OSAC EARLY BIRD

22 MAY 2011Use of these articles does not reflect official endorsement.

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From Trade ArabiaSaudi Arabia Names New Military Chief

From Emirates 24/7KSA PLEDGES $4BN AID TO EGYPT: MILITARY

From Asharq AlawsatSUICIDE BOMBER KILLS AT LEAST 6 IN KABUL HOSPITAL

From Arab NewsMANY FIND DRIVING ON KINGDOM’S ROADS A HARROWING EXPERIENCE

COPS’ ROLE IN MAINTAINING SECURITY HIGHLIGHTED BY GRAND MUFTI

From Saudi Gazette SAUDI MOTHER REJECTS ‘LIGHT’ SENTENCE FOR DAUGHTER’S KILLER

From Fox NewsNATO Bomb Qaddafi Command Centers

Yemen's President Warns Of Al-Qaida Takeover

Iran Claims 30 Arrested In Connection To CIA-Run Spy Network

From The Wall Street JournalISRAELI LEADER, OBAMA CLASH

From Middle East OnlineJordanians Want 'Corrupt, Oppressive' Government Sacked

Baghdad Tests City-Wide Security Siren

From Al JazeeraSyria Mourners 'Attacked By Security Forces'

From ReutersPalestinians Set On U.N. Statehood Bid In September

QATAR IS ATTAINING GLOBAL RECOGNITION

Photo Provided By Bruce Kendall

Saudi Arabia Names New Military Chief

Saudi Arabia has appointed General Hussein bin Abdullah Al Qubail as the new chief of the Kingdom's armed forces, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

General Saleh Al Mohaya has been retired and his deputy, General Hussein will succeed him, the agency said in a statement on Friday. The report added that General Khaled bin Bander bin Abdelaziz Al Saud has been promoted to head the army.

In another development, the government dismissed the president of the administrative court, Shaikh Ibrahim Al Haqil, and the deputy minister of higher education, Ali Al Attiya, without giving reasons.

The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Pledges $4BN Aid To Egypt: Military

Saudi Arabia has pledged $4 billion in aid to Egypt in the form of long term loans and grants, Egypt's military chief said on Saturday.

The official MENA news agency said Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the country's de facto ruler, thanked Saudi Arabia in a statement for "supporting Egypt's economy with approximately four billion dollars."

The aid comprises long term loans and grants, the agency reported.

Egypt's economy, largely dependent on tourism, has taken a hit after a revolt that ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February, and an ensuing security vacuum and sectarian strife have hampered attempts to get it back on track.

The military has warned that further unrest could drastically damage the economy.

The United States has pledged to cancel up to one billion dollars in Egyptian debt and provide another billion in aid.

Suicide Bomber Kills At Least 6 In Kabul Hospital

KABUL, (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least six people and wounded 23 more at a military hospital in a heavily guarded area of Kabul Saturday, security officials said, the worst attack in the Afghan capital in months.

The bomber struck at 12:30 p.m. local time (10 a.m. British time) in the cafeteria of the hospital where medical students were eating lunch, said Mohammad Zahir, head of the police crime investigation unit. He said the dead were students.

The hospital is in a high-security area near the U.S. embassy where several other foreign embassies and international organizations operate.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement the group had sent two suicide bombers into the hospital and killed many. The Taliban launched a long-awaited "spring offensive" last month.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) condemned the attack.

"This attack on an Afghan hospital where sick and injured people are being treated is abhorrent and represents the lowest, most cowardly attack," ISAF said in a statement.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said attacks on medical workers and hospitals are prohibited under international humanitarian law.

"Directing an attack against a zone established to shelter wounded and sick persons and civilians from the effects of hostilities is also illegal and prohibited," UNAMA said in a statement.

Despite escalating violence in the 10th year of an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan, Kabul has been relatively peaceful in recent months.

In early April, a suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army bus on the outskirts of the capital, wounding 10 soldiers and civilians.

In January, a suicide attack on a supermarket frequented by foreigners killed nine people in the embassy district of Kabul.

The Taliban, which often inflates the number of casualties it inflicts,

vowed last month to carry out attacks, including suicide bombings, on foreign and Afghan troops and government officials.

Despite the presence of up to 150,000 foreign troops, violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government by U.S.-backed Afghan forces. Last year both sides suffered record casualties.

