Naama Margolese, the eight-year-old Israeli girl, whose routine humiliation by ultra-Orthodox Israelis

I can think of about four million Palestinians who can sympathise with Naama Margolese, the eight-year-old Israeli girl, whose routine humiliation by ultra-Orthodox Israelis on her way to school has "shocked" the nation, uniting the majority of Jewish Israelis in anger at the growing power of harshly conservative Jewish movements in the country.

But you won't be hearing from them any time soon the way this story is being presented.

Coming on the heels of the unprecedented and largely secular protests this past summer in Tel Aviv and other cities to press for affordable housing and "social justice" more broadly,and the recent attacks by extremist settlers against Israeli soldiers, this latest conflict has led many mainstream news outlets to talk of a continuing "religious war" in Israel, pitting secular and moderately religious Jews against an increasingly assertive, militant and expanding ultra-Orthodox sector.

"It doesn't matter what I look like, someone should be able to walk around in sleeveless shirts and pants, and be able to walk down the street and not be harassed," the young girl's Chicago-born mother, Hadassa, explained.

Of course, Palestinians couldn't agree more. But somehow, the vast majority of the Israeli and Western mainstream media seems unaware of the obviously parallels between the treatment of Naama Margolese and Israeli girls and women more broadly by ultra-Orthodox, and the treatment of millions of Palestinians by Israel. Even the most recent Haaretz editorial criticising the growing militarism and violence of the ultra-Orthodox did not mention Palestinians.


In fact, as unpleasant as are the images of a young Jewish girl being screamed and even spit at by Israeli Jewish Taliban, it is still preferable from the point of view of Israel's propaganda efforts to being confronted with heartrending images of Jews attacking Palestinians, never mind religious settlers attacking of young Palestinian children, which is a routine occurrence in the Occupied Territories.

It is ironic that today Jewish-on-Jewish conflict is, from a certain perspective, preferable (at least at the level of spectacle) to Jewish-Palestinian conflict, because for several decades, part of the accepted wisdom surrounding the unwillingness of Israelis to reach a viable peace agreement with Palestinians was that doing so would lead to an untenable level of conflict, and even civil war, within Jewish Israeli society.

The alternative to focusing on this story would be a focus on Israeli High Court's determination on Tuesday that Israel can continue to exploit Palestinian mines and other resources for the benefit of Israelis, even though this is a direct contravention of international law. Or to read an email about a young Palestinian boy, so frightened by Israeli soldiers who have given his family 10 minutes to get their belongings out of their house before it's to be demolished that he stood, shivering outside, wetting his pants. The list goes on and on; all of it, tragically, far worse than the already deplorable hatred and discrimination that Naama has daily faced, just for being a girl.

Sacred women

The Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has described the figure of the "homo sacer", or sacred man, who from ancient Rome to the Middle Ages, and again today, is considered completely outside the law and deprived of all rights of citizenship. He can therefore be killed with impunity, not merely by representatives of the state (the police or army, for example), but by anyone.

Jews and Roma during the Holocaust are the modern epitome of the homo sacer, as are, to a greater or lesser degree, all colonised people, including - and particularly, today, Palestinians, as the South African theorist Achille Mbembe has shown in his work on necropolitics as well as Irish human rights scholar John Reynolds.

But there is a specific manner in which what I would term the "femina sacra", or sacred woman, is also a primary object of violence, whether in Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian or most other societies for that matter. The much publicised recent army and police violence against women in Egypt is a good example of how, once the general public loses fear of state violence, the state must press even harder by specifically attacking the repository of honour and values - female citizens - as a way of attempting to break down the resistance of society as a whole. (Of course, it rarely works).

Israeli President Shimon Peres declared solemnly that Israelis are "fighting for the soul of the nation and the essence of the state", while a member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party declared that the harassment the young girl faces "have no place in sane and moderate Judaism". Excluding women from the full rights of citizenship or the realisation of their humanity - at least as that humanity has come to be nearly universally accepted and codified in international law - is, as one sign held up by a female protester in Bet Shemesh against the ultra-Orthodox put it, "my red line".

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared: "Israel is a democratic, Western, liberal state... In a Western liberal democracy, public space is open and safe for all - men and women alike - and has no room for any harassment or discrimination."

Neither western nor liberal

Of course, Netanyahu is lying. Israel is not democratic in any meaningful sense if one considers that millions of Palestinians under its control for decades have been deprived of citizenship and its attendant rights - a society in which anyway, from elderly man to young girl can become "sacred" - that is, outside the bounds of civilised law, at any moment. Nor is it Western in any meaningful sense in that it has honoured the core ideal of Western modernity largely in the breach (which, of course, only makes it a microcosm of the West writ large). And while gays might have rights - at least in Tel Aviv, for now - it cannot be considered liberal from any perspective when it so thoroughly violates the rights of millions of people.

But as long as Palestinians are absent from the conversation, as long as the focus is on Naama Margolese and the reprehensible conduct towards her, then the fiction that there is still a struggle to be had for Israel's "soul" can be maintained.

