Al-Darb Diya

Opposition calls for Japan defense minister to go

2012-05-28T15:15:00.000+03:00

Tokyo (AFP)
Sept 3, 2011

Japan's main opposition party called for the new defense minister to resign on Saturday for referring to himself as an amateur shortly before he took office, but there was a poll boost for the new premier.

Yasuo Ichikawa told Japanese media just before his formal appointment to the defense brief: "I am an amateur concerning security", comments that the opposition Liberal-Democratic Party said proved he was not qualified for the job.

"For that comment alone he deserves to be discharged from his ministerial post," said LDP policy chief Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense minister.

He said the wisdom of new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in appointing Ichikawa was also "put into question".

But there was better news for Noda as Kyodo news agency reported a public approval rating of 62.8 percent on Saturday, compared with 15.8 percent for his predecessor Naoto Kan in late August.

The cabinet announced on Friday by Noda, Japan's sixth new leader in five years, featured untested talent in key posts including the finance and foreign ministries.

Ichikawa, 69, who worked in the farm ministry for 25 years before entering politics, said his comment had been misinterpreted.

"I meant to say that most of the people are amateurs and it is important to pursue security policies from the people's viewpoint," he said late Friday.

But the controversy refused to go away on Saturday, with LDP policy expert Ichita Yamamoto joining calls for Ichikawa to quit as soon as possible.

"We feel very anxious leaving Japan's national defense to a person with such an attitude," Yamamoto said.

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan have been at odds with the United States over a huge US military presence in Okinawa since it ended the LDP's long domination of Japanese politics in 2009.

Noda's two predecessors have failed to resolve the issue with the key ally due to Okinawa islanders' resistance to the planned transfer of a US Marine Corps air station from a growing urban area to a scenic stretch of shore.

Major newspapers on Saturday noted that Finance Minister Jun Azumi, 49, and Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, 47, are "unknown quantities" with little experience in the fields related to their jobs.

But they also commended Noda for allocating cabinet posts to strike a balance among quarreling factions within his party.

The business daily Nikkei said the line-up "emphasized a balance of power" after a leadership battle between supporters and enemies of veteran powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa, who has been indicted in a political funding scandal.

Two members from Ozawa's group joined the cabinet.

"There is no room for futile confrontation within the party," the daily said, citing crucial issues such as the recovery from the March earthquake and tsunami, emergency at the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant and economic strife.

The influential Asahi Shimbun said Noda, a former finance minister, may have proven his reputation as a "candidate from within the finance ministry" by appointing two figures close to the ministry in his cabinet.

The appointments showed the Noda government's readiness to follow the finance ministry's drive for tax increases to solve the public debt problem, Asahi said.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Opposition_calls_for_Japan_defence_minister_to_go_999.html.

India postpones latest Agni missile launch

2012-05-28T15:14:00.000+03:00

New Delhi (UPI)
Sep 2, 2011

India postponed until next week a test-firing of its indigenously built Agni II ballistic nuclear capable missile due to a technical glitch.

The two-stage surface-to-surface missile was to be tested by its Strategic Forces Command from Wheeler Island off the Bay of Bengal on Monday, a report in the Indian Express newspaper said.

"But we had to postpone the test due to technical problems," Avinash Chander, director of the Agni missile program, said.

The day next week for the launch is not decided, said Chander, who gave no reason for the failure.

But previous missile failures have been blamed on guidance problems.

There also were doubts about continuous rainfall in Balasore near the test-firing range over the past three days.

India has a checkered history of launching indigenously built missiles, including the Agni I, II and III weapons.

The basic Agni series includes the single-stage 450-mile range Agni I, already inducted into service, and the two-stage Agni II and III models.

The 1,200-mile range Agni II was inducted into the army in 2004 and still is undergoing test-firings. The 65-foot missile weighs around 17 tons and can carry a 1-tonne payload.

The 2,000-mile range Agni III is in the last stages of development.

The solid-propellant Agni series of ballistic missiles are manufactured by Bharat Dynamics, one of India's major manufacturers of munitions and missile systems founded in 1970 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

Bharat Dynamics also manufactures India's Konkurs anti-tank missile.

Agni-II has been developed by Advanced Systems Laboratory along with other laboratories under the government-backed Defense Research and Development Organization.

India's main missile test launch center is Wheeler Island -- just over 1 mile long and 6 miles off the country's east coast in the Bay of Bengal and about 90 miles from Bhubaneshwar, the capital city of Orissa state.

It was from Wheeler Island that Agni III, with a range of just over 2,000 miles, was successfully test-launched from a mobile launcher in February last year.

During a test launch the following month, a Prithvi missile veered off its path, failing to reach its required altitude of around 70 miles. It climbed to around 45 miles before tumbling back into the Bay of Bengal.

Then in September, the DRDO acknowledged guidance problems that caused a failure in another Prithvi missile test launch. The surface-to-surface missile remained on the launch pad during a trial in Chandipur, Orissa.

The short-range, 4.6-tonne nuclear-capable missile became enveloped in orange smoke and the launch was aborted, officials from the DRDO said at the time.

"The failure to lift Prithvi II was due to a snag either in the main missile or the sub-system, including the launcher," a DRDO spokesman said.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/India_postpones_latest_Agni_missile_launch_999.html.

Russia successfully tests veteran missile with new warhead

2012-05-28T15:13:00.002+03:00

Moscow (AFP)
Sept 3, 2011

Russia on Saturday successfully tested its Topol strategic missile with a new warhead designed to breach missile shields, Russian news agencies reported, citing the defense ministry.