Many Find Driving On Kingdom’s Roads A Harrowing Experience

JEDDAH: Drivers in Saudi Arabia consider road rage, damaged roads and hectic traffic a disturbing phenomenon in their daily lives. According to the Saher website, there are 9 million traffic violations annually in the Kingdom. Saher is the automated traffic control and management system that covers major cities in Saudi Arabia and is linked to the National Information Center of the Ministry of Interior.

“It is extremely frustrating. I have white hair and I blame it on the vicious traffic of Jeddah. People drive ignorantly and rashly, lacking discipline. Driving is the worst part of the day, and sometimes I fear I will lose my nerve,” said Hassan Hamdan, 25 years old. He added that small roads should be rebuilt as they are damaged and eroded with holes that cause unnecessary and unavoidable damage to cars and passengers.

Zaheer Khan, 24 years old, told Arab News: “I drive to the industrial area for work everyday and it is devastating. The eroded roads are distressing and I can’t buy an expensive car because I would never drive it on those barbaric roads.”

Sameer Khan, 38 years old, claimed to be distressed by the exhausting and time consuming construction of roads and highways. Everyday he spends 2

hours commuting to work because of the traffic in Jeddah.

“Already four years have passed since works started and it feels like these highways will never come up. My office is 15 minutes away but I’m easily stuck in traffic for 45 minutes or up to an hour at peak times. Now I only wish to transfer because I cannot handle fatiguing daily trauma anymore.”

Raja Sahab, 26 years old, said she would not drive in the Kingdom even if she had the chance to.

 “I am so happy I do not have to drive, I pity my driver for the Zahma (traffic congestion) he faces everyday and night. The roads are a mess because there is no discipline.”

Mano Iskanian, 34 years old, complains that most drivers do not comply with driving medians causing panic on the streets. “There is no concept of using indicators. At least in Dubai the authorities are so strict about respecting road rules that you are obliged to comply. In Jeddah you may see a 12-year-old kid driving and wonder where he got a license from, but that is just another loophole. The congestion gets worse on weekends when all families are out but drivers are the ones who have to bear the brunt of traffic.”

Saher reported there is one death case every one and a half hours in the Kingdom. Last year, the number of traffic accidents reached 485,931.

Cops’ Role In Maintaining Security Highlighted By Grand Mufti

RIYADH: Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, who is also chairman of the Council of Senior Scholars and the Administration of Scholarly Research and Ifta, has strongly lauded the efforts being made by the police force in the Kingdom to combat crime.

“Since its founder King Abdul Aziz, our government has made the security and safety of society its top priority and concern so that all members of society would live in peace and move freely without fear for themselves, properties or families,” he said in a statement Friday.

The mufti noted that no society in the world was free from crime but that the Kingdom was blessed with strong security officials who spend sleepless nights preserving the security of the country and the lives and properties of its people.

“No doubt that the police force is undertaking an important task ensuring the safety of citizens and expatriates and safeguarding their resources and properties from theft and aggressions,” he said.

Al-Asheikh said in the light of this, the policemen deserve praise, support and encouragement. “It is the duty of citizens and expatriates to facilitate their task and cooperate with them to uncover criminals.”

The mufti prayed to Allah to bless the efforts of the security forces and empower them to fight crimes and protect the homeland against the machinations of those trying to undermine its safety and security.

He expressed special thanks and appreciations for Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif for his keenness about the safety and security of the country and for providing the police with all the resources they need to carry out their duties.

Saudi Mother Rejects ‘Light’ Sentence For Daughter’s Killer

Jeddah: a Saudi mother has slammed the Al-Ain court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for giving her Emirati ex-husband only three-and-a-half years in jail for the brutal slaying of their daughter, Sarah Al-Mansouri earlier this year. Salama Al-Mansouri, Sarah’s mother, said the sentence was too light and did not fit the crime.

The murder shocked gulf society because of the manner in which Sarah was killed by her father. She had died begging for her life.

Salama said the court’s verdict issued Wednesday was unfair and did not take into consideration the unjustified taking of a life.

The mother said the court ruled she must get the blood money, but she found it strange she was excluded from being allowed to file a civil lawsuit for compensation for psychological and physical damage.She said she would meet an official from the Saudi embassy to hire another lawyer. She plans to file an appeal when the court issues her the official verdict after eight days. She stressed that she would demand a retrial because the prosecutor general did not present his case against the perpetrator properly, despite the fact that the crime was premeditated.

