Three days of fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu displaced 88,000 people from their homes, adding to hundreds of thousands who fled violence earlier this year, the United Nations said on Thursday. In an unprecedented statement, 39 aid agencies also said they could not respond effectively to Somalias unfolding humanitarian catastrophe due to insecurity in the Horn of Africa nation that has been in turmoil and anarchy since 1991. Almost 90,000 people have fled Mogadishu or moved to safer areas within the city to escape the latest outbreak of violence, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said of the fighting between Sunday and Monday. That violence killed several dozen people, residents say. You see groups of people spontaneously protesting, crying for help from the international community and wondering how long Mogadishu will keep on being destroyed, UNHCR quoted a staff member in Somalia as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
The Moroccan government protested Thursday against the visit Spain's King Juan Carlos planned to pay to the Spanish-occupied enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla off Morocco's northern coast.
The government deems the visit as regrettable whatever the motivations and aims might be, Moroccan Minister of Communication and Government Spokesman Khalid Naciri told reporters after a cabinet meeting here Thursday. "Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri has briefed the cabinet on news of the visit that was carried by mass media during the last two days. The government can only express strong rejection and clear disapproval of this regrettable visit, whatever the motivations and aims," Naciri reasserted.
Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas El-Fassi has recently said his government would do its utmost to convince Spain of entering dialogue on the two cities whose ownership has long been contested by Rabat.
Juan Carlos has reportedly said he planed to pay a visit - the first in his 32-year reign - to Ceuta and Melilla next Monday.
#2
How about infidel outposts in muslim lands, or blistery remnants of the reconquista, or twin daggers of the military failure in Al-Andalus, or 3,497 other overwrought expressions of seething misdirected futility.
#3
AROUND THE WORLD; British Warships Arrive In Gibraltar Amid Protest
AP
Published: April 14, 1983
Sixteen Royal Navy warships steamed into port today in this disputed British colony, enraging the Spanish Government.
The British Defense Ministry denied Spanish press reports that the ships were testing Gibraltar's defenses. The Spanish Government on Monday delivered a formal protest in London expressing ''concern and displeasure'' over the maneuvers and visit to the colony on the southern tip of Spain.
It called the presence of the British warships ''undesirable'' and said Spain ''repeats its desire to resolve the Gibraltar question through negotiations, in accordance with United Nations resolutions in order to assure Spanish territorial integrity.'
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Been there, seen it, done it. What principles?
Bahrain's crown prince has claimed that Iran is developing atomic weapons or the capability to do so, British press reports said on Friday, the first time an Arab state in the Gulf has openly accused Tehran of lying about its controversial nuclear drive.
In interviews with correspondents for British newspapers in the capital Manama, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa also urged a diplomatic solution to the standoff between the West and Bahrain's close neighbour.
"While they don't have the bomb yet, they are developing it, or the capability for it," the crown prince said, warning that "the whole region" would be drawn into any military conflict.
"There needs to be far more done on the diplomatic front," he added, according to The Times. "There's still time to talk." "We need to be very well aware that this could escalate. And we think that is not advisable," The Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying.
"I want to see the region being fully consulted," The Independent quoted the crown prince as saying. "We were not fully consulted when the Iraqi regime was removed. Iran is an even bigger issue... We want to be part of any arrangement that deals with Iran. We don't want to wake up one day and suddenly find our skies darken and sirens blaring on every street."
Bahrain hosts the US Fifth Fleet, the main American carrier battle group tasked with securing the Strait of Hormuz through which much of the world's oil supplies must pass.
#2
Yep, lets keep talking until we get the air raid sirens and a small city turns into a large glass bottomed pond.
I swear that if we don't quit trying to negotiate with fanatics, we'll have a city disappear.
You do know what the definition of insanity is don't you??
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting the results to change.
I think that qualifies our State Department for a one way ticket to the "Twinky Farm" or Bellvue.
#3
JPOST > RUSSIA, CHINA FALL INTO LINE WITH UN ON IRAN SANCTIONS Read, NOT FOR = NOT AGAINST AT THIS TIME, for a third set of sanctions agz Iran. Russia, however, as per Kommersant will continue its arms trade practices vv Iran-ME region.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah left Britain Thursday, ending a state visit that drew protests over his oil kingdom's human rights record and sparked a debate over its relationship with Islamic radicals.
Abdullah, 83, left London for Switzerland for a private visit before continuing his European tour in Italy, Germany and Turkey, a Saudi official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. He gave no further details.
Abdullah's trip to London was the first state visit by a Saudi monarch in 20 years. While in London, the king met with Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, with whom he discussed terrorism and the Middle East peace process. The visit got off to a shaky start after Abdullah said Britain had failed to act on intelligence that might have prevented the 2005 London transit bombings.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#2
'even-handedness' means public organisations must start giving other religions equal footing.
Gah, what an endless multi-culti screed. I have no problem "giving other religions equal footing", just so long as they are committed to peaceful coexistence and mutual respect for the lives of others. And I think we can all see where that's leading ...
#3
My God!!!!!!! Could they get any more Orwellian / Communist than state ownership of child rearing???? Any bets on who is the senior partner??
"Birth ceremonies", at which state and parents agree to "work in partnership" to bring up children."
WTF?? "Asians" don't have cars? An WTF is wrong with white?
"Action to "ensure access" for ethnic minorities to "largely white" countryside"
Fits right in with Charlie. Why stop here abolish the COE altogether as a state religion....
"Bishops being thrown out of the House of Lords"
" An end to "sectarian" religious education "
Anyone wanna bet on the predominant color of the chosen flags????
"Flying flags other than the Union Jack."
Yep, green is the correct answer. But with a tasteful dollop of red.
I use to like England / UK too bad that it will be gone the way of the Dodo inside of a decade.
#4
Christmas should be 'downgraded' to help race relations says Labour think tank
This Christian says FUCK YOU LaboUr, since you worship Marx and I'll Worship Santa what ever I want!!
.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
11/02/2007 13:52 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Whom ever said "There will always be an England." was wrong. 10 years max. Between the EU whores, the commies and the muzzie thugs the old fashioned stiff upper lip doesn't stand a chance.
Any freedom loving Brits had best make their travel plans early.
#7
Hmm. You know, they're right! I've been celebrating Christmas exclusively, and like they say, I should be more multicultural. Show some diversity, and all that.
This year I will celebrate a holiday from Asia....specifically, the Middle East.
#11
Fine. As long as the other "races" allow celebrations in their countries without trying to kill, tax, convert, torture, repress them. I'm looking at you Muzzies.
Other than that, fuck off labour. Move to Iran and see how you like the "tolerance" and "relations".
#14
It's a damn shame. I used to consider myself an Anglophile. Long live the Queen, the Royal Navy, James Bond, the Beatles, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Tanqueray...Shakespeare, Dickens, Churchill, Chaucer, Victoria, Thatcher, etc. This was a great, great nation. It has been arguably the most influential nation in world history which is truly remarkable given its actual size and population in comparison with other nations. Maybe World War I and World War II were just too much for them and they never really recovered.
But I remember a time before Tony Blair when the Labour Party platform was considered a suicide note because they could never get elected with it. Then came Mr. Blair who apparently modified it somewhat and took advantage of unhappiness with John Major to get himself elected. Now it looks like they are back into the suicide mode with a vengeance and the really scary part is now they are in power.
In this country, the US, I have thought for a long time that Christmas has been commercialized to the point where it means nothing except for a chance for retailers to make a profit. It can be depressing if you let it. I would actually like to see it downgraded to the point where it is just a religious holiday to be celebrated only by those of us who actually believe in Jesus. We would go to church on Christmas Eve, have a big family dinner on Christmas Day and that would be it. That way we wouldn't have to go shopping. We wouldn't have to call it "The Holidays". We could call it what it is, Christmas.
The report notes that England isn't very religious anymore, that it isn't really much of a Christian country anymore. In a Christian baptism, the congregation vows to help the young parents to make sure a baby is raised in the faith. Now the state wants to take over. But the state has no faith, no morals, no values and neither will the children.
Watch out, folks. The Muslims will step into the vacuum.
#18
Yes, Cromwell and the Puritans banned it because it smelled of pagan winter solstice celebrations. It was banned even in New England. The Christmas we identify with was a concoction of New York merchants in the first half of the 19th Century and 'validated' by the trendy Queen Victoria and Consort in the latter half. Given those roots, I certainly understand Labour's distaste for it. Socialist puritanism isn't anymore tolerable than the original flavor. It's likely they're going to find out that the populi love their games and celebrations.
#19
I thought Christmas was controlled by a syndicate from the East.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
11/02/2007 19:34 Comments ||
Top||
#20
Compare wid C2CAM.com/ Show > THE OIL COLLAPSE - Guest warns that US oil production peaked back in 1971, and that other nations are at high risk now or in the very near term. WORLD IN CONSEQUENCE CAN DEVOLVE TOWARDS "MAD MAX" SCENARIOS - not even all-powerful, centralized, Army-Police States-Govts will be immune from devol into Mad Max-style or worse chaos becuz these are fuel-dependent as well.
