A former Marine who prosecutors say led the slaying of four unarmed Iraqi insurgents refused to testify Thursday evening against one of the men charged in the shootings.
Jose L. Nazario Jr. appeared at the end of a marathon session in the trial of Sgt. Ryan Weemer, who is accused of killing one of the prisoners the men had captured inside a home in the city of Fallujah on Nov. 9, 2004.
"With all due respect, I will not answer any questions," Nazario repeatedly told a prosecutor, Capt. Nick Gannon.
The judge presiding over Weemer's trial, Lt. Col. Thomas Sanzi, reminded the former Marine that he had an immunity grant and a subpoena directing he testify.
"You have to answer," Sanzi told Nazario, who was acquitted last August of two counts of manslaughter for his role in the incident.
When Nazario still refused, the judge and Gannon gave up.
"It's futile, given his recalcitrance," Gannon said.
The jury that acquitted Nazario said it could not decide the propriety of actions occurring on a foreign battlefield.
Nazario was tried as a civilian in U.S. District Court in Riverside because he was out of the Marine Corps and not subject to being recalled to duty.
Weemer has pleaded not guilty to one count of unpremeditated murder and four counts of dereliction of duty for alleged mistreatment of detainees.
During Nazario's trial, Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, who is charged with killing the fourth prisoner, also defied subpoenas and refused to testify.
Thursday was punctuated with continuous legal wrangling and multiple interruptions in witness testimony.
On two occasions, lead defense attorney Paul Hackett asked for a mistrial declaration, contending that the jury had been tainted by hearing statements from prosecutors and witnesses that he argued were overly prejudicial.
On Wednesday, Hackett was accused of doing much the same thing when he asked a government investigator if he was aware that Nazario had been acquitted.
That statement also tainted the jury, prosecutors said.
The judge refused to declare a mistrial.
A key witness appearing Thursday was Cory Carlisle, a member of the squad inside the home when the slayings are alleged to have occurred.
Carlisle said that shortly after hearing a gunshot inside the home, he saw the then-Cpl. Weemer standing near the body of the oldest captive.
"He went for my gun," Carlisle said Weemer told him.
Later that day as they sat inside a Humvee, Carlisle said Weemer expressed remorse and said the prisoners were killed because of a "command from higher up."
Carlisle, like Weemer, was shot and wounded a few days after the incident.
But he said the prisoner shooting was worse than being wounded.
"I often refer to it as 'the worst day of my life,' " Carlisle said, adding he second-guesses himself for not having intervened.
Asked by Gannon if he believed anything warranted the prisoners being shot, Carlisle said no.
"They were unarmed," he said.
Weemer's attorneys say Nazario ordered the shootings and Weemer did so only in self-defense.
Nazario's order to shoot came after he radioed insurgents had been captured and was reportedly told by an unnamed superior to "take care of it" and asked "are they dead yet?"
The trial continues Friday morning and testimony is expected to conclude Friday or Monday.
It takes two-thirds of the jury to convict Weemer on any of the charges he faces.
CHENNAI: A special team of the Crime Branch CID police late on Friday night arrested S. Naganna (75), the doctor who allegedly castrated a minor boy from Tamil Nadu at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh last year.
The surgeon performed the operation in his hospital at the behest of some transgenders, who had abducted the boy from Kovalam in Kancheepuram district in July 2006. He was produced in a city court and remanded to judicial custody.
According to Superintendent of Police (CBCID) S. Mallikha, the doctor confessed to having performed many sex change operations in recent years. Dr. Naganna used to perform at least two such surgeries every year and charge about Rs.5,000 as fee for each operation. In this case, he castrated a minor without the consent of family members. He is a gold medallist from the Kurnool Medical College and Hospital, she told The Hindu on Saturday.
Besides criminal conspiracy, the doctor has also been booked under Section 326 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of the IPC.
He is a postgraduate in surgery and worked as a Surgical Specialist at Kurnool General Hospital, said Ms. Mallikha.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (CBCID) S.N. Seshasai said the boy, who escaped from a flesh trade centre in Pune and reached home a couple of weeks ago, was referred to a hospital for a series of medical examinations.
It is more than a year since his private parts were forcibly removed. Preliminary tests have shown that he is suffering from some urinary complications.
A police team is in Pune to arrest other accused, mostly transgenders. We are trying to check if there are more victims in vulnerable areas. Of the 500 plus transgenders in a red light area on the outskirts of Pune, 40 belong to Tamil Nadu.
Some have migrated to other areas. Efforts are on to locate victims like this boy and rescue them, Mr. Seshasai said.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/04/2009
17:22 ||
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The bodies of two gay men have been found in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City after a leading cleric repeatedly condemned homosexuality, an Iraqi police official said Saturday.
The killings come after Shiite cleric Sattar al-Battat repeatedly condemned homosexuality during recent Friday prayers, saying Islam prohibits homosexuality. Homosexual acts are punishable by up to seven years in prison in Iraq.
The two men were believed killed Thursday by relatives who were shamed by their behavior, said the official. Police said they suspected the killings were at the hands of family members because no one has claimed the bodies or called for an investigation.
The killings come weeks after Iraqi police found four bodies in late March buried near Sadr City with the words "pervert" and "puppies" written on their chests, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Puppy is a derogatory word used by residents in Sadr City to refer to homosexuals, the official said.
Posted by: ed ||
04/04/2009
15:32 ||
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At least 62 people suffocated to death in the back of a truck packed with illegal migrants, and dozens were rescued unconscious after Pakistani police acting on a tip opened the vehicle Saturday near the Afghan border.
Rasool Bakhsh, a senior police official in the city of Quetta, said the shipping container the truck was carrying entered Pakistan from Afghanistan and was headed for Iran. He said most of the victims were Afghans.
More than 100 people were packed inside the 40-foot-long (12-meter-long) metal container, Bakhsh said. He said survivors were rushed to the hospital, many of them unconscious. Khalid Masood, another senior officer, said a total of 62 were pronounced dead.
Television footage shot shortly after the white container was opened showed dozens of bodies, many of them stripped to the waist, lined up on the road next to the truck.
The stench from the container suggested some might have been dead for days, Bakhsh said. Officials said they were holding the truck's driver as part of their investigation.
Southwestern Pakistan lies on a well-trodden route for traffickers smuggling young men from poverty-afflicted countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan hoping to find work and prosperity in Europe and elsewhere.
Posted by: ed ||
04/04/2009
15:22 ||
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#1
Dostum making a delivery?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2009 16:26
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The Afghan president said Saturday he had ordered a review of a new law that critics say makes it legal for men to rape their wives, responding to criticism from around the world that included sharp comments from President Barack Obama.
The law, signed by President Hamid Karzai last month, is intended to regulate family life inside Afghanistan's Shiite community, which makes up 10 percent to 20 percent of the country's 30 million people. Under one article legislating the frequency of sexual relations between Shiite husbands and wives, husbands have the right to sex every fourth night unless the wife is ill.
The United Nations Development Fund for Women has said the law "legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband."
...
Karzai did not mention the controversial article on Saturday but said at a news conference he had studied the law earlier in the day and that "I don't see any problems with it."
He complained that Western media outlets had mistranslated it. He read an article of the law during the news conference that appears to restrict Shiite women's right to leave their homes, though Karzai underscored a provision that allows women to leave in emergencies.
Still, he said the law should be reviewed in consultation with scholars and religious leaders. "I ordered the justice minister to review the law, and if there is anything that would contravene the country's constitution or Shariah law or the freedom our constitution gives to Afghan women, without any doubt there will be changes in it, and again it will be sent to the parliament of Afghanistan," he said. "Measures will be taken."
Critics have accused Karzai of signing the law to court Shiite votes in the country's August presidential election.
Posted by: ed ||
04/04/2009
15:19 ||
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An American U.N. worker kidnapped near the Afghan border more than two months ago was abandoned by his captors Saturday, a police official said, but the militant violence plaguing Pakistan continued its relentless pace, as a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary base in the capital, killing eight.
John Solecki was taken captive Feb. 2 in the southwestern city of Quetta in Baluchistan by kidnappers who indicated they were separatists and threatened repeatedly to behead him.
Wazir Khan Nasir, a senior police official in Quetta, said Solecki was abandoned by his captors in a southern village on Saturday and was now in police custody. The U.N. could not immediately confirm his release.
Solecki's kidnappers have identified themselves as the Baluchistan Liberation United Front, suggesting a link to local separatists who have waged a long insurgency against Pakistan's government rather than to the Taliban or al-Qaida.
Posted by: ed ||
04/04/2009
15:17 ||
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#1
thank God, for a second, I thought it was our Jihad Unspun spinner.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2009 18:32
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Stung over the voting bloc's 2-to-1 support of Obama in November, the senator says to look to the new president for immigration leadership.
John McCain sounds angry and frustrated that, despite the risks he took in pushing immigration reform, Hispanic voters flocked to Democrat Barack Obama in last year's presidential contest. McCain's raw emotions burst forth recently as he heatedly told Hispanic business leaders that they should now look to Obama, not him, to take the lead on immigration.
The meeting in the Capitol's Strom Thurmond Room on March 11 was a Republican effort led by Sens. McCain of Arizona, John Thune of South Dakota, and Mel Martinez of Florida to reach out to Hispanics. But two people who attended the session say they were taken aback by McCain's anger.
Posted by: ed ||
04/04/2009
14:53 ||
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#1
Maybe Lindsey Graham will smooth this over with a Gramnesty Award or something.
#2
He should be upset considering that his support of amnesty cost him the support of most of the conservative wing of the party. He bet wrong and is upset that he lost. I can't think a time I felt less enthusiastic about the man I voted for. He was the Democrat's Republican candidate for president.
#3
it is far better to lose on substance then to win on style, during the campaign mccain displayed neither. I didn't vote for mccain, I voted against barry sotero.
#6
send "Intelligent Republican" Meghan McCain to explain. Should be entertaining at minimum
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2009 20:34
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McCain lost because he couldn't out liberal the liberals. Sucking up the the illegals is just that, bonehead and it cost you more conservative votes (of all races) than you gained through your BS.
Now please go away and let some real conservatives take over.
Here comes the screams for gun control -- AK-47 seems to have been in presence
PITTSBURGH -- A man opened fire on officers during a domestic disturbance call Saturday morning, killing three of them, a police official said. Friends said he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.
Three officers were killed, said a police official at the scene who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Police spokeswoman Diane Richard would only say that at least five officers were wounded, but wouldn't give any other details.
The man who fired at the officers was arrested after a several-hour standoff. One witness reported hearing hundreds of shots.
The shootings occurred just two weeks after four police officers March 21 in Oakland, Calif., in the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001.
Police did not immediately release the gunman's identity, but his friends at the scene described him as a young man who thought the Obama administration would ban guns.
One friend, Edward Perkovic, said the gunman feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon." Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said he feared that President Obama was going to take away his rights, though he said he "wasn't violently against Obama."
Perkovic, a 22-year-old who said he was the gunman's best friend, said he got a call at work from him in which he said, "Eddie, I am going to die today. ... Tell your family I love them and I love you."
Perkovic said: "I heard gunshots and he hung up. ... He sounded like he was in pain, like he got shot."
Vire, 23, said the gunman once had an Internet talk show but that it wasn't successful. Vire said his friend had an AK-47 rifle and several powerful handguns, including a .357 Magnum.
The officers were called to the home in the Stanton Heights neighborhood at about 7 a.m., Richard said.
Tom Moffitt, 51, a city firefighter who lives two blocks away, said he heard about the shooting on his scanner and came to the scene, where he heard "hundreds, just hundreds of shots. And not just once -- several times."
Rob Gift, 45, who lives a block away, said he heard rapid gunfire as he was letting his dog out. He said the neighborhood of well-kept single-family houses and manicured lawns is home to many police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other city workers. "It's just a very quiet neighborhood," Gift said.
#2
guy was a loser: Friends described a Richard Poplawski far different from the 22-year-old man accused of gunning down three police officers today -- a partier sometimes, a guy in search of an understanding of politics, even a walking comedian.
