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Bizarro Earth

Britain to Expel All Iranian Diplomats


Al Jazeera
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:24 UTC
Iranian protesters
© ReutersIranian protesters stormed two British Embassy compounds in Tehran on Tuesday
Britain has ordered the immediate closure of Iran's embassy in London and closed its own embassy in Tehran after it was stormed by protesters.

"The Iranian charge [d'affaires] in London is being informed now that we require the immediate closure of the Iranian embassy in London and that all Iranian diplomatic staff must leave the United Kingdom within the next 48 hours," British Foreign Minister William Hague told parliament on Wednesday.

"We have now closed the British embassy in Tehran. We have decided to evacuate all our staff and as of the last few minutes, the last of our UK-based staff have now left Iran."

Hague also announced that Iranian ambassadors had been summoned in countries across Europe to receive strong protests over the storming of the embassy.

The move is a signficant one, Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reported from London, that amounts to a "firm warning" to Tehran.
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Rocket

A second Iranian nuclear facility has exploded, as diplomatic tensions rise between the West and Tehran

Sheera Frenkel
The Australian
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:28 UTC
Image
© Associated PressIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visits the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility south of the capital, Tehran, Iran.
An Iranian nuclear facility has been hit by a huge explosion, the second such blast in a month, prompting speculation that Tehran's military and atomic sites are under attack.

Satellite imagery seen by The Times confirmed that a blast that rocked the city of Isfahan on Monday struck the uranium enrichment facility there, despite denials by Tehran.

The images clearly showed billowing smoke and destruction, negating Iranian claims yesterday that no such explosion had taken place. Israeli intelligence officials told The Times that there was "no doubt" that the blast struck the nuclear facilities at Isfahan and that it was "no accident".

The explosion at Iran's third-largest city came as satellite images emerged of the damage caused by one at a military base outside Tehran two weeks ago that killed about 30 members of the Revolutionary Guard, including General Hassan Moghaddam, the head of the Iranian missile defence program.
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Light Saber

Iceland Recognises Palestinian State


The Guardian, UK
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:45 UTC
Image
© Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty ImagesIceland's foreign minister, Ossur Skarphedinsson, said he would discuss the outcome of the vote with other Nordic countries before making a formal declaration on Palestinian statehood.
Icelandic parliament passes resolution making country the first in western Europe to accept Palestine as an independent state

Iceland has become the first western european country to recognise Palestine as an independent state.

The Icelandic parliament said in a statement on its website that it had passed a motion with 38 of 63 votes in favour of a resolution to recognse Palestine "as an independent and sovereign state" based on borders predating the six-day war of 1967.

"Iceland is the first country in western europe to take this step," Ossur Skarphedinsson, the minister for foreign affairs, told RUV, the Icelandic national broadcasting service. He said the vote had given him the authority to make a formal declaration on the government's behalf, but before doing so he would discuss the move with other Nordic countries.

The resolution, which coincided with the UN's annual day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, recognised the Palestine Liberation Organisation as the legal authority for a Palestinian state and urged Israel and Palestine to reach a peace agreement.
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USA

US Sending Tons of Tear Gas to Egypt


Press TV
Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:11 UTC
The US government continues exporting tons of tear gas to Egypt, which is being used by the military junta to crack down on protesters across the North African country.
Image
© Press TVEgyptian forces using tear gas against anti-military rule protestrs in Cairo's Tahrir Square

Egyptian news sites published documents on Tuesday showing that seven and a half tons of tear gas have already arrived in Suez.

The US tear gas exports have created a rift among Egyptian officials, as some port officials have refused to sign and accept the shipments out of concern that the tear gas would be used against peaceful Egyptian protesters.

The new documents show that the cargo, which has arrived in 479 barrels, was to be delivered to the Egyptian Interior Ministry.
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Star of David

Israeli forces kidnap 10 Gaza fishermen


Press TV
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:24 UTC
Image
© Press TVPalestinian fishermen cast their nets at the Gaza Seaport.
At least 10 Palestinian fishermen have been kidnapped by Israeli naval forces off the coast of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials say.

The incident took place near the northern shores of Gaza on Tuesday after Israeli military naval ships blocked two Palestinian fishing boats, DPA reported.

The report added that the Palestinian fishermen were taken to the Israeli seaport of Ashdod.

According to Palestinian sources, Israeli naval forces on Monday arrested two other fishermen while they were in the sea off the coast of al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza.
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Chess

Palestinian state, long overdue: UN


Press TV
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:28 UTC
Ban Ki-moon
© unknownUN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state is "long overdue," stressing the need for a just and lasting solution to the issue of Palestine.

