[Maghrebia] With 82% of Morocco's Imams lacking formal training, a new qualification programme aims to provide better religious guidance to the Moroccan people and to counter extremism. Nearly 45,000 imams will undergo training under a new programme launched by the government on June 26th, part of a larger plan to reform religious affairs in the kingdom.
In 2004, the first religious affairs reform plan led to an overhaul of the Islamic affairs ministry, revision of the legislation on places of worship, and the modernisation of religious instruction in Morocco.
Ahmed Toufik, Minister for Islamic Affairs and Habous, explained that the 200 million-dirham programme will also offer society a grounding in religious affairs which is in tune with the modern world and careful to preserve national identity. Some 1,500 trainers will conduct training in rural and urban communities across the kingdom, to give imams the skills they need to provide religious instruction appropriate to Moroccan society.
The training programme -- based on the Maliki rite common to Morocco's Sunni Muslims -- is compulsory for all imams. It includes spiritual education, discussion of the function of the mosque and other subjects covered by the High Council of Ulemas.
Since 2006, the state has selected 150 imams with university diplomas for a 12-month training programme. Now, all new imams will have to possess diplomas and undergo training.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Ummm, pray our way, or not at all?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:13 Comments ||
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I think this is a good thing. For those who haven't been paying attention, Morocco has become one of the most progressive Muslim nations in the world, and is a true constitutional monarchy like the Brits.
This could be a step towards countering the Saudi's distribution on Wahhabist imans around the globe.
Operation Entebbe, also known as the Jonatan Operation...or Entebbe Raid or Operation Thunderbolt, was a counter-terrorism hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on the night of 3 July and early morning of 4 July 1976. In the wake of the hijacking of Air France Flight 139 and the hijackers' threats to kill the hostages if their prisoner release demands were not met, a plan was drawn up to airlift the hostages to safety. These plans took into account the likelihood of armed resistance from Ugandan military troops.
Originally codenamed Operation Thunderball by the IDF (or Operation Thunderbolt in some sources), the operation was retroactively renamed Operation Yonatan in memory of the Sayeret Matkal commander Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu, who was killed in action. Three hostages and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed and five Israeli commandos were wounded. A fourth hostage was killed by Ugandan army officers at a nearby hospital....
Posted by: Mike ||
07/03/2009 10:17 ||
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Well done.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/03/2009 11:25 Comments ||
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US Navy officials yesterday played down security fears after an alleged terrorist plot to target ships and sailors came to light. A spokeswoman said the decision to allow the families of US servicemen back to Bahrain after a five-year gap would not be affected by an ongoing case at the High Criminal Court.
Two Bahrainis have been accused of smuggling weapons into the country and planning to attack US ships and personnel at Mina Salman. Police believe the pair had met members of an Al Qaeda terrorist cell abroad. But the navy spokeswoman said officials were confident that Bahrain's security forces were taking necessary action to protect their interests. "We have been co-operating with the local authorities on the developments in the case and the way it has been handled has given us the confidence we need to feel safe in Bahrain," she said. The spokeswoman said a decision to have families of US servicemen back was based to a large extent on the navy's confidence in Bahrain's security.
Prosecutors revealed last Tuesday that US ships and personnel in Bahrain were the target of an alleged terror attack uncovered in last April, on the day of the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. The Bahrainis, aged 22 and 21, were arrested on April 26 when police allegedly seized machine guns, weapons, computer discs and other evidence from their homes in East Riffa. Both deny plotting terror attacks and smuggling weapons and ammunition into the country.
Their arrest came after National Security Agency received information that the 22-year-old unemployed man, of Jordanian origin, had intensified contacts with the cell in Iran. Officers allegedly found tapes, CDs, computers, bank statements and exchange company documents in his house. He then led police to the other defendant, a junior customs officer, who was said to have possessed the smuggled weapons. Police raided his house and allegedly found two machine guns, a pistol, bullets, knives and swords. They were also said to have seized several books on making missiles, rockets, weapons and explosives, and pictures of the American base and Navy ships along with videos on jihad, alleged prosecutors. During questioning, the younger defendant confessed to planning an attack on US forces at Mina Salman, according to court documents.
