Activists urge Korea to cancel massive tear gas shipment to Bahrain

Source : Akhbar English

Rights activists have launched a campaign urging South Korea to cancel an imminent shipment of over 1.6 million tear gas canisters allegedly ordered by Bahraini authorities battling a two-and-a-half-year-long rebellion.

An unverified document dated June 16, 2013 obtained this week by the monitoring group Bahrain Watch shows that Bahrain's Ministry of Interior has requested an order of 1.6 million tear gas shells, 145,000 stun and flash grenades, and 90,000 tear gas grenades.

The massive figure startled observers who pointed out that the quantity was larger than the entire 1.2 million population of Bahrain, half of which is comprised of foreigners and migrant workers not involved in the largely-peaceful, anti-government movement.

"I think if you look at the scale and frequency of the use of tear gas in Bahrain, it's unprecedented anywhere in the world," Alaa Shehabi, a founding member of Bahrain Watch which is behind the Stop the Shipment campaign, told Al-Akhbar.

"They (police) are using hundreds of rounds on a nightly basis, ... so they need this amount to sustain the constant state of repression."

Shehabi added that her group has received information that the order is expected to be delivered before the end of this month.

"We've had, in the last 24 hours since we launched the campaign, 11,000 e-mails sent to Korean agencies involved in shipment," Shehabi said.

Heeding activists' calls, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions have condemned the tear gas deal and urged authorities to prevent the shipment, citing humanitarian concerns.

The procurement tender does not specify the supplier of the weapons, but activists say that the bulk of the tear gas that reaches the tiny Gulf island is manufactured by two South Korean companies and a joint German-South African one.

Rheinmetall Denel Munition, the German-South African company, and South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration both declined to comment on the alleged deal.

Police have killed at least 89 people since the anti-government uprising erupted in February 2011, according to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Of those victims, 39 died from tear-gas related attacks including suffocation and direct shots to the head, records from Physicians for Human Rights show.

Authorities have so far been unable to quell the nearly daily demonstrations that persist across Bahraini villages against the widely- detested, US-backed monarchy. Dozens of human rights activists, doctors and political opponents have been jailed since the start of the uprising.

Over the past month alone, Bahrain sentenced 104 protest leaders to prison terms of up to 15 years on "terrorism" related charRedditTweet9 Send by emailPrinter-friendly version Tags Category: Top News Tags: tear gas, South Korea, Bahrain Related Articles Bahrain sentences nine activists to life in prison A Bahraini court jailed nine activists for life Monday after alleging that they made bombs for "terrorist" purposes, a judicial source said. Four of the defendants were in court for the verdict and... Bahrain police fires tear gas at opposition protests Updated at 6:50pm: Bahraini police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters on Wednesday, but there were no reports of casualties. A Reuters correspondent saw police... Advertisement Published Friday, October 18, 2013

Cyprus to help Syrias weapons inspectors

Source: LBCI

Cyprus has approved the creation of a support base for the chemical weapon working in Syria, including the use of an old airport that will allow them to tr the two countries by helicopter.

The Cypriot government said Friday its goal is to help with the inspectors' dif destroying Syria's chemical weapons arsenal during the country's civil war.

The base will be located at a disused Nicosia airport inside the U.N.-controlle that separates the island's Greek-speaking south and Turkish-speaking north

Inspectors also will be able to stay at hotels in Nicosia, which is about 140 m kilometers) from the Syrian port of Latakia.

The mission in Syria is being conducted by the U.N. and the Organization for of Chemical Weapons.

New Egyptian war: Americans lose, again

Source : islmaicinvitationturkey.con

Looking at the banners in the massive Egyptian protests last week, we saw many anti-American slogans. Likewise, the Muslim Brotherhood-led government that was deposed by the military last week was very critical of what it saw as U.S. support for the coup. Why is it that all sides in this Egyptian civil war seem so angry with the United States? Because the United States has at one point or another supported each side, which means also that at some point the U.S. has also opposed each side. It is the constant meddling in Egyptian affairs that has turned Egyptians against us, as we would resent foreign intervention in our own affairs.

For more than 30 years, since the U.S.-brokered Camp David Accord between Israel and Egypt, the U.S. supported Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. Over that period the U.S. sent more than $60 billion to prop up Mubarak and, importantly, to train and seek control over the Egyptian military. Those who opposed Mubarak’s unelected reign became more and more resentful of the U.S., which they rightly saw as aiding and abetting a dictator and denying them their political aspirations.