Of course, for some adult ultra-Orthodox women in Beit Shemesh, being forced to the back of buses and being prevented from walking on the same side of the street as men or being attacked for not dressing modestly enough is not a problem. "I feel uncomfortable when men look at me," one woman declared in explaining why she doesn't mind being segregated away from men.

We can debate whether the woman who isn't bothered by segregation or the back of the bus is making a free judgment, or has been so cowed by living in an extremely patriarchal and repressive community that she has internalised male dominance to the point of accepting it as both a given and a source of protection - just as so many Muslim women accept and even defend their second class status in countries across the region. But free adults at least have, in theory, a choice. Naama Margolese has clearly not been socialised into the values of this community, and feels frightened and excluded by what its members are trying to impose on her.

Recognising shared oppression

As her mother complained, "they" want to "push us out of" and "take over the city".

This is, of course, a lament which untold numbers of Palestinians can appreciate, from residents of Jaffa pushed out to make way for expensive condominiums to Bedouins whose villages remain unrecognised when their lands aren't being further expropriated to the millions of Palestinians across the Green Line and in exile.

If Israel is to have a chance at surviving as some approximation of the "Jewish democratic state" envisioned by its founders, Jewish Israelis, like Hadassa Margolese and the protesters on behalf of her daughter, or the J20 protesters this summer who took to the streets in huge numbers for "social justice", are all going to have to accept that the injustices against which they are fighting are inseparable from the injustice their society as a whole continues to inflict, far more intensely, upon Palestinians.

I won't get my hopes up for the adults accepting and acting upon this reality any time soon. But as she grows up, we can hope that Naama's firsthand experience of exclusion, oppression, bigotry and even hatred, will help her see the equal humanity of the Israeli Other - Palestinians - more fully than her parent's generation has been able to do.

If that can happen, then however unacceptable Naama Margolese's experience, it will have prepared her for the even greater struggle for full democracy for all the people, men and women, Israelis and Palestinians, living between the River and the Sea, that will soon enough be her generation's to assume.

Mark LeVine is a professor of history at UC Irvine and senior visiting researcher at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden. His most recent books are Heavy Metal Islam (Random House) and Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books).

Courtesy:Al Jajeera

87-year-old Chinese activist and journalist has been released

Sun Shucai, an 87-year-old Chinese activist and journalist has been released. He fled to Thailand in November 2006 and has been detained by the Thai authorities in Bangkok since December 2010 . CHINESE ARREST SOUTH KOREAN JOURNALISTS NEAR NORTH KOREAN BORDER
PUBLISHED ON SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2011.

Reporters Without Borders is worried to learn that the Chinese authorities are holding a group of journalists from the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo on suspicion of spying. Arrested near China’s border with North Korea on 20 September, they were reportedly travelling on tourist visas.

“We demand an explanation of this arbitrary detention of a group of journalists whose number has not been confirmed,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Press visas are hard to get and, when journalists lack them, the Chinese authorities often use this as grounds for preventing them from working in this sensitive border area. We call on the authorities to release them without delay.”

According to a report in the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, the JoongAng Ilbo group consisted of four journalists, the head of a Seoul-based government transport research centre and a local guide. Chinese soldiers arrested them in a supposedly restricted military zone near the River Tumen, which forms the border with North Korea.

South Korean foreign ministry officials told Associated Press on 23 September that the JoongAng Ilbo journalists had been held in a hotel since their arrest near the border. Without saying exactly how many were being held, the officials said the journalists were travelling on tourist visas.

The Chinese authorities do not like foreign reporters visiting the area near the North Korean border. A South Korean freelance journalist, Seok Jae-hyun, was arrested in 2003 for filming North Korean refugees fleeing to China and was held for 14 months on a charge of “trafficking in human beings"