The men allegedly carried out their plans for the attack during 2007 and 2008, say the papers. They state the men confessed during questioning to smuggling the weapons and ammunition from Jordan. An Interior Ministry statement earlier said the men were part of a terror network plotting attacks in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Gulf. Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa said at the time of their arrest that the men were rounded up after allegedly intensifying contacts with the terror cell abroad, travelling to a neighbouring Arab country, buying weapons and ammunition and smuggling them into Bahrain.
Families of US servicemen had left Bahrain in July 2004 amid regional security fears. US Naval Forces Central Command commander Vice-Admiral Bill Gortney earlier said the return of family members was an important sign of the security and stability in the Gulf. The Pentagon had in July 2004 ordered the departure of more than 650 dependents of military personnel and non-emergency defence officials from Bahrain, amid reports that Islamist extremists were planning attacks on US interests.
[Bangla Daily Star] The High Court (HC) yesterday termed former communications minister Nazmul Huda and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman 'wrong-headed' and 'worthless' for making 'derogatory' remarks on the June 21 HC judgement on proclamation of the country's independence.
Meanwhile, the HC exempted former vice chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Emajuddin Ahmed from appearing before the court in person in a contempt of court petition filed against him for making 'contemptuous comment' on the same HC verdict.
During hearing of the petition against Huda and Kamaruzzaman, the HC bench of justices ABM Khairul Haque and M Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed observed that they had made the comments without being informed about the HC judgement. "No self-conscious person can make such remarks," the court said.
The bench, however, disposed of the petition saying, "We shall not issue any rule against the persons who are not aware of the dignity and authority of the High Court judges."
President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) advocate AFM Mesbahuddin, Vice Chairman of Bangladesh Bar Council advocate Abdul Baset Majumder and Additional Attorney General MK Rahman were present. They told the court that since the statements of Huda and Kamaruzaman hurt the dignity of the HC, a contempt rule should be issued against them.
Barrister Mainul Hosein, former adviser to a caretaker government, prayed to the court for disposal of the petition with some observations. Petitioner's counsel Advocate Manzill Murshid said if the HC did not take the statements into cognisance, it will have negative impact on people.
Huda and Kamaruzzaman said the judgment on proclamation of the country's independence was not of the HC rather it was a personal verdict of the judges concerned. The judges made observations in the verdict as if they are political leaders and the judgment was a political one, the two said. Their remarks were published in various national dailies on June 30.
SM Zafar Sadik, a lawyer of the Supreme Court (SC), on July 1 filed the contempt of court petition against them with the HC.
This article starring:
MUHAMAD KAMARUZZAMAN
Jamaat-e-Islami
NAZMUL HUDA
Jamaat-e-Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Don't British girls have enough to worry about with visible tan lines and biting insects? At least 5,000 women and girls were sent abroad to marry last year, according to a government report. Britain is toughening its stand against the practice with 'rescue' teams, hotlines, and a new campaign to protect women.
The first time Shazia Qayum met her husband was on their wedding day. Duped by her parents into visiting the poor, pious, hilly district of Mirpur in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, she arrived to a village abuzz with preparations for her wedding -- a ceremony she knew nothing about.
Seventeen years old, she had already refused to marry her first cousin two years earlier -- an act of defiance that resulted in her being withdrawn from school by her parents.
"I couldn't believe they had brought me from Birmingham to Pakistan on such a huge lie," she says. "It crushed me."
That was more than decade ago, but government figures released today suggest the true scale of Britain's forced-marriage problem is only now beginning to emerge. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 8,000 cases of forced marriage occurred in Britain last year, according to the Department for Children, Schools, and Families.
Most are teenage girls from Britain's large Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian communities. They're married off, according to the report, to bond the young women to their community, keep clan promises, or as a way to provide a British visa for a foreign family member or friend.
