Lebanese soldiers killed near Syria border

At least three people, including two Lebanese soldiers, have been killed in clashes in the Bekaa Valley
.At least two Lebanese soldiers and a man suspected of links to an armed group have been killed during clashes with armed men near a border town with Syria.

"An army patrol was ambushed in the village of Arsal as it hunted a man wanted for several terrorist acts," the army said in a statement on Friday.

It said an army captain and soldier were killed while several others were wounded in the clash with an unspecified number of gunmen, who also sustained casualties.

"A number of military vehicles were badly damaged," the army said, adding that reinforcements were sent to seal off the area and hunt down the suspects.

An AFP correspondent saw ambulances leave Arsal located in Bekaa Valley and head for Baalbek, the main town in eastern Lebanon.

Two years since uprising, Egypt braces for more protests

(Reuters) - Egypt marks the second anniversary of the uprising that swept Hosni Mubarak from power with little to celebrate. Deeply divided and facing an economic crisis, the nation is bracing for more protests, but this time against a freely elected leader.
President Mohamed Mursi's opponents plan to march to Tahrir Square on Friday to vent anger at the new Islamist leader and his Muslim Brotherhood backers, whom they accuse of betraying the goals of the January 25 revolution that galvanized Egyptians in a display of national unity that has not been seen since.
"We don't see it as a celebration. This will be a new revolutionary wave that will show the Brotherhood that they are not alone - that there are other forces that can stand against them," said Ahmed Maher, founder of the April 6 - a group that helped ignite the uprising by using social media to organize.
The Brotherhood has said it will not send its supporters to Tahrir Square on Friday - a decision that at least limits the scope for more of the unrest that has compounded Egypt's economic troubles.
Instead, with its eye on forthcoming parliamentary polls, the electorally savvy Brotherhood is marking the anniversary with a campaign to help the poor. With allies, it promises to send volunteers to renovate 2,000 schools, plant trees, deliver medical aid and open "charity markets" selling affordable food.
"The importance of the anniversary is to lift the spirits of the Egyptian people: more hope and more work," said Ahmed Aref, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman who was in Tahrir Square for the entire 18-day uprising against Mubarak.

Bahraini princess facing multiple torture charges

A Bahraini princess is facing charges of torturing pro-democracy activists in the Gulf island kingdom.

Noura Bint Ebrahim al-Khalifa, who serves in Bahrain's Drugs Control Unit, is accused along with another officer of torturing three people in detention.
Hundreds of protesters were detained as Bahrain struggled to put down a popular uprising that began in February 2011.
The uprising, which began peacefully with calls for democratic reform, was crushed by the ruling al-Khalifas.
Noura al-Khalifa, 29, who denies the charges, appeared in court on Sunday and Monday to hear the allegations.
In one case, the princess is accused of torturing two doctors, Ghassan and Bassem Daif, brothers who worked at the Salmaniya medical complex.
Medical staff from the facility went to help injured protesters after security police used force to disperse thousands of people who had camped out at an iconic landmark, Pearl Roundabout, in the capital, Manama.
At least two people were killed and hundreds wounded when police attacked with batons, tear gas and birdshot.

Turkey Aids Iran Through Gold Trade

Banks in Turkey continue to send gold to Iran despite U.S. pressure to curb a booming gold-for-gas trade, which helps Iran skirt international sanctions.

This month, Turkish customs grounded a Turkish cargo plane en route from Ghana to Iran that was reportedly carrying a ton-and-a-half of gold.

Tehran has been accumulating huge amounts of the precious metal over the past year as a means of circumventing ever-tightening international financial sanctions over its nuclear enrichment program, which some nations fear is being used to develop a nuclear weapons' capability.

Turkey continues to provide the lion’s share of Tehran's demand for gold, said Attila Yesilada, of the Istanbul-based research firm Global Source Partners.

"Gold sales [to Iran] have been diversified through Switzerland and Abu Dhabi, but the annualized total for last year is something like $11 billion, most of it financed through the gold stock of Turkish people," Yesilada said.  "This gold has become Iran’s main currency in terms [of] securing necessities from abroad."

Saudi Arabia Sent 1,200 Death Row Inmates To Fight In Syria

A leaked internal memo shows how Saudi officials commuted 1,200 death row inmates under the condition they go and fight against Assad in Syria, according to the Assyrian International News Agency.

 From the memo:

We have reached an agreement with them that they will be exempted from the death sentence and given a monthly salary to their families and loved ones, who will be prevented from traveling outside Saudi Arabia in return for rehabilitation of the accused and their training in order to send them to Jihad in Syria.

Saudi officials apparently gave them a choice: decapitation or jihad? In total, inmates from Yemen, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Jordan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, and Kuwait chose to go and fight in Syria.

