China's stealth fighter, Is it a Challenge for US

Is this YouTube video proof that China has developed a stealth fighter jet? The origin of the video is unclear but the fact that Chinese censors allowed it to be posted on domestic websites indicates that it may have been leaked with the approval of the authorities.

The J-20 stealth bomber could challenge the US air force's F-22 Raptor. India and Russia recently signed an agreement to develop their own stealth fighter. China's advances could change the dynamic in the seas around China and comes just ahead of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates visit to mend ties with Beijing.

The aircraft is seen taxiing around the airport at the Chengdu Aircraft Institute.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal published a fascinating article about China cloning Russian Su-27 fighter jets. While China has been quick to reverse engineer some of Russia’s technology, it appears that it may not be able to do the same with the engines.

And that may be the key reason for Beijing’s willingness to bailout debt-ridden euro zone nations.

China’s leader in waiting Li Keqiang is in Europe visiting Madrid, Berlin and London. In an editorial in Spanish newspaper El Pais, Li gives the official reason:

"China is a responsible, long-term investor in the European financial market and particularly in Spain, and we have confidence in the Spanish financial market, which has meant the acquisition of its public debt, something which we will continue to do in the future."

But as Ian Bremmer, president of risk analysts Eurasia Group, told Aljazeera’s Counting the Cost:

"Their leaders are going over saying 'we are here for you'. But you know this is much more about the Chinese wanting to show they are part of the solution and being helpful so that they can get the European arms embargo lifted off China."

Stratfor Global Intelligence, in a note published earlier this week, goes on to says some in Europe would like to see the embargo lifted:

"This is something that a number of European countries have wanted to see ended for while; the French of course stand to gain considerably from potential arms sales to China.

"However, the likelihood of anything really moving the Europeans in that direction is very low. The US pressure on its allies within the European Union — such as the United Kingdom, but also other NATO member states — would be extreme, and therefore it is quite unlikely that the Europeans will be able to get the unanimity necessary to overturn the embargo."

There is little evidence of how much debt China has bought from a distressed euro zone, but there is little doubt that China is making advances in reshaping its neighbourhood.

Latif Khosa likely to be appointed governor of Punjab

President Zardari was expected to name Khosa, a former attorney general, on Saturday from Karachi.

“Mr Khosa is most likely to be appointed as Punjab governor,” a senior government official said. Other top officials confirmed the appointment was expected.

Khosa told Reuters on Saturday that Zardari had called him along with Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar and Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh for a meeting in Karachi.

“I will accept whatever the decision of my leadership,” he said.

If appointed as expected, Khosa will succeed Salman Taseer, the outspoken governor of the central province of Punjab, who was gunned down by one of his bodyguards in Islamabad on Tuesday for supporting changes in the country’s blasphemy law.

Taseer’s murder came as Zardari’s coalition was struggling to avoid collapse following the defection of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), one of its main allies, to the opposition.

The choice of who will replace Taseer is crucial. Punjab is the most populated province in Pakistan and its political nerve centre.

Politics in Punjab, which has 183 members in the 342-seat National Assembly, has traditionally dominated Pakistani politics.

Choosing Khosa could mean the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is seeking to cool temperatures with Nawaz Sharif.

Taseer was fiery and often clashed publicly with Nawaz and his brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shabaz Sharif. Khosa, on the other hand, is soft-spoken and non-confrontational. But he is an ardent supporter of the PPP.

Analysts say Khosa, a lawyer by profession, will try to avoid antagonising the Sharif brothers and their Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to tamp down disputes that have paralysed the federal government.

Khosa’s likely appointment comes just two days before an ultimatum given by Nawaz Sharif to Zardari’s government on Tuesday to accept a list of his demands or face expulsion of PPP members from the Punjab provincial government.

The government received a major reprieve on Friday when the MQM, the second biggest coalition partner, which had bolted to the opposition, rejoined the government.

Though the political crisis triggered by the MQM’s defection has been defused to a large extent, political stability in Punjab is vital to ensure the smooth running of the PPP-led government at the centre.

Smart US dog border collie learns more than 1,000 words

WASHINGTON: A border collie has learned more than 1,000 words, showing US researchers that her memory is not only better than theirs, but that she understands quite a bit about how language works.

Chaser learned the names for 1,022 toys, so many that her human handlers had to write on them in marker so that they wouldn’t forget, said study co-author Alliston Reid, a psychology professor at Wofford College in South Carolina.

With that repertoire, Chaser has far outpaced another dog, Rico, found by German researchers to be able to grasp about 200 words, according to a study published in 2004 in the journal Science.

As a border collie, Chaser comes from a breed of herding dog known for its intelligence, energy and strong work ethic.

