Hamas frees 75 prisoners to mark anniversary

Wednesday 14/12/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The Hamas-run government in Gaza on Tuesday released 75 prisoners to mark the Islamist movement's 24th anniversary.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the prisoners had served at least two-thirds of their sentences and displayed good behavior in jail.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=444800.

Egypt deports 17 Palestinians

Wednesday 14/12/2011

RAFAH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Egyptian authorities on Wednesday deported 17 Palestinians who were in the country illegally, Egyptian security sources said.

Security officials at the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza told Ma'an that 17 Palestinians were detained on the road to Cairo and sent back to Gaza.

In some cases, the migrants' visas had expired while others had entered Egypt through underground tunnels, the officials said.

Some Palestinians try to enter Egypt through tunnels due to strict security rules and delays at the Rafah border terminal.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=444816.

MP says he received death threat for his anti-Assad comment

2011-12-13

AMMONNEWS - A Jordanian lawmaker says he has received death threats for calling on Syria’s President Bashar Assad to step down.

Ali al-Khalayleh says an anonymous caller with a Syrian accent telephoned him Saturday, threatening to “behead” the lawmaker for remarks made about Assad in Jordan’s parliament two weeks ago. He says the call came from a Syrian number to his cell phone.

The parliamentarian had called the Syrian regime “corrupt and bloody” in his speech.

He told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he notified security authorities about the threat. Police say they are investigating.

Al-Khalayleh is a member of a local committee to support the Syrian people.

Source: Ammon News.
Link: http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=14951.

Malaysian customs seize 15 tons of African ivory

Dec 14, 2011

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian customs officers have seized 15 tons of African elephant tusks and ivory products worth some 4 million ringgit (1.3 million dollars), officials confirmed Wednesday.

The goods were seized from a container at Port Klang, in the central state of Selangor, on Monday following a tip-off, an officer with the department said.

On Tuesday, customs director Azis Yacub announced that the seizure was the biggest haul yet of ivory products, adding that smugglers were using Malaysia as a transit point for their products to be shipped to countries like Cambodia, Vietnam and China.

'The goods had come from Mombasa in Kenya and were headed for Sihanoukville, Cambodia when we intercepted them,' Azis was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.

'They use our ports as a transit point, believing that the final port would not have a strict inspection,' he said.

Azis said officers discovered the elephant tusks packed together with handicraft items which were declared as soapstone, adding that the seized items would be sent for testing to confirm that they were made of ivory.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1680669.php/Malaysian-customs-seize-15-tons-of-African-ivory.

Myanmar president orders army to stop attacks on Kachin rebels

Dec 13, 2011

Yangon - Myanmar President Thein Sein has ordered the army to cease all attacks on armed ethnic groups in the country's northern Kachin state, government sources said Tuesday.

The sources said Thein Sein issued the order in a letter to army chiefs on Saturday, specifying that troops should only fire in self-defense.

It said the government did not want any new outbreaks of fighting to harm chances for a ceasefire agreement currently being negotiated with Kachin rebels.

Thein Sein, who has recently stepped up moves to reform the government and ease decades-long ethnic conflicts, instructed military units in Kachin State not to approach rebel camps, an apparent reference to Kachin Independence Army, which has been engaged in fierce fighting with government forces in recent weeks.

Myanmar's Minister for Information and Culture U Kyaw Hsan told reporters in Yangon recently that the Kachin Independence Army was the only armed group still engaged in combat operations with the Myanmar army.

A rebel source in Thailand said Thein Sein's letter was read by Kachin State Chief Minister La John Ngan Sai at a ceremony in Myitkyina City Hall in Kachin State on Monday.

Thein Sein's government recently signed a peace deal with another rebel group in Shan state, south of Kachin state.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who visited Myanmar early this month, said ending the decades-old ethnic conflicts was among Washington's main conditions for full normalizing of relations with Yangon.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1680554.php/Myanmar-president-orders-army-to-stop-attacks-on-Kachin-rebels.

