Algeria's forex reserves hit $146b in September

(MENAFN) Algeria's foreign exchange reserves reached $146 billion at the end of September, slightly higher than at the half-year stage, official news agency APS reported.

Reserves stood at $144.3 billion at the end of June, up from $143.1 billion in December 2008, APS reported, citing the finance ministry. Oil and gas sales abroad account for 97 percent of Algeria's total exports.

The North African country has repeatedly said it was shielded from world financial turmoil because it sharply reduced national debt and relies increasingly on itself to fund development.

Source: Middle East North Africa Financial News (MENAFN).
Link: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093293231&src=MOEN.

Smoking, leading cause of blindness

Smoking not only places individuals at an increased risk of various health conditions but also increases the pace of age-related macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration is a chronic eye disease and the leading cause of blindness among the elderly.

The condition is characterized by the deterioration of the macula — a part in the eye responsible for central vision — which leads to progressive vision loss.

According to a study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, smokers are 11 percent more prone to AMD.

Smokers aged more than 80 are also 5.5 times more likely to develop the disease, the study found.

Researchers therefore urged individuals to quit smoking in order to save their visual sight, stressing that it is never too late.

"We found that even older people's eyes will benefit from kicking the habit," said lead researcher Anne Coleman.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115186§ionid=3510210.

Reports of bin Laden girl return rejected

Reports that the daughter of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has left Iran for Saudi Arabia has been rejected.

Zaina Bin Laden, the wife of bin Laden's fourth son, Omar, contacted Press TV on Saturday and said that Iman, Omar's sister, has not returned to Saudi Arabia.

The revelation came after the Dubai-based Saudi-run Al-Arabia network reported that Omar had thanked Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, for preparing the ground for Iman's return.

Iranian officials have announced that as soon as the identity of the woman staying at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran is confirmed, she could be allowed to leave the country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115183§ionid=351020101.

Houthis propose talks with government

Yemen's Houthi fighters have offered to hold talks with the government on the condition that it halts its attacks on the Shias.

A statement on the Houthis' website publicized the intention for dialogue on Friday. A spokesman for the fighters said the proposal had come after President Ali Abdullah Saleh urged the Houthis to accept the government's conditions for peace.

The central government has demonstrated five years of hostilities against the Houthis, which it accuses of violating the terms of earlier peace deals by taking foreign visitors hostage.

The government stepped up its offensives earlier in the year.

Saudi Arabia reinforced the armed campaign in November reportedly venturing beyond the Houthis positions into the areas resided by Shia civilians and using banned weaponry including flesh-eating phosphorus bombs.

Riyadh, for its part, blamed the fighters for a cross-border attack on the Saudi territory.

Yemen's Shia minority, accuse Riyadh and Sana'a of waging a campaign of social, economic, and religious marginalization of Shia communities and of funding al-Qaeda and Wahhabi extremists to help quell the Shia resistance.

The offensives have claimed the lives of hundreds of people, causing the displacement of more than 200,000 civilians.

The Houthis, however, have also offered to hold peace talks with the Saudis, should the Kingdom abort the anti-Shia operations. Riyadh, the fighters say, is to prove that it is after peace and stability in Yemen, and that it respects the rights of the Yemeni nationals.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115180§ionid=351020206.

Congolese forces plan new offensive against rebels

A new offensive dubbed 'Amani Leo' has been planned by the Congolese army against the Hutu rebels in eastern Congo with the help of UN forces, an army officer says.

Amani Leo, or Peace Now in Swahili, is aimed at completing an operation which was launched in February 2009. the operation has already killed hundreds of civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, said Army Major Sylvain Ekenge, AFP reported.

Ekenge, a spokesman for the Congolese military in Nord-Kivu province, said the aim was to "completely eradicate" the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in a three-month campaign beginning in January.

He claimed that in the previous offensive, government troops destroyed all FDLR bases in Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu provinces, killing 1,472 of the rebels. A further 2,029 surrendered or were captured and sent back to Rwanda by the UN mission in DR Congo, he added.

Ekenge said the Mission of the United Nations Organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), which gave logistical support to the Congolese army last year, would be fighting alongside it in the upcoming offensive.

In particular, MONUC would be deploying combat helicopters against the rebels, he said.

MONUC'S military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, refused to comment Friday on Ekenge's statement.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115172&sectionid=351020506.

Ayatollah Sanei no longer qualified: Clerical body

A top clerical body in the holy city of Qom declares that Grand Ayatollah Yousuf Sanei no longer qualifies to be a marja al-taqlid, or a source of emulation — the highest clerical rank in Shia Islam.

The Qom Theological Lecturers Association, Jame-e-Modarressin said on Saturday that it had launched a yearlong investigation into the qualifications of Grand Ayatollah Sanei in response to repetitive inquiries on the issue, Fars news reported.

In a statement bearing the signature of Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the former head of Iran's judiciary, the body announced that the result of the investigation indicate that Grand Ayatollah Sanei is not eligible to be a marja.

Grand Ayatollah Sanei, 72, has come under fire for its anti-government stance. He has also been criticized by millions of Iranians who took part in the demonstration on Wednesday.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115179§ionid=351020101.

Fatah vows to step up struggle against occupation

Secular Palestinian movement renews its vow to continue struggle establishment of independent state.

RAMALLAH - The secular Fatah movement led by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday vowed to step up its struggle against the Israeli occupation with demonstrations and diplomacy.

"Our program emphasizes the importance of a two-track approach, with the first being the escalation of the popular struggle to resist occupation," the movement said in a statement.

The group said it would model the struggle on the weekly demonstrations in two West Bank towns, Bilin and Nilin, where residents hurl rocks and protest against the expansion of Israel's controversial separation barrier.

Fatah, which marks it 45th anniversary on Friday, also vowed to "increase movement on the international level to pursue Israel, to isolate it and to force it to answer to international law."

"We renew our vow to continue the struggle until the end of the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with east Jerusalem as its capital, and a solution to the refugee issue," it said.

Fatah went on to say that it "would not spare any effort in restoring Palestinian national unity and returning the Gaza Strip from the hands of those who have taken it hostage," referring to its Hamas rivals.

The two main Palestinian movements have been divided into geographically separated hostile camps since the Islamist Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007.

The secular Fatah was founded by the late iconic leader Yasser Arafat in the 1950s and formally launched its armed struggle against Israel on January 1, 1964.

Arafat entered into peace negotiations with Israel when he signed the 1993 Oslo autonomy accords, but during the 2000 Palestinian uprising Fatah's armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, carried out scores of deadly attacks.

When Abbas became president following Arafat's death in 2004 he brought the armed struggle to a halt, but the movement has never given up its "right to resistance" against the Israeli occupation of lands seized in 1967.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=36460.