PARIS -- The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush in Baghdad last year had a taste of his own medicine Tuesday when he nearly got beaned by a shoe thrower at a news conference in Paris.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi ducked and the shoe hit the wall behind him.
"He stole my technique," al-Zeidi later quipped. Good line
The identity of the new shoe-thrower -- and his motivation -- weren't immediately clear, but he appeared to be an Iraqi. I thought after Fort Hood we weren't supposed to judge until the facts were in
It was not known if the intruder was a journalist or just pretended to be one to attend the news conference at a center for foreign reporters.
Whatever his motive, the confrontation didn't stop there.
Al-Zeidi's brother, Maithan, chased the attacker in the audience and -- what else? -- pelted him with a shoe as he left the room.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi, a TV reporter, became a hero to many opponents of the Iraq war when he hurled his shoes at Bush during a news conference in Baghdad in December 2008 while shouting: "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." Al-Zeidi was quickly wrestled to the ground by security guards, then imprisoned for nine months before being released in September.
The Paris news conference was held so he could talk about his experiences.
It sounds like someone was not interested in listening.
#1
The bottom line is that this guy publicly embarrassed Iraq with his shoe throwing, and a lot of people hold grudges when their nations honor is impugned. Soon or later, some Iraqi is going to greet him more seriously than with a shoe.
We need to start controlling some high ground like we did at Khe Sahn before we end up with a Dien Bien Phu situation. These combat bases in deep valleys suck.
Put our guys in defensible positions and let them bloody well defend themselves. It would be awfully nice if President Obama appended a remark to that effect to his remarks at West Point tonight.
#1
â¦I received orders to move against Colonel Thomas Harris, who was said to be encamped at the town of Florida, some twenty-five miles south of were we then wereâ¦Harris had been encamped in a creek bottom for the sake of being near water. The hills on either side of the creek extended to a considerable height, possibly more than a hundred feet. As we approached the brow of the hill from which was expected we could see Harrisâ camp, and possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting higher and higher until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I would have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do; I kept right on. When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view I halted. The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there and the marks of recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his. I never forgot that lesson. Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant
[Iran Press TV Latest] An Afghan policeman has fired on a checkpoint in Khashrod district in Nimroz province, killing six fellow officers, officials have said.
Authorities said Monday that the policeman escaped to Dil Aram district in the province after killing the six colleagues in the shootout that took place in southern Afghanistan.
Later reports said the shooter was identified and killed in the ensuing gun battle when he started to shoot again.
Earlier this month, an Afghan policeman opened fire at the British convoy killing five UK soldiers in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.
Afghanistan's defense minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, said that the army has been "very watchful because we do have the reports that [insurgents] are really trying to infiltrate," noting that there have been "very few cases" in which insurgents have been caught within the army.
He said the army is trying to collect information such as fingerprints and retinal scans to build a database of all recruits. The US military set up similar systems for the Iraqi security forces.
Many consider the Afghan police more susceptible to insurgent infiltration than the country's army.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed plans to deploy of 500 more soldiers in Afghanistan in early December.
"I can confirm that we will move to a new force level of 9,500 -- the extra troops will deploy in early December to thicken the UK troop presence in central Helmand," Brown told the parliament on Monday.
The UK's total contribution to the eight-year war, however, would amount to 10,000 given the presence of special forces, who are involved in training and civilian activities.
The announcement comes just two days after Brown said London will host a conference on Afghanistan in January 28 to discuss ways of handing over security to the local forces.
He said the discussions are expected to pave the way for the withdrawal of UK troops from the country.
After the United States, Britain has the highest number of troops in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama is expected to declare the deployment of 35,000 more troops to Afghanistan in a nationwide address on Tuesday.
Washington is also planning to train Afghan security forces to pave the way from the withdrawal of foreign forces from the war-torn country.
With the British military fatalities on the rise in Afghanistan, Brown is under public pressure to bring troops back home. Ninety-eight British service personnel lost their lives in 2009 alone, making it the bloodiest year for UK troops since the Falklands War in 1982.
In recent months, the government has been bombarded with allegations of 'fatal' shortages of equipment for troops and questions over whether the "unwinnable" campaign was worth the costs.
A defense ministry statement confirming the death of another British soldier in Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province on Monday coincided with Brown's announcement.