"The experimental warhead of the missile hit the designated target with high precision at the testing site on Kamchatka peninsula," a spokesman for the strategic rocket forces told the Interfax news agency.

The Topol intercontinental missile used has been operational for 23 years and was being tested to check its durability in extended use, the spokesman said.

The missile was fired from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region to its target area around 6,000 kilometers (3,730 miles) to the east.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russia_successfully_tests_veteran_missile_with_new_warhead_999.html.

Arab film festival honors Tunisian revolution

2012-05-28T15:12:00.002+03:00

2011-09-04

Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian credited with launching the Arab Spring, is featured on the poster for the 2011 Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam, TAP reported on Friday (September 2nd). The event opens September 7th with Tunisian director Mongi Farhani's "Al-Charara". Forty films from 20 Arab and European countries will be presented at the festival, initiated in 2000 by Tunisian Khaled Shawkat, who lives in the Dutch city.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/09/04/newsbrief-07.

Tunisia, NTC hold bilateral talks

2012-05-28T15:11:00.006+03:00

2011-09-04

Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) foreign emissary Mahmoud Jibril on Saturday (September 3rd) led a delegation to Tunisia for bilateral talks with Interim President Foued Mebazaa and Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, TAP reported. Discussions reportedly focused on the protection of national security. Tunisia will "spare no effort to strengthen co-operation with Libya in all fields… to contribute to the construction of a better future for the two countries and for the two peoples", Mebazaa said.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/09/04/newsbrief-02.

Tunisia clashes spur curfews

2012-05-28T15:11:00.002+03:00

2011-09-04

Tunisia on Friday (September 2nd) imposed an overnight curfew on Sbeïtla, TAP reported. According to the defense ministry, a row that started at a wedding led to clashes between security services and young people. A 17-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet. Another curfew was imposed Friday on the Kebilie town of Douz, after clashes between youths from El Kalaa and Abedla left 30 people injured.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/09/04/newsbrief-04.

UN begins Tripoli operations

2012-05-28T15:08:00.000+03:00

2011-09-04

The United Nations Secretary-General's special adviser for post-conflict planning in Libya arrived in Tripoli on Saturday (September 3rd) to meet with the transitional government. Ian Martin's visit follows the "Friends of Libya" conference in Paris last Thursday, when Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon vowed to send a UN mission to help rebuild the state and confront the humanitarian crisis. According to Ban, the immediate challenge is to assist hospitals and clinics.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/09/04/newsbrief-03.

Space Agencies Meet To Discuss A Global Exploration Roadmap

2012-05-28T15:07:00.002+03:00

Washington DC (SPX)
Sep 05, 2011

Senior managers representing 10 space agencies from around the world met in Kyoto, Japan to advance the Global Exploration Roadmap for coordinated space exploration.

During the past year, the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) has developed a long-range human exploration strategy. It begins with the International Space Station and expands human presence throughout the solar system, leading ultimately to human missions to explore the surface of Mars. The roadmap flows from this strategy and identifies two potential pathways: "Asteroid Next" and "Moon Next."

Each pathway represents a mission scenario over a 25-year period describing a logical sequence of robotic and human missions. Both pathways were deemed practical approaches addressing common high-level exploration goals developed by the participating agencies, recognizing that individual preferences among participating space agencies may vary regarding these pathways.

The first iteration of the roadmap will inform and focus the planning currently underway in each of the partner agencies in the areas of planetary robotic exploration, advanced technology development and use of the space station in preparation for exploration. It was agreed that during the next few weeks, this initial version of the Global Exploration Roadmap would be finalized and released to the public.

Yoshiyuki Hasagawa of Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency, in his capacity as chairman of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group said, "We are very happy with the progress of the Global Exploration Roadmap to technically coordinate both near and long term space exploration planning, with world space agencies."

During the meeting, the senior agency managers also reaffirmed the role of the ISECG to facilitate the ability of space agencies to take concrete steps toward partnerships that reflect a globally coordinated exploration effort.

"NASA is confident that the release of this product, and subsequent refinements as circumstances within each space agency evolve, will facilitate the ability of space agencies to form the partnerships that will ensure robust and sustainable human exploration," said NASA's Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations and outgoing ISECG chair William Gerstenmaier.

The ISECG was established as a voluntary, non-binding international coordination forum, where the partner agencies that contributed to the Global Exploration Strategy (GES) can exchange information regarding interests, plans, and activities in space exploration.

The GES set forth a shared vision for concerted human and robotic space exploration missions focused on solar system destinations where humans may one day live and work. Another stated goal is to encourage the partners to work together on strengthening both individual exploration programs and collective efforts.

The development of the Global Exploration Roadmap is the second step toward achieving this goal, following the development of the ISECG Reference Architecture for Human Lunar Exploration.

The countries participating in the meeting included in alphabetical order: Canada, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Space_Agencies_Meet_To_Discuss_A_Global_Exploration_Roadmap_999.html.

Rare martian lake delta spotted by Mars Express

2012-05-28T15:06:00.002+03:00

Paris (ESA)
Sep 05, 2011

ESA's Mars Express has spotted a rare case of a crater once filled by a lake, revealed by the presence of a delta. The delta is an ancient fan-shaped deposit of dark sediments, laid down in water. It is a reminder of Mars' past, wetter climate.

The delta is in the Eberswalde crater, in the southern highlands of Mars. The 65 km-diameter crater is visible as a semi-circle on the right of the image and was formed more than 3.7 billion years ago when an asteroid hit the planet.

The rim of the crater is intact only on its right-hand side. The rest appears only faintly or is not visible at all. A later impact created the 140 km diameter Holden crater that dominates the center and left side of the image. The expulsion of large amounts of material from that impact buried parts of Eberswalde.