The figures have delivered a fresh jolt to Britain's multicultural paradigm, which until recently handled reports of forced marriage and associated "honor crimes" as cultural issues, beyond the remit of the justice system. But confronted by high-profile cases of murder, abduction, and forced marriage, the British government is talking tougher, hoping to establish the primacy of British law and identity over sectarian interests -- an argument reignited by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last month when he promoted a ban on Muslim women wearing the burka.
"Nobody should be forced into marriage against their will or without their free and open consent," says Chris Bryant, a minister for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. "There is no culture in which this is acceptable in the modern world, and we are determined to do everything we can to put a stop to it."
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 12:53 ||
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"There is no culture in which this is acceptable in the modern world..."
North Korea may be about to carry out another nuclear test, the British ambassador in Pyongyang has said. "We cannot rule out that a further nuclear test will take place," said Peter Hughes, the British ambassador to North Korea.
"Yesterday, two short-range missiles were launched and you'll have seen reports that there may be a launch of an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) in the coming days or weeks," he said.
Mr Hughes said North Korea's response to British concerns over its recent actions had been that "the threat towards their country is intensifying and they have no other option but to strengthen their deterrent".
"I have seen no willingness on their part to re-engage in negotiations whatsoever," he said. But he said Britain hoped that "sanctions, together with the wider framework of measures, ... will put sufficient pressure on the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) to reconsider its position on negotiations".
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009 11:11 ||
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On top of the missile to be launched?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 14:01 Comments ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] The United States pressed North Korea Thursday to discontinue provocations and return to the negotiating table about denuclearizing, after Pyongyang"s fresh test-firing of missiles. ""It has to cut out these kinds of provocative actions and return to the denuclearization talks,"" said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly at a news briefing.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Department of "Going through the Motions"?
Just a waste of breath.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:20 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe Hussein O isn't the Great Negotiator, after all.
#4
Thanks Rahm, meaningless urgings issued! Now back to our priorities of reparations, leveling the playing field, wealth redistro, alyiuun social security, medical care, voting, and reconquista.
Robert my man, did I mention you did a sorry assed job handling Helen Thomas yesterday? If it happens again, your off to Iraq with Joe.
[Kyodo: Korea] The U.S. envoy coordinating financial, arms and other sanctions against North Korea under a recent U.N. resolution said here Thursday the United States is targeting ''full implementation'' of the resolution.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing after a meeting with Chinese officials, one he described as ''very good,'' U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg said the United States intended to fully implement sanctions laid out under Resolution 1874, including financial and economic sanctions.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Working-level officials from the two Koreas are poised to hold their third round of talks on issues related to operations at the joint industrial park in Kaesong on Thursday. The two previous sessions ended with little progress on narrowing the gap over differences between the two sides.
Seoul has been demanding the release of a Hyundai Asan worker detained in the North since late March for allegedly denouncing North Korea's political system and encouraging a female North Korean to defect. Pyongyang for its part has refused to address this matter and instead appears determined to see a significant rise in wage and rent from the South for industrial activities at the joint complex.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on Thursday said the Korea-U.S. Atomic Energy Agreement should be revised "as soon as possible." Yu said Seoul will seek "concrete consultations in the direction of maximizing commercial gains from the supply of atomic raw materials and the handling of spent fuel."
Yu made the remarks in the press briefing after the U.S. said earlier this week it is against allowing South Korea to reprocess its own spent nuclear fuel. "We'll have to depend much more on atomic energy in coping with climate change in the future," Yu said. "What we are interested in about the atomic energy agreement between the two countries is setting a more concrete boundary of bilateral cooperation for the peaceful use of atomic energy."
The revision of the agreement, which expires in 2014, will reportedly begin in 2012.
Under the 1974 accord, South Korea is prohibited from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. South Korean politicians have recently called for revising the agreement following North Korea's second nuclear test.
That is the admission that the call for expansion of nuclear agreements for 'peaceful purposes' has the concern about the Norks at the core, and that means they want to re-process fuel so that they can have some plutonium lying around just in case. If the Norks continue to rattle the saber, the SKors will start doing what preliminary work they can get away with so as to reprocess without asking our permission.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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This will get the attention of whoever is holding the Norks leash, i.e. China.
