Iraq initials final of seven latest oil contracts

Baghdad - The Iraqi Oil Ministry initialed Wednesday the final of seven oil contracts awarded earlier this month, edging closer to sealing deals the government hopes will double oil production in the country. The latest signing, which still requires the final stamp of approval from the cabinet, was with Angola's Sonangol to develop fields near the troubled city of Mosul, some 400 kilometers north of the capital, Baghdad.

The field at Qayarah would have a peak production rate of 120 thousand barrels per day (bpd), while the Nijm field would hit 110 thousand bdp at prime levels.

Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said the contract would be good for 20 years, but could be further extended.

On Tuesday, Russia's second largest oil producer Lukoil and Norwegian state-owned Statoil, together with Iraq's national oil company, signed one of the largest oil deals, for a field with estimated reserves of 12.9 billion barrels.

December's bidding, the second round of an auction begun in June, saw companies agree to contracts on seven fields across the country.

The Iraqi government, which relies heavily on oil exports for its revenue, hopes the ongoing foreign investment will more than double its current output of roughly 2.5 million bpd.

Over the coming years, optimistic outlooks within the government say the latest contracts awarded, combined with the first round of bidding, could boost production to levels as high as 12 million bpd.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301519,iraq-initials-final-of-seven-latest-oil-contracts.html.

Indonesia's former president Wahid dies at 69 - Summary

Jakarta - Former president Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesia's first elected leader after the 1998 fall of the dictator Suharto's regime, died Wednesday after a long illness, relatives said. He was 69. Wahid's brother, Solahuddin Wahid, confirmed to the private television station MetroTV that Indonesia's fourth president, who served from 1999 to 2001, died at a Jakarta hospital.

Abdurrahman Wahid, known by his nickname Gus Dur, which means Honoured Holiness Abdurrahman, suffered from heart failure among other ailments, Dr Akmal Taher from Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital said.

In a nationwide address, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his personal sympathy and that of the government and all its citizens.

"We have lost one of the nation's best sons," Yudhoyono said. "On behalf of state and government, I express my deep condolence, with praying and hope that he be received by Allah the almighty in line with his good deeds and dedication to the state and nation."

He ordered the people to lower the nation's red-and-white flag to half-mast for a seven-day period.

Thousands of people joined government officials, former government officials and politicians who went to the hospital as well as to Wahid's residence in the southern Jakarta suburb of Ciganjur to pay their last respects.

Abdurrahman Wahid had already been ill when he assumed the presidency. He had suffered two strokes before his term in office, was nearly blind and had to be guided by an aide everywhere he went.

"I am very sad because Indonesia is losing a great man, a leader of democracy, a character who always defended the weak and the minorities," said Rizal Ramli, who served as finance minister under Wahid.

Wahid was born August 4, 1940, in Denanyar village, Jombang, in East Java.

He dreamed of making Indonesia into a pluralistic, democratic society and in 1993 won the Magsaysay Award from the Philippine government for his efforts to develop inter-religious ties in Indonesia.

He also strove to build a society with freedom of expression and respect for human rights as its pillars. But he soon fell out of favor with the parliament that elected him and was impeached in 2001 for perceived incompetence and an unproven corruption allegation.

Although Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation with more than 230 million people, practices a more moderate form of Islam than is characteristic of the Middle East, Wahid was criticized by some clerics in the country for his ecumenism.

When others condemned Israel, he visited Jerusalem to accept a prize in honor of the assassinated Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin, and when other Muslim leaders joined in condemnation of the British author Salman Rushdie, Wahid stood alone in his defense.

Abdurrahman Wahid's wife, Shinta Nuriyah, and his youngest daughter, Inayah, were at his bedside when he died and President Yudhoyono and first lady Ani Yudhoyono were also visiting at the time, a relative told the VIVA news website.

Wahid fell ill while on a pilgrimage to the tomb of his father in the East Java district town of Jombang and was rushed to a local hospital, the report said. On Saturday, he was flown to Jakarta and taken to the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital.

The former president's condition deteriorated after he underwent a tooth extraction Monday, the relative told VIVA.

"I was shocked because I did not think he would go so fast," former president BJ Habibie, who was Wahid's predecessor, said.

In 2000 Wahid was embroiled in a corruption scandal when his personal masseur fled, allegedly with more than 4-million-dollars of state funds. Wahid himself was accused of misappropriating donations from the Sultan of Brunei.

He was censured by parliament, despite his repeated denials of wrongdoing and the somewhat circumstantial evidence against him.

Over his last months in power he became increasingly politically isolated as he fought the national assembly (MPR) and its legislators' drive to have him impeached.

