Words above and video below posted by AlJazeeraEnglish

Words above and video below posted by AlJazeeraEnglish

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]]> http://waqasmirza.wordpress.com/?p=65 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:22:34 +0000 waqasmirza http://waqasmirza.wordpress.com/?p=65 A Noam Chomsky interview with Inside USA of Al-Jazeera.

http://roadsassy.com/index.php/2008/07/04/barack-obamas-muslim-family-featured-on-al-jazeera/

Go read that and watch he videos!  It's about a brainwasher communist who's gonna tax you and give all the money away to poor people in the world!

Mohammed el-Alaoui, the presiding judge at the trial of Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Morocco, has rejected on Tuesday an appeal by the defence team, asking for more time in order to better prepare the case.

The 20 defence lawyers who volunteered to defend Al Jazeera are expected to attend the second court session, due to resume at the Rabat First Instance Court, around 9am.

Many human rights activists, journalists and lawyers have been brought to believe that the trial is politically motivated, because of the way the court is pushing ahead with the case, giving lawyers only a short three-day adjournment for to prepare.

In Morocco, proceedings were adjourned for at least a week, and often two, in previous cases against journalists.

"This is a political trial", Khalid Soufiani, who is leading the defence team, told Al Jazeera.

‘Speed up the indictment’

"All other ordinary cases in today’s hearings were shelved till September and October, except ours", he added.

"Though we appealed to the judge to give us more time to better prepare our argument and to treat this case as any other ordinary one, he dismissed our appeal."

Another defence lawyer, Lhbib Haji, called it "bad faith from the authorities in order to speed up the indictment".

"It is a clear violation of all human rights charters."

"Unfortunately, this is a political trial", concurred Haytham Menna, a spokesperson for the Arab Commission for Human Rights.

"The withdrawal of press accreditation from Rachidi before the closure of the case is a political stance and not a judicial one. This stance does not show any respect to justice and can be explained only as a political decision."

‘Fair trial’

Hassan Rachidi pleaded not guilty and said he did his job as journalist, by providing two sides of the story in question.

Though he was surprised by the short term postponement, Mr Rachidi expressed his confidence in the Moroccan justice system.

"I trust the Moroccan system of justice and all I want is a fair trial", he said.

Mr Rachidi is charged with reporting that people were killed in clashes with security forces in the southwestern port city of Sidi Ifni on June 7, during a protest over poverty and rising unemployment. But reports of deaths have been rejected as “false” and “absurd” by Moroccan authorities, who said that 48 people were injured, including 28 police officers, but that nobody was killed.

Even though the government’s denial has been reported by Al Jazeera, a probe to determine how the false information was disseminated was ordered by the Rabat chief prosecutor’s office.

Hassan Rachidi could be sentenced to a prison term of between one and 12 months a fine of up to $13,750, if convicted.

Alcuni agenti feriti. La gente di Gaza galvanizzata dall'attentato di Gerusalemme

Rafah, palestinesi assaltano valico. Scontri con la polizia egiziana

RAFAH, 2 Luglio 2008 - Migliaia di palestinesi hanno assaltato oggi il valico di Rafah, tra la Striscia di Gaza e l'Egitto. I poliziotti egiziani, colpiti da un fitto lancio di sassi, hanno usato gli idranti per respingere la folla. Tra gli agenti ci sarebbero sei feriti, secondo quanto riferito da fonti interne alla polizia.

Le sequenze dell'assalto sono state trasmesse dalla tv satellitare araba Al Jazeera. Nelle immagini si vede la folla che lancia i sassi in direzione dei soldati egiziani. La situazione "sta diventando tesa - ha riferito l'inviato dell'emittente - al punto che le autorità del Cairo hanno minacciato la chiusura definitiva del valico".

Il giornalista ha fatto notare come i palestinesi che erano al valico, in attesa di entrare, siano stati "galvanizzati dalle notizie che arrivavano da Gerusalemme dell'attacco del bulldozer: e a quel punto si sono lanciati verso la porta egiziana".

Repubblica.it

[EN]

""" Israeli military forces have told the residents of the village of Arab ar-Ramadin that they will all be expelled from their homes in the coming weeks, as part of the Israeli project of expansion onto Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Since the Israeli government began construction of their Annexation Wall on the village's land in 2004, the residents of Arab ar-Ramadin have maintained an increasingly tenuous hold on their ancestral lands, which have been rendered inside 'Israeli' area, due to the placement of the Wall.

