Dimona employees 'forced to drink uranium

The Dimona nuclear reactor in Israel garners new controversy after revelations that former staff members 'were forced to drink uranium' as part of an experiment.

In a recently-filed lawsuit, Julius Malick, who worked in Dimona for over 15 years, explained how he was ordered by his superiors to take part in a toxic experiment on five workers.

During the experiment, Malick and his fellow colleagues were forced to drink juice containing uranium and were then asked for a urine sample, which was then analyzed to determine how uranium is excreted from the body through urine.

According to Malick, the 1998 experiment was conducted without medical supervision and the dire health risks had not been explained to participants.

Under the Declaration of Helsinki on human experimentation, employers are obliged to obtain written consent from the workers and warn them of risks or side effects of the research.

Malick said he was threatened and forced into early retirement by the former director of the facility, Yitzhak Gurevich, and the director of human resources, Gary Amal.

He is now suing the Dimona facility for thousands of dollars in compensation, reported Haaretz.

The Israel Atomic Energy Commission has rejected his claims, arguing that the Dimona facility "has the safety and health of its workers as its highest priority."

Malick, however, begged to differ. In his lawsuit, he further explains systematic maltreatment as well as a sheer lack of safety and medical services for Dimona employees, who had been exposed to great amounts of radioactivity.

He said he was declared persona non grata after he tied to improve the poor safety standards in the reactor.

Located in the Negev desert, Dimona houses Israel's nuclear arsenal and is widely believed to be where around 300 nuclear warheads are stored.

US soldiers kill 3 Iraqi children: Report

American troops have reportedly shot dead three children in northern Iraq, as the US-led invasion continues to cost more civilian lives in the volatile country.

The children -- all under twelve -- were killed while they were shepherding in the northern Iraqi town of al-Tarmia on Saturday, the Iraq News Agency (Al-dar al-Araqiya) reported without giving further detail.

The US military is yet to comment on the incident.

Previously the US forces had claimed that the Iraqi children are being paid by insurgents to attack their convoys or assist the attackers in some capacity, placing them 'in harm's way'.

Meanwhile, according to eyewitnesses, US forces have reportedly arrested dozens of Iraqis in the town of Abu Ghraib, 32 km (20 mi) west of the capital Baghdad on the same day, the report added.

The arrests follow a three-day-long operation by US troops in the same district, which has forced many Iraqi youths out of the town for fear of being taken into the notorious Abu Ghraib prison camps.

The attacks come more than a month after US troops' withdrawal from Iraqi cities and towns under a security pact between Baghdad and Washington that requires Washington to pull out its troops from the Iraqi soil by the end of 2011.

Shortly before the US military's urban pullout, some six years after its invasion of Iraq in 2003, violence sharply rose with 437 Iraqis killed in June marking the bloodiest month in an almost a year-long period.

Worried Arabs seek to shed light on Israeli nukes

The Arab League (AL) calls on the European Union to put its weight behind their efforts to compel Israel to open up its secretive nuclear program to international inspections.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa sent a letter to the Swedish and other European foreign ministers to urge them to back an Arab resolution entitled "Israel's Nuclear Capabilities."

Sweden currently holds the Presidency of the European Union.

According to reports, the request will be put up for a vote at next month's general assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Israeli government began building its controversial Dimona nuclear reactor in the southern town of Dimona in 1958. The reactor is the centerpiece of Israel's illegal nuclear weapons program.

Israel is reportedly the only nuclear-armed country in the Middle East which has refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Israel, believed to be the sixth-largest nuclear power, maintains a policy known as 'nuclear ambiguity.' Tel Aviv neither confirms nor denies the possession of nuclear weapons.

Muslim nations consider the Zionist regime as a nuclear threat.

Sayyed Nasrallah: Bomb Beirut or Dahye, We Can Bomb Tel Aviv and Any Other Spot

Hezbollah marked three years of Divine Victory over Israel on Friday in Beirut’s southern suburb.
Political figures attended the gathering including representatives of President Michel Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, MP Michel Aoun and MP Walid Jumblatt, along with party chiefs, ministers, MPs and Ambassadors.