She was astonished at her ex-husband’s lawyer pleading that his client be imprisoned for only one year and that he be exempt from lashes of the whip despite the brutality of the crime.

The murder of Sarah, a political science student, goes back several months. Her father took her from his home to the eastern Nahil desert. He tied her hands and legs and dug her grave before shooting her with an AK-47 assault rifle. Then he left her to bleed for more than 90 minutes.

When he was sure she had died he washed her body, wrapped it in a shroud and buried it. Sarah had watched him dig the grave before she was murdered.

Sarah was born in Saudi Arabia on 18/8/1990. Her Emirati father separated from her Saudi mother after two months.

Sarah lived with her mother until she was seven. Then her father asked for her to move to his home in the UAE so she could continue

her schooling. She disappeared on Feb. 5, 2011.

NATO Warplanes Bomb Qaddafi Command Centers

TRIPOLI, Libya -- NATO warplanes bombed command centers near Tripoli and in Libya's southwest as part of a continuing effort to cut communications links between Muammar al-Qaddafi and his units on the battlefields, the military alliance said Saturday.

The raids targeted a facility near the capital on Friday and a command and control node near Sebha, a Qaddafi stronghold deep in Libya's southwestern desert, a NATO statement said. Three surface-to-air missile launchers were hit near the government-held town of Sirte, and three rocket launchers near the rebel-held town of Zintan in the mountains south of Tripoli.

The alliance said its aircraft has flown more than 7,500 sorties since it took command of the aerial offensive, including nearly 3,000 strike missions.

With the bombing campaign entering its third month, NATO has come under increasing criticism that it is overstepping the U.N. Security Council's mandate, which provides for the protection of the civilian population but not for wider aerial attacks. Regional support for the daily bombings also appeared to be wavering.

This week, the South Africa-based Pan African Parliament, the legislative body of the African Union, condemned "the military aggression of NATO forces" and called for an urgent session of the U.N. General Assembly to consider the situation. The legislature reiterated its support for the AU peace plan that called for an immediate cease-fire and dialogue between the government and the rebels. The rebels have rejected that plan.

The Pan African Parliament also criticized NATO attacks on "public

facilities, infrastructure and residential sites and the targeted assassination of (Libyan) leaders."

The African Union will hold an emergency session next week to discuss the crisis.

On Thursday, NATO warplanes bombed eight Libyan naval vessels in three ports, leaving ships partially sunken and charred and showering docks with debris in the military alliance's broadest attack on Muammar al-Qaddafi's navy.

The two frigates, a Soviet-built Koni class anti-submarine boat and a French-built Combattante class missile craft, were moored at the dock when they were hit with laser-guided bombs. It was not immediately clear whether their crews were aboard when they were struck.

NATO spokesman Wing Cmdr. Mike Bracken said the vessels were "legitimate and legal targets" because the Libyan navy had tried to mine the harbor at the rebel-held port of Misrata and had attempted to carry out attacks on shipping there.

Bracken declined to say whether the targeted frigates had actually been used in any naval operations since the start of the conflict.

But Commandant Omran al-Forjani, head of Libya's coast guard, said the ships had been deliberately left tied to their docks since a NATO warning in March that they would be considered targets if they left port.

"We were told if the boats moved, they would be hit," al-Forjani told a news conference Friday.

Al-Forjani said the targeted ships were used to patrol Libyan waters for boats carrying African migrants trying to make the dangerous sea crossing to Europe and for search-and-rescue operations.

In addition to about 200 aircraft enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya and carrying out attacks on pro-regime forces, there are also 21

warships under NATO command patrolling the central Mediterranean.

The task force has also boarded 47 vessels -- including one on Friday -- and seven ships suspected of carrying arms have been diverted since the naval operation started in mid-March.

Yemen's President Warns Of Al-Qaida Takeover

SANAA, Yemen –  Yemen's president condemned a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators for him to step down and warned Saturday that al-Qaida would take over the country if he heeded protesters' demands to leave the office he has held for 32 years.

Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has clung to power despite more than three months of daily protests and defections by military commanders and other allies, said the proposal for ending the crisis amounted to "a coup." At the same time, he signaled he would go ahead with plans to sign it on Sunday, saying "we accept the initiative to stop bloodshed."

The mixed signals follow two earlier pledges by the embattled president to sign the deal. In both cases, he balked at the last minute, leading to accusations by the opposition that he was stalling for time. And one of the nations involved in the mediation effort, Qatar, pulled out in protest and blamed the president for the impasse.

