China's Hu Urges Unification With Rival Taiwan

BEIJING (AP) — China's president on Sunday used the centennial of a revolution that ended imperial rule to make an appeal to further relations with Taiwan, saying they should move beyond the history that divides them and focus on common economic and cultural interests.
At a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Hu Jintao said that China and Taiwan should end antagonisms, "heal wounds of the past and work together to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."
"Achieving reunification by peaceful means best serves the fundamental interests of all Chinese, including our Taiwan compatriots," Hu said, adding that the sides should increase economic competitiveness, promote Chinese culture and build on a sense of a common national identity.
President Hu has sought to move beyond the threatening rhetoric that long characterized Beijing's response to Taiwan's refusal to unify with the mainland. His government has talked of ending the state of hostility with Taiwan.
Tensions have also eased as Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou facilitated several trade agreements linking Taiwan's high-tech economy to China's lucrative markets.
On Sunday, a large portrait of the founding father of modern China, Sun Yat-Sen, hung over the stage on which sat current and former top leaders of China including the retired President Jiang Zemin, who made a rare public appearance months after speculation that he was close to death.
The ceremony in Beijing marks the Oct. 10, 1911, armed uprising led by rebels associated with revolutionary leader Sun on a Qing dynasty garrison. The attack set in motion events that led to the overthrow of imperial rule and raised hopes that China could emerge from a century and a half of national humiliation it had endured at the hands of foreign powers.
The Republic of China was established 2 1/2 months later, but its government fled in disarray to Taiwan in 1949 following the victory of Mao Zedong's Communists over Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists in the Chinese civil war.
China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and threatens to invade should it seek formal independence.
In his speech, Hu said Sun was "a great national hero, a great patriot and a great leader of the Chinese democratic revolution." He also said the Communist Party is the "core power" that drives China's success.
Also onstage was the 85-year-old former president Jiang, who was dressed in a dark blue suit and red tie and wore his signature large, square-rimmed glasses. His hair was slicked back as usual but was obviously thinning, and he appeared at times to be tired as he sat listening to speeches with his hands on the table in front of him.
Jiang's failure to appear at a celebration of the 90th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party's founding in July sparked intense online speculation that he had died. While the rumors were suppressed on the mainland, they were widely reported in Hong Kong, the semiautonomous Chinese territory that's promised Western-style civil liberties, including freedom of speech.
The Chinese government dismissed such reports as rumor. Beijing is very secretive about the health of top leaders and is particularly sensitive ahead of a leadership transition that starts late next year at a major Communist Party congress.
The death of Jiang, a retired but still very influential figure, could cause some of his proteges to shift allegiances, affecting the jockeying for power among China's rising political elites.


IAEA Team in Japan; Fukushima Starts Thyroid Tests

TOKYO (AP) — Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in the Japanese city of Fukushima on Sunday to observe the massive decontamination effort following the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Local doctors also began a long-term survey of children for thyroid abnormalities, a problem associated with radiation exposure. Officials hope to test some 360,000 people who were under the age of 18 when the nuclear crisis began in March, and then provide follow-ups throughout their lifetimes.
The 12-member IAEA group was to visit farms, schools and government offices throughout Fukushima prefecture in northeastern Japan to observe the cleanup process. It is the U.N. atomic agency's second major mission to Japan since the crisis at Fukushima's Dai-ichi nuclear power plant began.
Nearly 20,000 people were killed when the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, and the disaster severely damaged the Fukushima complex. Officials say the plant is now relatively stable, but tens of thousands of people still cannot — or choose not to — return to their homes because of the radioactive contamination.
No one has died from radiation in the nuclear crisis, but concerns remain high over how the lingering contamination will impact the safety of Fukushima's children.
The thyroid testing program is intended to allay those fears and build a database that might help deal with future disasters. On its opening day Sunday, more than 100 children, whose thyroid glands are more susceptible to radioactive iodine than adults, were checked.
The results were not made public, but officials have said that if any abnormalities are discovered, the children — to be tested every two years until age 20, and then every five years after that — will be provided with further care.
More than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been detected in people who were children or adolescents when exposed to high levels of radioactive fallout in the period immediately after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
A 12-mile (20-kilometer) no-go zone remains in effect around the Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan recently lifted other advisories that warned residents just outside of that zone to be prepared to evacuate at any time, a move largely aimed at reassuring evacuees that it is safe to return.
To further bring down contamination levels, towns outside of the no-go zone have begun washing down public areas and removing the top soil in parks and schoolyards.
The task is a daunting one because the nuclear accident spread radiation unevenly over a broad swath of Fukushima, leaving some areas near the plant relatively safe, while creating dangerous hotspots farther away.
Japan's government has acknowledged that the effort could take years. According to a report Sunday in the Asahi, a major newspaper, officials are aiming to complete the decontamination outside of the exclusion zone by the end of March 2014.