He was also convinced that the government wanted to take away his guns and his freedom.
"I've known this kid my entire life and he was a good kid. He never had bad intentions. He never spoke about harming anybody," said Edward Perkovic, a lifelong friend who had known Mr. Poplawski since the two paired up at a daycare.
Mr. Poplawski attended Immaculate Conception elementary school and moved on to North Catholic High School. A spokesman for the high school today said that he was expelled, but declined to state a reason.
Mr. Perkovic said his friend stopped attending classes so he could take get his general equivalency diploma then join the Marine Corps.
Records indicate that Mr. Poplawski was dishonorably discharged from the corps during basic training. Friends said he wanted out so he could rejoin his girlfriend.
apparently the PD had had several calls to the residence as well...expect the MSM to focus on somebody's assertion that he was worried about Obama's gungrabbing, though. Perhaps he also fed guns to the Messican Cartels?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2009 17:55
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ht to AOSHQ commenter Tinian for the link
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2009 17:56
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I can't understand why the rank and file citizens put up with that. Why aren't the citizens hitting these idiots over the head with bats when they come to destroy their property? Is the insurance payoff THAT good that they don't care?
Well done, sir.
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and commentator Charles Krauthammer has won the 11th annual Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Krauthammer -- a regular panelist on FOX News' "Special Report" whose weekly column in The Washington Post is syndicated in more than 200 newspapers worldwide -- won the $20,000 award for depicting "love of country and its democratic institutions," the Eric Breindel Foundation announced Thursday.
"I was surprised and extremely gratified," Krauthammer told FOXNews.com. "I was very happy when I got the call. It means a lot because I knew Eric, he was a friend of mine and he was a courageous journalist. To win an award in honor of him is extremely gratifying."
Krauthammer, 59, is also a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard and The New Republic.
Perhaps best-known for coining and developing "The Reagan Doctrine" in 1985, Krauthammer won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for commentary. The Financial Times named him America's most influential commentator in 2006. He also coined BDS "Bush Derangement Syndrome."
"So many awards in journalism and other fields are so heavily dominated by what is politically correct," Krauthammer said. "That's why it's particularly important that there be awards like the Breindel Award, which defends American values unashamedly."
Krauthammer began his journalism career in 1978 when he began contributing articles to The New Republic. He later served as a speechwriter for Vice President Walter Mondale during the 1980 presidential campaign.
Born in New York, Krauthammer was raised in Montreal, where he attended McGill University and majored in political science and economics. He later attended Oxford University and Harvard Medical School, and worked as a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1975 to 1978.
Krauthammer, who lives in suburban Maryland with his wife Robyn, said the award comes with a "twinge of sadness," because of Breindel's absence.
"Eric died tragically young," Krauthammer said. "And when you get the Breindel Award, you carry on the work of someone who you're reminded should've been here."
Breindel, a former editorial page editor of the New York Post and senior vice president of the News Corporation, died of liver complications in 1998. Past winners of the award created in his honor include Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal and Max Boot, now a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations.
"If we look at the past winners, it's for years now honored people who are swimming upstream rather than taking the easy way down, politically and ideologically speaking," Krauthammer said. "It's a special award."
The Frunze Higher Naval College in St. Petersburg, one of Russia's top military academies, is on fire, a regional emergencies ministry official said on Saturday.
"Preliminary reports say the roof of the building is on fire, with heavy smoke observed," the official said, adding that the alarm was sounded at around 10:20 a.m. Moscow time.
The college was founded by Peter the Great in 1701 and is one of the oldest naval officer schools in the world. It is still centered in the original building.
At least six paramilitary personnel were killed and five others injured when a suicide bomber struck in the heart of the Pakistani capital on Saturday targeting security forces near the United Nations office.
The suicide bomber targeted the barracks of the VIP and Diplomatic Protection Department near the Jinnah supermarket in Islamabad [Images], killing at least six, police officials said.
Though initial reports had said that there was an exchange of fire between security forces and suspected militants, but police officials clarified that Paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel had fired in panic.
The personnel have been asked to unload their weapons to prevent any further panic-firing. The market was packed with shoppers at the time of the attack. Panicked people rushed out of the supermarket causing traffic snarls on nearby roads as the police and security personnel cordoned off the area.
Security personnel have repeatedly come under attack from militants in Pakistan in the recent past.
A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle near a military convoy in Miranshah city of North Waziristan early on Saturday killing 17 people and injuring 30 others.
Gunmen had attacked a Police Training Centre in Lahore [Images] on March 30, killing 13 people, including eight security personnel. Eight people, including policemen, were killed and several others were injured when terorrists ambushed the bus of Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on March 3.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/04/2009
12:52 ||
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Chennai (PTI): A suspected LTTE cadre was arrested with some communication gadgets and night vision equipment from the city, police said on Saturday.
Based on information from central intelligence agencies, Sayanthan was held from an undisclosed place in the city last night and remanded in judicial custody, they said.
Satellite phones, GPS devices and some night vision equipment were recovered from him.
Police also arrested four persons, including two Sri Lankan nationals, on Friday and seized laptop and some satellite phones from them.
However, police declined to divulge any details regarding the arrests.
The arrests come even as police on Friday night said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had received a death threat letter suspectedly from the LTTE following which security for him has been tightened.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/04/2009
10:18 ||
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Summers earned cash last year from firms over which he now has influence
WASHINGTON - Lawrence H. Summers, the top economic adviser to President Obama, earned more than $5 million last year from the hedge fund D. E. Shaw and collected $2.7 million in speaking fees from Wall Street companies that received government bailout money, the White House disclosed Friday in releasing financial information about top officials.
Mr. Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, wields important influence over Mr. Obama's policy decisions for the troubled financial industry, including firms from which he recently received payments. Last year, he reported making 40 paid appearances, including a $135,000 speech to the investment firm Goldman Sachs, in addition to his earnings from the hedge fund, a sector the administration is trying to regulate.
The White House released hundreds of pages of financial disclosure forms, which are required of all West Wing officials. A White House spokesman, Ben LaBolt, said the compensation was not a conflict for Mr. Summers, adding it was not surprising because he was "widely recognized as one of the country's most distinguished economists."
Mr. Summers's role at the White House includes advising Mr. Obama on whether -- and how -- to tighten regulation of hedge funds, which engage in highly sophisticated financial trading that many analysts have said contributed to the economic collapse.
Mr. Summers, a former president of Harvard University, was Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. He appeared before large Wall Street companies like Citigroup ($45,000), J. P. Morgan ($67,500) and the now defunct Lehman Brothers ($67,500), according to his disclosure report. He reported being paid $10,000 for a speaking date at Yale and $90,000 to address an organization of Mexican banks.
While Mr. Obama campaigned on a pledge to restrict lobbyists from working in the White House, a step intended to reduce any influence between the administration and corporations, the ban did not apply to former executives like Mr. Summers, who was not a registered lobbyist. In 2006, he became a managing director of D. E. Shaw, a firm that manages about $30 billion in assets, making it one of the biggest hedge funds in the world.
"Dr. Summers was not an adviser to or an employee of the firms that paid him to speak," Mr. LaBolt said. He added, "Of course, since joining the White House, he has complied with the strictest ethics rules ever required of appointees and will not work on specific matters to which D. E. Shaw is a party for two years."
A review of hundreds of pages of financial disclosure forms on Friday evening offered an extensive portrait of the wealth of top officials in the Obama administration. The forms detail the salaries, bonuses and investments of the president's circle of advisers, many of whom took deep pay cuts from the private sector and sold their companies to work at the White House.
David Axelrod, who was the chief campaign strategist to Mr. Obama and now serves as a senior adviser to the president, reported a salary of $1 million last year from his two consulting firms. Over the next five years, according to his disclosure form, he will get $3 million from the sale of the two firms, which provide media and strategic advice to political clients. He listed assets of about $7 million to $10 million, and reported a long list of Democratic clients and a few corporate concerns, including AT&T and the Exelon Corporation, a nuclear energy company.
The disclosure forms also shed further light on the compensation received by a top Obama aide who previously worked for Citigroup, one of the largest recipients of taxpayer bailout money. The aide, Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, received more than $7.4 million from the company from January 2008 to when he joined the White House this year.
That money included a year-end bonus of $2.25 million for work in 2008, which Citigroup paid him in January. Such bonuses have prompted political controversy in recent months, including sharp criticism from Mr. Obama, who in January branded them as "shameful."
The White House had previously acknowledged that Mr. Froman received such a year-end bonus and said he had decided to give it to charity, but would not say what it was. The administration said Friday that Mr. Froman was working on giving the $2.25 million to a combination of charities related to homelessness and cancer, which took the life of his son this year. More "Change we can believe in." Balance at the link.
SWAT: The spokesman of outlawed Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Muslim Khan said the incident of flogging a girl did not take place in Swat.
Talking to media, Muslim Khan said the act is in accordance with shariah but this was not happened in Swat. He said the punishment awarded to woman was just as the woman was loose character but the incident shown in video was another one.
Khan said no one would allow to interfere in shariah and if any man or woman commit sin, we will punish them according to shariah. Peace is directly related with imposition of Islamic laws.
He termed the video played on media yesterday as fake and said we will punish the man who filmed the video whenever we catch him. We could not follow west, he further added.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/04/2009
09:02 ||
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#1
That is took place on the planet at all, in the name of the ROP (spit), is an indictment of all the rest of us...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/04/2009 12:09
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All I saw was a bunch of muzzie sickos getting their rocks off whipping some poor girl..
Fits right in with a pedophile top dog prophet.
After video clips of a 17-year-old girl being flogged in public by Taliban fighters in Pakistan's Swat valley were shown on TV, India's Islamic scholars denounced it as "un-Islamic" and "satanic" and condemned it as "gross violation" of Quranic codes.Renowned Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan spoke out strongly against the incident and added that if anything, the act was absolutely "un-Islamic - even satanic"."This kind of treatment is neither Islamic nor human. In fact, not only is it un-Islamic and inhuman, but also satanic," Khan, who has authored over 200 books on Islam, told IANS."The first thing that should be done is to educate people, develop ethical values, sensitivity towards women and treat them equally. Society can be reformed through education - punishment (of the perpetrators) can never be the starting point for any kind of reform or change," he added.
Similarly, Mushirul Hasan, vice chancellor of the Jamia Millia Islamia university, condemned the incident saying that it was a wrong portrayal of Islam, which preaches exactly opposite of what the Taliban were seen doing to the hapless young girl."I am horrified. This (incident) is a gross violation of Islamic and Quranic injunctions which teaches humanity, love, peace and magnanimity," Hasan told IANS.The dangers of imposing Sharia laws in Pakistan's restive Swat Valley were brought into sharp focus Friday with the airing of a two-minute video showing a 17-year-old screaming, burqa-clad girl being whipped by Taliban fighters for coming "out of her house with another man who was not her husband".The grainy video, shot on a mobile phone, showed the girl face down on the ground. Two men held her arms and feet while a third, a black-turbaned man with a flowing beard, whipped her repeatedly.
Salima Khan, a student doing her PhD in Delhi University, said that she literally boiled in anger after seeing the video clip on YouTube, the popular video sharing website and then again on TV."I can't believe how anybody can humiliate and beat up an innocent young girl in the name of religion. And what was her fault - that she was seen with a man who was not her husband! Who in their right state of mind would ever dare to do such a dastardly act?"Such acts just show how Islam has been grossly misinterpreted by a handful of people who are using it as a tool to serve their own cause," Salima said angrily.
On YouTube, the video received thousands of hits overnight and a barrage of comments.
One of the comments read: "These people (Taliban) should be given a taste of their own medicine. They should be whipped in public for maligning the name of Islam and inflicting torture on poor, helpless women".Another comment from an Indian woman read: "Thank God I was born in India and not there (Swat valley). There they treat women like animals - no, even worse. To live a life like that seems like sheer hell."However, the authorities of Darul Uloom, one of the most renowned seminaries in the Deoband town of western Uttar Pradesh, chose to keep mum.