Amnesty accuses Libya's NTC of detainee abuse - Africa - Al Jazeera English

Amnesty accuses Libya's NTC of detainee abuse - Africa - Al Jazeera English

9,000 children have gone missing in Uganda -Where child sacrifice is a business

According to a US State Department report, Uganda has become one of the main source countries for children to be bought and smuggled to Britain.Some 9,000 children have gone missing in Uganda over the past four years, according to a US report Over the last four years, at least 400 African children have been abducted and trafficked to the UK and rescued by the British authorities, according to figures obtained by the BBC. It is unclear how they are smuggled into the country but a sinister picture is emerging of why. Whether it is through leaflets handed out in High Streets or small ads in local newspapers, witch-doctors and traditional African spiritual healers are becoming ever more prominent in Britain. The work many of them do is harmless enough, but there is evidence that some are involved in the abuse of children who have been abducted from their families in Africa, and trafficked to the UK. According to Christine Beddoe, director of the anti-trafficking charity Ecpat UK, a cultural belief in the power of human blood in so-called juju rituals is playing a part in the demand for African children. "Our experience tells us that traffickers can be anybody. They can be people with power, people with money or people involved in witchcraft," she explains. "Trafficking can involve witch-doctors and other types of professionals in the community who are using those practices." Violent and degrading Figures compiled by Ecpat, combined with those of the Metropolitan Police and Ceop, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, show that at least 400 African children have been abducted and trafficked to the UK and rescued by the British authorities. “I would have no problem to get a child officially or there is a way of doing it secretly, abduct a child” Yunus Kabul Testimonies from many of these children have revealed that once they arrive in Britain, they are exposed to violent and degrading treatments, often involving the forced extraction of their blood to be used for clients demanding blood rituals. Some of these victims agreed to share their experiences on the promise of anonymity because they still fear their abusers. One boy explained how witch-doctors took his blood to be used in such rituals: "The traffickers or witch-doctors take your hair and cut your arms, legs, heads and genitals and collect the blood. They say if you speak out I can kill you." Another victim feared for her life, saying the "witch-doctor told me that one day he would need my head. Unaware he was being recorded, Mr Kabul described to the BBC's Chris Rogers how he got hold of children for his customers. "Sometimes I would wake up and he would be standing over me with a knife, every night I was terrified that he would do it." Meanwhile, a girl from Nigeria remains convinced the spell performed on her means she can never identify her traffickers, for fear her family will die. "They told me I was evil and made bad things happen. I believed it and that this was my punishment and what my life would be." Human blood ritual Witch-doctors, or traditional spiritual healers as they prefer to be known, are becoming more prominent in Britain. Many offer "life changing rituals", involving prayer and herbs. A price tag of £350 ($547) would not be uncommon.But there are some who engage in more sinister practices.Posing as a couple with financial problems, I visited 10 witch-doctors. All offered herbal potions to end our money worries, but two also made the offer of a ritual involving human blood. Although, there is no evidence that they themselves were involved in the trafficking and abuse of children, it contributes to a disturbing picture of abduction and abuse. The ease with which a child could be procured was apparent when, posing as a British trafficker, I went looking for help in the cafes and bars in the underworld of the Ugandan capital, Kampala. For $250 (£160) a reformed criminal introduced us to Yunus Kabul, who boasted he had been abducting children for witch-doctors in Africa and abroad, for years. During our conversation he offered as many children as we required. "I have enough, a hundred, no problem. I have so many communications. I have a network across whole of Uganda." People think even talking about juju might lead to something bad happening to them” Det Ch Supt Richard Martin Metropolitan Police Mr Kabul arranged a meeting at an isolated hotel. Unaware he was being recorded, he described how he got hold of children for his customers. "It all depends how they want it done? I can take you to a family home, I would have no problem to get a child officially or there is a way of doing it secretly, abduct a child." I asked Mr Kabul if the police would cause a problem. "I have to find a house where we can take the supply, the children, in a remote area. So the police cannot find them," he explained. Mr Kabul demanded a fee of £10,000 ($15,600) per child. I withdrew from the negotiations. The head of Uganda's Anti-Human Sacrifice Police Task Force, Commissioner Bignoa Moses, admits there is a problem: "We cannot rule out that children end up abroad because as of now we don't have the capacity to monitor each individual and many simply disappear." Back in the UK, despite the testimony of so many victims, the cultural belief in the power of juju is a huge challenge for the authorities. One senior police detective says part of the problem is the silence that surrounds the matter. "While juju is widely believed, it is rarely spoken about publicly. People think even talking about juju might lead to something bad happening to them," says Det Ch Supt Richard Martin, head of the Metropolitan Police's Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Command. "This presents officers with enormous difficulties when it comes to investigating these crimes and bringing the perpetrators to justice." Courtesy BBC

Dalai Lama missing from party as South Africa's anti-apartheid icon and critic TUTU of its government turns 80

Desmond Mpilo Tutu, South Africa's retired archbishop and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has celebrated his 80th birthday.

Known as "The Arch", Tutu is a much-loved figure in his country, mostly for the role he played in ending apartheid.

Friday's birthday celebration, however, was not without controversy.

Earlier in the week he branded South Africa's government, which is led by the African National Congress party, "worse than apartheid" over suspicions that a delay in issuing a visa to Tibet’s Dalai Lama was due to pressure from China.

As a result, the Dalai Lama was unable to attend Tutu’s celebration, but still delivered a message wishing the archbishop well.

Among those in attendance were Graça Machel, Nelson Mandela's wife, and Bono, lead singer of Irish rock band U2.

Sparked debate

Al Jazeera's Tania Page, reporting from Johannesburg, said that Tutu's stinging attack on the government had sparked debate over the current government’s political direction.

Page said that the spat had highlighted "Tutu's ongoing relevance as the country's moral compass".

Susan Booysen, political analyst at the University of the Witwatersrand, said, "He has the gravitas, like no other leader, to say things and be heard.”

South Africans interviewed by Page said that the icon still symbolised perseverance and achievement for the country.

"There's still one person who still has the guts to challenge the government which we're living under, so it's a good thing what he did," said one interviewee.

