CEC gives Gilani go ahead to dissolve cabinet

ISLAMABAD: The Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Pakistan People’s Party on Friday authorised Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to dissolve the cabinet and form a smaller one.
The meeting here at the President House, chaired by Co-Chairman President Asif Ali Zardari authorised the Premier to reappoint a smaller cabinet with fewer ministers.
The decision was taken after the Co-Chairman invited members’ comments on his intention to install a ‘lean’ cabinet.
“President Zardari has given the authority to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani … to dissolve the cabinet whenever he wants,” PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badr told reporters after the meeting.
All the ministers, advisors, special assistants and those holding rank of ministers will cease to hold offices on a date to be decided soon by the prime minister.
Badr said it would be up to the prime minister to determine when the dissolution would happen.
The decision followed criticism that the cabinet, which had more than 50 ministers, is too bloated and costly for a country facing financial crunch.
The main opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), had demanded a smaller cabinet as part of a 10-point economic agenda accepted by the ruling party in early January.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/04/ppp-cec-gives-go-ahead-to-dissolve-federal-cabinet.html

American writers and poets have held a gathering outside the White House to express their opposition to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The White House vigil on Thursday was sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies and Split This Rock and included 16 minutes of silence in representation of every year of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, Press TV correspondent reported.

“We are here as poets and writers to speak out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the US occupation of those two countries and to call for self-determination for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Sarah Browning, Director of Split This Rock.

“We feel bound, as Americans in particular, to speak out for the people of Iraq and throughout the world to know that we oppose our government's position,” she added.

The gathering comes as former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in an autobiography to be released next week, has said he has no regrets for the Iraq war

In response, poet and activist Brenda Hillman said at the vigil, “The wars were started on fraudulent basis and I think it is contemptible that he had no regrets. He has not read the fact that his own administration uncovered at the end of its tenure there that there were no weapons of mass destruction, which was obviously the [US'] alleged reason for going to Iraq.”

Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, at least 4,440 US soldiers have been killed and more than 31,830 others injured.

The devastating war has also left more than 1,300,000 Iraqi civilians dead and some 4.7 million Iraqis displaced, reports say.

Although NATO and the United States have close to 150,000 troops in Afghanistan, militant attacks are rampant in the war-torn country.

More than 2,000 civilians were killed in violence across Afghanistan last year, making it the deadliest year for civilians since the US-led invasion in 2001.
 http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163518.html

Labour leader warns over UK future

Ed Miliband, Britain's Labour leader, is to give a speech on the legitimate fear for the country's future, as there is to be fewer opportunities for prosperity.

To Miliband, there is a fear of less happiness and prosperity for the new British generation. According to him, getting an education, finding a job and owning a home would be hard in the near future of the country.

He is also to say that the British people should try more for a standard life.

According to a survey carried out by Labours, 71 percent of British people expect a harder life for their next generation and only 9 percent think that life would be easier.

Miliband is to say: "We may not have given it a name in the way that Americans talk about the 'American Dream' but it is there nevertheless.

"It is defined by the promise that each generation will pass on to the next a life of greater opportunity, prosperity and happiness. But for the first time in generations there is now a real and legitimate fear that the British promise will be broken and the next generation will have fewer opportunities and find it harder to get on than the last."

He will add: "We have always been about a society where the promise of Britain can go beyond the most affluent - that lower and middle-income families can guarantee a better future for the kids.

"So I am determined that this is the challenge which will be at the heart of the Labour Party I lead. A Britain which passes on better chances rather than worse ones to our children."

There are an increasing number of people who are pessimistic about the younger generation's lives, according to the Labours.

Among the 3,000 people questioned from, 63 percent of the women and 60 percent of the men under 45, were pessimistic about the future life. This figure raised to 76 percent of the women and 79 percent of the men over 45.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163562.html

UK spent overseas aid on Pope visit

The British MPs have asked ministers to clarify the reason for spending £1.85 million of overseas development aid on the Pope's visit to England.