However, within the visible part of Eberswalde, the delta and its feeder channels are well preserved, as seen near the top right of the crater. The delta covers an area of 115 square kilometers. Small, meandering feeder channels are visible towards the top of the crater, which would have filled it to form a lake.

After the deposition of the delta sediments in the crater's ancient lake, fresher sediments accumulated to cover up a major part of both the channels and the delta. These secondary sediments, presumably deposited by the wind, were later eroded in the delta area, exposing an inverted relief of the delta structure.

This delta structure, first identified with NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, is characteristic of the presence of a lake in the crater at that time. Such features provide a clear indication that liquid water flowed across the surface of Mars in the planet's early history.

Both Eberswalde crater and Holden crater were on the shortlist of four possible destinations for the next NASA Mars rover, to be launched late this year.

The main objective of the Mars Science Laboratory mission is the search for present or previously habitable environments on Mars. ESA's Mars Express mission has been helping in the search for the best landing site.

Eberswalde was proposed because its delta indicates the long-lasting presence of liquid water in the past and Holden Crater was a candidate because of its mineral diversity and many structures that again suggest past liquid water.

Another candidate, Mawrth Vallis, exposes some of the oldest clay-rich layers on Mars. However, in July, Gale crater, the final entry on the shortlist, was selected as the mission's landing site, given its high mineral and structural diversity related to water.

Eberswalde, Holden and Mawrth Vallis will get to hold on to their secrets for a while longer.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Rare_martian_lake_delta_spotted_by_Mars_Express_999.html.

S. Korea activists plan protest against navy base

2012-05-28T15:05:00.000+03:00

Seoul (AFP)
Sept 3, 2011

South Korean activists gathered Saturday on a southern holiday island to protest against the construction of a navy base, a day after hundreds of riot police dispersed demonstrators blocking the work.

About 300 activists and opposition party members flew to Jeju island to join protesters already there, Yonhap news agency reported.

They plan a "peace event" including a concert and cultural activities to demonstrate opposition to the planned base at Gangjeong village on the south coast.

Protesters say the base, which will be open to US forces, will damage the environment and could spark disputes with China over the American presence.

Opponents have occupied the site since June, preventing construction.

Police dispersed about 130 people on Friday and arrested 38 of them. Scuffles broke out but no serious violence was reported.

Construction workers later Friday completed a fence around the site.

Jeju police have sent 230 officers to support 606 riot police already stationed in Gangjeong, some of them dispatched from the mainland.

Military officials say the $970 million project is vital for national security. Once completed in 2014 it will host some 20 warships, including submarines, to help protect shipping lanes through which virtually all the country's sea trade passes.

The deployment will also help guard against sea infiltration by North Korea and could quickly respond to territorial disputes with neighboring states, the military has said.

Some islanders support the project for the boost it will give the local economy.

Opponents ranging from environmentalists to religious leaders and anti-government activists allege South Korea bowed to pressure from the United States, which they say is eager to establish a military presence near China.

Both Seoul and Washington, which stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, deny the accusation.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/S_Korea_activists_plan_protest_against_navy_base_999.html.

Turkey to host radar for NATO missile defense

2012-05-28T15:04:00.004+03:00

Ankara (AFP)
Sept 2, 2011

Turkey plans to deploy an early warning radar by the end of the year as part of NATO's missile defense system for Europe, officials said Friday.

Leaders of the 28-member NATO alliance endorsed plans in Lisbon last year to launch a Europe-wide ballistic missile shield, which US officials say is aimed at thwarting missile threats from Iran.

Technical negotiations about the deployment of the defense system in Turkey "have reached a final stage," Selcuk Unal, spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry, said in a written statement.

"It is foreseen that the early warning radar system dedicated by the United States to NATO will be deployed in our country," Unal said.

"Turkey's hosting of this element will contribute to the ... defense system, which is developed under NATO's new strategic concept (and) strengthen NATO's defense capacity and Turkey's national defense system," he added.

In Washington, the Pentagon on Friday welcomed Turkey's decision as a step forward for the missile defense project, which initially will rely on naval ships equipped with interceptors designed to knock out incoming missiles.

"The hope is to have it deployed by the end of this year," spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan told reporters.

"This component will link in to the ballistic missile defense capable AEGIS ships that we operate in the Mediterranean," Lapan said.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Turkey's decision marked "a critical contribution to the Alliance's overall defense against current and emerging ballistic missile threats."

He further applauded Ankara for its contribution to "NATO's capability to provide protection to its European territory populations and forces against the growing threat posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles."

Turkey, concerned over its delicate position with neighboring Iran, persuaded NATO allies to leave out any mention of Iran when the missile defense plan was approved at an alliance summit in November.

Reacting to Turkey's announcement, Russia's foreign ministry restated Moscow's demand for guarantees that "the anti-missile systems deployed in Europe are not aimed at the strategic nuclear forces of Russia".

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Turkey_to_host_radar_for_NATO_missile_defense_999.html.

Libyan rebels besiege Bani Walid, Sirte

2012-05-28T15:04:00.000+03:00

2011-09-04

Libyan rebels on Saturday (September 3rd) encircled the Kadhafi stronghold of Bani Walid and besieged Sirte, Jufra and Sabha, BBC reported. National Transitional Council (NTC) Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said that the cities under siege were being given humanitarian aid but had one week to surrender "to avoid further bloodshed". According to Al Jazeera, a team of negotiators from Bani Walid told the rebels that they wanted two more days before surrendering their weapons.