Another South African interviewed said, "I hope to grow as old as him and to achieve as many things as he did in our country."

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Eight Bangladeshi migrants have been beheaded in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.

Mamun Abdul Mannan, Faruq Jamal, Sumon Miah, Mohammed Sumon, Shafiq al-Islam, Masud Shamsul Haque, Abu al-Hussain Ahmed, Mutir al-RahmanThe eight had been executed in public on Friday. They were sentenced to death for the alleged murder of an Egyptian man in April, 2007, an interior ministry statement said on Friday. The men were convicted of robbing a warehouse and killing the security guard, Hussein Saeed Mohammed Abdulkhaleq, an Egyptian national. Three other men were sentenced to various prison terms, the statement in Arabic said. Most of the defendants have no defence lawyer, have insufficient hold of the Arabic language to follow proceedings and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. Human rights group Amnesty International condemned the execution in a statement, also on Friday. "Court proceedings in Saudi Arabia fall far short of international standards for fair trial and news of these recent multiple executions is deeply disturbing," the group's Middle East and North Africa director, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, said. "The Saudi authorities appear to have increased the number of executions in recent months, a move that puts the country at odds with the worldwide trend against the death penalty," he added. The organisation also pointed out that majority of those executed recently in Saudi Arabia is migrant workers from poor and developing countries.They also have no access to influential figures or money, both of which might have secured them pardons. Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences, the statement said. The beheadings bring the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year to at least 58, more than double than the 2010 figures. Twenty of those executed in 2011 were foreign nationals. At least 158 people, including 76 foreign nationals, were executed by the Saudi Arabian authorities in 2007. In 2008 some 102 people, including almost 40 foreign nationals, were executed. In 2009, at least 69 people are known to have been executed, including 19 foreign nationals and in 2010, at least 27 people were executed including six foreign nationals. Criticising the process of conviction the rights body Amnesty International said that it might have been only based on confessions obtained under duress or deception.

The men who crashed the world

The first of a four-part investigation into a world of greed and recklessness that led to financial collapse. In the first episode of Meltdown, we hear about four men who brought down the global economy: a billionaire mortgage-seller who fooled millions; a high-rolling banker with a fatal weakness; a ferocious Wall Street predator; and the power behind the throne. The crash of September 2008 brought the largest bankruptcies in world history, pushing more than 30 million people into unemployment and bringing many countries to the edge of insolvency. Wall Street turned back the clock to 1929. In depth coverage of US financial crisis protests But how did it all go so wrong? Lack of government regulation; easy lending in the US housing market meant anyone could qualify for a home loan with no government regulations in place. Also, London was competing with New York as the banking capital of the world. Gordon Brown, the British finance minister at the time, introduced 'light touch regulation' - giving bankers a free hand in the marketplace. All this, and with key players making the wrong financial decisions, saw the world's biggest financial collapse. Courtesy: Al Jazeera

Pakistan 'backed Haqqani attack on Kabul' - Mike Mullen                             

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·The most senior US military officer has accused Pakistan's spy agency of supporting the Haqqani group in last week's attack on the US Kabul embassy.

Outgoing chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen was speaking to a US Senate panel.

"The Haqqani network... acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency," Adm Mike Mullen told a Senate panel.

Some 25 people died in last Tuesday's 20-hour attack on Kabul's US embassy and other official buildings.

Pakistan's interior minister earlier denied links with the Haqqani group.

Rehman Malik told the BBC Pakistan was determined to fight all militants based on its border with Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials have consistently denied links with militant groups.

US-Pakistan ties deteriorated sharply after the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani soil by US commandos in May.

'Credible intelligence'

The Kabul attack on 13 September left 11 civilians dead, as well as at least four police and 10 insurgents.

Analysis

M Ilyas KhanBBC News, Islamabad

These comments are just the latest and most extreme in a series of statements that will be seen in Pakistan as incendiary. They will generate concern in government circles as well as among the wider public.

Pakistanis have long been worried that the Afghan war is coming to their side of the border.

The Haqqani network - and Pakistan's alleged relationship with it - has been a source of frustration for the US. But only today Pakistan's interior minister denied any links. Pakistan will also be keen to remind people that it too is in the grip of terror.

In the 1980s when militants were fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, the head of the Haqqani network was nurtured by Pakistani intelligence - and indeed by the CIA.

Some analysts believe the links between the militants and Pakistan's intelligence are still alive. But others say that Pakistan's secret service no longer has control over the potent militant groups it helped create.

"With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted a truck bomb attack [on 11 September], as well as the assault on our embassy," said Adm Mullen.

"We also have credible intelligence that they were behind the 28 June attack against the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations."

In July Adm Mullen, who steps down this month as chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused Pakistan's government of sanctioning the killing of investigative journalist Saleem Shahzad.

Pakistan called that statement "irresponsible".

Correspondents say that during his tenure, Adm Mullen has been a forceful advocate for maintaining dialogue with Pakistan and with its military establishment.