The U.S. will not resume food aid to North Korea unless there is a guarantee that the food will be distributed properly among North Koreans who need it. U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters Wednesday, "We currently have no plans to provide additional food to North Korea. Any additional food aid would have to have assurances that it would be appropriately used." The sense of feeding the NKor army so it's strong enough to attack us doesn't make sense to anybody who's not a politician.
"We remain very concerned about the well-being of the North Korean people, ... some of us, anyway...
but we are very concerned because we need to have adequate program management in place, monitoring and access provisions, and we don't have that right now," he added.
Wow. Two in a row right for Bambi. First the sanction on the Hong Kong financiers and now this. It's almost like a trend ...
But the attention span will wane in a couple or three weeks and we'll be back wanting to take care of the women and children and those too old to goosestep.
Kelly said North Korea rejected U.S. food aid in March, expressing regret that Pyongyang threw out all NGO food monitors by the end of March. "Well! If you refuse our food aid then we'll not give it to you! Let us know when you're hungry."
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme said there has been no single donation for the food aid program for the North since its nuclear test in May, and the program has been downsized to one-third of the original plan.
Good. Let's see how well the Nork army does without food.
Give it time and attention span deficit disorder.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Why not put tons of food on the 38th parellel? The soldiers are likely to break ranks and swarm over the food. Then bomb the cities with food packs. When the enemy is starving, food can be the ultimate weapon. Then South Korea and her friends and neighbors would have to deal with the problems of a broken Communist state, but it seems preferable to the crap we are putting up with now.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/03/2009 11:13 Comments ||
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COLORADO SPRINGS | U.S. missile defenses are prepared to try to knock down the last stage of a Taepodong-2 missile that North Korea is expected soon to launch if sensors detect the weapon threatens U.S. territory, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command told The Washington Times.
"The nation has a very, very credible ballistic-missile defense capability. Our ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, I'm very comfortable, give me a capability that if we really are threatened by a long-range ICBM that I've got high confidence that I could interdict that flight before it caused huge damage to any U.S. territory," said Air Force Gen. Victor E. "Gene" Renuart, Northcom commander.
The general said the United States won't activate its missile defenses if the North Korean missile appears it will fall safely into the water as the country's last test missile did. Asked if North Korea is likely to conduct a July 4 Taepodong-2 test, as occurred in 2006, Gen. Renuart said in an interview this week with The Times at Northern Command headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, "I think we ought to assume there might be one on the first of July and continue to be prepared and ready."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Send one (They cant do shit about it) have it loaded with brightly colored handouts laughing at the Kimmie and Co incompetence, have it open at 10,000 feet and blanket the countryside.(He can't get them all)Laugh loudly and publicly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:25 Comments ||
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I think we should tell Kimmie that if he sends one our way, he dies before tomorrow. Then prepare to launch a nuke at the guy's bedroom. Then, see if he blinks. If he does, he will lose much of his inflated stature. If he doesn't, then he realy was crazy after all.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/03/2009 11:04 Comments ||
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"decision logic does not always follow in the same vein as ours does"
Well, the logic is probably based on Kimmie overcompensating for something small of his.
Posted by: GirlThursday enjoying a cocktail for 4th ||
07/03/2009 12:16 Comments ||
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Sh**, with this fascist ahole in office what we're ready to do is send an abject apology and a couple hundred billion dollars.
A Syrian terror suspect appeared in court yesterday for the first time since Canada's intelligence service admitted that two confidential informants used in the case had credibility problems. Hassan Almrei sat in a Toronto courtroom as federal lawyers portrayed him as a devoted jihadist, and his own lawyer argued the government's case had been irreparably tainted by the conduct of CSIS.
