Muslim nations join Obama for entrepreneur conference

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Washington - The United States began hosting a summit with business leaders and others from the Muslim nations on Monday as part of President Barack Obama's plan to mend ties and promote economic growth.

The two-day summit in downtown Washington includes up to 250 participants from nearly 60 countries gathering to discuss ways to strengthen business and entrepreneurship to build the economies of Muslim nations.

Obama announced his plan to host the summit during his June 2009 speech in Cairo that was designed to repair the US image in the Islamic world following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the poor views Muslims hold of the United States. Obama was to address the gathering Monday evening.

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke opened the conference by saying that boosting business in Muslim countries is in the best interest of the United States and those nations, pointing out that the potential of the talent is not being adequately tapped.

"The stronger the economies of the world and the more middle class in all of our nations, the more international markets there will be for each of our nations," Locke said.

The participants include entrepreneurs, investors, academics, non-profits organizations, and businesses already involved in promoting business in Muslim communities around the world.

"When innovators and entrepreneurs can easily turn their ideas into business, jobs and economic opportunity follow closely behind," Locke said. "Entrepreneurs are a powerful force for change."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320676,muslim-nations-join-obama-for-entrepreneur-conference.html.

NATO chief tells members to forget egos, pool resources - Summary

Brussels- NATO nations must forget their national egos and pool their resources if the alliance as a whole is to remain capable of dealing with all the modern world's security threats, the alliance's secretary general said in a major policy speech Monday.

NATO is currently revising its strategy to deal with the new threats of the 21st century, scaling down its heavy weaponry in Europe to concentrate on more distant missions. But defense spending is coming under heavy pressure as the economic crisis bites.

"I understand that there are strong national interests at work here, and in the current economic climate, there is a real danger of protectionism," NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the Belgian High Institute for Defense in Brussels.

"But we must resist these temptations - purely national thinking is no longer affordable," he added.

Allies should therefore give up on expensive national arms programs if it would make more economic sense to set up shared ones, Rasmussen said.

"We must overhaul our defense industrial markets - particularly here in Europe - to reduce the fragmentation and make them stronger," he said bluntly.

That is a controversial proposal, since NATO members are fiercely protective of their national defense industries and the many jobs and billions of euros in orders which they can generate.

"It makes no sense for Europe to have 16 naval shipyards and 12 separate manufacturers of armored vehicles," the NATO boss said.

NATO members therefore should "pursue collaborative and multinational projects wherever possible, and seek out opportunities for consolidations and mergers," he said.

Together, NATO's 28 allies make the most powerful alliance in the world. But they range from behemoths like the United States to minnows such as Iceland, Estonia and Luxembourg, whose total population is smaller than that of most major world cities.

Of the alliance's 28 members, 11 - Albania, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Iceland, Norway, Slovakia and Slovenia - have populations of below 6 million.

That means that it would be all but impossible for them to buy all the complex weapons systems which make a modern army.

"We cannot expect all nations, even the bigger ones, to cover the full spectrum of high-end capabilities, such as strategic air transport, combat helicopters, fighter aircraft or main battle tanks," Rasmussen said.

The Dane therefore called on NATO nations to make cooperation on defense spending and procurement a key part of the strategy.

They should, for example, regularly purge their militaries of staff or capabilities which are no longer needed, team up to develop and share new equipment, and set up a joint financial pool to pay for future missions. At present, each nation pays for its own involvement in NATO missions, and those which do not participate pay nothing.

"When I look at the extensive allied inventories of tanks and fighter jets and compare them with the analysis of what conflict is likely to look like in the future, I am convinced that we do not need them all," Rasmussen said bluntly.

Smaller nations should also specialize in certain agreed forms of warfare, while all should help reform the NATO bureacracy, he said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320678,nato-chief-tells-members-to-forget-egos-pool-resources--summary.html.

Belgian government falls as language groups feud - Summary

Brussels - Belgium's government fell on Monday as all attempts to end a feud over majority and minority language rights ended in acrimony, throwing the country and, potentially, the European Union into confusion.

