Excerpts: Norway's diplomacy readies for Palestinian state.Hizbullah urges
only they deal with UN Hariri court. Jordan's Afghan-veterans, government
reject Islamist criticism. Egypt 6 million state employees offered 7 year
loan.Al-Qaeda threat to US and Europe during Christmas . Iran Sunni suicide
bomb kills 39 Shiites December 16, 2010

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 16 Dec.'10:"Norway upgrades Palestinian mission",
Associated Press

SUBJECT: Norway's diplomacy readies for Palestinian state.

OSLO (AP) - Norway will raise the status of the Palestinian representation
in the Scandinavian country in recognition of efforts to build a Palestinian
state, the foreign ministry said Wednesday [15 Dec]. The decision was
announced during a visit by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to
Norway. Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman, Bjoern Svenungsen, said the
upgrade, from “general delegation” to “diplomatic mission”, would take
effect early next year. He said the top Palestinian diplomat in Oslo will
have the rank of an ambassador but use the title “head of the Palestinian
mission”. “Upgrading of the Palestinian representation to Norway is in
recognition of the efforts made by the Palestinian Authority,” Svenungsen
said. “In the last three years, since the donor conference in Paris in 2007,
the Palestinian Authority has come a long way in laying the foundation for
the establishment of a Palestinian state.” Nabil Shaath, a senior
Palestinian negotiator, said three other European countries - Spain, France
and Portugal - have taken similar steps recently.

+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 16 Dec '10:" Hizbollah urges Lebanon gov’t to step
aside
in UN Hariri court", AFP

SUBJECT: Hizbullah urges only they deal with UN Hariri court

QUOTE: "Nasrallah: 'leave this problem to us and thribunal' "

FULL TEXT:BEIRUT (AFP) - Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on
Wednesday called on Lebanon's government to step aside and allow his armed
movement to singlehandedly deal with a UN court on the murder of ex-premier
Rafiq Hariri.
"The day is coming when this tribunal and all those who conspired with it
will face a scandal bigger than those that WikiLeaks has unveiled,"
Nasrallah told a gathering of thousands of his supporters via closed-circuit
video.
Nasrallah's comments came as tensions rise in Lebanon over the the UN-backed
Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is reportedly ready to indict
high-ranking Hizbollah operatives in the 2005 Beirut bombing that killed
Hariri and 22 others.
The Shiite leader, who commands the most powerful military force in the
country, urged Lebanon's deeply divided government to stay out of his rising
offensive against the STL, which he has claimed is a US-Israeli plot.
"Leave this problem to us and the tribunal, for we are able to face up to it
alone and defend ourselves," Nasrallah said, a night before a mass
procession in the Hizbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut to mark the
commemoration of Ashoura.
The Iranian- and Syrian-backed group has warned any charges in the Hariri
murder would have grave repercussions in Lebanon and called for an inquiry
by the nation's highest court into what it claims was bogus testimony given
to UN investigators.
But Saudi-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain ex-premier,
has vowed to see the investigation through.

+++SOURCE: JORDAN TIMES 16 Dec.'10:"Ex-servicemen, veterans condemn Islamic
Action Front fatwa"

SUBJECT: Jordan's Afghan-veterans, government reject Islamist criticism

FULL YEXTAMMAN (JT) - The National Committee for Ex-Servicemen on
Wednesday[15 Dec] condemned a statement issued by the Islamic Action Front
(IAF) which criticised Jordan’s involvement in Afghanistan. In a statement,
the committee underlined that the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) is committed to
provide support for the Afghan people, stressing that the forces’
humanitarian role in Afghanistan entails treating the injured. The committee
highlighted that thousands of wounded Afghan citizens have been treated by
the JAF at the Jordanian field hospital in Afghanistan. Also yesterday[15
Dec] , the Economic and Social Association of Retired Servicemen and
Veterans issued a statement denouncing the IAF remarks, the Jordan News
Agency, Petra, reported. The government on Monday[13 Dec] expressed its
rejection and condemnation of the IAF statement.