In other news, Algeria denied political asylum to some 30 high-ranking military and intelligence officials from the Kadhafi regime who tried to enter Algeria last week near Debdeb, El Khabar reported on Saturday (September 3rd). Following the refusal of Algerian authorities to allow them entry, the Libyan officers reportedly headed in a convoy to the border with Niger.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/09/04/newsbrief-01.

Turkey to challenge Israel's Gaza siege

2012-05-28T12:33:00.002+03:00

Sun Sep 4, 2011

Turkey says it plans to challenge Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip at the International Court of Justice, amid rising tensions between Ankara and Tel Aviv.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced the decision on Saturday, one day after the release of a United Nations report on Israel's May 31, 2010 attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy in international waters and the deaths of nine Turkish nationals on board the fleet.

The report, written by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, approved Israel's blockade of Gaza -- tightened a year after the election of Hamas in Palestine's general elections of 2006 -- as a so-called security measure.

It called the Israeli raid "excessive and unreasonable," but also blamed Turkey and the flotilla organizers for contributing to the killing of pro-Palestinian activists.

Davutoglu rejected the Palmer report saying it was in contrast with an earlier report on the incident prepared by the UN Human Rights Council in September, which found that Israel violated international law by attacking the civilian aid convoy.

He argued that the recent document was not endorsed by the United Nations and was therefore not binding.

“What is binding is the International Court of Justice,'' Davutoglu said.

“This is what we are saying: let the International Court of Justice decide,'' he added, explaining that Ankara was preparing the necessary grounds for the legal action.

The comments came a day after Turkey, irked by Israel's refusal to apologize over its deadly attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, expelled Tel Aviv's ambassador to Ankara and froze all military ties with Israel.

Turkey, which has been actively pursuing the case of Israel's flotilla attack, also promised to support legal actions against Israel by the families of the victims of the attack.

It also vowed to take measures to ensure freedom to navigate in the eastern Mediterranean, a move that analysts suggest could mean sending navy forces to escort future aid convoys.

In his Saturday comments, Davutoglu warned Tel Aviv that its persistence in disdaining to apologize could seriously endanger Israel's interest in Arab and Muslim countries, swept by popular revolutions and a surging wave of Islamic Awakening.

"If Israel persists with its current position, the Arab spring will give rise to a strong Israel opposition as well as the debate on the authoritarian regimes,'' he said.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197323.html.

Iranian sniper fires across the border, killing Iraqi civilian

2012-05-28T12:32:00.003+03:00

BAGHDAD (BNO NEWS) — An Iraqi civilian was killed on Saturday when an Iranian sniper opened fire from across the border, according to the Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Few details were immediately released.

The report, citing sources, said the shooting happened along the border line near the town of Haj Omran in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan, resulting in the death of an Iraqi civilian. It was not immediately clear why the sniper fired on the civilian, who was said to be a shepherd.

At least four civilians, including Saturday’s casualty, have been killed since mid-July as a result of Iranian attacks on northern Iraq, according to a Human Rights Watch report which was released on Friday. It added that an unknown number of people were injured while hundreds of families have been forced to flee the area as a result of the attacks, which target PJAK militants.

Farmers from the border regions told Human Rights Watch in early August that Iranian shelling had damaged their homes and that they saw Iranian soldiers cross the border into Iraq and kill farmers’ livestock. The attacks on civilians and their property that they described were similar to attacks documented by Human Rights Watch in June 2010.

“It has been more than six years that Iran has been shelling our area, but this year, it was unbelievable,” 70-year-old Fatima Mahmoud, who fled with her family, told Human Rights Watch. “I don’t know why Iran is shelling our village – we have never seen any PJAK members at all. I have never seen any [PJAK] members in our village.”

Iran regularly shells areas in Iraq to target the separatist Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), which is fighting to establish semiautonomous regional entities or Kurdish federal states in Iran, Turkey and Syria. The group has been accused of carrying out a number of attacks in those countries.

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/19876/iranian-sniper-fires-across-the-border-killing-iraqi-civilian/.

White House protest against oil pipeline ends with hundreds arrested

2012-05-28T12:32:00.000+03:00

WASHINGTON (BNO NEWS) — A two-week demonstration outside the White House against a planned pipeline stretching from Canada through East Texas wrapped up on Saturday after hundreds of arrests.

Tar Sands Action, the group organizing the protest, said in a statement that over the course of the two-week sit-in, 1,252 Americans were arrested. Among those arrested were top climate scientists, former White House official Gus Speth, NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen, actress Daryl Hannah, and author Naomi Klein.

Bill McKibben, who spearheaded the protest and was also arrested, said that the group will intensify a nationwide campaign to push President Barack Obama to deny the permit for the new oil pipeline. “That movement is being born right here in front of the White House and reverberating around the country,” he said.

The group has said that the Keystone pipeline is among the most important environmental decisions that confront the president. “President Obama must decide whether or not to grant a ‘presidential permit’ for a Canadian company, TransCanada, to begin construction of the Keystone XL, a 1,700 mile (2735 kilometers) pipeline from the Canadian tar sands to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico,” the organization said in a statement.

A petition with 617,428 names opposing the pipeline was delivered to the White House on Saturday, the organization said. Thousands are expected to descend on Washington, D.C., for the final State Department hearing on the Keystone pipeline on October 7.

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/19874/white-house-protest-against-oil-pipeline-ends-with-hundreds-arrested/.