Mr. Almrei was arrested in 2001, two years after he used a false passport to enter Canada. The federal government called him a member of the Osama bin Laden network and a threat to national security. But last week, CSIS notified Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley that one of its informants had been deemed "deceptive" and a second had not taken a lie-detector test, as CSIS had earlier told the court. It was the second time in recent weeks that CSIS had admitted to reliability troubles with its informants; the agency had also failed to notify the Federal Court that a confidential source used in the case against Algerian terror suspect Mohamed Harkat had failed a lie-detector test.
Lorne Waldman, Mr. Almrei's lawyer, said CSIS had provided three reports to the court about the informants used in Mr. Almrei's case but all were inaccurate. He said the intelligence agency had shown a "pattern of consistent non-compliance." Justice Mosley, who must decide whether the government's case against Mr. Almrei is reasonable, said he was concerned about the matter and that the new information about the CSIS sources would factor into his rulings.
Federal lawyer Marianne Zoric told the court Mr. Almrei should be deported because of his membership in a terrorist group and because he is a security threat due to his past participation in armed jihad. She said Mr. Almrei had attended training camps in Afghanistan, one of them under the command of the late Chechnya rebel leader Ibn Khattab. He also participated in paramilitary activities in Tajikistan, she said. Unlike the "Gucci jihadis" who made a single trek to Afghanistan to fulfill a youthful curiosity, Mr. Almrei "went back again and again" and "made multiple returns to jihad," she said. "He returned repeatedly from 1990 to 1995."
Hearing a female voice on the radio may be nothing new the world over but it is something of a novelty in the rugged mountainous terrain of Pakistan's northwest, where women are bringing about modernization via the airwaves. For most people in the region the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) known for its strict male domination hearing female voices on the recently established FM channel, Radio Khyber, is not only a pleasant surprise but also a sign of much awaited social change.
The new station, set up by the FATA authorities, aims to counter several illegal stations run by the extremists who air anti-West and pro-Jihad propaganda and has raised a few eyebrows for breaking away from social norms in the region severely hit by the Taliban-led insurgency. We initially got a tough response and often resistance for having women. We had to air songs asked for by women under mens names. But now situation is gradually easing out, a station official said. Were glad to have become a harbinger for change that was awaited for long, said another official.
With an initial six hour transmission, divided into two three-hour segments in the morning and evening, Radio Khyber provides its listeners with a blend of news, music, talk shows with live responses and carefully edited programs on health, education and social issues including taboo subjects, but discussions on religious issues are discouraged. The station's female broadcasters hail from local towns and other nearby cities and they take pride in pioneering the success of women in the area. We have made a dream come true, and now women have become a reality in the local media which is going to stay forever, said a beaming female reporter.
Posted by: ryuge ||
07/03/2009 06:51 ||
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After a long hiatus, the Israeli Navy has returned to sailing through the Suez Canal, recently sending one of its advanced Dolphin-class submarines through the waterway to participate in naval maneuvers off the Eilat coast in the Red Sea.
IDF sources said the decision to allow navy vessels to sail through the canal was made recently and was a definite "change of policy" within the service. In 2005, then OC Navy Adm. David Ben-Bashat decided to stop sending Israeli ships through the canal due to growing threats in the area.
However, the Dolphin-class submarine sailed through last month to get from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Israeli officials said it passed through the canal above water, and that it was not done covertly.
"It is a question of policy," a senior officer explained. "Navy vessels have sailed through the canal on several occasions recently."
The significance of the move was debatable, but it could be interpreted as a message to Iran and a demonstration of strengthening ties between Egypt and Israel.
In the event of a conflict with Iran, and if Israel decided to involve its three Dolphin-class submarines - which according to foreign reports can fire nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and serve as a second-strike platform - the quickest route would be to send them through the Suez Canal. The only way to get to the Gulf of Oman without refueling would be to go through the canal. With their reported 4,500 nautical mile range, taking the long way, around Africa, would require the Dolphins to make at least two stops for refueling at a friendly port, or for fuel to be replenished at sea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009 11:07 ||
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Hence the Arabs' insistence that they run the show; that there be no 'international agreements' regarding naval/anti-piracy operations in the Red Sea.