Tens of thousands of people also took part in the ceremony and welcomed with cheers and tears Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who delivered a speech through a giant screen.

Sayyed Nasrallah welcomed the crowd and paid tribute to the martyrs, injured and those whose homes and properties were destroyed during the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006.

“Much has been said about this war, its causes, motives, background as well as its course and lessons. There will always be much more to say because what we went through was an epic and a miracle made in Lebanon and by the Lebanese people. One of the main lessons that should be taught is: what if the resistance was defeated in Lebanon? I would like to give priority (in my speech) to the current Israeli threats and the next stage. I would like to begin with reading a small text by (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu pertaining to the July war. He said shortly after the war, and before he became Prime Minister:
‘The Six Day War enabled Israel to survive and make peace agreements. The 1967 war signaled the transformation of a state with many question marks surrounding it into an unbeatable state that expanded its width from 12kms to 70kms. We were able to control two mountains and the Jews will no longer be thrown into the sea. Arabs felt they had to acknowledge Israel and then we signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan and we had indications that we can go for reconciliation with the Palestinians. However, since the unilateral pullout from Lebanon in 2000 and the unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and today, after the Second Lebanon War, the bearings have changed dramatically. It is evident that Israel today is no longer an unbeatable state and question marks – from friends and foes alike - on the survival of the state of Israel have returned.’
In the past few weeks, there had been media and political uproar in Israel supported by some US and Western stances, particularly British stances. We do not believe that these threats and all this uproar indicate an imminent Israeli war on Lebanon. These threats have other goals, including psychological war. This uproar is also aimed, according to Israeli reports, at the efforts to form the Lebanese government through warning against the participation of Hezbollah in the Cabinet. It is clear that the Israelis will be vexed if a national unity government were formed in Lebanon. Another goal behind this uproar is the attempt to bring back discord to Lebanon. This is what the Israelis frankly said but the general atmosphere in Lebanon is positive regardless of some voices. A third goal is the endeavor to amend the mandate of the UNIFIL. The incident in the town of Khirbet Selem happened shortly before the release of the UN Secretary General report over the implementation of UN resolution 1701. The Americans and the Israeli raised the issue of amending the UNIFIL’s mandate. The UNIFIL has one mission in south Lebanon which is to back the Lebanese army and other legitimate forces and therefore, the UNIFIL cannot have checkpoints or raid houses. They wanted to amend its mandate to transform this force into a multi-national force as suggested back in 2006. This goal also failed due to the official stance in Lebanon that firmly rejected any amendment.
Another goal is to reopen the file of the arms of the resistance and its power. They incited the international community and pressured Lebanon, Syria and Iran and they threatened the region with war. We do not make comments on the armament of the resistance, but I would like to tell our dear Lebanese people that this precious land lies next to an aggressive and avarice entity. In a world ruled by the law of the jungle, not by the international law, one must take advantage of all past experiences so as not to be sold in the international market of politics when the right price is paid. Any people are protected by their unity, will and determination to live with dignity.”

Sayyed Nasrallah said that those assessing and studying the July war should “search for what we are made of” before researching on arms, combat formations, strategies and tactics.
“In one of Imam Moussa Sadr’s words to the people of south Lebanon, when he was urging them to resist Israeli aggressions, he said: we will fight you with stones and with our teeth…Ultimately, those who have the determination can fight and win…I hereby repeat my words with much more confidence than before: As I used to promise you victory, I promise you victory again, God willing.”

The Hezbollah Secretary General pointed out that the Israeli psychological war bares a negative indication. “Shaul Mofaz said that Hezbollah has become three times stronger today than in 2006. He is seeking help from the world, but what message is he conveying to the people living in his entity? Ehud Barak says that Hezbollah’s missile arsenal has grown and today it has the ability to strike Tel Aviv and any spot in Israel. On the one hand he is instigating the international community against us, but on the other hand, he is telling the whole Israeli population that in the next war, you will all flee, not only Keryat Shmona and Haifa residents. In the past few weeks, Netanyahu retracted the threats and said that this was a media storm, why? Because settlers expressed resentment and tourists started to flee out of northern Israel.”