The death takes the total number of British deaths in Afghanistan to 236.
Last month, Brown said Britain's condition on sending the extra troops to the battle field was that other coalition countries would follow suit.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This sounds like a commitment to a waste of good people. OTOH, sending 500 illegals per week, along with the odd handful of chavs over there, sans any kind of kit or ROE would vastly improve life here, and save a fortune.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Somali pirates seized a tanker carrying more than $20 million of crude oil from Saudi Arabia to the United States in the increasingly dangerous waters off East Africa, an official said Monday, an attack that could pose a huge environmental or security threat.
The Greece-flagged Maran Centaurus was hijacked Sunday about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) off the coast of Somalia, said Cmdr. John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force. Harbour said it originated from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and was destined for the United States. The ship has 28 crew members on board, he said.
The shipping intelligence company Lloyd's List said the Maran Centaurus is a "very large crude carrier, with a capacity of over 300,000 tons."
Stavros Hadzigrigoris from the ship's owners, Maran Tankers Management, said the tanker was carrying around 275,000 metric tons of crude. At an average price of around $75 a barrel, the cargo is worth more than $20 million. Hadzigrigoris declined to say who owned the oil.
Though pirates have successfully hijacked dozens of vessels the last several years, Sunday's attack appears to be only the second ever on an oil tanker. The hijacking of a tanker increases worries that the vessel could crash, be run aground or be involved in a firefight, said Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at London-based think tank Chatham House.
Pirates typically use guns and rocket-propelled grenades in their attacks, and some vessels now carry private security guards, but Middleton said oil tankers do not.
"You're sitting on a huge ship filled with flammable liquid. You don't want somebody with a gun on top of that," Middleton said. "Financially it's a very costly exercise because the value of oil is so volatile. If it is held for a long time and the price of oil drops, they could lost millions of dollars."
In November 2008, pirates hijacked the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star, which held 2 million barrels of oil valued at about $100 million. The tanker was released last January for a reported $3 million ransom after a two-month drama that helped galvanize international efforts to fight piracy off Africa's coast.
In late 2007, pirates hijacked a chemical tanker carrying up to 10,000 tons of highly explosive benzene. Initially, American intelligence agents worried terrorists from Somalia's Islamic extremist insurgency could be involved, and might try to crash the boat into an offshore oil platform or use it as a gigantic bomb. When the Japanese vessel was towed back into Somali waters and ransom demanded, the coalition was relieved to realize it was just another pirate attack.
Pirates now hold about a dozen vessels hostage and more than 200 crew members. The Maran Centaurus had 28 crew aboard, 16 Filipinos, nine Greeks, two Ukrainians and one Romanian, Harbour said.
Middleton said pirate demands and negotiations are becoming more complex.
"They still want the money but they have also asked for the release of imprisoned comrades," he said. "That demand is an extra bargaining tool they can use to add extra layers to their negotiating position."
Piracy has increased despite an increased presence by international navies patrolling the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. The U.S. this fall began flying sophisticated drones over East African waters as part of the fight against piracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
All it would take to end this BS is one US carrier battle group with enough napalm to burn down even stone houses in Eyl or another of the various pirate dens, plus the stones to use it. We also need to find a way to fly A-10s from a carrier deck. I'd pay good money to watch an encounter between a pirate "mother ship" and a pair of A-10s.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/01/2009 14:10 Comments ||
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Amen OP, and it would be another 250 years before we heard from them again!
#4
"I'd pay good money to watch an encounter between a pirate "mother ship" and a pair of A-10s."
Hell, OP, if we make that Pay-per-View, we could retire the national debt. :-D
(Stupid question: why can't we fly A-10s off a carrier?)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/01/2009 14:34 Comments ||
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#5
Not a stupid ques at all. Taking off...no problem. It's the landings that might represent a challenge. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but A-10's were not designed with tailhooks and other gear required for short landings.
#8
"but A-10's were not designed with tailhooks and other gear required for short landings"
Doesn't the Navy have any welders?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/01/2009 16:01 Comments ||
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#9
Yes barbara the Navy has welders, the problem is that aircraft designed for Carrier Take off and landing have reinforced airframes, you'd rip a A-10 in half without a lot of reinforcement.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/01/2009 16:48 Comments ||
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Hmmm, I just remembered Ospreys, they'd work.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/01/2009 16:50 Comments ||
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Anyone, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think of A-10s as being potentially useful in the Persian Gulf against the kind of small boats the Iranians would launch against us if we ever got into it with them.
