Saturday, April 5, 2008
Christian priest shot dead in Iraq
A priest from the Assyrian Orthodox church in Iraq has been shot dead in the capital, officials say.
Youssef Adel, a priest with the Saint Peter's Church in Karrada neighbourhood, was killed in a drive-by shooting on Saturday at about noon (0900 GMT).
A medical officer said his body had been taken to the Ibn Nafis hospital in the city centre.
The Christian community in Iraq has suffered an increasing number of attacks in recent months.
Last month, the body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, a Chaldean Catholic archbishops from Mosul, was found in a shallow grave in the city two weeks after having been kidnapped.
Iraqi Christians, with Chaldeans forming the largest group, numbered an estimated 800,000 before the US-led invasion. It is now half that size, with people leaving the country due to the poor security situation. (Al Jazeera)
Labels: Iraq
Militants flee Palestinian jail
Twelve Palestinian militants have fled from a prison in the West Bank town of Nablus, saying they had been beaten up by security forces at the jail.
The 12 were in Jneid prison under a deal offering amnesty from Israel in return for surrendering weapons and three months' Palestinian detention.
They belong to the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of the Fatah movement.
Nablus Governor Jamal al-Muhaisen urged the men to return to the jail.
"If they want to come back they are welcome but we won't let them move freely or carry weapons." (BBC)
Labels: Palestine
Egypt searches for would-be suicide bombers
Egyptian security forces launched a search late Friday for two Sudanese suspected of planning attacks against government installations and tourist resorts in the Sinai, an Egyptian security official said.
The suspects are believed to be driving in an explosives-laden Toyota pickup truck, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The search began after urgent instructions from the Egyptian interior ministry to police offices across the Sinai Peninsula.
The official added that the police, including reinforcements sent to the area, have set up ambushes and were searching through main cities in the Sinai and recruited local Bedouin tribesmen to help search for the suspects.
Bedouins are traditionally experts at navigating the desert and finding back ways to avoid checkpoints. (JPost)
Labels: Egypt
Hamas: Rocket attacks not aimed at Israeli women, children
The Islamic Hamas movement on Saturday denied targeting Israeli children and women with rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
"Hamas doesn't mean to kill children with its rockets," spokesman Ismail Radwan told reporters in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in response to a statement made by al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who said Hamas' random rockets kill women and children in violation of Islamic law.
Radwan added that "the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians may involve some killing of children," accusing the Israeli army of "deliberately killing children, women and destroying houses and mosques."
Local Palestinian media reported that al-Zawahiri's statements appeared on an Islamic website as part of responses he sent to readers' questions. (Haaretz)
Labels: Al Qaeda, Hamas, Israel, Palestine
US renews Blackwater's Iraq licence
The US state department has renewed the licence for controversial private security firm Blackwater to protect diplomats in Iraq for another year, according to officials.
The department said there was no reason to refuse the licence while the FBI investigates a fatal shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad which involved Blackwater personnel.
"I have requested and received approval to have Task Order 6, which Blackwater has to provide personal protective services in Baghdad, renewed for one year," Gregory Starr, assistant secretary of state, said on Friday.
The company currently has a five-year deal to provide personal protection for diplomats, which is re-authorised each year. (Al Jazeera)
Labels: Iraq, Military Contractors, U.S.
Iran to boost nuclear capacity despite pressure
Iran said on Saturday it would press ahead with plans to expand its nuclear program, after diplomats in Vienna said Tehran was installing advanced centrifuges in its key uranium enrichment plant.
The government spokesman also rejected any idea of halting work the United States suspects is aimed at building nuclear bombs in return for trade, technology and other benefits.
Speaking a few days before the Islamic Republic's annual National Nuclear Technology Day on April 8, Gholamhossein Elham said he hoped for "good news" on that day but did not elaborate. (Reuters)
Labels: Iran, Nuclear Power
Iran denies rumors finance minister to quit
Iran's government denied on Saturday speculation the finance minister would be replaced, three weeks after an election brought in a parliament that is expected to be more critical of the country's economic policies.
Iranian media have in recent days cited rumors that Economy and Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari would step down, without giving a clear reason.
But, in the first official comment on the speculation, government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham told a news conference: "No changes at this ministry have been discussed."