Sayyed Nasrallah ruled out an imminent war but said that in case Israel waged war, there are two options. “To surrender, disarm ourselves and become weak; this is out of the question. The second option is to be ready and to consolidate our power factors to prevent war; and in this case if war were waged on us we will win it. Can we prevent an Israeli war on Lebanon? Yes we can. Can we stop Israel from thinking about waging war on Lebanon? Yes we can by having a deterrent force. In Israel, it is not easy any more to take a decision to go to war with Lebanon. The objective of any coming war will be to eradicate the resistance, but can this current Israeli army and this Israeli government wage a war to eradicate the resistance in Lebanon? They cannot. We have been hearing about the Dahye (Beirut’s southern suburb) doctrine or the Dahye strategy based on certain ideas, but we have not yet heard any response on this, therefore it is our right to tell the Israelis that if you bomb Dahye or Beirut, we will bomb Tel Aviv. We have the ability to hit any city or town in your entity. Carry out as much drills as you want, develop your tanks’ armors and train your brigades; they will be crushed in our towns, villages, valleys and hills. There will be new surprises, so they have to think a million times before waging war on us.”


"According to my knowledge of Israelis, when they jabber they are not to be feared. We should be vigilant when they are quiet, like snakes," his eminence said.

Sayyed Nasrallah touched on the issue of Mossad agents in Lebanon. He said Israel cannot do without spies to gather information. “On behalf of the martyrs, I demand that security forces complete what they started. What was accomplished recently is not enough. There is no spy-free town, village and city in Lebanon. We have heard something about tolerance and leniency with regards to collaborators. This is unacceptable and the state institutions are responsible to deal with this file.”

His eminence stressed the 2006 war foiled the most dangerous US-Israeli plot in the region. “Since August 14, 2006, we haven’t heard anything about the new Mideast. Our domestic and regional state is better than our state back in 2006.”
Sayyed Nasrallah paid tribute to the martyrs and their suffering families and stressed “unity in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq is our power factor. Our strength lies in our resistance and the future is our; we make it with our own hands, with the blood of our martyrs, with our faith and belief. This is the lesson of this historic victory.”

Israel to hold missile test in US

The Arrow missile interceptor system will be tested
in a joint Israel-US exercise [GALLO/GETTY]

Israel is set to hold a missile test on a US missile range in the Pacific Ocean in an exercise that will also see the US test three missile defence systems, a senior US general has said.

The test site will allow Israel to measure its Arrow interceptor missile system against a target at a range of more than 1,000km, Army Lieutenant General Patrick O'Reilly, director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said on Tuesday.

"They [Israel] are having a flight test soon this summer," he said.

"They are limited to the range of the missile they can test in the eastern Mediterranean. There's a safety issue.

"That's the primary purpose of them coming to the United States to use our test range."

The Arrow system, which was developed by Israel and the United States, is intended to defend Israel against possible ballistic missile attacks from Iran and Syria.

It will be the third such test held by Israel in the United States, a US defence official said.

US test

The exercise is likely to take place within the next few days off the central California coast, between Santa Barbara and Point Mugu.

The test will also give the US military a chance to test its own anti-ballistic missile systems, O’Reilly said.

"The upcoming test also provides us the opportunity to have the Patriot system, the THAAD system and the Aegis system all interacting with the Arrow system so that we're demonstrating full inter-operability as we execute this test," he said.

But he said that the exercise would only test certain elements of US missile defence systems and be a largely Israeli operation.

Israel successfully test-launched its Arrow II interceptor missile in April, shooting down a target simulating an Iranian Shehab missile over the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel has expressed concerns that Iran's uranium enrichment programme is aimed at producing nuclear warheads that could be attached to ballistic missiles.

Iran has repeatedly denied that it is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme, saying that its uranium enrichment work is geared towards generating electricty.

Goldman Sachs bank profits soar

The bumper profits at Goldman Sachs come just nine months after $125bn was given to US banks [EPA]

US banking giant Goldman Sachs has surpassed market expectations by reporting second-quarter net profits of $3.44bn.

The success of the bank's trading and underwriting businesses in April to June - which saw revenues rise 46 per cent to $13.76bn - led them to set aside $6.65bn for staff pay and bonuses.

Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs chairman and chief executive, said in a statement: "While markets remain fragile and we recognise the challenges the broader economy faces, our second-quarter results reflected the combination of improving financial market conditions and a deep and diverse client franchise."

The bumper profits come just nine months after the US treasury used $125bn of taxpayers' money to help banking giants ride out the economic downturn.

Neil Hume, senior stockmarket correspondent at the Financial Times newspaper in London told Al Jazeera that Goldman Sachs is "in a league of its own at the moment".

"They don't have the legacy of toxic assets that some of the banks have," he said.

"They seem to have emerged from the crisis relatively unscathed."

'Vast bonuses'

However, Hume warned that the announcement of the plan to pay huge bonuses was "not going to engender a lot of good feeling for the bank".

"This doesn't look great at this time to be paying vast bonuses to their employees," he said.

The latest figures mean that the annual payout for the 28,000 employees of the the company, which in June repaid the $10bn it received in government aid, could top $18bn.

"The key is that they have paid back the $10bn bailout money that they were forced to take at the height of the financial crisis last year. That means that all bets are off – they can pay what bonuses they like"

John Terrett, Al Jazeera's correspondent in New York
Goldman received the government funds in October as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp), a US government plan which provided banks with capital in exchange for preferred stock and warrants to purchase common shares.

The programme was launched after the Lehman Brothers investment bank collapsed and insurer American International Group needed a government bailout to remain in business.

The government investment included certain restrictions, such as caps on executive compensation, but these ended when Goldman Sachs repaid the $10bn.

John Terrett, Al Jazeera's correspondent in New York, said that Goldman Sachs would be emboldened in paying the bonuses in the knowledge that it has repaid the bailout money it received through Tarp.

"The key is that they have paid back the $10bn bailout money that they were forced to take at the height of the financial crisis last year. That means that all bets are off now – they can pay what bonuses they like," he said.

"The grey area is that while we call Goldman Sachs an investment bank, it is these days a bank holding company. That means that they been able to take advantage of very, very cheap government money, and then lend it out expensively.

"The controversy is: because Goldman Sachs took that cheap money should they therefore not pay those bonuses instead of paying back the US taxpayer? Wall Street's view is no, it should not."

Other banks hit

Goldman is the first bank to report second-quarter earnings, and analysts predict other banks' results may not be as strong.

Bank of America and Citigroup have been among the hardest hit by loan losses and have yet to repay government bailout funds.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has repaid the government, but remains saddled with rising consumer loan losses.

All three banks report results later this week.

Somali fighters seize two Frenchmen

Armed men went from room to room in the Sahafi hotel as they searched for the two Frenchmen [AFP]

Two French security advisers have been abducted from a hotel in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, the French foreign ministry has confirmed.

Armed men stormed the Sahafi Hotel on Tuesday and went from room to room to find the two men, who were in Mogadishu to train Somali government forces.

"Two French advisers on an official mission of assistance to the Somali government were kidnapped this morning in Mogadishu by armed men," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

"They were bringing aid concerning security."

Somalia's transitional government is battling fighters from a number of armed opposition groups, including al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam, which have vowed to topple the administration of Sharif Ahmed, the president.

Guards 'disarmed'

Abdi Mohamed Ahmed, who owns a tea shop in front of the Sahafi hotel, said about 10 fighters disarmed the hotel's guards on Tuesday morning and took the French nationals.

In depth


Video: Somali fighters vow to fight on
Profile: Sharif Ahmed
Timeline: Somalia
Inside Story: What next for Somalia
Riz Khan: Somalia - From bad to worse
Restoring Somalia
A long road to stability
Al-Shabab: Somali fighters undeterred
Somalia at a crossroads
Somaliland: Africa's isolated state
"The gunmen then sped away with their hostages," he said.

Several witnesses around the hotel, which reportedly also hosts several members of the Somali parliament, said some of the armed men were wearing government uniforms.

Mohamed Hassan Gafaa, the hotel manager, told The Associated Press news agency that the two men had registered at the Sahafi as journalists.

Kidnapping for ransom has been on the rise in Somalia for several years with aid workers and journalists most commonly targeted.