Venezuela's National Assembly overwhelmingly gave final approval Friday to constitutional changes that would greatly expand the power of President Hugo Chavez and permit him to run for re-election indefinitely. The assembly approved 69 amendments with all but seven of the 167 lawmakers raising their hands in favor of the changes, which threaten to spur fresh political upheaval in this oil-rich South American nation.
If approved by voters in a Dec. 2 referendum, the changes would be Chavez's most radical move yet in his push to transform Venezuela into a socialist state.
The changes would allow the government to expropriate private property, take control of the Central Bank and create new types of property managed by cooperatives. And they would extend presidential terms from six to seven years and allow Chavez to run again in 2012.
The vote by lawmakers came a day after soldiers used tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter tens of thousands who turned out to protest the amendments, saying they would violate civil liberties and derail democracy. It was the biggest demonstration against Chavez in months, and appeared to revive Venezuela's languid opposition. Students promised more street protest over the weekend.
Opposition parties, human rights groups and representatives of the Roman Catholic Church fear civil liberties would be severely weakened under the constitutional changes.
Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, denies the reforms threaten civil liberties. He and his supporters say the changes will help move the country toward socialism, while giving neighborhood-based assemblies more decision-making power in using government funds for local projects like paving streets and building public housing.
#3
using government funds for local projects like paving streets and building public housing
:>
Yeah! Ima love a fine Bolibolution! A throw back South American strongman. The dollar is dropping damn near everywhere but in the land of the 21st Century Socialism. In the parallel currency market the $ is nearing 7500 viz 2800 official. Was 6200 2 weeks ago.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
11/02/2007 17:20 Comments ||
Top||
#7
This is really sad. Venezuela has resources going for it. It has a lot of things going for it. But Chavez has manipulated the voter base, bringing in the poor and downtrodden, etc etc. So for responsible government does not have a chance, the way things are set up.
With illegals getting the vote, etc etc here, we in the US can wind up with the same thing on the installment plan if we are not vigilant.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/02/2007 22:12 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Russaia seems to want conflict with the United states!!!!
Iran being used as a proxy against the west????!!
Posted by: Paul ||
11/02/2007 10:14 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I think we're in agreement with Russia on this one.
That is, by keeping an oligopoly on enrichment *and* reprocessing, we make it much, much harder for a rogue state to get enough high grade or plutonium to make a bomb.
If they don't return the proper amount of spent fuel for reprocessing, everyone knows they are stockpiling. And because enrichment takes a hell of a lot of energy, we can cut off their enriched fuel supply to keep them from doing it.
Russia has been playing "good cop" to our "bad cop" with Iran in this way. Don't forget that they are both being cops.
However, the one problem arises with the gulf states that can use oil to produce enough energy to make their own enriched uranium. If we can find a way out of that problem, then it is a very viable plan.
#4
As per TOPIX, the plan is being considered by Gordon Brown, in possib cordination wid UNO Iran sanctions, and its proposed lIMITED URANIUM SUPPLY is not only for Iran.
*OTOH, AFRICANCRISIS.co.za > SOUTH AFRICA: RUSSIA'S STRATEGY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA - A COUNTRY BY COUNTRY REVIEW.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Translation;
Preparing to start supervision of possible dismantling of the few things the NORKS will let you see.
(Bring several Geiger Counters. note the rads, betcha none, as fake 'dismantling' proceeds)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/02/2007 0:37 Comments ||
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(ANSA) - Rome, November 2 - Italy was set Friday to start expelling European Union citizens considered a menace to society. The move came amid a crime wave involving many immigrants from new EU member Romania - and after a deadly assault on a navy officer's wife that shocked the nation.
Giovanna Reggiani, 47, died Thursday night after two days in a coma. An autopsy will be performed on Friday. The alleged aggressor, a 24-year-old Romanian gypsy (Roma) named Nicolae Romolus Mailat, was arrested on suspicion of homicide and robbery. A hearing Friday is expected to charge him with murder and robbery.
Reggiani suffered "massive" head injuries consistent with blows from a blunt object such as a rock, police said. Mailat has denied hitting the woman, saying he only stole her bag. An emergency decree allowing the expulsion of potentially dangerous EU immigrants was issued Wednesday night and signed by President Giorgio Napolitano on Thursday night.
It is expected to go into force after publication in Italy's Official Gazette at midnight Friday.
Italian Police Chief Antonio Manganelli said authorities had already identified candidates whose record, including past convictions, qualified them as likely candidates for expulsion.
Manganelli said the lists were being drawn up "with absolute respect for human dignity, avoiding a witch-hunt and without criminalising ethnic groups". Under their new powers, prefects will be able to send them out of Italy without trial.
Italian officials say that the new expulsion orders are allowed under EU law. EU citizens are allowed to travel freely within the community. Romanians have flowed into Italy since Bucharest joined the EU in January and they now make up the biggest foreign community here.
Romanians top recent crime statistics for serious crimes like murder, rape and robbery. Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said Romanians accounted for 75% of the city's arrests on those charges from January to September.
Amid the emotion aroused by the attack that dominated news this week, Premier Romano Prodi pledged such incidents would "never happen again". The centre-right opposition has long accused Prodi's centre-left government of being soft on crime.
Ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) party on Friday called Prodi "a liar" for claiming the immigration problem was ignored by the previous government, Mayor Veltroni should resign, it said, for allegedly under-estimating problems Forza Italia has been highlighting for some time.
Another conservative leader, Gianfranco Fini of the National Alliance (AN), said the government should be "ashamed of itself".
"Better late than never," he said.
Fini has said AN will vote to ratify the decree provided it also covers jobless immigrants while FI merely said it would only vote for a "serious" measure. Apart from opposition criticism, Prodi is facing murmurs from the left wing of his nine-party coalition about appearing to move in response to a single event and under the lead of Veltroni, who was recently elected head of the new Democratic Party which Prodi nominally chairs. Bullzozers moved into a gypsy camp on Friday and Rome Prefect Carlo Mosca said other camps around the city - like the one near which Tuesday night's victim was attacked - would "soon" be evacuated. The expulsion measure was approved under pressure from Veltroni.
It had already been included in a crime package due to be sent to parliament, but was plucked out and became an emergency decree.
Romania has offered support to Italy while stressing the need to discriminate and noting that it can't bring people back "by force".
Three Romanian police officers flew in Thursday to join five colleagues who are already part of crime task forces in Rome, Milan, Bologna and Padua, Prodi noted.
Another two men from Bucharest will be arriving in the next few days to help Italian police. Italian police have voiced fears of a potentially violent backlash against immigrants - with vigilante patrols already reported in northern Italy.
The new decree does not apply to cases that go to court.
However, Justice Minister Clemente Mastella and his Romanian counterpart Tudor Chiuariu agreed on Thursday that many convicted Romanians, who now form a large part of Italy's prison population, will be flown back to serve out their sentences in Romania.
Industry Minister Pierluigi Bersani will discuss immigration issues as part of scheduled talks in Bucharest on Tuesday.
I'd like to see them conduct the trial with the defendants speaking Arabic and taking breaks every few hours to pray and pound their foreheads on the ground - just like they were in the airport.
#1
Suing American Airlines? Sounds like a setup. Maybe not.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A woman who got off an American Airlines plane after expressing concerns about traveling with a group of Arabic-speaking Iraqi men said she regretted the men were later questioned but she could not help being nervous.
«Everyone who didn't look like us went off and did whatever they wanted,» said Al Watan, a U.S. citizen who says he fled Iraq in 1991 and loves his adopted country. "I would die for it", Al Watan told the newspaper.
Apparently he doesn't love it enough to deal with reality
A lawyer representing Al Watan and the five other men involved in the incident said the group wanted an apology from the airline.
«They can't just assume someone has a bomb strapped to them just because they are Arabic,» attorney Lawrence Garcia said.
Imagine if it was during WWII and they were Japanese. Why were these twits surprised by their treatment? I just don't get it.
#2
This is the face of prejudice and racism that happens today.
Ummmm ... no. This is a direct result of how over 90% of the thousands of terrorist attacks that have taken place since the 9-11 atrocity were all committed by Muslims. All else that follows is merely a result of people paying close attention to that fact. I wonder if these six individuals will ever even bother to reflect upon how it is their own co-religionists that have ruined Islam's global reputation?
#1
I am less and less interested in what this pandering weakling has to say about the war on "terror". Give us a President who will give the muslims the Crusade they keep begging for.
#2
The future is of the Islamic world,If you read the Islamic fundamintals you will agree that this religion is the only peace religion on the earth,The distruction of the peace is only because of Jews.
#3
Jews today, Christians tomorrow, Hindu's later, then those pesky Buddhists, then...
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
11/02/2007 9:41 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Geez, Whiskey Mike, I thought they were already down to the Amish. Must've missed the memo.
