06.13.10 Japanese Hayabusa asteroid mission comes home

June 13 - A capsule thought to contain the first samples grabbed from the surface of an asteroid has returned to Earth. The Japanese Hayabusa container hit the top of the atmosphere just after 1350 GMT, producing a bright fireball over southern Australia. It had a shield to cope with the heat of re-entry and a parachute for the final drop to the ground. A recovery team later reported they had identified the landing zone in the Woomera Prohibited Range. "We just had a spectacular display out over the Outback skies of South Australia," said Professor Trevor Ireland, from the Australian National University, who will get to work on the samples "We could see the little sample return capsule separate from the main ship and lead its way in; and [we] just had this magnificent display of the break-up of Hayabusa," he told BBC News. The Hayabusa mission was launched to asteroid Itokawa in 2003, spending three months at the 500m-long potato-shaped space rock in 2005. The main spacecraft, along with the sample-storage capsule, should have come back to Earth in 2007, but a succession of technical problems delayed their return by three years. [More>>bbc.co.uk]

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06.13.10 Obama wants BP to set up escrow account for claims

WASHINGTON (AP) June 13 - Obama to demand that BP set up escrow account for damage claims from Gulf oil spill. President Barack Obama will demand that BP create a special account with "substantial" reserves to pay Gulf oil claims and will take other steps aimed at aiding the region, his top political adviser said Sunday. Obama, set to visit the Gulf Coast on Monday and Tuesday, also plans an Oval Office address Tuesday night after his return to Washington. He meets at the White House with BP executives, including the oil company's chairman, on Wednesday. "This is an ongoing crisis, much like an epidemic," David Axelrod told NBC's "Meet the Press." BP's board was to meet on Monday to discuss deferring its second-quarter dividend and putting the money into escrow until the company's liabilities from the spill are known. "We're aware of the request," BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams said in London. "Our mission is to hold them accountable in every appropriate way," Axelrod said. The White House wants an independent, third party to administer the escrow account and compensate those with "legitimate" claims for damages, he said. The amount of money set aside will be part of the White House discussions, but Axelrod said it should be "substantial." [More>>abcnews.go.com]

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06.13.10 Netanyahu: Naval blockade on Gaza will not be lifted

June 13 - Abbas denies Haaretz report that he had asked Obama to prevent the lifting of the naval blockade on Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a meeting of Likud ministers on Sunday that he supports easing the three-year blockade Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip, but that he would not approve the lifting of the naval blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory. With this declaration, Netanyahu rejected the proposal made by the foreign ministers of France, Spain and Italy, who suggested that in the future, Gaza-bound ships be searched by European inspectors in Cyprus...Netanyahu said during the meeting that "Israel will continue to prevent ships from reaching Gaza, while simultaneously easing the blockade." He added that other nations in the region also oppose lifting the naval blockade, saying that "the arrival of ships directly to Gaza is problematic, not only for us, but for others as well." [Full story>>haaretz.com; See related stories,

france24.com, June 13, "Arab League chief calls for an end to embargo on first-ever Gaza visit";

Maravot News article and background links 06.11.10 'Marmara' captain: I opposed violence

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06.13.10 Over 75,000 Uzbeks flee ethnic violence in Krygyzstan in worst ethnic violence in 20 years

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) June 13 - Kyrgyz mobs burned Uzbek villages and slaughtered their residents Sunday in the worst ethnic rioting this Central Asian nation has seen in 20 years, sending more than 75,000 Uzbeks fleeing across the border into Uzbekistan. Most of the Uzbek refugees were elderly people, women and children, and many had gunshot wounds, the Uzbek Emergencies Ministry said in a statement carried by Russia's RIA Novosti news agency. It said refugee camps were being set up for them in several areas of Uzbekistan. Fires set by rioters have destroyed most of Osh, the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, and food was scarce after widespread looting. Triumphant crowds of Kyrgyz men took control of Osh on Sunday as the few Uzbeks still left in the city of 250,000 barricaded themselves in their neighborhoods. Fires continued to rage across Osh and shots were heard but police were nowhere to be seen. The rioting has significant political overtones. Former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in a bloody uprising in April and fled the country. Uzbeks have backed Kyrgyzstan's interim government, while many Kyrgyz in the south support the toppled president. [More>>foxnews.com]

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06.13.10 Son of al-Qaeda mentor Issam Abu Mohammed al-Maqdessi 'killed in Iraq'

June 13 - The son of Jordanian Issam Abu Mohammed al-Maqdessi, former mentor of slain al-Qaeda in Iraq head Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been killed in clashes with US forces, a family friend said tonight. "We have learned that Omar and three other men were killed in clashes with American forces in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last Saturday," June 5, the friend who asked not to be identified told AFP. "Omar, who left for Iraq several years ago to fight the Americans, was arrested there in 2006 but was released a year ago." [More>>news.com.au]

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06.13.10 Afghan women swap burqas for police uniforms

KANKAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) June 12 - In the heart of the violent birthplace of the Taleban movement, defying Afghan convention and family advice, mothers Magola and Faranaze decided to take up arms. From the southern province of Kandahar, they are among a handful women who have swapped the full Islamic veils known as burqas for life in uniform as members of Afghanistan's under-strength police force. "My parents don't like me to work for the police but I am happy to serve my country," said Magola, proudly wearing her blue uniform at the camp where she has been trained by US-led NATO forces. Magola and Faranaze are not their real names.

Afghanistan is a country where strict Islamic beliefs and conservative convention prohibit most women from working. Out of a thousand recruits, police in Kandahar have only 20 women. Widowed during the 1996-2001 Taleban regime, Magola confided that she needed her police salary to feed her family. She has 12 children and six are still dependent on her. Like most Kandahari women, female officers wear burqas off duty. But at work, wearing scarves or hoods with their uniforms, women perform essential roles in areas that remain off limits to men. Female officers are responsible for knocking on doors, and ushering women away from homes before police swoop in for operations against suspects. [More>>arabtimesonline.com]

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06.13.10 Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project linked

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 13 - Pakistan and Iran on Sunday finalized US $ 7.5 billion gas project dubbed as a peace pipeline to start supply of natural gas to the former from 2014. The landmark agreement was signed by Iran's deputy oil minister Javad Ouji and Pakistani delegation including among other officials Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources Kamran Lashari and Managing Director Inter-State Gas Company Naeem Sharafat in Tehran. "Now the project has entered into implementation phase and there are no further formalities left in way," Naeem Sharafat said. He said the IP project was another testimony of the long historic and cordial relations between Pakistan and Iran.

The pipeline will connect Iran's giant South Fars gas field with Pakistan's Balochistan and Sindh provinces. Pakistan has to construct about 700-km pipeline from the border, traversing along the Makran Coastal Highway to connect with its existing gas transmission network at Nawabshah. A 42-inch diameter pipeline is planned to be built, which is estimated to cost US$ 1.65 billion. The project is crucial for Pakistan to avert a growing energy crisis,already causing severe electricity shortages in the country and the project would help generate around 5,000 megawatts of electricity. [More>>thenews.com.pk]

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06.13.10 Two bombs in Thai south kill one, wound 26

YALA, Thailand, June 13 - Two bombs exploded outside a row of crowded roadside restaurants in Thailand's restive south, killing one person and wounding 26, police said on Sunday. Assailants hurled two homemade explosives onto a pavement lined with open-air restaurants in Yala province late on Saturday, Colonel Piyawat Chalermsri said, blaming suspected Islamic insurgents. No group took responsibility for the attack. More than 4,000 people have been killed in six years of unrest blamed on separatist insurgents in the region bordering Malaysia.