Iran hails expulsion of Israeli ambassador from Turkey

2012-05-28T12:30:00.002+03:00

TEHRAN (BNO NEWS) — The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday hailed the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and other senior diplomats from Turkey following the publication of a UN report about the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry called for the prevention of Israeli influence on changing the results of the international independent investigation of the May 2010 Gaza flotilla raid. Iran also stressed that the United Nations (UN) should prevent Israel’s ‘meddling’ in the UN reports on Gaza.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announced on Friday that Israel’s ambassador and senior diplomats have been expelled from the country after Israel refused to apologize regarding the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid in which nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists died. Davutoğlu also said that all military ties with Israel will be suspended.

“Iran welcomes the expulsion of the Zionist regime’s ambassador to Ankara,” the statement issued by Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that Israel is attempting to change the results of the UN Palmer Report and to ‘distort reality.’

The UN report, released on Friday after repeated delays, stated that the naval blockade was “imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law.”

However, it also stated that Israel’s decision to board the vessels with “such substantial force at a great distance from the blockade zone and with no final warning immediately prior to the boarding was excessive and unreasonable.”

Because the UN report said the Gaza blockade is legal, Tehran denounced the UN report. The statement said the contents of the report surprised several diplomatic circles since it justified Israel’s “illegal and inhuman acts” during the Gaza siege. As a result, Iran questioned how much influence Israel had in the report.

In May 2010, nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed and dozens more were injured when Israeli commandos boarded a ship participating in the ‘Freedom Flotilla I’, which was heading to the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid on board. The incident caused global outrage over alleged excessive force, but Israel has denied that and said its commandos were being attacked.

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/19877/update-1-iran-hails-expulsion-of-israeli-ambassador-from-turkey/.

Sudan declares state of emergency in Blue Nile state

2012-05-28T12:29:00.004+03:00

KHARTOUM (BNO NEWS) — Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has declared a state of emergency in the Blue Nile State following heavy fighting in the region, the Sudan Tribune reported on Saturday.

Bashir has also dismissed Blue Nile state governor Malik Agar, who is also chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), amid reports of aerial bombardments in the region. He instead appointed the commander of Sudanese army (SAF) base in the Blue Nile’s capital of al-Damazin, Major General Yahya Mohamed Khair, as a military ruler of the state.

The announcement came after fighting broke out on Friday between the SAF and the SPLM, and the house of Agar was allegedly targeted during a military offensive.

The warring sides traded accusations over who started the fight. SPLM-N secretary-general Yasir Arman told the Sudan Tribune that Sudan’s army instigated the clashes by attacking the SPLM-N’s Joint Integrated Units and the residence of Agar. Meanwhile, Sudan’s army said that SPLM-N forces carried out attacks in al-Damazin and more than four areas in the vicinity.

According to the army’s official spokesman, Al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad, SPLM-N was mobilizing its forces to launch coordinated attacks on a number of army units. In contrast, Agar told Sudan Tribune that the Sudanese army was the one who instigated the fighting by attacking the positions of SPLM-N’s troops and accused Sudan’s army of carrying out aerial bombardments.

Meanwhile, Sudan’s foreign ministry announced that it intends to include the violent events in al-Damazin to the complaint it lodged to the UN Security Council (UNSC). The Sudanese government this week sent a letter to the UNSC accusing South Sudan of supporting SPLM-N rebels in South Kordofan State which neighbors the Blue Nile.

The government in Khartoum has been engaged in clashes with SPLA forces in South Kordofan, another state in the north that is on the southern border, since last June. Both states are part of north Sudan but their population sided largely with the South during the second Sudanese civil wars 1983-2005.

South Sudan became the world’s newest country when it broke away from Sudan on July 9 as a culmination of a six-year peace process which began in January 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Government of Sudan and the SPLM.

More than two million people, most of them civilians who died due to starvation and drought, were killed during the 20-year civil war in Sudan. Although there were hopes that South Sudan secession would lead to peace, violence has continued both on a local level in South Sudan as well as with the Sudanese forces.

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/19866/sudan-declares-state-of-emergency-in-blue-nile-state/.

Gazans hold rally in support of Turkey

2012-05-28T12:29:00.000+03:00

Sun Sep 4, 2011

Dozens of supporters of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas have rallied in the streets of Gaza to show support of Turkey's decision to cut its diplomatic relations with Israel.

Chanting slogans in support of Ankara and against Tel Aviv, the demonstrators condemned the recent UN-leaked report on the deadly Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound relief aid convoy Freedom Flotilla in international waters in 2010.

The marchers slammed the report, which offers an air of legitimacy to Israel's prolonged blockade on the Gaza Strip, burning flags of Israel, Xinhua reported.

On Friday, Turkey expelled Israel's envoy from Ankara and suspended all its military ties with Israel after Tel Aviv refused to apologize for its deadly attack on the Gaza-bound aid convey.

Meanwhile, following the release of the UN report, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Ankara would take legal action against Israel's blockade on Gaza at the International Court of Justice.

The report, written by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, approved Israel's blockade of Gaza -- tightened a year after the election of Hamas in Palestine's general elections of 2006 -- as a so-called security measure.

It terms the Israeli raid "excessive and unreasonable," but also blamed Turkey and the flotilla organizers for contributing to the killing of pro-Palestinian activists.

The top Turkish diplomat challenged the report, saying the latest report is in contrast with an earlier report prepared by the UN Human Rights Council in September, which blamed Israel for violating international law.

Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza when the Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007.

The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the territory.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197360.html.

US drone shot down in Somalia

2012-05-28T12:28:00.001+03:00

Sun Sep 4, 2011

Local fighters say they have shot down a suspected United States operated aerial vehicle in the south of Somalia near the capital, Mogadishu. Press TV reported.

