‘Americans Pessimistic About US Future’

WASHINGTON (Press TV) - A recent poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans are becoming more pessimistic about the direction of their country.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos telephone poll conducted between September 2 and 6, with a sampling of 1,623 US adult citizens, 61 percent of respondents believed the country was on the wrong track, while 27 percent believed it was on the right track.
Twelve percent of those surveyed also had no idea.
The numbers bore great resemblance to August, when 64 of the respondents thought the United States was on the wrong track and 31 percent believed the country was on the right track.
Majority of American voters agree that the sluggish economy and lingering high unemployment are the most important problems facing the United States.
The claim of Republican nominee Mitt Romney for presidency rests upon his success as a businessman and the skills to create jobs.
Obama and his Democratic allies have in return hammered Romney's record as a private equity executive at Boston-based Bain Capital, and painted him as being out of touch with the concerns of middle class Americans.
The Democrats say has some of his wealth invested in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere overseas. They also accuse Romney of plundering companies and shipping jobs overseas.
In recent days, Republicans have called on Romney to clearly state what he would do as the occupant of the Oval Office to help middle class Americans.



Sudan Warns UK to Mind Own Business

Khartoum (Dispatches) - Sudan has warned Britain that it is not taking lessons from London after British Foreign Secretary William Hague called his Sudanese counterpart earlier this week to demand increased security around Western diplomatic missions in Khartoum.
Hague’s call on Tuesday came after Western missions including those of Britain and Germany faced protests last Friday over the insulting anti-Islamic film “Innocence of Muslims” that mocked Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The demonstrators targeted the German embassy but after its personnel fled to the adjacent British embassy, they turned their attention to the British mission.
Hague told Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti that he is concerned about the safety of the British embassy staff in case of renewed protests suggesting the Sudanese police are responsible for failing to fend off protesters.
“Sudanese police attended the scene, but demonstrators were able to break down a perimeter wall and cause minor damage to the compound,” he said.
However, Karti reacted to the comments saying the protesters targeted the British embassy after its guards fired tear gas at the demonstrators, and even then, no one attacked the mission.
Karti also said he does not take lessons or warnings from anyone about the duty of the Sudanese government to ensure the safety of diplomatic missions, while warning London to mind its own business as Germany’s embassy was the real target of protests.


France Will Assist Intervention in Mali: Defense Minister

PARIS (Dispatches) - France says it will give logistical support for any military intervention in northern Mali, which was taken over by rebel groups earlier this year.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian made the announcement in Paris on Thursday, a day after West African ministers discussed the possible deployment of regional troops in northern Mali.
He said the initiative for military intervention would come from African states, saying "clearly, that is being developed."
The French defense minister noted that logistical support means indirect support, sending material, but not men.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been considering sending 3,300 regional troops to help restore order in northern Mali.
When the French foreign minister was asked about armed intervention, he said: "There is a process that has already been initiated as the president of Mali on Monday appealed” to his ECOWAS neighbors in the Ivorian capital Abdijan “for their help recapturing the north."
In January, Tuareg fighters in the north of the country revolted against the government in Bamako to demand an independent homeland.
On March 22, renegade Malian soldiers led by Amadou Haya Sanogo toppled President Touré, and took control of government institutions.
The coup leaders said they mounted the coup out of anger at the government's inability to contain the two-month-old Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country.
The irony was that rebels managed to take full control of the region, which is the size of France, immediately after the coup.



Quebec Calls for Paris’ Support

QUEBEC (Dispatches) - Canadian separatist movement has expressed its expectations of France’s support for its former colony’s independence from the rest of Canada.
The pro-independence Parti Quebecois, the standard-bearer of francophone Quebec Province of Canada, won the control of Quebec’s National Assembly earlier this month.
The party is now calling for support from Paris and is urging it to return to its traditional policy of "non-indifference, non-interference", concerning Quebec’s issue.
On Thursday Quebec’s new Foreign Minister Jean-Francois Lisee said, “Now that Nicolas Sarkozy is gone, I think we'll see a return to France aligning its support for Quebec."
On September 4, the separatist Parti Quebecois defeated the federalist Liberals who ruled since 2003, at the ballot boxes.
"Sarkozy is very close to the Desmarais family," one of the richest and most influential in Quebec, and "strong supporters of Canadian federalism," noted political scientist Stephane Paquin.
"The [former] French president had adopted their views, but it was an untenable policy" for many in France and Quebec, he added.
During a visit to Quebec in 2009, Sarkozy had sparked anger of the pro-independence people of Quebec when he presented the federalist Quebec Premier Jean Charest with one of France's highest distinctions, Commander of the Legion of Honor.
Paris’ old and ambiguous "non-indifference, non-interference" policy had sought to bolster historical ties to Quebec while avoiding a diplomatic row with Ottawa, which views outside support for Quebec independence as interfering in its domestic politics.




