Turkish court orders re-arrest of 19 officers

A Turkish court has ordered the re-arrest of 19 serving and retired military officers charged with an alleged coup plot.

The reason behind the court's order is not clear. The 19, including eight retired military officers, were freed from detention on Thursday pending trial.

A retired four-star general and the former head of Turkey's First Army are among those who must be detained again.

The suspects were allegedly behind a coup plot to topple the government in 2003. The Turkish military has overthrown three governments in coups since 1960.

The latest arrests are said to have fueled the long-lasting dispute between the Turkish army and the government.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122485§ionid=351020204.

Turkey's 24-hour Arabic TV channel on air

Turkey has launched its first round-the-clock Arabic TV channel, El Turkiye, hoping that the move will further enhance its ties with its Arab neighbors.

El Turkiye was inaugurated in a ceremony held in Istanbul on Sunday, which was attended by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Countries Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.

Ibrahim Sahin, general manager of TRT (Turkey's Radio and Television Corporation) said that El Turkiye will broadcast programs for a potential viewership of 350 million Arabs in the Middle East.

The headquarters of the new TV channel is in Istanbul, unlike other TRT channels, and it will air live programs from Beirut, Cairo, Damascus and Ankara, Sahin said.

Erdogan, in a speech at the inauguration ceremony, said that the new channel aims at further boosting ties with Arab nations.

"Turks and Arabs are like fingers of one hand, like fingers and their nails. Even if our face is towards the West, we will never turn our back on the Arabs," Erdogan added.

He noted that Turks and Arabs share a common past and will face a common future.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122477&sectionid=3510212.

N Korea warns Washington over US soldiers

North Korea has warned that it will stop searching for the remains of US soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean war because Washington is not concerned about the issue.

The North's military said in a statement on Monday that if Washington refuses to do its part, Pyongyang will also halt its efforts.

"Though lots of US remains are being dug out and scattered here and there in our country, our side will no longer be concerned about it," according to the statement.

In January, the United States rejected Pyongyang's proposal to resume talks on finding the remains of American soldiers in North Korea.

Washington insisted that North Korea must first return to six-party talks on its nuclear program.

The US Department of Defense reported that about 8,000 Americans remain unaccounted after the Korean War.

The probable remains of 229 of them have been recovered in 33 missions from 1996-2005 by joint US-North Korean search teams.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122478§ionid=351020405.

Algerian medical workers hold silent protest

2010-04-04

Thousands of Algerian medical workers held a silent protest on Friday (April 2nd) at a hospital in Algiers, Echorouk reported. The action was a demonstration against officials' move to hold doctors responsible for surgery delays during their strike last December. The Union of Public Health Specialists, which represents some 30,000 doctors, pharmacists and other medical and dental professionals, is now reportedly discussing plans for a joint protest with education sector unions.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/04/04/newsbrief-02.

11 security men killed in Maoist attack in India

New Delhi - At least 11 security personnel were killed when Maoist rebels blew up a bus carrying them in India's eastern state of Orissa on Sunday, a news report said.

Ten personnel belonging to the state's anti-Maoist force, the Special Operation Group (SOG), were injured when the rebels detonated a landmine under the vehicle in the Koraput district, the NDTV network reported.

A brief exchange of fire took place between the security personnel and the rebels near a village in Koraput, about 500 kilometers south- west of state capital Bhubaneswar, according to the report quoting police sources.

The wounded were rushed to nearby hospitals while additional police and medical teams were dispatched to the scene.

The attack occurred a couple of hours after India's federal Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram concluded a tour of the Maoist-dominated areas in neighboring West Bengal state.

Chidabambaram who reviewed anti-Maoist operations in the region had expressed concern over the security situation in Orissa and Jharkhand states where Maoists still hold sway.

He called the Maoist militants "cowards" saying they hid in forests and added that the campaign against them will be long-drawn struggle.

The minister also urged the locals and tribals not to support the Maoist rebels.

"They (Maoists) are cowards," Chidamabaram told reporters in West Bengal.

"Why are they hiding in forests? If they really want development and discuss problems of the people, they can just come forward for talks ... but (they should) just give up violence," he said.

According to the Home Ministry, the rebels are active in 200 of India's 626 districts, and were virtually in control of 34.

The rebels claim they are fighting for the rights of the tribal people, the poor and the landless. They attack police and security officials and establishments at regular intervals.

More than 1,100 people were killed in 2009 in violence linked to the Maoist insurgency, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as the gravest internal security threat facing India.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317055,11-security-men-killed-in-maoist-attack-in-india.html.

Christian pilgrims flock to Jerusalem for Easter services - Summary

Jerusalem - Hundreds of Christian pilgrims flocked to Jerusalem on Sunday to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as recounted in the New Testament.

