Food prices double in Afghanistan

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JNN 02.10.10 Kabul  : The floods in Pakistan, which is Afghanistan’s main source of food products, have caused a considerable increase in the price of foodstuff in Afghanistan.

“Floods and landslides have blocked many supply routes. There is no one to open the routes so that we can bring food here,” said an Afghan truck driver.

The rise in the price of food products such as rice, cooking oil and meat has pushed many Afghans, who are among the poorest people in the world, into a high risk of food insecurity, a Press TV correspondent reported.

“Food prices have doubled, and we are worried because the government is not taking any tangible steps to reduce the prices,” says an Afghan citizen.

The Afghan government also admitted the dependence of their country on neighboring nations, especially Pakistan, regarding foodstuff.

“Unfortunately, Afghanistan is highly import-dependent when it comes to basic goods,” said spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Commerce Ahmad Farhad Afghanzoi.

“It does not produce much to meet its needs. Therefore, we import most of our food from our neighboring countries,” Afghanzoi added.

The floods in Pakistan started in late July and have so far killed nearly 1,800 people and affected some 21 million others.

Analysts believe the rising food prices in Afghanistan could trigger an outbreak of famine unless the country received more humanitarian aid.

Sleep habits alters BP in pregnant moms

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JNN 02.10.10 Getting too much or too little sleep can place pregnant women at an increased risk of experiencing pregnancy-related complications, a new study says.

According to the study published in Sleep, expectant moms who get less than five hours of sleep a night are nearly 10 times more prone to preeclampsia

Pregnant women sleeping 10 hours or longer, similarly, were at a greater risk of the complication, although it did not reach statistical significance.

“Our findings, however, are generally consistent with reports documenting associations between habitual sleep duration, blood pressure values, and hypertension in men, nonpregnant women, adolescents, and children,” said lead researcher Michelle Williams.

Insufficient sleep, particularly in the third trimester, alters blood pressure levels in pregnant women through affecting the metabolic and neuroendocrine system of the body.

The condition can subsequently contribute to either pregnancy-induced hypertension without proteinuria or preeclampsia, the study found.

Scientists believe their finding would motivate expectant moms to improve their lifestyle, particularly the sleep habits, in order to lower their risk of developing any pregnancy-related complications.

“Women generally already know that they’re eating well and getting enough exercise for two during pregnancy. Our study suggests that women should also aspire to sleep well for two,” Williams added.

Pre-eclampsia is a medical condition in which the expectant mom experiences pregnancy-induced hypertension) in association with having significant amounts of protein in the urine.

US provides CIA with drones: Report

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JNN 02.10.10 The US military is reportedly providing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with drones to launch more attacks in Pakistan as its bombing hits record high in September.

An article appearing in Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post said that “the CIA is using an arsenal of armed drones and other equipment provided by the US military to secretly escalate its operations in Pakistan by striking targets beyond the reach of American forces based in Afghanistan.”

According to the article, this is part of the Obama administration’s plan to merge covert CIA operations with military firepower.

“The US military has quietly been providing Predator and Reaper drones, as well as other weaponry, to the CIA in an effort to give the agency more capacity to carry out lethal strikes in Pakistan,” it quoted American officials as saying.

The report comes as Washington officials on Wednesday said that the US military operated twenty-two non-UN-sanctioned attacks against Pakistan in September, the highest monthly figure so far.

On Saturday, two separate non-UN-sanctioned US drone attacks killed 25 people in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region along the Afghan border.

Islamabad has reacted angrily to the air strikes, calling them a violation of its sovereignty and in retaliation to the surge in the cross-border attacks, Pakistan has closed its borders with Afghanistan to NATO supply trucks.

Though Washington claims the strikes target militants, most of the victims of the attacks have been civilians.

Almost a thousand Pakistanis have lost their lives in more than 100 US drone attacks during the past two years.

Hezbollah Condemns Danish Republishing of Prophet’s Cartoons

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JNN 02.10.10 Hezbollah vehemently condemned the Danish publishing house for publishing a book containing the controversial blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Mohamad (pbuh), recalling that the cartoons erupted rage in the Islamic World being a crime of ethics which targets the great person of Prophet Mohamad, indifferent of the feeling of more than a billion Muslims worldwide.