South Korea Fires on North Korean Fishing Boats


SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's navy fired warning shots Friday toward North Korean fishing boats that crossed a disputed maritime boundary, but the shots didn't hit the fishing boats and the vessels retreated, a South Korean official said.
Fishing boats routinely jostle for position in the seafood-rich Yellow Sea waters claimed by both countries during crab-catching season, which is now in high gear. Three deadly naval clashes since 1999 have taken a few dozen lives. The disputed sea boundary is not clearly marked, and incursions by North Korean military and fishing boats are not unusual.
No North Korean navy ships were involved in Friday's incident along a tense western sea boundary that the North has long refused to recognize, an official with South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, speaking anonymously because of office policy.
Six North Korean fishing boats crossed the boundary and refused to return until the South Korean Navy fired the warning shots, the official said.
North Korean fishing boats already crossed the boundary four times earlier this month but retreated each time after being warned by the South, the official said. Seoul says North Korean fishing boats also crossed the boundary in April.
The Korean War ended nearly 60 years ago with a truce, not with a peace treaty, so the U.S.-led U.N. Command divided the Yellow Sea without Pyongyang's consent. The boundary favored South Korea, cutting North Korea off from rich fishing waters and boxing in one of its crucial deep-water ports. North Korea has bitterly contested the line ever since.
Pyongyang argues the line should run farther south. But for Seoul, accepting such a line would endanger fishing around five South Korean islands and hamper access to its port at Incheon.
In 2010, a North Korean artillery barrage on Yeonpyeong Island, which is near the boundary, killed four South Koreans, including two civilians. Also in 2010, an explosion ripped apart a South Korean warship in the area, killing 46 sailors. Seoul says Pyongyang torpedoed the vessel. North Korea denies responsibility.




German Opposition Struggles to Unsettle Merkel

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's main opposition party is itching to end Angela Merkel's 7-year grip on power — but with elections a year away, there is no challenger in place and little sign of a winning strategy.
Recently, the center-left Social Democrats' leader declared that elections expected next September must be about "taming the banking and financial sector," and issued a proposal to boost pensions for low earners.
But his party keeps being asked one question: Who will challenge Merkel to lead Europe's biggest economy? The choice could be months away. Meantime, Merkel enjoys stellar popularity ratings and polls suggest she would trounce any of her potential challengers.
One of the main sources of Merkel's popularity, her handling of the eurozone debt crisis, is making it hard for the opposition to land blows.
The Social Democrats and their allies, the Greens, criticize Merkel for what they decry as a too-little, too-late response — before invariably supporting her plans in Parliament.
The Social Democrats have given themselves until the new year to choose between a trio of potential challengers — all ministers from Merkel's 2005-9 first term, when she governed in a left-right "grand coalition" with the party of predecessor Gerhard Schroeder.




Georgia Minister Quits in Torture Scandal

TBILISI (Dispatches) - Georgia's interior minister has resigned amid protests over videos showing physical and sexual abuse of inmates in the country’s prisons.
"I feel moral and political responsibility that we failed to eradicate the horrible practice (of torture)," Bacho Akhalaia said in a statement on Thursday.
"This is why I have submitted my resignation to the president," he added.
Before taking office as interior minister, Akhalaia was the official overseeing the country's prisons.
Several video recordings emerged on September 18, showing graphic images of prison guards at a jail in the capital Tbilisi brutally beating prisoners. In one video, a prison guard is seen sexually assaulting an inmate.
The videos, which were released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and two opposition leaning channels, TV Maestro and TV 9, triggered a widespread public outrage and sparked nationwide protests.
On Thursday, several thousand people demonstrated for a second day in the cities of Tbilisi, Batumi and Rustavi in protest at the inhuman treatment of the prisoners.
President Mikheil Saakashvili has vowed to punish those responsible for the abuse. He has suspended the country's entire prison staff and appointed Georgia's public defender, Giorgi Tugushi, to oversee the prison system.
 