#12
Not only would the back rip off on a carrier landing from the tail hook but it is likely it would rip the front landing gear out from the catapult shot.
#13
OP, not gonna happen. If they are going to court martial the SEAL team for giving some guy a fat lip, imagine what they would do if some Somali guy or gal sprained an ankle or had a heart attack seeing our forces offshore?
#14
Non-carrier aircraft have operated from various CVs/CVAs in the past, but more as a demonstration rather than any sort of continuious ops. If you can match the WOD ( wind over deck) requirements between the boat and the aircraft no cat or tailhook needed. C-1's and S-2's used to deck launch from Kitty Hawk class boats all the time. I believe that O-2's did also in Viet Nam. So if the takeoff and landing speeds of the A-10 could be met, then no reason why not.
Lockheed put together a small batch of U-2R's for boat ops, complete with a hook and folding wingtips, but eventually converted them back to the U-2S configuration. They launched via the deck run method.
Google up videos of the C-130 deck run and landing; the pilot selected reverse pitch whils still airborne in order to land.
[Maghrebia] Armed terrorists kidnapped three Spanish aid workers in Mauritania on Sunday (November 29th), local and international press reported. The two men and one woman were in the last vehicle of a convoy of more than a dozen trucks on the Nouadhibou-Nouakchott road. "A group of armed men stopped them and took them, leaving their vehicles on site, without touching the equipment, baggage and money that the car contained," AFP quoted humanitarian worker Montse Bosch as confirming.
Soldiers have been mobilised along the Mali and Algeria borders to prevent the abductors from slipping out of the country, DPA reported. Police from the Spanish Embassy in Nouakchott will join the search for the three missing aid workers, Spain's national news agency EFE reported. Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told the press on Monday that "everything points" to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb as responsible for the kidnapping.
The abductees work for Barcelona-based NGO "Accio Solidaria", part of a Catalan "solidarity caravan" that transports humanitarian aid to Mauritania, Morocco, Gambia, Senegal and Guinée-Bissau.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
IMO, anyone who wants to aid these creatures...
#3
Mauretanian Arabs still enslave many black Africans. A lot of these slaves escape over the Senegalese border. Are the NGOs helping these people?(more after I check facts with the family expert on these things).
#4
"A group of armed men stopped them and took them, leaving their vehicles on site, without touching the equipment, baggage and money that the car contained,"
This was no roadblock, they were waiting for them to arrive. Maybe the NGO workers just want to aid the revolution?
[ADN Kronos] Armed militants have blocked the main highway in southern Yemen leaving dozens of people stranded for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. According to the Arab TV network, Al-Arabiya, many were people travelling from the north were unable to reach the southern port city of Aden for the festival.
Dozens, in a country of how many millions? Golly, O! the humanity!
Five Yemenis died in clashes on Wednesday between security forces and southern separatists who say the northern-based government discriminates against the south, where most of Yemen's oil facilities are located.
Yemen, an impoverished country of 23 million people, is also fighting a revolt by Shia Muslims in the north, while Saudi and Yemeni Al-Qaeda militants have been blamed for carrying out attacks in the last two years.
Ahhh, this is a "Pay attention to meeeee!" moment for the South, because the Shiites in the north are having all the fun.
Human aid agencies including the Red Cross and the United Nations' children's agency have expressed concern for victims of the fighting and refugees at risk.
UNICEF on Thursday drew attention to the plight of the youngest victims of the ongoing conflict between government forces and rebels.
"They are living in difficult conditions, away from their homes and schools despite significant humanitarian relief efforts," said Sigrid Kaag, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"We continue to urge all parties to respect their obligations under humanitarian law and make protection of children a priority," she added.
Kaag just wrapped up a three-day mission to Yemen, where an estimated 175,000 people have been affected by conflict since 2004, including those displaced by the latest surge in fighting between the government and Houthi rebels.
According to UNICEF, the current crisis only worsens an already difficult situation for children and women in Yemen, where mortality among children under five is high at 69 per 1,000 live births.