A prominent Commons committee has requested the UK ministers to explain the surprising transfer of £1.85 million from the Department for International Development (DFID) to the Foreign Office.

The international development select committee chairman Malcolm Bruce said that the MPs would resist finding out why the government has spent DFID money which was "supposed to be for overseas development aid.”

"Many people will be as surprised as we were to discover that UK aid money was used to fund the Pope's visit last year,” said Bruce.

“Ministers need to explain exactly what this was spent on and how it tallies with our commitments on overseas aid", he added.

The overseas development aid is one of the UK economic sections, which was kept away from the coalition government's cut plans.

Pope Benedict's visit to UK last September was predicted to cost £10 million for the Whitehall departments. The Roman Catholic churchgoers have also donated to the costs of Pope's visit.

The Department for International Development's representative said, "DFID was one of a number of Government departments part-funding the Pope's visit to the UK.

"Our contribution recognised the Catholic Church's role as a major provider of health and education services in developing countries.

"This money does not constitute official development assistance and is therefore additional to the coalition Government's historic commitment to meet the 0.7% UN aid target from 2013."
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163564.html

'US offering plan for Mubarak to quit'

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (L) and US President Barack Obama

The US is reportedly negotiating with Egyptian officials over a proposal for embattled President Hosni Mubarak to cede power immediately.

The Obama administration has offered the proposal for the 82-year-old Mubarak to step down in order to pave the way for formation of a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Citing US administration officials and Arab diplomats, the report further stated that the transitional government will have the backing of Egypt's armed forces chief of staff Sami Enan and Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.

The latest development comes as the US Senate approved a non-binding measure on Thursday, calling on Mubarak to quickly set up a caretaker government amid public outcry over his three-decade rule.

The resolution urged Mubarak to "immediately begin an orderly and peaceful transition to a democratic political system" by handing over power to a caretaker government "in coordination with leaders from Egypt's opposition, civil society, and military."

According to the report, the proposal echoes same calls on Mubarak and urges him to invite members from a variety of opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood to commence a process of constitutional reform in an effort to lay the groundwork for holding a free and fair election in September.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian vice president said on Thursday that the government has started dialog with the opposition parties and representatives of protesters to bring an end to the political impasse.

In an interview with state TV, Suleiman noted that the Muslim Brotherhood has been invited to meet with the government over the future path of the political situation in Egypt.

The remarks came as millions of Egyptian protesters are gearing up for the “Day of Departure” for Mubarak on Friday with plans to hold huge rallies in front of the presidential palace, where the embattled president lives.

According to the Congressional Research Service, Washington has given Cairo an average of $2 billion annually since 1979, making Egypt the second largest recipient of US aid after Israel.

The Obama administration has asked the Congress to approve similar sums for the 2011 fiscal year.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163506.html

Former Israeli min. defends Mubrak

Former Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer

Former Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer has defended Egyptian President Hosni Mubrak, saying his collapse will be “tremendous loss” for Israel.

The former army general has praised Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for supporting Israel for thirty years, Israel's Arutz Sheva newspaper reported.

“When I watched his speech in which he said he would step down, it pained me to see his collapse," Ben-Eliezer said on Wednesday about Mubarak.

He criticized the American authorities for their handling of the crisis in Egypt saying "the Americans still don't realize the extent of the catastrophe into which they have pushed the Middle East."

Ben-Eliezer said Egypt's main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, will win if there are polls in the country.

He said that there will be a new Middle East if the Muslim Brotherhood wins elections in Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood has said that if the revolution in Egypt succeeds, the country will hold a referendum to decide the fate of its 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, during the Friday prayer sermons in Tehran, pointed to Mubarak as a “lackey of the Zionist Regime.”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163528.html

London braces for huge protest rally

The UK trade unions are preparing for the biggest union event in decades in the form of nation-wide rallies and marches against the government's spending cuts.

The Trade Unions Congress (TUC), as the organization tasked with coordinating the unions' events, has kicked off work to distribute thousands of leaflets in which it has elaborated on the disputes surrounding the government's controversial austerity measures and called on people from all walks of life to attend the national protest in central London on March 26.