+++SOURCE: Egyptian Gazette 16 Dec.'10:"Egyptians to borrow to boost
economy",
Reuters

SUBJECT: Egypt 6 million state employees offered 7 year loan

QUOTE: ' 'one of a series of stimulus measure aimed at boosting economic
activity' "

FULL TEXT:CAIRO - Egypt will let 6 million state employees borrow against
their salaries in a move designed to stimulate the economy, al-Akhbar
newspaper reported on Wednesday[15 Dec], citing an unnamed Ministry of
Finance official.
Under the programme, employees will be able to borrow up to 25 per cent
of their salaries as of January 1 in loans that must be repaid within seven
years.
"The programme is a tool used by the ministry to limit the relative
slowdown that has hit the markets in general. It will have a direct effect
on inflation," the newspaper quoted the official as saying.
"It is one of a series of stimulus measures aimed at boosting economic
activity linked to consumption and the retail sector."
After three years of around 7 per cent growth, Egypt's economy slowed
when the global financial crisis hit to 4.7 per cent in the 2008-2009 fiscal
year, before quickening to 5.1 per cent in 2009-2010.
The government believes it needs a minimum of 6 per cent growth to
absorb new entrants to the labour force.
The Finance Ministry has contracted with National Bank of Egypt , Banque
du Caire and Alexbank, which is controlled by the Italian bank Intesa
Sanpaolo SpA, to provide the finance using the employees' salaries as
security, al-Akhbar said.
Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali said on Monday[13 Dec] he
expected the economy to grow by 7 per cent in the financial year beginning
in July 2011 and by 8 to 8.5 per cent the year after.

+++SOURCE:Saudi Gazette 16 Dec.'10:"Iraq: Plot to bomb US and Europe
revealed",
Agencies
SUBJECT: Al-Qaeda threat to US and Europe during Christmas

QUOTE:"on high alert during the holiday season"

FULL TEXT:BAGHDAD: Two senior Iraqi officials say the government has
obtained confessions from captured insurgents who claim Al-Qaeda is planning
suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the Christmas season.

Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Al-Bolani told The Associated Press
Wednesday[15 Dec] that the botched bombing in central Stockholm last weekend
was among the alleged plots the insurgents revealed.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, in an interview from New York, called
the claims “a critical threat.”

Both Al-Bolani and Zebari said Iraq has informed Interpol of the threat, and
alerted authorities in the United States and European countries of the
possible danger.

Neither official mentioned a specific countries in Europe that are allegedly
being targeted.

There was no way to verify the insurgents’ claims. But Western
counterterrorism officials generally are on high alert during the holiday
season, especially since last year’s failed attack by Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab, the so-called underwear bomber, who tried to blow up a
Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

Swedish intelligence agency Saepo said, meanwhile, there were around 200
violence-promoting extremists in the country.

The claim came days after the country’s first-ever suicide bombing missed
wreaking havoc among Christmas shoppers.

Some “80 percent of the 200 can be linked to each other,” Malena Rembe, the
chief analyst at Saepo’s Counter-Terrorism Unit told reporters.

It explained in its 126-page report that the extremists focus on areas such
as Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The agency stressed the 200 or
so extremists were “not a threat to the fundamental structures of society,
Sweden’s democratic system or central government.”

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 16 Dec.'10:"Suicide bomber kills 39 in Iran",
Associated Press

SUBJECT: Iran Sunni suicide bomb kills 39 Shiites

QUOTE' "persisent unres int recent years by the Sunni militants"

FULL TEXT:TEHRAN: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite religious
procession in the Iranian city of Chabahar Wednesday[15 Dec] killing at
least 39 people in an attack claimed by Sunni rebel group Jundallah.

A pathologist cited by the official IRNA news agency said 38 bodies had been
brought to the town’s mortuary, among them women and children. A 39th
casualty later succumbed to his wounds, the pathologist said.

The bomber struck in a central square where worshippers were taking part in
a religious procession, Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar told the ILNA
news agency.

“An individual walked up to some Red Crescent ambulances and blew himself
up,” he said.

Ali Mohammad Azad, Governor of Sistan-Baluchestan province, said: “Two
terrorists were killed, one in the explosion and the second by police.”

The prefect of Chabahar, Ali Bateni, said a third terrorist was later
arrested. “There were two terrorists who were spotted before they carried
out their attack but one of them managed to detonate his explosive vest,”
Bateni told IRNA.

“The ringleader of this terrorist action has been arrested.”

Sistan-Baluchestan where Chabahar is situated has a significant Sunni
community and has seen persistent unrest in recent years by the Sunni
militants of Jundallah (Soldiers of God).

The group claimed Wednesday’s[15 Dec] attack, saying it was to avenge the
hanging of their leader Abdolmalek Rigi. It identified the two militants as
Saiful Rahman Chabahari and Hessan Khashi.

“This operation was a revenge for the hanging of the head of the movement
Abdolmalek and other members of Jundallah,” the group said on its website
junbish.blogspot.com.

Jundallah, which says it is fighting for the rights of the province’s large
Sunni ethnic Baluchi community, has claimed many deadly attacks on Iranian
security forces over the past decade as well as assaults that have led to
civilian deaths. In July, it claimed responsibility for an attack on the
Grand Mosque in the provincial capital Zahedan that targeted members of the
Revolutionary Guards and killed 28 people.

– Associated Press
==============
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA