Iran Executes Man Convicted of Spying for Israel

TEHRAN — Iran on Tuesday executed two men, one of them said to be a member of an exiled opposition group and the other convicted of spying for Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, according to official reports.

Iran’s judiciary reported that the alleged spy, Ali-Akbar Siadat, had been hanged at Evin Prison in Tehran after being found guilty of passing on to “Iran’s enemies” information about the country’s military capability, including the missile program operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

According to the authorities, Mr. Siadat repeatedly met with Israeli agents over the course of six years, while traveling to destinations including Turkey, Thailand and the Netherlands. He was said to have received payments of $3,000 to $7,000 for each meeting. He was arrested in 2008, according to the official IRNA news agency.

The charges on which Mr. Siadat was convicted included “spreading corruption on earth,” “supporting the Zionist regime” and “opposing the Islamic republic.”

Iran periodically reports the arrest of Iranians accused of working for Israel’s intelligence services. In November 2008, Ali Ashtari, a communications and security equipment salesman, was hanged after being convicted of passing information to Israeli agents.

Earlier this year, Mr. Siadat was among 192 detainees named by opposition Web sites as political prisoners in Iran.

The second man hanged Tuesday morning was Ali Saremi, according to the statement from the judiciary. Mr. Saremi was executed after repeated convictions for supporting Mujahedeen Khalq, an exiled opposition group that the government has accused of masterminding terrorist attacks in Iran from bases in Europe and Iraq.

The group said in a statement after the execution that several members of Mr. Saremi’s family were arrested for protesting outside Evin Prison and were taken inside.

In August, Amnesty International reported that Mr. Saremi, 62, had visited a son in Mujahedeen Khalq’s Camp Ashraf in Iraq. He had been imprisoned on political charges for a total of 23 years both under the rule of the shah and since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Amnesty said.

By: William Yong (ny times magazine)

In Russia, an Advocate Is Killed, and an Accuser Tried

Oxana Onipko/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A Worker for Human Rights The day after she was found dead in July 2009, a rally in Moscow honored Natalya Estemirova, researcher for the group Memorial in Chechnya

MOSCOW — In a small courtroom in Moscow, friends of Natalya K. Estemirova crowded onto wooden benches, clasping photographs of her. It was 16 months after the murder of Ms. Estemirova, a renowned human rights advocate in the tumultuous region of Chechnya, and now the legal system was taking action.

A defendant was on trial, and his interrogators were demanding answers about special operations and assassination plots.

But the defendant was not Ms. Estemirova’s suspected killer. It was her colleague Oleg P. Orlov, chairman of Memorial, one of Russia’s foremost human rights organizations.

The authorities had charged Mr. Orlov with defamation because he had publicly pointed the finger at the man he believed was responsible for the murder: the Kremlin-installed leader of Chechnya. If convicted, Mr. Orlov could face as many as three years in prison.

The shooting of Ms. Estemirova, 51, in July 2009 has so far produced only an incomplete investigation, and no charges have been filed against anyone involved. Her case has instead turned into an example of what often happens in Russia when high-ranking officials fall under scrutiny. Retaliation follows, and the accuser becomes the accused.

Mr. Orlov, who first raised his voice against official wrongdoing as an anti-Soviet pamphleteer in the 1980s, has found himself under an unrelenting legal siege from the Chechen leader, Ramzan A. Kadyrov.

Mr. Kadyrov’s attempt to silence Mr. Orlov reflects an increasingly common tactic in Russia. The authorities do not summarily imprison their critics as dissidents, as in Communist times. They instead often invoke an array of civil and criminal charges, including defamation, to exact financial penalties or prison sentences. They haul their opponents before judges who are wary of handing down decisions against those in power.

Mr. Kadyrov, who denies any connection to Ms. Estemirova’s killing, rules unchallenged in Chechnya. Still, he has portrayed Memorial as a treacherous and violent organization. In seeking charges against Mr. Orlov in Moscow, 1,000 miles from Chechnya, he effectively quashed the idea that the Russian capital offers sanctuary for those pursuing human rights issues in remote regions. No one from the Kremlin has come to Mr. Orlov’s defense.

Mr. Kadyrov’s lawyer, who under the law can work with the prosecution during the proceedings, has even used the trial to promote his own black-is-white theory of Ms. Estemirova’s death. “Maybe Memorial itself ordered the killing” to discredit Mr. Kadyrov, said the lawyer, Andrei A. Krasnenkov.