Maulana Abdul Khaleeq Madrasi, pro vice chancellor of the seminary, told IANS: "We cannot give any statement on the matter from the institution as we don't know the details at the moment".India has an estimated 140 million Muslims, the third largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan.
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04/04/2009
08:58 ||
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For a moment, Reuters' headline had me thinking that 'gunman-medic' might be an actual job description in Gaza
Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinian gunmen in a confrontation near a border fence in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Palestinian medics said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed troops had shot at several gunmen in northern Gaza, and hit two of them. Palestinian rescue workers said they recovered two bodies at the scene and brought them to hospital. One of the slain gunmen belonged to Islamic Jihad and another to a renegade militant group called the Popular Resistance Front Committees, members of both groups said.
In what a federal judge called a betrayal of his country and fellow service members that stretched from San Diego to the Persian Gulf and London by way of Connecticut, a former U.S. sailor was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.
Hassan Abu-jihaad was a signalman on the guided missile destroyer USS Benfold when his San Diego-based battle group was ordered to the gulf to participate in operations against Iraq, the Taliban and al-Qaida. A jury convicted him in March 2008 of providing terrorist sympathizers who ran a London-based Internet business with classified information on his battle group's movements, which could have made it vulnerable to attack. Abu-jihaad was prosecuted in New Haven federal court because his e-mails were routed through computers in Connecticut. Judge Mark R. Kravitz said Abu-jihaad's actions were a "fundamental betrayal of your county and your oath" that endangered the United States and his shipmates.
Abu-jihaad, 33, a divorced father of two, converted to Islam in 1995 and lived in Phoenix. Prosecutors said Abu-jihaad, which means "father of holy struggle" in Arabic, sent e-mail to two computer experts accused of running Azzam Publications, the al-Qaida-connected Internet business in London in 2000 and 2001.
In arguing for the maximum sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Nardini said Abu-jihaad in e-mails praised the October 2000 terrorist suicide attack on the USS Cole -- in which 17 sailors died -- as effective psychological warfare and a "martyrdom operation." "He believed that dying in a fight against the United States would make him a martyr," Nardini said. "It's a twisted mind-set." Abu-jihaad, who did not address the court at is sentencing, said through his attorney that he maintains his innocence.
Abu-jihaad's actions were revealed when British authorities searched the home of Babar Ahmad, who ran Azzam Publications with Syed Talha Ahsan. The two British citizens were arrested in 2004, and U.S. authorities are trying to extradite them. The case is now before the European Court of Human Rights.
The New Haven jury also convicted Abu-jihaad, born Paul R. Hall, of material support of terrorism, which also carried a maximum sentence of 10 years. Kravitz overturned that conviction last month, citing reasons "largely related to the language" of the applicable federal law.
Nora R. Dannehy, acting U.S. attorney for Connecticut, said Friday that prosecutors had not decided yet whether to appeal Kravitz's decision on the dismissed charge. Dan LaBelle, one of Abu-jihaad's attorneys, immediately filed an appeal after he was sentenced Friday
Meanwhile, terrorists gun down two in front of their home
Thai security officials shot dead two terrorists suspected separatist militants during a gunfight Saturday in the restive southern border area, police said.
They said about 100 soldiers and police had surrounded a house in Narathiwat, one of three Muslim-majority provinces wracked by five years of unrest, after a tip-off that militants were inside. After a 15-minute exchange of fire between authorities and seven terrorists militants, police arrested one and said two others had been killed, adding that four gunmen had fled. One policeman was also wounded, they said.
The incident followed the deaths of two other men overnight in nearby Pattani province, police said. A 60-year-old Buddhist man and his 18-year-old nephew were killed in front of their home in a drive-by shooting, they said.
An otherwise boring sports story, one of those internet flash in the pan things. Newspaper copies & pastes from a blogger and has a national hit story. Blogger complains and gets this response: [my bold]
Dave,
We had a copy of the email from another parent, but apparently copied the version from your site without credit. That was a mistake and we apologize for that. We should have used our own copy. If it's any consolation, this kind of thing happens to us often. We don't like it, which is another reason we should have been more careful.
AP picked up the story from us, which is we you're seeing the credit on other sites. The LA Times and other sites credited the Herald. So, according to the editor himself, the practice is widespread. Wonderful. And these are the newspapers that everyone is supposed to band together and support during our hour of need?
PAKISTAN'S top Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud has reportedly claimed responsibility for the shootings at an US immigration services centre in New York state that killed 13 people.
"I accept the responsibility. They were my men,'' Mr Mehsud told reporters in Peshawar on phone from an undisclosed location.
Mr Mehsud said the massacre was in revenge for the continued US drone attacks on Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The seven semi-autonomous tribal districts are known to serve as sanctuaries for al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels. The militant commander added that his men would hit US targets until Washington halted the missile strikes.
A lone killer armed with at least two handguns massacred 13 people at a citizenship centre in New York state before apparently shooting himself, police say. The slayings took place on the main floor of the American Civic Association in Binghamton, 217km northwest of New York city. The gunman, reported by media to be of Vietnamese origin, barricaded a car against the back door of the centre to prevent escape.
#1
At one point I think they had an ID on this killer - Vietnamese origin, recently lost his job at IBM. If that was correct, the killer was probably motivated by the (possibly correct) perception that immigrants had taken his job, and Mehsud is just talking. Just talking THIS time. Still plenty of excuse to Hellfire him.
#4
While the police public affairs effort has been lousy, the media has produced false info at every stage of this incident. They cannot even decide on the suspect's name. Is it Wong or Voong?
Other press errors. Suspect did not work at IBM. No rifle involved.
It is easy to second guess the police response. They did not know how many gunmen. They have NO experience with these types of crimes. It is a small department with limited resources.
The room where the shooting seems to have happened was directly off the reception area. It "appears" that all the shootings took place in a matter of the first few minutes after he made entry.
#7
What the cops had was discipline to follow stupid policies. Personally, I like disciplined cops and detest stupid policy. Change the policy, don't diss the cops, who by putting on the uniform make themselves targets every day.
#8
The problem I see is how many of the wounded bled to death in the hour police waited? What were they doing in the hour (cordon, getting translator,...). How did it help those directly in danger in the building?
Posted by: ed ||
04/04/2009 12:17
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#9
Making themselves targets everyday is part of the job. If they don't want to do that then don't become cops.
There are two parts to the "Serve and Protect" thingy and "PROTECT" is more important to the people who pay for this than the "SERVE" part, a part than can be done by just about anyone.
Like so many episodes lately, this sure looks mighty yellow to me.
#11
Hiding behind a vehicle for an hour isn't exactly "making themselves targets". And screw policy, when it's time to act, real men act. We can discuss the reprimands and demerits after the bad guy is dead.
#12
Steyn makes the point: why call 911 to have the police arrive in three minutes but hang back for an hour?
I know this wasn't a doughnut break, but still.
Seems to me we're also seeing an uptick in idiots calling 911 over trivial things like being charged the wrong order at a fast food joint. Brings a whole new meaning to "Protect (eh, not so much) and Serve (my french fries are cold!)
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/04/2009 13:55
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#13
What struck me as odd in the press reports was the pictures of the vigil with Muslim women holding candles in a church. As a Viet Namese immigrant, he reportedly had spent some time at the Civic Center before moving to California in about 1998. He supposedly was ridiculed over his poor English and was an angry loner, returning to the area in the last few years. Why?
#14
Thanks for that link Parabellum. I was thinking about that very subject for the last few days, and remembered that article, but never got around to looking it up.
#16
Note that the cops hung back for an hour before entering the facility, by which time many of the seriously wounded were probably dead. These cops acted as if their responsibility was to wait for the crime to be carried out and then investigate it. The truth is that not every security officer will value your life as much as he does his own. Columbine wasn't the first instance of cops standing by while a massacre was being carried out, and these Binghamton cops are proof-positive that it's not the last. This is why it's better for people to protect themselves with firearms rather than rely 100% on the cops to do so. Because your instinct for self-preservation will always be stronger than a cop's instinct to rush into the unknown at the risk of his own life.
The death of the eurozone has been grossly exaggerated despite growing strains in the bond markets, where governments plan to raise the trillions needed to pay for their economic recovery plans, a top EU official insisted on Monday.
The spread between interest rates on debt issued by high-deficit eurozone countries compared to low-risk German government bonds widened last week to the highest levels since the eurozone was formed in 1999.
The eurozone's detractors have long argued that the bloc would not be able to hold together if the divergence between the interest euro governments pay on their debt grows too large.
EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia on Monday insisted that the move in the markets was not an ominous sign that the shared-currency bloc would break apart.
"I am not worried at all by those who have announced for 10 years in a row that the euro area will split. Honestly, I don't think that this is a real hypothesis," he told reporters in Brussels.
"It is normal that the market assess the risks. So the existence of a spread in euro area government bonds is logical because not all members of the euro area have the same fiscal position over the medium- to long-term," he said.
#6
Actually, carrying large amounts of cash is evidence of being a drug dealer, the courts have ruled. Thus, your cash can be siezed until you can prove its source. You might say, but wait, the Fourth Amendment protects me: but no. The courts have ruled it's the state vs. your property, not the state vs. you, so your rights don't apply.
All for victory in the War Against Drugs! Twenty years of constant success and still going strong!
#7
$50 will barely cover the tab at the airport bar during a layover (especially if you toss in a couple of those $7 Mickey D hamburgers because you didn't get any food on the plane and even those things are starting to look good).
#8
All cash belongs to the government - just look on it, it says United States of America all over it and almost nevers says your name.
The interpretational contortions the courts have gone through to justify this, McCain-Feingold, Kelo, anything based on the Commerce clause, etc. just boggle the rational mind.
#11
So now not only will TSA target old ladies to check their shoes, they're all over English speaking cooperative well dressed folks with a few bucks in their pocket.
While we can't profile any suspicious folks, no that's not PC. Yeah makes perfect sense.
Posted by: Jan ||
04/04/2009 12:54
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#12
The transformation of America into a third world country continues.
#13
When you travel, you had better carry enough cash to get out of any country quick if it is unstable or otherwise. This is encroaching on the state department as the US citizen abroad that can evacuate him/herself is one less strain on the state department if SHTF. Also people may want to keep money on them seeing what the banks are going through.
#14
Also people may want to keep money on them seeing what the banks are going through.
Posted by newc
When I was a young fellow it was fairly common to hear stories of old folks passing away and cash being found in Mason jars in the barn or hidden away in the house. They had lived through "Bank Holidays", FDR, and the gold grab. Impetuous youth that we were, we all laughed and shook our heads at the time. No laughing matter today however.
The New York Times Co. has threatened to shut the Boston Globe unless the newspaper's unions swiftly agree to $20 million in concessions, union leaders said.
I thought progressives liked unions ...
Executives from the Times Co. and Globe made the demands Thursday morning in an approximately 90-minute meeting with leaders of the newspaper's 13 unions, union officials said. The possible concessions include pay cuts, the end of pension contributions by the company and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees now enjoyed by some veteran employees, said Daniel Totten, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild, the Globe's biggest union, which represents more than 700 editorial, advertising and business office employees.
The concessions will be negotiated individually with each of the unions, said Totten and Ralph Giallanella, secretary-treasurer of the Teamsters Local 259, which represents about 200 drivers who deliver the newspaper.
Pinchy is threatening the Teamsters? That isn't going to end well.
"We all know the newspaper industry is going through great transition and loss," said Giallanella. "The ad revenues have fallen off the cliff. Just based on everything that's going on around the country, they're serious."
Catherine Mathis, a Times Co. spokeswoman, declined to comment. Globe publisher P. Steven Ainsley also declined to comment.
The newspaper industry, which had already been struggling as readers and advertisers moved to the Internet, has been hard hit by the recession, and the Globe is no exception. The newspaper's advertising revenues have declined sharply in recent years; once robustly profitable, it is now losing money.
