SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- A regional delegation said no pre-conditions had been set for the talks which will be held in Libreville, capital of neighbouring Gabon.

Officials also said more troops from the Central African Multinational Force (Fomac) would be sent to CAR.

The announcements come after government troops and rebel fighters clashed in the central town of Bambari on Friday.

Rapid gains by the Seleka rebels have raised fears that CAR's capital Bangui could fall within a few days.

Officials from regional blocs including Eccas (the Economic Community of Central African States) confirmed the agreement to the BBC after a two-day mission in Bangui.

They said the talks should start "within the next few days".

Eccas also said that another contingent of soldiers from Fomac would be deployed, but did not specify how many or when the troops would arrive.

More than 500 soldiers from Fomac are already in CAR.

Most of the rebels have taken up arms against President Bozize's government before. But this time their campaign has been swift and they appear to have a chain of command that works. It also seems that these rebels have not been looting much - usually a sign that they are well kept and fed.

So where do they find their resources? Outside support for the rebel coalition cannot be ruled out. Neighbouring Chad has been fingered by some observers as a potential rebel supporter. Could Chad's President Idriss Deby want President Bozize replaced, even though Mr Deby helped him take power almost 10 years ago.

Though Chadian troops have been deployed to save Mr Bozize in the past, and they are again stationed outside Bangui as a buffer should rebels advance on the capital, Mr Deby's intentions seem unclear.

However, Mr Deby has always wanted a close ally to the south. The rebels are an unlikely alliance of splinter factions with different interests and may well split should they reach Bangui. Should that happen, it could plunge CAR into chaos - potentially sucking in Chad.

Fears over the deteriorating security situation led to the US evacuating its embassy in Bangui and the UN pull out non-essential staff.

The government and rebels blamed each other for the fresh fighting around Bambari early on Friday.

However, diplomatic sources said the army had tried and failed to retake the town from the rebels.

BBC West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy says the failure to reclaim the town may have convinced the government that it couldn't set pre-conditions for talks.

Seleka - an alliance of three rebel groups - took Bambari last Sunday having earlier seized the rich diamond mining area around Bria.

CAR President Francois Bozize appealed on Thursday for France - the former colonial power - and the US to help stop the rebel advance.

However, the plea fell on deaf ears.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault reiterated on Friday that France would only intervene to protect its own nationals there.

Seleka accuses Mr Bozize of failing to honour a 2007 peace deal under which fighters who laid down their arms were meant to be paid.

The rebels have pledged to depose Mr Bozize unless he negotiates with them.

They began their campaign a month ago and have taken several towns in their push towards the capital.

www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Over a thousand Portuguese police officers have held a demonstration in Lisbon to protest against the austerity measures the government is imposing on them.

The police officers gathered in central Lisbon on Tuesday evening before holding a demonstration in front of parliament to censure the crisis-hit country's plans to cut the police budget next year, AFP reported.

Battered by the global financial downturn, the Portuguese economy fell into a recession, which compelled the country to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout loan in 2011.

Spain, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, and Portugal are all in recession, and all five are receiving financial assistance from European bailout funds.

The Portuguese government plans to stop early retirement, put an end to free public transport for police officers, and shutter the police healthcare service.

"Police officers aren't recognized in their work, their working and living conditions are getting more difficult, and the 2013 budget measures are going to penalize us in our social and professional lives and hurt the national police force," Paulo Rodrigues, the head of the main police union, the ASPP, said on Tuesday.

The government has said that the new budget will help Portugal meet the conditions imposed by its creditors, the European Central Bank, the IMF, and the European Union, which are keeping an eye on Portugal's implementation of spending cuts and reforms required in return for the 78-billion-euro ($102 billion) rescue package the country received in 2011.

The creditors have agreed to relax Portugal's deficit targets for 2012 and 2013 as a reward to the country for pushing through reforms.— www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Thousands of demonstrators have marched peacefully in Paris to denounce austerity measures in Europe that have sparked violent protests in other EU countries struggling to avert fiscal crises.

The march organized largely by the "Left Front" party and the Communists comes ahead of the French parliament's debate this week on a European fiscal treaty, The Associated Press reported.

The treaty would set up the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund that European leaders hope will help calm a debt crisis that threatens the euro zone and the global economy.

The main conservative opposition party and most of President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party back the treaty. But it has splintered the French left: Far-left parties, the Greens and some dissident Socialists oppose it.

Austerity has fanned recent violence in places like Spain and Greece.

