Netherlands plans to introduce full-body scanners at airports

Amsterdam - The Netherlands plans to require full-body scanners as soon as possible for US-bound passengers traveling from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, reports said Wednesday. Dutch Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin told US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano via telephone that the Netherlands planned to implement the use of the scanners in the aftermath of the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day.

Dutch politicians from the ruling Christian Democrat and Labor parties said they would support his proposal, as did the largest opposition party, the Liberal VVD.

On Monday, an airport spokesman said while it was not definite that a scanner would have detected the explosives allegedly hidden in the clothing of 23-year-old Nigerian suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, it would have been likely.

Abdulmuttalab passed through Schiphol on his flight from Nigeria to the United States.

In addition to requiring the scanners for US-bound flights, the government in The Hague wants to see them introduced throughout the European Union.

The planned obligatory use of the scanners for all passengers at Schiphol Airport was halted in 2008 by the European Parliament, which said the machines would compromise personal privacy.

Schiphol Airport is currently testing 15 of the scanners, a type of X-Ray machine allowing security staff to look through people's clothes, seeing them naked.

Liberal lawmaker Fred Teeven said that it was first necessary to review specific practices of how the scanners would be used. Questions about who should be authorized to watch the images, and for how long the images should be stored, remained to be examined, he said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301479,netherlands-plans-to-introduce-full-body-scanners-at-airports.html.

Gaddafi son at center of reports over hotel row with wife in London

(Earth Times - dpa) London - A son of Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi was Wednesday at the center of claims he attacked his model wife during a stay at a top London hotel, the Daily Mail newspaper reported. Moutassim Gaddafi, 33, also known as Hannibal, was staying at luxury hotel Claridges with his wife, the model Aline Skaf, 29, and their children when the fight broke out in the early hours of December 25, the Daily Mail said.

In a press release Wednesday, Scotland Yard confirmed that officers had been called to an incident at Claridges Hotel on December 25 and that a woman had been taken to hospital with facial injuries.

The statement also confirmed that three people were arrested in connection with the incident, but declined to reveal the identities of the people involved.

The woman had stated that she had sustained her injuries in a "non-suspicious incident," said the police statement.

Police were called after hotel staff heard a woman's screams for help, but officers found the luxury suite's door locked and bodyguards blocking their way, reported the Mail.

Skaf was taken by ambulance to a London hospital for treatment of a suspected broken nose, the Mail said. Three of the security staff were arrested at the scene for obstructing police officers. They were later released.

Gaddafi, however, known for his playboy lifestyle, had been able to slip away after calling the Libyan ambassador, who informed officers that he had diplomatic immunity, the report said.

In July 2008, Gaddafi he and his wife were held by Swiss police following allegations of assault on one of their servants at a hotel in Geneva, allegations the couple denied.

Hannibal Gaddafi's arrest sparked a diplomatic row between Libya and Switzerland, with the North African nation suspending oil sales and boycotting Swiss imports.

Abbas says stalled peace process cause for his stepping down

Riyadh - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday the stalled peace process is the reason he will not run for a second term in office. "The objective is to achieve a final status solution to the Palestinian cause, but the matter is still held up until now and that is why I do not want to run for a second term," the Palestinian leader said while visiting Saudi Arabia.

Last month, Abbas gave a televised speech in which he said he would not seek reelection in polls scheduled for January 24.

The elections commission, however, said that given the rift between Hamas and Fatah, each trying to administer the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, this date would not be possible.

The Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council extended Abbas term in office to June 28.

He has been critical of Israel's building of settlements in East Jerusalem, an area Palestinians want as their future capital, and has expressed disappointment with the US administration's stance on the peace process.

An aide to Abbas said that during his visit Riyadh pledged to use its diplomatic leverage to convince world leaders to put an end Israeli settlement construction.

Saudi King Abdullah said he would would exert pressure on "influential capitals, especially Washington."

Abbas, who is on a two-day visit to the kingdom, has refused to resume suspended peace talks with Israel without a complete Israeli halt to construction in its settlements.

Israel considers East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 war along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to be its sovereign territory and part of its capital.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301499,abbas-says-stalled-peace-process-cause-for-his-stepping-down.html.