Earlier this week, the Globe newsroom completed cutting the equivalent of 50 full-time jobs. But the deteoriating economy has made the paper's financial outlook much worse. Management told union leaders Thursday that the Globe will lose $85 million in 2009, unless serious cutbacks are made, according to a Globe employee briefed on the discussions. Last year the paper lost an estimated $50 million, the employee said.
The Times Co. is seeking concessions from the union because the New York company, which is also suffering from the recession, can no longer subsidize the Globe's losses, said the Globe employee who requested anonymity because the person is not authorized to speak publicly. The Times Co. posted a net loss of $57.8 million in 2008.
#2
I love the way newspapers refuse to comment on their own issues. What about the people's right to know?
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/04/2009 8:20
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#3
There is no right to know anything more than they want you to know - its about power. That's why in the end, this media will continue to kill them with each new generation accessing it.
According to the accounts of sources inside the room, President Obama told the CEOs exactly what he expects from them, and pushed back forcefully when they attempted to defend Wall Streets legendarily high paying ways.
From the White House, there were five principal attendees:
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who arrived a few minutes late,
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner,
Council of Economic Advisers chair Christina Romer,
Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett and
Director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers.
Uncharacteristically, Summers said almost nothing, and it appeared to one participant as if he had been told to remain silent.
To break the ice, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon offered Geithner a fake check for $25 billion, the amount of TARP money that the company has accepted. Although many of those in the room laughed, Geithner didnt keep the check.
The President entered the room a few minutes later, and made a lap of the table shaking hands and saying hello to the CEOs, several of whom he called by name.
Taking his seat at the table, the president said, "So lets get to it." He spoke for several minutes without notes, giving an overview of the economic situation as he saw it. But the first comment that made an impression on several attendees was on Wall Street salaries and bonuses.
The president spoke of public outrage over the high flying executive lifestyle. "The anger gentlemen, is real," Obama said. Take note, boys and girls, he's said this before, "The anger is real."
He urged pay reform and said rewards must be proportional and balanced, and tied to the health and success of the company.
The president described the financial system as still "fragile," and asked for cooperation from the CEOs. But he also told them he wouldnt shy away from regulatory reform. Obama wrapped up his remarks and threw the conversation open to the table, saying "So, whod like to talk?"
JPMorgans Dimon spoke first. He began by complimenting the president on the economic team hed assembled. And he said his industry needs to explain more directly to the American people that the economic recovery plans are already working. Dimon also insisted that hed like to give the governments TARP money back as soon as practical, and asked the president to "streamline" that process.
But Obama didnt like that idea -- arguing that the system still needs government capital.
The president offered an analogy: "this is like a patient whos on antibiotics," he said. "Maybe the patient starts feeling better after a couple of days, but you dont stop taking the medicine until youve finished the bottle." Returning the money too early, the president argued could send a bad signal.
Several CEOs disagreed, arguing instead that returning TARP money was their patriotic duty, that they didnt need it anymore, and that publicity surrounding the return would send a positive signal of confidence to the markets.
Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis cracked a joke at the expense of his peers whod lavished praise on the administration: "Mr. President," he said, "Im not going to suck up to Geithner and Summers like the other CEOs here have." Lewis also urged the president not to paint all the banks with the same broad brush.
The president argued thats not what the White House was doing. Indeed, earlier the same week, Obama said at a nationally televised news conference, "The rest of us cant afford to demonize every investor or entrepreneur who seeks to make a profit,"
As the meeting wound down after nearly an hour and a half, the CEOs hustled out to live television positions on the White House grounds, where many gave interviews to CNBC.
It had been a landmark day in the history of American capitalism. Unbeknownst to the financial executives, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner was also on Pennsylvania Avenue that day, meeting with Obamas auto bailout task force. Although the finance CEOs got a meeting with the president, Wagoner saw only Obamas senior advisor Steven Rattner at the Treasury Department. During the meeting, Rattner demanded Wagoners resignation.
It had been a tough day for CEOs in the nations capital. Now, to that "The Anger is Real." From his Race speech, on a level with Linclon according to the press, delivered on March 18, 2008, source provided by MSNBC
Standing before a row of eight American flags near the building where the Declaration of Independence was adopted, Obama urged the nation to break "a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years.'"
"The anger is real," he said. "It is powerful, and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races."
I'm beginning to think, since he never has known a job, he spends his day, when he is in the Oval Office, writing and writing and writing, to get just the words that school children throughout the ages will have to memorize --- He made lots and lots of money with his books..... he's an author, playing at being President.... thus, TOTUS -- his words are his, and his are the best. We're in a heap of trouble.
#2
My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.
Um, no. I like this.
via Redstate.com
So, I guess this leads to the next question, Mr. President. You say that there are pitchforks out there, and maybe there are. But are you really standing between them and the bankers?
Or are you trying to get the bankers to stand between them and you?
#4
We're kicking around interesting ideas for signs for the San Antonio Tea Party. Which will be held in Alamo Plaza, on the 15th, and will have everyone and his brother crammed into the plaza and overflowing into the streets around. Every time we get an estimation of attendance, it doubles, and then doubles the next time. This is all going to be very interesting...
That's the problem with Marxist 'scientific' history. It ignores the real record for its agenda. A later Louis would face his own massive financial crisis.
My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.
Yep, I'm sure Louis XVI said something on those lines to the First Estate and fellow ruling class. When the anger was finally manifested, all those in the ruling institutions and the institutions themselves were swept from the landscape. Maybe Obama needs to give his former peer Senator Dodd a call about whom may or may not be the target of the anger. Once the storm is released, no one is safe.
#8
Sgt. Mom -- I had WOAI on the other day -- Glenn Beck was being interviewed by a local talk show guy, (Pags) and is coming to San Antonio -- doing his TV show then, to the Alamo! That prolly just tripled that number.
#9
Quadrupled, and then quadrupled again, once Glenn Beck decided he wanted to party here; at this point, the schedule starts with his show at 4, then there will be the rally, and speakers, and all. The rest of the committee and I are battening down for next week, when the interest will really kick into high gear. Oddly enough, many of the local Tea Party volunteers are retired or former military.
#11
Does Obama have any clue that the anger is toward the A$$hats who borrowed a few trillion dollars on America's credit card and flushed it down the toilet. Obama likes spending other peoples money so much he won't even take it back when they do not want it!
The UN has appointed South African judge and former war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone to lead a fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip. Mr Goldstone will investigate alleged violations of international law during the recent conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants. According to the 'BBC', Martin Uhomoibhi, president of the UN Human Rights Council, said the mission would be independent and impartial. Goldstone will lead a four-member team, which also includes experts from Pakistan, Britain, and Ireland, in investigating "all violations of international humanitarian law" before, during and after the Israeli campaign in Gaza that ended on January 18. "It's in the interest of the victims. It brings acknowledgment of what happened to them. It can assist the healing process," Mr Goldstone said in a very impartial manner.
I see you get a fancy title and a "His Excellency" when you are chair of the UNHRC. Does it come with a sash and sprocket as well?
H.E. Mr. Martin Uhomoibhi,
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
President of the UN Human Rights Council
Room A-576
Palais des Nations
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
[Bangla Daily Star] Five militants and a civilian were killed in fresh violence in Kashmir as senior Indian officials arrived in the revolt-hit state to review security ahead of elections, police said Friday.
The militants died in gunbattles with the army in the southern district of Kishtiwar and in Kupwara in the north, closer to the de facto border dividing Kashmir between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
"Three of the slain militants were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba," a police spokesman said, referring to the Islamic group India blames for the deadly November attacks in Mumbai that left 165 people dead.
Lashkar has denied any role in those attacks.
Police said suspected militants shot dead a civilian in southern Rajouri district late Thursday.
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[ADN Kronos] By Syed Saleem Shahzad - The release of a video showing a 17-year-old girl being brutally flogged in public is a deliberate attempt to sabotage the peace deal signed with the Taliban in Pakistan's troubled northwestern Swat valley, according to North West Frontier Province's information minister, Mian Iftikhar. Which is? The flogging or the video? The video presumably records what took place, right?
The shocking two-minute video shows bearded Islamic militants - one of whom is her brother - holding the girl down as she screams out in pain. It was aired Friday on a Pakistani TV channel talk show and inflamed public opinion in the country. "We were able to acquire peace [in the Swat valley] after a very long time and such media manipulations showing a past event as recent would spoil these efforts and could drag the region once again in turmoil," Iftikhar told reporters. "Yeah. That happened a long time ago. We were all much younger then."
"How long ago?"
"'Bout 24 hours. That's all yesterday's news. Times have changed. It's time to move on."
He claims he personally visited the Swat valley to investigate the case and that the flogging occurred on 3 January, nearly five weeks before the Swat peace deal was signed on 16 February. Local Islamic courts were established a few days later. "So, y'see, you're comparing apples and oranges and stuff."
Iftikhar is the leader of the anti-Taliban secular Pashtun Awami National Party, which was targeted by Islamic militants during a bloody two-year conflict with security forces in the Swat valley which ended in February when they signed a controversial peace deal with the NWFP government.
"Some rules were ignored during the implementation of flogging like, it should be done behind closed doors and not in public."
The Taliban have downplayed the video. "This was an old incident which happened before the Islamic Sharia courts were constituted in the Swat Valley and even before the ceasefire was announced. It was not officially done by the Taliban but some Taliban did that in their private capacity," Taliban spokesperson Haji Muslim Khan told Adnkronos International (AKI).
Khan said the girl's flogging took place while the Taliban was fighting the Pakistani army. "We were not in a position to control each and every event and therefore some lapses happened," he said. "Nevertheless, one thing was confirmed and that is that the girl was wayward and therefore she should be punished."
The flogging occurred after a neighbour reportedly claimed the girl had a relationship with a married man. "Some rules were ignored during the implementation of flogging like, it should be done behind closed doors and not in public," Khan admitted.
Pakistan's chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has ordered Pakistan's interior secretary and the NWFP government to prepare a report on the incident by by Monday.
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[Geo News] Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Friday said public whipping of a girl in Swat does not reflect Islam. Talking to media after visiting the mausoleum of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto here in Garhi Khuda Buksh, Qureshi said tribute will be paid to the leadership of Pakistan People's Party including Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto at the meeting of Central Executive Committee. Denouncing the public flogging of a girl in Swat, he said the act is not in conformity with the teachings of Islam. The Foreign Minister said it is Pakistan's desire that the composite dialogue with India be resumed.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Now stoning...
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/04/2009 8:59
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[Bangla Daily Star] Najib Razak was sworn in as MalaysiaŽs prime minister yesterday, assuming charge of reuniting a fractured ruling party and shoring up an economy in crisis.
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[Maghrebia] At least seven people, including National Assembly speaker Messoud Ould Boulkheir and other deputies and union leaders, were injured on Thursday (April 2nd) when anti-riot police in Nouakchott dispersed an unauthorised opposition demonstration against the presidential bid of junta leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, local and international press reported. The protest was organised by the National Front for the Defence of Democracy (FNDD).
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[Bangla Daily Star] Sri Lankan troops captured a key village from the Tamil Tigers yesterday after heavy fighting that left at least 44 guerrillas dead while another 13 rebels were killed elsewhere, the military said.
Troops moved into Anandapuram, which the rebels had been using as a logistics base, after intense clashes on Thursday, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had been putting up stiff resistance to prevent the army taking the village, the spokesman said. He said two senior LTTE leaders were among 44 rebels killed in Thursday's fighting.
In another confrontation, police commandos killed 13 Tiger rebels in the eastern district of Ampara on Friday, the military said.
On Thursday Sri Lankan troops killed 34 Tamil Tiger separatist rebels during fierce fighting in the island's north in a drive to end a 25-year-old civil war, the military said.
Troops collected the bodies of 31 rebels after intense clashes near Puthukkudiyiruppu, the last township held by the Tamil Tigers inside a tiny, shrinking territory, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said. Soldiers also recovered 50 assault rifles and communication equipment, he said. The military also ambushed and killed three rebels who infiltrated Viswamadu, a village previously captured by government forces, the military said in a statement.