The troubled rubber-rich provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat were part of a Muslim sultanate annexed a century ago by predominantly Buddhist Thailand. About 80 percent of the people in the region are Muslim and speak a Malay dialect. The violence has ranged from drive-by shootings to bombings and beheadings. It often targets Buddhists and Muslims associated with the Thai state, such as police, soldiers, government officials and teachers. The deployment of tens of thousands of police and troops empowered by tough security laws has done little to quell the violence, which no credible group has claimed responsibility for. [>thenews.com.pk; See other details, bangkokpost.com, June 13, "Four injured in Yala blast."]

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06.13.10 Muslim militants behead 3 Filipino loggers

MANILA, Philippines (AP) June 13 - Al-Qaeda-linked militants beheaded three loggers in the Philippines in apparent retaliation for government offensives in the country's south, security officials said Sunday. The killings were carried out as the country celebrated its 112th Independence Day, the latest in a series of terror acts by the Abu Sayyaf insurgency to mark the holiday. About 30 Abu Sayyaf gunmen ran into the three Christian men hauling timber in a rain forest near Maluso town on Basilan island Saturday. Relatives found their remains hours later, Basilan provincial police chief Antonio Mendoza said.

The latest killings apparently were a retaliation for the ongoing military and police operations, which have killed a number of militants, Mendoza said. "When they are hurt by our offensives, they resort to these atrocities," Mendoza told The Associated Press, adding that all of Basilan's 675-strong police force, with an additional 100 police commandos, were involved in the manhunt and assaults against the militants. Hundreds of soldiers also are taking part. This was the second time that Abu Sayyaf was blamed for beheading a hostage on Independence Day after they killed American Guillermo Sobero in 2001 as their holiday "gift" to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Another American was killed in a military rescue a year later. [More>>washingtonpost.com]

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06.13.10 Pakistan funds, trains Afghan's Taliban: report

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06.12.10 Regulators shut Seattle-based bank

WASHINGTON (AP) June 12 - FDIC closes Washington First Inter'l Bank, 82nd this year; rate of closures more than double that of 2009. Regulators on Friday shut down a bank in Washington, bringing to 82 the number of US bank failures this year. Seattle-based Washington First International Bank, with $520.9 million in assets and $441.4 million in deposits, was closed by the Washington Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver of the failed bank. East West Bank, based in Pasadena, Calif., agreed to assume the deposits and $501 million of the assets of Washington First International Bank.

The rest will be retained by the FDIC for future sale. In addition, the FDIC and East West Bank agreed to share losses on $418.8 million of Washington First International's loans and other assets. The bank's failure is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $158.4 million. With 82 closures nationwide so far this year, the pace of bank failures is more than double that of 2009, which was already a brisk year for shutdowns. By this time last year, regulators had closed 37 banks. The pace has accelerated as banks' losses mount on loans made for commercial property and development. [More>>cbsnews.com]

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06.12.10 New strain of bacteria may help clean oil spill: study

LOS ANGELES, CA. (Xinhua) June 11 - Chinese and U.S. researchers have discovered a new strain of bacteria that can help cleanup of the massive Gulf Coast oil spill, it was announced on Friday. The bacteria can produce non-toxic, comparatively inexpensive "rhamnolipids," and effectively help degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs — environmental pollutants that are one of the most harmful aspects of oil spills, the Oregon State University(OSU) said in a news release. Because of its unique characteristics, this new bacterial strain could be of considerable value in the long-term cleanup of the massive Gulf Coast oil spill, said the release.

The discovery was made by researchers from OSU and two collaborating universities in China — the Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology and Nanjing Agricultural University. The OSU is filing for a patent on the discovery. "PAHs are a widespread group of toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic compounds, but also one of the biggest concerns about oil spills," said Xihou Yin, a research assistant professor in the OSU College of Pharmacy. "Some of the most toxic aspects of oil to fish, wildlife and humans are from PAHs," Yin said. "They can cause cancer, suppress immune system function, cause reproductive problems, nervous system effects and other health issues. This particular strain of bacteria appears to break up and degrade PAHs better than other approaches we have available." [More>>xinhuanet.com]

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06.12.10 Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites

June 12 - Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran's nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal. In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran. To ensure the Israeli bombers pass unmolested, Riyadh has carried out tests to make certain its own jets are not scrambled and missile defence systems not activated. Once the Israelis are through, the kingdom's air defences will return to full alert. "The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way," said a US defence source in the area. "They have already done tests to make sure their own jets aren't scrambled and no one gets shot down.

This has all been done with the agreement of the [US] State Department." Sources in Saudi Arabia say it is common knowledge within defence circles in the kingdom that an arrangement is in place if Israel decides to launch the raid. Despite the tension between the two governments, they share a mutual loathing of the regime in Tehran and a common fear of Iran's nuclear ambitions. "We all know this. We will let them [the Israelis] through and see nothing," said one. The four main targets for any raid on Iran would be the uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz and Qom, the gas storage development at Isfahan and the heavy-water reactor at Arak. Secondary targets include the lightwater reactor at Bushehr, which could produce weapons-grade plutonium when complete. [More>>timesonline.co.uk]

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06.12.10 Clash of the muftis in multi-ethnic Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 12 - Malaysian liberal muftis battle hardliners. Dressed in a modern grey suit teamed with a black skull cap, Malaysian cleric Asri Zainul Abidin is the poster boy for liberal Muslims who are tussling with hardliners in this multi-ethnic nation. Asri, a boyish-looking 39-year-old, is considered one of Malaysia's top Islamic theologians and has a growing following of young, educated Muslims who are drawn by his moderate views. But the thoroughly modern mufti now faces trial on charges that could land him in jail for two years in what his supporters say is an attempt to muzzle liberal voices in Muslim-majority Malaysia. "Yes, there is a battle for Islam between the conservatives and progressives in Malaysia," Asri told AFP. "We will enter the dark ages if we allow the conservatives to win." Asri has been charged under religious "sharia" law for giving a lecture on Islam last November without authorization. But the cleric says his real offence has been to enrage the country's religious establishment, which has become increasingly strident in recent times, imposing caning sentences that have rarely if ever been enforced before.

..Straddling the fault line in the debate are Malaysia's minority races who are concerned over rising "Islamisation" and fear that tolerance towards Christians, Hindus and others is diminishing. A series of disputes has erupted between majority Muslim Malays and minority ethnic Chinese and Indians in recent years, straining relations half a century after the founding of the secular nation. In January, the severed heads of four pigs — an animal seen as unclean in Islam — were found at two mosques, in the latest of a spate of attacks on places of worship that have escalated tensions. A simmering row over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims saw attacks on 11 churches, a mosque and two Muslim prayer halls including fire-bombings and vandalism. [Full story>>alarabiya.net; For background on the conflict in the use of "Allah" and related affects in interpreting the Koran see Maravot News "The Allah Controversy."]