The news agency AINA also reported that an unnamed Iraqi official said Russia objected to the Saudi's decision to release the prisoners. Russia has several military contracts with Bashar al Assad and has

Islamists to sit out Jordanian election

The candidates running in Jordan’s upcoming parliamentary elections have slogans and campaign promises that would sound familiar to voters in the historic recent polls of other Arab countries.But a quick glance at the Jordanian ballot reveals a list of hopefuls who stand apart from many of the competitors in other post-Arab Spring elections: Of the 1,400 candidates running on Wednesday for this 

monarchy’s 150-seat Parliament, only 22 are Islamists. After major gains in elections in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco, Islamists are set to make little electoral impact in the first Jordanian polls since a pro-democracy movement broke out here in 2011. The Muslim Brotherhood — which is Jordan’s strongest opposition force and runs its most organized political party — is boycotting the vote, mainly in protest of an elections law it claims will prevent a fair vote.The boycott has cast doubt on the legitimacy of Jordan’s first elections since 2010, which officials tout as the centerpiece of the democratic reforms undertaken by the kingdom after nearly two years of simmering protests. But the boycott has also highlighted a key difference, and limitation, that Islamists in the region’s monarchies confront as they seek to capi­tal­ize on the rise of political Islam.

Dissident Eritrean troops seize ministry

Dissident Eritrean soldiers with tanks took over the information ministry on Monday and forced state media to call for political prisoners to be freed, a senior intelligence official said.

The renegade soldiers have not gone as far as to demand the overthrow of the government of one of Africa's most secretive states, long at odds with the United States and accused of human rights abuses.

Eritrea has been led by Isaias Afewerki, 66, for some two decades since it broke from bigger neighbor Ethiopia. The fledging gold producer on the Red Sea coast has become increasingly isolated, resisting foreign pressure to open up.

Soldiers forced the director general of state television "to say the Eritrean government should release all political prisoners," the Eritrean intelligence source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

There was no immediate statement from the Asmara government.

Thousands call for election boycott in Jordan

Thousands of Jordanians have been demonstrating across the country demanding the government suspend next week's parliamentary elections.

Friday's peaceful demonstration in the capital, Amman, drew nearly 2,000 people, including youth activists and Muslim Brotherhood members, united in the election boycott and in demands that King Abdullah II cede some of his powers.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan's largest opposition group, has renewed calls for King Abdullah to transfer his authority to appoint governments to the "people", meaning an elected parliament.

More than 1,500 candidates, including 213 women, have been registered for the January 23 election for 150 seats in the lower house of parliament, which the opposition groups have boycotted over a lack of reform.

"We reject cosmetic elections and schemes against our demands for reform," read a banner at the rally, organised by the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The protesters chanted: "The people want to reform the regime," and "listen Abdullah, the people demand freedom."

Egypt drops hundreds of charges over post-Mubarak violence

An Egyptian court dismissed cases against 379 people accused of involvement in clashes with police during protests near the Interior Ministry in November 2011 in which 42 demonstrators were killed, the state news agency reported.

Saturday's decision was based on President Mohamed Mursi's offer of an amnesty for those facing charges related to events during and after the 2011 uprising that ended the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, the agency reported.

Cairo and other cities saw many violent protests against the army rulers who took over interim power after Mubarak was ousted on February 11, 2011.

Judge Gamal el-Din Safwat Roshdy, who presided over the Cairo criminal court, dismissed the cases against 379 suspects linked to clashes in Mohamed Mahmoud Street, the agency said.

Algeria Attack Shows The Arab Spring Morphing Into The War On Terror

Taken together, the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, the Islamist attacks on Mali, and now this Algerian offense, all point to north Africa as the geopolitical hotspot of 2013 — where the Arab Spring has morphed into the War On Terror.

Dozens of hostages and militants have died in the attack on Algeria‘s Ain Amenas natural gas plant, 60 miles from the Libyan border. The companies operating the plant, including BP and Norway‘s Statoil, have evacuated hundreds of workers from the country. At least one of the remaining hostages is said to be from Houston, Texas.

So far world oil and gas prices have barely reacted to the events. Clearly the market has reassured itself that this is just a one-off event rather than the beginning of an era of further oil and gas supply disruption in north Africa. Let’s hope the market is right.Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s group, which launched the attack on the gas plant, has reportedly claimed that it will continue operations against the Algerian government. The militants who launched this week’s attack were reportedly carrying heavy weapons, machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades that were used by the Libyan  army during Khadafi’s rule.

Algeria can’t afford that. Algeria’s 1.1 million barrels of daily oil exports bring in more than $50 billion a year to Algeria, cash that goes straight into government coffers, supply the lion’s share of the government budget. According to an IMF report, Algeria’s national balance sheet has deteriorated in recent years. Having ramped up social spending when oil output peaked in 2008, Algeria now needs oil prices north of $100 a barrel to balance its budget. That breakeven number could quickly ratchet up, as oil companies quash plans to invest in Algeria in favor of friendlier territories like Texas.