He was said to be close to the Pakistani army's chief of staff, Gen Ashfaq Kayani. Indeed, Adm Mullen is thought to have made more visits to Pakistan than any other senior US official or chief of staff in recent times.

But, correspondents say, the latest comments are yet more evidence of his patience wearing thin, and suggest he is prepared to be more outspoken as his term in office draws to a close. Courtesy: BBC

Strained ties

The Haqqani network, which is closely allied to the Taliban and reportedly based in Pakistan, has been blamed for several high-profile attacks against Western, Indian and government targets in Afghanistan.

It is often described by Pakistani officials as a predominantly Afghan group, but correspondents say its roots reach deep inside Pakistani territory, and speculation over its links to Pakistan's security establishment refuses to die down.

The Haqqani network is thought have bases in Pakistan's volatile tribal regions

US officials have long been frustrated at what they perceive to be Pakistani inaction against the Haqqani network, and analysts say US concern about the group's capabilities is particularly acute as Nato begins withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, Washington said it could target the Haqqani network on Pakistani soil if the authorities there failed to take action against the militants.

But on Thursday, Mr Malik told the BBC that Pakistan's government had taken "very, very strict actions" whenever it had received information about militant groups.

"We will not allow any terrorist to operate from our area, from our side, irrespective of any country, including Afghanistan,"

he said. "I assure you that, if their presence is there and which is detrimental, action is going to be taken."

Mr Malik said his government's efforts were hindered by the fact that neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan had control over some parts of the border area between them.

"There is no biometric system on the border. Forty thousand to 50,000 people cross this border every day. It is very difficult to keep an eye on everyone.

"[The US Senate's linking of $1bn US assistance to Pakistan to its action again Haqqani and others] will not make Pakistanis happy," he added. "We have sacrificed 35,000 lives [in fighting terrorism] and have suffered economic losses."

Ties between the US and Pakistan had already been strained by continuing US drone strikes targeting militants in the tribal areas and the controversy over the release of Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor who killed two Pakistani men in Lahore.

Law to decriminalize attempt to commit suicide in India-Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim are not in agreement

 The government of India intends to amend the law to decriminalize attempt to commit suicide, and may effect the much needed reform in a year or so.

This was indicated to the Delhi high court on Wednesday by the Central government, in response to a PIL seeking removal of section 309 of the Indian Penal Code that punishes attempt to suicide with one-year simple imprisonment or fine or both.

"Stand-alone amendment to remove section 309 of IPC may not be possible. The government plans a comprehensive amendment in a year's time to the IPC, the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code) and the Evidence Act that will include considering Law Commission's recommendation to delete section 309," Central government counsel Jatan Singh told a bench of chief justice Dipak Misra and justice Sanjiv Khanna.

Sources in the home and law ministry confirmed that decks have been cleared to propose removal of this section. Views were sought from the states as law and order is a subject on the concurrent list.

Of the 29 state governments approached, 25 have agreed to the proposal. Since criminal law falls in the concurrent list, as it deals with law and order, the approval of a majority of state governments is seen as a clincher for the Parliament to pass an amendment.

Only governments of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim are not in agreement with the proposal, while J&K has responded that the IPC is not applicable to them. Singh also submitted a note prepared by the home ministry that states, "A view has already been taken to consider recommendation of the Law Commission for deletion of 309 IPC during the next batch of comprehensive amendment to the IPC."

The note, dated September 19, assures the court that the government is serious about the issue and adds three Parliamentary standing committees on home affairs have advocated need to "reform and rationalize" the criminal law of the country by introducing a comprehensive legislation in Parliament instead of bringing amendment bills in piecemeal. Courtesy: Times of India

Govt of India bends 70%, Anna seeks 90% : The all-party meeting called by the government on Wednesday

Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh wrote to Anna Hazare, who has been on fast for eight days, saying the government would request the Lok Sabha Speaker to "formally refer the Jan Lokpal Bill to the standing committee". This panel would consider all versions, including the government's, Team Anna's and Aruna Roy's.

The olive branch came just before the government agreed to consider Team Anna's demand to put the Prime Minister under the Lokpal's purview and merge the CBI's anti-corruption wing with the proposed ombudsman. The government has agreed to enact the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill to deal with corruption in higher judiciary. Government agreed that this legislation would be vetted by the Hazare group.

The sticking points are: Civil society's demand to include the lower bureaucracy in the Lokpal's ambit, enacting Lokayuktas for states, extending Lokpal's jurisdiction to cover the conduct of MPs inside Parliament, adoption of a citizen's charter by every government department that lays down the duties of officials and punishments for non-performance.

The civil society has asked the government to give a commitment in writing that the Lokpal Bill will be passed in the current session itself after withdrawing the official bill from the standing committee or allowing it to lapse.

The government, which described the talks as "fruitful", plans to respond tomorrow. It will discuss the issue at an all-party meeting the Prime Minister has called tomorrow. Singh will also review the situation at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.

Last Thursday, TOI had suggested precisely this as a solution to the logjam, but members of the government and Congress had at the time indicated that it wasn't a feasible idea. On Tuesday, however, it chose to be flexible.