While Catholics, led by Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal prayed in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City, Protestants marked the occasion with services on the nearby Mount of Olives.

In his Easter message, Twal, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate in the Holy Land, spoke of the need for hope and "a special kind of strength in order to conquer the evil that is within us and around us."

"Today more than ever we need a lively hope in the midst of so much violence, in the midst of bloody clashes and ethnic and religious divisions," he said.

Twal also noted that in 2010 different Christian denominations celebrate Easter on the same day, saying that "this year, then, our joy is double."

"Perhaps someone might be disturbed by the overlapping of prayers and songs that are heard at the same time and in diverse rites," he mused. "Yet this seeming cacophony, lived in faith, becomes instead a symphony that expresses the unity of faith and of the joyful resurrection of the Lord's victory over evil and death."

The prayers concluded with pilgrims circling three times around the stone tomb set in the floor of the church, which is said to be built on the site where Jesus was crucified and resurrected.

"My spirit became more open while visiting the place where Jesus spent his last moments," said Wilma Ferial from Argentina.

"Jerusalem is magic," she added. "It is not only to come back in time, but to have a direct contact with Jesus."

"I am really happy. I never thought that I would be present at such a moment. Now I feel that Jesus is with us," said Rosi Castaneda, a pilgrim from Mexico.

Jews meanwhile, were continuing to celebrate Passover, the final day of which is marked in Israel on Monday.

During the eight-day-long Passover festival, Israel slapped a closure on the West Bank for security reasons, preventing many Palestinian Christians from journeying to Jerusalem for Holy Week.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317068,christian-pilgrims-flock-to-jerusalem-for-easter-services--summary.html.

BACKGROUND: Iraq's worst bomb attacks over past year

Berlin - The triple bomb blasts Sunday in Baghdad which killed at least 50 persons was the latest in major terror bombing attacks seeking to destabilized the situation in Iraq.

Following is a list of the most serious attacks over the past year, each of which claimed dozens of lives. The list does not include numerous other bombings with smaller numbers of casualties:

-- March 3, 2010: Four bombs rock the city of Baquba, killing at least 33 people and wounding 58 more.

-- February 5, 2010: At least 42 people were killed, 100 injured in two attacks targeting Shiites in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala.

-- February 3, 2010: At least 25 people were killed and more than 100 injured in deadly bombings targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims flocking to Karbala.

-- February 1, 2010: At least 38 Iraqi Shiite Muslim pilgrims were killed and 89 others wounded in Baghdad when a woman detonated explosives strapped to her body.

-- January 26, 2010: At least 20 people were killed and 80 injured in in a bombing in central Baghdad. The bombing targeted the Interior Ministry's Criminal Evidence Department in the central neighborhood of al-Karradah.

-- January 25, 2010: By official accounts, 15 people were killed and 58 injured in three car bombs targeting hotels in central Baghdad. But unofficial counts by medical workers say at least 38 were killed and 74 injured.

-- December 30, 2009: At least 37 people were killed and 70 injured in three bombings across Iraq.

-- December 8, 2009: Four devastating bombs shake central Baghdad in rapid succession, killing as many as 127 persons and wounding at least 400.

-- October 25, 2009: Twin suicide truck bombings wreak massive damage in central Baghdad, killing at least 155 people and wounding at least 500.

-- August 19, 2009: At least 100 people are killed and some 1,200 wounded in a stunning and coordinated wave of attacks in central Baghdad. Witnesses say some 10 explosions rocked the city.

-- August 10, 2009: A series of bomb attacks, chiefly targeting Shiites, claims at least 55 lives.

-- July 7, 2009: More than 70 civilians are killed in a wave of attacks within a period of a few hours around Iraq. The targets are residential areas chiefly inhabited by Shiites and the Shabak religious minority.

-- June 24, 2009: At least 74 people are killed, and 150 wounded, in by a bomb in Baghdad. The attack occurred in a busy market square in the chiefly Shiite district of Sadr City.

-- June 20, 2009: Over 70 people are killed by a truck bomb attack near a Shiite mosque in the town of Tasa, south of the northern city of Kirkuk. Over 200 people are injured.

-- April 29, 2009: A total of 50 people are killed by five car bombs in various parts of Baghdad and its suburbs. The biggest tally is 43 killed by three car bombs in the eastern suburb Sadr City.

-- April 24, 2009: Two suicide attackers killed 60 people making their way to a Shiite shrine in Baghdad.

-- April 23, 2009: At least 87 people are killed in a wave of attacks. In Diyala province north-west of Baghdad, at least 52 people, mainly Iranian pilgrims, are killed by a suicide bomber. In Baghdad, at least 34 people are killed by a suicide bomber.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317070,background-iraqs-worst-bomb-attacks-over-past-year.html.