Annahar lays off 55 employees

Lebanese newspaper Annahar yesterday said it has made 55 employees redundant in the past few days.

The lay offs included senior management, reporters and staff employees at one of the oldest newspapers in Lebanon.

Ghassan Hajjar, Managing Editor, said the lay offs were meant for reform.

He said the economic downturn has affected all the players in the market, including the newspaper. However, he said: "We are not suffering a major financial crisis."

He said the actions taken by the management of the newspaper were recommended by Booz Allen Hamilton consultancy, which conducted a study on the newspaper's finance, management and productivity situation a year ago.

Hajjar said the consultancy firm recommended that the newspaper shed more than 80 employees, but that it did not see that feasible.

He told Emirates Business that there was no plan to lay off any more employees for the time being, noting that management would decide on such measures based on the evaluation of the impacts of the current lay offs on the development of the newspaper's productivity.

According to inside information, Edmond Saab Executive Editor-in-Chief was asked to leave in addition to the head of the training centre, the editor of the last page, the sports editor, the legal editor and the editor of Nahar Al Shabab supplement.

Annahar shareholders include Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz and Saad Al Hariri.

Analysis: Iran plant could defer Israel strike

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM – It may seem counterintuitive, but the news that Iran has a second, clandestine uranium enrichment plant, and has just test-fired long-range missiles, could actually put off any plans for a quick Israeli strike.

To be sure, Israel still sees an Iran with nuclear weapons as its greatest threat and has not taken a military assault off the table. Its defense minister, Ehud Barak, said as much in London on Tuesday.

Neutralizing the threat remains Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top priority. And the spectacle of upgraded missiles flying across Israel's TV screens only feeds its resolve to keep Iran at bay.

Yet the latest developments are likely to push world powers to impose the tough sanctions that Israel has been seeking. Giving Israel's position a higher profile on the world stage may also make it less inclined to act unilaterally.

For years, Israel has warned that Iran was not being honest about the size and nature of its nuclear program, which Tehran claims is designed to produce energy. Israel has portrayed last week's disclosure of the second facility, hidden in the arid mountains near the holy city of Qom, as confirmation of its suspicions.

"If there ever was a thought of (Israel) going with a military option, it's been put off," said Ephraim Kam, the deputy director of Tel Aviv University's Institute of National Security Studies. "Iran was caught lying again, it's clearly moving toward becoming a nuclear power.

"Now the Americans are better able to try to persuade the Europeans, and even the Russians, to go for tougher sanctions," he said.

Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born analyst working in Israel, agreed.

"It's likely that Israel will now be included more in the decision-making process," he said. "The more Israel sees itself as part of the process of dealing with the Iranian nuclear question, the less likely it is that it will take part in a unilateral action."

In a meeting with British Defense Minister Bob Ainsworth, Israel's Barak said the existence of the second plant should trigger harsh sanctions, according to a statement from his office which added that Israel "is not removing any option from the table."

The reference to "options" is seen as a signal that an Israeli military strike remains a possibility.

Iran's nuclear chief, Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, said Tuesday that his country built the newly revealed facility inside a mountain and next to a military site to protect it from attack. He didn't identify the potential attackers.

Iran said the Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles it tested had a range of 1,200 miles and can "target any place that threatens Iran." Israel, parts of Europe and U.S. military bases in the Mideast are within that range.

Iran's nuclear program, its missiles and its patronage of Palestinian and Lebanese militants on Israel's northern and southern flanks combined to make it Israel's most formidable foe. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated references to Israel's eventual destruction have only intensified concerns.

"The most urgent challenge facing this body is to prevent the tyrants of Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons," Netanyahu told the U.N. General Assembly last week.

Netanyahu has said sanctions are the best option, especially considering Iran's weakened economy and its domestic turmoil following contested elections. The revelation of the Qom facility did not significantly alter the preference for diplomacy because world intelligence agencies, including Israel's, have reportedly known about its existence for years.

Israel's 1981 air attack on an unfinished nuclear reactor in Iraq has long spurred speculation that such a strike might be replicated against Iran. But Iran's nuclear facilities are scattered across the country and highly fortified. Military experts are divided over whether Israel could cripple them or just set the program back a few years.