The conservative government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005 pledging to share Iran's oil wealth more fairly. But critics say profligate spending has further fuelled inflation, running at about 19 percent year-on-year. (Reuters)
Labels: Iran
Ahmadinejad rules out suspension of enrichment
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview published Friday that he would reject any new incentives offered by world powers in return for suspending uranium enrichment. "This is a non-negotiable subject," Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling Japan's Kyodo News when asked about possible incentives carrying conditions that Iran suspend its enrichment activities. "Iran is a nuclear country and has no reason to give up the technology. If there are to be any preconditions, we must propose preconditions," he said. The Security Council last month tightened UN sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt nuclear-fuel work as six major powers offered to resume talks with the Islamic Republic to end the standoff.
The five permanent Security Council powers plus Germany reconfirmed and pledged to expand a 2006 offer of economic and trade incentives to Iran in exchange for a freeze of its uranium enrichment activities. But Iran last month ruled out further talks with the six. Ahmadinejad told Kyodo that the suspension of its uranium enrichment programme was an issue related to the past as "we have passed this stage." He again rejected any new talks with the European Union over Iran's nuclear program, saying Tehran would negotiate only with the UN atomic agency. (AFP)
Labels: Iran, Nuclear Power, U.N.
German military police officers accused of training Libyans
German military police officers and soldiers, including members of the special forces, are under investigation for allegedly training Libyan security forces in anti-terror techniques in their spare time.
About 30 officers are believed to have been involved in illegal training programmes after being recruited by a former officer of Germany's elite anti-terrorism unit, the GSG-9 commando, who ran his own private security company.
The men, who were secretly flown to Tripoli while on leave, are reported to have received up to €15,000 (£11,800) each. Their superiors did not know about the training sessions.
According to the Westfalen Blatt newspaper, some of the officers were also rewarded with holidays in Tunisia, which they took before or after the training sessions. (Guardian)
Iraqi PM offers amnesty to militias
In a dramatic reversal, Iraq's prime minister ordered a nationwide freeze yesterday on Iraqi raids against Shiite militants, bowing to demands by anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr only one day after promising to expand the crackdown to Baghdad.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued the order after al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia fought government troops last week in Basra and elsewhere, hinted at retaliation if Iraqi security forces continue to arrest his followers.
A statement by al-Maliki's office, broadcast on government television, did not mention the Mahdi Army by name or give a timeframe for the freeze. It said the move was designed to give a "chance to those who repented and want to lay down their arms."
But the statement was issued less than 24 hours after al-Maliki told reporters he intended to launch security operations against Mahdi Army strongholds in Baghdad, including Sadr City, home to some 2.5 million Shiites and the militia's largest base. (Independent)
Labels: Iraq
Several die in Iraq funeral bombing
At least 20 people have died in a suicide bomb attack at a funeral in the Iraqi province of Diyala, police officials have said, marking the deadliest attack in the governorate this year.
More than 20 others were injured in the attack on Friday at Hamreen cemetery in the town of al-Sadiyah, about 95km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Police say the attacker detonated an explosives vest as mourners gathered for the funeral for a Sunni policeman.
Most of the victims of the bombing appeared to be relatives of the dead policeman, an Iraqi police officer said.
The US military disputed the number of dead, saying only about seven people had been killed. (Al Jazeera)
Labels: Iraq
Russia to allow Nato Afghan transit
Russia has agreed to allow Nato to use Russian land to deliver non-lethal supplies to alliance troops in Afghanistan, but not troops or air transit arrangements as initially sought by the military alliance.
The deal was announced at a summit between the alliance leaders during which they held talks with Vladimir Putin, Russia's president.
Moscow has been irked by the alliance's eastward expansion and Friday's announcement followed a promise by Nato on Thursday to delay the eventual membership of Ukraine and Georgia until talks in December.
Letters implementing the transit agreement were exchanged between Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato's secretary-general, and Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister.
A Nato spokeswoman said: "It's been done. It will cover land transit of non-lethal equipment. Air transit is not for today." (Al Jazeera)
Labels: Afghanistan, NATO, Russia
Bush promises more troops for Afghanistan
George Bush today promised to send more troops to Afghanistan after his departure from the White House next year, whatever the status of troop withdrawals from Iraq.
The pledge, delivered at a Nato summit in Bucharest, would add a "significant" number of troops in Afghanistan in 2009, the Pentagon chief, Robert Gates, told reporters.
Gates said he expected the next president - Democrat or Republican - to honour the commitment. "I think that no matter who is elected they will want to be successful in Afghanistan," Gates said. "I think this was a pretty safe thing for him to say."
Gates gave no further details on how many troops would be deployed in Afghanistan. The US has about 31,000 troops in the country. (Guardian)
IDF removes 10 roadblocks in W. Bank
The IDF removed 10 dirt mound roadblocks in the West Bank on Thursday. The obstacles were removed near Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarm and Kalkilya following the promise from Defense Minister Ehud Barak earlier this week to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Israel would remove 50 roadblocks in Judea and Samaria.
