Bahrain condemned after court upholds life sentences for opposition activists [Al-Alam, Iran]

Presenter, Female #1
In Bahrain, the opposition condemned the rulings issued by the High Court of Appeals against figures of the opposition, and its detained leadership for expressing their opinion. The opposition stated that such rulings hold no value since they were decided on through a vengeful scheme. It placed the responsibility of such rulings on the international community for its pro-government stance, and its failure to take the necessary steps to force Bahrain to comply with international human rights regulations. Opposition forces demanded the immediate release of political leaders, activists, and all those detained for political reasons. The High Court of Appeals upheld rulings against 13 opposition figures, maintaining life sentences for seven of them, while confirming prison terms ranging between 5 to 15 years for the others.

Reporter, Male #1
It doesn't seem these forces are willing to halt their infringements on the rights of unarmed Bahraini citizens, while the ruling class in Manama escalates its repressive practices. The latest was its crackdown on demonstrations organized due to the week-long "loyalty to the rulers" that is held in 12 areas across the country, including al-Diraz, Bilad al-Qadeem, Darazian, al-Nuwaidrat, al-Mkashar.

Reporter, Male #1
The areas in which the authorities intensified their use of pellet bullets and poisonous gas witnessed several injuries and cases of suffocation. Saudi-backed government forces raided a mass rally called for by the opposition in the city of Jidhafs, arresting a number of participants, as youths proceeded to blocking roads with burning tires to prevent government forces from raiding homes and arresting protestors.

Reporter, Male #1
These protestors poured into the street to affirm their support for all those detained in government prisons, especially leading opposition figures. As the authorities freed the killer of child-martyr Husam al-Haddad, the Bahraini Court of Appeals upheld life sentences for seven opposition leaders, who attended the hearing, due to their participation in protests.

Guest, Male #2 (Fadel Abbas, Secretary-General of the Association of the National Democratic Alliance)
The truth is that these rulings, yet again, confirm the regime's insistence on a security solution, and affirm that it won't implement recommendations from the fact-finding report. The report presented by the fact-finding commission is clear; it calls for the release of all those tried today. So we believe that these rulings aimed to belittle and destroy the morale of the Bahraini people, but this has not happened.

Reporter, Male #1
Lawyers said the court chose to uphold prison sentences for 13 of the detainees with periods ranging between two and 15 years. The 13 were not present at this hearing, and include seven who were tried in absentia. They were accused of establishing terror cells in order to overthrow the regime. Among the defendants are rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and Hassan Mushaima. Government judges had handed down prison sentences in June 2011, including life sentences against members of this group.

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Assad holds talks with the head of the Red Cross as violence claims 74 lives across Syria [BBC Arabic, UK]

Presenter, Male #1
The Local Coordination Committees in Syria reported the death toll rose to 74 today with most people killed in the countryside of Damascus. In al-Rastan, a new group of officers announced their defection from the regime; they said they joined the Salaheddine brigade. Meanwhile, regime forces continued to shell several areas in Aleppo, Deir az-Zour, Taftanaz in Idlib, and the neighborhood of al-Khalidiya in Homs.

Reporter, Male #1
The newest development in the military operations is that each side announced control over the other's military sites. Syrian media outlets confirmed that regime forces control large areas in the city of Aleppo, especially around Saif al-Dawla. The Syrian television broadcast live reports and interviews with soldiers from the area.

Guest, Male #3
Since this morning, our brave forces were able to conduct a unique operation to cleanse the area, in the eastern section of Saif al-Dawla, and they were able to eliminate the gunmen in the section of al-Mall al-Sharqi and its surroundings. The forces were able to expel and kill them.

Reporter, Male #2
In the neighborhood of Meyasar in Aleppo, the shelling resulted in the destruction of several buildings. Activists uploaded pictures online showing how the rubble is being lifted with basic equipment, in search of survivors.

Reporter, Male #2
In Deir az-Zour, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the armed opposition seized control of the military security department in the city, after violent clashes with the site's security and regime forces, which led to a number of deaths. The Local Coordination Committees spoke about heavy and violent artillery shelling on the neighborhoods of the city, at a rate of one bomb every two minutes. Smoke columns rose from different parts of the residential neighborhoods.

Reporter, Male #2
In al-Hay al-Gharbi in Idlib, activists reported that opposition forces were able to control the checkpoint set up at the entrance of the neighborhood, and capture the soldiers that were manning it.

Reporter, Male #2
In the neighborhood of al-Mazza in Damascus, activists noted heavy security deployment to the villas. As for Deir al-Asafeer in the countryside of Damascus, the Local Committees reported that the city was besieged from four directions, with tank and mortar shelling of homes and farms, amid a state of displacement, terror, and panic among the residents. Tank and mortar shelling also continued in the town of Zibdin. In Taftanaz, opposition forces continue to shell the military airport, which led helicopters to make emergency landings, according to activists who uploaded pictures of the airport and the landing.