The Tiger guerrillas are battling to hold back a military assault that has pushed them into a 20 square kilometre (eight square mile) patch of land in the northeast of the island.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] UN Secretary-General renews a call on Sri Lanka's rebel leaders to provide for the trapped civilians in the island's north to leave the conflict area.
Ban Ki-moon in a statement on Friday told the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leaders that the severe restrictions that the rebel group has imposed on the civilians violate the international law on the freedom of movement.
"The secretary-general is deeply distressed by continuing reports from the Vanni region of Sri Lanka that civilians are at extreme risk, with heavy casualties," and the LTTE rebels "are keeping civilians in a very small area of active conflict against their will," the statement said.
"While some have been able to leave or escape, reliable reports indicate that the LTTE have prevented others from leaving, including by firing at them," it added.
"At the same time, the secretary-general again reminds the government of Sri Lanka of its responsibility to protect civilians in war zones, and to avoid the use of heavy weapons in areas where there are civilians, as promised," the statement further said.
The statement also said that the Sri Lankan government should receive and treat displaced people in accordance with international law and "work closely with the United Nations in meeting the protection and physical needs of displaced persons."
Elsewhere, the statement said, "The secretary-general also deplores the forced recruitment of civilians, particularly children" by the rebel group.
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WASHINGTON - US Congress supporters of Myanmars democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi pleaded Friday to keep sanctions on the military regime as a key senator said efforts to isolate the junta had failed. President Barack Obamas administration is reviewing strategy on Myanmar, also known as Burma, whose ruling junta has crushed dissent and kept Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 19 years.
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 17 members of Congress said they were greatly concerned by indications that the United States was considering lifting sanctions on Myanmar. The lawmakers, led by longtime Aung San Suu Kyi champion Joseph Crowley, said that Myanmars leader Than Shwe had shown no desire to engage with the worlds only detained Nobel laureate. Than Shwes regime continues to perpetuate crimes against humanity and war crimes so severe that Burma has been called Southeast Asias Darfur, they wrote.
C'mon guys, we're already sucking up to dictators and thugs all over the world. What's one more bunch?
They noted that Congress approved a law last year subjecting the Myanmar junta to sanctions until it releases all political prisoners and starts dialogue on bringing in democracy. We urge you to join us in standing firmly alongside Aung San Suu Kyi and Burmas democracy movement, they said.
But Jim Webb, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Asia, said the United States needed a more constructive policy on Myanmar.
Jim Webb, as you'll see, is a 'realist' ...
Certainly the way that we approach it now I dont believe has had the results that people want it to have, Webb, a member of Obamas Democratic Party, told a luncheon at the Council on Foreign Relations. What I think we should be doing in Burma is trying to open up diplomatic avenues where you can have confidence builders... and through that process work toward some way where you can remove sanctions, he said.
So, standing on our moral principles hasn't worked, so let's suck up to the thugs instead in the name of 'progress' ...
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STRASBOURG, France -- Britain will consider sending extra troops to Afghanistan to help with security during the presidential election in August, a British government official said Friday. The temporary increase in the number of British troops could be in the 'mid to high hundreds,' a government source said.
Britain has more than 8,000 troops in Afghanistan, the second largest foreign contingent after the United States.
The official indicated that Britain had taken no decision on a permanent increase in its troops there despite pleas from US President Barack Obama for Europe to step up its contribution to the war on Taleban insurgents.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will tell other NATO leaders at a summit opening in Strasbourg later Friday that his offer of extra troops depends on other NATO countries doing their bit, the official traveling with Brown said. 'The prime minister will be making clear in the discussions that we would be prepared to offer a temporary increase in our troop numbers for Afghanistan to cover the election period,' said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'This would be subject to appropriate burden-sharing and appropriate contributions from other NATO member states.'
The official said there was a significant risk that Taleban insurgents would try to disrupt the presidential election, which is scheduled for August 20. 'A democratic Afghanistan and smooth running of the elections is clearly in our interests,' he said. 'A democratic Afghanistan helps stop terrorism on the streets of Britain.'
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[Al Arabiya Latest] In the latest outburst of religious tensions in Egypt, dozens of villagers set fire to Bahai homes after hearing on television that the village was "full of Bahais," reports said Thursday.
Angry villagers rampaged through Sharoniyah, in southern Egypt, on Monday and Tuesday, setting fire to and damaging four Bahai homes, a security official told AFP, asking not to be named.
The fires spread to two Muslim homes which were also damaged, the official said. The villagers also threatened the village's roughly 30 Bahais with death, the official said, after which all of them fled.
Police have detained six people in relation to the attacks and are questioning them as additional police were deployed in the area.
Earlier this month Egypt's ruling party agreed to allow Bahais to refrain from filling in the religion section on their identity cards and the government announced it was mulling the possibility of removing the religion section for all Egyptians.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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#1
Because they heard the Persian's story about an agent of the TSAR convincing a low IQ mullah student of a new truth that when the guy was killed over it the agent of the Tsar became his chief believer and teacher to better destabilize Persia and Iran in the Great Game?
Or was it some Jewish variant?
Its always some conspiracy in that part of the world.. Never cause and effect.
[Khaleej Times] Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told Iraqis on Friday that Al-Qaeda rebels and Saddam Hussein loyalists had infiltrated a pro-government militia that had helped to tame the country's deadly insurgency.
The premier used an hour-long interview on state-run television to say that rogue elements existed within the Sahwa, also known as the Awakening and Sons of Iraq, and that they would be hunted down and brought to justice.
"Our intelligence reports confirm that Al-Baath and Al-Qaeda have infiltrated Sahwas," Maliki told Al-Iraqiya, referring to executed dictator Saddam's political party and the notorious Islamist extremist group. "It's not a question of Shiite and Sunni conflict. It's a question of an organised armed party that is banned and wants to create problems."
Maliki's comments follow deadly clashes in Baghdad last weekend and come as the former Sunni insurgents turned government and US-funded fighters completed a transfer to Iraqi control. The violence saw two civilians killed and 15 wounded in fighting that followed the arrest of prominent Sahwa leader Adel Mashhadani on suspicion of murder and extortion.
US-backed Iraqi forces and the Sahwa, provoked by Mashhadani's detention, fought sporadic gunbattles in the ancient Baghdad district of Fadel, the worst violence seen in the capital for nearly a year.
Fighters were later ordered by the government to surrender their weapons or face reprisals.
"This is a message sent to the people taking the same path as organised criminals. No one should think that the state is not aware of their contacts," said Maliki of Mashhadani's arrest. "The day will come where everyone will have to face justice."
His speech came hours after sources told AFP that dozens of Sahwa have been arrested.
"The Iraqi security forces, during the last few days, arrested 10 members of the Sahwa in Dora, including a number under the accusation of terrorism," said Mohammad al-Gartani, one of the southwest Baghdad district's Sahwa leaders.
He claimed that the Sahwa, who were formed to help fight Al-Qaeda, were being persecuted. "We are very worried about the future of Sahwa forces, and we don't know where to go, because the government and the American forces are chasing us, and Al-Qaeda is targeting us," Gartani said.
The arrests in Dora, where the Awakening forces number about 2,450, included five Sahwa leaders.
Other commanders on Friday told AFP of further arrests. In the western Baghdad district of Ghazaliyah, former Iraqi army Lieutenant Colonel Raad Ali was one of two Sahwa arrested eight days ago--before Mashhadani's detention. "I was arrested last week under the accusation of terrorism, including killing, kidnapping and planting bombs," Ali told AFP by telephone, after being freed. "During the investigation it was discovered that the information was not true and was given by someone who is wanted. The judge understood the matter and released me immediately," he said.
The US military said earlier this week that 28 people were detained in the weekend clashes, and 14 were later released.
Security has improved dramatically since 2007, when Iraqi and US forces launched offensives against Al-Qaeda militants with the help of the Sahwa. However the government, which on Thursday completed the transfer of the Sahwa from US forces, has said only 20 percent of the total 92,000-strong militia will be employed in the security forces.
Others have been promised government jobs or training, but there are fears that amid high unemployment and a war-battered economy many of the former rebels will have few opportunities.
In a separate incident in Taji, 35 kilometres (22 miles) north of Baghdad, the US military said four alleged Sons of Iraq members were targeted from the air, leaving one dead and two wounded, on Thursday night. The statement said the men had been planting a roadside bomb.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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#1
It would surprise me if some Sahwa were not infiltrated - by Baathists and/or al Qaeda. It would surprise me if some IA units were not too. Or for that matter, infiltrated by Iranian Special Groups.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton says that Washington should consider military action against North Korea should its upcoming rocket launch hit Japan.
Bolton, who served as US envoy to the United Nations under former president George W. Bush, said he did not support a pre-emptive strike as it was unclear how serious North Korea's test would be. "But if there is a real possibility of this landing in Japan or in any populated area, then we would have to look at it very carefully," Bolton told AFP.
"The Japanese don't have the luxury of distance to see whether it's a grapefruit or a basketball or whatever," he said, referring to speculation on the size of the North Korean payload.
This is while US defense officials and the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said on Tuesday that a commercial satellite image of the Musudan-ri missile test site showed a Taepodong-2 missile with a bulb-shaped payload cover, consistent with a satellite payload, rather than a warhead.
Bolton, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has been an outspoken opponent of what he sees as a policy of rewards to North Korea led by State Department negotiators both under Bush and President Barack Obama.
Stephen Bosworth, the Obama administration's envoy to North Korea, on Friday held out hope that Pyongyang would not go ahead with the launch but said that proper 'consequences' would be requited should the launch take place.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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#1
HMMMMMM. well. in retrospect + considering the Tokyo Official's infamous proposition of CHINA TAKING OVER A FAILED AND FAILING NOKOR STATE, we shouldn't be surprised iff its NOKOR that desires war, nor attacks first.
#2
Mr Bolton, respectfully, we ARE a war with North Korea, at this moment, Forgot did you?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/04/2009 14:54
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AT WAR dammit
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/04/2009 14:55
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#4
I think we could develop a bulgogi bomb and plaster the towns with freshly cooked beef. The Army would be so busy eating they wouldn't notice our tanks driving around.
On this day in history: April 4th
1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world.
1818 - The United States Congress adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state.
1850 - Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.
1918 - Second Battle of the Somme ends.
1949 - Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
1964 - The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
1968 - Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
1975 - Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
#3
GolfBravoUSMC - Muddy Waters used to grab rides with me to escape his handlers after a night of Jamming in the ZOO BAR. His managers (some fat wimmin) would get used to him stepping out in the alley with me for breaks then near the end of the last set he would step in the alley and my car would be there and off to whatever parties where they were not...
I liked Muddy.. a real character..
#5
testosterone The Mircette regime reduces the daily estrogen dose from the commonly prescribed 30-35 mcg level to the 20 mcg level, while maintaining cycle control and a favorable tolerability profile. The 1968 pandemic, was also weight gain on mircette a mild pandemic. More Information Avoid smoking. Abdominal/Pelvic Pain or Distention I usually skip the last 7 pills in a pack because i had thought that they were all inactive.
The wife and children of the North Korean trade representative in Shanghai have recently defected from the North to the South, it emerged Thursday. The woman, identified only as Ri, arrived in Seoul in early March through the South Korean Embassy in Singapore and is now going though questioning like other North Korean defectors, North Korean sources said.
Ri reportedly sought protection at the embassy in Singapore in January while her husband was in Pyongyang for a meeting. She decided to defect to South Korea after a troubling incident two years ago when a junior official accused her husband of spying, sources said. Her defection route has not been independently confirmed.
The North Korean trade commission in Shanghai was established after Kim Jong-il's visit to China in 2001 and its main task is to take care of North Korean businessmen and restaurants in Shanghai.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2009
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She takes her kids and defects while hubby is back in Pyongyang.
That certainly eliminates him the messy necessity of a divorce....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/04/2009 0:57
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] As world leaders wrapped up on Friday an economic summit in London aimed at tackling the global financial crisis, a number of them took the opportunity to touch on another contentious issue by calling Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and urging him to work towards a two-state solution.