Mr. Orlov has been allowed to remain free while the trial continues, and has not recanted his criticism of Mr. Kadyrov, who has been assailed by human rights groups for his brutal methods in quelling the Islamic insurgency in Chechnya.

Mr. Orlov said that Mr. Kadyrov, if not directly responsible for ordering Ms. Estemirova’s murder, was at a minimum responsible for demonizing her and for indicating to his associates that he would not mind if she were no longer around. Mr. Orlov said Mr. Kadyrov had to be held accountable for the climate of bloodshed and fear in Chechnya.

With his shaggy mop of gray hair and sport coats — no tie, even in court — Mr. Orlov, 57, resembles an unassuming history professor. But during his tenure, Memorial has expanded well beyond its historical mission of remembering victims of Communist persecution. It has delved into some of the most provocative issues in Russia, from Chechnya to the rights of the political opposition.

“Of course, I don’t want to go to prison and lose my freedom,” Mr. Orlov said the other day at his office, which has a large bulletin board that is a shrine of sorts to Ms. Estemirova, who was also known as Natasha.

“But those words that I said were only a minimal debt owed to the murdered Natasha Estemirova,” he said. “This was the least that I could do for the memory of my deceased comrade and friend. I had to do it. I told the truth.”

Getting at the Truth

Natalya Estemirova was a former history teacher with a knack for putting victims at ease and a willingness to venture into conflict zones to get at the truth. As a senior researcher for Memorial in Chechnya, she had repeatedly documented atrocities committed by the security forces. Her findings had led to successful rulings against the government at the European Court of Human Rights — the only place many Russians feel they can obtain justice.

She did not support Islamic extremists in Chechnya, and did not shy from detailing their misdeeds. But she wanted the authorities to suppress the insurgency lawfully.

Mr. Kadyrov is a former militant who switched sides and became a Kremlin ally. He rose to power after his father, the Chechen president, was assassinated in 2004. Three years later, Vladimir V. Putin, then Russia’s president, named Mr. Kadyrov to lead Chechnya. He was only 30 years old. A bearded and muscular amateur boxer, he likes to brandish weapons before the cameras and show off a personal zoo, stocked with a tiger, ostriches and other exotica. The Kremlin has credited him with stabilizing and rebuilding Chechnya.

Mr. Kadyrov has often said that Ms. Estemirova and Memorial manufactured their conclusions in order to curry favor with Western donors and weaken Russia.

In 2008, witnesses at the current Orlov trial testified, Mr. Kadyrov tried to sideline Ms. Estemirova by appointing her to a government human rights panel. He apparently reasoned that if she had an official role, she would not go public with her criticism.

Soon after, Ms. Estemirova gave an interview with a national television network in which she disparaged rules in Chechnya requiring women to wear Islamic head scarves.

“I generally don’t like it when someone imposes something on me, dictates something to me or orders me around — how to live, how to dress,” Ms. Estemirova said.

Mr. Kadyrov, a major proponent of the rules, was infuriated, and at a meeting, fired her from the rights board.

“Natasha said he spoke to her very aggressively, in a hostile tone, and periodically broke into screaming,” a colleague, Yekaterina Sokiryanskaya, told the court this month.

“He threatened Natasha, and expressed his extreme displeasure with Natasha’s work in particular,” Ms. Sokiryanskaya said. “He said his arms were covered in blood up to his elbows. He said he had killed people, and he was not ashamed of it because he fought against the enemies of Chechnya.”

Ms. Sokiryanskaya then recounted the most chilling part. Mr. Kadyrov asked Ms. Estemirova whether she had a daughter, though he knew that she did. He posed another question: Did she ever fear for her daughter’s safety?

Ms. Estemirova left the meeting and fled Russia with her teenage daughter. It was the second time that she had gone into exile after being berated by Mr. Kadyrov, her friends said. But after a few months, she returned, still criticizing Mr. Kadyrov and his security forces.

In July 2009, Ms. Estemirova was compiling information about how the security services were setting fire to the homes of relatives of suspected militants. A senior Chechen official complained to a colleague of hers that she was smearing Chechnya’s reputation.

The official made reference to Anna Politkovskaya, the crusading opposition journalist who was killed in 2006 and was Ms. Estemirova’s friend. He said that if Ms. Politkovskaya had trod more cautiously, she would still be alive.

Ms. Estemirova’s superiors in Moscow grew alarmed and began planning to evacuate her again. But it was too late.