Washington has sent out multiple signals that it opposes a military strike and wants to see if sanctions can do the job. If Israeli warplanes flew to Iran, they would probably need permission to cross air space controlled by the U.S. and other countries.

But the threat of attack can serve diplomacy well, said Hazhir Teimourian, a British-based historian of the Middle East.

"I think Israel's threats to resort to military action have been taken seriously by the Americans and the Europeans, and that concentrates their minds," Teimourian said.

"They will resort to sanctions more readily and more deeply than they might otherwise do," he said. "It suits the West for Israel to shout about it."

UN chief: Iran should negotiate with key powers

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he told the Iranians that the U.N. nuclear chief said a package of incentives from six key Western powers that is now on the table if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment is a good one and they should negotiate on it.

Ban held talks last Friday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and said he had "much more candid discussions" Tuesday with Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

With Iran scheduled to meet Thursday in Geneva with the six key Western nations — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — the secretary-general said he told Mottaki "to make progress" in negotiations on his country's nuclear program.

The Geneva meeting comes days after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, confirmed that Iran sent a letter on Sept. 21 disclosing that it was building a new uranium enrichment facility.

Ahmadinejad said Friday his country has complied with requirements to inform the IAEA six months before a new enrichment facility becomes operational, and was giving 18 months notice. But the IAEA says Iran is obligated to give notice that it plans to build such facilities as soon as that decision is made.

Following the IAEA's disclosure of the new facility, Ban expressed "grave concern" about Iran's continued uranium enrichment, as did the leaders of the United States, Britain and France.

According to Iran's U.N. Mission, Ahmadinejad in turn expressed "grave concern" during his meeting with Ban that "instead of waiting for the IAEA, as the competent body, to reflect on ... the new enrichment facility, the U.N. chief had "chosen to repeat the same allegations that (a) few Western powers are making."

The secretary-general told a news conference Tuesday that he responded to Ahmadinejad's criticism by telling the president that the newly disclosed facility violated U.N. Security Council resolutions. Ban said he urged him to be transparent and open all nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection.

Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed solely at producing nuclear energy, but the U.S. and its allies believe Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.

"I made it quite clear that when they argue that their nuclear facilities are genuinely for peaceful purposes the burden of proof is on their side," Ban said.

Iran has agreed to allow the IAEA to inspect the new facility. At the news conference Tuesday, Ban was asked why he didn't wait for the U.N. nuclear agency to issue its report, as Ahmadinejad said.

"To be transparent and credible, when you have such an intent to build facilities, they should have informed — notified the IAEA long time before, not just before everything would be completed," Ban replied.

"That's what I'm raising. So there is a question of transparency. That is why the world leaders have expressed their deep concern and that is why I have also expressed my concern," he said.

Later, at a round-table luncheon hosted by the United Nations Foundation, Ban called the Iranian nuclear issue "very serious, even dangerous."

He said he told Mottaki he was "troubled that Iran is criticized," in the same manner as North Korea, and offered U.N. help for the country "to find some proper place in the international community."

But to achieve this, he said, Iran has to prove it is completely transparent and gives the IAEA full access to its nuclear facilities.

"I said, have you informed the IAEA when you had the blueprint (for the new facility)?" Ban said. "You have done it after you have finished ... construction, in a very remote mountainside underground. Then, it's not true, complete transparency. That's what I'm asking."

The six powers have offered Iran two packages for suspending enrichment as a prelude to wide-ranging talks on its nuclear program, the first in 2006 and the second in 2008.

Ban said he asked IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei what he thought about the two packages.

"Dr. ElBaradei told me that the first package was not enough, he believed. The second package is something which is good and ... can be negotiated," Ban said. "So I told the Iranians, I checked with the (IAEA) director-general. The first one you might not have been satisfied. I agree. The second package is a good one. You can negotiate it."

The 2008 package of economic, technological and political incentives to Tehran offers to help Iran develop a peaceful nuclear energy program and improve economic and diplomatic relations with the six countries and the European Union, on condition in suspends uranium enrichment.