Greece has been at the epicenter of the eurozone debt crisis and is experiencing its fifth year of recession, while harsh austerity measures have left about half a million people without jobs.

One in every five Greek workers is currently unemployed, banks are in a shaky position, and pensions and salaries have been slashed by up to 40 percent.

Greek youths have also been badly affected, and more than half of them are unemployed.

The long-drawn-out eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and reached Italy, Spain, and France last year, is viewed as a threat not only to Europe but also to many of the world’s other more developed economies.

Battered by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008, taking with it millions of jobs. Unemployment is approaching 25 percent.

The worsening eurozone debt crisis has increased Spain's financing costs and the country is seeking a European Union bailout similar to the one Greece received.

On June 9, eurozone finance ministers agreed to lend 100 billion euros to Spain to save its teetering banks, which means more debt will be added to Madrid's already massive debt burden.

Economists say Spain has entered into a second recession. The country has imposed unpopular austerity measures and economic reforms in an effort to persuade its lenders that it is serious about decreasing its overblown deficit to 6.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2012 and 4.5 percent in 2013.— www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Tehran Times

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets to express their outrage at the West’s campaign against Islam, Press TV reports.

In a massive demonstration held after Friday prayers in Sana’a, the people condemned a blasphemous movie made in the United States and a French magazine’s recent publication of cartoons that insult Islam and the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)

“We came here to send out our message to the Europeans and the Westerners that… you have to respect our prophet as we respect yours,” a demonstrator told a Press TV correspondent in the city.

The protesters also called for the expulsion of US Marines, who were recently deployed at the US Embassy in Sana’a in response to the recent violent upheavals over the anti-Islam movie.

There have been demonstrations over the blasphemous film outside US diplomatic posts in several countries across the world.

The protesters say the people involved in the production of the film should be prosecuted, US diplomats should be expelled from their countries, and the US government should offer an apology.

Five protesters were killed by Yemeni security forces outside the embassy on September 13 and 14.—www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Press TV

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Thousands of people have taken to the streets in the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Khairpur to condemn the recent wave of deadly attacks on Shia Muslims, Press TV reports.

On Friday, the demonstrators demanded that the Pakistani government take action to stop the killings.

As recently as last Wednesday, six Shias, including a doctor, were killed in separate attacks in different parts of Pakistan.

Nearly 400 Shias have been killed in targeted attacks this year.

The country’s Shia leaders have demanded that the government immediately investigate the attacks on Shia Muslims.

The killing of Shias has caused international outrage, with human rights groups and regional countries, including Iran, expressing concern over the situation.

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch issued a statement asking the Pakistani government to “urgently act” to protect the country’s Shia Muslims.

“Deadly attacks on Shia (Shiite) communities across Pakistan are escalating,” Brad Adams, the Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in the same statement.

“The government’s persistent failure to apprehend attackers or prosecute the extremist groups organizing the attacks suggests that it is indifferent to this carnage,” Adams added.—www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Press TV

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Thousands of Yemenis have once again taken to the streets to protest against foreign interference in the country’s internal affairs, Press TV reports.

In a massive demonstration in the northern province of Sa’ada on Friday, protesters chanted slogans against the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

The demonstrators also called for the prosecution of former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh for his role in the killing of thousands of pro-democracy protesters during last year’s revolution.

In an interview with Press TV on July 15, Moufid Jaber, an expert at the Center for Middle East Studies and Public Relations in Beirut, said that the Israeli regime has a role “in sowing instability in Yemen… through many channels that lead to al-Qaeda” and also by “political means through the US.”

Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for regular demonstrations in Yemen’s major cities since January 2011, calling for an end to corruption and unemployment and demanding that relatives of Saleh be sacked from their government posts.

Saleh formally stepped down and handed over power to then Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in February 2012. The power transfer occurred under a Saudi-backed deal brokered by the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council in April 2011 and signed by Saleh in Riyadh on November 23, 2011.

Yemen is the Arab world’s poorest country. Forty percent of the people of Yemen are living on two US dollars a day or less and one third are wrestling with chronic hunger.

About 31.5 percent of the population is “food insecure” and around 12 percent of the Yemeni people are “severely food insecure,” according to the United Nations.—www.shafaqna.com/english

source: WR NEWZ

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Protesters have held a demonstration against the repressive regime of Al Saud in Tarout Island of Saudi Arabia.

The demonstrators on Sunday condemned the recent killing of a teenager by the Saudi police.

