, shouted "the settlements betray Jewish values" as she was grabbed by Orleans Parish sheriff's deputies and pulled out of the hall. She said a man sitting in front of her tried to stuff a seat cover into her mouth to silence her. Audience members pushed a male protester and cursed at him after he interrupted the prime minister's speech.

Hannah King, a 17-year-old student and member of the Jewish Voices for Peace, which organized the protests, said that the protesters had been escorted out of the hotel, where they were handed over to the police.

King said that she had been driven to act as she felt Israel’s behavior went against her Jewish upbringing.

“We believe that the actions that "Israel" is taking, like settlements, like the occupation, like the loyalty oath, are contrary to the Jewish values that we learnt in Jewish day school,” she said. “This is not "Tikkun Olam". Oppressing people in refugee camps is not Tikkun Olam. And it is a hypocrisy that I cannot abide.”

Netanyahu accused the protesters of joining those who believe "Israel is guilty until proven guilty!."

Obviously, Interruption of Netanyahu's speech by angry protesters is not the first, previously, former Zionist PM Ehud Olmert was also interrupted by a group of angry protesters in Chicago university in 15 October 2009.

Protesters inside the hall read off the names of Palestinian children killed during Zionist occupation assault on Gaza last winter. They shouted that it was unacceptable that the war crimes suspect be invited to speak at a Chicago university when his army destroyed a university in Gaza in January. They reminded the audience of the more than 1,400 Palestinians killed during the Gaza attacks and the more than 1,200 killed during the Zionist occupation invasion of Lebanon in 2006. Both invasions happened during Olmert's premiership.

Source: Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades - Information Office.
Link: http://www.qassam.ps/news-3749-Protesters_shout_down_Netanyahu_in_New_Orleans.html.

Algeria, Portugal launch bilateral talks

2010-11-08

Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia arrives in Lisbon on Monday (November 8th) to hold bilateral talks with Portuguese counterpart José Socrates. The 3rd Algeria-Portugal High Level Commission will focus on co-operation in the energy, public works, education and scientific research sectors, El Khabar reported. Several agreements are expected to be signed during the two-day session.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/11/08/newsbrief-06.

'LibDex' defense expo opens in Tripoli

2010-11-08

Libyan defense and security exhibition "LibDex 2010" opens on Monday (November 8th), PANA reported. Some 120 companies from 21 countries are attending the three-day event at Tripoli's Mitiga International Airport. Organizers bill the exhibition as an opportunity for international manufacturers to network with government's officials, armed forces representatives and "all bodies involved in the defense and security industry in Libya and North Africa".

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/11/08/newsbrief-07.

Vote turnout exceeds 50% one hour ahead of ballot closure

AMMAN (JT) - Jordanians continued to cast their ballots Tuesday evening to elect the 16th Parliament.

By 6pm, voter turnout stood at 50,3 per cent, elections spokesperson Samih Maaytah announced, with North Badia district witnessing the highest, at 80.2 per cent, and Amman the lowest, at 31 per cent, one hour ahead of the closure of ballots.

Officials are authorized to extend the period by two hours if turnout in certain areas is too low or if a relatively high number of voters shows up at election centers in the last hour of the vote.

The capital apparently saw higher voter participation in the afternoon hours; at 1:20pm, 18 per cent of the voters had cast their ballot, but at 4pm, the turnout had increased to 24.8 per cent.

Officials said the voting process was going smoothly despite sporadic incidents of violence and disturbance, including the detention of 20 persons who were blocking the way of candidates in the governorate of Madaba and Mafraq, and the detention of a voter who attempted to vote twice in the governorate of Zarqa.

One person was killed and two injured in violence involving two tribes on the backdrop of election rivalry in Karak Tuesday afternoon, Maaytah told reporters, and police managed to calm violent incidents in Madaba, Wadi Sir and other areas.

His Majesty King Abdullah checked on the voting progress during a visit to the central operations room at the Interior Ministry, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Interior Minister Nayef Qadi had said earlier in the morning that all preparations were in place to facilitate the voting process, emphasizing the government’s keenness to enforce the law to ensure that citizens practice their right unimpeded.

Meanwhile, Jordanian National Commission for Women Secretary General Asma Khader urged Jordanian women to head to the polls and choose representatives capable of representing them and their cause.

Khader expressed hope that women candidates would be able to win seats without resorting to the quota system, according to which 12 seats are reserved for women deputies, one for each of the Kingdom’s 12 governorates.

She said that the current quota system does not give a fair chance to women from major cities who, she said, are more politicized than their counterparts in the rest of the Kingdom.

Political Development Ministry Secretary General Malek Twal said the government was keen to ensure a transparent process and gave permits to local and foreign observers to access polling centers all over the Kingdom.

He said by Tuesday, the number of foreign observers had reached 356, while local observers totaled 3,500.

In the governorates, turnout percentages were as follows:

Amman 31

Irbid 59.2

Balqa 61

Karak 71.2

Maan 71

Zarqa 33.4

Mafraq 71.6

Tafileh 72.2

Madaba 71.9

Jerash 68.5

Ajloun 70.2

Aqaba 56

North Badia 80.2

Central Badia 75.4

South Badia 79.6

9 November 2010

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/?news=31704.

Vote goes on smoothly; 'minor incidents' reported - officials

King checks on situation during visit to Interior Ministry

AMMAN (JT) – Jordanians headed to the polls on Tuesday to elect their 16th Parliament.

His Majesty King Abdullah checked on progress in the vote during a visit to the central operations room at the Interior Ministry, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Overall voter turnout rose to 32.2 percent by 1.20pm Tuesday, according to the government. In Amman it stood at 18 percent. The highest voter turnout was in the Northern Bedouins District with 61 percent. In Mafraq, it was 50 percent, in Karak it stood at 49.5, in Zarqa 20.9, in Irbid 37, in Aqaba 31.5 percent.

Interior Minister Nayef Qadi said all preparations were in place to facilitate the voting process, emphasizing that the government is keen to enforce the law to ensure that citizens practice their right without any hindrances.

According to officials, “minor incidents that did not affect the process” took place, including the detention of 20 persons who were blocking the way of candidates in the governorate of Madaba and Mafraq, and the detention of a voter who attempted to vote twice in the governorate of Zarqa.

Meanwhile, Jordanian National Commission for Women Secretary General Asma Khader urged Jordanian women to head to the polls to choose representatives who are capable of representing them and their cause.

Khader expressed hope that female candidates would be able to win seats without resorting to the quota system which reserved 12 seats for women deputies, one for each of the Kingdom’s 12 governorates.

She added that the current quota system does not give a fair chance to women from major cities whom she described as more politicized than their counterparts in the Kingdom.

Political Development Ministry Secretary General Malek Twal said the government is keen to ensure a transparent process and has given permits to local and foreign observers to access polling centers all over the Kingdom.

He said by Tuesday, the number of foreign observers reached 356, while local observers totaled 3,500.

9 November 2010

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/?news=31703.