Reid said she might be able to learn even more words, but her keepers stopped at 1,022 after three years of training simply because of time constraints.

But identifying objects by name was just the beginning of the research, conducted by a pair of American psychology professors who became curious about the upper limits of a dog’s learning abilities after seeing the German study.

Study co-author John Pilley was also a master animal trainer and just happened to be getting a young border collie as a pet at about the same time as the research on Rico came out.

By the time the pup was five months old, language training began in earnest.

“John Pilley and I would go to second-hand stores and just buy huge numbers of stuffed animals and balls and children’s toys and so forth,” said Reid.

“And we would give each one a name and write down the name on each item in permanent marker so that we could remember what the name of it was and use it systematically with Chaser.” Over the course of three years, in sessions of four to five hours per day, Pilley and other trainers found that Chaser could identify every stuffed animal, frisbee and ball out of a colorful and growing pile of fun doggie toys.

She could also differentiate toys by categories, such as her 116 balls, and she could perform specific commands with select playthings, such as touching her paw to a certain ball, or fetching a particular frisbee.

And they trained her to do all this without offering any tasty treats.

“Chaser really, really likes playing with her toys and the social interaction of one of us taking one of her toys and throwing it up in the air and having her catch it,” said Reid.

“It is much more rewarding for her than a morsel of food.” The study, which appeared this week in the journal Behavioural Processes, published by the Amsterdam-based company Elsevier, shows Chaser has abilities that were left in doubt by the earlier work with Rico, such as the ability to discern commands from nouns and how to identify toys versus non-toys.

“Her learning and retention of more than 1,000 proper nouns revealed clear evidence of several capacities necessary for learning receptive human language: the ability to discriminate many nouns phonetically, the ability to discriminate many objects visually, a sizable vocabulary, and a sufficient memory system,” it said.

“Chaser understood that names refer to particular objects, independent of the activity requested involving that object. Thus, (the) concern that Rico may not have understood the difference between ‘sock’ and ‘fetch-the-sock’ is ruled out in this study.” Scientists who raised questions about the earlier studies on Rico and the extent of his abilities did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the study involving Chaser.

Meanwhile, Reid said that he and Pilley are continuing to study Chaser, who is now six and a half years old.

“We would like to know for example, does she really understand syntax, the order of words in a sentence? One experiment has to do with if we asked Chaser to pick up one object and place it on top of another object, will she always get that correct?” But for Reid, who has no dog at home since his daughter took their Labrador-mix off to graduate school, a bursting-with-energy border collie is not in his future.

“They are high maintenance dogs,” he said with a laugh. “John Pilley often says that he goes to bed really early at night just to get away from his dog.”

Gambhir sets IPL record with $2.4 million deal

BANGALORE: Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir was snapped up for a record $2.4 million on Saturday’s first day of bidding at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction for players.

The left-handed opener was among four Indians to join the $2 million club at the auction for the fourth edition of the scandal-plagued tournament, along with Yusuf Pathan, Robin Uthappa and Rohit Sharma.

Gambhir was the first to go under the hammer at the two-day auction in Bangalore, and was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for an amount far exceeding his base price of $200,000.

He was soon joined in the exclusive bracket by all-rounder Pathan, who was bought by the same franchise for $2.1 million. Pathan’s reserve price was $300,000.

Batsman Uthappa went to new franchise Pune Warriors for $2.1 million, while Sharma was bought by Mumbai Indians for $2 million as Indians emerged as the most-sought-after players on the opening day of the auction.

The prices paid to the Indian foursome easily eclipsed the previous record of England duo Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who went for 1.55 million dollars each in 2009.

Pietersen, with a base price of $400,000, was bought by Deccan Chargers for $650,000 this time.

Among the $1 million men were New Zealander Ross Taylor, Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene, South Africans AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis, India’s Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan and Saurabh Tiwary, and Australians Cameron White and David Hussey.

Only two players — India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds — were bought for more than $1 million at the inaugural auction in 2008. This time Symonds went to Mumbai Indians for $850,000.

Each of the 10 franchises has a purse of $9 million to spend at the auction.

Former captains Brian Lara of the West Indies and Sourav Ganguly of India remained unsold on the opening day, along with hard-hitting West Indies batsman Chris Gayle.

Lara, 41, was among 21 cricketers with the highest reserve price of $400,000 for a three-year contract.

The annual IPL tournament revolutionised cricket when it burst on to the scene in 2008 with a high-octane blend of international star players, Twenty20 matches and Bollywood glamour.

But its fortunes dipped dramatically last year after allegations of massive corruption, money-laundering and tax evasion, as well as secret deals to hide teams’ real owners, and even links to India’s criminal underworld.

