Martian meteorite sheds light on Red Planet's environmental history

Washington, August 11 : NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is investigating a metallic meteorite the size of a large watermelon, larger than any other known meteorite on Mars, that is providing researchers more details about the Red Planet's environmental history.

Scientists calculate that the rock, dubbed “Block Island,” is too massive to have hit the ground without disintegrating unless Mars had a much thicker atmosphere than it has now when the rock fell.

It was discovered two weeks ago, when Opportunity had driven approximately 600 feet past the rock in a Mars region called Meridiani Planum.

An image the rover had taken a few days earlier and stored was then transmitted back to Earth.

The image showed the rock is approximately 2 feet in length, half that in height, and has a bluish tint that distinguishes it from other rocks in the area.

The rover team decided to have Opportunity backtrack for a closer look, eventually touching Block Island with its robotic arm.

“There’s no question that it is an iron-nickel meteorite,” said Ralf Gellert of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

“We already investigated several spots that showed elemental variations on the surface. This might tell us if and how the metal was altered since it landed on Mars,” he said.

The microscopic imager on the rover’s arm revealed a distinctive triangular pattern in Block Island’s surface texture, matching a pattern common in iron-nickel meteorites found on Earth.

“Normally this pattern is exposed when the meteorite is cut, polished and etched with acid,” said Tim McCoy, a rover team member from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

“Sometimes it shows up on the surface of meteorites that have been eroded by windblown sand in deserts, and that appears to be what we see with Block Island,” he added.

Opportunity found a smaller iron-nickel meteorite, called “Heat Shield Rock,” in late 2004.

At about a half-ton or more, Block Island is roughly 10 times as massive as Heat Shield Rock and several times too big to have landed intact without more braking than today’s Martian atmosphere could provide.

“Consideration of existing model results indicates a meteorite this size requires a thicker atmosphere,” said rover team member Matt Golombek of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“Either Mars has hidden reserves of carbon-dioxide ice that can supply large amounts of carbon-dioxide gas into the atmosphere during warm periods of more recent climate cycles, or Block Island fell billions of years ago,” he added.

Hamas: Palestinian talks can not continue indefinitely

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a Gaza-based member of Hamas politburo, said on Monday that Palestinian talks mediated by Egypt can not continue indefinitely, asking for ending arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank.

In a press conference in the headquarters of Cairo-based Arab League (AL) after talks with AL Secretary General Amr Moussa, Hamas strongman al-Zahar said that arresting Hamas members into prisons of the West Bank is the "main obstacle" to the Palestinian unity talks.

He said that the only way to end the status quo is to hold elections and these elections can not be held without Palestinian reconciliation and an agreement between Fatah and Hamas.

Meanwhile, al-Zahar strongly condemned the death of a member of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement on Monday in a prison run by security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

Hamas and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian National Authority (PNA) issued conflicting statements over the reason behind the death of Fadi Hamadna, 28.

Brigadier General Adnan al-Dumiri, spokesman for the Palestinian security forces, said Hamadna has committed suicide at his solitary cell in al-Jenid prison in Nablus.

However, Hamas said Hamadna had passed away due to "brutal torture" at the hands of the general intelligence interrogators.

The mutual arrests the two sides exchange have hindered Egypt's efforts to reconcile the two movements under a unified government.

On the other hand, deposed Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haneya expressed on Monday hope that the new leadership of rival Fatah movement would be clinging to Palestinian principles and rights.

After the last round of dialogue between rival Hamas and Fatah movements failed in Cairo in late July, the Egyptians told the two sides that the upcoming round of dialogue will take place in Cairo on August 25.

However, tension between the two groups escalated after Fatah started its sixth general congress in Bethlehem, while Hamas banned Gaza Fatah congress members from attending.

Egypt has been sponsoring reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah since February, trying to reunite the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under one government.

Somalia: Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a Clerics Say They Took Over the Control of El-Der Village

The Islamic clerics of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a have said on Tuesday that they took over the control of Elder village in Galgudud region in central Somalia.

The clerics said that they captured Elder village in central Somalia where there had been forces loyal to Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen earlier.

Officials of the Islamic clerics of Ahlu Sunna Waljam'a told reporters that they completely took over the control of Elder as the other forces left there adding that there were some areas which both forces exchanged sporadic clashes.

Reports from the region say that there was no fighting happened in the Village as the people in the village say that the capture of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a forces came as Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen fighters left there.

There is no comment about the take over from the Islamic administration of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen who were manning there earlier.

Reports also indicate that the sound of sporadic gunfire could be heard in the far areas of the village near where the new forces of Ahlu Sunna Waljam'a reached today.