Two foreign freelance journalists - Canada's Amanda Lindhout and Australia's Nigel Brennan - have been held captive since August of last year.

No group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's abduction, which came after a flare-up of violence in the capital over the weekend in which dozens of people were reported killed and at least 150 were injured.

Witnesses said fighters had retreated from areas around the presidential palace on Monday after several days of heavy fighting.

Taylor dismisses war crimes charges

Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, has dismissed charges against him of war crimes during Sierra Leone's civil war as "lies" and "rumours".

He made the comments as he took the stand at his trial in The Hague, in the Netherlands, on Tuesday.

Taylor denied the 11 charges against him, which include murder, rape, the conscription of child soldiers, and backing a rebel group known for mutilating its opponents.

"It is very, very, very unfortunate that the prosecution's disinformation, misinformation, lies and rumours would associate me with such titles," he said.

"It is quite incredible that such descriptions of me would come about. I am none of these, I have never been and never will be, whether they think so or not."

'Peace broker'

Taylor's lawyers began their defence on Monday at the court in The Hague, which is conducting the trial at the request of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.



They argued on Monday that Taylor - the first African leader to be tried before an international tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity - tried to broker peace in Sierra Leone rather than fuel civil war.

In depth
Profile: Charles Taylor
Video: Taylor brutality remembered

Estimates of the 1991-2001 conflict's death toll run as high as 200,000.

Prosecutors, who closed their case in February, said Taylor armed and supported the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a rebel movement that sought to destabilise the government, and attempted to gain control of Sierra Leone's diamond mines.

But Taylor said on Tuesday that had in fact been involved in attempts by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to get the RUF "to come to the peace table".

"I, Charles Ghankay Taylor never, ever, at any time knowingly assisted Foday Sankoh [the RUF leader] in the invasion of Sierra Leone."

He said that he was "outraged" when he learnt that the RUF had invaded the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, in January 1999.

Taylor has been on trial at The Hague since June 2007 at facilities provided by the International Criminal Court.

'Linkage witnesses'

The Special Court for Sierra Leone is headquartered in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, but the trial is taking place in the Dutch capital due to concerns it may trigger violence in Sierra Leone.

In May, judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone ruled against a defence request to acquit Taylor of war crimes charges, saying the prosecution had produced enough evidence supporting a conviction.

However, Judge Richard Lussick has stressed that the ruling does not mean Taylor would be convicted.

Courtney Griffiths, Taylor's defence lawyer, told Al Jazeera that he believed that the "quality of that evidence is just not good enough".

"For the most part the prosecution relies on some 33 so-called linkage witnesses," he said.

"For the most part the prosecution relies on the evidence of fairly lowly members of the RUF and the NPFL [National Patriotic Front of Liberia], none of whom, we say, would have had the kind of access to Charles Taylor to make their evidence credible."

Local residents were able to watch Tuesday's trial in a courtroom in Freetown.

Packed courtroom

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from Freetown, said many residents lost interest in the case after it was moved to The Hague, but more people were coming to watch now that Taylor was in the stand.

"The courtroom was packed with a few hundred people representing non-governmental organisations and those who were affected," she said.

Taylor insists that he is innocent of all charges levelled by judges of The Hague court EPA]
"There have been bursts of laughter, tears, and scenes of people's jaws dropping."

Speaking to Al Jazeera shortly before Taylor took the stand, Desmond Davies, the editor of Africa Week magazine, said that the former Liberian ruler was not the only person who should be on trial.

"It won't bring a great deal of relief to those who suffered because the perpetrators are still out there. Charles Taylor, I believe, is just a fall guy.

"He's not as guilty as some others who are not in front of the court," Davies said.

"I spoke to former RUF members and they actually told me that former members of the government in Sierra Leone supported the RUF. And I've spoken to ex-military intelligence officers who said 'yes, that is the case'."

Davies said the money that has been spent - roughly $98 million "should have gone to those who suffered most, those who had their limbs amputated".

"The money has been spent on chasing Charles Taylor and just jailing a handful of rebels, that's not what they [the victims] want," he said.

"They want a proper solution to the suffering and that means there should be some financial settlement for them."

A final verdict is expected in a year's time.