IPL founder Lalit Modi — whose brash style personified the event — was thrown out by the BCCI, the sport’s governing body in India, over allegations about his conduct and organisers hope this year will provide a fresh start.

The tournament, starting on April 8, will feature 10 teams, including the two new sides — Pune Warriors and Kochi.

Twelve players have been retained by their original franchises, with Dhoni staying with the Chennai Super Kings and Shane Warne and Shane Watson sticking with the Rajasthan Royals.

Pakistan’s cricketers continued to miss out on the IPL bonanza after none of them was included for the auction.

Pakistan players participated in the inaugural IPL, but were forced out of the 2009 season due to security concerns following the Mumbai attacks, and were then ignored for the 2010 tournament.

Former political activist gunned down in Karachi

KARACHI: A former activist of a political party was gunned down in Karachi’s Pir Ilahi Bux Colony on Saturday, DawnNews reported.

According to police sources, Syed Yawar Abbas was at a mechanic’s workshop when he was shot dead by unknown assailants.

Heavy contingents of Rangers and police had reached the site of the incident.

Two buses were set ablaze near the city’s Teen Hatti area after the killing.

Yawar Abbas’s father, Syed Sardar Jaffry was also shot dead by unknown gunmen in 2005 in the city’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal area. — DawnNews

European poll: An Islamic threat?

Islam is considered a "threat" by millions of French and Germans, with the vast majority believing Muslims have "not integrated properly", a devastating new poll reveals today.

The Le Monde/IFOP poll sampled 1600 adults - 800 in France and 800 in Germany - on issues relating to Muslim integration, during a single day last month.

Le Monde newspaper runs the results under a headline which brands efforts to get different religious and cultural communities to live side-by-side as a "failure".

It will be viewed with particular dismay in France and Germany, as the two countries have the biggest Muslim communities in Europe. Britain also has a sizable Muslim presence, with members often complaining of discrimination and prejudice.

"Islam and integration: French and Germans admit failure," writes Le Monde, the most famous newspaper in Paris.

According to its poll carried out with marketing firm IFOP, 68 per cent of French and 75 per cent of Germans believe Muslims are "not well integrated into society".

Just as crucially, 42 per cent of French and 40 per cent of Germans consider the presence of Muslim communities a "threat" to their national identities.

An editorial in Le Monde adds, "As Islam becomes a permanent and increasingly conspicuous fixture of European societies, public opinion is clearly tensing up, though disparities do appear between young and old and between left- and right-wing."

Jerome Fourquet, of IFOP, said the results "go beyond linking immigration with security or immigration with unemployment, to linking Islam with a threat to identity".

Fourquet said he would like to extend the research to countries like the UK, where he believed the results would be pretty much the same.

The threat of terrorism has increasingly been linked with Muslim communities in all European countries, including Britain, since the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001 and the 7/7 atrocities in central London in 2005.

In France, president Nicolas Sarkozy's government has displayed an increasingly hard line stance towards what he perceives as religious extremism, recently banning Islamic veils. This has been accompanied by a highly publicised national identity debate, in which thousands have complained about the increasing influence of Muslim communities within France.

Meanwhile, Sarkozy has courted the voters of hard-right parties like the National Front as he tries to reassert traditional values.

France is a secular society, but the vast majority of its inhabitants are Roman Catholics. No official figures are available, but the country is estimated to be home to around six million Muslims (approximately between 8 - 10% of the French population), many from its former North African colonies.

German federal authorities estimate their own Muslim population to be around 4.5 million, many of them Turks who emigrated in the 1960s.

Germany itself has had tensions with Islam, such as reoccurring run-ins with their Turkish populace or occasional opposition to religious traditions of Islam, such as a the construction in Cologne of a large mosque that caused a furor.

Current German Chancellor Angela Merkel, fuelling the right wing in Germany, addressed the debate about immigration from "foreign cultures" for her party - the Christian Democratic Union - by saying, "We don't have too much Islam, we have too little Christianity. We have too few discussions about the Christian view of mankind."

With European emphasis increasing on preserving Judeo-Christian tradition whilst maintaining a generally hostile posture towards Muslims, it is no wonder why many perceive Islam as not integrating into Western society properly. Courtesy Aljazeera English

US subpoenas Twitter for WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks has said that its Twitter account details have been subpoenaed by the US government and that it hopes to fight the order.

WikiLeaks said on Saturday that US investigators have gone to San Francisco-based Twitter Inc to demand private messages, contact information and other personal details of Julian Assange and three people associated with the secret-spilling website.