There has been a low-intensity siege warfare on the village since 2004, in which residents have been forced to show an ID card which has not been issued to them, harassed at checkpoints and refused entry to their homes under the force of the Israeli military.

On June 5, an Israeli military commander, accompanied by a force of 20 soldiers, arrived in the northern part of Arab ar-Ramadin. The commander informed the head of the community that the village needed to move to the other side of the Wall. Upon the villagers refusal to cooperate, Occupation forces threatened them, stating that they would be forced to leave.

If the eviction is carried out, 207 people will be expelled; 30 homes and animal pens will be destroyed and an estimated 1,500 sheep, the main source of income for the people, will be adversely affected. Since 2004 demolition orders have been issued to the village. The most recent demolition took place in March of this year, when residential structures housing 10 people were bulldozed.

Since the building of the Wall, daily life in Arab ar-Ramadin has become a constant struggle. The village, which is located in the same pocket as Ras Tireh, Wadi Rasha, and Daba, is isolated by the Wall and the Alfe Menashe settlement from the rest of the West Bank. People are consistently harassed or completely barred passage at the gates that close them off from the rest of the world. Furthermore, they are unable to bring in fodder for the sheep as the Occupation military prohibits both the crossing of vehicles and anyone without a permit.

Arab ar-Ramadin does not have schools within the village. As of 2003, 46 students were travelling daily to Habla and six high school and two university students were studying in Qalqiliya city. Habla was, prior to the Wall, a 2.5 km walk for the students, today they must walk 5 km and await the opening of one of the Wall’s gates.

At least 2,339 dunums of the village's land have been confiscated in the southern area for the Wall. Some of these lands are used for grain (839 dunums) and the rest (1500 dunums) are pasturelands used for grazing animals.

According to the Popular Committee Against the Wall, the case of Arab ar-Ramadin is symptomatic of the Occupation’s policy of ethnic cleansing. This project is paired with the creeping expansions of the Wall, settlements, settler-only roads, checkpoints and a complex of military orders and restrictions that creates permanent pressure on the Palestinian population centres. Villages like Arab ar-Ramadin, which are surrounded completely by the Wall and settlements, live with the most serious threat.