Chancellor Angel Merkel phoned the new premier and underlined Germany's commitment to strong relations with Israel, but called on Netanyahu to support the peace process with the Palestinians.
According to the chancellor's spokesman Thomas Steg, Merkel stressed German hope that the new Israeli government will continue to support international efforts and agreements aimed at arriving at a two-state solution.
Her comments were echoed by British Prime Minister Gordan Brown, who also phoned Netanyahu a short time later, AFP reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Their economies are collapsing. Soon the irate citizenry, following the old European tradition, will be voting fascists into power. But they still find time to address the Jewish Problem. That's dedication for you!
Chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan in Swat, Mullah Fazlullah, returned to Imam Dheri Markaz -- a madrassa that was previously used by him as his headquarters -- on Friday after staying away from the place for two years.
Fazlullah addressed those who had gathered there for Friday prayers, after Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi chief Sufi Muhammad delivered the Friday sermon. Fazlullah said his group had taken up arms for the enforcement of sharia, but "we have now lay down our weapons with our goal achieved". He said the Taliban had 'utmost faith' in Sufi Muhammad.
He told the gathering that NATO forces could not stay in Afghanistan if their supplies were cut off through the Torkham route.
Referring to recently established qazi courts in Swat, Fazlullah said the TTP wanted qazis to make decisions in light of the holy Quran and Sunnah.
He claimed that the people of Swat had 'voiced their support' for the implementation of sharia, but around 240 of them had also lost their lives in the process. The TTP chief said he was not sure if he would return to his former headquarters again. "Life and death are in the hands of Allah," he said, adding that the movement for the implementation of shariat would continue even if he died.
Separately, the Malakand commissioner said all 'unnecessary' checkposts had been removed from the district.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Beirut Daily Star: Region] The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Friday announced a project to step up help to the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur following last monthŽs expulsion of 13 international aid agencies. The plan envisages ŽŽurgent and continued aid services,ŽŽ help for refugees to go home and rebuilding in the war-torn western region.
More ammo for the widows!
Posted by: Fred ||
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A WaPo reporter praises Colombia. Will wonders never cease ...
Can the United States take the lessons of Iraq to the faltering war in Afghanistan?
The question loomed over the Obama administration's review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which concluded with the president's recent decision to dispatch thousands of additional troops, eliminate insurgent sanctuaries and internationalize a conflict that is increasingly viewed as America's problem.
But there is a more apt -- and more successful -- model than Iraq. And you'll find it much closer to home. If you want to roll back a homegrown insurgency inflamed by a pesky neighbor, millions in drug profits and a weak central government, Colombia offers a far better classroom for learning how to beat the Taliban.
I lived and worked in Colombia as a correspondent for The Post from 2000 to 2004. At the time, only the capital, Bogota, was spared the horrors of a war marked by massacres with machetes, machine guns and even stones that made it one of the most gruesome conflicts I've witnessed. Today, assisted by billions of dollars in U.S. military and development aid, the Colombian government has pushed a Marxist insurgency deep into the jungles where it was born four decades ago. Isn't that what Obama wants to accomplish in Afghanistan?
The conflicts in Colombia and Afghanistan share far more similarities with one another than either does with Iraq, which I covered in 2003 and 2004. The Taliban have caves and Colombian guerrillas their triple-canopy jungle and mountain hideouts -- terrain far more useful to insurgencies than Iraq's desert. Afghanistan's opium poppies fund the Taliban, just as coca fuels Colombia's guerrillas. As Pakistan does for the Taliban, Venezuela and Ecuador provide sanctuary to Colombia's insurgents.
Perhaps the most important parallel, though, is the lack of a strong central government. Colombia's government has rarely held sway beyond Bogota's nearly two-mile high plateau, and the frail Karzai administration in Kabul has a similarly short reach. As a result, Colombia has relied on brutal paramilitary forces to support a weak army, alienating much of the population in the process. In Afghanistan, that role is played by U.S. forces, which, although by no means as savage as the Colombian irregulars, have cost Afghanistan's government support among a people famously hostile to foreign invaders.
Here is where he goes off the rails a fair bit, though he acknowledges the most important point later. That point is this: the Uribe government does indeed have far better popular support, and that is precisely why it has been able to contain and push back FARC, even as it has also contained and disarmed (mostly) the far-right irregulars who also plagued Colombia, and for mostly the same reasons. It's precisely because the Colombian people said, 'enough', that the country has some semblance of law and order. Afghanistan hasn't reached that point.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The United States will push for new U.N. sanctions against Iran later this year if President Barack Obama's effort to improve relations fails to stop Tehran from pursuing its nuclear program, U.S. diplomats said late on Thursday.
But plans for a fourth round of international sanctions will remain on hold at least until after Iran's presidential elections in June, diplomats added.
Earlier this week, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Western powers should not rush to impose new sanctions on Iran at a time when Tehran has a good chance to move to normal ties with Washington.
There are hopes in Washington and other Western capitals that a moderate will win the Iranian election and seize upon Obama's recent offer of new diplomatic engagement with the Islamic Republic.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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#1
I love hearing about sanctions, isn't that where the ruling classes with hold necessities from the commoners so they don't have to do without?
Great plan jackasses, it always worked so well in the past.
#2
Sanctions have only worked when stringently enforced. Iran has a rich primary network, Russia, China, etc, as well as an ample underground network of suppliers. Finally, the loophole of "dual use" technology has never been closed. Crunch time approaches ...
[Al Arabiya Latest] United States President Barack Obama warned Europe on Friday that it should not expect the U.S. to carry the burden of fighting a campaign against global terrorism, stemming from Afghanistan, alone, in a press conference with his French counterpart ahead of a key NATO summit.
The 60th anniversary of the NATO summit came fresh off the heels of the Group of 20 summit in the United Kingdom, where heads of state wrangled over the financial crisis, and was set to be dominated by talks on Afghanistan, Russia and Iran.
As London recovered from days of pro-justice protests, demonstrators in France and Germany, where the NATO leaders were set to meet , vowed to disrupt the summit.
On Thursday, police clashed with hundreds of protesters in Strasbourg, repeatedly firing tear gas and rubber bullets. French police said they had arrested 300 youths during the clashes. Protests were also carried out in Germany but no incidents were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
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US can´t fight terror alone, Obama tells Europe
And, since Europe won't help us, we quit.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/04/2009 0:11
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I was wondering if that was the message ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2009 0:15
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Ya ain't gonna get no help from that bunch of pussies, sonny-boy.
[Kyodo: Korea] The Japanese government went on heightened alert on Saturday ahead of North KoreaŽs imminent launch of a communications satellite, which Japan sees as a cover for test-firing a long-range ballistic missile. The Self-Defense Forces have readied themselves to shoot down the launch vehicle if it is seen falling toward Japanese territory. The projectile is expected to fly over northeastern Japan after the launch, which North Korea has said will take place sometime between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. between Saturday and Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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The Japanese people appear to be pretty upset over this launch too.
[The News (Pak)] Taliban militants holding the Canadian woman Khadija Abdul Qahaar in North Waziristan tribal region on Friday circulated a pamphlet threatening to kill her if their demand for ransom was not met by tomorrow (Sunday).
The militants had earlier set March 31 deadline while demanding 2 million dollars ransom. Subsequently, they extended the deadline to April 3. Now they have warned that the new deadline of April 5 is final.
In a hand-written pamphlet, circulated in parts of North Waziristan by an unknown organisation "Gumnam Mujahideen-e-Islam," (Anonymous fighters for Islam), the militants alleged the Canadian woman was not a journalist but was sent by the government of Canada to spy on the Taliban in North Waziristan.
"We once again ask the Pakistan and Canadian governments to accept our demands by April 5, or else we will kill Khadija Abdul Qahaar because she is not a journalist and came to Pakistan on a mission to spy for the Canadian government. Under the Islamic laws, her punishment is death. Until now, not a single official of the Pakistan and Canadian governments has approached us. April 5 is the final deadline," said the pamphlet made available to The News.
It may be mentioned here that the Canadian government has reportedly refused to negotiate with the kidnappers or pay ransom. Paying ransom is said to be against the policy of Canada. In a letter, the Canadian government pledged to send its own security personnel to help the Pakistani law-enforcement agencies' efforts for the recovery of the aged woman journalist and her two Pakistani helpers. Interestingly, the Taliban accused her of being a Canadian spy and threatened to kill her if their demands were not met before expiry of the deadline.
However, despite being charged as a Canadian spy, the Taliban were ready to set her free if they were paid two million dollars. Sources close to militants in North Waziristan said the militants extended their deadline on appeals from local journalists and tribal elders. Also, there were reports that a delegation comprising local Ulema and pro-government tribal elders was sent to the Taliban commanders by the government to request them not to kill the hostage. The sources said the militants had been frustrated with cold response of the Pakistan and Canadian governments and their reluctance to pay such a huge ransom for her release.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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Promises, promises....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/04/2009 0:13
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Posted by: Herb Glavirt9234 ||
04/04/2009 19:30
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#12
That's one of the things about the West, g(r)om. People generally can say or do legal things that might anger people without getting gunned down like a Russian journalist.
[Geo News] Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has strongly denounced the flogging in public of a young woman in Swat and called for a report from the government and apprehending those involved in the heinous crime. Right. Send the Mighty Pak Army to catch 'em, President Ten Percent.
Spokesperson of the President former Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the President was shocked over this act of barbarism and had asked for a report from the government and local administration. He said that the inhuman and barbaric punishment meted out to the woman had made the heads of the people hang in shame. "For its sheer atrocity the incident will continue to haunt people and the country even in a distant age and clime", the spokesperson said. I doubt it. This is a country where acid attacks are common and male relatives bump off female relatives for showing a bit of cheek.
He said that the perpetrators of the crime had done a great disservice to humanity, religion and morality. "Such barbarism is unpardonable and cannot be tolerated; it will not be." It'll be forgotten in a week.
The spokesperson said that the militants wanted to impose a medieval and obscurantist agenda in the name of religion on the people through gun and bullets but they will not be allowed. They've already been allowed. Remember? The govt turned Swat over to them.
Farhatullah Babar said that those who provide political and moral support to the militants behind one pretext or the other should also pause and reflect as to whether this is what they want the country to degenerate into. They must come out openly in denouncing the incident unequivocally and assist in apprehending and punishing them under the law. Indeed every member of the civil society must raise his or her voice and denounce this monstriety, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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[Geo News] Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday condemned the flogging of a girl in Swat and ordered an inquiry into the incident. Talking to journalists here, Gilani said Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were the champions of the rights of women and minorities, adding that the government will bring legislation in the parliament for the rights of women. Oh, yeah. That oughta do it.
About the situation in Swat and tribal areas, the prime minister said the government was following a three-pronged strategy i.e. dialogue, development and deterrence. So howzat workin' for yez?
He said the military option is not a permanent solution and is used as deterrence only when the writ of the government is challenged. Like in Swat?
The Prime Minister said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had a mission for the country's development and socio-economic progress of masses, which was also promoted and forwarded by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed through her vision. He termed the Charter of Democracy (CoD), signed between Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and PML (N) chief Mian Nawaz Sharif, a blueprint providing the country a way forward for development. No doubt that's the first thing he and President Ten Percent think about when they get up in the morning.
The Prime Minister said Nizam-e-Adl Regulations were in vogue when Swat was a princely state, adding, in 1994 Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed had also approved these regulations. Oh. Well. In that case it's okay. Why'd they stop, by the way?
To a question about restoration of government in Punjab and the PPP's participation, the Prime Minister said the party would decide whether to sit in government or in the opposition. The Prime Minister said the government believes in the politics of reconciliation and the PPP and PML (N) were in unison on the view not to destabilize each other's government. He said the focus should be on national issues such as unemployment, poverty and law and order.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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[ADN Kronos] Suspected Taliban militants on Friday attacked a terminal holding NATO and US supplies located on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
At least five shipping containers and nine NATO vehicles were set on fire, including firefighting vans and jeeps, after militants attacked the Port World Logistic terminal with petrol bombs and rockets.