Reporter, Male #2
In Latakia, doctor Ramy Habib spoke about the critical conditions that are making it difficult for doctors to treat patients, who are dying due a lack of first aid material and the large-scale number of people going to the field clinics.

Guest, Male #4 (Ramy Habib, Doctor)
The equipment that we have at the field clinics are simple equipment that we use to save the patient, to stop hemorrhage, and to treat critical wounds.

Reporter, Male #2
Activists also circulated pictures of explosive devices detonated with mechanisms from the Syrian army. In Homs, it was reported that the shelling is continuing over the neighborhoods of the city, predominantly in al-Qusair, al-Rastan, Baba Amr, and al-Khalidiya, and that the shelling reached 12 neighborhoods amid bad health and living conditions. The neighborhoods lack food and energy sources. In another part of Homs, Local Committees started to clean the streets of the city in Talbisa and neighboring areas, from the effects of the shelling, ruins, and destruction.

Reporter, Male #2
Activists uploaded pictures of youth groups that took it upon themselves to fulfill these responsibilities to protect public health and safety, as demonstrations continued. Essam Abdallah, BBC.

Presenter, Male #1
Chief of the International Red Cross, Peter Maurer, met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. His visit aims to facilitate the process of delivering aid to the Syrian areas affected by the military operations. The Syrian president said that he welcomes the work of the Red Cross in Syria, for as long as it operates in an unbiased way, according to the Official Syrian News Agency, SANA.

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CIA training, arming anti-Syrian regime militias in Turkey [Syria TV, Syria]

Presenter, Female #1
After Syria and its valiant army failed the colonizers' plots targeting its stability, Washington and its Western allies and the oil sheikhdoms are fighting a battle to establish camps in Turkey to train what remains of the armed terrorist groups, and to supply them with heavy weapons.

Reporter, Female #2
Following the Syrian army's impressive successes at crushing the armed terrorist groups and the resistance of the Syrian people in the face of attempts to infiltrate their nation, a disappointed Washington was unable to fulfill its goal of creating a situation for foreign intervention in Syria, so now it is leading operations on the ground.

Reporter, Female #2
Documents and information indicate that the American intelligence agency, the CIA, established camps to train takfiri terrorists on Turkish land, especially to teach them how to use anti-aircraft missiles before sending them to Syria. This information offers a clear explanation of the kind of aid terrorists are receiving from Washington, and refutes its claims that it is not providing them with any lethal equipment.

Reporter, Female #2
So where are these terrorists receiving these missiles, especially since everyone knows that they have no manufacturers in the region, and that only superpowers, most notably the United States, produces them? The course of events indicates that Washington has freed itself to lead the work on the ground and after unleashing its takfiri mercenary terrorists, it watched them kneel to and flee the Syrian Arab Army's devastating blows. So Washington's plot to establish a buffer zone for them in the northern part of the country was thwarted.

Reporter, Female #2
Washington's consecutive failures pushed it to place all its efforts to lift the morale of its terrorist elements by using them in the political bazaar. The American media recently began projects targeting Syria, but it shows that a country whose army has a will like the Syrian army's and a strong people will only know victory.

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The two Sudans resume negotiations over border conflict [Dubai TV, UAE]

Presenter, Female #1
With hopes of reaching a deal to settle their conflict, negotiators from Sudan and South Sudan attended a new round of negotiations today in the African capital, Addis Ababa, with the aim of resolving their differences, especially over their borders and oil. The negotiations are scheduled until September 22nd. Then, African Union envoy Thabo Mbeki will present a report to the Security Council to clarify the outcome of the negotiations.

Presenter, Female #1
According to Khartoum, the timing of the summit between the leaders of the two countries, Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir, was decided by the leaders themselves. Hani Nasr has the details.

Reporter, Male #1
Building on the temporary agreement over oil quotas that was reached between Sudan and South Sudan last month, and serving as the foundation of the new round of negotiations between Khartoum and Juba, the two leaders and foreign mediators are meeting in Addis Ababa. They hope this round will conclude with an agreement to stabilize the tense border, and pave the way for the two quarrelling neighbors to resume oil exportation, a resumption Khartoum has tied to the need to reach a security agreement over the vast border that extends 1,800 km, and on which there's a conflict every few meters.