Meanwhile, in the first move of its kind, east Jerusalem Palestinians with Israeli identification cards and license plates have been prevented this week from passing through the Mizmoriya Checkpoint, near Jerusalem's southeastern Har Homa neighborhood, according to the B'tselem NGO.
This is the first instance the organization knows of in which they have been barred from using the same checkpoints as other Israeli vehicles, B'tselem spokeswoman Anat Barsella said.
"We are very concerned about this development," she said. (JPost)
Egypt: Child labor a growing problem as food prices rise
Each day, 14-year-old Ali Abdel-Nasser works at a brick factory on the outskirts of Cairo, loading a donkey cart with new bricks to be taken to a nearby furnace to dry. He has worked at the plant almost every day the last four years, since age 10 when his father died.
Responsible for a family of seven, the boy is bitter that even the donkeys at the factory get more time off than he does.
"The owners of the factory give the animals two days off," Ali said. "But I cannot afford to rest. If I did, nobody is going to bring bread for my family."
As Egypt struggles with rising food prices and inflation, the plight of poverty-stricken child workers and the lack of protections for them has gained new attention. (JPost)
Labels: Labour Rights
Friday, April 4, 2008
Cairo detains another 27 Brotherhood members
Egyptian authorities detained 27 members of the Muslim Brotherhood on Friday, including a leading member of the opposition group's politburo, ahead of key local elections, a security official said. "Security forces detained 27 members of the Brotherhood, including Mohammad Badie who belongs to the guidance bureau," the official told AFP.
Four of those held had intended to stand in the April 8 municipal elections.
According to senior Brotherhood leaders, 821 members of the group have been detained in recent weeks.
The Brotherhood says President Hosni Mubarak's regime fears another success for the group, which won 20 percent of parliamentary seats in 2005. The group is officially banned and its MPs have to sit as independents.
Traditionally dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party, the municipal polls are expected to draw fierce competition after a constitutional amendment was passed in 2005. (AFP)
Labels: Egypt, Fair Elections
Hamas claims responsibility after Gaza gunmen shoot aide to Israeli minister
Hamas said its gunmen wounded an aide to Israeli Interior Security Minister Avi Dichter on Friday when they opened fire from the Gaza Strip on an Israeli kibbutz that the minister was visiting. Mati Gil was shot and lightly wounded at the Nir-Am kibbutz and taken to hospital, Israeli rescue service official Magen David Adom said. There were conflicting reports about where the was hit: Some reports said the hip, while others indicated the abdomen and pelvis. Initial reports said a bullet struck him in the buttocks.
A Hamas official said the Islamist movement carried out the attack together with a hitherto unknown group.
"Our fighters targeted the Israeli Minister Avi Dichter in a joint operation with the Protectors of Al-Aqsa," said Abu Obeidah, spokesman of Hamas' military wing. "We severely injured his assistant." (AFP)
Labels: Hamas, Israel, Palestine
UN sounds humanitarian alarm in Iraq
A top UN official warned Friday of "very grave" humanitarian problems in Iraq, including a lack of food and the internal displacement of over 2 million people. "There are very grave humanitarian problems, the most serious is the internal displacement of the Iraqis ... this is a phenomenon which we believe has slowed down significantly in recent months," UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told a news conference in Amman. The UN refugee agency said Tuesday the number of internally displaced Iraqis had risen to over 2.77 million people by the end of March, five years after the US-led invasion.
Two million Iraqis have also fled to neighboring Jordan and Syria, where social and health services are struggling with the influx. Holmes, who is in Jordan on his way to Iraq, said basic services in many areas in Iraq "are still deteriorating." "For example there are 4 million people who do not have enough food, only 40 percent of the population have reliable access to safe drinking water and one third of people are cut off from essential health care, life-saving medication and basic immunization," he said. According to Holmes, between 4 and 9 percent of children under 5 are suffering from acute malnutrition. "The humanitarian needs have risen significantly ... over the past two years ... we are not encouraging people to return to Iraq at the moment," he said. (AFP)
US Soldiers Move Into Sadr City
U.S. forces are pushing Shiite militias farther from the Green Zone in an attempt to put the area out of range for rockets and mortars that have recently pounded the diplomatic and government enclave.
The strategy - which targets the southern outskirts of the Shiite district of Sadr City - began as part of a wider crackdown on armed Shiite groups that left Iraqi leaders in disarray after strong resistance and protests from the powerful Mahdi Army militia.
But for American commanders, the showdowns offered an opportunity to move against the launch sites, known as "rocket boxes," which soldiers previously had not reached through the teeming Sadr City streets.
U.S. troops reinforced positions on the edges of Sadr City - an 8-square-mile slum with about 2.5 million people - and have battled their way into suspected launch sites.
"We've seized the 'rocket boxes' and pushed them north," said Col. John Hort, commander of the Third Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. (AP)
US bomber crashes at Qatari air base
A US Air Force bomber crashed at Qatar's Al-Udeid Air Base near Doha on Friday, Al-Jazeera television and officials in Washington said. The state-run broadcaster initially reported that the plane was one of the air force's aging B-52s, but the US official said it was a far more modern B-1. Both attributed the crash to technical problems, and there was no immediate word on any casualties among the crew or on the ground.
The plane was attempting to land when the incident took place and exploded on impact, one US official said.
Al-Udeid is the nerve center for all US Air Force operations in the Middle East and has been used to support the war efforts in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The supersonicGreen-Speed-At-Bonneville 
B-1 has been plagued by crashes since it entered service in the mid-1980s. (Daily Star)
Iraq PM pauses security crackdown
Iraq's prime minister has called for a nationwide security crackdown against suspected Shia Muslim fighters to be held back so that those targeted can give up their weapons.
A statement issued by Nuri al-Maliki's office on Friday read: "Raids and arrests should stop to give a chance for those who want to repent to lay down their weapons."
Fierce fighting broke out in Basra in southern Iraq on March 25 when Iraqi government forces launched an operation against armed Shia groups, most notably the al-Mahdi Army loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr.
Fighting quickly spread to Shia areas in Baghdad, the capital, and other urban areas.
The clashes have eased since al-Sadr, a populist Shia leader, ordered members of his armed group to stay off the streets on Sunday. (Al Jazeera)
Labels: Iraq
Israeli aide hit by Gaza gunfire
An aide to Israel's internal security minister has been shot and wounded by a Palestinian fighter as he and the minister toured an observation point overlooking the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said that one person was moderately injured after shots were fired from Gaza on Friday, but did not identify the victim.
Witnesses identified the injured man as Matti Gil, the chief aide to Avi Dichter, the internal security minister.
Mazal Baba, a hospital spokeswoman, said he was shot in the groin and was in a stable condition.
Dichter was unhurt in the incident. (Al Jazeera)
Iran helped end Iraq fighting: Iraq party adviser
Iran helped end last week's fighting between Iraqi government troops and a Shi'ite militia in Iraq's oil-rich south, an adviser to a leading Iraqi Shi'ite politician was quoted as saying on Friday.
The comments by Mohsen Hakim, whose father Abdul Aziz al-Hakim heads the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, underlined Shi'ite Iran's growing influence in Iraq after the U.S.-led overthrow of Sunni Arab strongman Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Washington accuses Iran of stoking violence in its neighbor by funding, training and equipping Iraqi militants. Iran denies this and blames the presence of U.S. troops for the bloodshed.
Mohsen Hakim told Iran's Mehr News Agency an Iraqi delegation led by a prominent Shi'ite lawmaker held talks with Iranian officials during a visit to Iran last Friday. (Reuters)
Pakistan arrests four Turkish al Qaeda suspects
Pakistani security agencies have arrested four Turks with suspected links to al Qaeda, intelligence officials said on Friday.
Explosives, some 1,400 rounds of ammunition, and a laptop containing "jihadi" material were found on the suspects, who were detained by paramilitary troops late on Thursday as they were traveling on a bus from the western province of Baluchistan to neighboring Sindh, the officials said.
Interrogations revealed they were Turkish, and three were carrying Turkish passports, although they all had fake identity cards.
"They are between the age of 30 and 35 and were carrying identity cards showing them as Afghan refugees," said an intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"We have arrested them on suspicion they may have links to al Qaeda." (Reuters)
Labels: Al Qaeda, Pakistan, Turkey
Child Workers in Egypt a Growing Problem
Each day, 14-year-old Ali Abdel-Nasser works at a brick factory on the outskirts of Cairo, loading a donkey cart with new bricks to be taken to a nearby furnace to dry. He has worked at the plant almost every day since age 10, when his father died.
Responsible for a family of seven, the boy is bitter that even the donkeys at the factory get more time off than he does.
"The owners of the factory give the animals two days off," Ali said. "But I cannot afford to rest. If I did, nobody is going to bring bread for my family."