Egypt defends reinforcement of Gaza border, allows limited protest

(Earth Times - dpa) Cairo - Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit on Wednesday defended Egypt's right to secure its border in the government daily al-Akhbar, while the government gave the green light for a limited protest of the reinforcement. "What Egypt is doing is placing structures on its territory related to Egyptian defense," the foreign minister said.

Egypt's upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, likewise issued a document endorsing the government's security measures in northern Sinai and along the border, the government-owned daily al-Gomhuriya reported Wednesday.

In recent weeks photos purportedly showing a reinforced steel wall being built underground along the Egyptian-Gazan border have revived domestic and regional criticism of Egypt's role in maintaining the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Activists from around the world this week gathered in Cairo in the hopes of marching to the Gaza border to protest its closure.

The Egyptian government initially banned the protest march. But faced with the rising criticism, the government on Tuesday told organizers of the Gaza Freedom March that 100 of the activists could march to the border.

Egypt has repeatedly defended increased security at the border as necessary for maintaining its sovereignty and national security. In January 2008, during Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip, thousands of Gazans breached the border, pouring into the Egyptian side of the divided town of Rafah to buy food and other goods.

Egypt has long been under international pressure, particularly from Israel and the United States, to stop the smuggling of basic commodities, contraband, and weapons through tunnels under the border.

Israel and Egypt closed the Gaza Strip's borders after Hamas took control of the territory's security forces in 2006.

Survey: Two-thirds of Germans against more troops for Afghanistan

Berlin - Two-thirds of the German public are against sending more troops to Afghanistan as part of the US-led "surge" strategy there, a survey published Wednesday said. The poll, carried out by the Leipzig Institute for Market Research, reported that 66 per cent of a representative sample of the population were against increasing Germany's some 4,500-man troop contingent in northern Afghanistan.

A conference of NATO allies is due to take place in London at the end of January, partly to decide on how many extra troops European countries will send to augment the 30,000 extra forces announced by US President Barack Obama in December.

Germany has said it will make no commitment to extra troops before the conference, and insists the meeting should be more about forging a comprehensive strategy for the conflict.

The survey also reported that 51 per cent were in favor of an immediate withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan.

Germany's involvement in the conflict has become highly controversial since a German army officer ordered an airstrike in Kunduz in September which is assumed to have killed dozens of civilians.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301501,survey-two-thirds-of-germans-against-more-troops-for-afghanistan.html.

Israel's population now stands at 7.5 million people

Jerusalem - Israel's population grew by 1.8 per cent in 2009 and now stands at 7,509,000people, the country's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said Wednesday in an end-of-year summing up. Jews number 5,664,000 people, or 75.4 per cent of the population, the CBS said, and Arabs account for 20.3% per cent, or 1,526,000 people.

Some 319,000 people, or 4.3 per cent of the population are classified as "others," defined as non-Arab Christians, or followers of other religions.

Israel's population has grown at a steady 1.8 per cent each year since 2003, the CBS said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301515,israels-population-now-stands-at-75-million-people.html.

Germany abandons inquiry into judge present at Shirbini murder

Dresden - German prosecutors abandoned the inquiry on Wednesday into the judge presiding over the trial in which Egyptian mother Marwa el-Shirbini was stabbed to death this year (2009). Both the judge and the president of the court were deemed to have acted correctly during an appeal hearing, in which accused Alex Wiens, 29, pulled out a knife and killed the pregnant 31-year-old.

At the time, Wiens was appealing a fine for racially insulting el-Shirbini. Her husband, who was also attacked at the time, accused the court of insufficient security measures, enabling Wiens to smuggle a knife into the courtroom.

The Dresden authorities disagreed, and said no mistakes had been made during the trial in which the attack took place.

The July 1 killing caused outrage in Egypt. El-Shirbini, a pharmacist who already had a young son, was described a "scarf martyr" since she wore a headscarf.

Egyptians also criticized the German government for taking a week before issuing an official statement condemning the murder.

Russian-born Wiens, who admitted he hated Muslims and other non- Germans, was convicted on November 11 and jailed for life.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301516,germany-abandons-inquiry-into-judge-present-at-shirbini-murder.html.