Poland's Centrists Target New Term in Crunch Ballot

WARSAW (AFP) -- Poles voted on Sunday in a general election, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk targeting a landmark second term by pushing a message of prudent stewardship which kept the nation out of recession.
Pro-European centrist Tusk, whose Civic Platform (PO) swept into office in a 2007 snap vote, has warned against reelecting the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party which clashed with EU allies when it was in power.
But pre-election surveys showed that despite a percentage point lead on PiS, PO could fall a whisker short of a majority.
Senate speaker Bogdan Borusewicz stopped short Sunday of appealing for votes for ally Tusk -- it would breach campaign blackout rules -- but urged Poles to take part.
"If you don't, you're handing over your ballot to someone else," he said.
Tusk says the nation of 38 million needs "cooperation, understanding and unity".
"In these turbulent times Poland can't afford any radical moves," he insisted on the campaign trail.
That message was loud and clear for some.
In Warsaw, Tusk voter and retired accountant Albina Wrobel told AFP: "Enough rows!"
But a policeman who identified himself only as Dariusz, 45, said he had lost faith in PO and voted PiS.
"After four years, PO hasn't kept its promises for things to improve," he said. "My son just finished an IT degree and says he's going abroad -- he sees no future here."
If PO keeps the helm, it would be a first for an incumbent party in six general elections since the 1989 demise of Warsaw's communist regime.
Poland, which joined the European Union in 2004 and currently holds the 27-nation bloc's presidency, has weathered the global crisis well.
Its economy expanded 1.7 percent in 2009. While a shadow of previous years, it made Poland the only EU member to maintain growth.
The 2010 rate was 3.8 percent. This year's forecast is 4.0 percent, and 2012's, 2.7 percent.
Poland is not in the eurozone, but with its main trade partners in the debt-struck currency union, jitters remain. Tusk pledges to keep cutting the budget deficit to offset risks.
PiS and the opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) have focused on inflation, pensions and healthcare, saying ordinary Poles deserve better.
PiS ruled in 2005-2007, with Jaroslaw Kaczynski premier in 2006-2007 until his coalition with the far-right and populists unravelled.
Kaczynski was the identical twin of conservative president Lech Kaczynski, elected in 2005 and killed in a plane crash in Russia in April 2010. Tusk ally Bronislaw Komorowski beat Jaroslaw Kaczynski in snap presidential polls that July.
Tusk, who has mended fences abroad since 2007, rebuked Kaczynski this week for claiming Germany aimed to subjugate Poland hand in hand with Russia.
Melding domestic and foreign issues, Kaczynski in turn slammed Tusk.
"Poles are fed up with the arrogance towards the weak of those who bow to the powerful at home and abroad," he said.
Pollsters TNS OBOP on Friday tipped PO to obtain 202 seats, down from 208 in the outgoing chamber, and said Tusk's coalition ally the Polish People's Party (PSL) could drop to 27 from 31.
With 229 seats in the 460-member parliament, the coalition could count on an ethnic German minority party to hit a majority of 231, TNS OBOP said.
The wildcard is the new Palikot Movement of flamboyant former vodka tycoon and ex-PO member Janusz Palikot.
With a forecast 43 seats, it is seen as a potential ally -- though Tusk dismissed such talk.
It is unusual in deeply Catholic Poland for anti-clericalism and for backing gay partnerships and legalised marijuana.
TNS OBOP tipped PiS to obtain 149 seats, up from 146.
It said SLD -- in power in 2001-2005 -- could fall to 37 from 43, while no other party would win seats.
Polling stations opened at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and were to close at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT


Mao Cap-Wearing Philippine Communist Rebel Is Dead

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A popular Mao cap-wearing Filipino guerrilla, who gave a voice and face to one of Asia's longest-running Marxist insurgencies as its spokesman with a common-folk touch, has died of a heart attack, his comrades said Sunday. He was 64.
The outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines said Gregorio "Comrade Roger" Rosal died in a guerrilla zone in the country's north on June 22, but delayed the public announcement of his death until his daughters were notified. Reaching them was difficult because of intense military operations.
The communist party and its armed wing, the New People's Army, mourned Rosal's death in a statement, saying "his life of service to the revolution will serve as an inspiration to the people to carry forward their revolutionary struggles."
All Maoist guerrillas will pay a tribute with gun salutes on Oct. 15, the party said.
"He was the effective voice of the revolution," Netherlands-based rebel leader Luis Jalandoni told The Associated Press by telephone. "He was so loved by the masses and members of the media. He was always easy to reach for interviews."
While it hunted Rosal for years, the 120,000-strong military offered its condolences to Rosal's family Sunday, saying it once offered medical help when news of his failing health spread. Rosal turned down the offer.
A son of impoverished sugar plantation workers, Rosal became a trade union organizer and student activist before deciding to go underground in the mountainous Quezon region southeast of the capital, Manila, in the 1970s to join the fight for a Marxist state.
He was captured a year after dictator Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial rule in the Philippines in 1972, but escaped a few months later. While considered a celebrity even among his comrades, Rosal was among guerrilla leaders who were subjected to an unspecified punishment by the rebels for failing to take a strong stand against an internal purge of suspected military spies in the late 1980s.
Rosal served as rebel spokesman from the 1980s to the 1990s, using laptop computers, two-way radios and cellphones to bring guerrilla statements using the Tagalog dialect to households through radio and TV interviews. He debated passionately with military spokesmen over the radio and often arranged visits for journalists to rebel encampments, regaling them by playing his harmonica and shaking their hands.
He nearly died of typhoid fever in 1995 then suffered a series of strokes in succeeding years, gradually removing him from the limelight.
After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the Filipino guerrillas became a target of the U.S.-led global war on terror when Washington placed them on its list of terrorist organizations and urged nations to help wipe them out by denying them refuge and money.
But Rosal said then that the homegrown guerrillas were hardly affected because they survive on local contributions, attack government troops for weapons or buy guns from corrupt officers, and get "the best sons and daughters" as recruits from families suffering from poverty, landlessness and government neglect.
"The government is the No. 1 recruiter of the New People's Army," Rosal said.
While dodging military assaults, Rosal never ran out of wit and humor and constantly countered the military's portrayal of the rebels as murderous terrorists — a view shared by the U.S. government.
After a clandestine news conference in a pine-clad northern forest in 2004, Rosal pulled out a harmonica to entertain reporters.
"I'll provide the caption for you: the singing terrorist," he said as photographers captured the moment.


Palestinian Graves Desecrated in Jaffa

WEST BANK (Press TV/FNA) – A number of Muslim and Christian graves have been desecrated in Jaffa, and Israeli settlers are the main suspects in the hate crime.
Vandals sprayed anti-Arab graffiti on 26 graves in two cemeteries, one Muslim and the other Christian, in the port city south of Tel Aviv, AFP quoted Israeli police as saying on Saturday.
They wrote "Death to Arabs" and "Price Tag" on 22 graves in the Muslim cemetery and on four in the Christian graveyard.
"Price tag" is the term Israeli settlers use as a calling card in their hate crimes and attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank.
On Monday, October 3, a mosque was torched in the Bedouin town of Tuba Zangaria, 10 kilometers (six miles) north of the Sea of Galilee. The Muslim house of worship was seriously damaged in the fire, which also destroyed Muslim holy books.
The attackers also sprayed the words "tag" and "revenge" on the mosque's walls. The Israeli authorities called the attack "a very severe price tag incident."
Meanwhile, a member of the Palestinian Hamas group warned the Zionist regime against its intensified and continued crimes against the Palestinian prisoners, and asked the Muslim and Arab states to take immediate action to stop the Zionist regime's criminal acts.
"We warn the occupiers to stop their criminal acts or they will spark the flames of wrath and a new Intifada and revolution against occupiers," representative of Hamas at the Palestinian parliament Salah al-Bardawil told FNA on Sunday.
He warned the occupying regime that in case it continues its criminal actions against the Palestinian prisoners, "a new revolution called the Prisoners' Intifada" will start, adding that strong and deep wrath and fury at the Zionist occupiers will be in the core of such an Intifada.
"If this Intifada breaks out, it won't have any limit and no one would be able to restrain it," he reiterated.
He further blasted the silence of the Arab states and international bodies on the Israeli crimes and their indifference to the agonies and sufferings of the Palestinian prisoners.
Tombstones were vandalized at cemeteries of Muslim and Christian Palestinians in Jaffa.