In fact, there was a clear attempt to de-escalate tension, with the government and Team Anna appearing to move closer to an understanding on two contentious issues. During the talks through the day, the government indicated that it was ready to put the PM within the Lokpal's jurisdiction with riders to protect the top office from motivated allegations. The Hazare camp appeared to agree that corruption in higher judiciary should dealt with a proposed law on judicial standards and accountability.

Although talks will continue on Wednesday and the issue will be discussed at the all-party meeting in the afternoon, the possibility of an early resolution looked slim with Hazare insisting on carrying on with his fast and asking that the Lokpal Bill be sent directly to Parliament, skipping Standing Committee scrutiny.

While finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the government's chief negotiator, termed the talks "fruitful", representatives of Anna Hazare - Prashant Bhushan , Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi - tried not to encourage hopes of a breakthrough.

More crucially, Hazare insisted on carrying on with his fast despite the growing risk of damage to his kidneys and in defiance of advice from his doctors. Addressing the crowds at 9.10 pm, he said he had refused medical advise to take an IV drip, and was ready to die for country. He also warned against attempts to remove him forcibly, asking protestors assembled at the maidan to form a barrier if "any government people come here".

The leader also indicated that the government should hurry up on reaching an agreement in view of his health parameters. "Doctors are saying there is some damage to my kidneys, but my inner voice has told me and I should not be scared of death," he said.

The fast ensured that the civil society faction continued to hog sympathy just after the government through the PM's letter tried to seize the initiative in the battle of wits. The move sought to achieve multiple objectives: From expressing concern over Anna's falling health to counter the perception of cussedness to pull off an image makeover by appearing to be a partner in the fight against graft rather than an adversary.

But there was an attempt to disarm the Hazare group of their chief grouse: That the proceedings in Parliament will be rigged since it will not get to discuss the Jan Lokpal Bill at all. Faced with the allegation that they did not believe in parliamentary supremacy, the civil society faction said that their real quarrel was that the government had fixed the parliamentary proceedings. Seeking to blunt the plank, government strategy was to ensure that Team Anna was completely on board on the move to refer the Jan Lokpal Bill to the standing committee, even if this clearly means that not all of its provisions would be accepted. A middle ground had to be clearly defined, as the government does not want to face a fresh stir later.

However, Hazares' determination to carry on with his protest ensured there was no respite for the government. His insistence to call off his fast in defiance of medical advice will ensure that Anna camp continues to hog sympathy, while putting the government in a fix over how to deal with what threatens to be big political headache. While the political cost to government of a dip in Anna's health cannot be exaggerated, it also has to factor in how the attempt to forcibly hospitalize the septuagenarian.

The PM's conciliatory letter in which he voiced concern about Anna's health, was the most critical part of a larger and concerted move through Tuesday by the government to engage with Team Anna.

Changing its earlier tack of using intermediaries to talk to Team Anna, law minister Salman Khurshid met with Anna lieutenant Arvind Kejriwal in the first direct contact between the two sides on Tuesday afternoon. Later in the evening, Team Anna and the government met at finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's office.

Singh's letter and a quiet meeting between law minister Salman Khurshid and Team Anna leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Akhil Gogoi led to a formal exchange at the office of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. Mukherjee, named Prime Minister's chief negotiator, met Kejriwal, who was accompanied by Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan. Khurshid was also present.

The all-party meeting called by the government on Wednesday will try to draw the response on parties on how far they will back the peace initiatives. The government is quite prepared to recast the Lokpal law substantially but wants parties to indicate where they stand on contentious issues like inclusion of lower bureaucracy, higher judiciary and conduct of MPs in Parliament.

On Tuesday, we front-paged a TIMES APPEAL. And we are heartened to see the first signs of thaw. But the peace process has only just begun; the last thing the nation wants or needs is for it to be derailed. We're therefore taking the unusual step of re-running the Appeal, because it will be as relevant tomorrow as it was yesterday... 

TIMES APPEAL : Last Thursday, The Times of India offered three solutions (while acknowledging the legal/constitutional roadblocks to each one of them) to break the logjam: (1) a referendum; (2) an MP introduces Team Anna's draft as a private member's bill and Parliament debates both the government and the Jan Lokpal versions; (3) the issue be referred to an eminent persons' committee. We would not be so immodest or foolish as to believe that a better solution does not lie outside of the three proposed by TOI. But there can be no second opinion on the need to find common ground. Both the government and Team Anna claim to be doing what they're doing "for the people". If that be so, neither side should allow ego to come in the way of a solution that best tackles the curse of corruption and serves the cause of India and its people. This is a moment in our history that calls for humility and guts, not hubris or bravado.