Repeatedly he threatened to declare a state of emergency only to see the military and police refuse to back him, and finally for parliament to call his bluff.

Wahid's last throw of the dice was to refuse to leave the presidential palace. But after a few days he backed down and his family said he had accepted the reality of the situation.

Wahid was scheduled to be buried at his home town, Jombang, East Java, on Thursday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301521,indonesias-former-president-wahid-dies-at-69--summary.html.

A year on, war memories linger for Gaza paramedic

by Ahmed Aldabba, Fares Akram

GAZA, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian ambulance driver Khaled Abu Saada still remember the moment when an Israeli tank shell tore apart his vehicle with three injured teenagers and his colleague on board a year ago.

"All of them were killed," he said.

When Israel started the ground invasion of Gaza on Jan. 3 after a week of intensive aerial bombing, Khaled and first aid officer, Arafa Abdul Dayem, were directed to northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya to rescue a group of teenagers hit by a tank shell.

"The scene was horrible. Five youngsters were seriously injured and the place was awash in blood," he said, adding that "one of them lost one leg and another had both legs amputated."

Abdul Dayem ran out of the ambulance to evacuate the injured. When he was putting the third one in the ambulance, a projectile hit the rear of the vehicle.

"I was thrown out of the burning ambulance due to the explosion," Khaled said, "I knew I was injured in the head, but I was still able to move and perform my duty."

"(After the explosion) I only heard low whining voices. Then I saw Abdul Dayem, whose chest was wide open. There were small pierces and darts all over his body, but he was alive," Khaled said.

The injured teenagers were killed instantly in the attack, and one of them had his head cut off.

"It was a horrible carnage," Khaled said, pausing from time to time to answer the phone in the ambulance station in northern Gaza." I still cannot believe what I have seen, it's a nightmare."

Abdul Dayem received several operations, but died a few hours after being transferred to the intensive care unit. Doctors at Shifa hospital in Gaza said he suffered massive internal bleeding in his abdomen, and had blood in his lung.

At the time, the Israeli attacks were increasing as the troops inched deeper into Gaza, which caused unprecedented pressure on paramedics.

But Khaled refused to stay at home and made the hardest decision in his life to continue his work, even though this would cost his life, like his colleague Abdul Dayem.

At least seven ambulance drivers, paramedics and doctors were killed and more than 20 others injured during the Israeli war on Gaza between Dec. 27 and Jan. 18 while transporting or attempting to collect the wounded and the dead, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

The offensive also left about 1,420 Palestinians killed, more than two-thirds of whom civilians, and over 5,500 people injured, the center said.

The war experience has seared into Khaled's memory. "We were astonished with the horrific scenes and deaths we witnessed," he said.

Khaled is satisfied with what he did during the war, but he felt sad for those killed because they can not receive immediate medical treatment.

"I could not reach many of those who asked for help, and many of them passed away. The situation was dangerous as ambulances were deliberately targeted by the Israelis," he said regretfully as he put on his fluorescent jacket to leave for a place where two cars collided.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/31/content_12731817.htm.

Humanitarian convoy to leave for Gaza from Syria's Lattakia

DAMASCUS, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy, led by British lawmaker George Galloway, is set to leave Syria's Lattakia port Wednesday afternoon and head for the Egyptian harbor of El-Arish to enter the Gaza Strip, the official SANA news agency reported.

Galloway, founder of Viva Palestina Association, told a press conference held Tuesday evening that "the convoy is carrying humanitarian aid and medicines to the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip without any political objectives."

The international humanitarian aid convoy consists of around 250 vehicles, carrying humanitarian relief from Europe, Turkey and Arab countries, including food and medical equipment.

Spokesman for the convoy Zaher an-Birawi said the convoy faces the risk of interception by the Israeli authorities at sea, said the report.

"Any Israeli aggression on the convoy during sailing to Egyptian El-Arish port will be condemned and will unveil the truth of its perpetrators," he added.

The convoy, which departed from London on Dec. 6, returned to Syria on Tuesday from the Jordanian harbor of al-Aqaba after the Egyptian authorities requested that the convoy enter through El-Arish, on its Mediterranean coast.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/30/content_12731446.htm.

Taliban claim blast that killed 8 Americans

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – The Taliban claimed responsibility Thursday for a suicide bombing at a base in eastern Afghanistan that killed eight American civilians and one Afghan, the worst loss of life for the U.S. in the country since October. A U.S. congressional official said CIA employees are believed to be among the victims.