Twiter, a popular micro-blogging site, has declined comment.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a member of parliament in Iceland, said that Twitter notified her that it "received legal process requesting information regarding your Twitter account in [relation to WikiLeaks]."

"I have nothing to hide and have done nothing wrong - i have no intention to hand my information over willingly to DoJ [US department of justice]," she said on Twitter.

Jónsdóttir, a former WikiLeaks volunteer, said that she had "10 days to stop it [release of her Twitter information] via legal process before Twitter hands it over."

Twitter would not comment on the case, but said in a statement: "We're not going to comment on specific requests, but, to help users protect their rights, it's our policy to notify users about law enforcement and governmental requests for their information, unless we are prevented by law from doing so."

Meanwhile, WikiLeaks also said that it suspected other US internet companies had been contacted by American officials as part of the investigation.

US officials have been examining possible charges against WikiLeaks and its staff following a series of spectacular leaks that have embarrassed officials and damaged Washington's image.

Al-Sadr calls US 'enemy of Iraq'

Najaf Iraq: Thousands of Iraqis have turned out in the central Iraqi city of Najaf to hear Muqtada al-Sadr's first speech since his return from four years of self-imposed exile.

The Shia Muslim religious leader called the US, Israel and the UK "common enemies" against Iraq in his speech on Saturday , and urged his followers to resist what he called "the occupiers" by all means.

"Yes, yes for Muqtada! Yes, yes for the leader!" the crowd shouted, waving Iraqi flags and al-Sadr's pictures.

Police and al-Sadr's guards were out in force in Al-Hanana, the area of Najaf where al-Sadr's home is located, and where he spoke.

Al-Sadr gained widespread popularity among Shias in the months after the 2003 US-led invasion, and his Mahdi Army militia later battled American and Iraqi government forces in several bloody confrontations.

But in August 2008, he suspended the activities of the Mahdi Army, which once numbered in the tens of thousands, after major US and Iraqi assaults on its strongholds in Baghdad and southern Iraq in the spring.

Al-Sadr left Iraq at the end of 2006, according to his movement, and had reportedly been pursuing religious studies in the Iranian holy city of Qom. He returned to his home city of Najaf on Wednesday.

Shahzain Bugti’s bail plea rejected

QUETTA: A local court turned down Shahzain Bugti’s bail application on Saturday, television reports said.

Shahzain’s counsel said he would approach the Balochistan High Court after receiving a copy of the detailed verdict.

Earlier on Thursday, a District and Sessions Court judge reserved his judgment on Shahzain’s bail application after hearing the defence lawyer’s arguments.

Security forces had arrested Shahzain Bugti along with 26 of his personal guards and had recovered a huge quantity of illegal arms and ammunition when the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) leader was driving with his convoy from the town of Chaman.

How to Recover Data from an scratched CDs or DVDs

Every user has had trouble with a scratched CD. In the case of data CDs (CD-ROM), the drive cannot properly read the CD, giving rise to reading errors. In the case of audio CDs, the CD skips when we play it.

The first thing to do when coming across a CD with a read error is to clean it, to check whether it the error is not being caused by a dirty surface. You can even wash the CD gently with a little detergent, using your fingers to clean it (avoid sponges, since they can scratch the CD). If the error persists, try reading or playing the CD on another drive. If another drive (or CD player, in the case of audio CDs) gives the same result (read error or skipping, in the case of audio CDs), it will mean that the CD is scratched.

Looking against the light, the recording surface (the flip side of the label) of a CD with this kind of trouble will allow you to easily see one or more existing scratches. A CD's data is recorded on a metal layer inside it, a silvered layer on commercial CDs, which is usually golden on CD-Rs. This metal layer is inset in a transparent plastic covering (polycarbonate), used to protect the CD's metal layer and allow printing a label on the side not used for reading.

A CD-ROM drive or CD player utilizes a laser beam to read the metal layer. This laser beam crosses the plastic layer and reads the metal layer. If the plastic layer is scratched, the beam will be unable to pass through it, resulting in a read error or skipping the music. In other words, the data to be read are still in the CD, the trouble lies in the layer of plastic.

As the CD's contents are preserved, a scratched CD can be recovered by polishing its plastic surface. If, after carrying out the above cleansing, the CD persists in giving reading errors, just polish the CD with toothpaste. That's right, toothpaste. It works wonders, and you won't spend a fortune buying professional cleaning kits. Polish the scratches with a cotton swab, rubbing gently the paste-imbued swab over the scratches until they disappear or until you notice that you have removed them as far as possible. Sometimes the paste may cause new scratching, but it will be merely superficial and easily removed. After clearing the scratches, wash the CD in water.