Asked how Mottaki responded, Ban said, "he didn't have much to say."

"I don't know how this negotiation will go," the U.N. chief added.

Ahmadinejad stresses Muslims' 'unity'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called on regional states to strengthen unity, saying 'the enemy' fears Muslim countries' unanimity.

"Countries in the region have lived with each other peacefully and without any difference. The enemy, however, seeks to cause discord and even waged wars," Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with Iraqi Parliament Speaker Ayad al-Samarai in Tehran on Tuesday.

"The enemy has even established the fake Zionist regime [Israel] with the aim of hatching plots against regional governments and nations," he added.

"All regional countries shoulder heavy responsibility to cut the hands of the enemy.”

Ahmadinejad asserted the importance of Iraq's unity and said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran regards Iraq's security and integrity as its own."

"Security and progress of Iran and Iraq are integrated," he added.

Al-Samarai also met with Iranian Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani on Tuesday during his visit to Iran.

Larijani said the West seeks to impose its views on all countries and called on Muslim states to define the concept of 'Islamic human rights'.

"Muslim countries should try to determine the meaning of Islamic human rights based on preconceptions accepted by Islam," Larijani said on Tuesday.

He further voiced Iran's readiness to share its valuable experience on codification of judicial laws with Muslim states.

Hamas PM says Palestinian unity agreement is near

The elected prime minister of Palestine, Ismail Haniyeh, says his party Hamas has approved the framework of the Egyptian peace agreement and that signing it “is near.”

In an interview aired on September 29, Haniyeh said that the “Hamas position on the Egyptian proposal is positive, because it constitutes the regulatory framework of national reconciliation.”

He also stated that he believes once some parts of the agreement are discussed during talks in October, the proposal will be ready for signing, which ultimately will end the divisions among different Palestinian factions, the Maan news agency reported.

Haniyeh said if everything moves according to the agreement, then the elections will be held at the agreed time. He added that he feels an accord will be reached over the Fatah hesitation over postponing the elections, as per the Egyptian plan, in the “first half of 2010.”

He went on to say that the Palestinians are at a critical juncture and the abnormal situation can be ended soon.

"The normal situation is that we are one people with one government and we are serious in reaching that," he said.

Palestinians demand end to Israeli attacks

The Palestinian Authority prime minister says Israeli infringements against the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (al-Quds) are violations of international law and must stop.

Talking to reporters in Ramallah on September 29, Salam Fayyad called on Arab and other countries to take "clear positions" to compel the Israeli regime to stop its arbitrary practices, an action condemned by many countries.

Jewish extremists, supported by armed Israeli police, entered the al-Aqsa Mosque on September 27 and attacked protesting Palestinians, resulting in the injury of 16 Palestinians.

Such Israeli actions, including putting more restrictions on Palestinians in the holy city, are changing its features, Fayyad said. “This will significantly harm the already faltering peace process, and will only lead to more frustration and tension,” he said.

Israel does not include occupied Jerusalem in the ongoing peace negotiations, which is unacceptable, Fayyad said, and added that international law should be applicable to Jerusalem as well as the rest of the Israeli-occupied territories.

Fayyad also condemned the recent reports of Israeli settlers distributing leaflets to Palestinian olive farmers, demanding they stay away from their olive groves this October during the harvest. “This threat must be taken seriously,” he said.

Iran has full right to use nuclear energy: Amr Moussa

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa has declared that diplomacy should be “the only way” to deal with Iran and that Iran has the “full right” to use nuclear energy.

"We are going to follow closely the negotiations to start on the first of October," DPA quoted Moussa as saying in Cairo on Tuesday.

Moussa was referring to the upcoming meeting between Iran and the P5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China -- plus Germany), which is scheduled to take place in Geneva on October 1.

"It will be a long road, but dealing with Iran through diplomacy is important, essential, and should be the only way," he insisted.

"Arab countries have formulated a consensual position," Moussa said.

"The Middle East does not need any nuclear weapons program," he added.

"This also applies to Israel, in view of the fact that Israel is outside the realm of the Non-Proliferation Treaty," he stressed, saying, "Iran has the full right to benefit from peaceful uses of nuclear energy."