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06.12.10 Mexico: Dozens killed in drug gang violence in Chihuahua and Madero

June 12 - At least 39 people have been killed after warring drugs gangs brought terror to two towns in northern Mexico. In Chihuahua, around 30 armed men stormed a drug rehabilitation centre and gunned down 19 people and wounded four others. They arrived in six trucks at around midnight and opened fire on patients and staff on the second floor of the Templo Cristiano Fe y Vida (Christian Faith and Life Temple). By the time police and soldiers arrived at the scene the gunmen had fled. Officers believe the centre was housing members of the Los Mexicles gang, which is at war with the Los Aztecos gang, when it was attacked. The violence came as gunmen carried out a series of attacks and executions across the town of Madero, in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas. "So far 20 bodies have been found in different parts of the city," a federal police officer said.

The attacks reportedly began with confrontations between police and a group of gunmen travelling around the city in vans. Authorities then received reports bodies had been discovered on a nearby beach. Mexican President Felipe Calderon condemned the violence and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. "These are outrageous acts that reinforce the conviction of the need to use all-out force to fight criminal groups engaged in such acts of barbarism," he said in a statement from Johannesburg, where he is attending the World Cup. Some 23,000 people have died in drug-related violence since a military crackdown on organized crime began in 2006. [>news.sky.com]

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06.12.10 Sporadic skirmishes reported in Iran on election anniversary

TEHRAN, June 12 - Saturday began with calm on the streets of Tehran but witnesses said scattered clashes erupted later in the day between Iran's security forces and demonstrators gathering at key sites to mark the first anniversary of a contested presidential election. The first skirmishes Saturday were reported at about 6pm as uniformed riot police and plain-clothes security forces, many on motorcycles, chased away growing crowds along the sidewalks of Tehran's Vali Asr Square, witnesses said. Witnesses told CNN they saw several people struck by batons as they were running away. They said at least five people were arrested, blindfolded, handcuffed and swept away by security officers, who also used tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Due to government restrictions on the international media, CNN is unable to independently verify the information from the Iranian witnesses. A planned demonstration was called off earlier in the week by opposition leaders. Still, tension began to rise Saturday around 4 p.m. when a large number of security forces, riot police and members of the Islamic government's voluntary Basij forces filed into major squares and intersections, including Vali Asr, Azadi Avenue, Azadi Square and Revolution Square, witnesses said. [More>>cnn.com]

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06.12.10 15 die in US drone attack in Pakistan

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06.11.10 'Marmara' captain: I opposed violence

June 11 - Report: Crew tried to stop IHH activists' violence before raid. The captain of the Mavi Marmara  tried to convince dozens of IHH activists not to engage in violent clashes with the IDF two hours prior to the commando's boarding of the ship, reported Army Radio on Friday. The Gaza flotilla ship's captain, Mehmet Tubal, said while being investigated in Israel that he and other members of the Mavi Marmara's staff did all they could to prevent the activists from confronting soldiers, even throwing some of the IHH member's metal pipes and chains overboard. Another senior member of the ship's staff said that 40 IHH activists took control of the Mavi Marmara and dictated the rest of the passengers' movements. The occurrence of violence aboard the Mavi Marmara may have been predetermined by the IHH 's purchase of the ship along with possible tacit approval from the Turkish government.

"[The] IHH acquired the Mavi Marmara ship from the AKP-run municipality of Istanbul. It is not conceivable that the IHH’s Gaza operation could have been carried out absent high-level government sanction," wrote Svante Cornell, a Swedish security expert who specializes in Eurasia, in an article published on Monday. A journalist on-board the Mavi Marmara, described as having good links with the heads of the Turkish government and Bulent Yildirim, head of the IHH, had stated, "The flotilla was organized with the support of the Turkish government and Prime Minister Erdogan gave the instructions for it to set sail. That was despite the fact that everyone knew it would never reach its destination," according to the report. [>jpost.com; See more details,

haaretz.com, June 11, "Gaza flotilla captain: Activists prepared attack against IDF raid" : WATCH: Video of Mehmut Tuval shows captain saying he attempted to prevent violent clashes between activists and the Israeli military....Israel says its soldiers began shooting only after a mob of pro-Palestinian activists attacked them - a version backed up by video footage released by the army. But the activists and their supporters say Israeli commandos needlessly opened fire. According to the clip, released by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, the ship's captain Mehmut Tuval had attempted to prevent a violent altercation by disposing of metal bars and chains IHH activists had cut ahead of the IDF takeover. Mehmut said that "once we see that the boats [were] around us…actually not us, but around the total ships…about two hours [before the takeover].

...I see they were cutting the steels…chains. And I said to the chief officer, he collected all of them and also we put it in the radio room in the bridge." The captain also indicated that he had thrown some of the bars and chains into the sea, while adding that he also asked IHH activists to pass over the bars and chains that had collected later on...Asked whether or not he knew if the IHH activists were preparing a violent welcome to the IDF takeover, Tuval said that "they were preparing to violence against the soldiers: Yeah from what I was informed."...The ship's first officer, Gokkiran Gokhan, told his investigators that he was sent by the ship's captain to look into an unusual commotion near the life-boat section of the Mavi Marmara. Once he got there, Gokhan had noticed that bars and chains had been cut off by IHH activists from the deck using rotary saws, which he claims were no part of the ship's equipment.

...When asked how the IHH activists communicated with each other, Gokhan told his investigators that "they brought walkie-talkies along with them when they got on board in Istanbul. The radios were distributed to the IHH people and to the ship's crew." The first mate added that other non-IHH passengers were allowed to move freely, with the exception of the control center which was located above the ship's bridge, saying that the IHH group was made up of 40 people who boarded the ship in Istanbul. [end]

For background stories and videos: See:

Maravot News 06.09.10 Probe: Erdogan knew Gaza flotilla would be violent

Maravot News 06.08.10 Arabs urged to 'break' Israel borders. (article with background stories)

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06.11.10 Many killed in Afghan blasts

June 11 - At least 11 civilians and two US soldiers have been killed in violence across southern Afghanistan as Taliban fighters step up attacks ahead of a planned operation by NATO forces in the south. Nine of the civilian deaths occurred when a roadside bomb struck a minibus in the city of Kandahar on Friday. The vehicle struck the bomb on the main highway in Maywand, a district in Kandahar province, after leaving Helmand, Zalmai Ayobi, a provincial spokesman, told the AFP news agency. [More>>aljazeera.net]

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06.11.10 At least 41 killed, more than 600 injured in riots in Kyrgyztan; leader urges calm

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AFP) June 11 - Mobs of armed men torched Uzbek neighborhoods in Kyrgyzstan on Friday in ethnic clashes that officials said left at least 41 people dead and 624 wounded in a Central Asian nation that hosts US and Russian military bases. The rioting in Osh, the country's second-largest city, is the heaviest violence since former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was toppled in a bloody uprising in April and fled the country. The intensity of the conflict, which pits ethnic Kyrgyz against minority Uzbeks, appeared to have taken authorities by surprise and threw the fragile interim government's prospects for survival into doubt. [More>>foxnews.com]