If there are still scratches that the toothpaste has not managed to removed, use a metal polish (Brasso) in the same way as described above. Finally, rub Vaseline on the CD, very gently (do not press hard), from moving out from the centre to the rim.

The last step will be testing the CD. If it starts working properly, great. If not, repeat the above procedure, looking for the scratch that is causing the error and concentrating your polishing efforts on it.

US soldier to face court-martial in Afghan killings

SEATTLE: A US Army staff sergeant was ordered on Friday to be tried by a military court to face charges that include murdering three unarmed Afghan civilians, keeping body parts as grisly war trophies and beating a whistle-blower who told superiors about widespread hashish use in his unit.

Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, 25, is one of five soldiers from the Stryker Brigade charged with murder. Twelve soldiers in all face charges in the most serious prosecutions of alleged war atrocities by US military deployed in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.

Gibbs, of Billings, Montana, was ordered to stand trial by Major General Curtis Scaparrotti, commanding officer of Joint Base Lewis-McChord. No date was set.

The Stryker Brigade cases, with some 4,000 photographs sealed from public view including some reportedly of soldiers posing with Afghan casualties, have drawn comparisons to the inflammatory Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq in 2004.

Gibbs faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment without parole for charges that include premeditated murder in the deaths of three unarmed Afghan civilians, including a cleric, in the Afghan villages of La Muhammad Kalay in January 2010, Khari Kleyl in February 2010 and Qualaday in May 2010, according to court documents.

Gibbs allegedly kept fingers, severed with medical shears, and displayed them at platoon mates to intimidate them.

He faces a dozen other charges that include keeping body parts such as teeth, finger and leg bones as war trophies.

The cases began as an investigation into hashish use by members of what was then known as the 5th Stryker Brigade, but grew into a probe of what prosecutors described as an infantry unit run amok.

Phillip Stackhouse, a civilian attorney defending Gibbs, has described Gibbs’ involvement as legitimate combat killings, He was not immediately available for comment on the order.

Israeli soldier killed near Gaza

An Israeli soldier has been killed and four others injured when they fired on each other in the buffer zone between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Gaza City, said that a so-called "friendly fire" incident had occurred.

"The soldiers fired on each other, but initial clashes began when Palestinian fighters were caught by Israeli troops planting a mine along the buffer zone, and it was thought that the soldiers were hurt in that gunfight," she said.

A preliminary investigation by the Israeli army concluded that friendly fire was responsible for the soldier's death and for the wounding of the other soldiers.

Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, also reported that the army had launched mortars at the fighters, but for some unknown reason one of the mortars strayed and struck the soldiers.

Serious incident

This was the most serious incident for the army in the Gaza area since two soldiers were killed in March 2010.

In December 2008, Israel launched its devastating "Operation Cast Lead" offensive against Gaza in response to rocket and mortar fire.

The 22-day war, which ended in a ceasefire on January 18, 2009, killed 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.

Since then, the number of attacks has dropped significantly, although 230 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel last year, according to army figures.

Captain Misbah-ul-haq and Asad Shafiq lead Pakistan 234/4 against Newziland

HAMILTON: Captain Misbah-ul-haq and Asad Sahfiq ground out an unbroken 128-run partnership to resurrect Pakistan’s first innings and guide them to 235 for four at the close of play of the second day of the first test against New Zealand on Saturday.

Misbah built a slow and watchful 50 off 129 balls, while the 24-year-old Shafiq was on 74, his highest test score after he made 61 on debut against South Africa last November, to put Pakistan in a strong position heading into day three.

New Zealand, courtesy of a sustained period of pressure from Daniel Vettori and Tim Southee, had captured three wickets in the middle session to leave Pakistan struggling at 107 for four at a sun-drenched Seddon Park.

Misbah and Shafiq, however mindful another wicket would expose the lower order to a fired-up New Zealand bowling attack, wore down the tiring New Zealanders, patiently waiting until they got a bad ball to hit.

“Misbah and Asad both played brilliantly and because of that we are in the driving seat right now,” said opener Taufeeq Umar, who scored a quick-fire 54. “Our first target is above 275 and then let’s see.

“If Misbah and Asad keep playing like this we are looking for about a 100-run lead.”

TOO LOOSE

The hosts, who were bowled out for 275 early on Saturday, initially failed to capitalise on a perfect start when Mohammad Hafeez was caught low down by Tim McIntosh at second slip off Chris Martin in the first over of Pakistan’s innings.

The bowlers, however, were subsequently too loose, surrendering too many boundaries as Pakistan romped to 67 for one by lunch with Taufeeq on a breezy 42 not out.

However, after the lunch break the New Zealand bowlers tightened up to snare Taufeeq, Azhar Ali (24) and the valuable wicket of Younus Khan for a quickfire 23 from 24 balls.