In a statement released by its media relations, Hezbollah said that republishing the blasphemous cartoons by the publishing house was a declaration of refusal to respect the Muslims’ feelings. “This also demonstrates their insistence on insulting the Muslims’ sanctities, presenting a cause of tension in the good relations that should exist between different religions in the world. This is what these governments should take full responsibility of.”

Hezbollah expressed belief that the ongoing blasphemous campaigns against Islamic sanctities, under the excuse of freedom of expression, constitute a malignant of double standards in tackling issues of respecting beliefs, with disregard to the Islamic Ummah (Nation), its leaders and peoples.

The Resistance party concluded its statement by calling upon all Muslims in the world to announce a united stance confirming the refusal of these insults, and raise a loud voice of condemnation.

Iraqi Shia Officers being Target killed by Ba'athists

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JNN 02.10.10 Reports from Iraq raise questions over the government’s silence on a series of assassinations targeting Shia officers in the army, police and intelligence service.

In the latest of the attacks, terrorist elements assassinated deputy director of police forces in the province of Maysan on Monday morning while he was at a special session in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Nahrain Net news website reported.

Earlier, an officer in the army rank of major was hit in the capital where militants gunned down police Capt. Haider Zuhair near a courthouse in the Western district of Karkh, using weapons fitted with silencers.

The attacks came within 24 hours after the assassination of three other officers serving in the military and the police.

In Kirkuk, police chief Col. Ahmed Chmirani survived an assassination attempt after his convoy was targeted by a bombing attack on Monday morning in the city’s southern neighborhood of Wasta.

Chmirani and three of his bodyguards were injured in the incident which also left three civilians wounded.

A similar attack was carried out in July, when a blast hit the convoy of Kirkuk police chief Brig. Gen. Borhan Tayyib, leaving him seriously injured and killing his son.

Late on Sunday, unknown gunmen stormed the house of Dr. Adnan Mohammed Saleh in the center of Kirkuk, shooting the doctor dead.

Reports by Nahrain Net had earlier revealed the existence of am underground team of elements from executed dictator Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Ba’ath party.

Operating under the supervision of the US intelligence service CIA and backed by Saudi Arabia, the group is reportedly tasked with the liquidation of Shia officers and politicians.

The project is ultimately aimed at taking Ba’athist elements and their sympathizers to power to pave the way for a military coup and the return of the banned Ba’ath party to Iraq’s political arena.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security officials held a meeting on Sunday to form a coordination center for greater security cooperation between Sunni al-Sahwa (Awakening) militias and the Land Forces Command of Iraq’s Defense Ministry.

Zaid Jubouri, an official for the group, also known as the Sons of Iraq, welcomed this measure, saying it would also serve as a positive step to stem terror attacks targeting the Awakening forces in recent years.

Pakistan refuses to open Afghan route

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JNN 2.10.10 Islamabad : Pakistan says it will not reopen a key supply route for foreign troops in Afghanistan until public anger over recent attacks by the US-led forces subsides.

“Unless the reaction cools down and we make sure that the supply line is secured, we cannot reopen it,” Reuters quoted Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit as saying on Sunday.

In retaliation to the surge in the US cross-border attacks, Pakistan has closed its borders with Afghanistan to NATO supply trucks.

On Saturday, two separate non-UN-sanctioned US drone attacks killed 25 people in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region along the Afghan border.

A NATO helicopter on Thursday claimed the lives of three Pakistani soldiers in the northwestern Kurram region.

The recent Pakistani move against the US-led forces hasn’t stopped the United States military from carrying out non-UN-sanctioned attacks inside Pakistani territory.

The Pakistani Public is standing beside this decision with there armed forces , as they are well aware of the nefarious US designs to disintegrate Pakistan , the Only Muslim Atomic Power in the World.

And they are even ready to welcome any Loyal Army General to take the reigns of the Government , whether he may be serving or ex Army men , who should lead Pakistan to the top of World , which these foriegn forces dont want to see ,as they are eyeing themselves on the huge resources within the territory of Pakistan , which can make Pakistan the Biggest Power in the region , and in the NO. 1 slot of the World Powers.

The US military has launched record numbers of such attacks this year.