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06.11.10 US drone missile attack kills 15 in northwestern Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, June 11 - A volley of US missiles killed 15 alleged militants in an extremist stronghold in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, the second such strike in less than 12 hours, officials said. The Obama administration regards missile attacks from drone aircraft as a key weapon against al-Qaeda and the Taliban close to the Afghan border. Last month, al-Qaeda's reputed No. 3 official, Mustafa al-Yazid, was killed in a similar strike in the North Waziristan region. Six missiles were fired in Friday's attack on a house in a village close to the border, two intelligence officers said. They were not authorized to give their names. Yousaf Khan, a government administrator in the region's main town of Miran Shah, said 15 alleged militants were killed. He said officers were still gathering information about the identities of the victims. Late Thursday, two people were killed in another strike in North Waziristan. Officials did not say whether they were believed to be militants. [More>>japantoday.com]

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06.11.10 19 patients killed at Mexican drug rehab facility

MEXICO CITY, June 11 - At least 30 armed men invaded a drug-treatment center in northern Mexico late Thursday night, killed 19 patients and wounded four others, the state-run Notimex news agency reported Friday. The killings occurred around 11pm at the Faith and Life rehab facility in the city of Chihuahua, located in the border state with the same name. Witnesses told authorities the armed men marched 23 people outside, lined them up and shot them, Notimex said, citing Director of Police Intelligence Saul Hernandez. The wounded were taken to hospitals under heavy guard, the news agency said. Shootings at drug-treatment centers have become more common as Mexico's drug cartels and street gangs ramp up their violence against each other. [More>>cnn.com]

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06.11.10 4 dead in terrorist attack in Algeria

ALGIERS, June 11 - At least four people were killed and 20 injured when a truck carrying explosives was detonated at a police roadblock in the Algerian city of Lakhdaria, local media reported Friday. The victims included two police officers, a Chinese national and an Algerian civilian, the online daily Tout sur l'Algerie reported. Ten police officers were among those injured in the attack. Lakhdaria is some 220 km east of the Algerian capital Algiers. Media reports said that the attack was carried out by the group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which is associated with the terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden. [>timesofindia.indiatimes.com]

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06.11.10 Japan unfurls Ikaros solar sail in space

June 11 - Japanese scientists are celebrating the successful deployment of their solar sail, Ikaros. The 200-sq-m (2,100-sq-ft) membrane is attached to a small disc-shaped spacecraft that was put in orbit last month by an H-IIA rocket. Ikaros will demonstrate the principle of using sunlight as a simple and efficient means of propulsion. The technique has long been touted as a way of moving spacecraft around the Solar System using no chemical fuels. The mission team will be watching to see if Ikaros produces a measurable acceleration, and how well its systems are able to steer the craft through space. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) said in a statement that its scientists and engineers had begun to deploy the solar sail on 3 June (JST). On 10 June, Jaxa said, confirmation was received that the sail had expanded successfully. Some thin-film solar cells embedded in the membrane were even generating power, it added. [More>>bbc.co.uk]

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06.11.10 Russian officials confirm Iran sanctions block S-300 missile sale

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) June 11 - The new round of UN sanctions against Iran rule out Russia's delivery of S-300 missile defense systems to the Islamic Republic, Russian officials concluded in a report published on Friday. "An analysis of the provisions of the UN Security Council Resolution 1929 adopted on June 9, 2010, conducted by the FSMTC experts, shows that the restrictive measures contained in the document apply to the delivery of S-300 air defense systems to Iran as well," the Federal Service on Military-Technical Cooperation said on Friday. Resolution 1929, adopted on Wednesday, imposes a fourth round of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, and includes tougher financial controls and an expanded arms embargo. [More>>en.rian.ru]

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06.11.10 Iran's Ahmadinejad says Israel is 'doomed'

(AFP) June 11 - Ahmadinejad said on Friday Israel was “doomed” and singled out US President for scorn, blaming Washington for orchestrating new nuclear sanctions against Teheran. Speaking during a visit to the World Expo in Shanghai, Ahmadinejad denounced the UN Security Council's sanctions resolution adopted Wednesday with Chinese and Russian backing as "worthless paper." The firebrand leader accused global nuclear powers of "monopolizing" atomic technology and said the new sanctions would "have no effect" — reserving most of his tough rhetoric for the United States, not his ally Beijing. Swatting aside the US leader's offers of dialogue and rapprochement if Iran relents on its nuclear ambitions, Ahmadinejad said: "I think President Obama has made a big mistake... he knows the resolution will have no effect. Very soon he will come to understand he has not made the right choice and he has blocked the way to having friendly ties with the Iranian people." [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

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06.10.10 Turkey says Iran sanctions 'mistake' ; deepens Arab ties

ISTANBUL (Reuters) June 10 - Turkey called the imposition of UN sanctions on Iran a "mistake" on Thursday and said that it and Brazil would continue to seek a diplomatic solution to remove concerns over Iran's nuclear programme. In a speech to an Arab and Turkish ministerial forum, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan also announced plans to form a regional free trade zone with three Arab states — Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The moves will add to concerns, voiced on Wednesday by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, that the pivotal Western ally is in danger of swinging eastward because of resistance in Europe to its bid for membership of the European Union.

...Some commentators say Turkey is trying to revive historic ties with the dominions of the former Ottoman Empire, and Erdogan spoke warmly of Turkey's bonds with the Arab world. "A Turk cannot live without an Arab. An Arab is the Turk's left eye, his right eye," Erdogan said. Erdogan spoke of "secret efforts" by some European countries to slow down Turkey's bid for membership of the European Union. He said Turkey was continuing with reforms to meet EU requirements regardless of the hindrances. He then said Turkey would form a free trade and visa-free travel zone with Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Erdogan was fulsome regarding ties with neighboring Syria, against which Turkey almost went to war 10 years ago. "Now these two countries are like brothers of the same family, they come and go and visit each other," Erdogan said. "There is no difference between Turkey and Syria, Turkey is Syria and Syria is Turkey."...[Full story>>thestar.com.my; See other details,

alarabiya.net, June 10, "Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria OK a free zone" : ISTANBUL - Free travel between Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria citizens. Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria agreed on Thursday to set up a free-trade zone, complete with a visa-free travel regime for their nationals, a joint declaration issued here said. The four countries will establish a cooperation council "to develop a long-term strategic partnership" and "create a zone of free movement of goods and persons among our countries," it said. The deal was agreed by the foreign ministers of the four countries who met on the sidelines of a Turkey-Arab cooperation forum in Istanbul...