The TUC said it has also booked hundreds of coaches and chartered trains to transfer people from across the country to London for the march and rally.

The TUC has written in the leaflets that the UK's debt is lower than in most years of the last century, arguing that the country has no problem servicing its debt.

"The Government is therefore wrong to say that there is no alternative. The real job of closing the deficit will come from the increased tax raised by economic growth and getting people back to work. But this will require a longer timetable to close the deficit, as the deep rapid cuts imposed by the government will choke off economic recovery", says The Cuts Are Not The Cure leaflet.

“As the cuts begin to bite, the government has completely lost the argument that its cuts are fair. With the economy plunging back into negative growth, it is clear that the Government's economic gamble has failed”, said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

"More and more people are therefore looking at arguments for an alternative and for ways of showing their opposition to the coalition's deep, rapid cuts”, added Barber.

"It's clear that the TUC's march has captured the mood of the country and looks set to be the biggest event in our recent history", Barber said.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163545.html

Israeli lawmaker backs Hosni Mubarak

Israeli lawmaker Binyamin Ben-Eliezer

A senior Israeli politician has strongly defended out-of-favor Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, describing a revolution in Israel's southern neighbor as a loss for Tel Aviv.

Praising Mubarak for standing by Israel during his three-decade long rule, labor lawmaker Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Thursday that Mubarak's possible collapse would be painful for Israel.

Ben-Eliezer, who has held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister, also criticized Washington's policy toward Egypt, saying by withdrawing its support from Mubarak's regime, the US has pushed the Middle East toward a catastrophe.

The Israeli lawmaker also predicted that if elections are held in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's Islamist opposition party, would win.

Tel Aviv is anxiously monitoring political developments in its powerful southern neighbor Egypt. Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that the implications of a regime change in Egypt, the country's only ally in the Arab world, would be enormous in Israel.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 following days of secret negotiations at Camp David, US. Many Egyptians, however, believe that the treaty did not end Israeli occupation and therefore are opposed to it.

Tel Aviv fears that the ongoing popular uprising against the Egyptian president could jeopardize its 31-year-old peace treaty with Egypt.

"Peace with Israel under its present terms can only be enforced by a dictator like Mubarak. Democracy will give the people a voice and their voice clearly demands that the peace accord be broken," Ray Hanania, an Israeli journalist, wrote in the Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

Egypt is one of the main suppliers of Israel's natural gas.

Israel also shares a long border with Egypt and both have a frontier with the Gaza Strip. For years, with the help of Cairo, Israel has managed to impose a crippling blockade on the Palestinian territory. Tel Aviv fears that a regime change in Egypt would spell the end of the Gaza siege.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Friday that the recent developments in North Africa are the result of the “Islamic awakening, which followed the great [Islamic] Revolution of the Iranian nation.”

The Leader also described Mubarak as the “lackey of the Zionist regime [of Israel].”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163570.html

'Iranians' voice echoed in Muslim world'

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the Iranian nation's voice has resonated through Muslim countries, resulting in the Tunisia revolution and the Egypt uprising.

“Today, developments in North Africa, [including] Egypt, Tunisia and some other countries have a special meaning for the Iranian nation,” the Leader stated.

“This is what was always referred to as the Islamic awakening created by the victory of the great Revolution of the Iranian nation,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in the Friday Prayers sermons in Tehran.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the humiliation and contempt the Egyptians and Tunisians suffered under their statesmen prompted them to embark on an anti-government movement.

The Leader noted that Tunisia's former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was dependent on the US and even the CIA.

“In Tunisia, which is a Muslim nation with a long Islamic history with great Muslim scholars coming from Tunisia; people had to carry a special card to go to mosques under Ben Ali's rule, a card that the government did not give to everyone.”

The Leader further pointed to the Ben Ali regime's anti-Islam moves such as prohibiting collective and individual prayers in mosques and the hijab ban.