Posted by: BA ||
11/02/2007 10:01 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Hey Mr. Pakman6: I really and truly wanted to read all about the Islamic fundamentals, but wouldn't you just know it, right after i opened the koran, not only did I drop my BLT on it and some of the grease dripped out, but then my dog went and ate the damn thing.
The kids are using what's left for doodling with their crayons.
Sorry, guess I will have to stick to Christianity.
#7
Lest we fergit, MEMRI [10/9/07]/WAFF.com/OTHER > POST-US WITHDRAWAL > the ME Region will be "under siege" by Iran-led Islamic fundamentalism in the aftermath of US withdrawal/retreat from Iraq.
A campaign to free a journalist imprisoned at Guantanamo gained support Thursday from the first Muslim member of Congress, who urged authorities to prosecute or release him after more than five years without charges.
Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese cameraman for Al-Jazeera, was captured in 2002 as he tried to enter Afghanistan to cover the war. His lawyer says he denies any connection to terrorism and has been on a hunger strike since January to protest his indefinite confinement.
In a rare show of public support from a U.S. official, Rep. Keith Ellison, a first-term Democrat from Minnesota, called for a hearing to determine whether the military has legitimate reason to hold al-Haj with about 330 other men at the prison on a Navy base in Cuba.
"If he's a bad actor, prove it. If not, let him out," the congressman told The Associated Press.
Ellison said he believes all Guantanamo prisoners should be allowed to challenge their confinement in the courts. But he said he is particularly concerned about the detention of a journalist who, as far as he can tell, was "detained for taking pictures." He made the public statement at the request of Al-Jazeera.
As far as he could tell. It was just some pictures. What's the harm?
Representatives of Qatar-based Al-Jazeera have been meeting with political and business leaders and media groups in the United States in recent weeks to draw publicity to al-Haj's detention while simultaneously trying to jump-start U.S. distribution of Al-Jazeera's English language channel. "We just want to raise awareness and give support for someone we feel is being totally mistreated," said Satnam Matharu, the network's head of international media relations.
At least two other members of Congress have expressed concern about the cameraman but were not yet ready to make a public statement, Matharu said.
As part of its campaign, the network plans a series of new video spots for its Arabic and English language channels and will revamp an Internet site devoted to the campaign to free al-Haj. "We're standing behind him and we vouch for his innocence," he said.
At a military hearing that determined al-Haj, 38, was an "enemy combatant," U.S. authorities accused him of transporting money in the 1990s for a charity that provided funding to Chechen rebels, and of having other links to Islamic militants. But the military has never disclosed in detail why he was captured on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and turned over to the U.S.
The U.S. military says the Guantanamo detainees are held on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. Al-Haj is believed to be the only journalist from a major news organization imprisoned at the base.
"Mr. al-Haj's detention is in no way based on his status as a reporter or the content of his reporting," Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman said. "There is a significant amount of information, both classified and unclassified, which supports detention of enemy combatants by U.S. forces."
Gordon noted that al-Haj's detention is reviewed at an annual military hearing, and that he can challenge his "enemy combatant" status in the courts. However, Congress and President Bush have limited federal court challenges to a review of military procedures, and stripped Guantanamo detainees of the broader right to challenge their confinement through habeas corpus petitions. The Supreme Court is reviewing that action in its current term.
Ellison, who supports restoring habeas rights to detainees, said he has conducted research into the case and has not seen anything solid linking al-Haj to any crimes. The congressman said he may seek a meeting with military officials or use his seat on the Judiciary Committee to press for more information.
"The evidence that I have found is that this guy is a cameraman who is being detained for taking pictures and that is a concern to me," he said.
The freshman congressman has been a vocal critic of the Iraq war and in June added his name to an effort to remove Vice President Dick Cheney from office through impeachment.
Ellison said his religion is irrelevant to his concerns about al-Haj, though he predicts it will be used to "attack" his support.
Al-Haj's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, was able to meet with the cameraman in early October, and said he appeared weak and at times incoherent from his long-running hunger strike and the daily force-feeding that keeps him alive. While the military has said al-Haj is physically fine, Stafford Smith said "he really is mentally and physically suffering."
The journalist told his lawyer he had spoken to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which appeared to be investigating the U.S. military's force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike.
#1
Ellison said he believes all Guantanamo prisoners should be allowed to challenge their confinement in the courts.
How much more evidence do we need that Ellison is working for the other side? Enemy combatants who refuse to don a specific uniform in their attacks against military and civilian populations are not elegible for any protections by the Geneva Conventions nor are they entitled to processing by America's legal code. They are the very worst sort of hostiles, spies and infiltrators who deserve nothing less than summary execution.
Elison's continued alliance with such subversive elements is rapidly making him elegible for similar treatment.
Posted by: The Ghost of Bobby Sands ||
11/02/2007 15:04 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Keith Ellison is a muslim terrorist supporter, traitor, conman and tax cheat.
Ellison's long commitment to and advocacy of the Nation of Islam is reflected in the various aliases he used over a period of ten years: Keith Hakim, Keith X Ellison and Keith Ellison-Muhammad.
Ellison's involvement with the Nation of Islam includes his support of "the truth" of Joanne Jackson's condemnation of Jews in 1997 as "the most racist white people."
Ellison's involvement with the Nation of Islam is not the most offensive of his public associations and commitments. That distinction must belong to Ellison's work with Minneapolis gang leader and murderer Sharif Willis following the 1992 murder of Minneapolis Police Officer Jerry Haaf.
Ellison's February 2000 speech on behalf of domestic terrorist Kathleen Soliah/Sara Jane Olson picked up this reprehensible aspect of Ellison's career and united it with his missionary work on behalf of the Nation of Islam. In that speech Ellison called for the release of Soliah/Olson and spoke favorably of cop killers Mumia Abu-Jamal and Assata Shakur.
With is happy jihady wanters yelling "allen ackbarred" after the election, taking money from CAIR and so on. One could go on but there is no need.
I could care less what this POS thinks. Come to think of it if he is supporting this camera man you can be darn sure the guy is shady to say the least.
Live from Minnesota, it's Lefse time and Keith isn't invited in fact he should be at Guantanamo himself.
Six Iraqi men living in Michigan filed a race discrimination lawsuit against American Airlines on Thursday claiming they were publicly humiliated when they were escorted from an aborted flight in San Diego.
The suit was filed in Detroit on behalf of David Al-Watan, Talal Cholagh, Ali Alzerej, Hassan Alzerej, Hussein Alsalih and Mohammad Al-Saedy. They allege airline employees grounded their Aug. 28 flight from San Diego to Chicago and detained them, believing they were security risks.
The men, some of whom are U.S. citizens, were on their way home to Detroit after training U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton when another passenger expressed concerns to security guards partly because she heard the men speaking Arabic.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Perhaps you should read about the Phelps Clan, and stop the suit before you'suffer a very similar (And expensive) fate.
Witnesses with their features and voices disguised are common in gang related cases(Hard as hell to find and silence them when you don't know who they are)
Goodbye assholes.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/02/2007 0:46 Comments ||
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#2
They obviously understand US Gov't contracting and making a buck. Unfortunately, they do NOT appear to understand or appreciate the threat. Appears the USMC may have hired the wrong type of trainers.
General Pervez Musharraf is a bigger danger for Pakistan than the US and India, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) President and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad said on Thursday.
He was addressing a press conference at the JI headquarters at Mansoora. He rejected rumours about differences between All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) component parties and said the APDM party heads would meet in the coming days.
He said anarchy was being spread in the country and restrictions were being imposed on democratic movements because of bomb blasts. He said representatives of the JI would be organised in a better way in the three-day JI congregation.
He said fair and transparent general elections were necessary to set up a democratic government in Pakistan and that this was not possible under President Musharraf, the Chaudhry brothers and the present election commissioner.
He said the army and the people were fighting against each other in Waziristan, Swat and other parts of the country and condemned the wrong policies of the present regime. He said that if these policies continued, they could cause a civil war in the country. He rejected any rumours of difference among component parties of the MMA and said the coalition would meet on November 8.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
#1
I wondered where my favorite lampshade went. Now I know.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/02/2007 9:33 Comments ||
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#2
Lampshades + Insane Rhetoric + ___ == Profit!
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
11/02/2007 17:52 Comments ||
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#3
Back in the Day,
Islamist Guru, a Terrorist in the bud and Polititions all before the Taliban
ethnic Pashtun, Qazi Hussain Ahmad right w/ phone and ethnic Pashtun, "engineer" Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
ethnic Pashtun, Qazi Hussain Ahmad (with briefcase) with
ethnic Tajik, Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani former Afghani President (in dark suit coat), Saudi Arabia, n.d. (courtesy of Qazi Amin).
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
11/02/2007 19:36 Comments ||
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Non-government organisations (NGOs) working in quake-affected Battagram district have suspended their relief operations after attacks on their workers.
