Two-state solution only serves Israeli interests

A prominent leader of the Islamic Jihad movement Mohammed al-Hindi says a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only serve Tel Aviv's interests.

He said that the solution aims at forcing the Palestinians to abandon 80 percent of their historic land in order to establish a demilitarized non-sovereign state in the West Bank and Gaza.

The senior Palestinian leader meanwhile described the move as part of previous 'attempts to wreck the Palestinian cause'. He stated that such endeavors began with the Oslo Accords on August 20, 1993 and continued with the US-sponsored Middle East peace summit held in Annapolis as well as the Road Map to Peace Plan.

He added that the two-state solution also went against the Palestinian refugees' right of return and would mean that they would have to abandon their legitimate rights in al-Quds.

Article 11 of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 -- passed on December 11, 1948 near the end of the Arab-Israeli War -- calls for the Palestinians right of return to their homeland, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return.

It is estimated that about 4 million Palestinians living in refugee communities scattered mainly in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon could claim a right of return under this article.

Al-Hindi went on to underscore the soaring threats to the al-Aqsa Mosque especially from far-right Zionist groups which seek to harm the holy site in any way. He called upon Muslims, Arabs as well as all Palestinians to rescue and support the Mosque.

The senior member of the Islamic Jihad group urged the acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas to stop negotiations and coordination with Israel.

UK denies Megrahi's release linked to trade ties

Britain denies allegations that the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was linked to any trade deals with Libya.

"No deal has been made between the UK government and Libya in relation to Megrahi and any commercial interests in the country," a Foreign Office spokesman quoting Foreign Secretary David Miliband told AFP on Friday, after the interview by the Libyan leader's son on Thursday night.

"All decisions relating to Megrahi's case have been exclusively for Scottish ministers, the Crown Office in Scotland and the Scottish judicial authorities", he said.

He added that 57-year-old Megrahi was released only on the grounds of illness after doctors treating him for prostate cancer said that he had no more than three months to live.

Seif al-Islam, son of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said in an interview broadcast by the Libyan channel al-Mutawassit, that in all of Britain's commercial contracts for oil and gas with Libya, 'Megrahi was on the negotiating table'.

Even Britain's then prime minister Tony Blair raised Megrahi's case each time he visited Libya, he said. Blair visited Libya in May 2007 as prime minister, during which British energy giant BP as well as the BG Group and Shell secured substantial contracts with Libya, with BP alone signing a USD 900 million exploration deal.

Seif al-Islam added, "All British interests were linked to the release of Megrahi."

He called Megrahi's release a 'victory'. "Your liberation is a victory that we offer to all Libyans," he said in his interview.

Megrahi was the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people in the air and on the ground in the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

Sweden flatly rejects Israeli request for media quiet

Sweden has turned down a demand that it condemn the recent publication of an article that links Israeli soldiers to the death of Palestinian civilians with the motive of obtaining their organs.

In an article published earlier in the week, Sweden's best-selling daily Aftonbladet recounted grotesque incidents dating as far back as 1992 in which Israeli soldiers allegedly abducted Palestinian youths and returned their bodies mutilated a few days later.

The publication infuriated Israeli officials who labeled the news piece as 'blatantly racist' and full of 'vile anti-Semitic themes'.

In response to the publication, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on his Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, to officially rebut the 'shocking and appalling' piece.

Tel Aviv's envoy to Sweden, Benny Dagan, was to make a similar request during a Friday meeting with the kingdom's deputy foreign minister.

Bildt, however, responded that he would not condemn the article, asserting that such a measure would be in violation of freedom of expression and counter to the Swedish constitution.

Condemnation of anti-Semitism is "the only issue on which there has ever been complete unity in the Swedish parliament", the Swedish minister wrote in a blog post on Thursday, apparently rejecting the idea that disapproving criminal conduct amounts to anti-Semitism.

The Swedish refusal to denounce the allegations against the Israeli army by the high-circulation daily may shake diplomatic ties between Tel Aviv and Stockholm.

There is media speculation that Israel might respond by canceling the Swedish foreign minister's visit to the occupied West Bank scheduled for the next 10 days.

US workplace suicides jump 28 percent

A US report has found a record 28% rise in workplace suicide rates last year as the global economic meltdown continues to take its toll in the country.

According to a report by the US Labor Department, 251 people committed suicide at the workplace in 2008, amid widespread layoffs and overall belt-tightening.

That's the highest figure ever recorded in the United States for suicide attempts at the workplace.

Labor Department officials did not explain the startling rise but pointed to the economic recession as the main reason behind the death rate.

Meanwhile, a separate study by the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine has also found that over a third of US homeowners who went through foreclosures are now suffering from severe depression.

More than 30 thousand people end their own lives each year in the United States where suicide is the second highest cause of death for men aged 25 to 34.