“Bear in mind there are plans there, the ball was tailing in a wee bit and we were trying to get them to work the straight ones and trying to get an lbw,” pace bowler Brent Arnel said.

“Sometimes your plans can backfire in cricket and it looks like you have bowled a bad ball and they get away with it, but sometimes it can create a great reward for us.”

A Palestinian village in mourning

People say that time heals, but the Abu Rahmah family feels as though it is living in a recurring nightmare from which there is no respite. Their nightmare is set in the West Bank village of Bil'in, which has been cut into pieces by Israel's "separation" wall.

It is a unique village: On the front lines of the conflict with Israel, it has also been the site of weekly non-violent protests since the wall was constructed 2005. It even has its own website, which describes "a Palestinian village that is struggling to exist" and "fighting to safeguard its land, its olive trees, its resources ... its liberty".

But what really makes the village stand out is the people that inhabit it - in particular, the Abu Rahmahs, whose misfortunes really began about three years ago.

All six Abu Rahmah siblings were non-violent activists - only four of them are left.

Their tale begins in July 2008, when one of them, Ashraf, was detained by Israeli soldiers in the nearby village of Ni'lin. The soldiers tied him up, blindfolded him and, as their commander watched, shot him in the foot at close range with a rubber-coated steel bullet.

The term "rubber-coated" can be misleading; this type of ammunition is consistently mislabelled as 'rubber' bullets by the army, leading people to think that it is relatively harmless. But the rubber coating is, in fact, paper-thin and encases a marble-sized steel ball that can break bones or even kill.

The whole incident was captured on video, making it impossible for the Israeli military to deny responsibility.

Ashraf's case went to the Israeli Supreme Court where a strong indictment against the commander was unanimously ordered. The soldier who committed the deed was put under investigation, but just two weeks later the charges against him were dropped and he resumed duty.

Bassem's story

On April 17, 2009, Bassem Abu Rahmah, another of the siblings, made his way to the front of the weekly protest as he did every Friday. Reaching the wall, he stood before dozens of Israeli soldiers, who have a reputation for regularly using violent means of "crowd dispersal" against non-violent protesters.

On this occasion, the Israeli military used a new type of high-velocity teargas canister - the sheer velocity of which, unlike the normal canisters, made it nearly impossible for the protesters to evade them.

Several Israeli activists had become trapped between two fences and, disorientated by the teargas, were unable to escape. Bassem shouted in Hebrew at the soldiers that they were shooting teargas at their own people and should stop for a minute to allow the Israeli activists to get out from between the fences.

One of the Israeli soldiers responded to Bassem's request by shooting a high-velocity teargas canister directly at his chest from a distance of about 40 metres.

By this point, many of the protesters and media had been driven away by the billowing teargas, but those still present heard a desperate call for an ambulance. There was no ambulance in the village that day and, after, a few drawn out minutes, a small, beat-up car sped down the road to the spot where Bassem lay. As it approached, the soldiers shot at it with teargas canisters. Bassem's limp body, his chest covered with blood, was carried to the car and driven the 30 minutes to the nearest hospital.

He died before reaching it.

It was the first time that somebody had been killed at one of Bil'in's weekly demonstrations and it soon became clear that Bassem had left a considerable mark not just on his family, but on the entire village.

Over coffee at her home, I told Bassem's mother in my broken Arabic that my own family in the US had heard about what had happened to Bassem on the news and that people all over the world knew of his story. It seemed to offer her little comfort.

I remembered how Bassem had been the first person in the village to introduce himself to me, how he seemed to know everyone and was always going from one place to another, helping people and spending time with his friends.

He worked with the Bil'in Popular Committee, which espouses non-violent and creative ways to attract attention to their cause, was deeply committed to non-violence and always spoke peacefully to the Israeli soldiers.

Who will look out for them?

I also recalled how on that fateful afternoon, Bassem had joined the other villagers and activists at the centre of Bil'in as they chanted slogans and began to walk towards the village's annexed land.

As always, Bassem was initially at the back of the crowd, trying to finish a conversation before the march began. But he had a long stride and, with his mobile phone blasting Arabic music, he had passed everyone by the time we reached the wall.

As he walked past me, told me, as he always did, to be careful and warned my friend to look out for me during the protest. But who was looking out for him?

Bassem's family were devastated by his death, so when I heard about the death of his sister, Jawaher, a few days ago, I immediately thought of them.

Jawaher died on New Year's Eve as a result of inhaling teargas at the village's weekly protest.

There has been some speculation over the type of teargas used on that day, with other activists emphasising the large quantity and unusually strong effect it had on them.

The Abu Rahmah family has been left to deal with yet more injustice, grief and loss.

Waiting for justice

Israel began building settlements on the village's land during the 1980s. Gradually more and more land was confiscated, until, in late 2004, the Israeli army ordered the construction of the "separation" wall, which would annex almost 60 per cent of Bil'in's land. The land, which was mostly agricultural, was essential to the economy of the village.

Soon after the decision to build the wall was announced, the Bil'in Committee of Popular Resistance Against the Wall and Settlements (Bil'in Popular Committee) was formed and in February 2005, the weekly non-violent demonstrations against the wall began. The have continued ever since, despite the harsh reactions of the Israeli military, which has, among other things, raided the homes of and arrested protest organisers in the middle of the night.

The village has had some success in its legal battle to get its land back. At one point, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that construction on the nearby settlement of Matityahu had to be stopped and ordered the path of the wall to be moved back - returning almost half of its land to the village.

But, like many court orders impacting the occupied territories, this was never carried out. Construction continued on the nearby settlements and the Supreme Court reached a new decision, whereby only about 10 per cent of the land would be returned to the people of Bil'in.

Even this ruling, however, has not been carried out and for the people of Bil'in the struggle continues in the hope that the deaths of Bassem and Jawaher Abu Rahmah will not have been in vain.

Sixty six million dollars aid to help build two dams: Ruggiero

ISLAMABAD: The United States will provide $66 million to Pakistan to help complete Gomal Zam and Satpara dam projects, according to two agreements signed by Acting US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Frank Ruggiero and Pakistani officials here on Friday.

USAID Mission Director Andrew Sission, Wapda chairman Shakil Durrani, and Secretary Water and Power Ministry Javed Iqbal represented their countries on the occasion.

Mr Ruggiero said that the two dams – which envisage supply of 35 megawatts of electricity to nearly 55,000 households in South Waziristan and Skardu – were examples of the Obama administration’s commitment to help Pakistan meet its energy needs.

“Last year’s devastating floods demonstrated the need for flood control infrastructure,” he said. “These two multipurpose dams will control flood waters, provide electricity and store water for irrigation and household use for downstream villages.”

The envoy said the United States was providing $40 million to help complete the Gomal Zam dam in South Waziristan. The project will generate and provide 17.4 megawatts of electricity to 25,000 households and mitigate an estimated $2.6 million of potential flood damage annually. The Gomal Zam dam will have the capacity to store enough water to irrigate 191,000 acres of farmland.

He said the US was providing $26 million to complete the Satpara dam project, located at Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The dam will provide 17.7 megawatts of electricity to nearly 30,000 households and help reduce load-shedding in the area. The dam water will irrigate over 15,000 acres of land. It will also provide 3.1 million gallons per day of potable water.

Mr Ruggiero said the US was committed to a long-term partnership with Pakistan and would continue to support the projects designed to benefit people and bring economic development to the country.

Mr Iqbal expressed the hope that with the US help Pakistan would be able to overcome its energy crisis.—APP

Mumbai bomber trial delayed by US court

CHICAGO: The trial of a Chicago businessman accused of helping an old friend from military school in Pakistan plot the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks has been delayed until May, officials said Friday.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 49, has been held in jail since his October 2009 arrest on charges of helping plot an attack on the Danish newspaper that published incendiary cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in 2005.

Prosecutors allege that Rana helped his friend David Coleman Headley, a key suspect in the Mumbai attacks, by allowing him to use his immigration company as a cover for surveillance trips to India and Denmark.

Headley cooperated with prosecutors and pleaded guilty in March.

Rana, a Pakistani-born Canadian citizen who owns the Chicago-based First World Immigration Services that Headley allegedly used as a cover, insists that he is a pacifist who was “duped” by his friend.

Prosecutors allege that Rana was well aware of Headley’s terrorist activities and acted as a messenger while Headley scoped out the Mumbai terror targets, taking photos and video and entering their positions on a GPS device.

Nearly a year after the bloody 60-hour siege, which began November 26, 2008 and left 166 people dead, Headley was allegedly recorded discussing five future targets with Rana.

Prosecutors said the targets included: Bollywood; the Indian temple Somnath; the National Defense College in Delhi; Shiv Sena, a political party in India with roots in Hindu nationalism; and the Danish newspaper.

Bashir warns of unstable south: Aljazeera

Sudan's president has warned that south Sudan would struggle as an independent nation were it to vote to secede from the north.

Speaking just days before a referendum, which is expected to see southerners vote to establish a separate country, Omar al-Bashir told Al Jazeera that he was concerned about possible instability in the south following the vote.

"The stability of the south is very important to us because any instability in the south will have an impact on the north. If there is a war in your neighbour's house, you will not be at peace," he said on Friday.