"The establishment of a Palestinian State ... is long overdue," the UN chief said in a message marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

He noted that a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands that has led to the homelessness of millions of Palestinian refugees.
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Attention

Britain Evacuates Diplomats After Tehran Embassy Attack

Robert Worth, Rick Gladstone and Alan Cowell
The New York Times
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesProtesters break into the British Embassy and tear down the Union Jack. Some then proceeded to ransack offices
Britain said Wednesday it was evacuating diplomats from Tehran a day after Iranian protesters shouting "Death to England" stormed the British Embassy compound and a diplomatic residence, tearing down the British flag, smashing windows, defacing walls and briefly detaining six staff members in what appeared to be a state-sponsored protest against Britain's tough new economic sanctions against Iran.

The attack was the most serious diplomatic breach since the traumatic assault on the United States Embassy after Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979. Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, expressed outrage over the attack, saying Britain held Iran's government responsible and promising "other, further, and serious consequences."

In a statement early on Wednesday, the Foreign Office in London said the British authorities believed "the safety of our staff and their families is our immediate priority. In light of yesterday's events and to ensure their ongoing safety, some staff are leaving Tehran."

The statement did not go into detail or say whether the embassy would remain open.
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Dollar

Greece gets $10.7 billion but rescue plan stalls

Raf Casert
The Associated Press
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:41 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press/Virginia MayoGreek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, left, shakes hands with Italian Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mario Monti during a round table meeting of the eurogroup at the EU Council building in Brussels on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. The 17 finance ministers of countries that use the euro converged on EU headquarters Tuesday in a desperate bid to save their currency and to protect Europe, the United States, Asia and the rest of the global economy from a debt-induced financial tsunami.
Eurozone ministers finally handed Greece an euro8 billion ($10.7 billion) rescue loan to fend off its immediate cash crisis yet failed to resolve overall fears about the viability of the euro.

Stock markets had risen hoping that intense bond market pressure would finally force the 17-nation eurozone into quicker and more robust action - but that was not to be.

Even as Italy's borrowing costs skyrocketed to a euro-era record, the finance ministers failed to increase the European bailout fund to match earlier predictions and kicked other major financial issues - like a closer fiscal union - over to their bosses, the EU leaders meeting next week in Brussels.

The ministers did agree to use the fund to offer financial protection of 20 to 30 percent to investors who bought new bonds from troubled eurozone nations.

"We made important progress on a number of fronts," Jean-Claude Juncker, the eurozone chief, insisted late Tuesday. "This shows our complete determination to do whatever it takes to safeguard the financial stability of the euro."
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Stormtrooper

Flashback America, Nazi Germany and Immigration

James A. Benzoni
Hispanic News
Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:39 UTC
immigration raids
© Unknown
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
These lines from Emma Lazarus' famous poem "The New Colossus" are enshrined at the base of the Statute of Liberty in New York Harbor. Just across the water, the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood against the sky, giving New York the most famous city sky-scape in the world. All that is changed now. And in the ashes of 9/11, the nation lost something far more significant - its soul, its reason for being.

Since 9/11, we have engaged in a nonstop orgy of self-pity, wallowing in our grief and shock and horror. We have done things that are antithetical to what it means to be American: torture, murder, renditions, corruption on both the national and international levels, murder of innocent civilians, invading another country and overthrowing its government without provocation, granting immunity to mercenaries for indiscriminate killings of innocent civilians, violation of another nation's sovereignty, officially sanctioned rape and sexual abuse of prisoners of war, abrogation of the Geneva Conventions and international treaty obligation, repeated violations of constitutional and civil rights in the name of security, spying on our own citizens, lies and violations of our word of honor until our word is simply a mockery of truth. Our news media, the guardians of public discourse, have been complicit - as have we, the American people.
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Pistol

'German Arms Sales Up 50% in 2010'


Press TV
Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:07 UTC
Image
© unknownA file photo of German-made Heckler and Koch G36 Assault rifle
A German government report has revealed that Germany sold around EUR 2 billion (USD 2.66 billion) in weapons and military hardware in 2010 -- an increase of around 50 percent compared to the previous year.

The data appeared in the German government's annual Defense Exports Report, Der Spiegel reported on Monday.

Most of the arms deliveries were to European Union member countries or NATO states, but some defense products found markets in Africa and the Persian Gulf states as well, the German weekly said.

In 2009, the country exported EUR 1.34 billion worth of defense products. Most of the products exported were high-value armaments like submarines, warships and tanks.
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