As Egypt struggles with rising food prices and inflation, the plight of poverty-stricken child workers like Ali and the lack of protections for them has gained new attention.
The country's parliament is looking into measures to comply with international conventions to protect children from ill-treatment and hazardous employment, such as with chemicals and pesticides. But as food prices grow, the incidence of children working is almost certain to grow as large and poor families struggle to cope, aid groups and experts say. (AP)
Labels: Labour Rights
U.S. Study Finds Progress in Iraq, but Fragile Security and Potential for Terror Attacks
A new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq cites significant security improvements and progress toward healing sectarian political rifts, but concludes that security remains fragile and terrorist groups remain capable of initiating large attacks, several American government officials said this week.
The classified document provides a more upbeat analysis of conditions in Iraq than the last major assessment by United States spy agencies, last summer. It was completed this week, just days before the top American commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, is due in Washington to give lawmakers a progress report on the military strategy in Iraq.
While the last assessment painted a grim picture of an Iraqi government paralyzed by sectarian strife, the new intelligence estimate cites slow but steady progress by Iraqi politicians on forging alliances between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq, said the government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the document is classified. (NY Times)
'Historic day' as Cypriots open crossing in heart of Nicosia
A crossing point symbolizing the decades-old division of Cyprus opened to great fanfare in the heart of the capital Nicosia on Thursday, underscoring a new drive to reunify the Mediterranean island. Crowds massed as colored balloons were released into the sky to mark the opening of Ledra Street, a key thoroughfare in the world's last divided capital, that has been sealed since intercommunal violence erupted in 1963.
Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou, a Greek Cypriot, described the move as a "first step" toward the reunification of the island, which has been partitioned along ethnic lines since Turkey invaded in 1974.
There was a carnival atmosphere as hundreds of people crossed through the passage in the commercial hub of Nicosia's old town over the UN-patrolled buffer zone that divides the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
In the Turkish-occupied north, hundreds of people gathered, beating drums and chanting songs of peace, some weeping with joy. (AFP)
Maliki warns crackdown on Shiite militias will continue
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Thursday said he planned to launch more crackdowns on militiamen as hard-line Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for a massive anti-US protest next week. Maliki said future assaults by government forces could not be ruled out after last week's crackdown in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra, which mostly targeted fighters of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
"I expect more crackdowns like this. We do not negotiate with outlaws," Maliki told a news conference in the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone.
"The coming days will witness more assaults as people are still in the control of gangs," he said, naming areas such as Shuala, Sadr City and Ameriyya in Baghdad as possible targets of military operations.
Shuala and Sadr City are bastions of Sadr loyalists while Ameriyya used to be a stronghold of Sunni insurgents.
The premier urged Sadr to "clean his rank and file of the outlaws. He has to pay this price for being a member of the political process." (AFP)
Labels: Iraq
Saudi Arabia releases 32 ex-Guantanamo detainees
Saudi authorities have released 32 men repatriated from the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba last year, a newspaper reported on Thursday. They were freed on bail after being questioned and undergoing "rehabilitation" sessions with Muslim clerics and other experts aimed at reintegrating them into Saudi society, the London-based Al-Hayat said. The 32 were among Guantanamo inmates repatriated last year, it said. Another 24 Saudis transferred from Guantanamo are still undergoing rehabilitation, the Saudi-owned paper added. The US has repatriated a total of 117 Saudis from the detention camp which Washington set up after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Thirteen Saudis are still held in the notorious facility, said lawyer Kateb Shammari, who represents detainees' families. Three Saudi inmates held in Guantanamo allegedly committed suicide - two in June 2006 and the third in May 2007. After the 2006 deaths, US officials stirred outrage by describing the two reported Saudi suicides and that of a Yemeni as "an act of asymmetric warfare" and "a good PR move" by terror suspects. Human rights activists in Saudi Arabia have challenged the suicide theory cited by US authorities. (AFP)
Labels: Guantanamo, Saudi Arabia
More Than 1,000 in Iraq’s Forces Quit Basra Fight
More than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts during the inconclusive assault against Shiite militias in Basra last week, a senior Iraqi government official said Thursday. Iraqi military officials said the group included dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle.
The desertions in the heat of a major battle cast fresh doubt on the effectiveness of the American-trained Iraqi security forces. The White House has conditioned further withdrawals of American troops on the readiness of the Iraqi military and police.