Zionist Troops Kill 3 in Egypt Border Clashes

CAIRO (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s troops have killed at least three people after they clashed with armed men on the Egyptian border, the occupying regime’s media said.
One Zionist trooper was also killed and another injured in the clashes that took place near Mount Harif on Friday.
Zionist military sources say the violence erupted after unidentified gunmen, who sneaked across the Egyptian border, opened fire on an Israeli military patrol at a point where work is under way to complete the new security fence.
"They opened fire toward IDF (army) troops ... in that area. Another force that was nearby... rushed to the area and targeted those three terrorists," army spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich told reporters adding that all three assailants have been killed.
She, however, declined immediate comment on reports of Israeli casualties.
Armed groups have launched several attacks on Israeli troops from the Egypt's Sinai peninsula since the overthrow of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.
On August 2011, at least eight Zionists were killed after a group of gunmen from Sinai infiltrated southern parts of the occupied territories and staged a series of ambushes.
Also on June 18, at least three gunmen sneaked across the border from Sinai and ambushed two cars carrying Israeli construction workers, killing one and sparking a firefight with the army in which two of the gunmen died.




Five Civilians Killed in Afghan Roadside Blast

KABUL (AFP) – At least five civilians have been killed in a roadside bomb explosion in southern Afghanistan’s Uruzgan Province.
Uruzgan officials say incident took place on Thursday, in Deh Rawood district.
The victims were reportedly members of the same family. Two women, two children, and a man were killed when the bomb struck their vehicle.
Although the Taliban are usually held responsible for such instances of violence, no group has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb blast.
Roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are by far the most lethal weapon Taliban militants use against Afghan forces and foreign troops.
Violence in Afghanistan has been on the rise in recent months despite the presence of thousands of US-led foreign forces in the war-weary country.
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.
The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but years into the invasion, insecurity continues to rise across the country.
In another incident, US-led forces have killed an Afghan citizen in an overnight attack on a house in the country's eastern province of Paktia.




Zionist Regime Not Attend Nuke-Free Mideast Summit

TEL AVIV (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime says it will not attend a conference on creating a nuclear-free Middle East, which is scheduled for December in Finland, despite Tel Aviv's reputation as the region’s sole wielder of nuclear arsenals.
The head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) announced the decision, claiming that the situation in the Middle East was not yet "conducive" to the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone, AFP reported.
"The concept of a region free of weapons of mass destruction, that has never been put to the test, even in the most peaceful regions of the world, is certainly much less applicable to the current volatile and hostile Middle East," Shaul Horev told a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Wednesday.
"Such a process can only be launched when peaceful relations exist for a reasonable period of time in the region," Horev stated, insisting that the drive for a nuclear weapons-free Mideast must come from within the region, and "cannot be imposed from outside."
Earlier this year, Finnish representatives held talks with Israeli leaders to convince TEl Aviv to attend the meeting.
The occupying regime, which has pursued a policy of ambiguity over its military nuclear program with the help of the United States, is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which governs and restricts the development of nuclear technology.
The regime is widely known possesses 300 to 400 nuclear warheads, 80 of which remain in high operational alert, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, that is, they are ready to fire.




Romney Slammed Over Remarks on Palestine

WASHINGTON (Press TV) – A top aide to acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas has accused US Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney of dashing hopes of peace in the Middle East.
Saeb Erakat was reacting on Thursday to recent scandalous remarks by Romney who said Palestinians have “no interest whatsoever” in peace.
"No one stands to gain more from peace than the Palestinians, and no one stands to lose from the absence of peace like the Palestinians," the Associated Press quoted Erekat as saying.
In a video footage secretly taken from a donor speech on Tuesday, Romney said: “Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.”
Erekat noted that Romney’s remarks implied his support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, saying he is "working against democracy and peace".
Another senior Palestinian figure said on Tuesday that Romney’s comments were “absolutely unacceptable” and accused him of spending all of his time “pandering to the Israeli Lobby.”
“He seems to think of himself as a mind reader since he claims to know what Palestinian intentions are,” Hanan Ashrawi said.