Seeking to win some support in the West for his continued rule, Saleh has warned several times that without him, al-Qaida would take control of the country.

"To the Americans and Europeans, al-Qaida is coming and it will take control," he said on Saturday, addressing members of the security forces on the anniversary of a 1990 deal he oversaw that united north and south Yemen. "The future will be worse than the present."

The United States, which had supported Saleh with financial aid and military equipment to fight the country's dangerous al-Qaida branch, has backed away from the embattled leader.

Saleh also lashed out at his neighbors in the Arabian peninsula who have been trying to persuade him to step down as part of a negotiated deal with the opposition. Saleh accused them of funneling cash to the youth protesters holding sit-ins to challenge his rule.

The mediation proposal put forward by a six-nation regional bloc called the Gulf Cooperation Council would give Saleh immunity from prosecution if he steps down within 30 days of signing the deal. It also calls for a national unity government led by the opposition and including Saleh's ruling party. Presidential elections would be held within 60 days of an interim president taking office.

An official statement said Saleh would sign the deal on Sunday.

A spokesman for Yemen's handful of opposition political parties, Mohammed al-Sabri, said the opposition would sign the deal Saturday. The head of the Gulf council traveled to Yemen Saturday to oversee the signing. The bloc is made up of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Saleh backed off singing the deal at least twice before, seeking to attach conditions including an end to the street protests before he steps down and the return to duty of army officers who defected.

The deal is hard for many of Saleh's opponents to swallow and it is unclear if Saleh's signature on it would be enough to end the massive protests in the streets. Some leaders of the youth movements organizing protests around the country have said the opposition parties taking part in the talks do not represent them.

They object to Saleh being shielded from prosecution and want to see him brought to trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killings of demonstrators.

Saleh's crackdown on protesters has killed more than 150 people.

In his speech Saturday, the president accused the opposition of "plotting to take over power at the expense of spilling rivers of blood."

He claimed that the uprising against him had killed 154 soldiers and wounded more than 1,300.

Israeli Leader, Obama Clash

WASHINGTON—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a rare public rebuke of President Barack Obama at the White House, declaring that Israel would never accept the terms of his proposal to resume peace talks with the Palestinians.

Mr. Netanyahu appeared to lecture Mr. Obama following their nearly two-hour meeting Friday—exposing tensions between leaders over Mideast policy that are usually kept out of the public eye.

That followed some unsuccessful behind-the-scenes wrangling by Israeli officials to convince Mr. Obama to abandon plans to urge, in a major speech Thursday, that peace negotiations resume based on Israel's borders before it gained new territory in the 1967 Six Day War.

Before cameras and reporters in the Oval Office Friday afternoon, Mr. Netanyahu turned to face the president while telling him Israel "cannot go back to the 1967 lines" that are "indefensible."

The discord was likely to play out further at the annual gathering of Washington's most powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where Mr. Obama was scheduled to speak on Sunday and Mr. Netanyahu the following day.

The encounter could place Jewish-Americans in the awkward position of having to choose sides between the visions laid out by the two leaders. Pro-Israel lawmakers and lobbyists already began lashing out at Mr. Obama's stance soon after he proposed it.

Mr. Netanyahu will also speak before a joint session of Congress Tuesday, providing him a second opportunity to rally support against Mr. Obama's approach.

Neither leader, meanwhile, articulated a clear path for resuming peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Indeed, both men agreed that the recent inclusion of the militant organization Hamas in a Palestinian government greatly undermined efforts to revive the peace process. The U.S. designates Hamas as a terrorist organization.

"Obviously there are some differences between us in the precise formulations and language, and that's going to happen between friends," Mr. Obama told reporters as he sat next to Mr. Netanyahu, before the Israeli premier spoke.

But, he said, "I think that it is possible for us to shape a deal that allows Israel to secure itself, not to be vulnerable, but also allows it to resolve what has obviously been a wrenching issue for both peoples for decades now."

Messrs. Obama and Netanyahu met Friday morning at the White House following 24 hours of hectic diplomacy between the U.S. and Israel.

Earlier in the week, senior Israeli officials said they had been led to believe that Mr. Obama's address—his first wide-ranging speech on recent political turmoil in the Mideast—wouldn't focus in a significant way on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Then, before the speech Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu got word that Mr. Obama was about to make the clearest statement ever by a U.S.

president that talks to create an independent Palestinian state should begin with Israel's pre-'67 borders as the baseline—though the president would recognize the need for land swaps.