Iraqi MP Offers Plan to Replace US With Muslim Trainers

TEHRAN (FNA) – A member of the Iraqi parliament's Security and Defense Committee offered Baghdad to replace the US troops with highly skilled veteran forces from Muslim countries for training Iraqi soldiers.
"Instead of US troops, Iraq can use Muslim countries' trainers for its security forces," Hossein Ali told FNA on Sunday.
He further pointed out that many Muslim countries, such as Iran and Turkey, enjoy high capabilities in this regard and can well replace the US trainers.
"Despite the US troops, Muslim trainers share many common points with Iraq's security forces and can establish a better relationship with them," he mentioned.
The Iraqi parliamentarian asked Muslim leaders and officials to voice their countries' readiness for training Iraqi police troops, reminding that such a move would boost Muslim solidarity and unity against the West and reinvigorate the ties among Muslim nations.
Leaders from Iraq's political blocs met Tuesday at Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's office to discuss the training mission of Iraqi forces by US trainers.
The US had told Baghdad officials that it would train Iraqi soldiers if only the country granted immunity to its trainers.
Following the Tuesday meeting, Iraqi Government Spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the political leaders of Iraq agreed such a training mission is needed "to achieve the readiness of Iraqi troops as soon as possible", but they rejected the US demand for granting immunity to its trainers.
"Iraqi political leaders have agreed that granting US trainers legal immunity would be unnecessary," al-Dabbagh said. "In addition to that, the training mission must be conducted on Iraqi installations only, and the training must be carried out in a way to ensure that the Iraqi armed forces will be a professional army" and operate under the Iraqi Constitution.
Yesterday a spokesman of the US embassy in Baghdad had told FNA that "the United States would not accept withholding the right of immunity from its trainers in Iraq".
In response, Hassan al-Sanid who was present in the Tuesday meeting of Iraq's political leaders told FNA later yesterday that the country's political leaders had decided to withhold such a right from the Americans and they would not change their decision.
Some 46,000 US troops are still in Iraq.


Families Plea for Release of UAE Activists: HRW

ABU DHABI (AFP) – The families of five activists who were due back in court in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday on charges of insulting top officials have made a joint plea for their release, Human Rights Watch said.
"The families of five activists jailed six months ago for 'publicly insulting' Emirati officials made a joint plea... to the country's rulers to stop the activists' trial and release them," the New York-based watchdog said.
The letter to the president and vice president of the UAE and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi "contends that the judiciary, prosecution and prison officials have violated 20 human rights standards in their treatment of the accused."
The violations include "the requirements for a speedy and fair trial, the presumption of innocence, the right of appeal and the right to carry out adequate questioning of prosecution witnesses and to prepare and present a proper defense," the statement said.
The defendants, alleging mistreatment, refused to attend last week's hearing, the first that was open to the public, after their demands were not met.
According to HRW, the families' plea "says that authorities have held the defendants in solitary confinement for extended periods, prevented them from obtaining adequate medical care and proper treatment, and held them under conditions worse than those for convicted felons, depriving them of natural light, recreation time and exercise."


Afghan Woman MP 'Critical' in Vote Row Hunger Strike

KABUL (AFP) – An Afghan woman MP was in a critical condition Sunday, her doctor said, after entering the eighth day of a hunger strike to protest against her expulsion from parliament over alleged vote fraud.
Semin Barakzai, one of nine MPs expelled from the national assembly over vote rigging claims, has refused to eat until she is reinstated.
Her persistence comes one day after dozens of lawmakers returned to the lower house of parliament, following an initial boycott over the disqualifications.
"The law has been violated. Justice has been undermined and I won't end this (hunger strike) until justice is done and the law restored," she told AFP, lying in a protest tent outside parliament and barely able to speak.
A doctor assigned to monitor Barakzai told AFP she was entering a critical condition after eight days without food.
"She's not doing well. She already had stomach problems and I'm afraid this is dangerous for her," Doctor Mohammad Fardin said. On Saturday, Barakzai's blood pressure dropped and she was given a drip overnight.
On Sunday, Barakzai refused to take a further drip in front of an AFP reporter. "I don't want it," she whispered, shaking her head.
Lying on a bed in a white tent, journalists, politicians and rights activists streamed through the heavily guarded neighborhood to meet the MP.
Afghan Member of Parliament Semin Barakzai lies in a protest tent outside parliament in Kabul.