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06.10.10 Hamas: Obama's call to ease Gaza blockade 'meaningless'

GAZA (Xinhua) June 10 - Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday described the US President Barack Obama's call for easing Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip as "meaningless." Obama made the remarks following a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington on Wednesday. The remarks aimed to beautify the siege on Gaza and keep it in place, said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri in a statement. Obama said the conditions in Gaza were "unsustainable" and promised 400 million US dollars to aid the Gaza Strip. But for Hamas, the aid "has no credit on the ground because in case it was delivered, it would go to (Abbas) who will not send anything to Gaza," Abu Zuhri said. [More>>xinhuanet.com]

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06.10.10 Concept of two-state solution 'beginning to erode'

(AFP) June 10 - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Thursday he feared the concept of a two-state solution to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians "is beginning to erode." "I would like to express concern that the situation is very difficult," he said in remarks at a Washington think tank. "The concept of a Palestinian state ... with an Israeli state, I fear, is beginning to erode," he said. [>khaleejtimes.com; See more details,

haaretz.com, June 10, "Abbas tells US Jews: I would never deny Jewish right to the land of Israel" : Palestinian president meets with leaders of the American Jewish community in Washington, interviews with Charlie Rose. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told US Jewish leaders on Wednesday that he would never deny Jews their right to the land of Israel, according to participants of the two-hour roundtable discussion. Some 30 Jewish leaders from organizations such as AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations took part in the Washington meeting, which focused mainly on the indirect peace talks and violent incitements. "I am sure some people don't agree with him but the fact that everybody showed up was pretty encouraging," one of the participants told Haaretz.. The Palestinian president said during the discussion that he had in the past proposed creating a trilateral commission to monitor and punish incitement, but that Israel did not agree to it.

When asked what he could offer Israelis to show that he was serious about peace initiatives, Abbas reminded the participants that he had addressed the Israeli public in an interview on Channel 10. "Why wouldn't Bibi go to Palestinian TV and do the same?" said the Palestinian president. "I would never deny [the] Jewish right to the land of Israel," Abbas then declared. Later on Wednesday, Abbas told Charlie Rose in an interview on PBS that Israel must agree to ceding East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital as a necessary precondition for any peace settlement. "East Jerusalem is occupied territory. The entire world recognizes that including the United States of America," Abbas told Rose. "We cannot accept any solution that excludes East Jerusalem." During that interview, Abbas also lauded Barack Obama's administration and its efforts to bring forth a two-state solution. "This is the first time we hear from a US administration talking about that the solution of a two-state solution is in the vital interest of the United States," said Abbas. "The two-state solution is no longer only a Palestinian interest or an Israeli interest or a Middle East interest, but it is also an American interest." [end]

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Editorial note: "Technically East Jerusalem (the old city of Jerusalem) belongs to the United Nations" who set aside the area of Jerusalem as a UN administered "Corpus Separatum of Jerusalem." — an area reaching to Bethlehem. This territory was established through the UN Resolution 181 of November 1947 that created the state of Israel, the Corpus Separatum of Jerusalem and a future state of Palestine. The resolution provided that both Israelis and Palestinians must submit a "Declaration of Independence" for approval by the United Nations. Israel submitted its Declaration of Independence in May 1948. The Palestinians and five Arab states did not accept the UN Resolution and instead invaded the West Bank and Jerusalem, occupying that city in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Israel recaptured the land in the 1967 Six-day War (See also jewishvirtuallibrary.org) against the Arab states. As a side note the name Palestine was part of an area comprised of Jordan, the West Bank and modern Israel called The British Mandate of Palestine" configured around the earlier territory (Eyalet) of the Ottoman Empire called Egypt, including the lands of Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. This is discussed in more detail in our document, "The Allah Controversy."

When references are made concerning an "occupied territory" we need to keep in mind that since the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by Rome in 70 A.D. the nation identified as Judaea on Roman maps has always been under occupation by a foreign power, such as the Arabs and most recently the Ottoman Empire, followed by the British Mandate of Palestine. At the close of the Ottoman Empire there were about 60,000 Jews and 731,000 Arabs in the area. (For population details see israelipalestinian.procon.org.)

Mel Copeland

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06.10.10 Deep-water oil drilling: banned in America, allowed here

June 10 - Oil companies have been given the go-ahead to press on with the hunt for oil and gas in the deep waters off the coast of Britain despite the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. BP, whose Deepwater Horizon rig has been spilling up to a million gallons of oil a day into the fragile waters off the southern United States, is leading the drive to exploit the North Sea's remaining hydrocarbons. The British Government has said it has no plans to follow the United States and Norway by introducing a moratorium on new deep-water drilling activities in the still largely untapped area to the west of Shetland.

The notoriously stormy waters on the edge of the continental shelf are home to up to 20 per cent of the UK's existing oil and gas reserves, and the energy minister Charles Hendry said it was "in the national interest" to continue to develop indigenous resources. But many environmentalists believe that ministers are poised to offer another huge tax incentive to energy companies to promote drilling there. In January Labour announced £160m relief on each new gas field opened up off Shetland. The Chancellor, George Osborne, is thought likely to review the tax arrangements for offshore drilling after canvassing the multinationals before the election on how best to promote further deep-water exploration and reduce Britain's reliance on imports. The Conservatives also promised to make it "simpler" for big companies to get licences to drill for hydrocarbons. [More>>independent.co.uk]

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06.10.10 Swiss uncover fungus that speeds up rice growth

(AFP) June 10 - Researchers at a Swiss university said Thursday that they have uncovered a microscopic fungus that is able to increase the speed of rice growth by five times. In a study published by Switzerland's University of Lausanne, researchers claimed that the fungus mycorrhiza would not only cut the use of phosphate fertilizers, it was also "completely natural" or GM-free. It could be commercialised and used in large-scale farming in two to five years, said the researchers. The team uncovered the function of the super fungus after four years of experiments on twenty different samples of its spores. [More>>france24.com]

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06.10.10 BP vows faster payment of claims as anger mounts

June 10 - Struggling residents say they're shut out by red tape or receive paltry offers for their lost livelihoods. The Obama administration says BP has agreed to expedite the payment of claims to businesses and individuals whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Tracy Wareing, who is with the National Incident Command office, told reporters in Washington that the understanding on payment of claims came in a meeting Wednesday with BP executives, including chief executive Tony Hayward. Wareing said administration officials raised a "pressing concern" about the time BP has been taking to provide relief payments, particularly to businesses in the stricken area. She said the company will change the way it processes such claims and will expedite payments.

Among other things, it will drop the current practice of waiting to make such payments until businesses have closed their books for each month. Wareing also said the administration assured that BP was accounting for the seasonal nature of many Gulf industries, paying shrimpers more during the shrimp season - which just began - rather than a twelfth of last year's income each month. Still, anger continues to mount among Gulf residents over BP's slow, bureaucratic, and parsimonious payments and it remains to be seen whether the company will follow through on its latest vows of haste and transparency. [More>>cbsnews.com]

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06.10.10 Drone strike in North Waziristan kills 3

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06.09.10 Probe: Erdogan knew Gaza flotilla would be violent

June 9 - Files found on activists' laptops pointed to strong ties between the Islamist IHH movement and Turkey's prime minister. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan knew in advance that activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla planned to attack Israeli troops, Israeli intelligence officials have said. In a report published this week, a group of independent investigators from Israel's intelligence community found that activists aboard the 'Mavi Marmara' were part of an organized group that was prepared for a violent conflict...The report, published by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Malam), said activists who attacked commandos with clubs and knives were supported by the Turkish government.

...The report said while most of the Mavi Marmara's 500 passengers were humanitarian volunteers who underwent security checks before boarding the ship at Antalya in Turkey, a group of 40 IHH activists had boarded the ship in an Istanbul port beforehand, keeping apart from the rest of the passengers throughout the journey. This hard core of activists boarded the ship without checks and was equipped with communications equipment, flack jackets embroidered with Turkish flags, and gas masks, Malam said. According to the report, the group turned the upper deck into its headquarters, blocking it off to other passengers. It had a clear internal hierarchy, with specific activists nominated as commanders. Bülent Yıldırım, the leader of the IHH, an Islamic organization that planned the voyage, was on the Mavi Marmara and briefed group members about two hours before the Israeli Navy intercepted the ship.