Israel has resisted such a declaration, arguing that it essentially forces the Jewish state to give up bargaining chips at the beginning of any negotiation. Mr. Netanyahu has said Mr. Obama's comments marked a reversal from an assurance by President George W. Bush in 2004 that Washington accepted that Israel wouldn't have to give up large Jewish settlements in the disputed West Bank as part of any final agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rare public rebuke to a U.S. president in his own office on Friday, rejecting Mr. Obama'a call for Israel to base peace talks on pre-1967 borders. Laura Meckler has details.

Mr. Netanyahu tried to prevent the statement, in a tense phone call with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, according to officials briefed on the exchange. Mr. Obama started his Thursday speech more than half an hour late due to last-minute changes, according to U.S. officials.

Messrs. Netanyahu and Obama had wide-ranging discussions in the Oval Office Friday, which drifted well beyond the scheduled time and cut into the two leaders' lunch.

Aides who were supposed to be included in portions of the meeting were left outside Mr. Obama's office.

U.S. and Israeli officials said the two men discussed the reasons behind Mr. Obama's decision to make a definitive public statement on the borders issue.

They also discussed the recent political turmoil in the Arab world, particularly the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as the continuing threat posed to Israel by Iran.

Israeli officials said Mr. Netanyahu left the meeting feeling better about the state of Israeli relations with its closest ally. "He came in worried and left encouraged," said a senior Israeli official briefed on the meeting.

Still, Mr. Netanyahu directly challenged Mr. Obama's vision for a two-state solution in the press availability after the meeting, a rare break from the usual diplomatic niceties at such staged events.

After Mr. Obama's introductory comments, the Israeli leader leaned toward the president and directly said his call for negotiations based on pre-1967 lines was a non-starter.

"Remember that, before 1967, Israel was all of nine miles wide. It was half the width of the Washington Beltway, and these were not the boundaries of peace; they were the boundaries of repeated wars, because the attack on Israel was so attractive," Mr. Netanyahu said, staring at Mr. Obama.

"So we can't go back to those indefensible lines, and we're going to have to have a long-term military presence along the Jordan [Valley]," he added.

The latter point directly contradicted Mr. Obama's statements in his Thursday speech, which stated Israel would have to conduct a phased withdrawal of its troops from the West Bank.

The White House, following the press event, tried to play down any divisions and said Mr. Obama's speech didn't mark a significant shift in U.S. policy. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush mapped out peace plans that implicitly involved using the 1967 borders as a starting point for talks; Mr. Obama made that assumption explicit.

"This is a position that's been recognized by all parties to these negotiations for a long time: that any territorial resolution would be based on the '67 lines," White

House press secretary Jay Carney said after the meeting.

U.S. and Israeli officials said the coming weeks could prove crucial for the stability of Israel and the broader Middle East.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, viewing the peace process as stalled, has launched a campaign to win recognition for Palestine as a sovereign state from the United Nations. A vote on the issue could pass during the U.N. General Assembly in September.

U.S. officials said one reason Mr. Obama made his declaration Thursday was to try to win international support for a new round of peace talks and to block the U.N. vote. U.S. officials said the White House needed to show the Palestinians and Europeans that Washington was serious about pressing Mr. Netanyahu for concessions.

Mr. Netanyahu's on-camera critique of the American president also drew out some divisions among Jewish-Americans, who were already split over Mr. Obama's suggestion that peace negotiations should begin with the pre-1967 lines.

Mr. Obama won the majority of Jewish voters in 2008, but some have expressed dissatisfaction over his approach to Israel.

"The President's remarks have revived and exacerbated fears in Israel," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I., Conn.). "The fact is, while the exciting and hopeful new reality in the Arab world is the Arab Spring, the newest reality in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is not hopeful," he said.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, a Jewish human-rights group, said he was "delighted" by Mr. Netanyahu's statements.

"The prime minister decided while the press was there that he was going to make it very clear in front

of President Obama this was not going to happen, not on his watch," he said.

Others played down the tension between the two leaders Friday. Abraham Foxman, national director of the pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League, criticized Mr. Obama's 1967 statement but said the two countries mostly agree on how to begin the peace process.

