Sheikh Khalifa Re-elected UAE President

DUBAI : Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan was re-elected president of the United Arab Emirates for a second five-year term on Tuesday.

The Supreme Federal Council, made up of the rulers of the seven emirates in the UAE, selected Sheikh Khalifa, 61.

He first rose to the presidency as oil-rich Abu Dhabi’s ruler in 2004 on the death of his father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, who founded the Gulf state in 1971.

The council designates both the president and vice president.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, who is also the country’s prime minister, defence minister and ruler of Dubai, has served as vice president since 2006.

The UAE, an OPEC member which produces 2.2 million barrels of oil per day, held its first indirect legislative election in 2006 to designate 40 members of the consultative National Federal Council.

Israel Releases 6 Palestinian MPs

GAZA: Israel Releases 6 Palestinian MPs, Israel has released six members of the Palestinian parliament affiliated to the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) who were jailed after resistance fighters seized Gilad Shalit in a 2006 cross-border raid.

The freed lawmakers were identified as Ahmad Attoun and Wael Al-Husseini from Jerusalem Al-Quds, Khalil Ar-Rabai, Samir Al-Qadi, and Mahir Badr from Hebron (al-Khalil), and Mahmoud Al-Khatib from Bethlehem (Beit Lahm).

“The detention of Palestinian lawmakers was a crime against humanity and the international community should call Israeli occupation to account for that violation,” Gaza-based Hamas lawmaker and head of the International Campaign for the Release of Abducted Members of Parliament Mushir Al-Masri said.

Al-Masri stressed that the campaign he leads will continue to lobby against the detention of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).

Eighteen other Palestinian legislators are still in Israel’s custody, including 15 affiliated to Hamas, two from Fatah, and one affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Israel arrested 45 Hamas lawmakers in the West Bank in the aftermath of Shalit’s capture.

China Launches Crackdown in Xinjiang

BEIJING: China Launches Crackdown in Xinjiang, Chinese forces have launched an “iron fist” security crackdown in the troubled western Xinjiang region, promising to end anarchy and “change the face” of public security situation there.

Regional Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang has been rocked by ethnic violence twice this year, in which a total of about 200 people died.

In Xinjiang, the worst ethnic violence in recent decades, Chinese Uighurs have been attacked in Urumqi, in July after taking to the streets to protest against attacks on Uyghur workers of a factory in southern China in June, which left two Uighurs dead.

Urumqi Han Chinese in seeking revenge two days later against the Uighurs, an ethnic Turkish group that calls Xinjiang its homeland. A series of stabbings of needle Uighurs claimed by fed fresh protests in September led by the Han Chinese.

Now the regional government is demanding tough action to bring stability to the region, spokesman of the Communist Party’s People’s Daily reported on Tuesday.

“Since early November, the public security organs in Xinjiang … background on strike ‘hard and punish’ campaign to further consolidate the fruits of maintaining stability and eliminate the security risks”, said.

The security forces would “destroy the places where criminals of race, and change the face of public security situation in these areas,” the report said.

The term “tough” dates from the 1980s, when Chinese police forces launched the campaign, as the sweeps used for catching offenders. Pro-reform China’s legal experts who criticized the late campaigns ignore the rights of suspects and setting targets for arrests that encouraged abuse.

In Xinjiang, energy-rich, strategically located in central Asia has been achieved in recent years by bombings, attacks and rioting by Beijing blamed Uighur separatists demanding an independent “East Turkistan”.

Many Uighurs resent government restrictions on their religion and culture and an influx of Han Chinese settlers, who in some areas have been reduced to a minority in their own land.

Rights groups and Uighur activists say Beijing also exaggerates the threat from extremists to justify tight control.

People of Walmart

People of Walmart, The people at Walmart are crazy. Here’s something that does not come across every day. people from Walmart, scoffs at Walmart customers.
Do you think is right for the people of Walmart’s site to do this? Sure there are people out there who are fun, but do you think is right to mock them and after its real image ? I do not think it is, but if you do then tell me why in the comments.

Oil Extends Gains in Asian Trade

SINGAPORE : Oil Extends Gains in Asian Trade, Oil rose further in Asian trade on Tuesday, underpinned by a better-than-expected expansion in the US manufacturing sector.

A weak greenback, which makes dollar-priced crude cheaper for holders of stronger currencies, was also an extra factor behind the higher futures, they added.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, advanced 26 cents to 78.39 dollars a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for December delivery gained 19 cents to 76.74 dollars.

The two contracts closed firmer Monday, buoyed in part by the US manufacturing expansion.

The Institute of Supply Management said Monday its factory index, also known as the purchasing managers index, grew for a third consecutive month in October with a reading of 55.7 percent.

It was stronger than market expectations for a reading of 53 percent and the highest rate of growth since April 2006. Any number above 50 indicates growth.

“The reading marks the highest point in three and a half years,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist with SJS Markets securities firm.

Among the sub-indexes in the survey, the employment index was 53.1 percent, marking a sharp turnaround from last month’s 46.2 percent and suggesting that factories are starting to add jobs.

“This is the first time in a year and a half that US manufacturers increased employment, a factor that bodes well for Friday’s payrolls report,” said Kowalczyk.

The US is the world’s biggest energy user and a recovery in its economy is seen as key to lifting global oil demand, which has been hit by the global financial crisis.

Official data released last Thursday showed US gross domestic product grew for the first time in a year, at a stronger-than-expected 3.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter, lifting market sentiment.