#2
However, the Dolphin-class submarine sailed through last month to get from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Israeli officials said it passed through the canal above water, and that it was not done covertly
well, at least one came through on the surface...heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 13:01 Comments ||
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Actually, Israelis are secretly joining the Egyptians in loathing the Gazans.
Posted by: Andy Thrirong7408 ||
07/03/2009 13:32 Comments ||
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I think the Egyptians were happy to coordinate sending a message to Iran ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009 13:43 Comments ||
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[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Hamas's security forces in the Gaza Strip have asked Fatah detainees to bring their own food and drink with them, Fatah officials said on Wednesday.
The officials said that at least 500 Fatah supporters have been detained by Hamas security forces over the past few days in one of the biggest security crackdowns in recent years. Some of the Fatah activists who were summoned for questioning by phone before they were detained said Hamas security officers told them to bring their own food and drink.
"The prisons in the Gaza Strip are so full that Hamas doesn't have enough money to feed all the detainees," said a Fatah official in Ramallah. "In many cases the detainees receive permission to call their families and ask for food and soft drinks."
Hamas representatives in the Gaza Strip said the latest clampdown was a "routine" measure aimed at preserving law and order.
But another Fatah official said that Hamas was deliberately targeting senior officials of the faction in the Gaza Strip, including former ministers, members of Fatah's "revolutionary council," former Fatah legislators and former commanders of the Palestinian Authority security forces.
"In the past 24 hours, Hamas kidnapped 156 Fatah members in the Gaza Strip," the official said. "Another 210 Fatah members have been in Hamas prisons for months and years."
A human rights group reported that Hamas security forces had arrested 515 Fatah supporters in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the week and called on the movement's leadership to release all of them.
The group said that most of the detainees were being banned from receiving family members or meeting with lawyers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
sounds like Unity
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 13:03 Comments ||
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Late last month Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pointedly restated Great Britain's longstanding designation as Tehran's public enemy No. 1, surpassing the Great Satan America and Zionist Israel. In this verbal assault, the clerics credited "Perfidious Albion" with manipulating and even controlling the actions of the United States in confronting Iran and containing its ambitions. Wow!
Press TV has broadcast newly-obtained footage of a controversial clash between Basij members and protesters, which shows the Basij base under siege.
Tehran became the scene of violence in recent weeks amidst rallies staged in protest at the outcome of the June 12 presidential election -- which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected to a second term in office.
People described by Iranian officials as "saboteurs" infiltrated the riots and set fire to a mosque, two gas stations and a military post in western Tehran. At least 20 people were killed and many others were injured in the ensuing violence.
The protests came to worldwide attention when major media outlets broadcast footage of what they described as unprovoked attacks by security forces.
In Britain, Channel Four covered the news by airing a video of a clash between rioters and Basij members in which a man was seen shooting at the crowd.
According to comments broadcast in a video provided by the government in Tehran, journalist Maziar Bahari had provided [Iran Press TV] Channel Four with the footage of the June 15 attack. What was aired by the channel, however, had the scene of the attack on the base censored.
The new footage obtained by Press TV shows a group of people attacking the Basij base with Molotov cocktails.
The building in question has been deemed as a vital structure and has been confirmed by Tehran officials as an armory.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I watch segments of Press TV on tvweb360.com. Pure propaganda.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election campaign manager, Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi, says Iran's electoral process was fair and healthy.
Iran became the scene of opposition rallies after the announcement of Ahmadinejad as the winner of the 10th presidential election with nearly two-thirds of the vote.
At least 20 people were killed and many others were injured when some protests turned violent.
In an interview with Press TV on Thursday, Samareh-Hashemi said that the supporters of the defeated candidates knew fully well that "the result of the election was true".
He went on to claim that this knowledge was the reason behind the refusal of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezaei to send representatives to the committee tasked with probing the vote result.
Iran's election watchdog, the Guardian Council, formed a "special commission" to look into the issues surrounding the election and to conduct a partial vote recount.
Samareh-Hashemi explained that the Ahmadinejad administration had temporarily suspended text-messaging services, made cell phone services intermittent and blocked certain websites to "ensure security in the country" following the post-election unrest.