TIMES VIEW: Even those who disagree with the form of Anna's protest cannot quarrel with the cause, or with the nationwide public upsurge he has created. But now that the government has agreed to formally refer the Jan Lokpal Bill to the standing committee of Parliament, he should call off his fast before his health deteriorates any further. The fight is far from over, and he needs to preserve his energy for the road ahead. Source:Times Of India

Virginia earthquake rattles East Coast;No major injuries or extensive damage were reported after the 5.8-magnitude earthquake

A strong earthquake in Virginia shut down a nearby nuclear power plant Tuesday afternoon and sent out seismic waves felt by millions from Georgia to northern New England. Three aftershocks were reported by Tuesday evening.

No major injuries or extensive damage were reported after the 5.8-magnitude earthquake, which struck about 40 miles northwest of Richmond. The quake prompted evacuations of office buildings and the precautionary closing of monuments in the nation's capital.

A surge in calls by cell-phone users after the event affected service in many areas, federal officials said.

Aftershocks of magnitude 2.8 and 2.2 were recorded later in the afternoon, followed by one of 4.2 just after 8 p.m. ET, officials said. More aftershocks are possible in the coming weeks.

"It's one of the largest that we've had there," U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones said of the quake.

Most federal buildings in Washington had reopened by late Tuesday afternoon, but officials were taking all precautions before giving the all-clear to some of its most iconic structures. The U.S. Capitol was cleared for employees to come back to get their belongings, but inspectors asked people to limit their time inside the building while engineers continue to work around the complex.

A helicopter inspected the Washington Monument, and it was found to be structurally sound, the National Park Service said.

But a secondary inspection revealed cracking in the stones at the top of the monument. Structural engineers on Wednesday will determine the best way to repair the monument before it is reopened, the agency said. The grounds have been reopened except for an area about 100 feet outside the plaza.

Virginia quake felt by millions

Shock waves up and down East Coast

New Yorkers respond to quake

Earthquake hits Virginia

Record-setting earthquakes

Measuring earthquakesThe Lincoln and Jefferson memorials reopened Tuesday evening.U.S. Park Police spokesman David Schlosser said to his eye, the monument was "clearly not leaning. It's standing tall and proud."

Witnesses reported a number of buildings were evacuated as far away as North Carolina and New York, where a 5.8 earthquake struck in 1944.

The quake, which was recorded at 1:51 p.m., was shallow -- just 3.7 miles deep -- and located 88 miles southwest of Washington near the town of Mineral, Virginia. The magnitude was initially reported as 5.8, then revised to 5.9, and then revised again back to 5.8.

With so many on the East Coast unaccustomed to earthquakes, many people were left wondering whether all that rumbling could have been caused by a truck, helicopter, an explosion or some other force.

Kate Duddy was in an office building elevator in Manhattan, alone, when the shaking started.

"I have never felt a quake before. It was scary having no idea what the cause was," she said. "I felt the vibrations and the elevator stopped for a period of about five minutes."

The earthquake triggered the automatic shutdown of a nuclear power plant less than 20 miles from the epicenter after it lost electricity. The quake signaled "unusual events" at 12 other nuclear facilities across the East Coast and Michigan, U.S. authorities reported.

Dominion Virginia Power said both reactors at its North Anna plant shut down after the first tremors. Reidelbach said the plant vented steam, but there was no release of radioactive material. Dan Stoddard, senior vice president of nuclear operations for Dominion, said there was no damage to the spent fuel pool.

Officials were restoring full power to the site, which was operating on diesel generators. Stoddard said that might happen by late Tuesday, but that was before the evening aftershock. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was monitoring the plant.

Relatively minor damage was reported in a few Virginia counties, including Louisa, nearest to the epicenter.

Several school buildings had damage, as did town hall buildings, Louisa County spokeswoman Amanda Reidelbach told CNN. An unspecified number of minor injuries were reported in the county.

Desi Fleming, a resident of Mineral in Louisa County, said the quake arrived with a rumbling "that sounded like a train coming to a stop." It knocked down two chimneys on the converted 1900-vintage home that now houses her parcel-shipping business.

Tuesday's incident occurred in a known seismic zone in central Virginia, said Dave Russ of the U.S. Geological Survey. But the strength of the earthquake was a bit surprising. A 5.9 event occurred in 1897 near Blacksburg, he said.

At Washington's National Cathedral, spokesman Richard Weinberg said three 5- to 8-foot pinnacles had broken from the central tower. He said stone masons and engineers would assess the damage, which also included other pieces that broke and fell on the surrounding lawn.

The building was evacuated and closed to the public.

Wayne Clough, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, said the national museum's landmark castle on the Mall had cracks in interior walls. There was no immediate indication of structural damage, but the 150-year-old building will need closer examination, he said.

"You want to do an inspection to be sure about that," Clough said.

Clough, who's also an earthquake engineer, said the geography of the Eastern Seaboard helped transmit the shock from the Carolinas to New England. The underlying bedrock is largely a solid sheet, "so you get a lot more travel out of earthquake waves than you would in California," he said.

Those waves extended to downtown New York, where court buildings were evacuated.