Currently, there are 14 villages with a total population of 6,314 inhabitants that face the imminent destruction of their homes and expulsion from their land. """

~~~

[RO]

""" Forţele militare israeliene le-au zis rezidenţilor din satul Arab ar-Ramadin că vor fi cu toţii evacuaţi din casele lor în următoarele săptămâni, ca parte al unui proiect israelian de expansiune pe pământurile palestiniene din Cisiordania.

De când guvernul israelian a început construirea Anexei la Zid pe pământul satului în 2004,rezidenţii din Arab ar-Ramadin au menţinut cu o subtilitate crescândă proprietatea pământurilor lor ancestrale, care au fost încadrate înăuntrul zonei „israeliene”, din cauza plasării Zidului.

Încă din 2004 asupra satului este un asediu, de intensitate mică, în care rezidenţii sunt obligaţi să prezinte un document de identitate care nu le este eliberat, hărţuiţi la punctele de control şi le este refuzată intrarea în propriile case sub forţa armatei israeliene.

Pe 5 iunie, un comandant al armatei israeliene, acompaniat de o forţă de 20 de soldaţi, a ajuns în partea de nord a Arab ar-Ramadin. Comandantul a informat şeful comunităţii că satul trebuie să se mute de partea cealaltă a Zidului. Pe baza refuzului de cooperare al sătenilor, Forţele de Ocupare i-a ameninţat, declarând că vor fi forţaţi să plece.

Dacă evacuarea este dusă până la capăt, 207 de oameni vor fi expulzaţi; 30 de case şi ţarcuri pentru animale vor fi distruse şi aproximativ 1.500 de oi, principala sursă de venit pentru săteni, vor fi afectate în mod negativ. Din 2004 au tot fost eliberate ordine de demolare pentru sat. Cea mai recentă demolare a avut loc în luna martie a acestui an, când structurile aparţinând localnicilor, care adăposteau 10 oameni, au fost dărâmate de buldozere.

Înca de la construirea Zidului, viaţa de zi cu zi în Arab ar-Ramadin a devenit o luptă continuă. Satul, care este localizat în aceeaşi zonă izolată ca Ras Tireh, Wadi Rasha şi Daba, este izolat de către Zid şi aşezarea Alfe Menashe, de restul Cisiordaniei. Oamenii sunt hărţuiţi în mod continuu sau le este interziă complet trecerea la porţile care îi închid faţă de restul lumii. Mai ales că nu pot să aducă fân pentru oi, deoarece armata Ocupaţiei interzice atât trecerea vehiculelor cât şi a oricui nu are permis.

Arab ar-Ramadin nu are şcoli în limitele satului. Începând din 2003, 46 de studenţi călătoreau zilnic până la Habla şi şase elevi de liceu şi doi studenţi universitari studiau în oraşul Qualqiliya. Habla era, înainte de Zid, la un drum de doar 2,5 km pentru studenţi, astăzi ei trebuie să meargă 5 km şi să aştepte deschiderea uneia dintre porţile Zidului.

Cel puţin 234 de hectare din pământurile satului au fost confiscate în zona de sud pentru Zid. Unele dintre aceste pământuri sunt folosite pentru grâne (84 de hectare) şi restul (150 de hectare) sunt pământuri pentru păşunat, folosite pentru animale.

Conform Comitetului Popular Împotriva Zidului, cazul Arab ar-Ramadin este unul simptomatic al politicii de Ocupare pentru epurarea etnică. Proiectul este însoţit de expansiunea lentă, dar sigură, a Zidului, a aşezărilor şi a drumurilor numai pentru ocupanţi, a punctelor de control şi a complexităţii de ordine şi restricţii militare care creează o presiune continuă asupra centrelor locuite de palestinieni. Satele ca Arab ar-Ramadin, care sunt înconjurate complet de către Zid şi de aşezările ocupante, trăiesc sub cea mai serioasă ameninţare.

În prezent, sunt 14 sate cu o populaţie totală de 6.314 de locuitori care se confruntă cu iminenta distrugere a caselor şi a expulzării de pe pământurile lor. """

Menurut Taro Katsura, jurucakap untuk syarikat First Advantage yang menganjurkan pakej perkahwinan luar biasa itu, setiap pasangan dikenakan bayaran sebanyak 240 juta yen (RM7.2 juta).

Beliau berkata, pasangan pengantin akan menaiki sebuah kapal angkasa kecil yang akan dilancarkan 100 kilometer ke angkasa lepas.

Semasa penerbangan selama sejam itu, pasangan pengantin akan menikmati suasana graviti sifar selama beberapa minit sebelum mula melafazkan ikrar taat setia dengan kehadiran tiga orang tetamu, kata Katsura.

Upacara pernikahan itu akan diadakan di bumi selepas pasangan pengantin berlepas ke angkasa "bagi membolehkan mereka melafazkan ikrar taat setia dalam suasana istimewa di angkasa," katanya lagi.

First Advantage menganjurkan pakej perkahwinan di angkasa dengan kerjasama Rocket Plane, sebuah syarikat yang berpusat di Amerika Syarikat (AS).

Menurut Katsura, Rocket Plane akan mengendalikan penerbangan ke angkasa lepas dari sebuah lapangan terbang swasta di Oklahoma, Jepun.

- AFP

Daca s-ar impaca vrajitoria cu Islamul, imediat am vedea anunturi in ziarul de Dubai, cu descantece, impacarea cu toate cele 9 neveste si normal, scoaterea argintului viu. Mi se pare foarte subestimat in ziua de azi acest argint viu.  In fine, ar face seicii coada la adevarata fiica vitrega a lu` verisoara de-al doilea a lu` Mama Omida.

Many poor and developing countries will have to adjust their economic policies in response to soaring commodity prices, according to an IMF report issued on Tuesday.

"Some countries are at a tipping point," Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's managing director, said.

"If food prices rise further and oil prices stay the same, some governments will no longer be able to feed their people and at the same time maintain stability in their economies," he said in Washington DC.

The IMF chief called for more co-operation between nations to tackle higher oil and food prices.

The world financial body's stated aim is protect global financial stability but critics have accused it of acting to protect the interests of more powerful nations such as the US.

Peter O'Driscoll, the executive director of Action Aid USA, a development aid organisation, told Al Jazeera that the IMF was to blame for much of the current food crisis.