Iran Claims 30 Arrested In Connection To CIA-Run Spy Network

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's Intelligence Ministry claimed Saturday that it has arrested at least 30 people allegedly linked to a CIA-run spy network in accusations that also could spill over into the country's deepening political power struggles.

The announcement on the alleged spy ring gave no further details and appear part of Iran's frequent claims of Western and Israel interference. But the Intelligence Ministry also is at the heart of a messy political showdown and could seek to boost its credentials as a front-line defender of the country.

Last month, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad forced out the intelligence minister as part of government infighting, but the minister was immediately reinstated by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It touched off a high-level battle that included Ahmadinejad boycotting Cabinet sessions and Khamenei's loyalists warning Ahmadinejad he was on dangerous ground by challenging the ruling system.

Hard-liners have since launched pinpoint strikes aimed at weakening Ahmadinejad and his allies before next year's parliament elections and the vote for his successor in 2013. The latest apparent blow was reported Saturday after a court ordered a

four-year political ban on one of his vice presidents.

The alleged spy ring could add another level of political intrigue.

In a statement read on state TV, Iran's secret service said its agents uncovered activities of a CIA-run espionage network that sought to recruit Iranian spies through U.S. diplomatic missions that include the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Turkey.

The report didn't provide further details, but claimed the recruits had been asked to spy on Iran's research institutes, universities, nuclear programs and other sites. Iranian authorities occasionally announce the arrest of people with alleged ties to foreign intelligence agencies, particularly the U.S., Britain and Israel. There was no immediate comment by Washington.

In the political upheaval, Iran's Administrative Justice Court issued a four-year ban on government service against Hamid Baqaei, the vice president for executive affairs.

Details of the ruling were not made public, but the conservative news website alef.ir reported that Baqaei has been convicted of "numerous violations." Baqaei confirmed the verdict during a press conference. But the semi-official Fars news agency said he refused to elaborate on the ruling.

Authorities have arrested up to 25 people loyal to Ahmadinejad and his close confidant Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei in recent weeks and blocked half a dozen websites allied to them.

Reports posted on Iranian opposition websites claim Mashaei and Baqaei have been summoned for questioning twice in recent days by Iran's intelligence services to respond questions on financial and security matters. Iranian officials have made no comment on the reports.

Baqaei is among eight vice presidents in the government and a

close ally of Mashaei, who is Ahmadinejad's chief of staff.

Mashaei has been accused by hard-liners of heading a "deviant current" that seeks to undermine the ruling system and shape politics after Ahmadinejad's term expires. Earlier this week, an ultra-conservative publication urged for Mashaei's arrest.

Mashaei also is despised by hard-liners for views that elevate the values of pre-Islamic Persia and his statements suggesting Iran can oppose Israel's government but can be friendly with the Israeli people.

Pressures has intensified after the president's spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, said last week that Ahmadinejad was under a "spell" from Mashaei, whose daughter is married to the president's son.

Jordanians Want 'Corrupt, Oppressive' Government Sacked

AMMAN - Thousands of Jordanians demonstrated on Friday across the kingdom, calling for regime reforms as well as the sacking of what they called the "corrupt and oppressive" government.

"The people want to reform the regime and end tyranny. No to corruption," around 2,500 Islamists and trade unionists chanted as they marched from the King Abdullah Mosque in central Amman to a roundabout near the interior ministry.

"Reform starts with combating corruption and the corrupt," reads a banner carried by the demonstrators.

Muslim Brotherhood chief Hammam Said, who took part in the march, said "we are sending a message to King Abdullah II that reform plans should be accelerated in line with popular demands."

"The regime and government are not serious about reforms," he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, the Islamic Action Front, accused Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit's government of corruption.

"The government is corrupt and oppressive. Reform is inevitable, and rulers have two choices: adopt reforms or quit," Zaki Bani Rsheid, leader of the IAF political office, told the crowds.

In the southern city of Tafileh, around 1,500 demonstrated against corruption, calling for the "downfall of the government."

"Who are the partners of Khaled Shahin," they chanted, referring to a top Jordanian businessman who have been sentenced to three years in jail for corruption.

The government has allowed Shahin to travel to the United States for medical treatment, but he was spotted in a London restaurant in April, which caused an outcry in Jordan.

Also, in Karak, near Tafileh, hundreds of people demonstrated after midday weekly prayers, urging "punishment of the corrupt."

Jordanians have been protesting since January to demand political and economic reforms as well as more efforts to fight corruption.