A heavy exchange of fire took place between security forces personnel and the attackers. However, all the militants managed to flee the area.
The attack takes place as the US is expected to sign a formal agreement on Friday for a new major supply route into Afghanistan. Although defence officials have declined to name that country, several Central Asian nations have recently expressed their willingness to allow US cargo supplies to transit their borders, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The US military sends 80 percent of its supplies for the Afghan war through Pakistan, including 40 percent of the fuel for its troops, according to defence department. Frequent attacks against the supplies and supply routes have forced the US military to explore alternate routes.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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#1
Really ... some suicide shipping containers (cams, gps, explosives) should take care of these goons - one way or another...
Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Sayed Zahid Hussain on Friday took suo motu notice of an incident in which a man chopped off the nose of his former wife for contracting second marriage. The CJ initiated proceedings on a report forwarded to him by LHC Registrar Syed Nasir Ali Shah. The CJ sought a comprehensive report by April 10 about what action had been taken against the accused and what treatment was being given to the victim. The action had been taken on a news report, appearing in a section of the press, that one Muhammad Hussain of Pakpattan chopped off the nose of his former wife Fatima. The woman claimed Hussain was an old man and was forcing her to live a sinful life. She got divorce through a family court and tied the knot with Hussain's relative, Mustafa. She said that Hussain entered her house accompanied by armed men and chopped off her nose. She claimed the police refused to take action against the accused and did not register the first information report. The registrar wrote that the incident was outrageous and created sensation and insecurity in the minds of the general public.
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Hundreds of tribesmen in South Waziristan's Wana headquarters ransacked government buildings in the area hours after suspected Taliban blew up a two-room state-run FM radio station on Friday.
Talking to Daily Times, eyewitnesses said authorities deployed security forces several hours after the attack. "Suspected Taliban destroyed the station during the early hours of Friday after taking away the equipment in it," local administration officials in Wana said on condition of anonymity. A tribal journalist in Dera Ismail Khan also confirmed the destruction of the radio station. "Hundreds of tribesmen took away everything they could get their hands on, including the bricks of the radio station, construction material and office equipment," the eyewitnesses added, saying no government forces had attempted to stop the people from doing so. However, they said army and paramilitary forces were deployed in the area several hours later and took control of Wana's Rustam bazaar after local residents shuttered their shops. "Nothing was left on the ground," said one resident. "I saw people taking broken bricks and office chairs," he added.
Suspected Taliban attacked the building at 2am on Friday. In the third attack on the station since its establishment in 2004, they removed all the equipment and then blew up the building. Local residents said the station had stopped airing music after being threatened by Taliban and had been broadcasting commentary on development projects, sports news and Islamic teachings for the past two years. The station had been airing six hour of programming daily, they added. According to eyewitnesses, the attackers allowed two security personnel guarding the station to leave. The tribal journalists, meanwhile, said the motive for destroying the station was still unknown. The federal government had set up a number of FM stations in different tribal regions where Taliban or Al Qaeda-linked militancy had made it difficult for independent journalists to do their jobs.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"The tribal journalists, meanwhile, said the motive for destroying the station was still unknown.'
More likely the "journalists" are completely lacking in imagination....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/04/2009 0:55
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The journos are not lacking imagination. They just imagine they'd lose their heads if they wrote the wrong thing.
#3
Napalm works well to put an end to "unlawful" radio stations. Burns the equipment, the building, and whoever is inside. I'm sure there will be a new "clandestine" TTP radio station coming on air any day now. Let it broadcast for a couple of hours, then take it out.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/04/2009 13:54
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[Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday demanded North Korea halt its "provocative" impending missile launch, in a strongly worded public challenge after North Korea's military said it would attack "major targets" in Japan if Tokyo attempts to shoot down a satellite it intends to launch as soon as this weekend.
At a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, ahead of the 60th anniversary of the NATO summit, Obama said: "We have made very clear to the North Koreans that their missile launch is provocative."
The presidents comments came after Korean People's Army (KPA) issued a statement saying: "If Japan recklessly 'intercepts' the DPRK's (North's) satellite for peaceful purposes, the KPA will mercilessly deal deadly blows not only at the already deployed intercepting means but at major targets."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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Look - they have no major defenders anymore and only a fig leaf from china...
Just destroy the place..
[Mail and Globe] Chairman Philip Hampton warned on Friday as he called for an end to "public flogging" of the state-rescued bank over its past mistakes.
Hampton rounded on the legacy of former chief executive Fred Goodwin, saying in a speech due to be delivered to shareholder meetings later on Friday that his takeover of Dutch rival ABN Amro had been the wrong deal at the wrong price.
Addressing widespread public anger over the pension of £703 000 pounds a year awarded to Goodwin, Hampton also said the bank was taking legal advice over the payout and that the contract of the new chief executive, Stephen Hester, ensured no more rewards for failure.
"Some of the practices that were accepted at the height of a boom when the bank was recording £10-billion profits, cannot be acceptable now if indeed they ever really were," Hampton said, pointing to sponsorship of Formula 1 motor racing and an order for a corporate jet that has now been cancelled.
Small shareholders in RBS will later on Friday get an opportunity to publicly vent anger over the lender's near collapse last year and are expected to make the largely symbolic gesture of rejecting the bank's report on 2008 executive pay.
The British government, which became majority shareholder in RBS last October after resuscitating the bank with a £20-billion injection of taxpayer's money, has already said it will vote against RBS's 2008 remuneration report.
"I do understand that many shareholders will wish to vote against or abstain on the advisory vote on the Remuneration Report to register their strong disapproval of the pension arrangements of our former chief executive," Hampton said.
Goodwin and RBS have been at the centre of public anger over the near collapse of Britain's banking system and protesters targeted one of the bank's branches during the meeting of G20 heads of government in London this week.
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[Bangla Daily Star] At least 15 activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) were injured in a violent intra-party clash over establishing supremacy at a dormitory at Jahangirnagar University (JU) early Friday.
Witnesses said the clash erupted as a faction of BCL led by Jihan-Palash entered the Meer Mosharraf Hossain (MMH) Hall along with 40 to 50 outsiders at 4:00 am and vandalised at least 25 rooms of the dorm. Masked and equipped with sharp weapons and firearms, the attackers made their entry through the dining room and swooped on sleeping students, said sources.
Earlier another faction led by Pritam-Sabbir drove loyalists of Jihan-Polash out of the dorm on March 10 when a bloody clash halted all academic activities on the campus for several days. The dormitory, since then, had been under the control of Pritom- Sabbir faction.
The Jihan-Palash group looted at least 70 to 80 cell phones, 2 LCD monitors and cash from the hall during the rampage. The attackers, however, fled after being chased by their rival faction. Police picked up five BCL men after the clash.
During the clash, Belal, a fourth year student of anthropology department, was stabbed. The other injured students include Tanmoy, a 3rd year student of Bangla, Roni, a 2nd year student of economics, Shubroto, a 3rd year student of economics, Joy, a post-graduate student of economics, Liton, a 2nd year student of economics, Mamun, a post-graduate student of economics, and his guest Sayem.
Belal was referred to the Central Hospital after his condition worsened while others were referred to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital and Enam Medical College and Hospital.
General secretary of recently dissolved BCL JU unit Mahmud Naser Joni said the attackers were not BCL men.
Police raided Meer Mosharraf Hossain Hall at 6:45am and arrested Sajib, Tofa, Saer, Shawan and one unidentified person. The law enforcers also recovered three sharp weapons from the dormitory. Additional police forces have been deployed on the campus to avert further trouble.
Proctor of JU Arju Miah told the Daily Star they would form a committee to look into the matter and gave assurance that authorities would take stern actions against those responsible for the attack and looting.
No case had been filed till filing of the report at 5:00 pm yesterday, Officer-in-charge of Savar Police Station Shafiqul Islam said.
The BCL university committee was dissolved on February 17 following a series of clashes over establishing supremacy at residential halls.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] American pop star Madonna will not be allowed adopt a second child in Malawi, the southern African countryŽs High Court ruled on Friday. Rights groups have accused Malawian authorities of giving her special treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#4
Not that there are plenty of other available candidates around the world, let alone her home of residence. If it's all about appearance darling, you clearly show privileged whites buying Africans again. Betcha she didn't vote for Bush [implying that those who spent their time and energy denouncing the man are primarily people who practice - one set of rules for me and another set of rules for thee.]
#6
Besoeker,
do you like actual candy or her 2007 album hard candy? i think the lyrics go something like come on in to my shop, ive got suckers and so much more!! eeewW!
#8
She should just fund an orphanage and be done with it but THAT'S NOT HER GODDAMN FUCKING INTENTION TO ACTUALY HELP AFRICAN CHILDRENso yes Procopius2k got it spot on
Posted by: Boss White ||
04/04/2009 18:42
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#9
or it could be presumed she she's little David like a pet animal, get another of the same to keep it company and happy - fuck I hate this bitch
Posted by: Boss White ||
04/04/2009 18:47
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#10
Why don't you tell us how you really feel, Boss?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/04/2009 19:05
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#11
Mind the blood pressure Boss old boy. You'd hardly be the first fellow to keel over at the keyboard.
[The News (Pak)] Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that the Elite Force should be prepared to eliminate terrorism, extremism and militancy and, for this purpose, its training as well as provision of modern weapons should be ensured keeping in view the present situation.
Presiding over a meeting at the Elite Police Training School, Baidian, here on Friday, he said that all possible resources would be provided to the force for curbing heinous crimes, protecting life and property of people and creating a sense of security among them.
The chief minister said the Elite Force was established to eliminate heinous crimes and it should be used only for this purpose, adding that a formal legislation should be introduced in this regard. He issued directions that the Elite Force officials, deployed at various places, should be called back and best training should be provided to those deputed on the security of VIPs and the colour of their uniform should be changed.
Shahbaz said an audit system should be evolved for checking the performance of officials getting training from the Elite Police Training School, which would not only help improve their performance but also remove their shortcomings. He said 500 assistant sub-inspectors, selected by the Punjab Public Service Commission, should be trained at the school after completion of their training at Sihala to further improve their performance.
He said the Elite Police should always remain on high alert to cope with terrorism and they should evolve their own effective intelligence system, maintaining close liaison and consultation with the departments concerned.
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04/04/2009
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#1
To be trained for counter-terrorism is also to be trained for terrorism, I should think.
CARACAS - A Venezuelan ex-defense minister who resigned President Hugo Chavez's government to join the opposition was placed under 'preventive arrest' Friday while he is investigated for alleged corruption, his lawyer said.
Former general Raul Baduel was arrested Thursday and released pending a hearing before a military tribunal that on Friday put him behind bars while prosecutors prepare to officially charge him in about a month, attorney Omar Mora told reporters. 'They can't say 'I'll keep this person in detention because I'll be charging him in 30 days',' he said. 'That goes against every right and legal precept.'
Baduel told reporters his arrest was carried out on Chavez's 'express orders,' and accused the president of using 'the justice system and other public offices like mercenaries to intimidate' members of the opposition.
Baduel was defense minister from 2002 to 2007, after which he resigned and joined the opposition to Chavez's leftist government.
In October Baduel was arrested and accused of withdrawing some 14.4 million dollars of funds belonging to the Armed Forces. Prosecutor Ernesto Cedeno said Monday there was enough information to support the allegations. Baduel had repeatedly stated that the charges amounted to 'political persecution' due to his fierce opposition to Chavez.
Baduel and Chavez were among the army officers that began the Bolivarian Movement within the Venezuelan military in 1983. Baduel also headed the civilian-military operation that restored Chavez to power after he was briefly ousted in a 47-hour coup in April 2002.
Mora said the case against his client is 'arbitrary' and 'riddled with mistakes.'
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[Bangla Daily Star] Leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League have received a few crore taka brokering illegal admission of freshmen to government colleges in the capital. They obtained the money mainly from students on the waiting lists and the ones who failed to qualify in the freshmen admission tests.