The crisis created by the desertions and other problems with the Basra operation was serious enough that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki hastily began funneling some 10,000 recruits from local Shiite tribes into his armed forces. That move has already generated anger among Sunni tribesmen whom Mr. Maliki has been much less eager to recruit despite their cooperation with the government in its fight against Sunni insurgents and criminal gangs. (NY Times)
Labels: Iraq
Diplomats: Iran assembling centrifuges
Iran has assembled hundreds of advanced machines reflecting a possible intention to speed up uranium enrichment, diplomats have told The Associated Press.
One diplomat said more than 300 of the centrifuges have been linked up in two separate units in Iran's underground enrichment plant and a third was being assembled. He said the machines apparently are more advanced than the thousands already running underground, suggesting they could be the sophisticated IR-2 centrifuge that Tehran recently acknowledged testing.
But a senior diplomat said that while the new work appeared to include advanced centrifuges, they were not IR-2s. He added that it was unclear whether the machines were above or below ground.
The location is significant, since the aboveground site at Natanz is for experimental work and the underground facility is the working enrichment plant.
A third diplomat - who like the other two closely follows Iran's nuclear program - confirmed that Iran had started linking up advanced centrifuges in a configuration used for enrichment. But he said all remained above ground and none of the machines were running. (AP)
Labels: Iran
Egypt Islamist group backs strike
Egyptian textile workers and pro-democracy activists are calling for a day of strikes and protests Sunday, just ahead of local elections at a time of widespread anger at President Hosni Mubarak's government over rising prices and low wages.
The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's strongest opposition group, threw its support behind the strikers Thursday. The move raised government fears that the group is trying to position itself as a political vehicle for the widespread economic discontent.
"We are with the strike as a means of expression and peaceful protest in the face of the despotic and suppressive actions of the executive authority," the Brotherhood said in a statement.
Facing multiple challenges to its authority ahead of local elections Tuesday, the government this week announced a ban on political rallies inside mosques, hoping to blunt protests, and lifted taxes on some foodstuffs.
Around 40,000 weavers plan a work stoppage at their factories in the northern Nile Delta industrial city of Mahalla el-Kobra on Sunday in anger over low wages. The city has already seen a string of unprecedented strikes over the past year. (AP)
Labels: Egypt
Syrian MP denies escalation with Israel
During a broadcast Thurday night on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya network Syrian parliament member, Muhammad Habash, denied reports that Syria was mobilizing its reserves.
"The atmosphere in Syrian is entirely normal and there is no reason or need for an additional draft of reserve troops," Habash stated. He then reiterated his opinion regarding Israel's intentions by saying, "Syria is ready to defend itself but is not striving for war- it is the Israeli side that is taking steps to bring about an escalation."
These remarks came after reports Wednesday that Syria was calling up its reserves and increasing manpower on the Israeli-Syrian border.
Responding to security forces state of high alert along the northern border, Deputy Prime Minster Haim Ramon said Thursday morning that "Israel has no intention of attacking Syria. (JPost)
Al-Qaida deputy goes online to justify attacks
Al-Qaida has pulled off a propaganda coup by answering questions put to it by hundreds of people invited to take part in an online "open meeting" with Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In the internet Q&A Zawahiri insisted that his organisation does not kill innocent people and justified attacks against "Crusaders", Jews, and their agents and allies in Arab lands. Al-Qaida's chief ideologue also predicted that "jihadi influence" will spread "to Jerusalem" after the Americans leave Iraq and attacked the UN as "the enemy of Islam", defending the bombing of its offices in Iraq and Algeria. Bin Laden, he claimed, is "healthy and well".
Zawahiri, thought to be in hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan, regularly appears in video or audio clips, but this is the first time he has responded to questions posted on online Islamist forums. The exercise was announced last December by al-Qaida's media arm, al-Sahab, with media outlets invited to take part.
The 90-minute audio tape was released on to subscriber-only Arabic-language websites with hundreds of links on free file-sharing sites allowing users to download the material. It was accompanied by an English transcript. (Guardian)
Labels: Al Qaeda
Sarkozy comes to Bush's rescue with 1,000-strong force for Afghanistan
President Nicolas Sarkozy brought relief to a troubled Nato summit by announcing he is sending a force of almost 1,000 French troops to join alliance forces in Afghanistan in the battle against the Taliban.
The announcement provided a welcome boost for President George Bush, who also won the full backing of Nato leaders for US plans to locate a missile defence system in eastern Europe, a scheme expected to be criticised by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, when he addresses the summit today. It also sets the scene for a difficult summit between Mr Putin and Mr Bush in Sochi on Sunday. (Independent)
Labels: Afghanistan, France, NATO
Warlords using heroin cash to buy surface-to-air missiles
Taliban drug lords are using cash from Afghanistan's bumper heroin crop to try to buy Stinger missiles, the country's anti-narcotics chief has warned.