On August 3, Saudi security forces killed 18-year-old Hussain Yousef al-Qallaf in the Qatif region of oil-rich Eastern Province.

The protesters in Tarout also expressed solidarity with prominent detained Shia cleric Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr, who was attacked, injured and arrested by the security forces of the Al Saud regime while driving from a farm to his house in Qatif on July 8.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the Qatif region and the town of Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the Eastern Province.

Syed Ali Wasif, the president of the Society for International Reforms and Research in Washington, told Press TV in a recent interview that the Saudi regime is “betraying the common Muslims in the name of Mecca and Medina, and their sacredness.”

According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.” —www.shafaqna.com/english

Source: Abna

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — In massive demonstrations in the northern city after Friday prayers, protesters chanted slogans against the United States and its allies, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, and called for the expulsion of US Ambassador Gerald M. Feierstein.

The demonstrators also expressed their outrage over the killings of many civilians by Washington’s drones in Yemen.

The US military has used assassination drones in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, and Iraq.

Washington claims that the drones target terrorists in the operations, but civilians have often been killed in the strikes.

Meanwhile, at least 7 people were killed and several others injured in two separate attacks in the country.

A bomb detonated near an internet café in a southern neighborhood of the capital Sana’a, killing one and injuring another.

In the second incident, a motorcyclist threw a grenade at a busy market in the southern city of Taizz, killing at least 6 people and wounding 10 others.

In an interview with Press TV on July 15, Moufid Jaber, an expert with the Center for Middle East Studies and Public Relations in Beirut, said that the Israeli regime has a role “in sowing instability in Yemen… through many channels that lead to al-Qaeda” and also by “political means through the US.”

Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for regular demonstrations in Yemen's major cities since January 2011, calling for an end to corruption and unemployment and demanding that relatives of former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh be sacked from their government posts. —www.shafaqna.com/english

source: Taghrib News

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — People in different Pakistani cities have staged protest rallies to voice their outrage at the ongoing violence against the minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Press TV reports.

The protesters took to the streets on Friday shouting slogans against the Myanmar's administration for its role in the persecution and massacre of Muslims.

They also lashed out at Western media and the UN Security Council for turning a blind eye on the killing of Muslims during a recent wave of sectarian violence in the Southeastern Asian country

The UN says decades of discrimination have left the Rohingyas stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education and public services.

Reports say some 650 Rohingyas have been killed and thousands more displaced in recent months.

The Pakistani demonstrators further called on Islamabad to sever diplomatic ties with Myanmar and expel its ambassador from the country over the Myanmarese government’s discrimination against Rohingya Muslim minority.

The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize Rohingyas, claiming they are not native to the country. This is while the Rohingyas migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the Myanmar government for the killing of Rohingya Muslims.

“Burmese (Myanmarese) security forces committed killings, rape, and mass arrests against Rohingya Muslims after failing to protect both them and Arakan Buddhists during deadly sectarian violence in western Burma in June 2012,” the rights organization said in a report. —www.shafaqna.com/english

Source: Press TV

SHAFAQNA (Shia News Association)— Thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets of Sa’ada to protest against foreign interference in Yemen’s internal affairs, Press TV reports.

In massive demonstrations in the northern city after Friday prayers, protesters chanted slogans against the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia and called for the expulsion of US Ambassador Gerald M. Feierstein.

The demonstrators also condemned Washington’s drone attacks in southern Yemen.

The US military has also used assassination drones in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, and Iraq.

Washington claims that the drones target terrorists in the operations, but civilians have often been killed in the strikes.

In an interview with Press TV on July 15, Moufid Jaber, an expert with the Center for Middle East Studies and Public Relations in Beirut, said that the Israeli regime has a role “in sowing instability in Yemen… through many channels that lead to al-Qaeda” and also by “political means through the US.”

Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for regular demonstrations in Yemen's major cities since January 2011, calling for an end to corruption and unemployment and demanding that relatives of former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh be sacked from their government posts.

Saleh formally stepped down and handed over power to then Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in February 2012. The power transfer occurred under a Saudi-backed deal brokered by the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council in April 2011 and signed by Saleh in Riyadh on November 23, 2011.

Yemen is the Arab world’s poorest country. Forty percent of the people of Yemen are living on two US dollars a day or less and one third are wrestling with chronic hunger.

About 31.5 percent of the population is “food insecure” and around 12 percent of the Yemeni people are “severely food insecure,” according to the United Nations. —www.shafaqna.com/english