As she left her apartment in Grozny, the Chechen capital, on July 15, she was shoved into a car by unidentified men, who drove her to the neighboring region of Ingushetia.

She was found shot to death on the side of a road. None of her valuables or documents were stolen. The authorities were not able to explain how her assailants transported her through several police checkpoints without being detected.

First Grief, Then Anger

When the news of Ms. Estemirova’s murder reached Moscow, Mr. Orlov was consumed with grief and regret: Why hadn’t Memorial gotten her out sooner? Then he became angry.

“People ask me, who is guilty of this murder?” Mr. Orlov thundered at a news conference. “I know the name of this person. I know his title. His name is Ramzan Kadyrov. His title is president of the Chechen Republic.”

In Chechnya, Mr. Kadyrov denied that he had anything to do with the killing, and promised to personally lead the search for the killers. Even so, he publicly belittled Ms. Estemirova and Memorial.

“Why would Kadyrov kill a woman whom no one cared about?” Mr. Kadyrov said in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in August 2009. “She never had any honor, dignity or a conscience. Never.”

On Chechen television, he later referred to Memorial with the kind of language that the Soviet Union used when persecuting dissidents. “They are not my opponents — they are enemies of the people, enemies of the law, enemies of the state,” Mr. Kadyrov said.

Mr. Kadyrov would not be interviewed for this article. His aides said he had made his views clear in court papers.

Mr. Kadyrov first brought a civil lawsuit against Mr. Orlov, and less than three months after the murder, a judge ruled in Mr. Kadyrov’s favor. Memorial and Mr. Orlov were ordered to publish an official retraction of the charges against Mr. Kadyrov on Memorial’s Web site, and pay roughly $2,300 in damages.

At Mr. Kadyrov’s behest, prosecutors then indicted Mr. Orlov on criminal defamation charges.

At the trial this fall, Mr. Kadyrov’s lawyer, Mr. Krasnenkov, has suggested that Memorial menaced Mr. Kadyrov, not the other way around. Mr. Krasnenkov forcefully questioned a colleague of Ms. Estemirova, Aleksandr V. Cherkasov.

Mr. Krasnenkov: “Are you aware of physical threats toward Ramzan Kadyrov — or threats to kill him — heard from the very lips of one of the staff members of Memorial?”

Mr. Cherkasov: “I know nothing about that.”

Mr. Krasnenkov: “Can you guarantee that Memorial does not have a special group that exerts psychological and physical pressure on people whom Memorial is displeased with? Yes or no!”

Mr. Cherkasov: “Of course, I can. It’s strange for me to hear such a thing.”

Outside court, Mr. Krasnenkov said in an interview that a guilty verdict should compel the F.S.B., the main successor to the K.G.B., to close down Memorial. He said he hoped that Mr. Kadyrov’s stance against Memorial would encourage other Russian politicians to not only file civil lawsuits over unjust criticism, but also seek criminal charges.

“They should do this for the sake of preserving the reputation of the state,” Mr. Krasnenkov said.

Mr. Kadyrov has not yet testified in the case, but he may do so in January. The judge is expected to hand down a verdict soon after.

In the meantime, the inquiry into Ms. Estemirova’s murder continues, including into who ordered it.

Law enforcement authorities now maintain that the actual killer was an Islamic extremist who was shot to death by the police in autumn 2009. They say they located the weapon used to kill Ms. Estemirova next to an identification document with the extremist’s picture on it.

Mr. Orlov described that determination as a farcical attempt to pin her murder on a dead man — an insurgent, no less.

Mr. Orlov made a formal request to the authorities: If they have ruled out involvement by government officials in Ms. Estemirova’s death, then they should release the case file showing that they examined that theory. The request was denied.

By: Clifford J. Levy (nytimes magazine)

Suspected U.S. Strikes Kill 17 in Pakistan

(PESHAWAR, Pakistan) — Pakistani intelligence officials say a third suspected U.S. missile strike has hit a tribal area near the Afghan border, killing nine militants and bringing the total toll to 17 dead in the strikes.

The two earlier strikes on Tuesday in North Waziristan tribal region killed eight people. The officials say at least two of the dead killed in the second strike were retrieving bodies from the site of the first hit.

The officials say the third strike hit some vehicles carrying alleged militants who may belong to the Haqqani network, one of several militant groups in North Waziristan.