"I was trying to figure out what was going on, like everyone else," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who said he had been through many earthquakes when he lived in California.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at an afternoon news conference that the earthquake was felt "across the five boroughs" of the city, but there were no reports of injuries and "virtually no reports of damage."

The quake was also reported to have been felt on the island of Martha's Vineyard, where President Barack Obama was playing golf. He did not feel the earthquake, according to the White House.

The earthquake slowed but didn't halt major transportation services.

Service at major airports throughout the region was disrupted, but all were reported to have resumed normal operations about 75 minutes after the earthquake struck.

At John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark-Liberty International Airport, control towers were evacuated, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.

Amtrak on Tuesday evening said service between Washington and Baltimore had returned to normal speeds following inspections.

In Spotsylvania, Virginia, Tish Walker said she was spooked and staying outside for the moment.

"I used to live in California, so I know shaking and this felt big," she said. "I grabbed my dog and raced outside; my first thought is always that the furnace might explode or a cabinet crashes down on top of us."

Courtesy: CNN

What's next for Libya and the national council? Three questions on Libya - Opinion

A six month NATO-aided rebellion in Libya has advanced on the capital, Tripoli, in an effort to oust 42-year leader Muammar Gaddafi. Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, comments on three key issues. What's next for Libya and the national council? It is time for the Libyan people to celebrate the end of a four-decade dictatorship. Once they sober up from the jubilations of their well-deserved victory, however, they will discover this is only the beginning. Gaddafi has undermined, marginalised or obliterated many of the state institutions, including the military, and destroyed the political parties - indeed, political life in the country. There is much to restore and more to build from scratch. Security, reconstruction and political transition are only a few of the challenges they will face sooner rather than later. More importantly, they will need to manage expectations of those who have given their all for liberty, freedom and prosperity. Having said that, there is no need for alarm. Not yet any way. It's easy, even clichéd, to be pessimistic, even negative, about the post-revolutionary challenge. What is needed is optimism anchored in reality. And judging from what we have seen over the past five months, there is much to celebrate in terms of building a steering council and creating locally based revolutionary groups from the bottom up that have been well coordinated and largely disciplined. There have been disagreements and suspicion over the past several weeks, and the full story of the assassination of Abdul Fatah Younis is yet to emerge. And yes, there have been certain violations and acts of revenge, but considering the pent-up tensions and violence after decades of dictatorship and its terribly criminal behaviour throughout the past few months, these have been the exceptions to the rule. The revolution has been a pluralistic, all-encompassing coalition of people from all walks of life. They paid attention to local and tribal sensitivities and established an excellent coordination strategy between the local revolutionaries and the national steering committee. Unlike in Egypt and Tunisia where pillars of the regime, notably the military, remain in power, the Libyan revolution is set to wipe the slate clean and begin anew. Democracy is its only way to success. The transitional council must remember its role is just that – transitional - and avoid all tactics that prolong its unchecked authority. You mentioned Egypt and Tunisia. What do the Libyan developments mean for the Arab Spring? Libya is much smaller and relatively less developed than its neighbours Egypt and Tunisia. It also has much on its plate and will be preoccupied with its own internal affairs for years, even decades, to come. That's why one doesn't expect the new leaders in Tripoli to play any major regional role in the near future. However, the revolutionary contagion will only accelerate after the success of the revolution in Libya. The Assad and Saleh regimes should have much more to worry about today than last week as the latest revolutionary domino falls. Under pressure from their people, the Arab regimes are going to have to act. Yemen is next, and Syria, while more complicated, will have to follow suit. The same is true for the rest of North Africa. As a necessary bridge between Egypt and Tunisia, oil-rich Libya could play an important role in coordinating the three countries' future reconstruction strategies and their relations with the rest of the region and with the West. What about the Western powers - notably France, Britain and the US - where does the 'success' in Libya take them? First and foremost Western leaders need to wipe that smug look from their faces and make sure not to gloat about doing the Arabs any favours. Certainly the NATO aerial bombardment did help, but this was a revolutionaries' victory par excellence. The battle was won first and foremost in the hearts of the Libyans, just as with the Egyptians and Tunisians before them. Besides, after decades of complicity with Arab dictators, Western powers have much to make up for: They inserted themselves in the Libyan revolution after Gaddafi made genocidal threats against his people, but their interference was not necessarily motivated by humanitarian ends, rather more of the same geopolitics that led to befriending Gaddafi, Ben Ali and Mubarak in the first place. Syria is far more complicated and Britain and France will need to keep out of it militarily. That's not to say that the Libyans should be unappreciative for the extended helping hand. Better to have Western powers on the right side of Arab history for a change. And there is much room for cooperation and coordination in the future, but it should be done on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest, especially that of the Arabs who are in every need of affirmative action. Western leaders must also steer away from driving a wedge between those whom they consider moderates and others deemed "Islamists", as Libya will need cooperation among all its citizens.

Marwan Bishara was previously a professor of International Relations at the American University of Paris. An author who writes extensively on global politics, he is widely regarded as a leading authority on the Middle East and international affairs.

Source: Al Jazeera