ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Scientists find at least 18 times the normal levels of radioactive element in late Palestinian leader’s remains. By David Poort and Ken Silverstein November 06, 2013 - " Al-Jazeera " -- Paris, France - Swiss scientists who conducted tests on samples taken from Yasser Arafat’s body have found at least 18 times the normal levels of radioactive polonium in his remains. The scientists said that they were confident up to an 83 percent level that the late Palestinian leader was poisoned with it, which they said “moderately supports” polonium as the cause of his death. A 108-page report by the University Centre of Legal Medicine in Lausanne, which was obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera, found unnaturally high levels of polonium in Arafat’s ribs and pelvis, and in soil stained with his decaying organs. The Swiss scientists, along with French and Russian teams, obtained the samples last November after his body was exhumed from a mausoleum in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Dave B...

By John Pilger The corridors of the Australian parliament are so white you squint. The sound is hushed; the smell is floor polish. The wooden floors shine so virtuously they reflect the cartoon portraits of prime ministers and rows of Aboriginal paintings, suspended on white walls, their blood and tears invisible. The parliament stands in Barton, a suburb of Canberra named after the first prime minister of Australia, Edmund Barton, who drew up the White Australia Policy in 1901. "The doctrine of the equality of man," said Barton, "was never intended to apply" to those not British and white-skinned. Barton's concern was the Chinese, known as the Yellow Peril; he made no mention of the oldest, most enduring human presence on earth: the first Australians. They did not exist. Their sophisticated care of a harsh land was of no interest. Their epic resistance did not happen. Of those who fought the British invaders of Australia, the Sydney Monitor reported in 1838: ...

Summary Following the expropriation of YPF a year ago, Argentina has made it a national priority to revitalize the country's declining energy sector. Buenos Aires reviewed the regulatory system for hydrocarbon producers and has selectively improved terms to lure investment. These efforts appear to have yielded some success, with major energy companies Chevron and Total signing deals in recent months. Despite renewed interest, however, a full recovery of the energy sector is dependent on a political transition. For the remainder of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's second term, Argentina will most likely continue to rely on oil and natural gas imports. This will continue to damage the country's national accounts and hold back economic progress. Even if a new political alternative emerges, reversing a decade of government subsidization will be a daunting task. Analysis Argentina's energy sector has been deteriorating for much of the past decade, with pr...

Summary Coming only a week after an incident near Tiananmen Square and in a region typically removed from ethnic violence, the purported bombings Nov. 6 in Shanxi province paint a potentially troubling picture about social tensions in China. Analysis At approximately 7:40 a.m. local time, seven bomb blasts were heard near the headquarters of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party on Yingze Street, a major thoroughfare in Taiyuan, Shanxi's provincial capital. Eight people were injured and one was killed in the explosions, which, according to witnesses in state news media, were likely caused by homemade bombs hidden in roadside flowerbeds. State media outlets reported that ball bearings or "steel beads" -- and perhaps even nails, according to one report -- were found at the scene and that at least 20 nearby vehicles were damaged. Xinhua also cited eyewitnesses who saw a minivan "blasted with heavy smoke and spread with a lot of debris." Meanwhile...

A technology is being tested at a secret location in Norway that can make a car’s engine cut out using high-intensity jammers. Better still, it can also take out drones, jet skis, and any other vehicle used to deliver bombs. And it has also positively tested disrupting remote control-activated bombs – even chemical and biological ones. A video posted by NATO Channel shows the device being put through its paces using fast cars, briefcase bombs and drones as it prepares to be unveiled. An individual is show in the video playing a suicide bomber, and approaches the target, which is a big black jeep and just coming up, and by losing the power, the lights gone off and the car is dead. Dr Ernst Krogager heads up an international team developing a new device which stops suspected suicide bombers’ vehicles. The team is now testing their new technology at a secret location in Norway. The NATO-funded project has developed a high-intensity electromagnetic beam which makes engines cut out. “The ig...

Officials in the ministry of finance of Afghanistan have said around 328.5 million AFS ($5.7 million) have been stolen from the bank accounts of the ministry. A spokesman for the finance ministry of Afghanistan, Abdul Qadir Jilani said two finance ministry employees have been arrested in this regard and have been introduced to attorney general office for further investigation. Mr. Jilani further added that the finance ministry is suspicious that the two employees were involved behind the robbery. According to reports, the around 61 million of the stolen cash were withdrawn using 38 forged cheques by an employee of the finance ministry. This comes as a female employee of a private bank – Azizi Bank transferred USD 1.1mn to relative’s bank account outside Afghanistan and managed to flee the country. The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) released an online wanted post of Shokofa Salehi, however there are still nor reports regarding her whereabouts. The alleged theft by...

At least 14 Taliban militants were killed and 53 others were detained during joint military operations by Afghan and coalition security forces. The interior ministry of Afghanistan on Tuesday announced that the militants were killed or detained during operations across the country in the past 24 hours. The statement further added that the operations were conducted in Helmand, Ghor, Farah, Paktia, Ghazni, Kandahar, Kunduz and Nuristan provinces of Afghanistan. Interior ministry in it’s statement also added that the operations were conducted by Afghan police in coordination with the Afghan army, Afghan intelligence and coalition security forces. At least one Taliban militant was also injured during the operations, the interior ministry said in its statement adding that Afghan security forces seized some weapons, ammunition and explosives during the operations. Afghan police forces also seized three improvised explosive device (IED) during separate operations in Kunduz and Zabul provinces...

AMMAN/IRBID — Fifty Syrian refugees trapped along the Jordanian-Syrian border by ongoing shelling died of starvation and malnutrition on Monday and Tuesday, activists and border region residents said. The deaths were reported in the Syrian border villages of Daal, Sheikh Maskin and Al Tufs as regime forces continued an ongoing aerial bombing campaign that has prevented food supplies from reaching the under-siege towns. The vast majority of the deceased were some of the estimated 50,000 displaced Syrians who have fled various cities across the country and have been prevented by rising violence from crossing into Jordan, activists claim. “We are starting to see children and even adults dying from simple health conditions such as dehydration and diarrhoea,” said Ahmad Al Jayousi, a volunteer nurse at a makeshift field hospital in Al Tufs, where 20 patients have reportedly died of malnutrition-related complications this week. The reported deaths raises to 250 the total number of civilians ...