The collapse comes as Dutch- and French-speakers wrangle over the division of the Brussels electoral district, and two months before Belgium takes over the EU's rotating presidency for six months.

Belgium's head of state, King Albert II, "received in audience this afternoon Prime Minister Yves Leterme. The king accepted the resignation of the government which the prime minister offered on Thursday," a brief statement from the palace said.

The king tasked the fallen government with continuing caretaker duties, the statement said.

"I regret that the dialogue needed to reach a negotiated settlement did not lead to the hoped-for result...The government will continue to ensure the efficient conduct of current business in the interest of the country and its citizens," Leterme said in a bilingual declaration posted on his website.

The political collapse came after talks hit deadlock between the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) majority and francophone minority over the division of the Brussels-Hal-Vilvoorde electoral district, the only bilingual constituency in the country.

The constitutional court ruled in 2003 that the so-called BHV district would have to be divided.

Since then, however, politicians have repeatedly gridlocked as they tried to answer the Flemish demand to make parts of the district monolingual while responding to the French-speaking demand to allow voters throughout the region to support French-speaking parties.

The row has brought Belgium to the brink of political chaos on several occasions, hamstringing the government for much of the time since the last national elections in June 2007.

Last week, former premier Jean-Luc Dehaene, known as the "minesweeper" for his ability to broker deals, presented a complex series of proposals designed to solve the BHV problem.

But the five parties of Belgium's ruling coalition - two Flemish, three French-speaking - failed to agree on the proposals. On Thursday, Leterme, a Dutch-speaker, offered to quit.

Instead, the king on Saturday tasked Finance Minister Didier Reynders, a French-speaker, with brokering a deal. But Reynders quit on Monday afternoon after barely more than 48 hours in the job, leaving the king little option but to accept the government's fall.

"Is it possible to look for a negotiated solution with the same partners? I don't think so," said Reynders, according to the Belga news agency.

Leterme was equally glum, commenting, "At the end of the work carried out by mediator Didier Reynders, it became clear that it was impossible to reach a deal on the basis of (Dehaene's) work."

It is not yet clear whether the king will task another politician with trying to form a government, or call for fresh elections.

French-speaking politicians were quick to speak out against the latter option, with the head of the francophone conservatives, Joelle Milquet, and the socialists, Elio Di Rupo, both opposing such a move.

But Flemish liberal leader Alexander De Croo, whose party triggered the collapse by quitting the government on Thursday, said that it was time to "let the citizens have their say," Belga wrote.

Either way, the fall comes at a highly embarrassing time for Belgium. The country is set to take over the EU presidency on July 1.

"From now on, we have to do all we can to stop making ourselves look ridiculous in the eyes of Belgium, Europe and the world," the French-speaking Green opposition party, Ecolo, said bitterly.

Since January, the EU has had a permanent president - himself a Belgian, Herman Van Rompuy - and a foreign-policy director, but the presidency nation is expected to take the lead on other major dossiers such as home affairs, agriculture and fisheries.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320681,belgian-government-falls-as-language-groups-feud--summary.html.

Arab climatologists discuss joint crisis response plan

2010-04-26
The 26th annual meeting of the Permanent Arab Committee for Meteorology opened in Tripoli on Sunday (April 25th). PANA reported. The five-day event aims to create a unified Arab strategy to face natural disasters resulting from climate change. Discussions will focus on early warning systems and the proposed "Arab Center for Prevention".

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/04/26/newsbrief-04.

Algerian municipal workers plan new national strike

2010-04-26
Municipal council offices across Algeria will be completely shut down for most of this week, after half a million commune employees begin another national strike on Tuesday (April 27th), Liberte reported. Last month, the National Autonomous Union of Public Administration Personnel (SNAPAP) organized the first such strike to demand a new allowances scheme and the retention of the workers' retirement plan.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/04/26/newsbrief-02.