French nuke giant Areva suspends investment in sites

Paris (AFP)
Dec 13, 2011

French nuclear giant Areva said Tuesday it is suspending building work at several sites in France, Africa and the United States, one day after forecasting a 1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) euro loss.

The investment freeze came amid mounting controversy over job losses at the majority state-owned group, with a minister denying claims from unions that a restructuring plan would see 1,200 posts cut in France next year.

Areva halted "capacity extensions" at its reprocessing plant in La Hague, in northern France, at its Melox factory in the Gard in the southwest and at two sites attached to its Tricastin power plant in the south.

Work has also stopped on extensions to the Eagle Rock enrichment plant near Idaho Falls in the United States and to uranium mines in Bakouma in the Central African Republic, Trekkopje in Namibia and Ryst Kuil in South Africa.

In total, Areva hopes to reduce its new capital investment by a third to 7.7 billion euros between 2012 and 2016.

Later in the day, the firm was due to announce a broad restructuring aiming to make a billion euros in savings per year from 2015. Between 1,200 and 1,500 job losses are expected in Germany, which is abandoning nuclear energy.

But the threat of job losses in France has generated controversy.

Unions representing Areva workers, which were briefed by management on Monday, claim that a freeze on new hires would see 1,200 retiring or leaving workers not replaced next year. They have demanded the plan be dropped.

But Industry Minister Eric Besson, speaking to Europe 1 radio on Tuesday, dismissed this figure as "fantasist" and insisted the government would prevent mass redundancies in France.

On Monday, Areva had warned its 2011 operating loss may top 1.6 billion euros ($2.1 billion) after Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster hit the value of its uranium mining assets.

Source: Nuclear Power Daily.
Link: http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/French_nuke_giant_Areva_suspends_investment_in_sites_999.html.

Iraq throws open doors to US firms as army exits

Washington (AFP)
Dec 13, 2011

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki issued an open invitation for US firms to help rebuild Iraq on Tuesday, as his oil-rich nation closes the door on a nearly nine-year American military presence.

Hailing a new phase in the country's history, Maliki declared the long war-scarred nation was ready to build a new economy that held "limitless" opportunities for US firms.

"It is not now the generals but the businessmen and the corporations that are at the forefront" of Iraq's future, he told a business gathering just steps from the White House.

"Circumstances have improved because of better security," said Maliki, playing the role of salesman-in-chief for an economy that was ravaged by authoritarian rule and multilateral sanctions even before the war began in 2003.

"We are not satisfied with the number of US corporations in Iraq," he added. "All sectors of the economy are there, open for business for American business."

Oil is at the top of that list of sectors.

With massive proven reserves of 115 billion barrels of oil, the fourth largest in the world -- much of it untapped -- foreign oil companies are girding to return to the country.

Output today is around 2.5 million barrels per day, but could be nearly doubled by 2016 according to oil cartel OPEC.

But a political tug-of-war between the semi-autonomous Kurdish north and Baghdad has stalled efforts to create a new law governing the sector for the last three years.

While many companies, including ExxonMobil, have piled into Iraq despite the absence of a clear regulatory framework, there has often been confusion about their legal status.

Crafting such a law that makes the most of the country's resources, while attracting knowledgeable and deep-pocketed foreign firms, will be essential to putting the country on a sound footing.

Oil exports already account for around two thirds of Iraq gross domestic product, but actual revenues could be increased dramatically if production can be ramped up and if an estimated $100 billion of funds to rebuild the oil sector can be found.

Maliki gave little indication that a deal on the so-called hydrocarbons law was imminent, but said, "we do need a great package of new laws."

On Monday Maliki held talks with US President Barack Obama in an attempt to create a new paradigm in relations that have frequently been overshadowed by Iraq's descent into civil war and fierce divisions in the United States over the war's prosecution.

Source: Energy-Daily.
Link: http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Iraq_throws_open_doors_to_US_firms_as_army_exits_999.html.