He went on to accuse certain American internet service providers of implementing the policies of the US government by "launching attacks on 200 Iranian websites and helping fuel the unrest."
"Even, the election website came under cyber attack," he said.
Samareh-Hashemi insisted that Mousavi must publicly declare his adherence to the law, saying all Iranians are required to abide by the Constitution.
He went on to describe the defeated candidate's recent statement as a "step forward".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
He won so fair that the military were pouring into the cities and Phone / internet connections were cut before the election was even finished.
[Iran Press TV Latest]Moscow opposes imposing sanctions on Iran over what the West describes as a crackdown on protesters who illegally took to the streets following the country's presidential election.
"We believe that sanctions against Iran over its internal political problems would be unlawful and counter-productive," Xinhua quoted Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko as saying on Thursday.
Nesterenko warned that such a move would provoke unwelcome events in the country and the region. He stressed that all disputes should be addressed through legal channels.
Iran's 10th presidential election which was held on June 12 resulted in a landslide victory for incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Unrest in some Iranian cities began when supporters of some defeated presidential candidates took to the streets to protest against alleged 'irregularities' in the election process.
The Guardian Council, which oversees the election, confirmed the election results earlier this week after launching a probe into the allegations.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Russia must want something from Iran.
I dunno, customer for nuke fuel? Patsy? Distraction? Something.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:18 Comments ||
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(1) Iran has been a client of Moscow for decades.
(2) Putin wants the oil market off of the US $$
(3) The Russian economy contracted by >30% in the last year. The revenues they gave up from cancelled Iranian missile sales hurt.
(4) I wonder if the militants in Ingushetia have good relations with Teheran ....
[Iran Press TV Latest] The International Police force (Interpol) has flatly denied any involvement in searching for the man who witnessed the death of Neda Agha-Soltan.
The death of Neda, who was shot dead on a Tehran street on June 20 amid the post-election unrest in the capital, has turned into a controversial issue.
Iranian physician Arash Hejazi told the BBC that he had witnessed a member of the Basij shoot Neda. The volunteer force has, however, strongly rejected the allegation.
"Arash Hejazi is wanted by Interpol and Iran's Intelligence Ministry," Fars news agency quoted Ahmadi-Moqaddam as saying on Wednesday.
Interpol spokesperson Rachel Billington, however, rejected involvement in any investigation into the death of Neda.
"We've not received any request for information or for assistance on the death of that lady," Billington told CBSNews.com on Thursday. "We've received nothing from Iran."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Fanatic Shiites are fixated on alleged UK involvement in Neda's death. They don't let facts get in the way.
[Khaleej Times] Iranian presidential election runner up Mir Hossein Mousavi on Wednesday renewed a demand for a complete re-run of the vote and pledged to help set up a new group to defend citizen's rights.
Another defeated candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, saw his reformist newspaper Etemad Melli shut down after he denounced the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as invalid and the new government as not legitimate.
The 12-member Guardians Council election watchdog had warned the defeated candidates that it will brook no more challenges to the results following a recount of 10 percent of ballot boxes from the June 12 poll.
Mousavi, Ahmadinejad's closest rival who won 34 percent of the vote compared to 63 percent for the incumbent, remained defiant, saying: "The majority of the society to which I belong will not recognise the legitimacy of the (future) government.
"Our historic duty is to continue the protests to defend the rights of the people... and prevent the blood spilled by hundreds of thousands of martyrs from leading to a police state," he said in a posting on his website.
Mousavi said a group of politicians including himself have decided to create "a legal political body to defend citizen's rights and votes that were crushed in the election, to publish documents about the frauds and irregularities and to start legal action."
Iran's police chief Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moghaddam said that 20 people were killed and more than 1,000 arrested in the wave of protests over the disputed presidential vote.
"No policeman was killed in the Tehran riots but 20 rioters were killed," he said, confirming earlier reports.