Baghdad Tests City-Wide Security Siren

BAGHDAD - Iraqi authorities tested a Baghdad-wide siren system on Friday designed to alert residents to foreign attacks, natural disasters and fires, the first such system since Saddam Hussein's 2003 ouster.

Hundreds of sirens are due to be rolled out across the country in the coming months and years, but at 11:00 am (0800 GMT) on Friday, 126 loud hailer sirens rang out across the violence-wracked capital for one minute.

"The system has four tones to warn of natural disasters, fires, pollution and war," Major General Latif

Karim Mizhir, the head of Baghdad's emergency response unit, said. A fifth tone, which was used in the test, signals all-clear.

"It will also help us connect with emergency response centres in all of Iraq's regions, and to address the people," he added.

Friday's siren alerts were preceded by a media campaign and a mass mobile phone text message sent to residents to warn them of the test, and Baghdad authorities also used the loudspeaker system Friday morning for reminders.

A total of 300 sirens have so far been installed -- 126 in Baghdad and the rest in provincial cities -- with a further 700 set to be put in place across the country.

Despite what is ostensibly a city-wide deployment, parts of the capital did not hear the sirens, such as the south Baghdad neighbourhood of Dora.

Saddam's regime had its own siren system in the major cities that was used frequently during the 1980-1988 war with Iran and the 1991 Gulf War, but no such system has been used since he was overthrown by US-led forces.

Syria Mourners 'Attacked By Security Forces'

Three mourners have been killed and at least 27 wounded in Homs after security forces opened fire on a massive funeral procession, according to human rights activists.

Those killed on Saturday have been named as Sharif Ihsan al-Sbai, Abdalla al-Dali and Murhaf al-Nemr, a witness told Al Jazeera.

More than 40,000 people had gathered in Homs for the funerals of protesters killed in the city on Friday and were walking back from the cemetery in Tal al Nasser on the outskirts of the city when they were fired on without warning, a witness said.

The sound of gunfire and cries to help the wounded were audible over the phone as Al Jazeera spoke to the eyewitness.

The wounded have been taken to private clinics and homes as people feared the secret police would raid and arrest the injured from the main state hospital, he said, as they had done in previous such attacks.

The AFP news agency said the death toll was five after the funerals on Saturday.

"Tens of thousands had accompanied the funeral procession from the city's main mosque to Tal al-Nasr cemetery," according to the AFP's local source who was reached by phone.

"The shooting began as people were coming out of the cemetery."

Al Jazeera cannot verify reports from Syria because of restrictions placed on reporting by the Syrian government.

The death toll in Friday's anti-government protests rose to 47 according to Insan, a Syrian human rights organisation which has gathered the names of those killed.

Earlier in Homs, a witness told Al Jazeera that security forces opened fire on mourners and shot into the air to disperse crowds leaving the Grand Mosque, but left the scene, retreating in tanks as the size of the funeral procession overwhelmed them.

He said that the massive procession converged from funerals at various mosques around the city.

“When we gather in large numbers we show our power. As individuals we are strong, but this is a stronger message,” the witness told Al Jazeera. “We encouraged people to join us on this funeral march and people of all backgrounds and religions did.”

The size of Saturday's crowd could offer a hint as to the level of grassroots support for anti-government protests which have been ongoing since mid-March,

and have reportedly seen the deaths of over 850 Syrians at the hands of government security forces.

Palestinians Set On U.N. Statehood Bid In September

Palestinians will seek recognition as a U.N. member-state in September given the deadlock in U.S.-brokered peacemaking with Israel, a senior Palestinian official said on Saturday.

Nabil Shaath urged President Barack Obama, who on Thursday criticized the planned move at the U.N. general assembly, to join countries that have already endorsed a Palestinian state taking in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Another Palestinian official, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said the drive to win statehood status unilaterally could be forestalled should Israel accept the demand to extend a freeze on its settlement on occupied land so that negotiations can resume.

But such rapprochement looked highly unlikely after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hosted in Washington on Friday, sparred with Obama over a new U.S. call for the future Palestinian state to have a border approximating to the West Bank's boundary before Israel captured it in the 1967 war.

"Of course we will go to the United Nations," Shaath, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters.

"Especially after Netanyahu used the old pretext that he needs 'defensible borders' to keep stealing our land, control the Jordan Valley and create demographic facts on the ground." Diplomats see majority support for the Palestinians in the U.N. General Assembly. But the statehood vote would have first to be approved in the Security Council, where the United States -- which insists on a negotiated peace accord -- has a veto.