The claim of Ahlu Sunna Waljam'a for capturing Elder village comes as there had been calm situations in Galgudud region in over the past month.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200908110833.html.

Tensions Rise on Israel's North

Analysis by Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH, Aug 11, 2009 (IPS) - The war of words between Israel and the Lebanese resistance movement Hizbullah has heated up in the last week, raising fears that another war between Lebanon and Israel is imminent.

On Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Lebanese government that it would be held responsible for any attacks on Israeli targets even if the attacks were carried out independently by the guerrilla group.

"The government of Lebanon cannot just say 'that's Hizbullah', and hide behind them," Netanyahu was reported in the Israeli daily Haaretz as saying. "The government of Lebanon is in power and responsible."

The Times of London reported Wednesday last week that the militia has stockpiled 40,000 rockets near the border with Israel, and is training its guerrillas to use missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv.

The Times added that it was told by Israeli officials and a senior commander that Israel's northern border "could explode at any minute."

According to Israeli security sources, the UN and Hizbullah itself, the group is now significantly stronger both militarily and politically than it was during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

Netanyahu's statements followed comments made on Sunday by a senior Hizbullah official Hashem Safi a-Din that any future military confrontation with Israel would make the war of 2006 seem like a joke.

A-Din elaborated that Hizbullah was not interested in another war with Israel but said his organisation remained on full alert in case of a pending Israeli attack.

The latest war of words came in the wake of belligerent statements made by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak last Wednesday that Israel was "not ready to accept a situation in which a neighbouring country has in its government and parliament a militia that has its own policy and 40,000 rockets aimed at Israel."

Israeli deputy foreign minister Daniel Ayalon further warned on Sunday that "if one hair on the head of an Israeli representative or tourist is harmed, we will see Hizbullah as responsible and it will bear the most dire consequences."

Israeli intelligence has been warning for some time now that Hizbullah has sleeper cells lying dormant abroad waiting to attack Israeli government officials or tourists in response for a car bombing in Damascus last year which killed senior Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh.

Israeli spy agency Mossad is suspected of being behind the assassination. Israel has denied involvement.

Last week Egyptian security officials arrested a group suspected of planning to assassinate Israel's ambassador to Egypt. A planned bomb attack on Israel's embassy in Baku was foiled by Azerbaijani security forces in 2008.

Ayalon told Israeli radio that it was not just in Egypt that cells were planning attacks against Israel but that Hizbullah was also plotting in other countries.

Tensions on Israel's northern borders began to rise in mid-July following an explosion at a warehouse where guerrillas are suspected to be stockpiling rockets and missiles.

The tense atmosphere on the border was further exacerbated recently when a group of unarmed Lebanese civilians waving Lebanese flags deliberately crossed the border and moved onto the disputed Shaba farms which Israel occupies. Both Syria and Lebanon say this territory belongs to Lebanon.

Israel's envoy to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, sent a letter to UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon protesting the warehouse explosion incident.

The Israelis further claim that UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) troops were delayed by Hizbullah men from reaching the site, thereby giving them time to hide the evidence.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought the 2006 conflict to an end, obliges the Lebanese government to disarm Hizbullah.

However, any crackdown by opposing factions of the Lebanese government on Hizbullah would cause a major confrontation as well as being difficult to implement both politically and militarily.

Hizbullah is a democratically elected part of the Lebanese government. Previously the guerrilla group was seen as a force outside of Beirut's control.

The movement earned enormous respect politically for withstanding Israel's devastating military assault during the 2006 war while simultaneously fighting back against enormous odds.

Hizbullah is also widely credited with forcing Israel's withdrawal from its self- declared "security zone" in 2000 which was established in southern Lebanon, south of the Litani river, ostensibly to protect Israel from Hizbullah and other guerrilla groups.

Last year street battles broke out in Beirut between Hizbullah gunmen and Lebanese forces and their supporters after the Lebanese government tried to close down Hizbullah telecommunications. The Lebanese government was forced to back down, and the telecommunications continued to operate.

The UN has acknowledged that arms smuggling through Syria's porous borders with Lebanon continues. Israel meanwhile has continued to violate Lebanese airspace with overflights. It has also managed a spy ring in the country for a number of years.

Nevertheless, according to Dr Samir Awad from the political science department of Birzeit University near Ramallah, an imminent Israeli attack on Lebanon is unlikely.

"It is Israeli rhetoric for domestic consumption particularly by a growing right-wing element. Israel knows a strengthened Hizbullah could inflict a serious blow on Israel, and it is not willing to take that risk," said Awad.

"Additionally if the Israeli government returns to peace talks with the Palestinians, it wants to appear to be coming from a position of strength while drawing international focus away from controversial issues such as the settlements and a two-state solution," Awad told IPS.