American Iraq War Resister Deported From Canada

OTTAWA – A US Army female soldier who fled to Canada to avoid fighting in the Iraq war has been arrested in the US after the Canadian government ordered her deportation.
The War Resisters Support Campaign said that Kimberly Rivera was immediately arrested at the border at Gananoque, Ont. and transferred to US military custody.
“Kimberly now awaits punishment for refusing to return to Iraq, a conflict which Kimberly and Canada determined was wrong,” the anti-war campaign group said in a statement.
Rivera served as an Army private in Iraq in 2006. Upon her return to the US, she said she had become disillusioned with its cause and thought it was "immoral.”
She escaped to Canada in 2007 and sought refugee status after she was ordered to be redeployed to the war zone.
Canadian authorities dismissed her claim and ordered her deportation in 2009, apparently believing that she would receive a stiff punishment for desertion. She appealed against the decision but lost her appeal last month.
Rivera’s supporters said the Canadian government’s decision to deport the Army private clearly demonstrated that conscientious objectors to the Iraq war are targeted for punishment.
“It doesn’t get any clearer that this,” said Ken Marciniec, a spokesman for the War Resisters Support Campaign, adding that “The risk that we’ve pointed out, of Iraq War resisters being punished as prisoners of conscience, isn’t just risk. It’s fact. Kim’s case today proves that.”
Rivera is one of an estimated 200 war resisters who fled to Canada during the Iraq conflict. Her lawyer says she faces between two and five years in prison.




Significant MDG Gains Risk Slowing Under Declining Aid

TEHRAN (UNIC) – Despite several important global targets being met ahead of the 2015 deadline, for the first time in many years aid shows a decline that risks slowing the momentum of significant development gains, warns a United Nations report issued Thursday ahead of the annual high-level General Assembly meetings next week. With no apparent commitment by donor governments to reverse the trend, it is possible that fewer of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN’s poverty reduction targets, will be reached in fewer countries by the 2015 deadline.
In the 2012 MDG Gap Task Force Report, entitled “The Global Partnership for Development: Making Rhetoric a Reality”, experts from across the UN system found difficulty in identifying areas of significant new progress in the global partnership to achieve the Goals, and for the first time there are signs of backsliding. After reaching a peak in 2010, the volume of official development assistance (ODA) fell almost 3 per cent in 2011, as measured in constant prices and exchange rates. Poor countries also suffered setbacks in market access for their exports.
While the funding challenges are enormous, global targets on poverty, water, slums and parity between girls and boys in primary education have been met, according to this year’s UN Millennium Development Goals Report, issued in July. Also, there have been significant improvements in access to primary education and availability of HIV treatment. While challenging, meeting the remaining targets by 2015 is still possible, but only if Governments do not waiver from their commitments made over a decade ago and international support is adequate, says the MDG Gap Task Force Report issued today. It offers recommendations for the global community to sustain momentum on important MDG gains.
Gaps in development aid
Citing a $167 billion gap between actual aid disbursement and the amounts committed, the Report of the MDG Gap Task Force warns that a delayed impact from the economic crisis on donor country budgets between 2013 and 2015 threatens to further widen the delivery gap. At the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, donor countries made commitments to increase aid to Africa by $25 billion a year by 2010. This target, however, was not met. Aid from Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors fell $18.2 billion (in 2010 dollars) short of the target, while disbursements to the sub-Saharan region actually declined by almost 1 per cent in 2011.
In his preface to the report, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “At the just-concluded Rio+20 Conference, commitments were made on an ambitious sustainable development agenda. But to keep those pledges credible, we must deliver on previous commitments. As a world community, we must make rhetoric a reality and keep our promises to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”
 

