Journalists Murdered by Syrian Forces

Basil Al-Sayed, a 24-year-old citizen journalist based in the western city of Homs, was shot in the head on 29 December by security forces while filming the latest bloodbath in the Homs district of Bab Amr. He died while being taken to hospital.

Sources said Al-Sayed had been filming street protests and their dispersal by the security forces ever since the start of the uprising in Syria in March. He was one of the many Syrians who have taking considerable risks to cover the government's use of violence against demonstrators. Using a Samsung camera, he managed to film the security forces firing on protesters.

Al-Sayed is the second amateur journalist to be killed in Syria since the start of the uprising. The first was the photographer and video cameraman Ferzat Jarban, who was killed in Homs on 20 November. Citizen journalists have been playing a crucial role in providing information about developments in Syria as foreign journalists are banned from visiting the country.

The journalist Shukri Ahmed Ratib Abu Burghul died today in a Damascus hospital from the gunshot wound to the head that he received on 30 December while on his way home in the Damascus suburb of Darya after hosting his weekly programme on Radio Damascus.

According to reports, gunmen deliberately shot Burghul in the face, beneath the eye. He was rushed to hospital immediately after the shooting.

Born in 1956, Burghul began in 1980 to work for the government newspaper Al-Thawra, where he ended up being deputy director of its censorship department while hosting radio programmes on Radio Damascus.

Burghul's murder was preceded by the fatal shootings of photographer and video cameraman Ferzat Jarban in western city of Homs on 20 November, and citizen journalist Basil Al-Sayed in Homs on 29 December.

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China's Space Ambitions

China is shooting for the moon in an effort to become a major player in the long-dormant space race.

A newly released five-year plan outlines Beijing's goals of developing new rockets, satellites, and embarking on deep-space navigation. Longer-term, the aim is to have a global satellite-positioning system in place, construct a space station, and eventually to put a man on the moon.

Clean-burning fuels will power its next-generation rockets, which will launch heavy cargos into space, according to details of the program released by the government this week.

China's space program has already made major breakthroughs in a relatively short time. In 2003, it became the third country to launch its own astronaut -- known as a "Taikonaut" -- into space, and five years later, completed a spacewalk.

Despite the advances, in terms of experience China lags far behind the United States and Russia, which engaged in a Cold War-era "Space Race" for decades.

But while the emphasis on space has waned in those countries, China has placed a premium on the development of its space industry, which is seen as a symbol of national prestige.

Wang Xuhui, a senior scientist at China's Institute of Aerospace System Science and Engineering, contributed to writing the report, known as a "white paper."

"It is a powerful policy. The new edition of the 'white paper' issued today reaffirms China's aim and principle of [the] peaceful use of outer space," Wang said.

"It helps people to fully understand our policy; [and thus] reduce misunderstandings and enhance mutual trust."

Some elements of China's program, notably the firing of a ground-based missile into one of its dead satellites four years ago, have alarmed U.S. officials and others, who fear the militarization of the space race.

That the program is run by the military has made the United States reluctant to cooperate with China in space, even though the latter insists its program is purely for peaceful ends.


Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/china_ reveals_space_plan/24438267.html

Karzai Welcomes Biden's Remark on Taliban

KABUL, Dec 31: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday welcomed US Vice President Joe Biden`s remarks that the Taliban `per se is not our enemy`.

Mr Biden`s comments to Newsweek magazine last week caused uproar in the US, which has been fighting a 10-year war against the Taliban-led militancy, but reflected an increasing focus on finding a political settlement.

`We are very happy that America has announced that Taliban are not their enemy.

This will bring peace and stability to the people of Afghanistan,` President Karzai said during a ceremony in Kabul.

Mr Karzai has agreed that if the United States wants to set up a Taliban address in Qatar to enable peace talks he will not stand in the way, aslong as Afghanistan is involved in the process. The September assassination of Karzai`s peace envoy, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, appeared to have derailed any prospects of progress in talks.

But recent unconfirmed reports suggest the US could be open to a deal which includes the transfer of Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. In the interview with Newsweek Biden emphasised the need for the Taliban to cut ties with Al Qaeda.

`We are in a position where if Afghanistan ceased and desisted from being a haven for people who do damage and have as a target the United States of America and their allies, that`s good enough,` he said.

As it pushes for a political settlement, the Afghan government has changed its tone towards the militants, referring to `terrorist` rather than `Taliban` attacks. Meanwhile, Nato troops on Saturday handed over responsibility for security in three districts of the embattled southern Helmand province to Afghan forces.

Helmand governor`s office said these included Marjah district the site of a major offensive by coalition forces last year. Coalition operations to rout the Taliban in February 2010 yielded slower than expected returns, but a troop buildup later in the year pushed militants out of the main centre of the district.

Nad Ali, which had been run by British troops, also transitioned from Nato to Afghan security control, a statement said.

Source: Pakistan Dawn

Scotland: A Case of Religious Discrimination?

