Iran bans showing half-naked men on TV

TEHRAN: Iran has banned TV programs showing half-naked men and love triangles, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday, in the latest sign of a conservative crackdown on media in the Islamic state.

It was not clear what prompted the ban — Iran TV, which has a monopoly in the country, dedicates large parts of its schedule to religious shows and announcements from the government.

But viewers were gripped a few years ago by a locally-produced soap opera called Forbidden Fruit which told the tale of an old man who decided to leave his wife after falling in love with a young girl.

“Based on a new instruction, the broadcasting of programs that show tempting love triangles is banned,” Fars said.

Exceptions would be made for shows that explicitly condemned such entanglements, it added.

“Showing half-naked men in Iranian and foreign productions is also banned,” the report said, adding that producers were urged not to show “unnecessary mingling” between the sexes.

The statement did not say how the restrictions on partially-clothed men would affect Iran TV’s sports coverage.

Since the 1979 revolution brought strict Islamic law to Iran, TV shows and films have had to comply with religious values by avoiding scenes that show intimate relations between men and women or flout Islamic dress codes for women.

The restrictions have pushed many Iranians to turn to illegal satellite channels for uncensored entertainment and international news.

Iran outlawed satellite dishes in the mid-1990s, saying it wanted to curb what it called Western efforts to corrupt its population through the spread of immoral programs.

The ban was largely ignored under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s predecessor Mohammad Khatami who tried to increase social freedoms after he was elected in 1997.

But hard-liners pressed for renewed restrictions after Ahmadinejad took office in 2005 and Iranian police launched a new crackdown on satellite dishes earlier this year.

Iran’s hardline rulers often accuse the United States and other Western countries of seeking to overthrow clerical rule through a “soft” or “velvet” revolution with the help of intellectuals, websites and satellite channels.

Earlier this year, local media reported Iran had also banned programs showing how to cook western dishes. AGENCIES

US endorses Taliban headquarters in Qatar

The United States has endorsed plans for the Taliban to open political headquarters in the Gulf state of Qatar by the end of the year, British newspaper The Times reported on Monday. The move is designed to allow the West to begin formal peace talks with the Taliban, Western diplomats told the paper. The office of the self-styled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would be the first internationally recognised representation for the Taliban since it was ousted from power by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Western diplomats told The Times it was hoped that opening a Taliban office in Qatar would push forward the prospect of talks intended to reconcile insurgents with the Afghan government and bring an end to the decade-long war.

Washington is believed to have insisted that the office be located “outside Pakistan s sphere of influence”, the report said.

“It will be an address where they have a political office,” one Western diplomatic source, who was not named, told The Times. “It will not be an embassy or a consulate but a residence where they can be treated like a political party.”

 

The diplomat stressed that the Taliban would not be allowed to use the office in the Qatari capital, Doha, to raise funds.

The Times reported that the Taliban was seeking assurances that its representatives would be free from the threat of harassment or arrest. Britain, which has the second largest contingent of troops in Afghanistan, declined to say whether it supported the creation of a Taliban office in Qatar. “This is a matter for the United States,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

The US ambassador to Kabul said last week that the Taliban must feel “more pain” from increased military pressure before progress can be made in peace talks.

“The Taliban needs to feel more pain before you get to a real readiness to reconcile,” Ryan Crocker said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Gaddafi forces still hold Brega oil terminal, refinery

BENGHAZI: Troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are still in control of the oil terminal and refinery of the strategic eastern port of Brega despite rebel advances, a spokesman for rebel forces said on Friday.

The two sides have been battling for months over Brega, 750 km east of Tripoli. The rebels see securing the oil facilities as a tipping point in the war and hope to resume oil exports from there as quickly as possible.

Rebels said they had captured a residential area of Brega on Thursday. But spokesman Mohammed Zawawi told reporters it was still not safe to go into the city. The oil terminal is about 15 kms (about 10 miles) from the residential district.

“Now we’re trying to clear that area. There are some Gaddafi troops still there,” said Mohammed Zawawi. “Gaddafi troops are shooting rockets into the city.”

Gaddafi is clinging to power despite a near five-month-old NATO air campaign, tightening economic sanctions, and a lengthening war with rebels trying to end his 41-year rule.

The rebels have seized large swathes of the North African state, but are deeply divided and lack experience, and Thursday’s gains in the east broke weeks of stalemate.

In the west, rebel forces driving north toward the town of Zawiyah, within striking distance of Gaddafi’s stronghold in the capital, have not moved up from Thursday’s positions.

Rebels said they had reached the village of Bir Shuaib, some 25 km (15 miles) from Zawiyah, which has unsuccessfully risen up against Gaddafi twice this year.

THREE FRONTS

The western battle is one of three widely separated rebel fronts against Gaddafi forces. In the east around the ports of Misrata and Brega, fighting had been bogged down in recent weeks while the western rebels have advanced.

