Israel rejects new Palestinian government: minister

 

Israel s foreign minister told the UN Security Council on Thursday that a new Palestinian unity government including Hamas was a setback to peace attempts, diplomats said.

 

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman briefed the 15 Security Council ambassadors on the Middle East peace talks and the growing confrontation with Iran in a meeting at a New York hotel.

 

Lieberman said an accord signed this week by the heads of Fatah and Hamas “does not contribute to the advancement of peace negotiations or the well being of the Palestinian people,” Israel s UN mission said in a statement.

 

The accord “reflects the personal interests” of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, the head of Fatah, and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, the Israeli minister added.

 

“Israel will not accept a Palestinian government that includes Hamas, unless it changes its current policies, recognizes Israel s right to exist and accepts all Quartet conditions,” Lieberman added.

 

Talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been frozen since September 2010. The Palestinians have demanded that Israel halt settlement construction in the Palestinian territories. Israel rejects any conditions for talks to settle the Middle East conflict.

 

Lieberman, who is on a US tour which included meetings in Washington with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also demanded that the Security Council act on Iran, the statement said.

 

“Israel keeps all options on the table” if international sanctions do not convince Iran to halt its nuclear drive, Lieberman said. Western countries say Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb and many experts say Israel is planning for a military strike. Iran denies it is seeking a weapon.

 

Lieberman called on the Security Council to act on statements by Iran s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who have made calls “to wipe Israel off the map,” the Israeli mission said.
 

Football: WC venue workers threaten strike

Workers building and renovating Brazil s stadiums for the 2014 World Cup are threatening to go on strike if employers don t abide to their demands for unified salaries and benefits.

 

There have been isolated strikes across the nation, but now the unions representing the workers in each of the 12 host cities are trying to come together to plead for better conditions for everyone.

 

Union leader Claudio da Silva Gomes says the workers are ready to stop working as early as next month if construction companies don t agree to give workers the same salaries and benefits regardless of their venue.

 

FIFA has said World Cup preparations are already behind schedule.

Oil below $96 on mixed demand signs

 

Oil prices fell below $96 a barrel Thursday on mixed signs about the strength of crude demand in the U.S. amid growing inventories.

 

Benchmark crude fell by $2.03 to $95.58 per barrel in New York afternoon trading, reflecting weak demand for petroleum products in the U.S.

 

Brent crude fell by 28 cents to $111.28 per barrel in London.

 

A jump of U.S. crude inventories last week by 4 million barrels suggested oil consumption is sluggish. Analysts expected a rise of 3 million barrels. However, factories raised output in January by the most in seven months and construction spending rose 1.5 percent in December, the fifth straight monthly gain.

 

Oil prices have hovered near $100 for the last few months amid mixed economic signs from the U.S., Europe and Asia.

 

Some analysts expect crude to begin to rise as the global economy may grow more this year than previously expected.

 

In other energy trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures rose 8 cents to $2.46 per 1,000 cubic feet. Natural gas hit a 10-year low last month at $2.32 per 1,000 cubic feet, and the price is still less than half of it what it was in 2010.

 

Heating oil was up about a penny at $3.04 per gallon and gasoline futures fell by 3 cents to $2.86 per gallon.
 

Islamabad: $40m power project signed

Administration said that about 30% construction work has been completed.

Economic Affairs Division Secretary Abdul Wahid Rana and Chief Executive Project General (r) Zubair signed agreement papers. He said that Kuwait had donated grant worth $ 40 million in 2010 which is being handed over to the Neelum Jhelum Project.

Chairman WAPDA Shakil Durrani said that Neelum Jhelum Project was delayed being on fault lines, adding that cost of project has reached Rs 330 billion due to change in the design of the project.

Project Incharge Lieutenant General (r) Zubair said that 1000 MW project was delayed by 2.5 years.

Sudan rebels capture 29 Chinese workers

 

Rebels in Sudan s South Kordofan state have captured 29 Chinese workers after a battle with government forces, a spokesman for the insurgents said on Sunday.

 

Nine members of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) were also being held, Arnu Ngutulu Lodi of the Sudan People s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), told AFP.

 

“Yes, we have captured them,” he said. “I want to assure you right now they are in safe hands.”

 

He said the Chinese have not been kidnapped and none have been wounded.

 

They, along with the Sudanese, were captured on Saturday when the rebels destroyed a Sudanese military convoy between Rashad town and Al-Abbasiya in the northeast of the province, which has been at war since June.

 

Lodi said the Chinese were working mainly on road construction in the area.

 

They are being held in the Nuba mountains “until further notice” because of the security situation.

 

“Today is a little bit calm but we are expecting at any time SAF may launch an attack on us,” he said.

 

Spokesmen for Sudan s army and the Chinese embassy could not be immediately reached for comment.

Schools made of plastic bottle rising in Philippine

At Payatas Elementary School in Laguna Province, more than 70 students are crammed in the classroom, while others have to sit in makeshift classrooms.

 

“Some of them are not listening because of so many pupils. They re very noisy, so the teachers are facing problems for the performance of the pupils,” said Romeo Tatad, the school s vice principal.

 

It s a problem that persists in hundreds of other public schools in the Philippines. The education department says there is a need to build 68,000 more classrooms. A need that an underfunded education system has failed to cope with, but the private sector is helping to fill bottle classrooms.