Their main objective was to hold back soldiers by any means, and to push them back into the sea. As they had been banned from bringing weapons aboard, IHH members improvised weapons including metal rods and knives cut from the ship's metal rails, which they used to attack the soldiers. According to a witness aboard the ship, a confrontation broke out when the ship's crew heard IHH members sawing the railing into metal rods, but they were unable to confiscate them from them. IHH activists also gathered all the knives from six cafeterias on the ship, as well as axes from fire extinguishers on the deck, all of which served as weapons against Israeli commandos. [Full story>>haaretz.com; See other details,

jpost.com, June 9, " 'Turkish gov't backed extremists' " ; The IHH operatives maintained close ties with Erdogan, report says. A report released this week by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) said new details have emerged which show how approximately 40 operatives from the Turkish Islamist IHH organization carefully prepared a violent ambush on navy commandos last week on board the Mavi Maramara ship, and acted with the full backing of the Turkish government. The IHH operatives were armed with knives, axes and other weapons, communicated with one another using walkie talkies, set up a control room onboard the ship, and maintained close ties with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, the report said. In addition, the Mavi Maramara ship was purchased by the IHH from a major shipping company owned by the Istanbul municipality which is run by the ruling AKP party, it has emerged.

..."The passengers, including the IHH operatives, stated that there were close relations between the organization and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and that the Turkish government was involved in preparations for the flotilla," the report asserted...Cornell, of Stokholm's Central Asia-Caucus Institute, said the IHH was "an example of how NGOs are used in the foreign policy sphere," adding, "The IHH operates joint projects with the Turkish Agency for International Development, and is reported to have been used by the government in order to shore up Turkey's position in northern Iraq by distributing aid to populations there. The IHH has its origins in the Orthodox Islamic Milli Görüş movement, from which the AKP organizationally split in 2001."

"As such, the IHH is known as a dyed-in-the-wool Islamist movement, which has been suspected and investigated repeatedly for alleged involvement in arms shipment to Islamic forces in various conflicts, such as Afghanistan and Bosnia. Leading former French counter-terror magistrate Jean-Louis  Bruguière has repeatedly testified that the IHH had 'clear, long-standing ties to terrorism and Jihad,' including ties to al-Qaeda in the late 1990s," Cornell added...In January, the IHH helped organize a convoy to Gaza which became stranded at El-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula after being denied entry into Gaza by Egypt, "Turkey enacted major pressure on  Egypt to let the convoy into Gaza. The Egyptians eventually agreed," Karmon added. An Egyptian soldier was killed during clashes between members of the convoy and the Egyptian security forces...

Related stories,

washingtontimes.com, June 9, "American Jewish community ends support of Turkish interests on Hill" :

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert had promised to bring a resolution commemorating the Armenian genocide to the floor for a vote, a move that Ankara said would be a slap in the face to a NATO ally. The Turks called up Keith Weissman, a senior researcher from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and asked him to intervene. Mr. Weissman said in an interview this week that AIPAC lit up the phones and managed at the last minute — with the help of the State Department — to persuade President Clinton himself to write a letter to Mr. Hastert saying a vote on the resolution would cause strategic damage to US interests. The last-minute push worked. Mr. Hastert removed the resolution from the floor, and the full Congress has yet to take up the matter to this day. But the American Jewish community is no longer helping Turkey, after a tumultuous deterioration of ties between Israel and Turkey in the past four years. The government in Ankara last week decried a botched Israeli raid on a Turkish aid flotilla, which claimed at least nine lives, as an act of "state terror."

In some ways, the Memorial Day flotilla affair marks an end of Israel's more than 20-year strategic alliance with Turkey, and the resulting support from the pro-Israel lobby in Washington. Turkey, which has a secular constitution, was the first Muslim state to recognize Israel, in 1949. Israel has historically sought to form alliances with countries on the periphery of the Arab world such as Turkey, Iran and Ethiopia. In 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon, its army destroyed training camps affiliated with the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, a terrorist organization responsible for the slayings of Turkish diplomats. Turkey rewarded Israel's counterterrorism operations with increased intelligence ties. The intelligence relationship soon blossomed into full ambassadorial relations, and increased commercial trade and closer military cooperation. In exchange for arms sales from Israel, Turkey allowed the Israeli air force to use Anatolian airspace for training purposes...

Maravot News article with background stories 06.08.10 Arabs urged to 'break' Israel borders.

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06.09.10 Security Council sanctions against Iran

June 9 - After nearly half a year of tough negotiations, the United Nations Security Council has endorsed a US sponsored sanctions resolution against Iran over its suspect nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at developing atomic weapons. The US and allies had hoped for all 15 members of the council to vote in favor of the resolution, but three countries refused. Turkey and Brazil held up the 10am scheduled vote, as their ambassadors waited for instructions from their capitals on how to vote. When the Security council session finally started, the Turkish and Brazilian ambassadors announced that they would vote against the resolution, saying their 11th-hour negotiations with Iran aimed at convincing Tehran to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency obligations should have been given more time. The President of the Security Council then brought the resolution up for the vote.

12 countries voted in favor, Turkey and Brazil voted against, and Lebanon, under heavy Iranian political pressure, abstained. The 12 "yes" votes were enough to approve the resolution. The resolution imposes an arms embargo against Iran, blacklists entities controlled by the Islamic Republic Shipping Lines, and freezes the assets of certain individuals and organizations tied to Iran’s nuclear program and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. It also calls for tighter restrictions on Iranian banks, asking countries to avoid transactions that could be connected to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. Click here to see a copy of the resolution.

At the start of negotiations several months ago, the US, France, UK, and Germany had wanted tougher sanctions, including targeting Iran’s energy sector, but Tehran’s major trading partners Russia and China refused to support measures that would affect their economic ties. Responding to the vote, Iranian Ambassador to the UN, Mohamed Khazaee chided ambassadors in the council who had endorsed the resolution. He insisted that his country has no ambitions to make nuclear bombs. And he said that the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes. [>foxnews.com; See related stories,

en.rian.ru (RIA Novosti) June 9, "Russia threatens payback if Iran sanctions affect its interests" : The Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Wednesday of retaliatory measures if new sanctions against Iran affected Russian companies or individuals. The United Nations Security Council approved on Wednesday a new package of economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. "We cannot possibly ignore signals reaching us about the intention of some of our partners...to start considering additional, tougher restrictive measures against Iran than those provided for under the UN Security Council resolution," the ministry said in a statement. The ministry said it was especially concerned by the prospect of "extraterritorial sanctions" — sanctions imposed on companies and individuals from third countries...The new sanctions are likely to prohibit the delivery of Russian S-300s surface-to-air missile systems to the Islamic Republic...

khaleejtimes.com (AFP) June 9, "Un sanctions should be 'thrown in dust bin' : Ahamdinejad" : TEHRAN - Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the new UN sanctions imposed on Tehran on Wednesday should be “thrown in the dust bin,” the ISNA news agency reported. "These resolutions are not worth a dime for the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad told ISNA in Tajikistan. "I gave one of them (world powers) a message that the resolutions you issue are like a used hanky which should be thrown in the dust bin. They are not capable of hurting Iranians."...