On October 30, eight people were injured when an explosive device went off outside the office and residential compound of the Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO), a local NGO running health and education projects. Were not sure what happened, Malik Shahbaz, SPOs manager of emergency projects, said in Islamabad. Most of our staff are now in hospital. We were not expecting the blast.
Shahbaz said the SPO had received threats in the past, and only recently resumed its operations following an earlier suspension.
Also on October 30, a compound of CARE International was attacked with automatic gunfire, but no injuries were reported. CARE International Acting Country Director Daw Mohammad said, We are suspending our operations for at least a week.
We have suspended our operations and evacuated staff, Michael McGrath, country director of Save the Children US in the NWFP, was quoted as saying by the IRIN, a United Nations information unit.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
We have suspended our operations and evacuated staff, Michael McGrath
You learn, slowly, but you still learn, the bastards want you DEAD.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/02/2007 0:41 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Ias a Battagram a telegram delivered with a baseball (or cricket) bat?
NWFP Home Minister Shahzada Gustasip Khan said on Thursday that security forces had made considerable progress to establish the governments writ in the troubled areas of Swat district, adding that the security forces only took action in self defence.
Not in defense of the citizenry or the laws of the land...
He told reporters that the forces were maintaining law and order in Swat. The minister said, The security forces were showing a maximum restraint to avoid casualties and the loss of property. He said there was no formal operation going on in Swat, adding that militants took the lead in firing and the security forces only retaliated.
Certainly nobody went in with the actual intention of establishing order...
He did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of foreign elements behind the unrest in the area.
Yeah. Everyone once in awhile y'see one o' them Esquimeaux skulking about. Sometimes it's a Samoan, but you can bet they're up to no good...
MMA responsible: He held the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal governments policies responsible for the ongoing unrest in Swat. The unrest in Swat has not developed overnight. He said most people wanted peace in the area and that they were concerned about deteriorating law and order. He said that Sharia courts were already working in the Malakand division, adding that the modus operandi adopted by the militants for the enforcement of Sharia in the district was wrong. He said the militants had an agenda other than the Sharia implementation that was why they were not resorting to dialogue.
The "shariah" that's being introduced goes beyond the Soddies' vision of shariah...
He rejected reports that the militants had kidnapped a foreign journalist and captured a Frontier Constabulary checkpost.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened."
He said the government was mobilising jirgas and peace committees to discourage the elements fanning hatred in the province.
But they're unable or unwilling to shut down the illegal FM stations, which are easy enough to find and demolish.
The minister said the government would welcome the former NWFP chief ministers role to restore peace in the area. NWFP Home Secretary Badshah Gul Wazir said the security forces would stop the broadcast of a radio station run by militant leader Maulana Fazullah once they reach the area from where the station was being operated.
Interesting admission of incompetence. You can locate that station within an hour to within a hundred feet using some relatively unsophisticated equipment on an aircraft. The equipment required to produce the kaboom is even less sophisticated, though it should probably be carried on a separate aircraft. For a sufficiently filthy amount of lucre I could even put that little project together for them using (relatively) off the shelf equipment.
This article starring:
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Maulana Fazullah
TNSM
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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The sales and prices of arms in Frontier Region (FR) of Darra Adam Khel, famous for its illegal arms market, have shot up as the Taliban insurgency is gaining momentum in the tribal areas and parts of NWFP, Daily Times learnt on Thursday.
Shopkeepers in Darra bazaar told Daily Times that the prices of weapons had soared because the mujahideen who used to sell weapons in the past now needed them.
A shopkeeper told Daily Times on condition of anonymity that the price of second-hand Kalashnikov rifles had reached Rs 35,000 apiece, and new ones were being sold for Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000.
Previously, the same rifle was available for Rs 20,000 to 25,000. Reportedly, prices of rounds have also risen. The Egyptian variety of rifle rounds is available for Rs 14 per cartridge, and the Chinese variety is available for Rs 19 per cartridge, he said. Previously, he said, Miranshah was the main supplier of arms and ammunition, but now the area had stopped the supply owing to local demand and the Taliban insurgency.
Taliban buying heavy weapons: According to tribal sources, the prices of heavy weapons such as rocket launchers have also increased and the Taliban are buying these weapons. Authorities banned the display and sale of heavy weapons in Darra bazaar and the tribal areas in 1999, but the business is continuing in secret from a warehouse outside the bazaar. The Taliban themselves broke the ban by patrolling the area with heavy weapons, he said.
Another source told Daily Times that the local Taliban had banned Shiites from Darra Adam Khel, a small town located in a narrow gorge between Kohat and Peshawar, around 35 kilometres south of the latter. It takes its name from the Adam Khel clan of the Afridi tribe. It is considered Asias largest centre for the manufacture of illegal small arms, where potential buyers testing weapons on the roadside is a common sight.
Military-style apparel vendors in Peshawar said that their sales had also increased in the wake of the wave of Talibanisation. However, they said they had not received orders for larger quantities of weapons, because the same facilities were available in the insurgency-plagued areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
11/02/2007 17:34 Comments ||
Top||
#4
You're right as usual, Thomas. He used to ask, "What's that got to do with the cost of a [whatchamacallem] in Peshawar?" when the article clearly states Peshawar is not benefitting from the price increase. ;-)
US Central Command (CENTCOM) Chief Admiral William Fallon arrived here Thursday. He is to hold a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf today amidst rumors about the imposition of martial law or the proclamation of an emergency in the country due to deteriorating law and order.
Fallon is on a three-day visit and his discussions with General Musharraf will include the war on terror. Fallon will also meet Vice Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman General Tariq Majeed. Earlier, Major General M Farooq Iqbal and other senior military officials received the US admiral on his arrival at PAF Base Chaklala in the evening.
This article starring:
Admiral William Fallon
Ashfaq Pervez Kayani
M Farooq Iqbal
Tariq Majeed
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
The NWFP government has formed a committee, supervised by Additional Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastgir, to enforce Sharia law in Malakand Division, according to the Regulation of 1999, in order to overcome the worsening law and order situation in Swat.
Home Secretary Pacha Gul Wazir, Establishment Secretary Col (r) Ghulam Muhammad, Advocate General Pir Liaqat, Law Secretary Shahid Naseem and Peshawar High Court chief justice comprise the committee. The provincial government has directed the committee to submit its report as soon as possible for swift implementation of Sharia law.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Benazir Bhutto arrived here on a surprise trip on Thursday, after earlier cancelling her visit due to rumours of an impending emergency, AFP reported. A Dubai airport official said Bhutto had left immediately after landing. I am going to Dubai to see my children and ailing mother, Benazir was quoted as telling members of her party at Karachi airport by senior party official Agha Siraj Durrani. I will return on Nov 8. A PPP member who was at the Karachi airport told Daily Times that Rehman Malik and Farooq Naek accompanied her, Irfan Ali adds from Karachi. Asif Zardari and children received Bhutto in Dubai.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
I wonder if she learned enough during her visit to Pakiland to determine she should probably stay in Dubai?
The Iraqi defector code-named "Curveball," whose false tales of biological weapons labs bolstered the U.S. case for war, wasn't the prominent chemical engineer he claimed to be and invented stories to help his case for asylum in Germany, a new report says.
"Curveball" is Rafid Ahmed Alwan, who did study chemical engineering but made poor grades and never managed a biological weapons facility, according to CBS' "60 Minutes," which will broadcast on Sunday a report describing how Alwan became a secret intelligence source.
Although known publicly only by his code name, Curveball has been repeatedly discredited by investigations of the United States' faulty prewar intelligence and became an embarrassment to U.S. spy agencies. A presidential intelligence commission found that Curveball, who mostly told his stories to German intelligence officials who passed them on to the U.S., was a fabricator and an alcoholic.
"60 Minutes" reports that Alwan arrived at a German refugee center in 1999 and began spinning his tales of a facility making mobile biological weapons in an effort to gain asylum. The ploy apparently achieved his goal, and Alwan is assumed to be living in Germany today under an assumed name.
Although German intelligence officials warned the CIA that Curveball's claims of mobile bioweapons labs were unreliable, and U.N. inspectors determined before the war began in 2003 that parts of his story were false, the Bush administration continued to promote the existence of such mobile labs for months after the invasion, until it was widely accepted that they could not be found.
Posted by: ed ||
11/02/2007 15:21 ||
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Top|| File under:
There were many reasons to go after Iraq that went unspoken. We are starting to witness a few now. If the LLL think it was so wrong, then give it back to the morons who were in power before. And let them continue down the road they were on before, including killing their own citizens to keep them in line. And don't launch any operations from Iraq. And don't take advantage of any deterrent power that Iraq offers the US. etc..
Prayers from a Sunni mosque in Baghdad were broadcast live on Iraqi state television on Friday for the first time since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 in an effort to promote national reconciliation.