Then the U.S. began providing assistance to groups seeking to overthrow Mubarak, which they did in 2011. The U.S. continued funding the Egyptian military at that time, arguing that U.S. aid was more critical than ever if we are to maintain influence. The U.S. Administration demanded an election in Egypt after Mubarak’s overthrow and an election was held. Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood won a narrow victory. The U.S. supported Morsi but kept funding the Egyptian military.

After a year of Morsi’s rule, Egyptians who did not approve of his government took to the streets to demand his removal from power. The U.S. signaled to the Egyptian military that it would not oppose the removal of Morsi from power, and he was removed on July 3rd. With the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood-led government came the arrest of many politicians and the closure of many media outlets sympathetic to them. Then the U.S. government warned the same Egyptian military that undermined democracy that it needed to restore democracy! Is it any wonder why Egyptians from all walks of life are united in their irritation with the United States?

Despite the Egyptian government being overthrown by a military coup, the Obama Administration will not utter the word “coup” because acknowledging reality would mean an end to U.S. assistance to the Egyptian government and military. That cannot be allowed.

Instead, we see the same Obama administration that is on a worldwide manhunt for pro-transparency whistle-blower Edward Snowden demand that the Egyptian military exercise “political transparency” in its dealings with the ousted Muslim Brotherhood-led government.

So, successive U.S. administrations over the decades have supported all sides in Egypt, from dictator to demonstrator to military. There is only one side that the U.S. government has never supported: our side. The American side. It has never supported the side of the U.S. taxpayers who resent being forced to fund a foreign dictatorship, a foreign military, and foreign protestors. It has never supported the side of the majority of Americans who do not wish to get involved in the confusing internal affairs of countries thousands of miles away. It has never supported the side of those of us concerned about blowback, which is the real threat to our national security. Unfortunately, U.S. administrations continue to follow the same old failed policies and Obama is no different. More intervention, more foreign aid, more bullying, more empire

Israeli army shoots Gaza farmer

Source : Xinhua

GAZA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian farmer in northern Gaza Strip Monday, marking a violation of a recent Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.

Ashraf Al-Qedra, a spokesman of the Hamas authority's health ministry, said the 21-year-old farmer was seriously wounded by a gunshot in his head.

The farmer was working his land in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, which is close to the security fence separating Israel and Gaza.

On Friday, the Israeli army also shot dead a Palestinian who was among a group of Gazans approaching the fence in eastern Gaza City. The victim became the third Palestinian killed near the border since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Nov. 21 and ended a eight-day fighting that left over 170 Palestinians and six Israelis killed.

Hamas said the terms of the ceasefire granted the Palestinians access to a strip of land along the border with Israel, which has been a no-go zone for years. Israel said it has eased restrictions along the border, but still prohibits people to come up right to the fence for security reasons.

The hamas health ministry said 50 Palestinians have been injured since Nov. 21, while the fishermen's syndicate said up to 30 fishermen have been briefly detained off the Gaza coast, where the ceasefire deal expanded the permitted fishing zone from three to six nautical miles.

Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, said the group was keeping a record of what he described as "Israeli violations" and was informing Egypt about them.

Bangladesh Factory Fire Death Toll Soars to 121 - Fire Chief

Source : http://www.turkishweekly

The death toll from a fire at a Bangladeshi factory soared to at least 121 as rescue workers recovered 112 bodies Sunday, the national fire chief said.

"We've found 112 dead bodies this morning," said fire brigade director general Brigadier General Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah. "We resumed our search this morning and found the bodies lying on different floors of the factory building," he said.

The fire broke out in the ground-floor warehouse of the multi-storey Tazreen Fashion factory 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Dhaka on Saturday evening, trapping hundreds of workers on the upper floors, police said.

Police inspector Mostofa Kamal had previously told that nine workers died and about 100 workers were injured. Kamal said many workers jumped from the factory's upper floors to escape the flames before firefighters arrived to put the blaze out.

The cause was not immediately known but fires as a result of short circuits and shoddy electrical wiring are common in Bangladeshi garment plants, which use cheap labour to produce clothes shipped to Western countries.

Dhaka factory fire kills

At least nine workers died when a fire ripped through a clothing factory at Ashulia, on the outskirts of Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Saturday night, officials said.

Officials said the fire started on the first floor of the nine-story building and immediately spread to other floors, leaving hundreds of workers, mostly women, trapped.

Police said at least 200 people were injured as they rushed to get out of the building. "Many were injured in stampede and as they jumped off the building," said a rescuer.

Sixteen engines of fire service and civil defense had not put out the fire completely after more than eight hours.

It was not immediately clear what had caused the blaze.