She visited the Al-Mazrak camp, which currently houses around 10,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), and met mothers and children who have been forced to flee their homes.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Security forces sealed off roads to a southern Yemeni port city on Monday and arrested dozens ahead of a separatist protest in the tense south, local officials said. "Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!"
The officials said the troops were deployed to Aden, 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the capital San'a, to quell a protest by southern activists demanding secession from the north. They said that about 200 protesters were arrested as they tried to assemble in a downtown square for the rally called by the separatist Southern Movement. Which'd be getting its money and probably some of its people from Iran...
The crackdown comes as tensions in southern Yemen are on the rise. Since August, southern cities and towns have been the scene of constant demonstrations by southerners complaining of neglect and discrimination by the northerner-dominated government. The south was a separate country until it unified with the north in 1990, but separatist sentiment lingers on. It was a separate country named South Yemen, if I recall. Their nearest neighbor was North Yemen. They bickered, feuded, called each other names, and chopped each other's heads off, leaving them scattered around the desert.
The officials said security forces were also sent to other southern towns to prevent similar protests there. The government in San'a made no comment on the developments. "We got nuttin' to say."
The southern unrest is separate from a five-year conflict that Yemeni troops are fighting with Shiite rebels in the country's north, a conflict that has reignited since August and that has even drawn neighboring Saudi Arabia into the fray. It's separate, but you can bet it's a part...
Yemen, troubled by a weak central government, is also struggling to confront a threat from Al Qaeda militants and pirates roaming the waters off its shores. Everything but a Martian invasion...
On Sunday, armed men killed three people, including a security officer, on a key highway leading to Aden, the officials said. On Monday, they said, gunmen blocked a stretch of the same highway linking San'a with Aden, leaving hundreds of vehicles and people stranded on the road.
Last Wednesday, three protesters were killed and dozens wounded in clashes with police in the southern Yemen town of Atak, according to local officials. However, lawmaker Nasser al-Kabji of the Southern Movement blamed the security forces for the violence and the tensions. "We are a peaceful movement and reject any kind of violence," al-Kabji told The Associated Press.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"It was a separate country named South Yemen, if I recall."
That would be called the country of Aden.
This, coupled with the Somali emmigre and Al Qaeda shows that the heat is on.
[Bangla Daily Star] A teenage boy was killed yesterday when police opened a barrage of rubber bullets to disperse two rival groups fighting over the claim of a char emerged in river old Brahmaputra.
The victim was identified as Abul Hossain, 16, son of Shamsher Ali of Dakpora village in Sherpur sadar upazila.
Police said they had fired 10 teargas canisters before firing more than 50 rubber bullets to disperse the people, estimated at 20,000, who engaged in the clash. At least 20 people, including police, were wounded in the clash. Both sides used locally made weapons.
Acting Police Super Anisur Rahman confirmed the death of Abul Hossain in police firing. The body was sent to Sherpur Hospital for autopsy.
Witnesses said residents of Pathalia, Guabari and Naobhanga villages of Jamalpur and adjacent areas of Char Pakhhimari union of Sherpur claiming ownership of the char of about 4,000 acres of land engaged in the clash in the afternoon.
Sherpur sadar upazila chairman Ilias Uddin said police came from Jamalpur and opened indiscriminate fire without any provocation. He alleged that police were influenced in taking such drastic action that took away the life of a young boy.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court yesterday placed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) member Abdul Majid Butt alias Abu Yusuf Butt on a fresh two-day remand after he gave information on physician Azizur Rahman's abduction.
Metropolitan Magistrate Abdur Rahim placed Yusuf Butt on the remand while Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Inspector Mohammad Shahjahan, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, produced him before it seeking a ten-day further remand.
CID Inspector Shahjahan said in the petition as Butt did not divulge -- on the previous three-day remand from November 26 -- how the physician was abducted, so he should be remanded again to find out the victim's whereabouts and their accomplices.
Azizur Rahman, a resident of Mazar Road under Mirpur area of the capital, was kidnapped on September 4, 2003. His wife Farhana Reza Jui filed a case against five people without naming anyone on September 23 same year with Mirpur police station.
Yusuf Butt was shown arrested in the case on November 26 after information gleaned from Harkatul Jihad chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and Islamic Democratic Party Convener Maulana Sheikh Abdus Salam.