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06.09.10 Militants destroy NATO supplies in Pakistan

June 9 - At least seven people have been killed in Pakistan in an attack on military vehicles and goods destined for NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan. It is thought at least 12 gunmen stormed the Tarnol depot, about 30 miles from the capital Islamabad. They set fire to around 80 trucks and 60 trailers, which were due to carry fuel, food and other supplies to Afghanistan. "There were 60 trailers gutted by fire. In addition up to 80 NATO vehicles were partially damaged," a police spokesman told reporters. "Seven people, most of them drivers and their helpers, were killed." Security forces said that the attack was unprecedented, taking place so close to capital Islamabad. It has been blamed on Taliban militants. The last attack on a convoy was in April when militants torched 12 lorries and killed four policemen. [>news.sky.com]

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06.09.10 Afghanistan explosion 'kills dosens' in Kandahar

June 9 - An explosion in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan has killed at least 39 people, Afghan officials say. Reports said the blast ripped through a wedding party on Wednesday evening, leaving another 70 more wounded. It is unclear what caused the blast or why the wedding was targeted. No-one has yet said they planted a device. Last week, Afghanistan held a national peace council and endorsed a plan to seek peace with the Taliban. But violence has continued unabated. On Monday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) lost 10 soldiers on its deadliest day in months. Mohammad Anaas, a senior official with the Kandahar city administration, told Agence France-Presse news agency the explosion took place at a wedding in Arghandab district, about 20km (12 miles) north of Kandahar city. [More>>bbc.co.uk]

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06.09.10 US helicopter shot down trying to evacuate casualty from a British base

June 9 - Four American servicemen were killed when their helicopter was shot down in southern Afghanistan today during a daring operation to evacuate wounded British soldiers from a firefight in Sangin. In a separate incident, a soldier from the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment died in an explosion in Nahr-e Saraj, also in Helmand, the Ministry of Defence said. His family have been informed. Their deaths bring to 29 the number NATO troops killed during an especially violent nine days. Afghan officials said the US helicopter was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. NATO confirmed that it was "brought down by hostile fire." The US Air Force support helicopter was circling low over Sangin to protect a dedicated air ambulance — also known as a Medevac helicopter — which had landed in the vicinity of Britain's Forward Operating Base Jackson to rescue "several wounded soldiers." Officials said the wounded troops — some of whom were in a critical condition — were successfully airlifted to a military hospital but all four pilots and crew on board the support aircraft were killed. [More>>timesonline.co.uk]

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06.09.10 Yemeni army clashes with al-Qaeda in raid

BAGHDAD / WASHINGTON, June 9 - US says 3 Americans held over terror charges. Ten Yemeni soldiers were wounded in clashes with al-Qaeda suspects as they tried to arrest a militant leader over last week's murder of a top officer, tribal and medical sources said. Yemeni government forces clashed with al-Qaeda members in the province of Marib, east of the capital Sanaa. The troops raided the home of Hassan Abdullah Saleh al-Uqaily in al-Himma, using tank guns in an attempt to arrest him. The suspect managed to escape but clashes broke out with a group of his supporters during which 10 soldiers were wounded, a medical official said. Uqaily's home was completely destroyed in the clashes. Colonel Mohammed Saleh al-Shaief and two of his bodyguards were killed on Saturday when al-Qaeda militants opened fire on their convoy south of the eastern city of Marib, military and tribal sources said. [More>>alarabiya.net]

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06.09.10 23 hurt by bomb near mosque in southern Thailand

PATTANI, Thailand (AP) June 9 - A drive-by bombing near a mosque wounded 23 people in Thailand's turbulent south in what police said Wednesday was an attack by Muslim insurgents. Witnesses saw two men on a motorcycle throw an improvised explosive device at a government pickup truck in Yala town Tuesday evening, but the bomb missed the vehicle and landed just across the street from the mosque, Police Superintendent Col. Piyawat Chalermsri said. Most of those hurt were Muslims. Two victims were in intensive care, including a 14-year-old girl in critical condition. Thailand's southernmost provinces, the only ones with Muslim majorities in the predominantly Buddhist country, have been gripped for the past six years by a separatist insurgency that has claimed more than 4,000 lives. [More>>thejakartapost.com]

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06.08.10 Inquiry panel accuses Goldman Sachs of avoiding requests for information

WASHINGTON, June 8 - A panel studying the financial crisis has subpoenaed Goldman Sachs, accusing the bank of being uncooperative and dealing another blow to the firm's credibility in Washington. The company's stock dropped 2.5 percent after members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission said the firm was willfully avoiding requests for interviews and documents. The panel has requested information about complex financial products sold by Goldman in the run-up to the financial crisis. It also wants to learn about transactions between the firm and AIG. Phil Angelides, chairman of the FCIC, said Goldman was deliberately trying to "run out the clock" by dumping roughly 2.5 billion pages of documents onto the commission without enough guidance on where to find the requested information.

"We're not going to let the American people be played for chumps here," Angelides said during a conference call Monday. Goldman, in a statement, denied being difficult: "We have been and continue to be committed to providing the FCIC with the information they have requested." It's been a rough few months for Goldman. In April, the bank faced a 10-hour grilling by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations about whether it misled customers in the selling of its mortgage-backed securities products. In the same month, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the bank with defrauding investors. [>washingtonpost.com]

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06.08.10 Countrywise settlement hopeful: 'I felt smothered'

June 8 - Scorned Countrywide Borrowers Await Word on How Much Cash, If Any, They'll Get From $108 Million Government Settlement. Rochelle Gear thought falling behind on her adjustable-rate mortgage was bad enough. But it got worse, Gear said, when her lender, Countrywide Financial, started tacking on new fees in addition to her mortgage debt and interest payments. Gear estimates that Countrywide charged her some $3,000 for services related to her late mortgage payments on her Atlanta condo, including a fee when the company sent someone to visit the property to check if she was still living there. "I went through months of fees and back and forth and harassment," said Gear, who first shared her story with "World News" in 2007. "I felt smothered."

Today, Gear hopes she'll be among at least 200,000 homeowners that the Federal Trade Commission has announced could be eligible for payments from a $108 million settlement with Countrywide over excessive fees. According to the FTC, between 2005 and July, 2008, two Countrywide mortgage servicing companies charged "inflated" fees for property inspections, lawn-mowing and other services to borrowers who were in default on their loans. The fees, the FTC said, were sometimes marked up as much as 100 percent, leaving cash-strapped borrowers on the hook for hundreds or thousands of dollars. When customers tried to save their homes through Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings, the FTC said, Countrywide "made false or unsupported claims" about how much homeowners owed. [More>>abcnews.go.com]

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06.08.10 Underwater oil 'clouds' 42 miles from BP well

June 8 - Gov't confirms presence of "very low concentrations" of subsurface crude; containment cap "steadily" capturing More of leak. The government's leading water and air monitoring agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, confirmed Tuesday the presence of "very low concentrations of sub-surface oil" as far as 42 miles from the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco and Coast Guard Incident Commander, Adm. Thad Allen told reporters in the oil-mired Gulf region Tuesday that the term "plume" — which has been used often by the media in anticipation of the reported underwater oil patches — was not a good definition of the pockets of crude located by research vessels.