The surface-to-air missiles played a key role in driving out Soviet forces in the 1980s because they enabled mujahedin fighters to shoot down Russian helicopters.
General Khodaidad, the Counter-Narcotics Minister, said the Taliban was desperately trying to buy better anti-aircraft weapons, to undermine Nato's military advantage. He urged Nato leaders meeting in Bucharest to concentrate on eradicating the poppy crop, before the insurgents succeeded.
He said: "They are trying to get weapons to shoot down helicopters. They are trying to get Stingers and anti-aircraft guns.
"If they get them, they would limit the movement of helicopters and take away Nato's main advantage." (Independent)
Labels: Afghanistan
Fayad warns civil servants against striking
The Palestinian prime minister challenged the powerful civil servants' union Thursday, saying he'd dock the pay of union members who participate in strikes.
The union has held repeated warning strikes in recent months, calling for wage increases. Union leaders said Thursday they would not back down.
Prime Minister Salaam Fayad has been trying to keep down government spending, at a time when donor countries demand cost-cutting and efficiency in exchange for a massive injection of foreign aid. In December, Fayyad won pledges totaling $7.7 billion over three years in aid from the international community.
In the past, donors have balked at the idea of wage increases for the 82,000 civil servants in the West Bank and Gaza. The bloated public payroll also includes tens of thousands of members of the security forces. (JPost)
Labels: Palestine
Hamas man "tortured to death" in custody: lawmakers
Palestinian lawmakers probing the death in custody of a preacher from the Islamist Hamas movement said on Thursday he had been "tortured to death" by security men loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas.
A self-appointed investigation team comprising six independent lawmakers determined that Majd al-Barghouthi died as a result of torture and said the head of the Fatah-run intelligence services, Tawfiq Tirawi, should be held to account.
Another commission which Abbas appointed in late February to investigate the matter has not yet delivered its verdict, although a pathologist working on behalf of Fatah said he had not found signs of torture on Barghouthi's body.
Independent lawmaker Hassan Khreisheh, a member of the investigating commission, said it had observed "torture marks" on the legs, back and arms of the 45-year-old father of nine, who had been detained for a week before his death.
He said witnesses had told the commission that Barghouthi had been tortured in a "mad manner". (Reuters)
Labels: Fatah, Hamas, Palestine
Egypt allows Palestinians to cross back into Gaza
Egypt temporarily opened a border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Thursday to allow around 200 Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return home, Egyptian security sources said.
Hamas militants blew a hole in the border in January, allowing Palestinians to flood into Egypt to seek relief from an Israeli blockade. The border has since been resealed, stranding hundreds of Palestinians inside Egypt.
Many of the Palestinians, who returned home through the Rafah crossing, had been living with relatives in towns on Egypt's Sinai peninsula, the sources said.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said Egypt was working to lift the blockade of Gaza and reopen the Rafah crossing, where Hamas has demanded a key role. Hamas seized control of Gaza in June.
The Egyptian government says it would like the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, to take charge at the crossing point. Abbas and his Fatah group have little influence in Gaza. (Reuters)
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Arabs without oil hard hit by food price spiral
While Gulf Arab oil producers reap windfall earnings, their poorer cousins elsewhere in the Arab world are struggling with soaring energy and food bills.
Inflation has surged in Gulf countries, fuelled partly by lavish spending of record oil and gas revenues. This is also spurring demand for everything from housing to power and water.
Gulf states with currencies pegged to the dollar have also been hit by the global weakness of the U.S. currency, which is driving inflation by making some imports more expensive.
But wrestling with rising prices is a grimmer business in Arab capitals not cushioned by oil wealth. From Cairo in Egypt to Sanaa in Yemen, mostly authoritarian governments have to weigh the fiscal costs of subsidizing fuel and food against the explosive political risks of social discontent.
"Nothing's inexpensive any more," griped Jihad al-Amin, who owns a dry-cleaning store in Damascus, Syria. "Even parsley, which has been dirt cheap for as long as I can remember, has tripled." (Reuters)
Labels: Oil
Yemen rioter 'dies from wounds'
One person has died from wounds received during clashes between Yemeni forces and protesters, residents said.
Hundreds of youths demanding state jobs have clashed with troops in several parts of southern Yemen.
The military has deployed armoured vehicles and reports say checkpoints have been set up between Aden in the south and the capital Sanaa.
Some people in south Yemen accuse the government of discriminating in favour of northerners in allocating jobs.