Nawfal Abd Dahash, manager of the state-run Iraqiya television channel, said they had decided to broadcast Friday prayers from the Umm al-Qura mosque in the Baghdad district of Ghazaliya with no government interference. "We will start doing live broadcasts from mosques from both sects. This is to enhance national unity and to prove that there is no difference between Shi'ites and Sunnis," he told Reuters.
Prayers from Shi'ite mosques have been broadcast by Shi'ite television channels regularly over the past four years. A Sunni Arab channel has also shown live prayers. But Dahash said the state channel had not shown Friday prayers live from any mosque since Saddam Hussein was in power.
Improvements in security were also a factor in the decision to broadcast live on Friday. A few months ago Ghazaliya was a stronghold for al Qaeda Sunni Islamists and one of the most dangerous parts of the capital. However, Ghazaliya and other Sunni neighbourhoods in western Baghdad were targeted by some of the extra U.S. troops brought in this year and violence there has since declined. "The security situation is now much better than in previous times and we can go to these neighbourhoods and do live broadcasts," said Dahash.
The broadcast also comes at a time when Sunni Arab communities in many parts of Iraq, angered by the extreme tactics used by al Qaeda, are taking up arms to drive the Islamists out of their communities.
"Now is the time to heal the deep wounds made by this seditiousness and the conflicts that stemmed from this sedition. It is a time for forgiveness," said Ahmed Abdul-Ghafour al-Samarrai, a Sunni Muslim cleric who led the Friday prayers. "The time of revenge has gone. I call on each Iraqi person to be a like a doctor and heal the wounds of others because the wounds are deep and the pain is huge and the blood is still flowing," he said.
#2
While the intentions may be honorable, i fear that this will not last, and i keep having this mental image of the off screen SNL announcer doing the intro voice over: "..Live from...."
Hope i am wrong.
#3
Jeeeebus luvs teh litter chilruns
All teh chilrun of 'da 'burg
Hippies, freepers, Naderites
Theyre all Joooish in his site
Jeeebus luvs da chillrun of 'da burg
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
11/02/2007 17:42 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Actually there may be more to what's going on than the PKK. According to Amir Taheri, Turkey is trying to establish the precedent of a right to intervene in Northern Iraq. This is especially true in the northern oil fields.
In addition Turkish Special Forces were active in training and supporting Turkumen "insurgents" (allied with the Sunni Arabs) in Diyala and Mosul.
The Turks are our allies like the Syrians are our allies.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/02/2007 13:32 Comments ||
Top||
#4
My feeling is that this will turn out badly, especially for Turkey. Turkey has both an agenda in Iraqi Kurdistan and a dangerous distain for the Kurds.
If you want a historical precendent, try the Austro-Hungarian/Serbian war that preceded WW1.
#6
The Turks have permission as long as they stay on the border. Penetrate toward the cities and they will be swatted down. The US two other logistical entry points into Iraq. Turkey is now third tier in US policy.
Posted by: ed ||
11/02/2007 16:06 Comments ||
Top||
Turkey's foreign minister said Thursday that any incursion by Turkish forces into Iraq would target Kurdish guerrilla fighters and their bases and "would not be an invasion."
Ali Babacan said an upcoming meeting Monday between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President George W. Bush "will determine the steps that Turkey would take." But if Turkey sends its troops into Iraq, "any cross-border attack would be aimed at hitting terrorist bases and would not be an invasion," he said.
Still, he indicated growing frustration with the government of the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, accusing it of inaction against the rebels, who stage attacks on Turkey.
"We have doubts about the sincerity of the administration in northern Iraq in the struggle against the terrorist organization," Babacan said. "We want to see solid steps - we hope our point of contacts understand the seriousness of this job."
He also said some economic measures aimed at rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq have already been put in place, and Turkey is also considering stopping flights to the region.
"They are carefully evaluated and aimed at the economic resources of the terrorist organization and those who give support to it, and some measures have already been put in place," Babacan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Just an initial start to the restoration of the Ottoman empire?
#2
Who knows? Murders of Turks by PKK have been going on a long time and from what I can tell are generating serious outrage and fear among many Turkish voters. The fact that Talabani and whatsizface haven't curbed the PKK is read throughout Turkey as an indication that their worst fears about Kurdish power are happening in front of their eyes.
The Turks hurt us badly in 2003 and I have neither forgiven nor forgotten that. But I have my eye on the larger prize and to get there we need continued access to Incirlik for a while and to settle the PKK situation sufficiently to calm things down for a while.
The Kurds will not have an independent state that is viable, I think. The geography mitigates against it - Turkey controls the water flows into the region and the Kurds would need some way to get oil out to market.
The best they can realistically hope for is a fair degree of autonomy, which is what they've had to one degree or another for over a decade now. The price for that autonomy is to rein in the PKK. If they won't do it someone is going to do it themselves, on terms the Kurds and we won't like.
#5
If it were Springtime in northern Iraq I would be somewhat concerned. Not extremely concerned, just somewhat concerned. It is not Springtime. Therefore I am not concerned.
Leaders of Anbar province reiterated in their meeting with President George W. Bush the strong partnership with the US forces in Iraq. The Iraqi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Rafeh Al-Issawi told KUNA that the Anbar delegation stressed in the meeting with Bush on the necessity of a neutral government that represents all Iraqis and that Bush showed special interest in knowing about the negative role of Iran in Iraq.
The Anbar delegation continues its visit to Washington and is now meeting with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice after meeting with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates earlier this week.
But he added that the delegation asked Bush to send their regards to Biden "who was able to unify Iraqis" in opposing his idea, noting that "the shape of the Iraqi state is decided by Iraqis only".
In remarks at the Meridian International Center here in Washington, al-Issawi said that the delegation did not get the chance to meet with Senator Biden, who sponsored the Senate bill on Iraq federation system. But he added that the delegation asked Bush to send their regards to Biden "who was able to unify Iraqis" in opposing his idea, noting that "the shape of the Iraqi state is decided by Iraqis only".
"Forget about it, no one will divide Iraq", affirmed Bush three times when the delegation asked about his view on this matter, according to al-Issawi. The head of the Anbar Awakening Council Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha said that some in the United States want "to divide our country but Iraq is one country".
Sheikh Ahmad affirmed that the Iraqi Minister of Defense is not yet ready to assume security responsibility of the country and referred to what is happening now on Iraqs border with Turkey. "The Iraqi army is still fragile to protect the country from external influence", he added.
After slipping into the hands of Al-Qaeda in Iraq with a tragic rate of violence, leaders from Anbar started in the last quarter of 2006 a reconciliation process with the Iraqi central government and with coalition forces in Iraq to counter the influence of Al-Qaeda and restore security and stability to their area. President Bush, in return, declared the troops surge in Iraq last January deploying 4,000 US marines in Anbar.
Sheikh Ahmdad argued that "when the Iraqi army becomes national and complete not based on sectarianism then the US army would subsequently withdraw" from Iraq and affirmed "we are not bothered" by the presence of the coalitions forces. He expressed opposition to "anyone carrying weapons in a non legal manner", noting that he supports Bush position on Iranian influence that is backing up "some political groups in Iraq".
Anbar Governor Maamoun Sami Rashid Al-Awani said that a US withdrawal from Iraq is "against the interests of Iraqis and Americans", disclosing that Anbar province meet on a monthly basis with coalition forces to assess the readiness of local police to assume responsibility. "When we are convinced of its readiness, we can take the withdrawal decision", he added.
Sheikh Ahmad told KUNA that the meeting with Bush was "very productive" tackling key issues such as the security situation in Anbar and the release of Iraqi Sunni detainees.
Chairman of Anbar Provincial Council Abdul-Salam Abdullah stressed on the importance of the existence of "a neutral government, that does not support any party, under a unified Iraq" and warned from any plans to divide Iraq on sectarian basis since this could endanger "peace and security in Iraq and the world".
This annual ritual, organized by the State Department's bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, brings current or potential leaders in government, politics, media, education and other fields to the United States to interact with their counterparts. This program estimates that over 200 current and former heads of state and 1,500 cabinet-level ministers have participated so far in similar initiatives.
This week, for the first time, word began filtering out that the US was starting to lean on Israel to take some steps to ensure a successful meeting at Annapolis.
The US, according to diplomatic officials, sent a clear message that Washington has spent a great deal of time, energy and political capital on this event, and wants to make sure it succeeds. The message to Jerusalem was that Israel would have to start evacuating settlement outposts, obligations spelled out under the road map, if it expected the Palestinians to fulfill their own road map obligations. Words fail
#1
On the one hand Israel IS commited to evacuating the outposts, and AFAIK this isnt all that controversial, I dont think even Bibi has said he wouldnt do that.
OTOH, doing so in a few weeks, at a time when Abbas is hardly able to deliver enough on HIS side of the road map, doesnt seem at all realistic to me. ISTR seeing something about Barak working on a plan for outpost evacuation over several months.
It could be that this unsourced JP article is wrong. Or it could be that Rice, seeing that the agreement at Annapolis wrt a political horizon is likely to be limited, is trying to throw something else to the Pals.