"Cloud" would be a better term, Allen told reporters, explaining that a plume normally has a clearly defined source and a pattern of dispersion based on air or water currents. Lubchenco said that tests conducted at three sites by a University of South Florida research vessel confirmed oil as far as 3,300 feet below the surface 42 miles northeast of the well site. Lubchenco said the analysis "indicate there is definitely oil sub surface. It's in very low concentrations" of 0.5 parts per million. Lubchenco said another cloud of oil discovered 142 miles from the sunken BP rig showed chemical characteristics "not consistent" with the crude spewing from the BP spill. She described the analysis used to identify the oil's source as "fingerprinting." [More>>cbsnews.com]

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06.08.10 Arabs urged to 'break' Israel borders

BEIRUT (AFP) June 8 - A senior Palestinian official in Lebanon, Munir Maqdah, on Tuesday urged all Arabs to march across Israel's land borders with its neighbors, amid new plans to break the Israeli sea blockade on Gaza. "Civil society and Palestinian factions in Lebanon are looking into forming a 'Return to Palestine Flotilla' and organizing marches to break into Palestine not only from Lebanon but also Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza and all Arab countries," Maqdah, a leader of the mainstream Fatah party, told AFP. "We hope the Lebanese authorities will facilitate the process so that we can launch this effort very soon," Maqdah said, adding that he had received letters of interest from thousands of people. Protests erupted worldwide after Israeli naval commandos last week stormed a Turkish-led aid flotilla headed for Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade, killing nine activists on board. "Turkish blood has now put Israeli occupation under siege and Palestinian and Arab blood will do the same," Maqdah said.

"The Palestinian cause is in need of more effort and blood." His comments came days after two pro-Palestinian groups launched a campaign in Lebanon to raise funds for a ship they plan to sail to Gaza this week carrying educational supplies and journalists. The non-governmental groups "Free Palestine Movement" and "Reporters Without Limits" said they hoped the boats would set off for the blockaded strip at the end of the week. On Friday, the head of Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, called for a "Freedom Flotilla II" to break the Israeli-imposed siege on Gaza. Nasrallah, whose group fought a 2006 war with its arch-foe Israel, said it was important join "the humanitarian struggle" to break the blockade but insisted he had no plans to ignite a new war with the Jewish state. [>khaleejtimes.com; for background stories, see Maravot News 6.07.10, including:

06.07.10 Assad: Syria prepared to act against Israel's siege of Gaza
06.07.10 Gov't disturbed by cropped photos
06.06.10 Iran offers escort for Gaza ships
06.06.10 Israel says activists prepared for fight on ship
06.05.10 Gaza rocket strikes Israel: Army
06.05.10 Israel commandos board aid ship but no violence
06.05.10 Report: Erdogan considering visiting Gaza to 'break blockade'
06.04.10 Hamas is not terrorist group: Turkey's Erdogan
6.04.10 Israel Navy: 3 commandos nearly taken hostage in Gaza flotilla raid
6.03.10 (background stories, videos), 06.03.10 Free Gaza official says Iran donations rejected timesonline.co.uk, Jun 3, "Turkish charity that sent aid convoy to Gaza 'has links to terrorism'
06.03.10 Turkey says ties with Israel 'will never be the same'
06.03.10 Arabs seek UN push to end Israel's Gaza siege
06.02.10 Israel expels activists as Gaza fallout spreads
foxnews.com, June 2, "Gaza clash: Turkish charity's terror links"
ustreas.gov, November 12, 2008, "Treasury designates the Union of Good"
Maravot News 5.31.10 article 05.25.10 Turkey to Israel: Lift blockade of Gaza

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06.08.10 Two more NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan

KABUL, June 8 - June 7 - Two more NATO soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday, the military said, a day after international forces lost 10 soldiers in a string of attacks. The soldiers died in an improvised bomb attack in southern Afghanistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said, without giving any further details. On Monday seven US, one French and two Australian soldiers were killed in various attacks, making it the deadliest single day in combat for NATO forces since 11 French troopers lost their lives in August 2008. [>thenews.com.pk]

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06.08.10 UK plans to deport Afghan children

June 8 - Human rights and refugee agencies have criticized British proposals to deport unaccompanied Afghan children to their homeland, saying such a move could put lives at risk. According to a tender published in March, the UK Border Agency plans to set up a $5.8m "reintegration" centre in Kabul, the Afghan capital, to allow child asylum seekers arriving without parents or a guardian to be sent home. Under the terms of the proposal, the centre would provide reintegration assistance in Afghanistan for around 12 boys aged 16 and 17, and 120 adults, per month. A number of other European countries, including Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, are planning to return children to care centres in Afghanistan while Norway says it will build a similar facility in Kabul. The moves are supported by an EU policy that says child asylum seekers can only be deported if reception centres are created to care for minors when the family cannot be found. But Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the plans did not say how children would be kept safe once back in Afghanistan. [More>>aljazeera.net]

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06.08.10 Bomb attack leaves 15 injured in Istanbul: report

ISTANBUL, June 8 - Turkey seeks to ramp up regional pressure on Israel. Fifteen people were injured in a bomb attack Tuesday in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul targeting a police minibus, the Anatolia news agency reported, as Turkey was preparing to use a regional summit to ramp up pressure on Israel over the attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla. The road-side bomb exploded in front of a hospital in the Kucukcekmece district, on the European side of the city straddling the Bosphorus Strait, as the vehicle carrying officers on their way to work was passing. The injured included both officers and passers-by, the report said. Tuesday's bomb blast came as Turkey was hosting several leaders for the summit of an Asian security grouping in the city, among them Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. [More>>alarabiya.net]

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06.08.10 Protesters torch homes of accused Iraq attackers

(AFP) June 8 - Dozens of protesters in an Iraqi town on Tuesday torched the homes of six policemen accused of detonating a car bomb last month that killed 30 people, and called for their executions. The mayor of the predominantly Shiite town of Khales northeast of Baghdad was also wounded when the protesters attempted to storm the local police headquarters, witnesses and a police office said. Guards had to fire warning shots into the air to disperse the crowd, they said. A May 21 car bomb in the centre of Khales killed 30 people and left 80 wounded and authorities arrested 39 people in the aftermath of the attack, six of whom confessed to having taken part, all of them policemen. [More>>france24.com]

WASHINGTON (RIA Novosti) June 8 - The C/2009 R1 comet is nearing the Earth and will be visible in the Northern hemisphere with a naked eye in mid-June, NASA said on its website. The comet, discovered in 2009 by well-known British-Australian astronomer and "comet-catcher" Robert H. McNaught, is already visible through powerful binoculars in the morning sky. NASA said the comet will reach its closest proximity to the Earth by June 15 and could shine just above the horizon in the Perseus constellation. It could be brighter than Venus and visible during the day. The comet's green plasma head, or coma, is larger than the planet Jupiter, while the long willowy ion tail stretches more than a million kilometers through space. [More>>en.rian.ru; See other details on comet's orbit, ssd.jpl.nasa.gov]

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