Australian Military Hit by Sex Assault Claim

SYDNEY (AFP) – A female soldier serving with Australian forces in Afghanistan was allegedly sexually assaulted on a military base, officials said Sunday, just days before the release of a report into defense abuse cases.
The soldier, whose rank and age have not been released, reported the assault at the Tarin Kot base in restive Uruzgan province to her superior officer on Wednesday, defense officials told AFP.
"The (identity of the) alleged assailant is not known, it happened on a multi-national base and there's a few different organizations there," a defense spokesman said.
"The matter is now the subject of an investigation. Further details regarding the alleged assault will not be released while this process is under way."
It is the latest in a series of sex scandals to rock the Australian military which saw an inquiry called into the treatment of women, and a broader abuse probe that attracted more than 1,000 complaints.
That investigation is due to deliver its official report this week.
The second sex assault reported by a female soldier in as many months, it also follows Canberra's announcement that all frontline combat roles would now be open to women for the first time in Australia's history.
Opponents say close-quarters combat is too dangerous and that the policy will result in women being unfairly targeted.
 

Yemenis Shrug off Saleh's Talk of Stepping Down

SANAA (Dispatches) – Yemeni protesters camped out in Sanaa's central square said on Sunday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh's suggestion that he would step down in the coming days was another promise that they were sure would be broken.
Analysts mostly agree that the vow, made three times already this year by Yemen's long-time ruler, was a stalling tactic in a succession crisis that has spread turmoil through the country.
A government official said Saleh was merely indicating readiness in a speech on Saturday night to reach a deal to end months of popular unrest.
"Saleh is a liar, nothing has changed since his speech," said Mohammed al-Asl, a protest organizer. "We're used to this type of thing now. He just says anything to fool his own people, the world, and everyone. We're not paying any attention to this."
Protesters, camped out in tents in the area in Sanna now dubbed as "Change Square" were going about their usual business of buying food, cooking and chewing wads of qat, a popular mild leaf stimulant common in Yemen.
Saleh's foreign minister met the U.S. ambassador for talks on Sunday, part of what many expect to be a diplomatic push to deflect any action by the U.N. Security Council when it is briefed on the Yemen situation in the coming days.
The wily leader, who came to power in 1978, is under pressure from international allies, street protesters, armed opponents and opposition parties to make good on promises to hand over power and end a crisis that has raised the specter of a failed Arab state overrun by militants.
Confusion over Saleh's intent has been familiar fare in a conflict that has dragged on since January when protesters first took to the streets to demand reform and end the authoritarian grip of Saleh and his family.
"I reject power and I will continue to reject it, and I will be leaving power in the coming days," the 69-year-old Saleh said on state television.
He has already pulled back three times from signing an Arab peace initiative that would have seen him form an opposition-led cabinet and then hand power to his deputy before early parliamentary and presidential elections.
Officials said often during his convalescence in Riyadh after an assassination attempt in June that he would return "in days" or "soon". He flew back unannounced in late September.
Yemeni anti-government protestors shout slogans during a demonstration demanding the resignation of Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital Sana'a, Yemen.


Latin American States Back Syrian Gov’t

DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – A group of Latin American diplomats has gathered in the Syrian capital city of Damascus to express support for the government of President Bashar al-Assad, Press TV reports.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro and his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, as well as the deputy foreign ministers of Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua took part in a press conference on Sunday to voice support for the Syrian government.
The diplomats said that they were against any form of interference in Syria's internal affairs.
During the conference, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem thanked Russia and China for vetoing a UN Security Council resolution against Damascus.
Earlier this week, Russia and China vetoed the US-led draft resolution threatening sanctions against Syria over an alleged crackdown on protesters within the country.
Muallem also announced that the Syrian government is ready to hold a national dialog with the opposition.
Syria has been the scene of political unrest since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of Assad.
Damascus says the unrest has been largely orchestrated by elements that are well-paid and armed by foreign powers.