Winds of Sufism blow through Fes

Workshops, music and poetry preserved local history at the 4th Fes Festival of Sufi Culture April 17th-24th.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 26/04/2010

Sufism's unique perspective on the modern world reverberated in music and poetry during the 4th Fes Festival of Sufi Culture, which concluded on Saturday (April 24th).

"The idea is to show how spirituality can recreate, or regenerate, contemporary thinking, which can help us see the world in a different way, and to come up with solutions," festival director Faouzi Skelli said.

Musicians from four continents performed and others read poetry during the eight-day festival, but the event also focused on direct social development efforts. The week's goals were primarily educational, according to the organizers, concentrating on fundamental Sufi values such as morality in modern life, tolerance and acceptance.

The festival aimed "to develop thought into concrete action," Skelli said. "This led, for example, to a workshop devoted to the environment, looking at the need for individuals to transform their relationships with themselves and the world, leading them to consider changes in their behavior concerning nature."

Other workshops promoted a positive image of Islam.

The sessions stressed "that Muslim civilization brings love, knowledge and solidarity, and is open to dialogue between cultures and religions from all over the world", Islamic education teacher Moussa Badrani said.

"The idea is to promote the role which spirituality can play in the modern world," he said. "In this way, people can draw on Islam's civilizing aims, its calling to come up with responses to present-day challenges, both globally and locally."

The sumptuous Batha Museum hosted evening shows by various groups of Sufi musicians, each well-known in their field. Mohamed Badaoui Ali Cheikh, who came from the Comoros Islands, said that through song and poetry it was possible to promote messages of peace and openness.

Poetry played a central role at this year's festival. Organizers staged readings "to broaden the field of our awareness and thinking, and to present a different view of a society where political aims, allied with the quest for beauty, may lead to a new type of poetry in civilization," according to the Association of the Fes Festival of Sufi Culture.

"The festivities help Fes fulfill its calling as a spiritual city and allows residents to discover the culture and arts of other Sufis," said Othmane Berrada, a young student.

Vice-mayor Allal Amraoui said that the city's culture must be preserved even as Fes opens itself up to other civilizations.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/04/26/feature-02.

Palestinians ban settlement goods

Palestinian officials have passed a new law outlawing the sale of goods made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The law, under which offenders could face up to five years in jail or a fine of up to $14,000, was signed by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Monday.

The move is part of a campaign launched earlier this year to clear Palestinian markets of settlement goods and encourage other countries to ban trade with companies in the settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.

"There's an international consensus that the settlements are illegal and therefore it is unacceptable to support them," Hassan al-Awri, Abbas's legal adviser, told the Reuters news agency.

The campaign does not include products from Israel proper, which Palestinians rely on.

Palestinian government officials estimate the annual sale of goods from Israeli-run companies in the settlements totals up to $500 million per year.

Palestinian boycott

Monday's ban came nearly six months after the Palestinian Authority called on the public to boycott several large supermarket chains in the West Bank for carrying Israeli products.

The decision targeted upscale markets in the West Bank city of Ramallah, in an attempt to pressure the stores to discontinue the sale of fruits and vegetables grown and processed in Israeli settlements.

Palestinians consider these settlements the most serious threat to their aspirations for statehood.

In December of last year, Britain called on UK supermarkets selling goods from the West Bank to state explicitly on labels whether the content had come from Israeli settlements or Palestinian-owned farms.

The recommendation, issued by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), is not a legal requirement.

But Israeli officials and settler leaders reacted angrily to the decision, saying it would lead to a boycott of their goods.

Until now, food has been labeled "Produce of the West Bank", but Defra's voluntary guidance said labels should give more precise information, like "Palestinian produce" or "Israeli settlement produce".

Products from the Israeli settlements include cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fruit and textiles.

European Union law already requires a distinction to be made between goods originating in Israel and those from the occupied territories, though pro-Palestinian campaigners say this is not always observed.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2010/04/2010426173723356743.html.