The Algerian government’s forceful reaction to the attack — strafing the facility with helicopter gunships, and possibly killing hostages in the crossfire — shows that it is serious about stopping attacks by Islamist militants. The government is hunting militants who have escaped, presumably with the full cooperation of the United States. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said yesterday, “Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary or refuge; not in Algeria, not in North Africa, not anywhere. Those who will want only to attack will have no place to hide.”

Foreigners still trapped in Sahara hostage crisis

More than 20 foreigners were captive or missing inside a desert gas plant on Saturday, nearly two days after the Algerian army launched an assault to free them that saw many hostages killed.

The standoff between the Algerian army and al Qaeda-linked gunmen - one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades - entered its fourth day, having thrust Saharan militancy to the top of the global agenda.

The number and fate of victims has yet to be confirmed, with the Algerian government keeping officials from Western countries far from the site where their countrymen were in peril.

Reports put the number of hostages killed at between 12 to 30, with possibly dozens of foreigners still unaccounted for - among them Norwegians, Japanese, Britons, Americans and others.

By nightfall on Friday, the Algerian military was holding the vast residential barracks at the In Amenas gas processing plant, while gunmen were holed up in the industrial plant itself with an undisclosed number of hostages.

Scores of Westerners and hundreds of Algerian workers were inside the heavily fortified compound when it was seized before dawn on Wednesday by Islamist fighters who said they wanted a halt to a French military operation in neighboring Mali.

Hundreds escaped on Thursday when the army launched an operation, but many hostages were killed in the assault. Algerian forces destroyed four trucks holding hostages, according to the family of a Northern Irish engineer who escaped from a fifth truck and survived.

Leaders of Britain, Japan and other countries have expressed frustration that the assault was ordered without consultation and officials have grumbled at the lack of information. Many countries also withheld details about their missing citizens to avoid releasing information that might aid the captors.

An Algerian security source said 30 hostages, including at least seven Westerners, had been killed during Thursday's assault, along with at least 18 of their captors. Eight of the dead hostages were Algerian, with the nationalities of the rest of the dead still unclear, he said.

Algeria's state news agency APS put the total number of dead hostages at 12, including both foreigners and locals.

: World distracted as Israelis head to polls

There was a time when Israel was a top story. War and peace in the Middle East has always been big news. But today, at least in Israel, there is neither war nor peace, just that gray area between the two.

Israelis are going to the polls next Tuesday, but there's a feeling that little of great import to the rest of the world will be decided this time around. As political analyst Daniel Levy wrote in Foreign Policy, these elections are "about nothing." Consequently, there is less international interest in Tuesday's vote than usual.

What's at stake in Israel election?

It appears fairly certain that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will keep his job. The Israeli body politic will continue its rightward shift, with hardliners insisting on deepening Israel's now more than 45 year-old occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights.

Lebanon minister escapes convoy attack unhurt

Faisal Karami, the sports and youth minister, unharmed after an attack on his convoy in the northern city of Tripoli. he convoy of a Lebanese government minister has come under fire in the northern city of Tripoli, leaving four people wounded and a security patrol car riddled with bullets, medics and witnesses have said.
Faisal Karami, the minister of sports and youth, appeared to be unhurt, the medics said.
The four people injured were his boydguards, according to local media reports.
A Reuters reporter said one of the convoy's patrol cars was set ablaze.
In an interview with OTV, a local TV channel, in the aftermath of the attack, Karami said he felt he was not the target of the attack, but rather that "the unrest aims at targeting the country's security situation".
The port city of Tripoli has become increasingly volatile in recent months, due to the civil war in neighbouring Syria.
Residents of Sunni-dominated Bab al Tabbaneh and Alawite-majority Jabal Mohsen have clashed frequently, heightening fears that the war is spilling over into Lebanon

Sectarian Tensions Are Pushing Iraq To The Brink

The blood that has been spilt in Syria over the past two years has polarised the country and the region along sectarian lines. But while Syria is fracturing, the situation in Iraq is even more serious. The sectarian divides there are deeper, and at a more critical point. It is Iraq, not Syria, that is most likely to be torn apart by sectarianism, with ramifications for the entire region.

Iraq is much more polarised now than it was under Saddam Hussein. The bitterness and retribution of the civil war that followed the US occupation are still etched on people's minds. The regional and international rivalry for its rich oil resources is now greater than ever. Corruption is rife: today, Iraq is classified by Transparency International as being among the most corrupt countries in the world. In this oil-producing country already basic services and poor infrastructure are continuing to decline.