Separately, four Canadian soldiers and a journalist imbedded in their unit were killed Wednesday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan's south, the bloodiest single incident suffered by that country's military in 2009.

Michelle Lang, a 34-year-old health reporter with the Calgary Herald, was the first Canadian journalist to die in Afghanistan. She arrived in the country just two weeks ago.

It was not immediately clear how the suicide bomber at the base at the edge of Khost city was able to circumvent security.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that an Afghan National Army officer wearing a suicide vest entered the base Wednesday and blew himself up inside the gym. A U.S. official who was briefed on the blast also said it took place in the gym.

Khost is the capital of Khost province, which borders Pakistan and is a Taliban stronghold.

The U.S. official said eight American civilians and one Afghan were killed; it was not clear if the Afghan victim was military or civilian. Six Americans were wounded, the official said.

The CIA has not yet commented on or confirmed the deaths.

There was no independent confirmation that the bomber was a member of the Afghan military. Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, said no Afghan National Army soldiers are at the base, named FOB Chapman.

But an Afghan official in Khost said about 200 Afghans have been contracted by the U.S. to take care of security at the base. They are usually deployed on the outer ring of its walls, although some work inside, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"It's not the first time that Afghan forces have conducted such an attack to kill Americans or foreigners," the Taliban statement said, citing the killing of an American soldier and the wounding of two Italians this week in Badghis province. NATO has provided no details of that incident, but Afghan Gen. Jalander Shah Bahnam said an Afghan soldier opened fire on a base in the province's Bala Murghab district.

The congressional official in Washington said it was not clear how many of the victims in Khost were assigned to the CIA.

A senior State Department official said all of the victims were civilians. A former senior CIA officer who was stationed at the base said a combination of agency officers and contractors operated out of the remote outpost with the military and other agencies. He said contractors also might be among those who died.

All the U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

NATO said only that the base is used by provincial reconstruction teams, which consist of both soldiers and civilians, and other personnel.

A spokesman in Kabul for the international coalition force said no U.S. or NATO troops were killed in the afternoon explosion. The attack was the bloodiest for Americans since eight soldiers were killed in an insurgent attack on a base in eastern Afghanistan on Oct. 3.

In the south, NATO said the four Canadian troops and the reporter died when their armored vehicle hit a bomb while on an afternoon patrol south of Kandahar city. It was the third-deadliest day for Canadians in Afghanistan since the war began.

Michelle Lang "was one of those journalists who always wanted to get to the bottom of every story so this was an important trip for her," said a Calgary Herald colleague, Colette Derworiz.

The military has not disclosed the names of the Canadian troops because relatives have not all been notified.

"We are all very saddened to hear this tragic news," Alberta Health and Wellness Minister Ron Liepert said in a statement. "Michelle covered health issues with professionalism, accuracy and thoroughness. She was tenacious in her quest to inform Albertans, and for her diligence she was very well respected."

Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard, commander of coalition forces in Kandahar, said the soldiers were conducting a community security patrol in order to gather information about daily life in the area and how to maintain security.

Wednesday's attack was the second lethal strike against Canadian forces in a week. One Canadian soldier and an Afghan soldier were killed Dec. 23 during a foot patrol in Panjwayi district of Kandahar province. According to figures compiled by The Associated Press, the latest casualties bring to 32 the number of Canadian forces killed in Afghanistan this year; in all, 138 have died in the war.

Separately Wednesday, NATO questioned Afghan reports that international troops killed 10 civilians, including children, in a weekend attack that prompted hundreds of angry Afghan protesters to burn an effigy of President Barack Obama and chant "death" to America.

The head of an investigative team appointed by President Hamid Karzai told The Associated Press that eight students between the ages of 12 and 14 were among the dead discovered in a village house in a remote section of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. NATO said late Wednesday that while there was no direct evidence to substantiate the claims, the international force had requested and welcomed a joint investigation to reach an "impartial and accurate determination" of what happened in the attack.

Conflicting accounts of what occurred during the fighting in Kunar's Narang district prompted an emotional outcry over civilian deaths, one of the most sensitive issues for international troops fighting the more than eight-year-old war. Although insurgents are responsible for the deaths of far more civilians, those blamed on coalition forces spark the most resentment and undermine the fight against militants. With 37,000 more U.S. and NATO troops being deployed to the battle zone, concern over civilian casualties is unlikely to ease anytime soon.

Several hundred Afghans demonstrated in Kabul and in the eastern city of Jalalabad, where the likeness of Obama, adorned with a small American flag, was burned on a pole held above demonstrators.