"Police arrested 1,032 people in the recent riots. Many have been released and the rest are being prosecuted in Tehran's public and revolutionary courts," he was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights has said that more than 2,000 people are in custody in Iran and hundreds more missing, while rights group Amnesty said it is concerned that several detained opposition leaders may face torture.
Human Rights Watch said harsh interrogation conditions and inadequate medical care are threatening the life of detained reformist Saeed Hajjarian, a former presidential adviser and Tehran city councillor.
Police chief Ahmadi-Moghaddam said the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, who became a symbol of post-election street rallies in Iran, was a "prearranged scenario," state owned English-language Press TV reported.
He accused Arash Hejazi, a doctor who says he tried to save Neda's life in her final moments, of fanning the flames of the western media hype, the TV station said on its website.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed Ahmadi-Moghaddam's allegation as "misinformation."
"I think the notion that the death of an innocent woman would be staged is -- even with them, it's shocking," Gibbs said.
Ahmadinejad on Wednesday cancelled a trip to Libya, where he was due to have addressed a summit of African leaders in the seaside town of Sirte at the invitation of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
Pressure of work was blamed for the cancellation and it was impossible to know whether Ahmadinejad's pullout was connected with the wave of opposition which has swept Iran since the election, triggering the worst crisis since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Foreign media remain banned from reporting from Iranian streets under restrictions imposed in the violent election aftermath.
Mousavi called for a guarantee of freedom of assembly, a free press, the lifting of bans on independent newspapers and websites and for the possibility to have "an independent television network."
The former prime minister also demanded the release of people arrested for "political reasons" and an end to "telephone tapping".
Etemad Melli said its publication was suspended on Wednesday as a direct result of Karroubi's latest statement.
"Last night, after Karroubi's statement was released, representatives of the Tehran prosecutor and the culture ministry prevented the publication of Etemad Melli newspaper," his party of the same name said on its website.
"They wanted the statement censored and not published -- so the newspaper will not be published today," it said.
Among people still held by the Iranian authorities is one local staff member from the British embassy out of nine who were detained on allegations of stoking the unrest, Press TV reported.
A British Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "The latest situation is two of our staff have been released over the last two days. We are also seeking confirmation that a further member of staff has been released today.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the arrest of the nine embassy employees "is unjustified and it is unacceptable and some people in Iran are trying to seek to use Britain as an explanation for the legitimate Iranian voices calling for greater openness and democracy."
EU countries are considering a proposal from Britain for a temporary recall of all of their ambassadors from Iran in protest at the detention of the British embassy employees by Tehran, a European diplomatic source said.
A senior foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama said Iran's political crackdown and nuclear programme will be "at front and center" of the US president's visit to Russia and the G8 summit in Italy next week.
In a sign of life in Iran returning to normal, the text messaging network was restored on Wednesday after being cut off since June 12.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009 00:00 ||
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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
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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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.
US Navy officials yesterday played down security fears after an alleged terrorist plot to target ships and sailors came to light. A spokeswoman said the decision to allow the families of US servicemen back to Bahrain after a five-year gap would not be affected by an ongoing case at the High Criminal Court. 
A Syrian terror suspect appeared in court yesterday for the first time since Canada's intelligence service admitted that two confidential informants used in the case had credibility problems. Hassan Almrei sat in a Toronto courtroom as federal lawyers portrayed him as a devoted jihadist, and his own lawyer argued the government's case had been irreparably tainted by the conduct of CSIS.
Hearing a female voice on the radio may be nothing new the world over but it is something of a novelty in the rugged mountainous terrain of Pakistan's northwest, where women are bringing about modernization via the airwaves. For most people in the region the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) known for its strict male domination hearing female voices on the recently established FM channel, Radio Khyber, is not only a pleasant surprise but also a sign of much awaited social change. 
[Iran Press TV Latest] The International Police force (Interpol) has flatly denied any involvement in searching for the man who witnessed the death of Neda Agha-Soltan. 
[Khaleej Times] Iranian presidential election runner up Mir Hossein Mousavi on Wednesday renewed a demand for a complete re-run of the vote and pledged to help set up a new group to defend citizen's rights.