Anger Against Anti-Islam Movie Still Rages Across Muslim World


CAIRO (Dispatches) – Protesters have gathered outside French Embassy in Cairo to express their anger over recent publication of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) cartoons by a French magazine.
Demonstrators chanted anti-US and anti-France slogans, calling on the government to cut ties with US and France.
Meanwhile, Lebanese people have held anti-US demonstrations to protest against an anti-Islam film insulting Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
The protest rallies were held in several cities, including the capital Beirut, and Baalbek on Friday with demonstrators chanting slogans against US and the Zionist regime.
Anti-Western sentiment has been stoked further across the Muslim world after a French magazine published caricatures of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on Wednesday.
Thousands of protesters staged a demonstration in the Afghan capital to condemn the United States and France over recent anti-Islam moves that disrespect Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
The protesters took to streets in western Kabul on Friday to express their outrage against the production of a blasphemous film in the United States and a French magazine’s recent publication of cartoons insulting the prophet of Islam.
Similar demonstrations were held in the city on Thursday, with protesters calling for the trial of those behind the production of the sacrilegious movie and demanding that the government break all diplomatic ties with Washington.
Over the past days, thousands of Afghan protesters have staged anti-US demonstrations.
Protesters demand that Washington apologize to the Muslim world over the film, which was reportedly financed by more than 100 Zionist Jews.
Saudi protesters also held a demonstration in the oil-rich Eastern Province to condemn the United States, the Israeli regime and France over anti-Islam moves.
On Thursday, the demonstrators took to the streets in the Qatif region of Eastern Province, chanting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans.
The demonstration came despite a ban imposed by the Saudi regime on any protest in condemnation of the recent anti-Islam moves.
Outrage is growing across the Muslim world over the $5-million movie, named Innocence of Muslims, which was reportedly financed by more than 100 Zionist Jews.
Demonstrations against the movie have been held across the Muslim world, with protesters in some countries marching on the US embassies and torching US flags.
In Libya, angry protesters attacked the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi on September 11 and set fire to the consulate building, while gunmen and security forces clashed.
The violence led to the killing of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other staff members.




Syria President:
Turkey Dreams of New Ottoman Empire

DAMASCUS (Press TV) –n Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lashed out at Turkey for supporting the insurgents fighting against his government, saying his ambitious neighbor is dreaming of “a new Ottoman empire.”
In a Thursday interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram al-Arabi, whose full text will be published on Friday, Assad said Turkey was unconcerned "about the interests of its people, focusing solely on its ambitions that include 'the new Ottoman empire'."
Syria says Turkey has opened its borders and airports for Syria-bound terrorists, calling it a flagrant violation of the international law, AFP reported.
Assad also said that Qatar is using “the power of money and revolves in the orbit of the West by providing weapons and money to terrorists to repeat the scenario of Libya.”
He noted that Qatar has been “the quickest to fuel the violence.”
Assad said Turkey, Qatar along with Saudi Arabia - which have thrown their support behind the insurgents in his country - would not win the battle.
"They suddenly saw money in their hands after a long period of poverty and think they can buy history and play a regional role.”
He said the Syrian government will finally defeat the insurgents "using terrorism against the Syrian state", noting that they "have no support among the people. Ultimately they will not emerge victorious."
Meanwhile, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says the ongoing violence in Syria should stop and the crisis should be resolved through political dialogue.
“That [Syrian crisis] should be resolved through political dialogue, reflecting the genuine aspirations and will of the Syrian people,” Ban said in a press conference to the sidelines of the 67th UN General Assembly meeting on Thursday.
“This is exactly what joint especial representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, conveyed seriously to President [Bashar] Assad, the representatives of opposition forces, and many other key partners in the region,” he added.
The UN chief also said those who send arms to Syria are reducing Brahimi's chances of achieving a political solution.
Lakhdar Brahimi was appointed as the UN and Arab League special envoy to Syria on August 17, 2012, and formally took over the job on September 1.




Panetta:
US Pulls Out 33,000 Troops From Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) – The remaining contingent of 33,000 of US military troops ordered to Afghanistan in 2009 by President Barack Obama as part of a “surge” force have departed from the war-torn country.
Announcing the troop withdrawal on Friday, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told reporters traveling with him during his week-long tour of the Asia-Pacific region that the number of American troops in Afghanistan has been reduced to 68,000, marking the conclusion of a critical period of Obama’s war strategy in the troubled country, the Washington Post reports.
The development comes as US-led forces in Afghanistan continue to face strong resistance by local Afghan militants and struggle to contain persisting insider attacks in which Afghan police officers and soldiers point their weapons at their trainers from the US and other occupying NATO countries.
Such insider attacks have reportedly disrupted joint operations, undermining a supposed US-led plan to hand over security tasks and authority to Afghan military and police forces.
“There’s no question there will continue to be difficult days ahead in this [war] campaign,” Panetta said at a news conference in New Zealand capital of Auckland, where he is visiting in part to praise the country for its contribution of nearly 180 soldiers to the US-led forces in Afghanistan.
Additionally, says the report, US and NATO commanders announced this week their intent to sharply reduce their joint patrols and training operations due to their inability to avert the growing instances of insider attacks against them by uniformed Afghan forces.
The announcement challenges what the US has boasted as the principal part of its military strategy in Afghanistan.
Violence in Afghanistan has been on the rise in recent months despite the presence of thousands of US-led foreign forces in the war-weary country.
The US-led military invasion of Afghanistan began in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity and civilian displacement continues to climb across the country despite the presence of tens of thousands of foreign forces.
Additionally, the United Nations announced in February that 2011 was the deadliest year on record for Afghan civilians. The death toll rose eight percent compared to the year before and was roughly double the figure for 2007.
Overall, 3,021 civilians died in violence related to the war and 4,507 were injured in 2011.