Yemeni forces raid al-Qaida hideout, clashes erupt

By AHMED AL-HAJ and DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writers

SAN'A, Yemen – Yemeni forces raided an al-Qaida hideout and set off a gunbattle Wednesday as the government vowed to eliminate the group that claimed it was behind the Christmas bombing attempt on a U.S. airliner.

The fighting took place in an al-Qaida stronghold in western Yemen, haven for a group that attacked the U.S. Embassy here in 2008, killing 10 Yemeni guards and four civilians. A government statement said at least one suspected militant was arrested during the clashes.

"The (Interior) Ministry will continue tracking down al-Qaida terrorists and will continue its strikes against the group until it is totally eliminated," Deputy Interior Minister Brig. Gen. Saleh al-Zawari told senior military officials at a meeting in Mareb, another province believed to shelter al-Qaida fighters.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, an offshoot of Osama bin Laden's group, claimed it was behind the attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner. Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old passenger, was arrested Friday after he allegedly tried to bring down the Northwest Airlines flight, carrying 289 people.

U.S. investigators said Abdulmutallab told them he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. Yemen's government has said Abdulmutallab spent two periods in the country, from 2004-2005 and from August to December of this year, just before the attempted attack.

Abdulmutallab's Yemen connection has drawn attention to al-Qaida's growing presence in the impoverished and lawless country, which is located on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia.

Wednesday's clashes took place in Hudaydah province, an al-Qaida stronghold along the Red Sea coast. A security official said the target was a house owned by an al-Qaida sympathizer. The official said the owner was arrested, a suspected al-Qaida member was injured and several militants who fled were being pursued. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Before Wednesday's clashes, Yemeni forces backed by U.S. intelligence carried out two major strikes against al-Qaida hideouts this month, reportedly killing more than 60 militants.

The U.S. has increasingly provided intelligence, surveillance and training to Yemeni forces during the past year, and has provided some firepower, according to a senior U.S. defense official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject.

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Yemen received $67 million in training and support under the Pentagon's counterterrorism program last year, second only to some $112 million spent in Pakistan.

He said the program was not a new one.

"We are going to work with allies and partners to seek out terrorist activity, al-Qaida, wherever they operate, plan their operations, seek safe harbor," he said. "This is an effort that is years old now."

In Holland, the Dutch government issued a preliminary report Wednesday calling the airliner plot professional, but describing the execution as "amateurish."

Dutch Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst told a news conference Abdulmutallab apparently assembled the explosive device, including 80 grams of PETN, in the aircraft toilet, then planned to detonate it with a syringe of chemicals. She said the explosives appeared to have been professionally prepared and then given to Abdulmutallab.

President Barack Obama has demanded a preliminary report by Thursday on what went wrong in the Detroit case. Obama said the intelligence community should have been able to piece together information that would have raised "red flags" and possibly prevented Abdulmutallab from boarding the airliner.

Abdulmutallab had been placed in one broad database, but he never made it onto more restrictive lists, despite his father's warnings to U.S. Embassy officials in Nigeria last month.

Meanwhile, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that a man tried to board a commercial airliner in the Somali capital of Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe in a case bearing chilling similarities to the Detroit airliner plot.

The Somali man — whose name has not yet been released — was arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops before the Nov. 13 Daallo Airlines flight took off. It had been scheduled to travel from Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai.

The aborted attack in Detroit was launched almost a year after al-Qaida's operations in Yemen and Saudi Arabia united to form Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, making Yemen its base.

Shortly after Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula was formed, Saudi Arabia announced a list of 85 most wanted militants outside its borders. It said 11 of them were former Guantanamo detainees who had gone through its rehabilitation program. Three were confirmed to have gone to Yemen. They included Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, who later surrendered in Yemen and was handed over to Saudis, Said al-Shihri, the group's No. 2 and Youssef al-Shihri, who was killed in a clash with Saudis in southern Saudi Arabia.

The Yemeni roots of the attack threaten to complicate U.S. efforts to empty the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, where nearly half the remaining detainees are from Yemen.

Finding a home for them is key to Obama's pledge to close the prison, but emerging details of the plot are renewing concerns about Yemen's capacity to contain militants and growing al-Qaida safe havens.

Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., noted that of the 90 men remaining at Guantanamo, more than 60 have been identified as dangerous by the Pentagon.

"Yet, in the past few weeks, the Obama Administration has overseen the repatriation of six Yemenis from Guantanamo back to their home country," he said. "As we learn more about Abdulmutallab's ties to Yemen and AQAP, it is increasingly clear that the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo is a flawed process demanding immediate review."

Abdulmutallab spent about five months in Yemen leading up to the airliner attack and a year before that in 2004-2005, Yemeni officials said.