 

When construction at the school is complete, eight classrooms, mostly made out of glass and plastic bottles, will rise. They are twice the size of regular classrooms and cost only a third to build.

 

Used plastic bottles are filled with a mixture of soil, water, and cement, which are then packed together to form the walls and foundation of each building. There are holes on either side for ventilation and large solar bulbs made out of steel drums for lighting.

 

“You re talking about empty land and building only in one way, which is cement, steel and glass. But maybe we re too poor to keep on just using one solution. So if education is important then we should look at all available solutions.

 

That is why this plastic bottle is a good start. It s a pioneering way to look at how a simple plastic bottle can be used as a brick,” said Illac Diaz, the head of My Shelter Foundation.

 

The bottle classrooms also go beyond just solving the problem of the lack of classrooms and the excess in garbage. They are actually built to withstand the force of typhoons that have become increasingly stronger as an effect of climate change.

 

“The classrooms are becoming, you know, cheaper and cheaper and less durable, climate change has become stronger and stronger. So if these are the places where people run to as a place of last resort, you know, we have to look for new ways where cheaper doesn t mean that it s less safe. You can actually run over these plastic bottles with a truck, and it won t break,” Diaz said.

 

The bottle classrooms are the first of their kind to be completed, but according to Diaz, every town in the Philippines produces enough waste to be able to build one every two weeks. All it takes is some political will and community effort to make it a reality.
 

Hamas leaded for resistance forces against Jewish settlement

The statement came after the Jerusalem municipality’s recent approval for the construction of 930 new housing units in the Israeli settlement Har Homa beyond the Green Line.

The decision attests to that the Zionist mentality is to uproot the indigenous people, especially those in Jerusalem, Masri said in comments on Saturday.

Masri said that Israel is ‘’swallowing up’’ the city in stages with settlement and displacement of its residents, starting with Palestinian politicians and figures, but not ending with the removal of Jerusalem’s landmarks and names and attempts to erase the Muslim and Christian presence in the city so that the Jewish character prevails.

Masri further said he rejected Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and stressed that the continued ‘’intrusion’’ called for releasing the West Bank resistance forces and ending the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination with Israel and uniting in the face of the large-scale settlement plan.

He also called for resistance forces in the West Bank to aim strikes at Israel, saying that the calm is what has given the Israelis the courage to target the land.

ICC Worried About the World Cup Venues

Less then one month remaining in the start of ICC World Cup 2011 but the construction work of stadiums in India and Sri Lanka is not completed yet, for the hosting of Mega event. World Cup will be co-hosted by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka starting from 19 February. The ICC is so much worried about the situation and has sent an inspection team to India in order to check the construction work of these venues.

In Premadasa stadium of Sri Lanka seven matches will be played including a quarter final and a semi-final. While talking to media, the chairman of Sri-Lankan cricket committee Dandeniyage Somachandra de Silva accepted that four important stadiums are not ready for the Mega event yet. He further said that hopefully the work on these venues will be completed soon.

The duo of Eden Gardens in Kolkata and Wankhede Stadium of Mumbai are not ready. The final of Mega event will be played in Wankhede Stadium. The organizers are hopeful that before the start of the world cup all work would be completed.

Kotla Stadium in Feroz Shah is an other important venue of World Cup and its construction work is little bit remaining it is to be remembered that this stadium was banned by the ICC in 2009 for producing a track which sub-standard and dangerous for
the batsmen.

The chief exective of ICC Haroon Logart has shown his reservations about venues before Indian and Sri Lankan cricket boards time and again. In the ICC meeting held on 30 October, last year, ICC gave the deadline for completion of construction of stadiums and to make them suitable for play as 30 November and 31 December 2010 respectively. Both India and Sri Lanka did not put these deadlines under consideration which makes ICC so angry.

14 teams are participating in the tournament. These 14 teams are divided into two groups in each of which seven teams are included. The final of the tournament will be played on 2nd April.

Israel destroyed Syrian nuclear reactor: WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks disclosed that Israel destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor in an air raid on September 6, 2007. According to WikiLeaks Israel destroyed the nuclear reactor built by Syria secretly, apparently with North Koreas help, then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice wrote in the cable published in Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

Our intelligence experts are convinced that the attack targeted by the Israelis is in fact an atomic reactor of the same type built by North Korea in Yongbyon, she wrote in the message dated April 2008. We have good reason to believe that the reactor was not built for peaceful purposes, she said, adding the attack came only weeks before the reactor was to become operational.Rice also noted the secrecy surrounding the construction of the nuclear facility, with the Syrian authorities refusing to invite the International Atomic Energy Agency or any media to inspect the site.

Israel has for its part never denied that its air force attacked a target in Syria, without ever officially claiming responsibility for the action.

India, France Sign Nuclear Deal

NEW DELHI: India and France have signed a general framework agreement for implementing the reactors’ unit at Jaitapur nuclear plant in Maharashtra state of India.

An “early works” agreement between state-controlled French nuclear giant Areva and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited have been signed for the construction of these reactors.

A Memorandum of Understanding has also been signed between ISRO and France’s Centre National D’etudes Spatiales (CNEc) for cooperation in the field of earth science and climate change.

Another agreement has been signed between the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and France’s atomic energy commission CEA for cooperation in the field of nuclear science and technology.

Meanwhile, the country’s Minister of Economy and Finance Christine Lagarde has said French companies are committed to invest euro 10 billion (USD 13.37 bn) in India by 2012.

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