The two intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Around 115 such missile strikes have been launched this year — more than doubling last year's total. Nearly all have landed in North Waziristan, a region that hosts several militant groups battling U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, including the feared Haqqani network.

The first strike Tuesday hit a house in the Ghulam Khan area of North Waziristan, killing six, two Pakistani intelligence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The officials did not know the identities of those killed but said they were militants.

About three hours later, as people went to the site to pick up the bodies, more missiles hit the same spot. The intelligence officials said civilians may have been among those killed in the second strike.

On Monday, U.S. missiles struck two vehicles in another part of North Waziristan, killing at least 18 alleged militants in two vehicles, intelligence officials said.

Pakistan officially protests the strikes, saying they violate its sovereignty and anger tribesmen whose support it needs to fend off extremists. But Islamabad is widely believed to secretly support the strikes and provide intelligence for at least some of them.

U.S. officials rarely discuss the covert, CIA-run missile program. Privately, however, they say it is a crucial tool and has killed several top militant leaders. They also say the drone-fired strikes are very accurate and usually kill militants.

Information from Pakistan's tribal belt is very hard to verify independently. Access to the area is legally restricted, and ongoing conflict there makes it dangerous territory.

Also Tuesday, a low-intensity bomb exploded near a cafeteria at the Karachi University in the southern port city of Karachi, wounding at least two students, police said. Police official Naeem Khan said the explosive was in parcel and that officials were trying to determine who planted it.

By: Associated Press, Rasool Dawar (Time magazine)

Ivory Coast talks: 'Last-chance' mission begins

The West African leaders have not yet spoken out strongly on the election dispute

West African heads of state have begun their mission in Ivory Coast aimed at bringing an end to the crisis following the disputed presidential election.

Leaders from Sierra Leone, Benin and Cape Verde are holding talks with Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent who insists he won the poll.

They are expected to give Mr Gbagbo a final chance to step down peacefully.

He is refusing to make way for Alassane Ouattara, who has been internationally recognised as the president-elect.

The three presidents - Benin's Boni Yayi, Sierra Leone's Ernest Bai Koroma and Pedro Pires of Cape Verde - arrived in the main city, Abidjan during the morning.

They held talks with the head of the UN peacekeeping mission, Young Jin Choi, before heading for the presidential residence in Abidjan for a meeting with Mr Gbagbo.

A Sierra Leone government spokesman told the BBC that the leaders from the Ecowas regional grouping would be offering Mr Gbagbo a way of leaving without being humiliated.

Ivory Coast is different from Liberia and Sierra Leone. It is a functioning wealthy country with a strong army, so a force will meet some credible resistance.

Furthermore, it doesn't look as if Ecowas is capable of putting a credible force on the ground: Nigeria is heading towards elections and may not want to put in troops for that long a time; Ghana has elections in 2012 and Senegal has its own problems with dynastic succession. So the key countries that would have to contribute may not have the political stomach and the temerity.

I would have thought an emphasis on sanctions, bank accounts, no-fly zones, seizure of properties - total isolation on the continent - would have been a first step.

But it looks as if there has been a hastiness to demonstrate that "we can deal with Gbagbo" - and in doing so Ecowas, the African Union and the United Nations have actually closed too many doors that limit their options for engagement and manoeuvre.

After the meeting with Mr Gbagbo, they are expected to make their way to Mr Ouattara who is in an Abidjan resort with his shadow government, protected by about 800 UN peacekeepers.

Mr Ouattara's victory in the 28 November election was overturned by the Constitutional Council, a body headed by an ally of Mr Gbagbo, citing claims that results were rigged in the north.

Refugees escape

The number of people who have fled Ivory Coast for neighbouring Liberia is close to 20,000, according to the UN which says they left because of the threat of possible civil war.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says 15,120 people from villages in western Ivory Coast are known to have crossed the border and another 4,000 arrivals have been reported.

Most of the refugees are said to be women and children and almost two thirds under the age of 18.

The UN has said at least 173 people have died in violence, and scores of others have been tortured.

On Monday, the African Union (AU) appointed Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga as its special envoy to Ivory Coast to push for a peaceful outcome to the crisis.

Mr Odinga has said he planned to talk to Mr Gbagbo, but would wait for the outcome of the Ecowas talks before deciding his next move.

Buses have now stopped working in Abidjan, leaving thousands stranded at home, after Mr Ouattara called for a general strike on Monday as part of his protest, our correspondent says.