Al-Shabaab fighters say the drone crashed into the sea after it was hit near the lower Shabelle region in Merka town, located south of the capital.

The fighters say six other drones have been seen flying over Mogadishu and the nearby town of Merka.

Numerous US remote-controlled drones have in the past few weeks crashed in Somalia.

Drone attacks in Somalia make the lawless state the sixth country where the US military has used remote-controlled aircraft to conduct such lethal strikes.

The United States has now employed drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq and Yemen to launch aerial bombings.

Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197383.html.

Japan's new premier vows to speed up reconstruction efforts

2012-05-27T15:29:00.003+03:00

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) — New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Friday said his top priorities are to speed up recovery from the earthquake and tsunami, and work to contain the nuclear accident in Fukushima, NHK Television reported.

Noda told reporters that the biggest mission of his Cabinet, which was launched on Friday, will be to speed up restoration and reconstruction of the areas damaged by the disaster. He said that although the previous government did its best, it was accused of not doing enough to build temporary housing, clean up debris and support survivors.

The new premier also said the decontamination of wide areas affected by the nuclear accident in Fukushima was necessary and promised that the government will do all it can to ensure the safety of pregnant women and children. He said there will be no revival of Japan without the revival of Fukushima.  

Noda, who was the finance minister under his predecessor Naoto Kan’s government, also pledged to rebuild the economy and tackle Japan’s fiscal crisis. He said he will rebuild the economy despite the limitations of energy supplies and added that the government will promote administrative reforms to reduce wasteful spending.

Kan resigned on August 26 after almost 15 months in office amid sinking approval ratings and criticism of his leadership after the March 11 disaster that delayed important legislation needed to help the victims.

Japan has been facing an ongoing nuclear crisis since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was severely damaged on March 11 when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami devastated the country. At least 23,482 people were killed, while 8,069 people remain missing.

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/19862/japans-new-premier-vows-to-speed-up-reconstruction-efforts/.

Six cities to compete for the 2020 Olympic Games

2012-05-27T15:29:00.000+03:00

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND (BNO NEWS) — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday announced the six countries which will compete to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. Among the six are Spain and Japan who lost their bid to host the 2016 Games.

The announcement was made after a deadline expired. National Olympic Committees were required to notify the IOC by September 1st that a city within their jurisdiction was interested in applying to host the Games.

The cities which have come forward and applied for a chance to host the Games are Baku in Azerbaijan, Doha in Qatar, Istanbul in Turkey, Madrid in Spain, Rome in Italy, and Tokyo in Japan. They will now proceed to Phase 1 during which the IOC will conduct a technical review of cities to determine if they are able to host the massive sports event.

At the end of Phase 1, in May 2012, the IOC will select the cities that will become Candidate Cities and therefore move on to Phase 2. By the end of Phase 2, on September 7, 2013, the IOC will elect the Host City of the 2020 Olympic Games.

Spain, Italy, and Japan have all experience with hosting the Summer Olympics, while Azerbaijan, Qatar and Turkey have not. Both Italy and Japan also twice hosted Winter Games.

The 2020 Olympics are to be held between July 15 and August 31 in 2020, but Doha is requesting to hold the Games at the end of October and the start of November should it be chosen as the host city.

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/19856/six-cities-to-compete-for-the-2020-olympic-games/.

Dried plums shown to be effective against fractures and osteoporosis

2012-05-27T15:28:00.000+03:00

Friday, September 02, 2011
by: Michelle Bosmier

(NaturalNews) A study recently conducted by a team of researchers at Florida State and Oklahoma University, and featured in the esteemed British Journal of Nutrition, reveals that consuming a handful of natural, dried plums every day will help prevent fractures and osteoporosis in the elderly.

This is great news especially for postmenopausal women, who commonly struggle with the loss of bone density and an increased risk of fracture. While bone frailty and osteoporosis can affect older individuals of both genders, a clear correlation exists between the decrease of estrogen production and the onset of osteoporosis in females. According to recent statistics, in the United States alone, over 8 million women and 2 million men are affected by osteoporosis.

The science team, led by Bahram H. Arjmandi - Florida State's Margaret A. Sitton Professor and chairman of the Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences in the College of Human Sciences, conducted tests over a 12 month period on two groups of postmenopausal women. The test group comprised of 55 women who were instructed to consume 100 grams of dried plums per day, while the control group consisted of 45 women who were advised to eat 100 grams of dried apples each day. To complement their diets, all participants in the study received daily supplements of calcium (500 mg) and vitamin D (400 units).

Professor Arjmandi's team tested samples of bone tissue from the ulna (one of the long forearm bones) and the spine, and they concluded that the test group who consumed dried plums showed a significantly higher mineral bone density when compared to the control group that consumed dried apples. Arjmandi explained that this was partly a result of the plums' ability to decrease the rate of bone resorption - a biological process by which minerals contained in bone tissue are released and transferred to the bloodstream. In younger adults, this process is countered by the body's ability to swiftly regenerate bone tissue; however, as people age, the rate of new bone growth falls behind the resorption rate.

During the course of his career, Arjmandi has studied and compared numerous fruits, including figs, dates, raisins, and strawberries, pointing out that "none of them come anywhere close to having the effect on bone density that dried plums, or prunes, have." He added that "in the first five to seven postmenopausal years, women are at risk of losing bone at a rate of 3 to 5 percent per year", while "around the age of 65, men start losing bone with the same rapidity as women." This makes dried plums an amazingly useful natural resource for middle aged individuals who are interested in maintaining long term bone health and durability.