O'Driscoll said the IMF had encouraged developing countries to grow crops for the export market, putting their food security at risk, and that the body had pushed governments to end subsidies of domestic agricultural industries.

Click here for full story

AlJazeeraEnglish

Al Jazeera's Ghida Fakhry talks to investigative journalist Seymour Hersh about his latest article in New Yorker magazine, claiming that US congressional leaders have agreed to a presidential request for up to $400 million in funding for covert operations against Iran.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1351033&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

see

Interview with Iran’s Ambassador to IAEA

Hersh: Congress Agreed to Bush Request to Fund Major Escalation in Secret Operations Against Iran

Preparing the Battlefield by Seymour M. Hersh

Morning Joe: Andrew Card & Katrina vanden Heuvel on the Sy Hersh Leak

Sy Hersh on Late Edition: Inside Iran

Ron Paul: Iran war will triple energy prices

Iranians Float an Offer the West Should Not Refuse

Military official: Iran digging 320,000 graves for invaders

Seymour Hersh (older posts)

Hersh-Seymour (newer posts)

Who's to blame for the mounting crude oil prices? Oil producing countries? India and China for their voracious appetite? Speculators wanting to make a quick buck or ten?

In the latest episode of its media showThe Listening Post, hosted by Richard Gizbert, Al Jazeera English throws light on how the global media has failed to come to grips with a difficult but important issue.

The sky-rocketing price of crude oil sparking increases in fuel prices back home is a complex economic issue. Some blame rising demand in India and China; many blame speculators. As the Al Jazeera video (above) shows the media has been caught on the wrong foot in explaining what is happening.

Bhamy V. Shenoy (below), who has worked in the Indian and international oil industry for 40 years, advised several governments in the former Soviet Union, and is now a senior advisor at the Center for Energy Economics at the University of Texas, Austin, says the situation is worse in India where the issue of fuel prices has become the pet poodle of populist politicians.

"While the international media blames India and China, we blame the government and our public and private sector companies. Truth is, the Indian government is transferring massive amounts of wealth through the vehicles of public sector oil companies to the rich and middle-classes by artificially keeping petrol, diesel and cooking gas prices below the cost price, and the intelligentisa is perfectly happy with this.

"This is what the British did during the Raj, allowing landlords to take over the land belongings of the poor. We are critical of the Raj. But we seem to support the strategy of new rulers who are doing the same but in a different way."

***

By BHAMY V. SHENOY

The UPA government was finally forced to implement an increase in prices of petroleum products on June 5 as crude oil prices were setting a daily record. But it was too little, too late, and not well received. Worse, even after the price increases and adjustment to tax rates both by the central and state governments, oil marketing companies (OMCs) continue to bleed.

There is also enormous confusion in the minds of the public.

On the one hand, the view has gained ground that the oil companies are earning huge returns, as also the government. And, on the other hand, it has been suggested that the oil companies are not actually losing money; what they are suffering from is “under recoveries”.

Both views are far from the truth if we employ simple economics.

It is true that the state governments are indeed continuing to collect a higher amount despite the cosmetic adjustments. Just like the central government, it would be better for the state governments if they adopted fixed tax rates rather than continuing with ad valorem tax rates.

***

Since 2004 crude oil prices have had a gravity-defying rise. Experts had predicted prices would stay in a narrow range of $25 to $30 per barrel.

At the current high crude oil price of around $130 per barrel, US, Japan, Europe, China, India will transfer unprecedented amount of more than $1.5 trillion to Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela and other OPEC countries in 2008.

This must be one of the largest transfers of wealth from richer to developing  countries during the peace time.

India's share in this transfer is not insignificant.

Thanks to coalition politics, and mostly influenced by the communist parties, the oil sector is likely to transfer more than Rs 1,80,000 crore from the poor to rich and the middle-class this year.

In this game of distribution of wealth, oil marketing companies are being used by our political system to the benefit of a tiny sector consisting of petrol and LPG dealers, and their political masters.

Let me try to unravel the mystery behind petroleum product prices using the example of diesel.

At crude oil price of $120 per barrel, the raw material cost to make one litre of diesel is Rs 31.70. When crude oil is distilled in a refinery, along with diesel, subsidiary products like petrol, LPG, kerosene, fuel oil, etc are produced. Products like fuel oil are discounted. This results in most products like diesel, petrol and kerosene commanding a premium over crude oil.

At present, diesel is able to get a premium of Rs 6.63 per litre which reflects the refinery fuel cost, operating costs, and refinery margin. In addition, there is also the cost of transportation to move the diesel from the refinery to petrol stations and the dealer margin. This adds up to Rs 2.30 per litre.

Thus the total cost of supplying diesel is Rs 40.63 per litre without any taxes.

At the current diesel price of about Rs 37 per litre, oil marketing companies lose Rs 3.03 per litre straightaway. In addition they have to pay central excise and cess of Rs 3.57 and state sales tax of Rs 8.38 per litre. Thus, the total losses amounts to Rs 15.58 per litre.