The transport unions are close to Mr Ouattara and have frequently shown the ability to paralyse the city; any drivers trying to break the strike, particularly in opposition districts, face the threat of violence, he adds.

The atmosphere in Abidjan is tense, he says; while less violent than a few days ago, everyone fears a military intervention in the coming weeks.

Ivorians had hoped these elections would close the chapter on the country's most difficult 10 years, but instead they have opened up a new period of instability, he explains.

On Monday, supporters of Mr Ouattara briefly took over the Ivory Coast embassy in Paris.

By: BBC News

The 10 Biggest Career Crashes

Stanley McChrystal

What does it take to bring down a four-star general? Apparently just a couple of juicy quotes in a music magazine. McChrystal offered his resignation over his command of the war in Afghanistan to President Obama in June after a Rolling Stone profile by Michael Hastings quoted him as groaning, "Oh, no not another email from [Special Representative to Afghanistan Richard] Holbrooke," and captured one of his advisors referring to Vice President Biden as "Bite Me." After 34 years of service, McChrystal retired. But he's not just sitting at home drinking Bud Light Lime, he's taken to the road, charging $60,000 a pop plus expenses for speeches.

Steven Rattner

November should have been a grand month for Steven Rattner, the private equity honcho and former head of Obama's auto industry restructuring efforts. But instead of celebrating the IPO of General Motors, Rattner is being sued by New York attorney general (and soon-to-be governor) Andrew Cuomo for at least $26 million for his alleged role in a pay-to-play scheme to get investments from the New York State pension fund. Rattner already agreed to a settlement with the SEC, accepting a two year ban from the securities industry and coughing up $6.2 million in fines. In response to the suits, Rattner announced, "I will not be bullied simply because the attorney general's office prefers political considerations instead of a reasoned assessment of the facts…I intend to clear my name by defending myself vigorously against the politically motivated lawsuit."

Charles Rangel

Charlie Rangel just can't catch a break. His much-touted decades of public service have been long forgotten since he was first accused of ethical breaches more than two years ago for failing to report income from property in the Dominican Republic, misleading disclosures of income, and soliciting money inappropriately. After his pleas for an extension to find counsel (after doling out $2 million already, he claims he can no longer afford lawyers) were rejected this week, the ever-diplomatic Rangel walked out of the proceedings. Not that that stopped the congressional panel from finding him guilty of 11 House ethics violations. The committee's top lawyer recommended Rangel face censure.

Jeff Zucker

Zucker is the man that built his reputation by installing the NBC Today show in a see-through studio and convincing musicians to perform to miniature masses in Rockefeller Center. But as morning television made his career, primetime power destroyed it. When he was promoted to CEO of NBC, the network was high on the success of Friends, but its ratings soon fell, tarnished by series failures and hiring misfires (Ben Silverman, anyone?). Of course, putting Jay Leno on at 10 p.m. and then quickly rescinding Conan O'Brien's newfound seat behind the Tonight Show desk when the pilot was a ratings disaster was the final straw.

Rick Sanchez

After nearly three decades in broadcasting, Rick Sanchez's television trajectory took a disastrous turn when he was a guest on comedian Pete Dominick's radio show in September. Sanchez, a Cuban immigrant, called Jon Stewart a bigot and said, "a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart. And to imply that somehow they—the people in this country are Jewish—are an oppressed minority? Yeah." The top brass at CNN who had been signing Sanchez's paycheck for the last five years weren't smitten with the comments and released a statement less than 24 hours after interview aired to say Sanchez was no longer with the company.

Silvio Berlusconi

The Italian Prime Minister is no stranger to scandal, but none were quite as colorful as the recent "bunga bunga" ordeal. Since Berlusconi became Prime Minister for the first time in 1994, he's been linked to Cosa Nostra (the Italian mob) and he's been accused multiple times (including by his ex-wife) of philandering with minors. The latest allegation, and one that may out-rank all the preceding allegations, comes from a 17-year-old prostitute who claims that Berlusconi plied her with more than $1,300 worth of cash and jewelry and organized a 20-woman orgy at his Milan villa. According to the woman, known as Ruby, Berlusconi learned about the ritual Libyan orgy called "bunga bunga" from Muammar Kaddafi. Despite a history of escaping scandal unscathed, the bunga bunga accusation as well as a tumbling approval rating and the weak Italian economy has caused rifts within his party and the defection of key members of his coalition, including one who said he was worried about the "moral message" the government was sending. A confidence vote by the Parliament on December 14 will decide whether the government believes he should stay in office.