“As soon as this traitor (Ben Ali) fled, female students went to university wearing hijab,” Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted, saying the move indicates a deep Islamic motive among the Egyptians that Arab leaders have been trying to conceal.

The Leader described the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as the “lackey of the Zionist regime [of Israel].”

Ayatollah Khamenei said that the US and Israel have become helpless in the face of freedom-seeking Egyptians and noted that defeat awaits them in Tunisia and Egypt.

The Leader made a reference to Egyptians' fight for “dignity and honor” and noted that Mubarak's biggest crime was turning Egypt into tool in the hands of the US.

Ayatollah Khamenei recalled Egypt's glorious past before Mubarak rose to power and its remarkable role in leading the Arab world's efforts to defend the Palestinian nation against the Israeli enemy.

“Egypt in short periods in 1967 and 1973 was the first and largest country to engage in war over the issue of Palestine into was along with Syria. Other Muslim nations did not enter into these wars with Israel, but Egypt sent soldiers, army, people and aid to the battlefield but they were not succeed, however,” the Leader recalled.

“Egypt was a sanctuary for Palestinians and even many of the revolutionaries from other countries, but such a nation has been in the past 30 years in the hands of a person who does not support liberation but opposes seeking liberation, who is not anti-Israeli but a colleague, confidant, and lackey of the Zionists,” the Leader regretted.

Ayatollah Khamenei noted how the Israeli leaders relied on Mubarak in all their anti-Palestinian moves, including the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

“On the issue of Gaza, if Mubarak did not help Israel, they would have never succeeded in besieging the territory.”

The Leader recalled how Mubarak prevented not only Egyptian aid convoys but also humanitarian fleets from other countries from crossing into the Gaza Strip while it was burning in the fire of an Israeli war in 2009.

“Of course the US and more than them Israelis are in great distress and are desperately seeking a solution to the crisis in Egypt, solution they will never find. Thus they have turned to deceiving people and pretend to support for people.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said that the Egyptian army would join the masses and line up against the enemy.

Addressing protesters in Egypt, the Leader called for solidarity and stability as the nations' weapon against oppressive rulers, warning against enemy plots to undermine their unity.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic Revolution in Iran obstructed plots by Western countries aimed at establishing weak and vulnerable regimes in the Middle East.

The Leader said Iran's enemies have been launching a psychological war against the country over for the past 32 years, pointing to the 2009 post-election events in Iran as the enemies' latest scenario to damage the Islamic Revolution.

Ayatollah Khamenei said their plots, however, would have no effect on the Iranian nation.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163526.html

Millions stage anti-Mubarak protests

Millions of people have protested in Cairo and other major cities across Egypt against the country's out-of-favor President Hosni Mubarak.

Protesters chant a variety of slogans against the Mubarak regime in Cairo's Liberation Square, as reports flow in about fierce clashes between plainclothes police and protesters.

Protesters plan to march toward the presidential palace after the Friday Prayers, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Several thousand troops have been deployed at key locations across the city.

The opposition has called Friday the 'Day of Departure,' saying the planned massive rally aims to force Mubarak into stepping down. Civil groups have also called for massive protests in Alexandria and Suez.

The developments come as the government continues its harsh crackdown on journalists and media to prevent news coverage of the rallies.

In a recent interview with ABC News, Mubarak said he is fed up with being president and would like to leave office but fears there will be chaos if he steps down.

He denied that his government was responsible for the violence in Cairo's Liberation Square.

Vice President Omar Suleiman on Thursday described the calls for Mubarak's resignation as calls for chaos.

Suleiman said the government has urged all parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, to engage in national dialog.

The Muslim Brotherhood rejected the government's offer in a statement released on Thursday.

Protesters have vowed to stand firm despite the deadly clashes that left several people dead and at least 1,500 others wounded in Cairo on Wednesday and the early hours of Thursday.

According to the United Nations, at least 300 people have so far been killed and thousands more have been injured during nationwide protests in Egypt.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Friday that the recent developments in North Africa are the result of the “Islamic awakening, which followed the great [Islamic] Revolution of the Iranian nation.”