Syria Warns Not to Recognize Opposition

President Bashar al-Assad renewed a pledge of reforms on Sunday, as Syria threatened retaliation if countries recognize an opposition bloc increasingly active on the international scene.
"Syria is taking steps focused on two main fronts -- political reform and the dismantling of armed groups," who seek to destabilize the country, Assad told the visiting Cuban and Venezuelan foreign ministers.
The president said "the Syrian people had welcomed the reforms but that foreign attacks intensified just as the situation in the country began to make progress."
He accused Western powers of having "little interest in reform," seeking instead to "push Syria to pay the price for its stances against foreign schemes hatched outside the region."
"Despite everything, a process of reform is underway," he assured them, stressing that Syria's decisions were "sovereign and not related to foreign instructions."
The foreign ministers of Venezuela and Cuba headed a delegation of leftist Latin American countries -- including Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia -- that travelled to Syria to "show support."


British Ex-Minister:
Afghan War Unwinnable

LONDON (IRNA) – Former cabinet minister and veteran peace campaigner Tony Benn predicted that British troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan before the promised exit date because it is an “unwinnable war.”
“I think it will end, they say it will end in 2014, but I think it will end before then,” said Benn, who is president of Britain largest peace group network, Stop the War Coalition (STWC).
“It is an unwinnable war and it is a war that has caused terrible suffering,” the 86-year old politician said in an interview with IRNA.
He also suggested that the cost of the 10-year old war to Britain, which is officially estimated at more than £4 billion for this year alone, was adding to the country's economic crisis and pressure to bring troops home.
“We in Britain pay for every time we make a cut in public services. The money, part of it goes to the war, war taxation we pay goes to the war,” Benn said.
Another reason why he believed that the British government would be forced to withdraw its 10,000 troops in Afghanistan was the extent of opposition which the STWC has been leading since the US-led invasion in 2001.

Protesters Calls for End of 10-Year War

A rally and protest march was held in London Saturday to mark the 10th anniversary of the US-led war in Afghanistan.
Hundreds of musicians, writers, journalists, actors, film makers, artists, MPs, trade unionists jointed peace campaigners, calling for the withdrawal of British troops.
STWC, Britain’s largest peace group network which organized the protest said tens of thousands have so far died in the war and that after 10 years there were still more than 100,000 NATO troops in the country.
'Opinion polls suggest the majority of Britons want a speedy withdrawal of British troops, a view recently endorsed by the trade unions,” a STWC spokesman said.
'Politicians have to get in step with public opinion and announce a date to bring troops home.' the spokesman said.
The rally was opened at Trafalgar Square by Joe Glenton, the first British soldier to be jailed for refusing to be sent to Afghanistan, and Grace McCann, who in 2010 attempted a citizen's arrest on former prime minister Tony Blair for alleged war crimes.
US-led soldiers in Afghanistan


Egyptian Rulers Amend Election Law

CAIRO (Press TV) – Egypt's ruling military council has amended a controversial election law, allowing political parties to contest all parliamentary seats following a boycott threat.
The military council on Saturday removed an article that prevented parties from contesting one third of seats allocated for independent candidates, MENA reported.
The new law has made it possible for political parties to field candidates in the one-third of seats which were previously reserved for independent candidates.
The move came after several parties threatened to boycott the upcoming parliamentary polls.
The parties have also called for a ban on Mubarak's previously ruling National Democratic Party from politics for several years.
Meanwhile, the military rulers have announced that any acts of fraud committed during the parliamentary polls in November will lead to jail terms.
The military council has also ordered eligible voters that will do not intend to take part in the upcoming elections without reason to pay damages.
The three-round parliamentary election that starts on November 28 will be the first since a revolution toppled president Hosni Mubarak on February 11.
Polls for the Shura Council, or upper chamber, are set to begin on January 29.
Egypt's new parliament is to establish a committee to write a new constitutional law that will be put to a referendum later.
Cairo was the scene of angry protests in the past few days with the historic Liberation Square filled by people demanding an end to emergency laws and speedy transfer of power to a civilian rule.
Most Egyptians are still skeptical about a rapid transition towards democracy and civilian rule in the North African country.
Egyptian demonstrators chant slogans during a weekly protest in Liberation Square, Cairo.