Brett Favre

Ask any red-blooded American man who Brett Favre is and the answer will likely be: "One of the best National Football League quarterbacks. Ever." True enough, but he's tugged at fans' heartstrings enough the past few years—retiring, unretiring, et cetera—that there's little public sympathy when embarrassing things happen to him. Like alleged pictures of his penis showing up on Gawker Media's Deadspin, which the company obtained for a mere 12 grandHe and his wife donatedon pace to break his career single-season turnover mark. and which Favre (allegedly) sent to a female sideline reporter along with sexy voicemails. To be fair, Favre does a lot of good in the communities he works in. $600,000 to four Minnesota charities in October. Still, making it rain on a penis picture snafu, even one on which the jury is still out, doesn't make it any less of a penis picture snafu. And on the football front it's been a far from stellar season for the future Hall of Famer. He's on pace to break his career single-season turnover mark.

Mel Gibson

For a long time Mel Gibson was an A-lister, a genuine nice guy, an action star turned acting legend, filthy rich, and totally normal. But when the mighty fall, they tend to fall hard. And 2010 was the year that Mel Gibson fell the hardest. His girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of one of his children, alleged a slew of physical and verbal abuse the summer past, and she had the audio to prove it. The first in a series of recordings damning the Oscar winner was released by Radar Online in July. Gibson said lots of mean and racist things, which have been repeated ad nauseam elsewhere. Not all is lost for Gibson, and, in fact, some media experts think he'll bounce back. Gibson's next movie, The Beaver, will be the first test. What else could producers do but play up Gibson's crazy in ads for the movie?

Charlie Sheen

In any given year Charlie Sheen could make a list of public figures with major downfalls. This, however, was a banner year even for him. In late October Sheen, a recovering alcoholic, allegedly relapsed during an alcohol-and-drug fueled bender with a pornstar at The Plaza Hotel. Sheen ended up naked in a restaurant bathroom, his face allegedly covered with cocaine. Cops later got a 911 call and the pornstar was found hiding on the floor of the actor's hotel room bathroom after Sheen went on an apparent tirade over a misplaced watch. No surprise, then, that almost a year after a domestic violence charge from Brooke Mueller, his wife, the couple officially filed for divorce in November.

Tony Hayward

If it wasn't a good year for oil giant BP, it was an even worse year on a personal level for CEO Tony Hayward. There wasn't much public sympathy for the man who served as BP's public face after the worst oil leak in history. Not that he did a bang up job on the public relations front. Hayward infamously said he, "wanted his life back," while yachting off the English coast. It was just one of many miscues in a rapid crash and burn for Hayward, who led BP from 2007 until he was fired in July. As for the yachting incident, would Hayward change anything? Not really. "I hadn't seen my son for three months, I was on the boat for six hours...I'm not certain I'd do anything different," he said.

By: the daily beast

Study: You Are What Your Dad Ate

View of a person eating DNA with chopsticks

Imagine if you bequeathed your children not just your genetic material, but also the consequences of your own eating habits. A study published on Dec. 23 in the journal Cell demonstrates that your diet can indeed make a difference in the next generation's genetic code.

"The take away is that we are more than just our genes," said lead researcher Oliver Rando of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in a statement, "and there are many ways our parents can 'tell' us things."

Rando's team placed male mice on a low-protein diet from the time they were weaned until they reached sexual maturity. They then studied the offspring those males produced and found some striking changes: the second-generation mouse pups had hundreds of genetic mutations — particularly in the liver — and this had a severe impact on their metabolic functioning. One gene that changed in offspring, for example — known as Ppara — is essential in cholesterol management and the liver's role in converting lipids.

"It's consistent with the idea that when parents go hungry, it's best for offspring to hoard calories," Rando said. He went on to say that the generation that follows these pups — the grandchildren of the diet-deprived ancestors — will be of interest as well. Previous research has suggested that it is this third tier of a family that is most affected by epigenetic changes — or those alterations in a genome that accumulate throughout an animal's life.

Researchers don't yet understand how the genetic information is transferred from father to child and even when they do, the work can't stop with mice. Additional studies will have to be conducted in human populations.

By: Meredith Merenick (time magazine)

Kenya court fines Thai woman $500 over illegal ivory

Thailand's Thararat Noiphoromma at the Makadara law courts in Nairobi where she was charged with possession of illegal ivory while on transit from Mozambique to Bangkok. She was fined $500. Photo/PHOEBE OKALL |

A Thai national, arrested on Saturday at Kenya's main airport while attempting to smuggle ivory products, has been fined $500 (Sh40,000).