The Leader also described Mubarak as the “lackey of the Zionist regime [of Israel].” 

Anti-Mubarak protests rise in Alexandria

An effigy of Egyptian President Mubarak hangs over opposition supporters during Friday Prayers in Liberation Square in Cairo on February 4, 2011.

Half-a-million Egyptians swarmed the streets of Alexandria, vowing to continue protests until out-of-favor President Hosni Mubarak resigns.

About 500,000 protesters in the Northern Egyptian city called on Mubarak to resign on Friday. Similar demonstrations are being held in Cairo, Suez, Aswan and Mansoura.

In Cairo, protesters said they would not leave Liberation Square until Mubarak's regime is ousted. They have called Friday the “Day of Departure,” saying the massive rally aims to force Mubarak into stepping down.

Latest reports say Arab League Chief Amr Mousa has entered Liberation Square to calm the tension.

Earlier in the day, Egypt's Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi visited anti-government demonstrators in Liberation Square and urged them to go home.

However, thousands are waiting in line behind army checkpoints near Liberation Square to join the rallies.

Protesters plan to march to the presidential palace following the rally in Liberation Square.

According to the United Nations, at least 300 people have so far been killed and thousands of others have been injured during nationwide protests in Egypt.

Protesters have vowed to stand firm despite the deadly clashes that left several people dead over the past days.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Friday that the recent developments in North Africa are the result of the "Islamic awakening, which followed the great [Islamic] Revolution of the Iranian nation."

The Leader also described Mubarak as the "lackey of the Zionist regime [of Israel]." 

'Victory within reach of Egypt protesters'

Anti-government protesters take part in Friday Prayers at Liberation Square in Cairo February 4, 2011.

The massive anti-government protests across Egypt are “gaining momentum” and will yield results in less than a week, says a professor at American University of Beirut.

Franklin Lamb told Press TV on Friday that the wave of protests indicates that embattled President Hosni Mubarak will inevitably have to give up power.

"I don't think it will take another week of protests. Today, important developments occurred at Liberation square in Cairo. Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa showed up and joined anti-Mubarak protests. Also, Al-Azhar Spokesman Muhammad Rifaa al-Tahtawi has resigned and joined the protests. He has vowed not to leave Liberation Square until Mubarak's regime is ousted," Lamb said.

His comments came as Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa joined anti-Mubarak protests in Cairo's Liberation Square.

Speaking on the possibility of running for president, the Arab League chief said, "I'm at the disposal of my country of course. But we will see the political developments."

Moussa was quoted by France's Europe 1 radio, as saying that he was "ready to serve as a citizen who has the right to be a candidate [for president]."

Meanwhile, several thousand troops have been deployed at key locations across Cairo.

The opposition has called Friday the 'Day of Departure,' saying the planned massive rally aims to force Mubarak into stepping down. Civil groups have also called for massive protests in Alexandria and Suez.

The developments come as the government continues its harsh crackdown on journalists and media to prevent news coverage of the rallies.

In a recent interview with ABC News, Mubarak said he is fed up with being president and would like to leave office but fears there will be chaos if he steps down.

He denied that his government was responsible for the violence in Cairo's Liberation Square.

Vice President Omar Suleiman on Thursday described the calls for Mubarak's resignation as calls for chaos.

Suleiman said the government has urged all parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, to engage in national dialog.

The Muslim Brotherhood rejected the government's offer in a statement released on Thursday.

Protesters have vowed to stand firm despite the deadly clashes that left several people dead and at least 1,500 others wounded in Cairo on Wednesday and the early hours of Thursday.

According to the United Nations, at least 300 people have so far been killed and thousands more have been injured during nationwide protests in Egypt.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Friday that the recent developments in North Africa are the result of the “Islamic awakening, which followed the great [Islamic] Revolution of the Iranian nation.”

The Leader also described Mubarak as the “lackey of the Zionist regime [of Israel].”