"There are a lot of big mouths involved," Prof. Moshe Maoz from Jerusalem's Hebrew University told IPS. "Despite this a future war between Israel and Hizbullah is not improbable. However, this will depend on Hizbullah's main benefactor Iran's actions which in turn are dependent on political developments with the U.S. which would like to weaken Iran's regional influence.

"Furthermore, if America can reach an agreement with Syria, another of Hizbullah's allies, in regard to the occupied Shaba farms and the Golan Heights, this too will influence the guerrilla group's future course of action."

Gaza's Lost Memories

by Najwa Sheikh

Gaza, August 11, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) - Another hidden but very painful part of the Palestinian sufferings is the story of families scattered around the world, many of whom have settled in different countries, after they fled in 1948. They have different lives and lost many of their childhood memories.

Childhood memories are the events and experiences lived with our sisters and brothers. They are the special moments in time that one cannot ignore or forget; they are experiences bound by the ties of brotherhood. The memories shared with my brothers and sisters are for us, which as a family we ordinarily would enjoy recalling and reliving. Recollection of the dear memories of our childhood would be possible if we were not separated by such a distance.

My own relatives are scattered across Saudi Arabia, Libya and Lebanon. Neither my parents nor I know anything about their children or lives, how they look, or the type of life they live. There are, however, rare telephone calls from time to time.

A week ago my mother-in-law received the news that one of her brothers died in Kuwait. I was surprised of course because it was the first time I had heard of him. It seems that he, like many other Palestinians who have left long ago, made his life outside of Gaza and lost connection with his roots. My mother-in-law, though not remembering his image, was very sad to receive this news, wishing she had the chance to share with him again the old childhood memories. She longed for not being able to know him better or to see face after 70 years. My mother-in-law wished for being to make fun and tease, as brothers and sisters do irrespective of age, once more.

The same story can be told of my other family members. Separation of physical distance and the loss of contact has only brought more pain and suffering. The saddest part of this that our old memories have faded and our present life is filled with no memory or shared experiences that come with families who age together.

I remember when my uncle passed away five years ago, who I had never met or talked with, there was no feelings of sadness or sense of loss. It is not that my heart is made of stone. I had not one single memory with or even an image in my mind of my uncle. Will my brothers children living abroad also feel the same?

I have two brothers living outside of Gaza. They are married and have children. Even though we talk on the phone, there are no memories to share. I cannot say anything about their hobbies; what they like or dislike; or choose gifts because of not knowing their favorite colors or the toys they like most. They too cannot say anything about me, their other aunts, or grandparents. My brothers' children will feel the same as I felt for when my uncle departed this world.

As time fades away and age descends, I too will forget the image of my brothers as my mother did when my uncle passed away. I too will not be able to laugh, tease and make fun of them as they grow old with age. One day I too will receive similar news that my father and my in-laws received. Will I grieve, cry, able to share our childhood memories or my sadness be kept inside? The physical distance only increases the suffering of all Palestinian families living apart.

Najwa Sheikh
A Palestinian PT special writer living in the Gaza Strip

Addicted to War: America's Brutal Pipe Dream in Afghanistan

Chris Floyd

August 11, 2009

Looks like the "Good War" in Afghanistan is morphing even more directly into the "Drug War" that the U.S. government has been waging all over the world -- and especially against its own people -- for almost 40 years now, with all the attendant aggrandizement of authoritarian powers and degradation of civil liberties and human rights.

As The Times reports, and Pentagon brass confirmed, the "continuity government" of the Obama Administration has drawn up yet another "hit list" of people to be arbitrarily assassinated: 50 "drug lords" allegedly associated with the Taliban. No doubt the many drug lords associated with the American-installed Afghan government -- and those cooperating directly with the Western occupation -- are exempt from this dirty laundry list.

Of course, the runaway cultivation of opium in Afghanistan -- which is now flooding not only the West but also vast swathes of Central Asia with cheap heroin -- is a direct result of the American invasion in 2001: an operation ostensibly designed to capture Osama bin Laden, who somehow curiously slipped away from the Americans' curiously porous encirclement, never to be seen again (except of course for a few curiously timed transmission that seemed, curiously enough, to be geared to the domestic political needs of America's militarist factions). Of course, before the invasion, the Taliban had largely -- if ruthlesssly -- eliminated the cultivation of opium in the areas under its control. But the American military -- and its gung-ho CIA operatives ("We're killing people!" as one CIAer exulted to the Boston Globe) -- instead empowered the Northern Alliance: the Russian-backed conglomerate of warlords and druglords who were freely growing opium in their territories.