Both Karzai and Abdullah claim victory

Hamid Karzai's campaign chief says that the incumbent president has secured the outright majority in Afghanistan's presidential elections, but his main rival rejects the claim.

Din Mohammad said initial results showed the incumbent president had gotten a majority of the votes.

"Initial results show that the president has got a majority. We will not go to a second round. We have got a majority."

He emphasized that Karzai had secured the outright majority needed to avoid a run-off in October.

A spokesman for Karzai's main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, has meanwhile dismissed the remarks, saying Abdullah is leading the votes.

Abdullah the main challenger to incumbent president Hamid Karzai has issued a statement detailing about 40 incidents of alleged irregularities. Abduallh says officials have pressured people to vote for Karzai.

The claims and counter claims come as ballot papers are being counted after polling stations were closed in Afghanistan's presidential and provincial elections on late Thursday.

Meanwhile, election authorities have launched an investigation into several complaints of irregularities.

The election authority said Friday ballot counting in the country's presidential election was over. "The counting is finished for the presidential race."

The official results are expected to be released next week and turnout expected at 40 to 50 percent, according to election commission officials.

Observers, however, expect the number to be far lower. Many independent reports also suggested a slow start to voting.

The vote was held amid tight security due to threats from Taliban militants. But Afghan authorities say those threats failed to prevent people from turning up.

A number of people were killed on Thursday, including children in rocket attacks that reportedly hit the southern provinces of Kandahar, Ghazni and Helmand, the eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar and Khost, as well as in the north.

However, according to the latest official reports the Election Day saw sporadic violent incidents in which over 26 people were killed. The casualties included civilians, soldiers as well as Taliban insurgents.

The Afghan government had banned covering reports of violence during the voting.

There have been reports of militant attacks in 15 provinces.

The violence in the conflict-torn country is on the rise despite the presence of more than 100,000 US-led soldiers in Afghanistan.

UN: Yemen clashes displace100,000 people

An UN agency says a recent surge in fighting between the Yemeni government and fighters has forced more than 100,000 people, many of them children, to leave their homes.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) voices "serious concern" over the impact of the escalating violence on women and children in the northwestern Saada province.

"It is estimated that over 100,000 persons have been displaced by the latest round of fighting, (and) many of them are children," Reuters quoted Aboudou Karimou Adjibade, UNICEF representative in Yemen, as saying.

The warning comes as government forces have killed 100 anti-government Houthi fighters and arrested 300 others in the province in the past few days.

The Houthis belong to the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam.

Marie Okabe, a UNICEF spokesman, also announced that the agency is trying to supply the refugees with water filters, jerry cans and hygiene kits, as well as 300,000 water purification tablets.

Alongside with UNICEF, the World Food Program (WFP) also decided to boost its food aide to 150,000 Yemenis compared with 95,000 who had received help last month.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that some 35,000 people displaced in just past two weeks as a result of the conflict in Yemen.

Fighting between Yemeni troops backed by fighter aircraft and Shia fighters has killed dozens, mostly fighters, since the government launched a wide offensive against Shia tribes earlier in the month.

Yemen's government officials accuse opposition groups of trying to reinstall a religious reign, toppled by a 1962 military coup in northern Yemen.

In addition, government officials on August 13 announced 6 conditions for halting their offensive.

These included the opposition's withdrawal from all districts of Sa'ada and mountainous sites and giving up the military hardware they had seized from the army.

Iran rejects claims of voter fraud

Iran rejects claims of voter fraud
Iranian Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli says there has been no 'written complaint' about voter fraud.

Iranian Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli has declared that the 10th presidential elections were conducted in a manner that ruled out the possibility of voter fraud.

In a press conference at the Interior Ministry on Saturday, Mahsouli put the number of the total votes cast in the elections at 39,165,191, suggesting the heavy turnout to be a victory for the nation and not for a specific candidate.

The figures bring to around 85 percent the total participation in the elections. The total number of people eligible to vote had been estimated to be over 46 million.

While officially pronouncing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner of the presidential elections with a whopping 24,527,516 votes, Mahsouli dismissed claims that the elections were rigged.

"No violations that may have influenced the vote have been reported, and we have received no written complaint," he said in response to a question posed by an Italian reporter.

He explained that there may have been some tensions between the representatives of the presidential hopefuls but added that there is no evidence to suggest that the issues of contention have led to violations.

His remarks came after Moussavi described the official count as a 'sleight of hand' by those in charge of the crucial election.

According to the Interior Ministry, Ahmadinejad received around 62 percent of the votes while Mir-Hossein Moussavi managed to win nearly 33 percent with 13,216,411 votes.

The two other candidates -- Mohsen Rezaei and Mehdi Karroubi -- won 1.7 and 0.85 percent respectively.