Somali pirates free Turkish ship after ransom

* Bulk carrier hijacked in July

* Carrying 23 Turkish crew members

* Spanish fishing vessel still being held

By Abdiqani Hassan

BOSASSO, Somalia, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Somali pirates freed a Turkish ship on Monday after a pirate source said the hijackers received a $1.5 million ransom.

A regional maritime official confirmed the bulk carrier Horizon-1, which was seized on July 8 with 23 Turkish crew members on board, had been released.

"We accepted $1.5 million to release the Turkish ship," one of the pirates, who gave his name as Abshir, told Reuters by telephone from the gangs' stronghold of Eyl.

"We delayed leaving because of accounting: we were sharing out the money. We disembarked from the ship this afternoon."

Residents in Eyl said associates of the pirates held a big party to celebrate the ransom payment.

"There is too much noise. The pirates' friends in Eyl are celebrating. Some have gone to welcome the pirates who took the ransom," local man Abdiqadir Mohamed told Reuters by phone.

Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programm confirmed the ship, which was believed to be carrying sulphate when it was hijacked, had been released.

There was no immediate word on the condition of the crew.

Spanish media said at the time that the vessel had been en route from Jordan to Saudi Arabia when it was hijacked.

FISHING BOAT HELD

Pirate raids have continued in the Indian Ocean and strategic Gulf of Aden despite foreign naval patrols off the lawless Horn of Africa state. Monsoon rains curbed attacks in recent months, but now they have started to pick up again.

A Spanish tuna fishing boat and its crew of 36, which was seized in the area last week is still being held.

Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said he spoke to Somalia's prime minister on Monday who promised to help try to secure its release. [ID:nL574857]

"The number one authority in Somalia has committed himself to helping all the steps which the Spanish government is taking to liberate the Alakrana," a government statement said.

The government of Somalia, where civil war has been going on for 18 years, controls only small pockets of the capital, Mogadishu.

Heavily-armed gangs from Somalia -- some made up of former fishermen angered by foreign boats fishing in Somali waters -- have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by seizing boats in shipping lanes linking Europe to Asia.

Source: Alertnet.
Link: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L5106653.htm.

Palestinians to sign unity deal October 26

AMMAN - Rival Palestinian factions are to sign a long-delayed reconciliation deal in Cairo on October 26, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Monday after meeting Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

"We agreed to hold a meeting for Palestinian factions in Cairo on October 25 before signing a reconciliation agreement on October 26," he told a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.

"Arab officials and maybe officials from outside the Arab world might attend the signing of the agreement as witnesses."

The announcement came shortly after Abul Gheit and Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman held talks in Jordan's capital with Abbas, who heads the mainstream Fatah faction.

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian side.

The Islamist movement Hamas and Fatah have been in dispute since a split culminated in the Islamists violently seizing control of Gaza in June 2007 after 18 months of shaky coalition government.

According to extracts of proposals obtained by AFP, the plan calls for both presidential and parliamentary elections to be held across the Palestinian territories in the middle of 2010.

It also calls for bolstering the Fatah-dominated security forces under Egyptian supervision and the release of prisoners in both the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-run West Bank.

Egyptian mediation efforts have centred on a new electoral law as well as the make-up of Palestinian security forces and of a committee to liaise between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank ahead of the vote.

Egypt has twice postponed the scheduled date for the signing of a reconciliation agreement because of lingering disagreements between the two main Palestinian factions.

Earlier, Abul Gheit and Suleiman, who is Cairo's pointman on efforts to unite the rival factions, met Jordan's King Abdullah II, who said Palestinian reconciliation was a "key necessity" to establishing an independent state.

Abul Gheit's announcement comes amid new tension between Abbas's Palestinian Authority and Hamas over the PA's support for delaying the endorsement of a UN report on possible war crimes committed during Israel's Gaza offensive.

The UN Human Rights Council has decided to delay consideration of the report compiled by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone.

Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of a Hamas-run government in Gaza, accused the Western-backed Abbas of making the "absurd and criminal" decision to delay endorsement of the report.

"How can the two parties (Fatah and Hamas) sit at one table and sign an agreement in this situation? ... This has placed a heavy obstacle in the way of Palestinian unity," he said.

But Abul Gheit was confident that it would not halt the signing: "I think that the Goldstone issue is not likely to affect Palestinian reconciliation," he said.

Egypt's top imam orders student to remove conservative face veil

October 06, 2009
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

CAIRO: Egypt’s leading cleric ordered a student to remove her face veil while he was was visiting an academy linked to the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, an Egyptian newspaper reported on Monday.

Al-Azhar’s Grand Imam Mohammad Tantawi asked the student to remove her niqab, a face veil worn by devout Muslim women, when he spotted her in a classroom, the daily Al-Masry al-Yowm reported, add­ing that the student complied.

Tantawi reportedly said the niqab was a tradition, not an Islamic obligation.

The newspaper also reported that Higher Education Minister Hani Hilal decided to ban women wearing the niqab from entering university residences.

Sunni Muslim scholars are divided on whether a woman must cover her face, with the majority saying it is not an obligation, but all mainstream scholars agree a woman must cover her hair and her body with loose fitting clothes.

In the Middle East, the niqab has come to be associated with Salafism, a brand of ultra-conservative Islam practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia.

Most Muslim women in the country wear the hijab, a veil that covers the hair, but an increase in women wearing the niqab has apparently alarmed the government.

The Religious Endowments Ministry has distributed booklets in mosques against the practice.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/Oct/06/Egypts-top-imam-orders-student-to-remove-conservative-face-veil.ashx.

German farm win Guinness Book of Records' 'battle of coffee pots'

Roevershagen, Germany - A German farm declared victory Monday in a bizarre race to acquire the world's largest collection of old china coffee pots - saying the Guinness Book of World Records had certified it as the winner with 13,267. Karl's Farm, which offers fields of pick-your-own strawberries, restaurants and children's playgrounds, had appealed to visitors to search their attics for old china sets and to donate the pots.

The porcelain is now arrayed on every available wall at the visitor attraction in the small town of Roevershagen near Rostock.

But in a dastardly twist, the race became bitter when Oschatz Park, a visitor attraction in another eastern German town, vainly tried to overtake the Karl's mark.

Karl's said the previous top collection in the Records Book numbered 5,014.

None of the pots are allowed to be duplicates.

The collection was begun by the strawberry farm owner, who ran out of home space when the collection became too large.

A Karl's spokesman said donors, some of whom brought cartons of pots, would be invited to a free coffee party to celebrate.

Coffee pots, rather than teapots, are a standard item in German tableware sets.

Taliban claim responsibility for deadly UN blast

By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD – Taliban militants claimed responsibility Tuesday for the deadly suicide bombing at the U.N. food agency's heavily fortified compound in Islamabad, saying international relief work in Pakistan was not in "the interest of Muslims."

The attack, which killed five workers for the World Food Program on Monday, pushed the U.N. to temporarily close its offices in the country and exposed the vulnerability of many international relief agencies working to provide aid to millions of civilians affected by the fight between the government and Islamic militant groups.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik accused the Taliban of carrying out the attack to avenge the Aug. 5 slaying of their leader Baitullah Mehsud in a U.S. drone attack.

Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq confirmed his group was behind the bombing in a phone conversation with The Associated Press and lashed out at foreign aid workers here.

"We proudly claim the responsibility for the suicide attack at the U.N. office in Islamabad. We will send more bombers for such attacks," he said. "The U.N. and other foreign (aid groups) are not working for the interest of Muslims. We are watching their activities. They are infidels."

He added that the Taliban would not target Muslim relief groups.

Tariq said the Taliban's future targets would include Pakistani security officials, government offices and American installations.

World Food Program spokesman Amjad Jamal defended the agency's work as "totally humanitarian."

"We provide food. Our food is for the vulnerable groups, the poor groups who cannot afford one meal a day," he said.

The suicide bomber was dressed Monday as a security officer and was allowed to enter the World Food Program offices — apparently bypassing the normal security procedures — after asking the guards outside if he could used the bathroom.

After the attack, the U.N. announced it was temporarily closing all its offices in Pakistan, but said its Pakistani partner organizations would continue distributing food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance. The world body said it would reassess the situation over the next several days.

Malik, who was visiting those injured in the bombing at a Pakistani hospital, said the government had taken several of the guards outside the U.N. offices into custody for questioning as part of the investigation into the security lapse.

"All the security arrangements were in place at the U.N. office," he said.