Thararati Noiphoroma pleaded guilty to being in possession of 19.5kg of assorted ivory cargo manufactured from elephant tusks worth $2,440 (Sh195,000).

She was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) enroute to Bangkok, Thailand from Mozambique. The woman's luggage contained 105 pieces of ivory bangles, necklaces and two elephant tusks.

In her mitigation through lawyer Cliff Ombeta, the foreigner, who was on transit, wondered why the Kenyan authorities arrested and detained her yet she bought the ivory in a street in Mozambique.

Bought the bangles

“My client is wondering why she was detained yet in her country, Mozambique, where she is married to an African, these game trophies are bought in open market. It is a free trade in Mozambique.”

Mr Ombeta said she had bought the bangles as presents to her relatives back home.

The magistrate also heard that the accused was in the company of her six-year-old child “who is still at the JKIA waiting for her mother".

"I urge this court to exercise leniency in the spirit of Christmas and New Year. She can even be freed without being fined,” Mr Ombeta urged the magistrate.

But the court directed the accused to pay a fine of $250 (Sh20,000) or face one year in default for the offence of being in possession of illegal ivory and failing to report to the relevant authorities.

She was also fined $250 (Sh20,000) or serve one year in default for dealing in ivory.

By RICHARD MUNGUTI in Nairobi(Africa Review)

Germany investigates 'poisoning' of Russian dissidents

Viktor and Marina Kalashnikov believe Moscow is behind a poisoning bid

German prosecutors are investigating whether two Russian dissidents living in Berlin have been poisoned.

Earlier this month, the German weekly Focus reported that doctors had detected high levels of mercury in the blood of Viktor and Marina Kalashnikov.

He was a former colonel in the KGB while she is a historian and both have been critical of the Kremlin.

In 2006, former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko was murdered by radioactive poisoning in London.

British investigators suspect former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi is behind his murder.

A spokesman for the public prosecutors' office in Berlin confirmed that an investigation had been opened into whether the Kalashnikovs have been deliberately poisoned.

"It is being carried out by a department dealing with politically motivated crimes," the spokesman told AFP news agency.

Health problems

Viktor Kalashnikov is reported to have worked for the KGB in Brussels and Vienna before joining Boris Yeltsin's research staff.

Since the late 1990s both he and his wife have worked as freelance journalists and commentators.

In recent years they have been moving around Europe, including Ukraine, Poland and Estonia.

The Times reported that they started experiencing strange health problems - their skin burnt and they would be seized by bouts of restlessness, blinding headaches and sudden pains in the spine.

In October this year, in a Berlin hotel room "we went sort of crazy," Marina Kalashnikov told the newspaper, "wandering feverishly around all night, unable to concentrate".

The couple then had tests at Berlin's Charite hospital. These reportedly revealed 53.7 microgrammes of mercury per litre in Viktor's blood, and 56 in Marina's.

The usual level is around one to three microgrammes per litre.

Mr Kalashnikov has lost a lot of weight in recent months and medical experts have reportedly recommended that the couple undergo further tests and be watched closely.

By: BBC News

WikiLeaks: Ghana's President 'worried' over drug menace

US President Barack Obama meets Ghana's President John Atta Mills at the presidential castle in Accra July 11, 2009. The US embassy in Accra says the WikiLeaks revelations may strain bilateral relations. AFRICA REVIEW | FILE |

The WikiLeaks disclosures have finally reached Ghana's coast after a leaked cable revealed that the country's President was worried over the possible involvement in drug trafficking of highly placed insiders in his administration.

The government is now facing a backlash after leaked US cables suggested there was official inaction and political interference in the fight against Ghana's illicit drug trade, and also dating back to the previous administration of President John Kufuor.

A supposed conversation between President John Atta Mills and the US ambassador depicts the Ghanaian leader expressing concern that members of his entourage could be complicit in the lucrative narcotics trade.

In what could sully Ghana's solid credentials, the cable claims that officers from the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) actively assisted traffickers by alerting them through telephone calls on when to travel to avoid detection by law enforcers.

Some of the officers were alleged to have sabotaged sensitive drug scanners and allowed some passengers including pastors, bank managers and their wives--some of whom were under suspicion--to pass through the security-exempt Very Very Important Personalities (VVIP) lounge.