It seems clear that having the summit this early is not a good idea from either the Israeli or PA perspective, and is mainly a US (IE Bush-Rice-Hadley-Gates) initiative.
The pessimistic view is that this is just them angling for "history". The optimistic view is that theyre looking for something positive for the muslim world, before they do something VERY BIG somewhere else.
#1
The government's three most immediate security concerns are:
Its ever-simmering tensions with the densely populated Palestinian Gaza Strip and the Hamas political leadership at the country's southwestern flank border with Egypt
Its top-of-the-map frontier with southern Lebanon, where the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fought a short and sharp but less-than-satisfactory war in summer 2006 with Iran-supplied Hizbollah militants
The Golan Heights frontline between Israeli and Syrian forces
"We see relentless terrorist attacks from Gaza against our citizens in southern Israel and a restocked Hizbollah [with Iranian-supplied Katyusha rockets] in southern Lebanon. Yes, you could argue the threats are rising," an Israeli government official in Jerusalem told ISN Security Watch in Brussels on 22 October.
NABLUS, West Bank (Rooters) - Hundreds of Paleostinian security officers went on patrol in Nablus on Friday in a Western- backed drive to impose order in the occupied West Bank ahead of a peace conference with Israel.
Israel, which is trying to bolster Paleostinian President Mahmoud Abbas, approved the deployment in the flashpoint city. Israeli government spokesman David Baker said the move would improve security and could be repeated elsewhere in the West Bank if it worked well.
Dressed in green berets and carrying automatic rifles, officers belonging to the Palestinian National Security Forces -- viewed by many Paleostinians as the equivalent of an army -- fanned out across the West Bank city.
The force, which a senior Paleostinian government official said numbered around 300, provides a major boost to a weak police force that struggles to crack down on gunmen and gangs.
"Nobody believed we could succeed in convincing Israel to allow Paleostinian forces to enter Palestinian cities," Paleostinian Interior Minister Abdel-Razak Yahya, who inspected the officers on Friday with Paleostinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. "We are doing it as part of an effort to end chaos."
Israel launches frequent raids against Paleostinian militants in Nablus and controls entrance to the city through checkpoints, which it says are needed to stop suicide bombers.
Paleostinians call Israel's network of West Bank checkpoints Collective Punishment. Paleostinian government officials have expressed concern that continued raids by Israeli troops could jeopardize the experiment.
Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are trying to narrow differences over establishing a Paleostinian state ahead of a U.S.-backed Middle East peace conference expected to be held before the end of the year.
The United States has started training members of Abbas's Presidential Guard and National Security Forces. Last week the White House asked the U.S. Congress for at least $410 million in additional funds in 2008 to build up Abbas' forces and ease the Paleostinian Authority's financial woes.
Islamist group Hamas routed Abbas's secular Fatah faction in violent clashes in Gaza in June. Abbas then sacked a Hamas-led government and appointed a Fatah-backed administration in the West Bank.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets Israeli and Paleostinian leaders this weekend to craft a joint document ahead of the conference, to be held near Washington. (Additional reporting by Wafa Amr)
A wing of the Fatah organization, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, stated Thursday that it has begun an escalation in attacks on Israeli towns in the Negev. The terrorist group already claimed it was behind a barrage of rockets from Gaza that struck Sderot and its environs earlier in the day.
Brigades spokesmen called upon the residents of the city of Sderot to leave their homes
Fatah, through its Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades arm, said that the Thursday rocket fire was part of an planned series of hundreds of rocket attacks the group has dubbed "Gaza Autumn." In their announcement of the operation, Brigades spokesmen called upon the residents of the city of Sderot to leave their homes and warned that Fatah will continue to bombard Israeli communities in the Negev.
The group said the attacks would be a response to "the evil Balfour declaration," which was issued 90 years ago this Friday. The Balfour Declaration paved the way for the creation of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. Spokesmen for Fatah in Gaza boasted that their organization has carried out dozens of attacks on nearby Jewish towns.
Meanwhile, Hamas, the Islamist terrorist organization running the PA in Gaza, called upon all the competing PA armed factions to prepare for an Israeli incursion into Gaza in the near future. Hamas spokesmen suggested that all the factions declare a state of emergency and set up a joint command center in Gaza. The organization went on to promise victory against Israel in any imminent conflict.
An apparent would-be suicide terrorist attack was thwarted on Thursday near Shechem, despite the presence of women from the left-wing MachsomWatch organizations. MKs visiting the area were unhurt.
IDF Operations Disrupt Gaza Smuggling
Israeli soldiers and General Security Services (GSS) agents uncovered seven weapons smuggling tunnels in 36 hours, an IDF spokesperson said Thursday. The tunnels were found in the southern city of Dahania during operations to stop rocket and mortar shell attacks from the area.
The mouths of the tunnels, part of the Hamas' weapons supply mechanism, were located approximately 1.5 meters from the Egyptian border. Officials say the tunnels were used recently by Hamas operatives to smuggle terrorists to and from Egypt.
The forces also discovered three explosive devices, planted and ready for deployment against IDF soldiers. The tunnels and the explosive devices were disposed of in controlled explosions by IDF sappers.
During the operation in the southern stretch of the Gaza region, IDF forces arrested an Arab resident of the PA who is suspected of terrorist activity. He was taken for questioning by security forces.
#5
despite the INN trying to spin this as if AAMB was simply the armed wing of Fatah, like Al qassedine (?) is to Hamas, in fact since the death of Arafat AAMB has been at odds with the Abbas - AAMB has defied Pal Auth security forces in Nablus, and elsewhere. OTOH Abbas is naturally reluctant to come down too hard on AAMB, both cause of his own forces weakness, but also cause the blood feud between AAMB and Hamas is one of the obstacle to Hamas making trouble in the West Bank.
Clearly the last thing Israel should do is hold Abbas personally responsible for AAMB words and actions, which may well have been done precisely to embarrass Abbas. It should be noted that Abbas has even less leverage over AAMB elements in Gaza. Israel should, however, feel no compunction about killing AAMB members, and AFAIK, they do not (feel any compunction, that is)
#7
It's Fatah, the good terrorists, the ones we're gonna give all that money to...
Please, tu3031, you got the "good terrorist" meme exactly right but please don't use vague terms like "all that money". Let's all be precise. It's FOUR FUCKING HUNDRED DAMNED MILLION STINKING DOLLARS! Yes, that's $400,000,000 of our TAXPAYER MONEY being pissed away down the Palestinian shithole by do-gooder Bush in order to support these genocidal Islamic vermin. And, yes, I know that "genocidal Islamic vermin" is a triple redundancy. If Bush must be impeached, it should be for knowingly supporting an active terrorist organization.
#8
Everything is taquiyya on the part of muslims regarding Israel. The muslim countries in the mideast want Israel gone. They do not want an Israel to exist. They do not want to negotiate a peace. All policy on the part of the West should be based upon this reality.
#10
Actually I hope we're giving most of the money to the PA as an institution, rather than to Fatah per se. We need to encourage the distinction between Fatah and the PA as institutions, even while supporting a heavily (but not completely - Fayed is an independent) Fatah govt of the PA. The identification of state and party, a basically Leninnist notion, natural to Arafat, is a bad model for governance.
Again, I see no evidence that Abbas approves of or in any way supports this statement by AAMB.
#12
ISTR seeing mentions of PA security forces disarming AAMB folks over the last couple of months, but I dont have any citations handy.
Whether that was "SINCERE" or just politically motivated, I of course cannot prove. Just as I cant prove that George Bush sincerely believes in tax cuts, say. I cant prove statements about politicians hearts. At some point the constant references to "taqiyah" are unfalsifiable.
#13
Well, the PA has cooperated with the IDF for 3 months now in demolishing the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PLF/PFLP biggies (for that matter Egypt has also cooperated with the IDF during that time).
So the Al Asqa competitors in the west bank have been severely degraded (and the competitors know it).
The statement by this faction is probably just low grade BS and the taqiya here is Fatah propaganda to try to deceive some soft Hamas supporters in Gaza (and it won't fool very many).
The State Attorney's Office informed the High Court of Justice on Friday that it sees no legal obstacles to cutting back fuel to the Gaza Strip as long as it causes no humanitarian crisis. Which it cannot do because there are no humans over there.
Several appeals have been submitted to the court against Defense Minister Ehud Barak's decision to cut off ties with Gaza in response to Kassam rocket attacks. In an initial response to the appeals, the State Attorney's Office said the plan does not constitute collective punishment, as it is part of an armed conflict with a hostile entity that is hurting and causing damage to civilians. Feels good to have some lawyers on our side
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad confirmed Thursday that he will be working with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on trying to carry out the first phase of the dormant "road map" peace plan. The US security coordinator in the region, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, is to join the two in the effort. Israeli defense officials weren't immediately available for comment.
Fayyad said Thursday that the three have not started working yet, but said implementing the first phase of the road map will be the key to the success of the US-hosted Mideast conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November or December. "If we want the Annapolis conference to be a successful one, and if we want the peace process to get back on track, we have to implement the first phase of the road map, and it is possible to implement it," he said.
This article starring:
Ehud Barak
Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton
Salam Fayyad
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Paleo PM, Israeli defense minister to try to jumpstart road map
Here's a hint: It ain't the road map that needs to be hooked up to a car battery.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier discussed with acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Wednesday a German-initiated "European action plan" to be implemented after the upcoming Israel-Palestinian international conference, Palestinian government spokesman Riyad Malki said. The two also discussed preparations for the international conference, which is slated to take place in Annapolis, Maryland, in November, and spoke about a conference of donors to the Palestinian Authority, which will be held in December.
"Salam, one more thing about Annapolis..."
"Certainly, Frank-Walter, but first, tell me again about the donor conference!"
Steinmeier left Ramallah after his 90-minute meeting with Fayyad without answering questions or elaborating on the European action plan, and headed for Tel Aviv and talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Prior to arriving in Israel, after meeting with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in Cairo, he said that Germany continued to believe in a two-state solution, with security for Israel and a viable Palestinian state in line with the ideas being put forward by the Middle East Quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union and United Nations. "If we use the opportunity of the Quartet and if Europeans and Americans continue to work together shoulder-to-shoulder, we can achieve success," he said before leaving the Egyptian capital.
Steinmeier will hold separate meetings Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He leaves Friday for Istanbul to a high-level regional conference conference on Iraq. Before departing Tuesday on his five-day trip to the Middle East, Steinmeier said stability in the region was of central significance for European security.
On November 1, 2007, the Navy announced that it had canceled the fourth Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), one of what was to have been a 55-ship class of new, brown water surface combatants for littoral warfare (i.e. support of troops ashore).
As noted previously here in The Nav Log, the Navy has been struggling with reshaping itself to the challenges of coastal warfare after the end of the Cold War and the scrapping of the former-Soviet Unions vast blue water navy.
Since the beginning of the year the Navy has halved its orders for the small, next-generation ships; Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics now are building one LCS sea frame each, based on separate designs.
Originally the contractors were to build two apiece for $233M each but cost overruns approaching 75% scrapped the 3rd and have now scuttled the 4th. In fact, the Navy noted cost overruns on LCS-2, now under construction by General Dynamics in Mobile, AL, as the main reason for the cancellation of the second General Dynamics ship, LCS-4. The Navy terminated the contract for Lockheed Martins second sea frame, LCS 3, in June.
Against this backdrop the Navy nonetheless claims that LCS continues to be a critical war-fighting requirement for our Navy to maintain dominance in the littorals and strategic choke points around the world.
LCS-1 USS Freedom and LCS-2 USS Independence are due to be delivered to the Navy next year. However, because of the uncontrolled cost over-runs, Congress has ordered the Navy to create a new acquisition strategy. This summer the House cut $571 million from the program for 2008. Instead of four new ships as first planned, money and materiel from previous years will be used to build a single LCS.
The LCS is envisioned as a small, swift (55 knot) surface combatant capable of performing a number of missions, including minesweeping, anti-submarine warfare, special operations support, and ISR. The design is to accommodate different mission modules allowing the ships to be quickly reconfigured for each extended mission.
Among the ships to have been replaced were the larger and tougher FFG-7 Perry-class frigates which were neutered by the Navy several years ago (in a cost-saving measure) with the removal of their SM-1 missile systems, rendering them basically useless for 21st century warfare purposes. The LCS is sort of a destroyer lite, minimally equipped with a 57mm gun, point-defense systems like the Rolling Airframe Missile and the Phalanx Close-in-Weapon System. LCS would also launch and recover a variety of unmanned vehicles now under development and would me manned by a radically smaller crew than existing destroyers.
LCS was to be part of the Surface Combatant "Family of Ships" in addition to the DDG-1000 (formerly Zumwalt-class) next-generation destroyer and the CG(X) next generation cruiser. DDG-1000 was already in trouble with estimated costs exploding to as much as $4 billion per hull while their new technology (turbo-electric drive, rail guns, networked computerized control of most functions) has not yet been demonstrated to work. In a hazy way the Navy has described DDG-1000 and CGX to fulfill not yet identified deep water combat responsibilities.
This is, of course, not the entire fault of the Navy. Government procurement rules require such a long-range schedule from concept to design to building to delivery to the fleet that as much as thirteen years passes before the first hull hits the fleet. During that period, of course, threats may change radically as may funding. On the contractor end, builders complain that the Navy keeps making so many design changes while the ships are being built that they have little chance of delivering on spec on budget on time. There is truth to both these points of view. Further, the nature of asymmetric warfare against religious lunatics without borders and against the ever-changing array of Third World anti-American dictators who play whack-a-mole with the U.S. make such long-range planning very difficult. Then, too, there is the fact that the flag officers running the U.S. military today grew-up in the Cold War military and are unavoidably prejudiced towards what worked in the past.
The Navy wanted 55 LCSs. Current problems and events suggest that less than half that number will be built. Over on the air side, the P-8A replacement for the Navys P-3C first planned for 156 and now for 108 may, when the dust settles (in this reporters opinion), number from as many as 60 down to as few as 30.
The 50 Broad Area Maritime Surveillance dedicated Navy UCAVs that were to augment the P-8 will almost certainly be a variant of another UAV instead of a dedicated design, and will number perhaps 20 if dedicated BAMS. The quickly advancing remote UCAV technology makes it easier to simply reprogram an existing UAV to other missions. (For its part, the U.S. Air Force is struggling with obtaining enough C-17 and C-5 logistics aircraft while fighting the Army for funding.) While the missions of the P-8 are better understood than what is planned for the LCS, money and politics will again play the trump card.
#1
builders complain that the Navy keeps making so many design changes while the ships are being built that they have little chance of delivering on spec on budget on time
#2
LCS - Knox Friage meets the TFX in an expensive smokey bar and has a 1 nite stand
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
11/02/2007 18:09 Comments ||
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#3
No surprise here - IMO, GLOBAL PROMPT STRIKE-GLOBAL OFFENSIVE/STRATEGIC STRIKE, Sea Basing/MOB, GMD, Arsenal Ships, Space-Lunar Planes and espec Armed UAV techs advances, etc. has put the USDOD in a state of spending + planning flux right now. No 9-11/Amer Hiroshimas inside the USA has occurred, USA is globally entrenching wid ease = little to no major resistance/challenge, and even peace and potens reunification appears to be breaking out on the Korean peninsula. THE DOD's-NAVY'S NEW STRATEGY EMPHASIZES "PEACEKEEPING", LOCAL POLICE ACTIONS, + HUMANITARIANISM vv 1000-flag/nation International Combined Task Forces. If this keeps up, the USDOD in LR may find it has [voluntarily?]gone back to turn-of-the-20th century when upper class elite families frowned heavily on their sons joining the armed services ["pig/dirty services"], or their daughters from marrying military men "out of their class"???
#4
I can believe in the new strategy's "HUMANITARIAN MISSIONS" becuz once Pacific "earth changes", etc events get into their stride, for one the USN will use to its heavy ships [e.g. carriers] to help relocate masses of people to new homelands. IFF OLIVER STONE, AEROSMITH, + TEXAS-SIZED ASTEROIDS, ....ETC. WEREN'T AWARE OF THE NEW STRATEGY'S HUMANITARIAN SCOPE, THEY SHOULD'VE
BEEN.
#5
The LCS was envisioned as a SLJS (Sh*tty Little Jobs Ship). Which is not necessarily a bad thing if you accept the idea that it's gonna be 'adequate' in whatever mission it's configured for. Unfortunately, like a camel it was designed by a committee. A three-legged camel with six humps and no nose.
Small ships have habitually gotten short-shrift from the surface community. Factor in an aviation-operation mentality and a sub-force procurement mindset for the LCS, and you have a disaster.
#7
that, and the LCS was kind of lacking in the self-defense department. A radar capable of illuminating airborne targets and a couple cells,
enough for sea-sparrow, would be a great help.
And as far as I could tell, in spite of all the weapons module space below the helicopter pad, I'm not sure you could put that on the ship.
Two of the three Muslim militants on death row for involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings said they were sorry for killing fellow Muslims, while insisting their deadly attack had gone according to plan. Yes, I regret the Muslim deaths Samudra said in the interview aired on Wednesday night. But he added that he had bowed in grace after the blasts were detonated. Asked why Bali, Samudra said that it was better to hit one place rather than several and Bali was the best because there are a lot of infidels (non-believers).
He said had a group of infidels been outside his own house, I would have blown up my house. Amrozi also admitted his regret but repeated a joke made in bad taste while being tried in court, answering when asked whether he regretted the attacks that he was sorry only 200 were killed.
I am fasting for two months consecutively, its to prove that I regret that Muslims were killed. Please say I am sorry for the Muslim victims, said the convict, who has in the past apologised to the families of the Muslims killed. The Islamic militant was dubbed the laughing bomber during his trial for his apparent indifference to victims.