The United Nations considers itself a major target in Pakistan. Many of its offices are surrounded by 12-foot-high blast walls. Its staff members are driven in bulletproof cars and not allowed to bring their families with them on assignment in the country.

The World Food Program compound, which employs more than 70 people, is surrounded by square metal cages filled with sand and small stones used to protect against blasts and projectiles.

"This was one of the best-protected U.N. centers in all of Pakistan," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters at the world body's headquarters in New York. "We were really quite heavily guarded at least at that compound. How that person got in — that is still being investigated, and we're trying to find out from surveillance cameras."

The U.N. closed its offices in the country until its security team determined it was safe for them to reopen.

"They will assess the situation. They are talking to the authorities and then they will decide on a further course of action," Jamal said.

Extremists in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq seeking to attack high-profile Western targets have shown no hesitation in striking foreign humanitarian agencies, including the United Nations, regardless of the work they are doing in relieving the suffering in the countries. A blast in June on a luxury hotel housing many foreign aid workers in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed two U.N. staffers and wounded others.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said those killed in the bombing Monday were serving a "noble cause."

"They will be remembered for their commendable services by the people of Pakistan," Gilani wrote in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Bank Ki-moon, according to state-run media. "Such cowardly terrorist acts will never weaken our resolve to fight against this scourge. We will continue to work with the international community and the United Nations with greater vigor to root out terrorism from our country and the region at large."

The attack came a day after the new Pakistani Taliban leader met reporters close to the Afghan border, vowing more attacks in response to U.S. missile strikes on militant targets in Pakistan. Ending speculation he had been killed, Hakimullah Mehsud denied government claims the militants were in disarray and said his fighters would repel any army offensive on their stronghold in South Waziristan.

Malik said the government was already targeting Taliban militants in South Waziristan and "if needed, a further action shall also be taken at an appropriate time" against militants in other areas along the Afghan border.

"We will fight all of them," he said, referring to the militant groups.

Also Tuesday, militants kidnapped four employees from the customs department as they traveled in the northwestern district of Hangu, said Mohammed Islam, a local police chief.

Obama orders federal government to cut emissions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama ordered federal agencies on Monday to set a goal within 90 days for cutting their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the White House said, aiming to "lead by example" in fighting climate change.

The new executive order, signed by the president, mandates agencies across the federal government to "measure, manage, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions toward agency-defined targets," the White House said in a statement.

Other environmental measures such as reducing petroleum use in vehicle fleets by 30 percent by 2020, improving efficiency f water usage by 2020, and increasing rates of recycling by 2015 were also included in the order.

"The federal government can and should lead by example when it comes to creating innovative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency, conserve water, reduce waste, and use environmentally-responsible products and technologies," Obama said in a statement.

Obama's international credentials on fighting climate change have been called into question as chances dim that the Senate will pass a bill mandating emissions cuts across the United States economy by December, when U.N. talks on a global warming treaty take place in Copenhagen.

The White House order may be intended to counter concerns about the president's climate change commitment.

The federal government is the largest consumer of energy in the U.S. economy, the statement noted, occupying nearly 500,000 buildings and operating more than 600,000 vehicles.

The order also calls on the government to "leverage federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies."

Roman tombs found in south Lebanon cave

TYRE, Lebanon (AFP) - Japanese archaeologists discovered a cave containing frescoed Roman tombs in southern Lebanon's ancient coastal city of Tyre on Monday, an official overseeing the excavation said.

The three-metre by 12-metre (10-foot by 39-foot) cave contains six tombs from a Roman family, archaeologist Nader Siqlawi of the Directorate General of Antiquities told AFP.

"The walls at the entrance are decorated with frescoes of plants, animals and colorful birds, and parts of the floor are covered in mosaic," Siqlawi said.

Seven Japanese archaeologists from the Nara University Department of Preservation of Cultural Properties discovered the tombs in the rocky town of Burj al-Shemali on Tyre's eastern outskirts on Monday morning.

At the Beirut government's request, the Japanese university deployed teams of archaeologists and students to Tyre in 2008 to work in coordination with the Lebanese Directorate General of Antiquities.

Like many coastal cities across Lebanon, Tyre, 85 kilometres (53 miles) south of Beirut, contains relics dating back to the Phoenician and Roman eras.