Reporter, Male #1
According to Juba, this request is currently hard to fulfill, viewing the issue as premature. At this stage, the priorities are cross-border trade, the situation of individuals not residing in their state, and the disputed area of Abyei. From here, mediators are focusing on establishing a 10 kilometer-wide demilitarized buffer zone along the border to solve a conflict which erupted after the secession of the South over a year ago. The border conflict saw escalated battles in April that threatened a full-scale war after South Sudan occupied oil-producing Heglig in Sudan.

Reporter, Male #1
There are many disagreements between Sudan and South Sudan, but the issue of oil is the most contested. Both countries are in dire need of oil revenue to revive their economies, which were hit after a decision by South Sudan to halt oil production due to disagreements over tariffs on oil passing through the north. The two countries face a new round of negotiations; yet, they appear even more concerned over the United Nations decision to set September 22nd as a final date for Khartoum and Juba to reach a solution to their differences, or face sanctions. So, it's a matter of days that separate the two countries from meaningful solutions, or painful sanctions.

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Muslims and Arabs in America 2012: Who will they vote for, Obama or Romney? [Al Jazeera, Qatar]

Presenter, Female #1
Today, American First Lady Michelle Obama gives the opening-night speech at the National Democratic Convention held in Charlotte in North Carolina, where Barack Obama and his Vice President Joe Biden will be officially nominated as candidates for the presidential elections on November 2nd.

Reporter, Male #1
The National Democratic Convention is being held two months before the election, and Michelle Obama enjoys a high approval rating in the United States, that varies between 65 and 70 percent according to polls, or 20 points more than her husband.

Reporter, Male #1
As with every election, Muslims and Arabs in America face the same question: Who should they vote for? In 2008, 90 percent of the Muslim votes were cast for President Barack Obama. So who will Muslims and Arabs vote for this time, when their choices are Obama and his Republican opponent Mitt Romney?

Guest, Male #2
I hope that President Obama wins the upcoming elections, God willing.

Guest, Male #3
I think that a lot of people had high hopes for President Obama when he was elected, and I think that he needs an additional four years. After he wins the next election, his performance will improve in the interest of Arabs and Americans.

Guest, Male #4
Between Obama and Romney? I like Obama a lot, and during the end of his term, the situation for Arab immigrants was very simple; it was better than during Bush's term.

Guest, Female #2
I think that Muslims will vote for Obama because he is better and he will help us.

Reporter, Male #1
Islamic organizations believe that Romney is not a choice for American Muslims because of the hostile Republican rhetoric against them. But satisfaction with Obama is incomplete. In addition to the burden of the economy, foreign policy cases and civil rights occupy the minds of Muslims seeing that they are a minority facing heightened security.

Guest, Male #5 (Nihad Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations)
Fear is still instilled in Muslims; they do not feel safe in different parts of society. The violent and hostile rhetoric directed to Muslims and Muslim institutions, such as the burning of mosques and hate crimes, requires solid and explicit leadership to set a national approach towards minorities, and among them the Muslim minority.

Reporter, Male #1
Violence against Muslims has risen in a worrying manner during the month of Ramadan, as seven mosques were attacked. Despite being a small minority, Muslims and Arabs have a decisive voice in the state of Michigan, as well as in Florida, Ohio, and Virginia, that may determine who the next president will be. Fadi Mansour, Al Jazeera, Washington.

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Shutdown disrupts normal life in Kashmir [Press TV, Iran]

Another total shutdown has occurred in Indian-administered Kashmir, where locals are upset over an Indian Supreme Court order that permits construction of permanent roads and facilities in the ecologically sensitive area of Amarnath, a cave shrine and pilgrimage site situated at an altitude of around 14,000 feet.

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Palestinians hold rally in solidarity with prisoners in Israel [Press TV, Iran]

Family members of Palestinians in Israeli jails held a rally to gather support for their cause. They say conditions are worsening for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, accusing Tel Aviv of violating a prisoner swap deal it had struck with the Hamas movement in October 2011 in light of recent prison raids conducted by Israelis on Palestinian inmates in Israeli jails.

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Vandals deface Christian monastery in latest Price Tag attack [IBA, Israel]

In the first suspected Price Tag incident since the evacuation of the Migron outpost, vandals attacked the Latrun monastery midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in the early morning. The vandals sprayed "Jesus is a monkey" and "Mutual guarantee, Ramat Migron and Maoz Ester" inside the monastery, and set fire to the front door. Migron evacuees condemned the anti-Christian and pro-settler graffiti, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it "a despicable act" and said that freedom of worship was a basic tenet of the State of Israel.

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US denies secret negotiations to stay out of possible Israel-Iran war [IBA, Israel]

The US has denied a report in Yedioth Aharonoth that Washington is secretly negotiating with Tehran to keep the United States out of a future Israel-Iran war. This, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still pushing the West to show Iran that it is serious in its stated intentions to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and is still seeking support from US President Barack Obama.