Administrators at the San'a Institute for the Arabic Language said he was enrolled at the school during both periods to study Arabic. But staff and students said he spent at most one month at the school starting in late August. His time through December is unaccounted for.

Acquaintances described the strict Islamic life he led, rejecting music, TV and mixing with women. All of them expressed surprise that the quiet man they knew would even consider to carry out such an act.

"I saw him once tenderly kiss a baby," said Ahmed Mohammed, a teacher at the institute. "Today, he's turned into a monster who would have killed children if the operation had succeeded."

Somali arrested at airport with chemicals, syringe

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, KATHARINE HOURELD and JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writers

MOGADISHU, Somalia – U.S. officials are investigating a Somali man's alleged attempt to board a flight last month carrying chemicals, liquid and a syringe in a case bearing chilling echoes of the plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

Terrorism analysts said the arrest in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, could prove highly valuable for the Detroit investigation if the incidents turn out to be linked.

The Somali was arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops Nov. 13 before boarding the Daallo Airlines plane bound for the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then Djibouti and Dubai.

"We don't know whether he's linked with al-Qaida or other foreign organizations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him red-handed," said a Somali police spokesman, Abdulahi Hassan Barise.

A Nairobi-based diplomat said the incident has similarities to the attempted attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in that the Somali was said to have a syringe, liquid and powdered chemicals — tools similar to those used by the Nigerian suspect on the Detroit-bound plane. The diplomat spoke on condition he not be identified because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

Barigye Bahoku, the spokesman for the African Union military force in Mogadishu, said the materials could have caused an explosion that would have resulted in cabin decompression, though he didn't think it would have brought the plane down.

For the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly hid explosive PETN in a condom or condom-like bag just below his torso. In the Somali case, the powdered material smelled strongly of ammonia, and samples were sent to London for testing, Bahoku said.

The case drew little attention before the Christmas incident, but on Wednesday U.S. officials began to investigate any possible links to the Detroit attack. None would speak on the record.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said U.S. investigators are working with Somali authorities, and linking the case to the Christmas attack "would be speculative at this point."

Thomas Sanderson, a security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Somali suspect is extremely valuable for U.S. investigators, who will compare his statements with Abdulmutallab's.

Police spokesman Barise said the suspect is in Somali custody, but Sanderson said he was sure the U.S. has told the Somali government: "He's ours, and we're taking him."

He said there was no certainty the two were trained by the same group, but believed the similarities are "probably an indicator that more than just two people have been trained and prepared and ordered or convinced to carry out individual acts of terrorism," Sanderson said.

Michael Stock is president of Bancroft, an organization that advises AMISOM, the African Union peacekeeping force in Mogadishu. He said that when the passenger aroused suspicions, Somalis summoned Bancroft guards who patrol the airport.

"At the time, we provided the explosive material itself for analysis and a description of the incident to Western embassy officials involved in supporting AMISOM, for them to pass to law enforcement," Stock said. He said he heard nothing further.

U.S. investigators say Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian suspect held in the Detroit case, told them he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen, which Western officials say is a jumping-off point for foreign fighters slipping into Somalia. Large swaths of Somalia are controlled by an al-Qaida-linked insurgent group, al-Shabab.

Abdulmutallab is charged with trying to destroy an aircraft. U.S. authorities allege he tried to ignite a two-part concoction of PETN and possibly a glycol-based liquid explosive, setting off popping, smoke and some fire but no deadly detonation.

If the Somali suspect was planning anything similar, it wasn't known what his specific target might have been. Most passengers on Daallo's Mogadishu route are Somali. The carrier's Web site calls it the national airline of Somalia's neighbor, Djibouti. Some 1,800 U.S. troops are stationed in Djibouti, while Dubai would offer the greatest range of Westbound flights along the route in question.

A Somali security official involved in the Mogadishu arrest said the suspect had a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) package of chemical powder and a container of liquid chemicals. He said the suspect was the last passenger in line to board.

The man's name was not released, but the security official gave it as Abdi Hassan Abdi and said he was middle-aged. Stock said the name he got was Abdi Hassan Abdullah, but it was unclear that is his real name.

Once the chemicals and syringe were detected, the suspect tried to bribe the team that detained him, the security official said. He said he had a white shampoo bottle containing a black acid-like substance, a clear plastic bag with a light green chalky substance, and a syringe containing a green liquid. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

A spokeswoman for Daallo Airlines said that company officials were unaware of the incident and would have to seek more information before commenting. Daallo Airlines is based in Dubai and has offices in Djibouti and France.