US Embassy Jerusalem Move 'Assault' On Muslims?
Jerusalem's
Grand Mufti on Friday branded plans by President-elect Donald Trump to
move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem an "assault" on
Muslims across the globe.
"The
pledge to move the embassy is not just an assault against Palestinians
but against Arabs and Muslims, who will not remain silent," Muhammad
Hussein said in a sermon at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City.
On
Tuesday, Palestinian leaders called for Friday prayers at mosques
across the Middle East this week to protest Trump's campaign pledge.
There
have been warnings that the move would constitute recognising Jerusalem
as Israel's capital and could inflame tensions in the Middle East and
possibly sink what remains of peace efforts.
"The
transfer of the embassy violates international charters and norms which
recognise Jerusalem as an occupied city," Hussein said in his sermon,
avoiding mentioning Trump by name.
The Palestinians regard east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel proclaims the entire city as its capital.The city's status is one of the thorniest issues of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.
Mohammad
Shtayyeh, a senior Palestinian official and Fatah central committee
member, said on Tuesday that the Palestinian leadership had been
informed by diplomatic contacts that Trump could call for the move in
his inauguration speech on January 20.
The
Palestinians have added the issue to the agenda of a meeting of foreign
ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on January 19 in
Malaysia, he added.
Source: AFP, Agensi
USA USING SEX, MONEY TO INFITRATE IRAN?
DUBAI,United Arab Emirates - The United States is using sex, money and Western
lifestyles to infiltrate Iran's decision-making elite, the Islamic republic's
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday.
The remarks by Khamenei, who has the last word on matters of
state, followed a wave of arrests of journalists and intellectuals by Tehran
authorities over fears of Western infiltration after Iran reached an agreement
with world powers over its nuclear programme.
"Two main things are used for this infiltration: money
and sexual attractions. They are used to change beliefs, viewpoints and
lifestyles, so that the affected person will think in the same way as an
American," Khamenei said in remarks broadcast on state television.
"The main targets of this infiltration are the elites,
influential people and decision-makers. This is why infiltration is such a
great danger," Khamenei told a gathering attended by 
commanders of the
Basij, IRGC's voluntary militia arm.
The IRGC has rounded up artists, journalists and U.S. citizens as part of the crackdown on infiltration by the West.
commanders of the
Basij, IRGC's voluntary militia arm. The IRGC has rounded up artists, journalists and U.S. citizens as part of the crackdown on infiltration by the West.
Last week the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee
criticized Iran for the crackdown, as well as its increased use of the death
penalty,a rebuke Tehran dismissed
as "Iranophobia."
as "Iranophobia."
Source: Channel News Asia
MASSIVE OIL SPILL IN GULF OF MEXICO THREATENS BIRDS AND ANIMALS
MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER – Oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico was starting to ooze ashore, threatening migrating birds, nesting pelicans, river otters and mink along Louisiana's fragile islands and barrier marshes.
Crews in boats were patrolling coastal marshes early Friday looking for areas where the oil has flowed in, the Coast Guard said. Storms loomed that could push tide waters higher than normal through the weekend, the National Weather Service warned.
Source: AP
Crews in boats were patrolling coastal marshes early Friday looking for areas where the oil has flowed in, the Coast Guard said. Storms loomed that could push tide waters higher than normal through the weekend, the National Weather Service warned.
- A top adviser to President Barack Obama said Friday that no new oil drilling would be authorized until authorities learn what caused the explosion of the rig Deepwater Horizon. David Axelrod told ABC's "Good Morning America" that "no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what has happened here." Obama recently lifted a drilling moratorium for many offshore areas, including the Atlantic and Gulf areas.
- The leak from a blown-out well a mile underwater is five times bigger than first believed. Faint fingers of oily sheen were reaching the Mississippi River delta late Thursday, lapping the Louisiana shoreline in long, thin lines. Thicker oil was about five miles offshore. Officials have said they would do everything to keep the Mississippi River open to traffic.
IRAN HAS ENOUGH NUKE FUEL TO MAKE BOMB
Chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen
WASHIN
GTON: The United States believes Iran has stockpiled enough nuclear fuel to make a bomb, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said on Sunday.
"We think they do, quite frankly," Mullen said on CNN's "State of the Union" program when asked whether Iran has enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon.
GTON: The United States believes Iran has stockpiled enough nuclear fuel to make a bomb, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said on Sunday."We think they do, quite frankly," Mullen said on CNN's "State of the Union" program when asked whether Iran has enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon.
"And Iran having nuclear weapons, I've believed for a long time, is a very very bad outcome for the region and for the world," Mullen said.
The United States suspects Iran of trying to use its nuclear program to build an atomic bomb, but Tehran insists it is purely for the peaceful generation of electricity. Enriched uranium can be used to make nuclear weapons.
Mullen's comments on Iran came days after a Washington think tank said Iran had enough uranium for a bomb.
The Institute for Science and International Security released a report in late February concluding that Iran has reached "nuclear weapons breakout capability."
The report was based on an analysis of data from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nucle
ar watchdog agency.
The IAEA later said Iran was cooperating well with U.N. nuclear inspectors to help ensure it does not again understate the amount of uranium it has enriched, suggesting the uranium accounting shortfall might not have been deliberate evasion.
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, which favors diplomatic engagement with Tehran to defuse the dispute over its nuclear intentions, called Iran's nuclear program an "urgent problem" the international community must address.
The United States suspects Iran of trying to use its nuclear program to build an atomic bomb, but Tehran insists it is purely for the peaceful generation of electricity. Enriched uranium can be used to make nuclear weapons.
Mullen's comments on Iran came days after a Washington think tank said Iran had enough uranium for a bomb.
The Institute for Science and International Security released a report in late February concluding that Iran has reached "nuclear weapons breakout capability."
The report was based on an analysis of data from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nucle
ar watchdog agency.The IAEA later said Iran was cooperating well with U.N. nuclear inspectors to help ensure it does not again understate the amount of uranium it has enriched, suggesting the uranium accounting shortfall might not have been deliberate evasion.
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, which favors diplomatic engagement with Tehran to defuse the dispute over its nuclear intentions, called Iran's nuclear program an "urgent problem" the international community must address.
Courtesy: CNN,The Star Online
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