Positions in government and the army are among the main sources of employment in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian peninsula.
North and South Yemen were united in 1990, but the South attempted unsuccessfully to secede in a civil war in 1994.
The official Saba news agency said a security source denied the protester's death.
But reports from the south say five people have been wounded since the rioting started on Sunday, of whom one died on Wednesday. (BBC)
Labels: Yemen
US Military Says Basra Airstrike Kills 2 Militants; Witnesses Say Family of 3 Dead
A U.S. fighter jet destroyed a house in the Shiite southern city of Basra, killing two militants after American and Iraqi ground forces came under fire, the military said Thursday. Iraqi witnesses and officials said at least three civilians were among the dead.
The American military said separately that it was looking into reports that civilians were killed in a second airstrike in Basra but it could provide no further details.
The strikes in Basra underscored the high tensions as the Iraqi government continues a crackdown against Shiite militias four days after radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to stand down.
The failure to gain a quick and decisive victory over the militias has drawn U.S. forces into the fight and raised doubts about Iraqi military capability a week before top U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus briefs Congress about prospects for further American troop cuts. (AP)
U.S. Cites Gaps in Planning of Iraqi Assault on Basra
Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker first learned of the Iraqi plan on Friday, March 21: Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki would be heading to Basra with Iraqi troops to bring order to the city.
But the Iraqi operation was not what the United States expected. Instead of methodically building up their combat power and gradually stepping up operations against renegade militias, Mr. Maliki’s forces lunged into the city, attacking before all of the Iraqi reinforcements had even arrived. By the following Tuesday, a major fight was on.
“The sense we had was that this would be a long-term effort: increased pressure gradually squeezing the Special Groups,” Mr. Crocker said in an interview, using the American term for Iranian-backed militias. “That is not what kind of emerged.”
“Nothing was in place from our side,” he added. “It all had to be put together.”
(Reuters)
EU was wrong to include PKK on terror list: court
A European Union court ruled against the way the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was put on the bloc's list of groups whose funds must be frozen to help fight terrorism in 2002, but the EU said the ruling was irrelevant.
The Court of First Instance (CFI), the EU's second-highest court, said the EU had not properly justified its decision at the time.
But an EU official said a new version list had been drawn up in December 2007, including the PKK again, which took into account the views of the court in similar cases in the past.
"For the Council (of EU governments), the PKK continues to be on the list," the official said.
The Turkish government blames the PKK for nearly 40,000 deaths since the group launched an armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.
Thursday's ruling followed similar judgments by the CFI that the EU had failed to give sufficient reasons for including groups on the list, including exiled Iranian opposition group, the People's Mujahideen. (Reuters)
Labels: European Union, Kurdistan
U.S., Iraqi troops face test at battle of Creek Road
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The fighters came across the stinking creek and within hours they had overrun three Iraqi army checkpoints. U.S. forces rushed to help Iraqi troops regroup.
The battle of Creek Road in Baghdad formed just a small part of the fight that raged for days across Iraq last week and then ended as suddenly as it began.
Last week's upsurge in fighting in Iraq began with a crackdown launched by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Basra against followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
But its sudden spread throughout other southern towns and neighborhoods of Baghdad that are Sadr strongholds, quickly turned it into a nationwide crisis on a scale Iraq had not seen since at least the first half of last year.
There are now few signs left of the fighting, which ended with a ceasefire announced by Sadr on Sunday.
"This road we're going down -- every alley we were fired on. And then: nothing. Kids playing soccer. This place is surreal," said Lieutenant-Colonel Kevin Petit, whose U.S. squadron patrols the neighborhood of Ghazaliya, across the creek from the bustling militia stronghold of Shula. (Al Jazeera)
Arab Home Razed in Jerusalem
An Israeli wrecking crew knocked down Shadi Hamdan's home in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem in just a couple of hours, reducing the upholsterer's savings to a pile of gray rubble.
The demolition of the home, which Israel claims was illegally built, vividly illustrate the toughest issue facing negotiators in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks: conflicting claims over Jerusalem.
Agreeing on how to divide the ancient city, home to 476,000 Jews and 250,000 Arabs, is on the table but has yet to be resolved in talks launched at a U.S.-hosted Mideast peace conference last November. The Palestinians want to establish a capital in east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War. Israel claims the whole city but has signaled willingness to cede some Arab neighborhoods.
Since 2004, Israel has leveled more than 300 homes in Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods, citing a lack of building permits. However, critics say the permits are virtually impossible to obtain and consider the demolitions part of a decades-old policy to limit Palestinian population growth in the disputed city. (AP)