Misrata, a sea port on the Mediterranean under rebel control for months, is about 500 kms (300 miles) east of Brega

Zawiyah lies less than 50 km west of Tripoli, on the main road to Tunisia, which has been a lifeline for Libya but has begun to crack down on rampant smuggling of gasoline.

Rebels in the western mountains do not operate as a single force, as each town has its own command. But when they join forces for major operations they can muster a few thousand men.

In an effort to pile economic and military pressure on Gaddafi, more countries are set to announce next week that they will free frozen assets for the rebels, a British official said.

“While it’s hard to predict when this will end, it’s easy to see the pressure is building on Gaddafi and it is only a matter of time before he’s forced to leave power,” the official said.

Britain is playing a leading role in NATO air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces, which have weakened his armory but have not enabled the rebels to deliver a knockout blow.

Tightening the economic noose around Gaddafi, Tunisia said on Thursday its troops were patrolling fuel stations to curb the flow of smuggled gasoline into neighboring Libya.

International sanctions and the effects of Libya’s civil war have disrupted normal supplies of fuel to parts of the country under Gaddafi’s control, but huge volumes of gasoline are instead being smuggled across the Libyan-Tunisian border.

“The armed forces are now conducting checks at fuel stations in the south of Tunisia … so that neither Tunisians nor Libyans can fill up with large quantities,” Tunisian defense ministry official Mokhtar Ben Nasr told a news conference.

“These checks are aimed at preventing the smuggling of diesel and gasoline to Libya.” AGENCIES

Libya’s Gaddafi presses offensive after son killed

TRIPOLI: Muammar Gaddafi pressed an offensive against rebel forces, and his supporters burnt Western embassies after the Libyan leader survived a NATO airstrike that officials said killed his son and three grandchildren.

Funerals were expected to be held on Monday, an occasion that might bring an awaited appearance or declaration by Gaddafi who authorities say was in the Tripoli house when it was destroyed by at least three missiles late on Saturday.

Gaddafi, fighting a rebellion against his authoritarian 41-year rule since mid-February, has not been seen in public since the attack, though a spokesman said he was unhurt. His son Saif al-Arab, 29, was killed with three young grandchildren.

The embassies of Britain and Italy were attacked and burnt, along with the U.S. commercial and consular affairs department after Gaddafi loyalists were shown on Libyan television vowing vengeance. The buildings had been vacated weeks earlier.

Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said the strikes were a fourth attempt to assassinate Gaddafi. He denied allegations in some media that the deaths had been fabricated to discredit NATO. The alliance said it hit a command and control centre.

Any appearance of an assassination attempt against Gaddafi is likely to lead to accusations the British and French-led strikes are exceeding the U.N. mandate to protect civilians.

French surgeon Gerrard Le Clouerec, who does not work for the Libyan government, was asked to independently identify the bodies of Saif al-Arab and two children. He said all three had died due to a blast. He said the children’s faces had been obliterated by the blast so they were difficult to identify.

Le Clouerec said he also saw the body of a young man of about 30, with a beard and a thin moustache whose face matched a photograph he had been shown of Saif al-Arab.

ROCKETS HIT MISRATA PORT

Gaddafi’s forces fired rockets at the port in Misrata on Sunday as an aid ship was trying to unload, rebels said, and the shelling forced two other vessels to wait offshore. The port is the lifeline for Misrata which has been under siege for weeks.

“Shelling the port is disastrous for us because it will sabotage all the humanitarian aid we are getting,” said rebel spokesman, Ahmed Hassan. “God help us if this happens. God protect our port.”

Libyan state television said the port was shelled to stop NATO from delivering weapons to the insurgents. The rebel spokesman said that was a lie.

Rights groups say hundreds of people, including many civilians, have been killed in Misrata, about 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli. Officials in Tripoli deny targeting civilians, and say they are fighting armed gangs and al Qaeda sympathisers.

Rebels have repelled government troops from the centre of Libya’s third largest city in recent days and now say they have gone on the offensive to try to capture Misrata airport.

The frontline in eastern Libya has been static west of the town of Ajdabiyah for a week with government troops digging in and rebels attempting to train and regroup.

In the west, Libyan government forces are fighting to dislodge rebels from the Western Mountains after they seized control last month of the Dehiba-Wazin crossing, opening a passage for food, fuel and medicine.

The sound of heavy bombardment and small arms fire echoed through the mountains on the Libyan side of the border.

Artillery shells fell on and around the town of Dehiba on the Tunisian side of the border, residents told Reuters, the site of an incursion on Friday by forces loyal to Gaddafi that provoked fury in Libya’s western neighbour.

Refugees poured across the border into Tunisia on Sunday.

“I never thought I would have to leave my house but today, at the age of 80, I find myself forced to flee with my family, without taking any possessions and without knowing where I’m going to stay here in Tunisia,” said a Libyan man who fled the rebel-held town of Zintan.

U.N. WITHDRAWS STAFF

Britain expelled the Libyan ambassador and Italy condemned the attack on its embassy as a grave and vile act. Most Western countries closed their embassies in Tripoli before the NATO military intervention began several weeks ago.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kaim called the attacks on the embassies “a regrettable action. These actions happened after 3:30 in the morning. That’s why our police force were outnumbered by the number of demonstrators.”

The United Nations withdrew its international staff from Tripoli after a crowd entered their compound.

“A crowd of people entered a U.N. compound and some vehicles were taken. All U.N. staff are safe and accounted for,” Martin Nesirky, a U.N. spokesman, said. “The decision to leave the country was based on the overall security situation in Tripoli.”

The U.N. sent international staff to Tripoli only last month after it reached an agreement with the Libyan government on a humanitarian presence. These staffers would now cover Western Libya from neighbouring Tunisia, the United Nations said.

“They have the right to do so because of what happened this morning,” Kaim said. “My understanding is it is a temporary withdrawal.” AGENCIES

Rebels say Gadaffi halts oil; Libya blames Britain

TRIPOLI: Libya accused Britain of damaging an oil pipeline in an air strike, hours after rebels said government attacks had halted production of oil they hope to sell to finance their uprising.

NATO troops kill six civilians in north – Afghan official

MAZAR-I-SHARIF: NATO troops killed six civilians during a night raid on a house in northern Afghanistan’s Sar-e Pul province late, the provincial governor told Reuters.

Air strikes hit Sabha in central Libya: Libya TV

TUNIS: Western air strikes have targeted military and civilian areas in the town of Sabha, Libyan state television reported on Saturday, quoting a military source.

Kadhafi accuses protesters of bin Laden links

TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on Thursday accused residents of Az-Zawiyah, a town west of the capital hit by fierce fighting between his forces and rebels, of being linked to Osama bin Laden.

In what was said to be a live audio feed on state television, Kadhafi also accused the protesters of being on drugs.

“You in Zawiyah turn to Bin Laden,” he said. “They give you drugs.”

This was the embattled leader”s second television appearance since protests broke out against his 41-year-old rule on February 15.

Addressing the older generation, Kadhafi said al Qaeda was behind the problems facing Libya, while the youth were on drugs and misbehaving.

“It is obvious now that this issue is run by al Qaeda,” he said. “Those armed youngsters, our children, are incited by people who are wanted by America and the Western world.

“Those inciting are very few in numbers and we have to capture them. Others have to stay at home. They have guns, they feel trigger happy and they shoot especially when they are stoned with drugs.”

The “situation is different from Egypt or Tunisia … Here the authority is in your hands, the people”s hands. You can change authority any way your wish.

It”s your call. You are the elderly, the head of the tribes, the professors.”

“They have been brainwashing the kids in this area and tell them to misbehave. This are the one who are under Bin Laden”s influence and authority, under the influence of drugs.”

On Tuesday, in a defiant, sometimes rambling speech on television, Kadhafi vowed to remain in Libya as head of its revolution, saying he would die as a martyr in the land of his ancestors and fight to the “last drop” of his blood.

He ordered the army and police to crush the popular uprising against his iron-fisted four-decade rule that has left hundreds dead.

Residents of Libya”s dissident-held east vowed on Thursday to march on Tripoli to oust the veteran leader.

State news agency Jana said three “terrorists” attacked a security forces post in Az-Zawiyah and slit the throats of three policemen on Thursday, amid reports of heavy fighting in the town.

Az-Zawiyah lies on the Mediterranean, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Tripoli. Fighting around the capital intensified after much of the country”s east has reportedly fallen to rebels.

Roadside bomb kills 3 pilgrims in Iraq

BAGHDAD: A roadside bomb killed three pilgrims and wounded 18 in Baghdad ahead of a religious event, an Iraqi Interior Ministry source said on Tuesday.

A police source said three people were killed and 19 wounded by the explosion in the western Baghdad district of Ghazaliya.

Another roadside bomb wounded 14 Shi’ite pilgrims in Khalis, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, the Diyala province operations centre said.

Shi’ite pilgrims have been gathering around Iraq ahead of Ashura on Friday, which commemorates the death of Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Hussein at the battle of Kerbala in 680. AGENCIES

Iran denies problem with uranium enrichment

TEHRAN: Iran Tuesday denied claims that its sensitive uranium enrichment work has been hit by technical problems and stressed that its nuclear programme has not been harmed by the Stuxnet computer worm.

Also rejecting allegations by Western powers that Iran lacks the know-how to make nuclear fuel plates, atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi was adamant the Islamic republic would be producing fuel for a research reactor by September 2011.

Salehi “denied Western media reports that enrichment has stopped in Iran,” the official news agency IRNA reported.

“Iran will never pay attention to lies in Western media on its progressive path in the nuclear issue,” he told IRNA.

Salehi appeared to be reacting to comments by Olli Heinonen, former deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who said on Monday that technical problems were slowing down Iran’s

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