Activist:
Rights Violations Rampant in Bahrain

MANAMA – The acting president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights says the violation of human rights remains widespread in the country.
“Use of excessive force is still a tool for suppressing daily protests, with unprecedented use of tear gas during protests and inside residential areas,” Maryam al-Khawaja said on the sidelines of a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday.
Khawaja, whose father Abdulhadi has been sentenced to life in prison for his human rights activities, also stated that the Manama regime forces continue making arbitrary arrests and beating of detainees.
She also censured rights violations in the Persian Gulf kingdom and called for real change on the ground.
In the latest developments on Friday, Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have fired tear gas at peaceful demonstrators to disperse an anti-regime protest rally in the capital, Manama.
Bahraini protesters have been staging anti-regime demonstrations since February 2011, and they hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the deaths of demonstrators during the uprising.
The demonstrators say they will continue holding street protests until their demand for the establishment of a democratically elected government is met.
Meanwhile, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has stated that the Manama regime has failed to make good on a promise to implement political reforms in the country.
FIDH has also urged the Bahraini authorities to release all political prisoners and to “support the establishment of an international monitoring mechanism… to monitor the implementation of the recommendations” made by the independent commission.
Meanwhile, officials in Iraq's Najaf Province have banned the flights operated by Bahrain's carrier in a show of solidarity with anti-regime protesters in the Persian Gulf kingdom.
"The committee formed to oversee the airport decided to ban the Bahraini company Gulf Air from conducting flights to Najaf in solidarity with the Bahraini people who are subjected to repression by authorities there," Najaf provincial council said in a statement on Thursday.
Najaf provincial council made the decision on the day when Gulf Air was resuming flights to various destinations in Iraq after a break of more than a year.
The flights were halted in March 2011 after Bahraini security forces backed by a Saudi troops and mercenaries launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters demanding the downfall of the ruling Al Khalifa family.




Saudis Rally to Demand Release of Political Prisoners

RIYADH (Press TV) – Anti-regime protesters in the Saudi city of Qatif in the oil-rich Eastern Province have taken to the streets, demanding that the kingdom release all political prisoners, Press TV reports.
During a massive really on Thursday, they also called on Saudi authorities to stop the violent crackdown on the protest rallies.
Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in Qatif and Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, as well as an end to widespread discrimination.
However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011 when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the province.
Saudi police make random arrests of people who allegedly look suspicious. The detainees are often held behind bars for years without any indictment.
According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.”



UC Chief to Combatants Around World:
Find Peaceful Solutions to Conflicts

TEHRAN (UNIC) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message on the International Day of Peace, 21 September 2012, called on combatants around the world to find peaceful solutions to their conflicts.
The full text of his message reads:
On the International Day of Peace, the United Nations calls for a complete cessation of hostilities around the world.
We also ask people everywhere to observe a minute of silence, at noon local time, to honour the victims – those who have lost their lives, and those who survived but must now cope with trauma and pain.
The theme of this year’s observance is “Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future”.
Armed conflicts attack the very pillars of sustainable development.
Natural resources must be used for the benefit of society, not to finance wars.
Children should be in school, not recruited into armies.
National budgets should focus on building human capacity, not deadly weapons.
On the International Day of Peace, I call on combatants around the world to find peaceful solutions to their conflicts.




Zionist Airstrike Kills 3 in Gaza

GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – At least three Palestinians have been killed and another injured in an assassination drone attack on the besieged Gaza Strip by the Zionist regime.
The unmanned aircraft hit a car in the southern town of Rafah close to the Egyptian border late on Wednesday, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Two of the victims have been identified as Ashraf Saleh, 25, and Anis Abu al-Ainain, 26.
The Zionist regime’s military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, saying the actions are being conducted for defensive purposes. However, disproportionate force is always used, in violation of international law, and civilians are often killed or injured.
Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, which is a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.