Mufti Hannan, Abdus Salam and several others were also shown arrested in the case and were remanded for several times.
Yusuf Butt was arrested on January 6 this year from Uttara for possessing firearms and later he was shown arrested in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack case and was remanded for several times.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I remember someone remanding a Butt, but it was like back in the seventies, and I don't believe it was for this many times.
[Bangla Daily Star] A regional leader of Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) 'Lal Pataka' faction was killed in an 'encounter' between his cohorts and the police at Madarbaria village of Santhia upazila under the district on Friday. Another day, another dead commie.
It's the police, not the Rab, so they're still allowed to have encounters with badmen.
The deceased was identified as Chand Ali alias 'Boma' Chand, 40, son of Abu Taleb of Lakhmipur village under Ataikula thana. No, we don't know where that is.
It can be found on Old Patriot's 15:1 map of Bangladesh, but since the high school sold off one of their football fields there's nowhere to unfold it.
According to police, they raided a spot of Madarbaria village around 3:00am on information that the outlawed criminals were holding meeting there. Thank you, Mahamoud the Rat.
As the criminals opened fire sensing the presence of police, "Hark! Open fire!"
it triggered a gunfight with the law enforcers retaliating. "BANG KAPOW KABLOOEY!"
Chand was killed during the encounter. "He's dead, Jim"
Police recovered the body and sent to Pabna General Hospital Morgue for autopsy. "Dr. Quincy, delivery for you."
They also recovered a shutter gun and eight bullets from the spot.
Nibash Chandra Majhi, superintendent of police of Pabna, said Chand was an accused in eight murder cases on twelve systems and was absconding.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like the RAB has been loaning out the shutter gun again.
[Dawn] An explosion hit a railway in Russia's restive Caucasus region of Dagestan early Monday, just days after an attack that killed 25 people aboard a passenger train in northern Russia, AFP reported. 'A railway was hit by an explosion before a train travelling from Tyumen to (Azerbaijan's capital) Baku passed. The train did not derail, though it dragged the wagons some 150 meters along the damaged rails,' a local police official told Russian news agencies.
State-run rail monopoly Russian Railways said no one was injured in the blast. 'Traffic on the railway is closed,' it said in a statement. 'Employees of Russian Railways, law enforcement bodies, the FSB (security services) and emergency services are working at the scene.'
The blast follows the Friday night bombing of an elite passenger train bound from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, which killed 25 people and injured around 100 more.
Separately, Dagestan's interior ministry said its officers had defused eight booby-trapped bombs on the weekend along roads on the region's border with Chechnya.
Dagestan has suffered in the last years from the spillover of violence from neighbouring Chechnya, the site of two bloody separatist wars after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
There has been mounting violence throughout overwhelmingly Muslim Dagestan and Chechnya over the last months as a low-level Islamist insurgency persists despite the end of major hostilities.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ION WMF > RUSSIA'S "NEVSKY" RAILROAD TERROR INCIDENT MAY SIGNAL BEGINNING OF ISLAMIST-LED WAR OF TERROR AND MILITANCY INSIDE RUSSIA. PUTIN NEEDS TO VISIT CHINA IN ORDER TO DEV SINO-RUSSIAN STRATEGIC COOPERATION AND PARTNERSHIP IN THE DEFENSE OF CENTRAL ASIA FROM TERRORISTS.
* SAME > NUCLEAR, WMD, AND OTHER ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROLIFERATION INTO THE HANDS OF "FOREIGN" CONTROLLED TERROR GROUPS SHOWS THAT CHINA SHOULD ADOPT RUSSIA'S NEW DOCTRINE OF PREVENTIVE NUCLEAR STRIKES IN ORDER TO DETER ROUTINE PROXY ATTACKS BY FOREIGN POWERS.
Not a word from Human Rights Watch yet, but hey, it's 12 hours ahead over there ...
A NUMBER of North Koreans have been arrested and could face execution for leaking information on the movements of leader Kim Jong-Il to South Korean news media, reports and sources say.
Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, quoting sources in the communist state, said today "many North Korean residents'' in the northeastern city of Hoeryong have been charged with espionage. It said they were accused of leaking information on Kim's February 24 "field guidance'' trip to the city to a South Korean internet newspaper and may face execution.