Voice of Russia, CNN, AFP

Iraq Finance Minister Escapes Assassination Attempt

Source : RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, January 14 (RIA Novosti) - Iraqi Finance Minister Rafi al- Issawi, locked in a dispute with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, has escaped an apparent assassination attempt, the Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera reported on Sunday citing Issawi's office and security sources.

Issawi's convoy was hit by a roadside bomb between the towns of Fallujah and Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, on Sunday.

The explosion came amid a political crisis between the Shia premier and his mainly Sunni coalition partners in the government.

“A roadside bomb exploded near his convoy,” Issawi’s office said. “His car was not hit and he is safe, but two guards were wounded.”

Police sources said no one was injured but confirmed that the convoy had been hit by shrapnel.

Issawi, who has publicly called for Maliki to be replaced, has been one of the central figures in protests by minority Sunnis against the Shia-dominated Baghdad government after his bodyguards were arrested on terrorism charges.

Feature: Gazans celebrate cease-fire with massive rallies

Source : Xinhua | English.news.cn

GAZA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Sirens of ambulances and fire engines were howling over Gaza streets late Wednesday, but at this time, they were not rushing to rescue victims, but celebrating the end of Israel's aggression which has left 162 Palestinians killed.

Egypt declared that a cease-fire was reached between Israel and Gaza's Palestinians. As soon as clock indicator pointed at 9:00 p. m. local time (1900 GMT), ambulance crews and firefighters in the Gaza Strip firstly started the rallies, apparently because they can have a respite after eight days of nonstop work.

"It's time to go home, I will see my family," said an ambulance driver amid crowds of cars and people dancing on the streets, who are waving flags, firing in the air and chanting slogans commending the "Palestinian resistance." However, the driver said he would keep his mobile on and keep alert.

People are also hugging each other and congratulating each other for surviving the eight-day violence.

Yousef Zahar, the general chief of the civil defense, was celebrating outside Gaza's al-Shifa hospital, with his florescent red jacket.

"I was confident that this day will come," he said, adding that "They (Israel) lost the war... Our next battle will be in Jerusalem," he shouted loudly.

For him, Hamas has made a notable progress in lifting the blockade that Israel imposed on Gaza, though the implementation of the agreement is still unclear.

Not far from al-Shifa hospitals, families which took shelter in school were packing stuff and some of them who have cars or donkey carts started to return their homes with their mattresses on the roofs of their vehicles.

But inside the hospital, exactly outside the morgue, some sad people didn't join the celebrations. They were the relatives of the victims who were killed in the last day of the Israeli attacks.

zionist Israel to install reconnaissance systems on Turkish aircraft

An Israeli firm has decided to resume the production of equipment meant to be installed on Turkish reconnaissance planes.

Informed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the English-language Hurriyet Daily News newspaper on Friday that Elta Systems Ltd. has decided to restart production of electronic measuring systems (EMS) for four Turkish Boeing 737 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.

Elta’s decision to renew the project may mean that Israel is putting an end to its two-year defense exports ban on Turkey.

The Israeli company is the single producer of EMS systems for Boeing’s 737 aircraft, which are to be used as part of Turkey’s NATO forces.

In 2002, Turkey’s Under-secretariat for Defense Industries, the procurement agency, ordered four Boeing 737-700 AEW&C aircraft, a ground radar and control systems, plus ground control segments for mission crew training, mission support and maintenance support.

Elta Systems Ltd. was commissioned to manufacture EMS systems for the four planes. The deal reportedly costs more than $100 million.

But the Israeli defense ministry suspended the project six months ago, after Elta had already completed two of the devices.

AEW&C is a radar system designed to detect aircraft, ships and vehicles at long ranges and control and command the battle space in an air engagement by directing fighter and attack aircraft strikes.

Used at a high altitude, the radars on the aircraft allow the operators to distinguish between friendly and hostile aircraft hundreds of miles away.

The system is used offensively to direct fighters to their target locations and defensively in order to counter attacks by enemy forces, both in the air and on the ground.

Afghan Diplomat Warns of US Massive Military Presence in Afghanistan after 2014

Source : Fars News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Afghan diplomat warned on Saturday that Kabul and Washington plan to start their so-called security talks in one week to sign a security pact which will pave the way for the US massive presence in Afghanistan after 2014.

Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Jawed Ludin said a high-ranking US delegation will travel to Kabul this week.

"The Afghan and American officials had held two rounds of unofficial talks on signing a security pact between Kabul and Washington, according to which the US will have extensive presence in Afghanistan after 2014," Ludin said in an interview with Afghan Arezu television.