"Mistakes were made, man, mistakes were made."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah
#1
Stretch their necks, won't happen again.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/02/2007 0:51 Comments ||
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#10
Death row's fine. Dead's even better. Are Indo's gonna get off the stick or are we gonna see next Ramadan or the Ramadan after that, "Ya know, they really aren't bad guys..."
#11
Like it or not, Excalibur's suggestion will likely be the ultimate response to Indonesia's soft-pedaling of Islamic terrorism. Little else seems to produce the needed results.
Head of the Free Shiite Movement Sheikh Mohammed Hajj Hassan criticized Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for defending "criminal cliques and renowned Syrian intelligence agents."
Whoa. He'd better be careful starting his car.
Hassan stressed the "need to exert efforts in order to establish a free state capable of extending authority over all its territories, end security centers and militia protectorate as well as monitoring the arms phenomena and the intimidations against the country's symbols." He called on "inclined Lebanese" to rid themselves of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Syria's former intelligence chief Rustom Ghazaleh. Hassan also warned against dragging Lebanon into a political vacuum or chaos.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
The Lebanese Army Command announced Wednesday that Lebanon's army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman is not a candidate for the presidential office and urged keeping his name outside political manipulation. A Communique said media organizations carry "political stands that intend to implicate the name of Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as a presidential candidate, thus implying that he is the candidate of this party or that. The Commander of the Army is not a candidate for any post in line with the constitution."
Good man. My respect for him just notched up. "If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve." He doesn't want to see his country become Pakistain.
This article starring:
Michel Suleiman
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
The leader of the Hizbullah Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that his organization has grown stronger as Israel has weakened. Nasrallah's comments came a day after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported Israeli claims that Hizbullah has rearmed with new long-range rockets capable of hitting the Jewish capital. "The resistance today is stronger than before and Israel is weaker," Nasrallah said during the opening of an agricultural fair in Beirut's southern suburb of Rweis organized by Hizbullah construction arm, Jihad al-Bina. Nasrallah was not present but spoke to hundreds of supporters using a giant screen. "We don't want war with anyone, but at the same time, we will not allow anyone to attack our villages, people and country," Nasrallah added. Hizbullah's Al-Manar television aired excerpts of his speech during the station's evening broadcast.
His comments came ahead of a military exercise Israel has scheduled this week in the northern portion of the country near Lebanon. The exercise is slated to be the largest Israeli military maneuver since the Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hizbullah last year.
On Wednesday, Ban said in a report that "Israel has stated that the nature and number of weapons in Hizbullah's control constitutes a strategic threat to its security and the safety of its citizens." Ban said that Israel also claims that Hizbullah has tripled its shore-to-sea C-802 missiles and has established an air defense unit armed with ground to air missiles.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
Look for Hezbollah to do something stupid in the near future.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday warned European countries not to follow the US lead in imposing unilateral sanctions against his country, state radio reported. Ahmadinejad threatened unspecified retaliation by Iran if Europe followed in the footsteps of the United States, which last week announced sanctions against the Islamic state. If they plan to cooperate with the enemy of the Iranian nation, we cannot interpret this as a friendly behaviour. We will show reaction, the radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. You, Europeans, know well what will happen in the economic sphere if Iran takes a serious move in this matter, the Iranian leader said. IRNA, the state official news agency, also quoted Ahmdinejad as saying: You, Europe, need us more - a veiled reference to business ties between Tehran and European nations.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
And that no man might buy or sell, but he that hath the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Sorry, but this maniac gives me the apocolyptic heebeegeebies.
#3
Didn't Khameini say that the sanctions would have no effect? Now almond is threatening retaliation if Europe goes along with the ineffectual sanctions. I'm so confused.
#4
Yes, the ultimate fire-n-brimstone reserved for him, TW! How can people NOT see that we're in the late 1930s all over again (akin to the rise of Hitler)?
Posted by: BA ||
11/02/2007 9:58 Comments ||
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#5
LOL @ the Citizen Wackmadinjihad photo. Which speech is it from, the one to the UN or the one to Columbia University?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Three days of fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu displaced 88,000 people from their homes, adding to hundreds of thousands who fled violence earlier this year, the United Nations said on Thursday. In an unprecedented statement, 39 aid agencies also said they could not respond effectively to Somalias unfolding humanitarian catastrophe due to insecurity in the Horn of Africa nation that has been in turmoil and anarchy since 1991. Almost 90,000 people have fled Mogadishu or moved to safer areas within the city to escape the latest outbreak of violence, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said of the fighting between Sunday and Monday. That violence killed several dozen people, residents say. You see groups of people spontaneously protesting, crying for help from the international community and wondering how long Mogadishu will keep on being destroyed, UNHCR quoted a staff member in Somalia as saying.
Bahrain's crown prince has claimed that Iran is developing atomic weapons or the capability to do so, British press reports said on Friday, the first time an Arab state in the Gulf has openly accused Tehran of lying about its controversial nuclear drive. 
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah left Britain Thursday, ending a state visit that drew protests over his oil kingdom's human rights record and sparked a debate over its relationship with Islamic radicals. 
Venezuela's National Assembly overwhelmingly gave final approval Friday to constitutional changes that would greatly expand the power of President Hugo Chavez and permit him to run for re-election indefinitely. The assembly approved 69 amendments with all but seven of the 167 lawmakers raising their hands in favor of the changes, which threaten to spur fresh political upheaval in this oil-rich South American nation.
A campaign to free a journalist imprisoned at Guantanamo gained support Thursday from the first Muslim member of Congress, who urged authorities to prosecute or release him after more than five years without charges. 
General Pervez Musharraf is a bigger danger for Pakistan than the US and India, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) President and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad said on Thursday. 
Non-government organisations (NGOs) working in quake-affected Battagram district have suspended their relief operations after attacks on their workers. 
NWFP Home Minister Shahzada Gustasip Khan said on Thursday that security forces had made considerable progress to establish the governments writ in the troubled areas of Swat district, adding that the security forces only took action in self defence. 
The sales and prices of arms in Frontier Region (FR) of Darra Adam Khel, famous for its illegal arms market, have shot up as the Taliban insurgency is gaining momentum in the tribal areas and parts of NWFP, Daily Times learnt on Thursday.
The NWFP government has formed a committee, supervised by Additional Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastgir, to enforce Sharia law in Malakand Division, according to the Regulation of 1999, in order to overcome the worsening law and order situation in Swat.
Benazir Bhutto arrived here on a surprise trip on Thursday, after earlier cancelling her visit due to rumours of an impending emergency, AFP reported. A Dubai airport official said Bhutto had left immediately after landing. I am going to Dubai to see my children and ailing mother, Benazir was quoted as telling members of her party at Karachi airport by senior party official Agha Siraj Durrani. I will return on Nov 8. A PPP member who was at the Karachi airport told Daily Times that Rehman Malik and Farooq Naek accompanied her, Irfan Ali adds from Karachi. Asif Zardari and children received Bhutto in Dubai.
NABLUS, West Bank (Rooters) - Hundreds of Paleostinian security officers went on patrol in Nablus on Friday in a Western- backed drive to impose order in the occupied West Bank ahead of a peace conference with Israel.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister 
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier discussed with acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Wednesday a German-initiated "European action plan" to be implemented after the upcoming Israel-Palestinian international conference, Palestinian government spokesman Riyad Malki said. The two also discussed preparations for the international conference, which is slated to take place in Annapolis, Maryland, in November, and spoke about a conference of donors to the Palestinian Authority, which will be held in December. 
The leader of the Hizbullah Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that his organization has grown stronger as Israel has weakened. Nasrallah's comments came a day after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported Israeli claims that Hizbullah has rearmed with new long-range rockets capable of hitting the Jewish capital. "The resistance today is stronger than before and Israel is weaker," Nasrallah said during the opening of an agricultural fair in Beirut's southern suburb of Rweis organized by Hizbullah construction arm, Jihad al-Bina. Nasrallah was not present but spoke to hundreds of supporters using a giant screen. "We don't want war with anyone, but at the same time, we will not allow anyone to attack our villages, people and country," Nasrallah added. Hizbullah's Al-Manar television aired excerpts of his speech during the station's evening broadcast. 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday warned European countries not to follow the US lead in imposing unilateral sanctions against his country, state radio reported. Ahmadinejad threatened unspecified retaliation by Iran if Europe followed in the footsteps of the United States, which last week announced sanctions against the Islamic state. If they plan to cooperate with the enemy of the Iranian nation, we cannot interpret this as a friendly behaviour. We will show reaction, the radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. You, Europeans, know well what will happen in the economic sphere if Iran takes a serious move in this matter, the Iranian leader said. IRNA, the state official news agency, also quoted Ahmdinejad as saying: You, Europe, need us more - a veiled reference to business ties between Tehran and European nations.