"We urge President Obama to recognize the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders," Shaath said. "We are going to the United Nations in September, using all non-violent means."

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who had earlier warned his compatriots that a pro-Palestinian "diplomatic tsunami" was about to crest, welcomed Obama's remarks about the U.N. lobbying.

"The president has erased the September issue. It's very important," Barak told Israel's Channel Two television.

In February, the United States struck down a Security Council motion that would have branded the West Bank settlements as illegal. Analysts, noting that the 14 other council members voted in favor, said the Palestinians appeared to be signaling that Washington was out of step with an international consensus.

Delivering a major Middle East policy speech on Thursday, Obama cautioned Palestinians against "efforts to delegitimise Israel." He added: "Symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won't create an independent state."

Obama questioned the viability of a power-share deal forged last month between Abbas's Fatah faction and the armed, rival Hamas Islamists who control Gaza and spurn the Jewish state.

But the Palestinians, who have long complained of Israeli unilateralism, were buoyed by Obama's vision of borders "based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps."

Israel disputes the Palestinian claim on all of the territory, which was previously held by Jordan and is now peppered with Jewish settlements. Gaza, the other half of the Palestinian polity, was evacuated by the Israelis in 2005.

Abbas spokesman Abu Rdainah said Palestinians preferred to

pursue peace with Israel rather look to the United Nations.

"Our position is to give an opportunity, until September, for going back to the negotiating table based on a halt to settlement activity," he said. "It would be our first choice."

Qatar Is Attaining Global Recognition

The competitiveness of the Qatari economy is being increasingly recognised at global levels, and for good reasons. Qatar already outsmarts all countries in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region on the Global Competitiveness Index.

The new addition relates to the country securing a ranking of No 8 globally on the 2011 World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) amongst 59 economies reviewed in the study, whose results were released only last week. The international business school of IMD, located in Switzerland, publishes the annual survey.

This suggests that Qatar has improved its ranking by seven notches, as the country ranked No 15 in the 2010 version of WCY, undoubtedly remarkable progress in a single year.

The extraordinary result suggests that only seven economies, namely Hong Kong, USA, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan and Canada, are more competitive than Qatar. The credit relates to overall macroeconomic performance as well as the efficiency of the public and private sectors. Projected spending for fiscal year 2011-2012, which started in April, amounts to a record $38.5 billion (Dh141 billion). The figure is up by 25 per cent compared to an earlier record spending plan in fiscal year 2010-2011.

Still, stronger than projected revenues should present the authorities with an opportunity to further increase spending, as the

budget was prepared with a conservative oil price of $55 per barrel. This figure is uniquely below prevailing market rates, with some forecasts calling for an average rate of $107 per barrel for 2011. The petroleum sector is the main source of treasury income, similar to other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries,

Nevertheless, Qatar lags in the infrastructure variable, partly reflecting its congested road network, a problem exacerbated by the inflow of foreign residents on the back of steady economic growth. The IMF, for one, expects Qatar's gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 20 per cent in 2011, up from 16 per cent in 2010.

Happily enough, traffic congestion should ease once the Doha Metro is commissioned, as the country prepares to host the World Cup 2022 for the first time in the Mena region. The project is expected to cost around $25 billion, spanning a sphere of 300 kilometres.

Qatar's result in the IMD study falls in line with the country's achievement in the 2010-2011 Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). The GCI survey ranked Qatar No 17 amongst 139 reviewed economies, again the best ranking amongst Mena countries. The World Economic Forum publishes the annual GCI.

The GCI ranks economies on their achievements in three broad categories: basic requirements, efficiency enhancers and innovation and sophistication factors.

In turn, the basic requirements category is divided into institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health and primary education. Yet the efficiency enhancers category comprises higher education and training, goods and market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market sophistication, technological readiness and market size.

Still, the innovation and sophistication factors category is made up of business sophistication and innovation. The index is developed by using publicly available data and the World Economic Forum's own opinion surveys.

Qatar stands the chance of building on the competitiveness with the preparations to host the World Cup 2022. The country is expected to spend tens of billions of dollars on infrastructure development schemes under the watchful eyes of international entities.

Certainly, global recognition of Qatar adds to the reputation of the GCC as a whole, as the six-nation grouping is bound by a series of integrating econ-omic agreements.