An independent college in Scotland, sponsored by the Dubai royal family and whose stated aim is to promote multiculturalism, has sacked its Principal - Professor Malory Nye, 47.

Nye and his wife, Isabel Campbell-Nye, 42 - the Head of the Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education's English Language Centre - alleged they were sacked for being white and Christians, according to a report by the Daily Mail. They have alleged discriminatory practices on grounds of racial and religious bias as the reason for their dismissal.

In the report by the Daily Mail, Nye claimed the patron of the college - Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum , the Deputy Ruler of Dubai - did not favor efforts by both Nye and his wife, to give the institution a more cosmopolitan feel. Additionally, Nye also claimed that both Abubaker, the Director of Operations, and Mirza al-Sayegh, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Private Secretary to the Sheikh, were against his wife and himself continuing their work at the college.

"It is clear to me that there is collusion between these two individuals that I should be removed from my position on the basis that I am not an Arab and not a Muslim and that the person who has the role of principal should be Arab and/or Muslim," Nye was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.

Malory and Isabel Nye at wedding ceremony held at the college

India Leases N-Sub from Russia

MOSCOW: Russia has handed over the nuclear-powered attack submarine Nerpa to India following more than two years of delays, according to a senior naval official.

The signing ceremony happened yesterday at the Bolshoi Kamen shipbuilding facility in the (Far East) Primorye region where the Nerpa is now based, the official in the naval chief of staff told ITAR-TASS on Friday.

The report said an Indian crew would sail the Akula II class craft to its home base at the end of January after receiving it on a 10-year lease, in a deal that has angered Pakistan.

"All of the naval tests and performance checks have been completed, the Russian official said. The crew will begin making themselves feel at home on board the craft after New Year and start sailing it to India in the latter half of January.

The Nerpa will be the first nuclear powered submarine to be operated by India in nearly two decades after it decommissioned its last such Soviet built vessel in 1991.

India is currently completing the development of its own Arihant-class nuclear-powered ballistic submarines and the Nerpa`s delivery is expected to help crews train for the domestic boat`s introduction into service next year.

The Russian Pacific port ceremony was held on the same day a shipyard fire engulfed the Northern Fleet`s Yekaterinburg nuclear-powered strategic submarine in the Murmansk region on the opposite side of the country.

The Nerpa had initially been due tobe handed over to India in 2009 but experienced various problems during testing.

It suffered a mishap during trials in the Sea of Japan in November 2008 that killed 20 sailors when a fire extinguisher released a deadly chemical that was accidentally loaded into the system.

Media reports said that some of the vessel`s equipment malfunctioned during testing and that the weapons navigation system did not work to India`s specifications.

The 8,000-ton vessel can fire a range of torpedoes as well as Granat cruise missiles that can be nuclear-tipped.

India has promised not to arm the submarine with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles under its obligations to international treaties it adopted after conducting a series of atomic tests in the 1990s. But Pakistan is worried over the craft`s delivery.

"Rest assured, there will be no compromise in terms of maintaining the credibility of our deterrence", spokesman for Pakistan`s Foreign Office Abdul Basit was quoted as saying by The Asian Age newspaper this week.

The submarine is due to be commissioned as the INS Chakra in India under a 2004 agreement that had seen the South Asian country pay $650 million in construction costs.

Newspaper reports in India said New Delhi could end up paying as much as $900 million under the terms of the deal.

Russia supplies 70 per cent of India`s military hardware but New Delhi has been unhappy about delays to arms orders from Moscow and looked to other suppliers including Israel and the United States in recent years.-AFP

Source:  Pakistan Dawn
 

Quote of the Week - Socrates

"I teach them all the good I can, and recommend them to others from whom I think they will get some moral benefit. And the treasures that the wise men of old have left us in their writings I open and explore with my friends. If we come on any good thing, we extract it, and we set much store on being useful to one another." -- Socrates

Egypt: Virginity Testing Detained Women

(EOHR/IFEX) - 29 December 2011 - The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) welcomes the 27 December decision of the Administrative Court of the State Council to ban the practice of subjecting detained women to virginity tests.

During protests on 9 March, Samira Ibrahim and 17 other girls were arrested and subsequently subjected to virginity testing. They all filed a lawsuit to overturn the decision of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) allowing the practice on detainees.

Mr. Hafez Abu Seada, the head of EOHR, emphasized that virginity testing on girls at military detention centers is a serious violation of personal privacy and does not comply with women's rights, either under Egyptian laws or international standards of human rights. The practice is considered an intimidation tactic that is used against Egyptian girls who participate in protests, although the right to peaceful assembly is guaranteed by all national and international standards of human rights. Both men and women achieved the Egyptian revolution together.

EOHR welcomes the decision of the Administrative Court of the State Council, viewing it as a victory for Egyptian women and part of the consolidation of their right to privacy. The SCAF should bring those who perpetrated the virginity testing to justice.