At a time when democratic leadership is needed to heal sectarian wounds and entrench national reconciliation, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has instead established an autocratic single-sect powerbase. By so doing, he has plunged Baghdad into a deep crisis, which has escalated in recent weeks with thousands taking to the streets in Sunni areas to protest against his Shia-led government.

In the 2010 elections, Iraqiya, a national, non-sectarian coalition, won 91 seats and gained a parliamentary majority, with two seats more than Maliki's State of Law coalition. But Iranian pressure ensured that Maliki emerged as the prime minister.

Syrian activists: More than 100 killed in village

orces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad swept through a small farming village in central Syria this week, torching houses and shooting and stabbing residents in an attack that killed up to 106 people, including women and children, activists said Thursday.

The assault on Haswiyeh, outside the city of Homs, took place Tuesday, activists said, but was coming to light only two days later. The attacks appeared to be sectarian in nature and resembled the attack in May on the nearby village of Houla that killed 108 people and drew international condemnation of the Assad regime.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll in Haswiyeh at 106 and said some of the dead were “burnt inside their homes while other were killed with knives” and other weapons. It also cited reports that “whole families were executed, one of them made up of 32 members.”

Youssef al-Homsi, an activist based in Homs, also said at least 100 people were killed in Haswiyeh, sending via Skype a list of 100 names of reported victims.

Omar Idilbi of the Local Coordination Committees activist group put the death toll at 37 but said that the figure was from Wednesday and that more bodies had been found since then.

Tunisia marks Arab Spring revolution

Tunisians celebrate second anniversary of the revolution which prompted the exile of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.Tunisians is marking the second anniversary of veteran dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's flight into exile in the first of the Arab Spring uprisings but insecurity and social tensions persist.

A deadlock over a new constitution and the growing influence of radical Islamists are further challenges facing the nation since Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.

President Moncef Marzouki will kick off the celebrations at 07:00 am GMT by hoisting the national flag over Kasbah Square in Tunis, near the headquarters of the ruling coalition led by the Islamist Ennahda party.

Later the government will seal a "social pact" with trade union leaders and business executives at the National Constituent Assembly, in a bid to boost a sluggish economy.

Frustration at the government's failure to address poverty and rising unemployment has mounted since the revolution, with the country rocked by repeated protests, some of them deadly.

On Sunday, the army deployed in the southern border town of Ben Guerdane after a week of clashes between police and residents demanding development projects to revive the area's local economy and reduce unemployment.

Morsi: Speech against Jews taken out of context

 Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said vitriolic comments he made against Jews and Zionists three years ago had been taken out of context, an explanation that fell short of a US call for him to repudiate the remarks.

The comments appear in video of a speech by Morsi in 2010, made when he was already a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement, in which he urged Egyptians to "nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred" for Jews and Zionists.In a television interview that he apparently made months later,Morsi described Zionists as "these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs."

Morsi told a delegation of US senators visiting Cairo on Wednesday that the remarks needed to be put "in the context in which they were said," his spokesman said in a statement.Morsi's comments appeared at odds with the diplomatic, moderate image the Islamist leader has sought to convey since taking office last year and may stir unease among Egypt's Western allies, whose help he needs to weather a financial crisis.

For Washington, which was a staunch ally of Egypt's former leader Hosni Mubarak until he was overthrown in 2011 and is now trying to build a dependable relationship with Morsi, the remarks will have made uncomfortable viewing.

The United States provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid each year - support that flows from Cairo's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Abu Dhabi Conference Focuses On Energy For All

More than one billion people live without electricity mainly in poor and rural communities. Providing universal access to energy will therefore be a key discussion point at the sixth World Future Energy Summit (WEES) from January 15 to 17 in Abu Dhabi, an eminent emirate of the federation of United Aran Emirates (UAE).

Building on the high profile successes of WFES 2012, the Summit will bring together global leaders in policy, technology and business to discuss the state of the art, develop new ways of thinking and shape the future of renewable energy. A Project and Finance Village at WFES 2013 will display 40 projects worth over $8 billion for investment opportunities to provide electricity through renewable sources

Against this backdrop, providing universal access to energy has been in the forefront of sustainability discussions, and in January 2012, the United Nations launched the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All program at WFES. WFES 2013 will continue to focus on global access for energy by including a program and an innovative exhibition initiatives that focus on finding solutions for universal energy access.According to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook, in 2011, nearly half of the 1.3 billion energy-poor populations live in Africa. Additionally, there are 2.7 billion people living without clean cooking facilities; more than 25% of them in Africa.

Technological advancements in renewable energy and the rising cost of fuel have made rural electrification projects a financially viable option, according to Ernesto Macias Galan, President of the Alliance of Rural Electrification (ARE), the only international, non-profit business association dedicated to the promotion and the development of off-grid renewable energy solutions for rural electrification in developing countries.