Real-time information on Kim's whereabouts is treated as a state secret.
For rather obvious reasons ...
The official media reports his trips without giving a date and sometimes without giving the exact location.
The South's unification ministry, which handles cross-border relations, declined to comment on the Dong-A report. The newspaper did not say when the group was arrested.
Daily NK, a Seoul-based Internet newspaper run by opponents of the regime, in February reported almost in real time that Kim had visited Hoeryong, near the border with China. It said its information came from local correspondents using mobile phones.
But a Daily NK staffer denied its stringers had been arrested, saying the newspaper talked to them today. "A different group of North Korean residents who had worked for another Seoul-based civilian organisation were caught using unauthorised mobiles in Hoeryong,'' Shin Ju-Hyun, a Daily NK journalist, said.
Shin said he was unaware of the fate of those arrested but they could be executed or sent to prison camps.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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A federal court on Monday ordered the release of an Egyptian man convicted of terrorism in his home country and who was later detained in Canada for eight years as a possible national security threat. "The court is satisfied that the threat Mr. (Mohamed) Mahjoub poses to national security or the safety of any person can be neutralized by the imposition of conditions on his release from detention," said the ruling.
Mahjoub came to Canada in 1995 and was granted refugee status the following year. He was detained in 2000 under a rarely-used security measure that permits secret court hearings and indefinite jailing of foreigners suspected of terror ties, without charges.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service alleged Mahjoub was a high-ranking member of an Egyptian Islamic terrorist organization, the Vanguards of Conquest -- a radical wing of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad or Al Jihad.
He was convicted in Egypt in absentia in 1999 for offenses relating to the Vanguards of Conquest's activities and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
In 2007, Canada's Supreme Court ordered his release after quashing the anti-terrorism measure used to detain him, as unconstitutional. The government amended the act and issued a new security certificate against him days later.
Mahjoub was still released two months later on stringent conditions akin to house arrest while fighting his deportation to Egypt, or alternately detention in Canada. But in March 2009, he returned to prison voluntarily as his wife and his stepson, who had agreed to act as sureties and supervisors, "could no longer live with the stringent conditions of his release," said court documents.
The new bail conditions provide that Mahjoub will be permitted to live alone but will remain under surveillance. He will also be permitted unsupervised outings while fighting extradition to Egypt and the "reasonableness" of the government's case for holding him under security measures contained in Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
[Geo News] Frontier Corps Commandant Brig Fayyaz Monday said Khyber Agency's tehsil Bara has been cleared of extremists and evidences regarding the involvement of foreign hand there, were also found. Addressing a news briefing over the operation, Â'Khwakh Ba De Sham', Brig Fayyaz said the forces are attaining extraordinary successes in the operation with Gargari completely under forces control. At least 61 extremists have hitherto been killed and 87 others arrested and 27 vehicles were destroyed, he informed adding the extremists are being defeated in also Ferozkhel and Orakzai Agencies. He said there are Afghan and Uzbek bodies among the captured bodies of extremists, adding tunnels and caves used by terrorists were also found, where gunpowder and explosives used to be produced. The FC Commandant said the noose around the extremists commanders Mangal Bagh, Adnan Nazeer and Tariq is being tightened and the success will soon be achieved in this connection. Indian-manufactured weapons were also found among the captured arms and ammunition in the operation, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] The Chief Capital City police Peshawar Liaquat Ali Sunday said the Peshawar police foiled the great sabotage plan by recovering a huge cache of arms and ammunition. Addressing the newsmen here in Police Lines, he said several Afghan refugees involved in various terrorist activities have been arrested during the search operation. The police chief said the evidences quite clearly indicate that foreign hand is involved in the terrorist activities in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] At least ten suspected militants have been reportedly killed and several injured as security forces targeted militant hideouts in Kurram Agency. Meanwhile, ten suspects have also been arrested from Swat and Waziristan.
According to official sources, security forces have destroyed five vehicles of militants including one belonging to an important commander.
Sources said that strict searches are being conducted at checkpoints and various pickets have been established in the agency.