Professor Arjmandi concluded by warning potential patients against waiting to be diagnosed with osteoporosis before seeking ways to improve their bone health. He said: "Don't wait until you get a fracture or you are diagnosed with osteoporosis... Do something meaningful and practical beforehand. People could start eating two to three dried plums per day and increase gradually to perhaps 6 to 10 per day. Prunes can be eaten in all forms and can be included in a variety of recipes."

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/033485_dried_plums_osteoporosis.html.

Sudan Pound Valueless in the South

2012-05-27T15:26:00.003+03:00

2 September 2011

Juba — The Sudan Pound (SDG) is no longer a legal tender in the Republic of South Sudan and is therefore valueless in the country, the Governor of the Bank of South Sudan Mr. Kornelio Koryom has announced.

Speaking to the press at the bank's premises in Juba this morning, the governor said that effective today the SDG can no longer be used to transact any business in South Sudan after the currency exchange period elapsed yesterday.

The governor also announced that the bank will soon release coins which he said will be in 50, 25, 10 and 5 piaster denominations.

Mr Koryom explained that the collected SDG will be kept by the bank awaiting the results of the ongoing negotiations facilitated by the African Union on whether the Republic of Sudan will redeem the old currency or not. He said the bank will decide what to do with the currency once the negotiations are complete and a conclusive decision is reached.

He commended the committee which coordinated the exercise for a job well done in spite of immense logistical challenges. He also thanked the governors of all the ten states of South Sudan for supporting the currency conversion program.

The press conference was also attended by the deputy governors Mr Jamal Abdalla Wani and Mr John Dour Majok. Also in attendance were the members of the currency exchange committee as well as senior Bank of South Sudan officers.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201109021068.html.

Somalia: Let Somalis Manage Aid for Development, Doctor Says

2012-05-27T15:26:00.000+03:00

By Trevor Ballantyne and Genet Lakew
2 September 2011

Dr. Hawa Abdi is a woman of many firsts, including being Somalia's first female gynecologist and establishing one of the country's first NGOs. Along with her daughters, Deqa and Amina Mohamed, both of whom are doctors, Abdi maintains a hospital and a feeding center in a place where international aid agencies are unable or unwilling to operate due to the presence of armed militias.

The Hawa Abdi Foundation, founded in 1983, aims to help women in Somalia, especially in the Lower Shabelle region, gain better security, health care access and education. The foundation provides food, shelter and health care for the Hawa Abdi Village's population - 90 percent of whom are women, children and the elderly - in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region. It is a sanctuary for some 90,000 internally displaced people.

Abdi and her daughter Deqa recently traveled to the United States and Canada to raise funds and awareness for their village and for the famine that is devastating their country. Vital Voices, a women's empowerment organization based in Washington, D.C., hosted a discussion with the inspirational Somali doctors. Later, Abdi and Dr. Deqa Mohamed spoke to AllAfrica's Trevor Ballantyne and Genet Lakew.

After traveling in Canada and the United States, what can you say about the media's reaction to the drought, and the effect of the various fundraising initiatives that this media coverage attracts?

Mohamed: Actually we were in Canada in early July and [Canada's press] covered it well. They had the story running every evening in early July.

The U.S. just started in mid-July and the end of July to cover all the issues, and we're really grateful. Somalia was forgotten for 20 years and now the world is speaking up. Now the country is existing. We thought we were wiped off the map, so it's very exciting. But it's also very sad to see what's happening because there's no action; still it's just talk in the media.

Abdi: The money being sent to Somalia now it's a waste because it is not going inside Somalia; they are sending money through the neighboring countries only. And we don't know how to control our money. When we were in Toronto we talked many times and the people donated 50 million Canadian dollars to Somalia. And that 50 million and the 93 million given by the European Union, is not going inside Somalia.

The aid agencies are just remaining in the port, or on the border of Somalia and they will spend the money by feeding people, giving breakfast, some food and [that is not] important for us. With that money we can rebuild all of Mogadishu; we can invest in agricultural [sectors]; we can fish in our ocean, our big ocean, to get people food. Many governments and many international organizations and the U.S. send money to Somalia but that money is lost.

We have educated people, patriotic people. We have had hard working people inside of Somalia for the past [21] years but [the aid agencies] do not believe it totally. Even if we only get a little help, a small amount from the aid agencies, we want to use the aid ourselves. It is very important to us because we know how to use the aid. But before the aid comes to us, it is split so that only a little bit - I don't know maybe 10 percent will reach Somalia - and that 10 percent is not going into the right hands. We suspect that international organizations are not fair to Somalia. They do not decide to change the life of Somalia. Maybe [it's because of] their own interests, maybe something else.

In an interview with All Africa, Dr. Rueben Brigety, deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration at the U.S. State Department said, "We are grappling along with the rest of our colleagues in the international community to figure out how we can best provide humanitarian assistance expeditiously in a robust way, in a manner that is safe for the beneficiaries, safe for the aid workers, so that we can avert the worst of this crisis." What is your reaction?

Abdi: This is dramatizing things. Everywhere there is fighting. For example, in Afghanistan there is fighting with the Taliban but there is aid going into the country. Aid and international organizations are going into Pakistan and the Taliban is there. But Somalia, I don't know. I don't understand. The international community maybe they are trying to empty Somalia, empty it totally.

Mohamed: It's very funny. Of course aid and security goes hand in hand. But, in the early 90s, the IRC (International Rescue Committee) didn't have that problem. The IRC didn't have to pay hundreds of thousands to the guys who have guns. They were investing more in the people, and [investing money where it was needed]. But aid in Somalia became a business.

