Hamas calls for seizing Israeli soldiers to swap for Palestinian prisoners

xinhuanet.com

A senior official of the Islamic Hamas movement in Gaza on Friday called on Palestinian militants to seize Israeli soldiers and exchange them with Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The popular, political, media and diplomatic efforts inside and outside "can never be an alternative to the military efforts to rescue our prisoners from the oppressive occupation's prisons," said Ahmad Bahar, a Gaza-based Hamas leader and deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, in a press statement.

"We should be tireless of making every possible effort to seize Zionist soldiers and exchange them through prisoners swap deals," Bahar said.

In June 2006, Hamas militants and two other minor armed groups seized the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid southeast of the Gaza Strip. Shalit's captors asked for the release of 1,000 prisoners in exchange for him.

However, the mediation of Egypt and Germany had so far failed to finalize a prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel. Both sides traded accusations that the other was hindering the deal.

Around 6,000 Palestinian and Arab prisoners have been holding a gradual hunger strike in all the 25 Israeli jails for 10 days, protesting tightened measures imposed by the Israeli Prisons Authorities.

Bahar called on the Arab League and its secretary general as well as international rights organizations "to play a more important role to activate the prisoners' question and help release the Palestinian prisoners."

"It's unreasonable that United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki- moon visited Shalit's family but ignored thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails," Bahar said.

Strong Business Potential Uncovered in High Level Meetings

 

MONTREAL, Oct 5, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) was the featured company in a recent trade mission to Brazil sponsored by the province of Quebec.

The trade mission took place from August 29 until September 2, and included visits to Sao Paulo and Brasilia. Angelo Marino, VP of Operations of CTTA represented the company.

CTTA conducted worthwhile meetings with a number of world class Brazilian companies and government agencies including Petrobras, Embraer, Flight Technologies, Dimensao, The Port authority of Santos, the Brazilian Association of Defence and Security Industry, the Sao Paulo Department of the Defence Industry, and Union of State Highway Patrols, among others.

Mr. Marino was extremely pleased with the quality and content of the discussions and indicated that "The companies and government departments that we met were very interested in our products and services. There are a great many opportunities in Brazil for CTTA and I believe that important contracts will be signed in the future."

Mr. Marino added that he was pleased with the efforts of the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade, competently represented by Quebec based Karine Couture and Brazilian based Jose Castro, for organizing the trade mission.

CTTA also met with the Canadian Vice Consul and Trade Commissioner in Sao Paulo as well as the regional Manager for the Canadian Export Development Corporation.

CTTA participated in many discussions regarding Risk Management and intends to negotiate consulting contracts to provide services based on its extensive expertise and experience in this sector of the security industry.

Going forward, CTTA will follow up specific requests by providing additional information to various companies and agencies.

Mr. Marino indicated that he expects Mr. Castro, Quebec's commercial attache in Sao Paulo, to visit CTTA's headquarters in Montreal in the next few weeks.

During the next few years Brazil will spend more than $1 Billion on all aspects of public security as it prepares to host many very important international events. Security expenditures will include training, risk assessment consulting, and surveillance devices for all levels of the military, police, and events security.

Upcoming events include:

- The Brazilian Grand Prix, held annually at Interlagos, is part of the Formula One world Championship.

- World Youth Day to be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2013 which will include a visit by Pope Benedict XVI.

- The FIFA World Cup of Soccer to be held in 12 cities in 2014.

- The Summer Olympics will be hosted by Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Brazil normally attracts 5 million tourists per year who spend more than $6 Billion dollars. These numbers are expected to rise sharply over the next years.

About The Canadian Tactical Training Academy

The Canadian Tactical Training Academy (CTTA) is an organization devoted to the training of law enforcement, security, investigation, protection officers and all those who dedicate themselves to maintaining peace.

CTTA offers applied security devices for surveillance and counter-surveillance activities as well as consulting services related to security risk assessments.

Risk factors and cautionary statement about forward-looking information

This press release includes forward-looking statements about our plans and future performance, including those under Outlook for 2011. These statements use such words as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "plan," "anticipate," "contemplate," "target," "continue," "intend," "estimate," "project," and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. They reflect our expectations and speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake to update them. Our expectations (or the underlying assumptions) may change or not be realized, and you should not rely unduly on forward-looking statements.

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: Canadian Tactical Training Academy Inc.

CONTACT: Jocelyn Moisan, Angelo Marino and John Farinaccio
        Canadian Tactical Training Academy
        7000 Cote de Liesse, Suite 8
        Montreal, Quebec, H4T 1E7, Canada
        Phone: 514-373-8411
 
http://www.ctta-global.com            info@ctta-global.com
        Twitter @ CTTAGLOBAL
        

India To Help Train Afghan Security Forces

CNN

India will help train Afghan security forces under a deal signed by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, according to a copy of the agreement released by India.

The two nations agreed on a wide range of political, trade and person-to-person links under the strategic partnership deal signed Tuesday.

The agreement comes at a time of increasing tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan, India's fiercest regional rival.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday downplayed the significance of the agreement.

"It does not make a difference to Pakistan, nor does it cause Pakistan any harm," he said on GEO TV.

But Kanwal Sibal, a former Indian foreign secretary, laid out the regional tensions to CNN on Wednesday.

"Pakistan continues to press the international community to reduce India's role in Afghanistan, but that position has been effectively rejected by the United States," he said at a conference on the region in London.

"Pakistan cannot have a veto over the right of a sovereign, independent Afghan government to have a relationship with India," he said.

But, he added: "We have no interest in getting involved in the military situation in Afghanistan, so Pakistan has no reason to worry."

One expert on the region refused to predict what effect the deal would have.

"South Asia is a paradox. There are no consistencies in relationships between countries," said Sajjan Gohel, director for international security at the Asia-Pacific Foundation. "What may be the current understanding could well be very different in six months' time."

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are particularly poor at the moment.

Afghanistan said this week that Pakistan's intelligence agency played a role in the assassination of a former Afghan president turned key peace negotiator.

Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was spearheading the reconciliation process with the Taliban in Afghanistan, was killed in a September 20 suicide bombing at his home.

"There are no doubts that ISI had its involvement in the plot," Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi told Afghan lawmakers, referring to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. "We have handed over the documents and proof to the Pakistani government."

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry denied the claims, calling them "baseless allegations."

Pakistan did not comment on the India-Afghanistan agreement and did not respond to questions from CNN about it Wednesday.

The deal notes that it is "not directed against any other state or group of states."

It also includes a promise of Afghan support for India's quest to get a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.