Moreover, an ISPR press release says nine suspects have been arrested during the latest round of operation Rah-e-Rast from near Pallai, while another suspect has been arrested from South Waziristan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] At least 61 militants were killed and 87 others, including locals, Uzbeks and Afghans, were arrested during the ongoing search operation in the Khyber tribal region, FC commandant Brigadier Fayyaz told a press conference.
At the press conference in Bara tehsil, Brigadier Fayyaz said security forces cleared most parts of the tehsil and the current operation in the area was successful. Security forces also recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition. They also destroyed 27 vehicles, ten hideouts and five tunnels. Brigadier Fayyaz said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
[Ma'an] Israel cancelled an agreement to grant amnesty to a Palestinian fighter, Palestinian security sources said on Monday.
Mahdi Maraqa, 37, was granted a full pardon and removed from Israel's "wanted" list in 2008 under an deal negotiated by the Palestinian Authority.
He was working as an officer in the PA's intelligence service in the city of Nablus. Israel has now decreed that the PA arrest Maraqa and hold him in Juneid prison in Nablus. Maraqa also recently travelled to Jordan but was deported back to the West Bank.
Approached by Ma'an Maraqa said that contacts were underway to find out why Israel cancelled his pardon. He declined to comment further on the issue.
Hundreds of former fighters have signed amnesty agreements, in which they vow to give up armed resistance in exchange for Israel's promise not to arrest or kill them.
Also on Monday, 12 of former guerillas involved in the amnesty process in Juneid prison said they had been on a hunger strike for four days demanding that Israel conclude the agreement and permit the PA to release them.
On Thursday, Ma'an revealed that Israel agreed to remove 90 former Palestinian fighters from its list of "wanted" men on the eve of the Muslim Eid Al-Adha holiday and to pardon 26 of the men.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
[Ma'an] A Palestinian was killed in an explosion in Ash-Shati Refugee Camp adjacent to Gaza City on Monday, a medical official said.
Muawiyah Hassanein, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Health Ministry in Gaza said that an unidentified dead man was transported to Ash-Shifa Hospital in an ambulance.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. An Israeli military spokeswoman said "there was no IDF activity in the area."
Separately, Palestinians in Gaza said Israeli F16 fighter jets carried out what they said were sorties designed to give the appearance of airstrikes, dropping what were termed "heat bombs."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Now is the time for the Geneva Convention to address the heat bombs, which cause a proliferation of pets and the Gazans find absolutely disgusting.
A police officer was seriously wounded in a ride-by shooting in Pattanis Saiburi district on Tuesday morning, Saiburi police chief Pol Col Wanlop Chamnong-arsa said.
Pol Lt Pradit Phudprapha, 49, deputy chief inspector at the police station, was attacked by two men on a motorcycle while he was driving a pickup truck home on Saiburi-Panareh road near Pase-yawor village. He was shot several times in the body and was admitted to Saiburi hospital.
Police blamed terrorists separatist militants for the attack.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Five Britons have been detained in Iran after their racing yacht may have inadvertently strayed into Iranian waters, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Monday.
In the incident on November 25, "a racing yacht owned by Sail Bahrain and crewed by five British nationals, was stopped by Iranian naval vessels," a Foreign Office said in a statement.
"The yacht was on its way from Bahrain to Dubai and may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters. The five crew members are still in Iran. All are understood to be safe and well and their families have been informed."
Foreign Office officials "immediately contacted the Iranian authorities in London and in Tehran on the evening of 25 November, both to seek clarification and to try and resolve the matter swiftly", Miliband said.
"Our ambassador in Tehran has raised the issue with the Iranian Foreign Ministry and we have discussed the matter with the Iranian embassy in London.
"I hope this issue will soon be resolved. We will remain in close touch with the Iranian authorities, as well as the families."
On Sunday, Miliband was among several world leaders to condemn Iran's announcement that it planned to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants in a major expansion of its atomic program. Miliband accused Iran of choosing to "provoke and dissemble" rather than engage in talks.
In April 2007, Iranian forces seized eight British Royal Navy sailors and seven marines, in the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iran and Iraq.
They were later freed unharmed as a "gift" from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who scolded Britain for not being "brave enough" to admit they had made a mistake and strayed into Iranian waters.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
This is not the first diplomatic incident to involve British crew members being taken by Iran.