Violence Continues Unabated in Afghanistan

KABUL (Dispatches) – The US-led forces have killed a 60-year-old Afghan farmer in an overnight raid in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, Press TV reports.
NATO claims the five had links with Taliban militants in Nangarhar.
Tribal leaders, however, have confirmed to Press TV that the victim was a 60-year-old farmer and had no links with the militants.
The four detainees are all close relatives of the victim.
Hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming more and more outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.
A United Nations report said on September 28 that Afghanistan saw a near 40-percent rise in the monthly average number of security incidents recorded for the year through the end of August.
The report also said civilian casualties, already at record levels in the first six months of the year, rose five percent for the period from June to August compared with the same months of 2010.
Civilian casualties caused by the US-led NATO attacks have been a major source of tension between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the military alliance.
Meanwhile, an explosion has rocked Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar followed by gun shots amid the steadily deteriorating security situation in the war torn country and the resurgence of Taliban militant attacks against US-led troops.
“A rocket slammed into Kandahar city, which is located 450 kilometers (279 miles) south of capital city Kabul, at around 09:40 p.m. local time (1710 GMT) on Saturday. There were some gun shots in the aftermath of the attack. Casualties are feared," an Afghan government official told Xinhua news agency on condition of anonymity.
Shir Shah Yusufzai, the deputy police chief of Kandahar province, also confirmed the incident and stated that details would be announced after an investigation has been carried out.
Furthermore, two foreign soldiers have been killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan, as the 10-year US-led war continues to rage in the country.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announced in a Sunday statement that two of its US-led service members were killed in a militant attack in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.
The US-led NATO Force did not provide any details about the nationality of the troops killed in the incident, Xinhua reported.
The statement only went on to say, “It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities.”
Foreign troop casualties in Afghanistan have climbed steadily since the US-led war began in 2001. According to official figures, more than 2,754 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan so far.
The latest fatalities follow a recent statement by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, insisting that the US-led troops would not leave Afghanistan even after a complete handover of security to Afghan forces in 2014.


Sudan Sets 'Deadlines' to Resolve North-South Issues

KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudan has set deadlines to resolve outstanding disputes with the south, President Omar al-Bashir said Sunday, as a top-level southern delegation wrapped up its first visit to Khartoum since independence.
"We have agreed to have committees and have given them deadlines to reach a solution on all the pending issues," Bashir told a news conference, standing alongside South Sudan's President Salva Kiir.
The failure of the two parties to resolve certain key issues, including oil and borders, and the ongoing conflict in Sudan's border region, where the army is battling rebels with historic ties to the south, have badly strained north-south relations.
No breakthrough deals were announced before Kiir's team departed for Juba.
But the two presidents on Sunday reaffirmed their intention to work together for peace and stability, and to put the years of conflict behind them, during a cordial visit that seems to have set the stage for future negotiations.
"My government is ready to discuss any final solutions on all outstanding issues, being on the economy, security, borders and Abyei's status," Kiir told reporters.
"My brother al-Bashir and I myself are committed to ensure that none of these issues will take us back to war.
"There might be some elements on both sides that would like to take us back... to war. But I repeat, we left the war station behind in 2005."
South Sudan proclaimed independence from the north on July 9, after 22 years of devastating civil war, in which some two million people died.
The conflict, which was fuelled by religion, ethnicity, ideology and resources such as oil, ended with a 2005 peace agreement but left the south in ruins.
Efforts to regulate Sudan's political and economic division, both prior to and since partition, have made only limited progress.


Bahrain Crackdown ‘Inciting Extremism'

MANAMA (Press TV) – President of Bahrain Center for Human Rights Nabil Rajab has warned that crackdown against peaceful protests in the country may lead to extremism, Press TV reports.
"Normally when you push people into a corner and keep killing them and give them no room to talk or express their opinions that is pushing them towards radicalization and extremism. But I hope not," he said in an interview with Press TV on Saturday.
"We always demand people to continue demanding their rights, to continue their struggle in peaceful means. I'm very confident that peacefully we can achieve our goals and win," Rajab added.
He also pointed out that people in the Persian Gulf kingdom are united and the ruling family of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa would not be able to divide Shias and Sunnis.