Now the Afghan insurgents -- themselves a loose conglomeration of factions given the conveniently misleading monolithic moniker of "the Taliban" -- have taken up the opium trade to help finance their operations as well. Meanwhile, poor Afghans are dependent on the opium trade, which fetches prices far above anything else they can grow. After all, their society and economy have been systematically destroyed by 30 years of savage war, kicked off not by the Soviet intervention in 1980 but by a terrorist campaign by religious extremists armed, funded and encouraged by the good Christian administration of Jimmy Carter, whose "national security" honcho, Zbigniew Brzezinski, wanted to draw the Soviets into "their own Vietnam" in support of their client regime in Kabul. Now, as Jason Ditz – an indispensible chronicler of the Terror War in Central Asia – points out, the Americans are adopting the Soviets' own failed strategy in Afghanistan: death-dealing military "surges" combined with wads of cash thrown blindly into the economic chaos caused by the military action.

But you can't "build" a state while you are simultaneously waging war inside it. And you certainly can't build it by killing cucumber farmers, as U.S. forces did the other day. Expect even more of this as the Pentagon gears up its "Drug War" weaponry to eliminate the rivals of its favored criminals – sorry, I mean to wipe out the scourge of Afghanistan's Taliban drug lord devils.

If all of this seems grimly familiar, that's because it is. I've been writing about the merging of the Terror War and the Drug War in Afghanistan since… November 2001, a few scant weeks after the Bush Administration sent the "carpet of bombs" they promised the Taliban – back in June 2001; yes, before "the whole world changed" on 9/11 – if they didn't play ball on the oil pipelines that Western consortiums were looking to lay across Afghanistan. It was obvious even then where we were going, as I noted in the Moscow Times, in that long-ago November:

Among the isolated, out-of-step losers who dare open their mouths to mutter "doubts" about America's military campaign in Afghanistan, you will sometimes hear the traitorous comment: "This war is just about oil."

We take stern exception to such cynical tommyrot. No one who has made a clear and dispassionate assessment of the situation in the region could possibly say the new Afghan war is "just about oil."

It's also about drugs.

For, although we must now hail the warlords of the Northern Alliance as noble defenders of civilization, the fact is that for some time they have also functioned as one of the world's biggest drug-dealing operations. Indeed, one of the main sticking points between the holy warriors of the alliance and their ideological brethren in the Taliban has been control of the profitable poppy, which by God's grace grows so plentifully in a land otherwise bereft of natural resources. (Always excepting the production of corpses.)

In the good old days, when the brethren were united against the Soviet devil, all shared equally in the drug-running trade, under the benevolent eye of that great lubricator of illicit commerce, the CIA. When the Northern Alliance was driven from Kabul – having killed 50,000 of the city's inhabitants during their civilized rule – the Taliban seized the lion's share of Afghanistan's opium production. The noble warlords managed to hold on to several prize fields in the north, however, and together with avaricious Talibs, they helped fuel a worldwide rise in heroin traffic.

Earlier this year, the Bush administration bribed the Taliban to stop growing opium – a most effective use of baksheesh, according to the UN, which found that Afghan opium production dropped from 3,300 tons annually to less than 200. But the Northern Alliance leapt manfully into the breach, engineering a threefold rise in opium output on their territory this year.


This note of praise for the Bush pay-offs to the Taliban was not ironic; I heartily approve of the notion of large-scale bribery to achieve foreign policy objectives. It is much better – and in the end, far cheaper to the public purse – than the murderous ravages of war. Alas, the murderous ravages of war are all too often the actual objective of imperial foreign policy; the profits, power and domination that accrue to the warmakers are far more enticing than the non-violent ends that can be achieved by bribery (or even by, god forbid, actual diplomacy: negotiation, compromise, mutual respect, that kind of thing). Or as Cheritto put it so memorably to his fellow robbers in Heat: "You know, for me, the action is the juice."

And so on and on we go. The new head of the army of our Good War ally, Britain, is saying that the mission in Afghanistan "might take as long as 30 or 40 years." By which time there will not be "tomb enough and continent to hide the slain."

US Marines assault Taliban town in Afghanistan

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer

DAHANEH, Afghanistan – U.S. Marines have mounted a helicopter assault to seize the Taliban-held town of Dahaneh in southern Afghanistan and are fighting gain control of the area ahead of next week's presidential elections.

The assault began before dawn Wednesday, with Marines entering the town as others battled militants in the surrounding mountains.

Associated Press journalists traveling with the first wave say Marines were met with small arms, mortar and rocket propelled grenade fire. Fighting is still under way hours later, with U.S. Marine Harrier jets streaking over the town and dropping flares in a show of force.

Marines have captured several suspects and seized about 66 pounds (30 kilos) of opium.