In 2007, 15 British sailors were arrested and detained for 12 days in the Shatt al Arab waterway between Iraq and Iran. And in 2004 eight British servicemen were arrested and accused of spying in the same area. In both cases, the captured sailors were paraded on TV, but eventually pardoned and released by the Iranians, amid tense exchanges between Tehran and London.
Since then relations have become even more strained. Iran accused Britain of helping to fuel last summer's street protests. And Britain has kept up the pressure to try to get Iran to freeze its nuclear programme.
Only this weekend David Miliband condemned Iran's latest plan to build more uranium enrichment plants. Not an auspicious context for a quick resolution to the incident.
Even so, this incident is different.
These latest British crew members are not military personnel, but competitive sailors, on their way to take part in a yacht race. They were stopped not in the sensitive disputed region between Iraq and Iran, but lower down in the Persian Gulf.
And this time there is no disagreement about what may have happened - everyone seems to agree that they may have mistakenly strayed into Iranian waters.
So will Iran release them swiftly? Clearly the Foreign Office hoped this was what would happen if they kept the incident out of the public eye.
So far Iran has said nothing publicly and apparently given no clear response through diplomatic channels either. This may be because the Eid holiday has made contact with senior Iranian officials difficult.
But the next few days will be critical.
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband has let it be known he wants to speak to the Iranian Foreign Minister directly. The ball is in Iran's court. Either Tehran can decide to play the incident down and let the sailors go, or it could turn this into a full blown diplomatic crisis.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
I hate to blame the victims here but how do you accidentally go into Iranian waters? Especially after the incident in 2007. I mean really, East coast of the Gulf is hostile, West coast less so. Your destination is on the West Coast. Even without charts I think most boy scouts could manage. Am I missing something?
#4
It's entirely likely they were where they were supposed to be. When the Iranians took the boatload of Brit sailors a year or two ago they weren't in Iranian waters, either.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 8:01 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Bingo Fred.
Note the North Korea situation with the journalists captured in china, this sounds the same.
Remember we also have some citizens detained in iran. Hikers charged with espionage.
#6
It's entirely likely they were where they were supposed to be. When the Iranians took the boatload of Brit sailors a year or two ago they weren't in Iranian waters, either.
Totally Agree with this.UK Govt covered it up not to look soft.Same thing happening again!
#7
On the radio earlier today there was a suggestion that the keel on the yacht had broken (off?). But it's just as likely that they were grabbed whilst outside of Iranian waters. The Iranians are nobs, after all.
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PARIS -- The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush in Baghdad last year had a taste of his own medicine Tuesday when he nearly got beaned by a shoe thrower at a news conference in Paris.
[Iran Press TV Latest] An Afghan policeman has fired on a checkpoint in Khashrod district in Nimroz province, killing six fellow officers, officials have said. 
[Asharq al-Aswat] Somali pirates seized a tanker carrying more than $20 million of crude oil from Saudi Arabia to the United States in the increasingly dangerous waters off East Africa, an official said Monday, an attack that could pose a huge environmental or security threat.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Security forces sealed off roads to a southern Yemeni port city on Monday and arrested dozens ahead of a separatist protest in the tense south, local officials said.
[Bangla Daily Star] A regional leader of Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) 'Lal Pataka' faction was killed in an 'encounter' between his cohorts and the police at Madarbaria village of Santhia upazila under the district on Friday.
[Dawn] An explosion hit a railway in Russia's restive Caucasus region of Dagestan early Monday, just days after an attack that killed 25 people aboard a passenger train in northern Russia, AFP reported. 'A railway was hit by an explosion before a train travelling from Tyumen to (Azerbaijan's capital) Baku passed. The train did not derail, though it dragged the wagons some 150 meters along the damaged rails,' a local police official told Russian news agencies.
[Dawn] At least ten suspected militants have been reportedly killed and several injured as security forces targeted militant hideouts in Kurram Agency. Meanwhile, ten suspects have also been arrested from Swat and Waziristan. 
[Dawn] At least 61 militants were killed and 87 others, including locals, Uzbeks and Afghans, were arrested during the ongoing search operation in the Khyber tribal region, FC commandant Brigadier Fayyaz told a press conference. 
[Ma'an] A Palestinian was killed in an explosion in Ash-Shati Refugee Camp adjacent to Gaza City on Monday, a medical official said.