"The south suffers from many problems. It's been at war since 1959. The south does not have the ability to provide for its citizens or create a state or authority."

The referendum is a result of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in 2005, that ended near three decades of civil war between north and south Sudan.

Under the terms of the CPA, a quorum of 60 per cent of the 3.8 million voters are required to take part in the referendum for its outcome to become binding, but most believe the south will be in favour of succession.

The mood in Juba, south Sudan's capital, and elsewhere was jubilant on Friday as the final pro-secession rallies were held with many apparently already celebrating independence.

US gadget show displays 2011 trends - Americas - Al Jazeera English

US gadget show displays 2011 trends - Americas - Al Jazeera English

Chile recognizes Palestine as ‘sovereign’ state

SANTIAGO: Chile has recognised Palestine as an independent state, Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said Friday, following in the footsteps of several other Latin American countries.


“The government of Chile has adopted the resolution today recognising the existence of the state of Palestine as a free, independent and sovereign state,” he said, reading a foreign ministry declaration.

He added that Chilean President Sebastian Pinera would visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on March 4 and 5.

Late last year, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador recognised Palestine as an independent state. Uruguay has said it will follow suit in 2011.

The Chilean statement did not mention the borders of the Palestinian state, which its South American neighbors said were “within the 1967 borders.” Those were the boundaries that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in that year’s Arab-Israeli conflict, known as the Six Day War.

Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Costa Rica had already previously recognised the Palestinian state.

The borders of a final Palestinian state have been one of the thorniest issues in peace negotiations with Israel.

Direct talks between the two sides, the first for nearly two years, began on September 2 but stalled after a 10-month Israeli settlement-building freeze expired three weeks later.

In a New Year’s Eve address, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas urged the international community to come up with a new peace plan after months of US shuttle diplomacy failed to secure a fresh settlement freeze.

The Palestinians’ current strategy centers on a proclamation of statehood in September 2011, the end of the 12 months set as a target for the talks launched in Washington.

But Israel is concerned over such plans and has reportedly ordered its own diplomats worldwide to mount a counter-offensive.

If the Palestinians lose this battle, they are considering calling for their territories to be placed under international administration. – AFP

US to increase support for Pakistan: WP

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama’s administration is planning to send more help to Pakistan amid complaints from government officials there that the United States doesn’t understand their security priorities or offer enough help, The Washington Post reported.

According to the plan, decided on in last month’s White House Afghanistan war review, the US will offer more military, intelligence and economic support to Pakistan, the newspaper reported online late Friday. The Obama administration also plans to intensify efforts to forge a regional peace despite frustration that Pakistani officials aren’t doing enough to fight terrorist groups in the country’s vast tribal areas, it said.

The decision is set to be delivered by Vice President Joe Biden in a planned visit to Pakistan next week, the Post said, citing unidentified administration officials. Biden is expected to meet with military chief General Ashfaq Kayani and other top government leaders.

The vice president is expected to challenge the Pakistanis to articulate a long-term strategy for the region and specify what assistance they need to move successfully against Taliban safe heavens in areas bordering Afghanistan.

Some US military commanders and intelligence officers who have lost patience with Pakistan had proposed allowing US ground forces to launch targeted raids against insurgent stronghold, but Obama and his top national security aides rejected those suggestions, the Post said.

They concluded that the United States cannot afford to threaten or further alienate a precarious, nuclear-armed country whose cooperation is essential to the administration on several fronts.

The conclusions were referred to as unspecified policy ”adjustments” in a five-page summary of the December war review that has been made public, according to the Post. Several administration officials told the newspaper the classified review focused on areas where strong efforts were needed, as opposed to new programs.

The classified review pledged to ”look hard” at issues of economic stability, the Post said. It also directed administration and Pentagon officials to ”make sure that our sizeable military assistance programs are properly tailored to what the Pakistanis need and are targeted on units that will generate the most benefit” for US goals, said one senior administration official who participated in the review and was authorised to discuss it with the newspaper on condition of anonymity.

Previously, Pakistan has complained that promised US aid — projected to total more than $3 billion in 2011 — has been slow to arrive and requests for military equipment, including helicopters, have not been fulfilled.

Indian FM invites FM Qureshi to New Delhi for talks

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has been invited by his Indian counterpart S M Krishna’s to visit New Delhi to hold formal talks, DawnNews reported.

India has been mounting pressure on Pakistan to launch what it calls a serious probe into the Mumbai attacks, whereas, Pakistan has continually emphasised that it does not and would not allow its soil to be used for terrorist activities.

It was not yet known when Qureshi’s visit to India would take place.