Based on this level of product prices, the profitability of the refinery is Rs 0.37 per litre only and can hardly compensate for the huge loss incurred by the public sector oil companies. (In more sophisticated refineries like Reliance, the loss could be as high as Rs 4 per litre.)

Similar losses are incurred while selling petrol (Rs 5.5 per litre), kerosene (Rs 30 per litre), and LPG (more than Rs 330 per cylinder).

The government claim of the oil marketing companies losing as much as Rs 15 per litre is, therefore, not true.

***

Some political parties have argued that the government should impose windfall profit taxes on oil and gas production. This is a sound argument. But this will not have any impact on product prices.

Most of the oil production in India is by public sector companies and they are already forced to share their profit with oil marketing companies. Thus we already have indirect “windfall taxes” on Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL).

Oil production by private oil companies is only about 14%.

***

It is a misconceived policy to siphon off the cashflow from ONGC and OIL to oil marketing companies or to the government treasury to support lower product prices. These upstream companies are tasked with the mission of exploring and finding crude oil and gas all over the world.

How can they meet those goals if their profits are taken away by the political masters?

They could have used the additional profits to look for oil and gas reserves to contribute to India’s energy security. As a result the oil companies are starved of much-needed investment.

In the case of private oil companies, if the Production Sharing Agreement terms had been properly structured using the right kind of expertise, windfall profits would indeed flow to the government. PSAs are a better vehicle to divert greater cash flow to host-countries as oil prices go up. It is not correct on the part of any government to break the contract though many oil exporting countries do it all the time.

The government has eliminated customs duty on crude oil import. This will not have any impact on product prices since the oil marketing companies are expected to pay refinery gate prices based on international equivalent prices. This will increase refinery profitability only.

Reducing customs duty on petrol and diesel will also have marginal impact since India is in surplus with both these products. India is a net exporter of petrol and diesel.

***

During the protests against petro price hike, there has hardly been any informed discussion on the real winners and losers of not responding to higher oil prices. All of us should realize that in one way or the other India has to pay for higher oil prices since more than 75% of crude oil is imported.

There is no free lunch; the Indian economy has to pay for the additional cost of importing crude oil.

There are three types of stakeholders who have to pay for the increase directly or indirectly. These three are: the rich and middle-class who own cars and two wheelers and who have an above-average energy consumption propensity; very poor and lower middle-class who consume very little energy; and petroleum product dealers and PDS shop owners.

The first category of stakeholders can easily pay for any increase; they are the ones who consumer petroleum products directly and indirectly.

The last category is an even surere bet since they will be able to continue to adulterate the product they sell with subsidized products like kerosene and by diverting residential LPG to commercial sector.

The fact of PDS kerosene being diverted to the free market or being used to adulterate petrol and diesel is well documented. The same is true with residential LPG. When the same product is sold at two vastly different prices, it is just impossible to eliminate black marketing of products.

It is the poor who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of the subsidy largesse; unfortunately, they are the real losers in several ways.

The poor not only do not get their quota of subsidised kerosene, they end up being the victims of greater inflation caused by a higher oil deficit. The poor also do not use petro products directly for sure. Even indirect use of petrol products by them is insignificant.

***

All over the world, in all developed and most developing countries petrol products are heavily taxed to meet the budgetary needs of the government. In India also this has been the policy so far. However since the oil crude oil price increase, the government has come under great pressure not only to reduce those taxes, but even to transfer funds from other sources. This will reduce the amount of money available to meet the welfare needs of the poor.

If the government had not taken over the responsibility of fixing oil prices when the administered price mechanism (APM) was dismantled, we would not have been in today’s difficult situation. Yes the country would have faced the problem of managing the problem of high crude oil prices as most countries are facing today in the rest of the world. But it would have been in a different way.

Oil marketing companies would have implemented the price changes as crude oil prices changed in the world and would not have waited as the government was forced to. They thought that they could avoid the problem should oil prices fall as they have done it in the past. Unfortunately it did not happen. Making quantum changes to a strategically important commodity like oil is extremely difficult.

It is high time that the government decides to hand over the responsibility of fixing product prices to oil companies as intended when APM was dismantled in 2002. This will help the government to concentrate on tax policy. It can then continue to assist the poor by distributing subsidised products through smart cards as recommended by the Planning Commission.

Also read: CHURUMURI POLL: Is the Dream Team exposed?