Aid workers in Somalia get paid better, they sit in their open beautiful houses and when they try to work in [Somalia], they pay more for security, their guards. And they don't realize the damage they're creating. When you give too much money to these guys to protect you, you're investing for them to go to war. To deliver a small grain of rice, you're giving the militant the power to buy guns. So maybe sometimes it's better for the aid agencies not to deliver that grain, instead of empowering those bad guys.

The situation that Somalia has put the international aid agencies into is very complicated. I think we (the Somali people) have to take accountability for that, because if we work with the aid agencies and they teach the communities, these people they are helping, you should not ask for money from them because they're already giving to you.

Somalis should help support aid. If the Somali society stood up on the side of aid instead of seeing aid as a business, and saying, 'Oh you're coming you white guy, I heard you have a lot of money, okay, I need to make money.' That's how Somalis deal with aid now, and that's what we allow Somalis to do. You see, 20 years have corrupted aid in our country. It's very difficult to fix today. It's very hard.

You shared the story of the alarming incident last May when the militia group Hizbul-Islam invaded your camp for a week, damaged property and demanded that you hand over all operations to the group. You refused to do so and overcame that threat but how have you been able to successfully operate your camp for so long despite the uncertainty of religious extremism and lawlessness?

Mohamed: I think to understand how we were able to sustain our camp for last 20 years, I think first you must understand the people who are fighting. Al Shabaab: it's the same warlords who were fighting in 1992. They just put wraps on their faces and they call themselves Al Shabaab. It's the same people that have been fighting from 1991 to 2011. And we have militant leaders who are a part of the transitional government (TFG) and are also members of the militant groups.

The second reason we have been successful is when you're transparent, you're making a difference in the field and they see we are delivering: we're doing this; we're getting this medicine. And my mom is very humble in here but, when she brings medicine sometimes from Mogadishu to the camp, they stop her and she takes them to the hospital and says, 'Here, this is why I'm bringing this medicine.' It's very simple. Be transparent and make a difference; that's how it could work.

(The World Food Programme) WFP was making a difference, feeding people. It was wasting a huge amount of money and food was not going directly to the people but they were making a difference. They have been working in Somalia since 2008 when [Al Shabaab] forced them to go out but they were still functioning. And MSF, Medecins Sans Frontieres, has been functioning in Somalia since 2008. For example, when the people see those two groups and the groups who are working in Somalia, they don't attack. They might attack because of the money but we don't have money and we don't have a big budget to show them. They know us. They know that whatever we get we share with the people. That helps us; that's how we sustain.

As the drought continues to displace populations in the Horn of Africa, media reports focus on the growth of refugee populations in the camps along the Somali border in Kenya and Ethiopia. Is your camp also experiencing this growth?

Abdi: We are in a very difficult time because the camp is full now and people are still coming to the feeding center everyday. And they are coming to us from far away. If we can increase the land for the camp it will be good for us but we need economic aid to buy land.

Mohamed: Most of the people going to the huge Dadaab camp are coming from the Somali-Ethiopia and the Somali-Kenya sides. They have a huge drought there, and they do not have enough resources. There are also our Somalis coming from southern Somalia. So it is Somalis coming from all different parts of the Horn. You will do everything for your child so I understand the families who walk hours and miles to get there, but the camps have created a false hope - that's why people keep going to them.

The people fleeing the drought think the camps have food. They think they will receive some kind of peace but when they arrive at the camp, there's no food. They might only get one meal or might not get a meal at all during the day. They might get raped by the border militants in Kenya. Nobody tells them they will get raped. The militants come invade the camp and pull out the women and rape them in Kakuma and Dadaab camps. Nobody tells them the camps don't have enough medicine because only a few organizations work there and they cannot treat the 300,000 people that are there. So it's very sad for the people going to the camps to survive.

What kind of hospital do you run at your camp? Do you treat fighters injured in conflict?

Mohamed: We try to advertise ourselves as a mothers and children hospital. We don't intervene with the wounded and the conflict victims.

What we discovered in the 90s was when you have wounded and one of them dies the groups that are fighting will blame you. I was held at gunpoint in 1991 when I was [helping out a fighter's] kid and when I said, 'He died; we cannot treat him,' the man just asked, 'Why? You have a white coat.' You will receive the wounded every day, and so to avoid this we receive women and children. [The fighters] know that for the last 20 years we have taken care of women and children so they take their wounded to other hospitals. That also keeps us safe.

Can you tell us about the jail you have set up in your camp to punish men who beat their wives?

Mohamed: It's the little prison that keeps the camp safe. It's just the sense of a [prison]; without that, it wouldn't be safe. We put the prisoner in there for a day or the committee decides what to do or he may have to clean up part of the camp. It's just simple thing, it's not like you stay more than 24 hours. But with that, everybody will know you were in prison. That gives you a bad name so nobody wants to be in the prison in the first place. That's the unique thing we do at the camp to keep the women safe because of the civil war. The men are beating the wives so safety for the women comes first. It's wonderfully effective. It's the only tool that works to keep peace in the camp.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201109021244.html.

Tunisian political parties present candidates

2012-05-27T15:24:00.003+03:00

2011-09-02

Candidates for Tunisia's October 23rd Constituent Assembly elections were introduced by their political parties on Thursday (September 1st), TAP reported. Tunisia's Independent High Electoral Commission (ISIE) required candidates from the country's 105 political parties to have no history of activities within the dissolved Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) or the regime of ousted president Zine El Abdine Ben Ali.

The constituent assembly will be tasked with drafting a new constitution. Of the body's 218 seats, 19 are reserved for Tunisian expatriates.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/09/02/newsbrief-03.