In late May, Afghanistan's parliament approved a strategic pact between Kabul and Washington, clearing the way for the US presence in the country for at least a decade after most of the US-led foreign troops leave Afghanistan in 2014. The pact had earlier been signed by Afghan and US presidents.

On Monday, Afghan Foreign Ministry Spokesman Janan Mosazai lambasted the US for its continued violation of the strategic pact between the two countries, saying that Washington has violated the treaty in numerous cases.

"Afghanistan has repeatedly criticized the US for its lack of commitment to the contents of the strategic pact signed between the two countries," Mosazai said in his weekly press conference in Kabul.

He further mentioned Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent criticism of Washington's silence on "Pakistan's missile attacks against Afghanistan" as among the same instances displaying Kabul's anger at Washington's disloyalty to the security pact.

In May, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the civilian casualties inflicted by the NATO was convincing his country to give up the strategic pact he had just signed with US President Barack Obama in early May.

Also in May, Karzai summoned US General John Allen, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker to his palace to discuss the civilian deaths, a longstanding thorn in ties between Karzai and his Western backers.

"Karzai signed the strategic pact with the United States to avoid such incidents (civilian casualties) and if Afghans do not feel safe, the strategic partnership loses its meaning," a presidential palace statement, issued following the meeting, said, referring to an agreement setting out a long-term US role in Afghanistan.

The statement added that dozens of civilians had been killed in the Eastern provinces of Kapisa and Logar, Northwestern Badghis province and the Southern Taliban stronghold of Helmand over the past three days in NATO air strikes.

Obama swooped into Afghanistan for the one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death on May 2 and signed the strategic partnership

Top Commander: Armed Forces to Repel Any Invasion against Iran's Airspace

Source : Fars News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Armed Forces repel any aggression against the country, senior Iranian military officials said, after Pentagon claimed that Iranian fighter jets have opened fire on a US drone over the Persian Gulf.

"The defenders of the Islamic Republic of Iran give decisive response to any aerial, ground or sea aggression," Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces for Cultural Affairs and Defense Publicity Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri told FNA on Friday, responding to a question about a Thursday report that two Iranian warplanes allegedly opened fire on a US Air Force drone over international waters.

"If any kind of alien flying object wants to enter our country's airspace, our armed forces will confront it," Jazayeri added, although he did not mention if the incident has happened or not.

His remarks came after Pentagon claimed on Thursday that on November 1 Iranian warplanes fired at a US drone in international airspace but did not hit the aircraft.

According to the timeline provided by the Pentagon, two Iranian SU-25 "Frogfoot" aircraft intercepted the American drone at about 4:50 a.m. EST (0850 GMT) as it conducted a routine, but classified, surveillance mission over Persian Gulf waters about 16 nautical miles off the Iranian coast.

Pentagon spokesman George Little said the aircraft fired multiple rounds at the Predator drone and followed it for at least several miles as it moved farther away from Iranian airspace.

"We believe that they fired at least twice and made at least two passes," he said. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was quickly notified of the incident, as were members of Congress and the White House, Little added.

Political analysts believe that if the story proves to be true, it seems that the Iranian fighters intended to just shoo away the American predator.

The United States also sent Iran a warning through diplomatic channels, saying it would defend its military assets and would keep sending aircraft on such surveillance operations.

"There is absolutely no precedence for this," Little said. "This is the first time that a (drone) has been fired upon to our knowledge by Iranian aircraft."

American officials said that the Iranian SU-25s were flown by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps as the IRGC is responsible for protecting security over the Persian Gulf.

Around Syria - update news

•Damascus: the Syrian forces have killed a US-sponsored terrorist leader, Wa’el Mohammad al-Majdalawi. •Damascus: a resident reported ab huge explosion near Centeal Bank. •The Arab League holds an emergency meeting as their sponsored terrorists in Syria are being liquidated in Aleppo: •Post Office Workers Thrown From Windows by Insurgents. •Saudi: Tarpley thinks that after Ramadan there will be an upsurge in KSA. Other political developments/radicalisations might happen elsewere. At least 11 insurgents were killed on Saturday by Syrian forces.

Earthquake in Eastern Azerbaijan

50 villages of Varzagan city demaged between 70 to 100 percent on Saturday afternoon. Via IRNA - The city is less and nobody was killed but in the villages outthere 50 people where killed and more than 500 wounded, followed by 36 aftershocks. The strongest shock was 6.0 on Richter scale in Varzagan city. The first shock came on 16:53 hours local time.