The initial reaction by the US embassy in Accra has been to condemn the "illegal disclosure" of drug- related issues in Ghana by the controversial website.

The information officer at the embassy, Mr Ben East, in a radio interview said that "the disclosure could put people’s lives in danger and could harm US relations."

Seemed to admit

But commenting on the new disclosures, Mr Ben Ndego, a narcotics control officer seemed to admit that government officials were assisting drug barons when he in a media interview said that "persons involved in the drug trade were very powerful people who not only dine and wine with, but also sponsor, politicians."

Following disclosures that some holders of diplomatic passports had abused the privilege by smuggling drugs, deputy information minister Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa told an Accra radio station that the government had decided to withdraw some of these passports that did not meet the criteria for holding diplomatic status.

A confiscated cocaine stash

"When we came to power, we noticed that a lot of diplomatic passports were in the system and that the users did not meet the criteria.

"So the President authorised that about 375 diplomatic passports be withdrawn from the system and that has been carried out," Mr Okudzeto-Ablakwa said.

The minister said the government had decided to go public with the information "to point to the commitment that this government has had in fighting the drug menace because you need to control who is going in and coming out, and who is abusing the privilege of having a diplomatic passport.”

Discussions of the leaked reports have also split along party lines. Minister for information, John Tia Akologu, has issued a statement saying that President Mills was "committed and unwavering in the fight against narcotics regardless of the threats that the leaks pose to this fight."

Downplayed

The statement sought to downplay aspects of the disclosures which suggested President Mills had expressed worry about his appointees engaging in the narcotic trade. "President Mills has no cause to suspect his appointees and believes that they are with him in this noble task to make Ghana a no-transit point for narcotics."

"Despite the challenges inherited, the government of President Mills will relentlessly continue with this fight and will ensure that the NACOB receives continuous support evidenced by the historic increase in budgetary allocation to NACOB, and that the process to elevate the NACOB into a stronger independent Commission which is at a very advanced stage continues,” the statement further read.

The executive secretary of NACOB, Yaw Akrasi-Sarpong, has however dismissed some portions of the leaked reports as untrue.

Mr Akrasi-Sarpong said he had extensive discussions with President Mills, and would be shocked if the alleged discussion between the President and the US ambassador actually took place.

Mr Akrasi-Sarpong, however admitted as true other parts of the cables which said that the VVIP lounge at the airport was used by some selected people for their travels and that some of them might have exploited that privilege to transport drugs from the country.

The continuing revelations have also roped in the country's civil society groups. Anti-corruption campaign group, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) said the government should investigate the leaked classified documents that alleged the involvement of high level government officials in the narcotics trade.

GII executive secretary, Mr Vitus Azeem, said the President should order an immediate investigation if he suspected members of his government were engaged in drug trafficking.

By FRANCIS KOKUTSE in Accra(Africa Review)

Julian Assange's Book Advance Can't Come Quickly Enough

REUTERS/Valentin Flauraud

The WikiLeaks founder confirms that he expects to make in excess of $1.5 million from book deals. And in the least surprising revelation of the year, he plans to use the money on his ever-spiraling legal costs.

The 39-year-old was recently released on bail in Britain and is fighting extradition to Sweden, where two women have accused him of sexual misconduct (Assange denies the allegations.) He's essentially living under house arrest in a country mansion, but often pops up to give media interviews.

His most recent disclosure was to the Sunday Times of London where he explained that he had to sign the mega-bucks deal over penning his autobiography to alleviate any financial difficulties. "I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he protested. "I have already spent £200,000 ($250,000) for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."

Breaking down the deal and it's reported that Assange is in line to make $800,000 from his U.S. publisher, Alfred A Knopf, with a U.K. deal with Canongate supposedly worth a further £325,000 ($500,000). There is also the serialization factor to be taken into consideration.

Assange has previously gone on record stating that legal costs for WikiLeaks as well as his own defense were nearing $800,000. What's more (literally) is that the recent decision by the likes of Visa, MasterCard and PayPal to stop processing donations have cost WikiLeaks $650,000, which could have funded WikiLeaks' publishing operations for six months (the Guardian notes that at its peak, WikiLeaks was taking in $130,000 a day.)

Assange's extradition hearing has been scheduled for early February so he'll have to go some in order to have his book published before then. And if a newspaper offers up extracts to its readers without permission, one wonders if Assange will smile or sneer at the irony.

By: Glen Levy (time magazine)