The admission tests for the first-year honours programmes of colleges started early last month and will end within a few days.
According to Chhatra League leaders directly involved in this, known as "political admission", at different government colleges, they are taking Tk 20,000 to Tk 1 lakh for each admission as carrots depending on the faculty and the college's reputation. Dhaka College and Eden College top the list of institutions where political admissions are going on.
Chhatra League leaders carry out such illegal admission business with the connivance of a section of teachers, officials and employees of the colleges, sources in the institutions say. If any college official refuses to comply with Chhatra League leaders' instructions, they are threatened with transfers, according to college sources.
They said Chhatra League leaders, student wing of the ruling Awami League (AL), of Dhaka College unit persuaded the college authorities to take at least 400 "poorly qualified" freshmen in. The same thing is going on in many government colleges in the capital as well as in different districts of the country.
Eden College, Govt Kabi Nazrul College, Govt Bangla College in Mirpur, Govt Titumir College, Badrunnesa College, Teachers' Training College and Govt Shaheed Suhrawardy College are all in the grip of Chhatra League leaders, sources said.
During the last BNP-Jamaat alliance rule, leaders of their student wing--Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Islami Chhatra Shibir--were also involved in similar practices.
In Dhaka College, Chhatra League leaders halted the admission process a few weeks ago as the college authorities started admission independent of the Chhatra League leaders' so-called business. The college authorities had to negotiate with the student leaders and reach a consensus to restart admission process, sources said.
A couple of weeks ago, Eden College unit Chhatra League leaders had kept their principal confined to the college office for about three hours to force the authorities take in 50 students on the waiting list under "political admission".
Sources said students who failed to qualify in the freshmen admission test or are way down the waiting list can easily get enrolled in colleges paying the Chhatra League leaders. Moreover, students who qualified for a department but want to move to a better one can also pay the leaders and move up the list.
Talking to The Daily Star a number of Chhatra League leaders said they are engaged in this to oblige senior leaders and influential persons, including members of parliament, with their requests. "We are political workers and we have to carry out their requests," said a Dhaka College unit Chhatra League leader preferring not to be named. He, however, did not answer when asked if the senior leaders asked them to take money from the admission seekers.
In Dhaka, Kabi Nazrul and Eden colleges, the top two Chhatra League posts holders are doing this "business of political admission" while a general secretary and a president of Chhatra League units of Shaheed Suhrawardi College and Badrunnesa College are also doing.
Lawmaker Fazle Noor Tapash told The Daily Star, "I'll take stern actions against them [Chhatra League leaders] if proof is found of their involvement in such practices."
Chhatra League General Secretary Mahfuzul Haider Chowdhury Roton told The Daily Star that they have not received any allegation from any quarters regarding this. "If we receive such information, we will launch an investigation and take action accordingly," he added.
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[Bangla Daily Star] The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has decided to take statements of ministers and lawmakers who played roles in negotiating with Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) jawans involved in the February 25-26 carnage at Pilkhana BDR headquarters.
"We will soon take statements of the ministers and lawmakers to learn what the mutineers told them at negotiation meetings and over mobile phones," said a top CID official investigating the carnage, seeking anonymity.
Their statements will also help identify those BDR personnel.
Meanwhile, three more BDR jawans yesterday confessed to their involvement in the carnage before Metropolitan Magistrate Zulfikar Hayat. They are Havilder Masud Iqbal, Nayek Abdul Qaiyum and Sepoy Monirul Alam.
Earlier, six BDR members confessed to their involvement in the BDR massacre.
Sources said the investigators might talk to Home Minister Sahara Khatun, State Minister for LGRD Jahangir Kabir Nanok, lawmakers Fazle Nur Tapas, Mirza Azam and Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir.
When contacted for comments, Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Abdul Kahar Akand told The Daily Star that they may talk to the ministers and lawmakers and take their statements, if necessary, to gather information. "It is no secret that they talked to the mutineers--they were quoted in newspapers and shown on television channels," said Akand, the investigation officer of the mutiny case.
Sources said examining call lists of mobile phone operators the CID has already identified a number of BDR jawans who talked to the ministers, lawmakers and a few influential persons.
Earlier, the CID summoned Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdur Razzaq to the CID headquarters and quizzed him for over three hours.
It could not be learnt if the ministers and lawmakers will be summoned too. But CID sources said the investigators have prepared a list of politicians and other influential persons for summoning them for a hearing.
The CID sources said they had been carrying out investigation in coordination with the two committees formed by the government and Bangladesh Army to probe the BDR carnage.
Talking to The Daily Star, ASP Akand said they yesterday interrogated 13 accused BDR jawans and produced eight more jawans arrested by the Rab on Thursday from the BDR headquarters before the court. The court sent them on three-day remand.
Commerce Minister Faruk Khan yesterday said the investigators are gathering information about the involvement of more people. "Fresh evidence and clues are coming out, but those cannot be disclosed now. We hope that the investigation will end very soon," he said while addressing a reception accorded to the successful students of a coaching centre in the city.
The eight BDR members arrested Thursday were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital early yesterday for treatment. But the cause of their injuries could not be known.
Sources said Lalbagh police took the arrestees to the hospital at about 12:30am and took them back around 3:00am.
Our Rangpur correspondent reports: Rab members arrested retired BDR sepoy Mamunur Rashid at his house in north Munshipara in the town yesterday in connection with the Pilkhana carnage. They recovered a bullet and a set of BDR uniform from him.
Mamunur Rashid was terminated from job last November for violating discipline, Rab sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. court on Friday blocked the deportation of accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk, two days before he was to have been sent to Germany to face charges in the deaths of 29,000 Jews.
"It appears there will be no deportation Sunday. The immigration judge granted our motion for stay of deportation," John Demjanjuk Jr. said in an e-mail.
The order from Wayne Iskra, an immigration judge in Arlington, Virginia, said the stay would remain in effect until the question of whether his case should be reopened is decided.
Which will drag this out another year or two.
Lawyers for the 89-year-old retired automobile industry worker, who lives near Cleveland, had asked for an emergency stay, saying Demjanjuk's health was so poor he could not make the trip. They said he had spinal problems, kidney failure, anemia, was very weak and needed help to stand up or move about.
He can be executed in the sitting position. Or prone ...
The Ukraine native has denied any role in the Holocaust. He said he was drafted into the Russian army in 1941, became a German prisoner of war a year later and served at German prison camps until 1944.
He was sentenced to death in Israel in 1988 for being a sadistic guard "Ivan the Terrible" at Treblinka where 870,000 died. That country's highest court later ruled he was not "Ivan" and he returned to the United States. But U.S. officials in 2002 stripped him of his citizenship, saying that he had worked at three other camps and hid that information at his U.S. entry in 1951.
Which is enough for deportation, or at least should be.
He was ordered deported in December 2006, but remained in the country through legal challenges and because there were no demands from other countries that he be sent to them.
Last year, Germany's chief Nazi war crimes investigator, Kurt Schrimm, asked prosecutors in Munich, where Demjanjuk lived before he emigrated to the United States, to charge him with involvement in the murder of 29,000 Jews. Schrimm said his office had evidence Demjanjuk had been a guard at Sobibor and personally led Jews to the gas chambers.
Last month, Munich prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Demjanjuk and asked the United States to deport him so he could stand trial.
His son said earlier this week: "Given the amount of suffering and death that was meted out by Nazi Germany, it seems inconceivable that the Germans, who nearly killed my father in combat and again later in POW camps, now want to take him - so elderly and weak he is unable to care for himself."
Your dad was a murderer, son, you'd better get used to the idea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2009
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#1
Don't worry. The Germans wouldn't execute Hitler if he were alive today. Or Stalin for that matter.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/04/2009 0:14
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#2
Life sentence, death sentence. pshaw. His soul has an eternal sentence. That's a long time.
#6
...I lived in Cleveland while this was going on the first time and there was an interesting point that I've not seen mentioned this go-round: the possibility that this guy isn't Ivan the Terrible. He was almost certainly a KZ guard or a Kapo, but the evidence that he was Ivan was sketchy and there is a possibility that the Russians may have cooked the evidence they supplied.
Don't misunderstand me - this guy contributed to the Holocaust and as such has a very special seat waiting for him in the lowest circle of Hell. But he may not be Ivan...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/04/2009 10:17
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#7
I've read that too, Mike, so I won't shoot him for being Ivan. I'll shoot him for being a kapo ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2009 10:37
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[Al Arabiya Latest] World leaders were set to impose new financial rules on Thursday to jumpstart the sputtering global economy and triple the war chest of the International Monetary Fund to fight the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, sources at the G20 summit said, as tens of thousands of protesters from around the world gathered to demonstrate for economic justice and environmental accountability.
After sharp differences over how to restore confidence, representatives of U.S. President Barack Obama and other Group of 20 leaders agreed to submit large hedge funds to supervision for the first time and enhance regulation through a new agency and a beefed-up IMF.
Monetary and developing country sources said the latest draft summit communiqué provided for a $500 billion boost to the IMF's resources, raising to $750 billion the funds it can make available to countries worst hit by the global crisis.
"There's a lot of progress today on making sure the international institutions we have, like the IMF, have got the money they need...to be able to intervene more decisively and more urgently than in the past," British Finance Minister Alistair Darling told Sky TV.
The G20 were also close to agreeing a trade finance package worth $250 billion to support trade flows, a source at the summit in London told Reuters. Brown had been targeting at least $100 billion to help reverse the decline in trade following the credit crunch.
"This is a positive step to jump-start global trade flows. It is a significant contribution towards solving the problem," said Eoin O'Malley, senior adviser on international trade at BusinessEurope, Europe's top business group.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] The seizure of explosives from a Cypriot-flagged Iranian ship believed to be bound for Gaza has "no legal basis," Iran complained in a letter to the UN Security Council released Friday. The letter from Iran's UN ambassador Mohammad Khazaee said that the complaint was in response to "certain allegations against Iran concerning the Cypriot-flagged vessel M/V Monchegorsk."
Last month, a United Nations sanctions committee demanded an explanation from Iran and Syria as to how they were involved with the ship. At a Security Council meeting in New York, the ambassadors of France and Britain described the episode as a "gross violation" of existing resolutions banning Iranian arms exports due to its controversial nuclear program. British envoy John Sawers said the UK looked forward to the committee receiving explanations from Iran and Syria as to why the shipment was permitted by Iran as the reported state of origin and as to the involvement of Syria as the reported state of destination.
"Despite some politically-motivated allegations made by certain media and others about the cargo of the M/V Monchegorsk vessel, we wish to stress that the consignment of the said ship falls within the framework of normal trade transactions, and any allegations to the contrary are baseless," the Iranian letter stated.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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BEIJING, April 3 KYODO -- All U.S. food aid workers who were in North Korea left by the end of March, in line with an expulsion order Pyongyang issued as it rejected further shipments of food aid from Washington, diplomatic sources said Friday.
The last of the workers from U.S. nongovernmental organizations left the country early this week, the sources said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2009
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#1
U.S. aid workers leave N. Korea after expulsion order
At the double-time and failing to look back I suspect.
A would-be suicide bomber was killed on Friday when he tried to target Pakistan People's Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) NWFP President Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao in Charsadda district, police sources said. Sherpao, a member of the NWFP provincial assembly, was addressing a public gathering in Mandani area of Charsadda, at the time. A Mandani Police Station official told Daily Times the police ordered the would-be bomber to stop, who was approaching on a bicycle. They opened fire at him after he ignored repeated warnings to stop. The attacker was killed and his aide was arrested. The attacker was wearing a suicide vest, the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Geo News] As many as nine alleged terrorists have entered in Lahore, intelligence sources said on Friday. According to sources, two among nine terrorists are capable of carrying out suicide attacks while remaining seven may launch terrorist attacks parallel to Liberty and Manawan terror strikes. Alleged terrorists are aged between 20 to 22 years, sources added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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[Al Arabiya Latest] An official decree by Saudi Arabia has banned all forms of entertainment at women's charity events, according to press reports Thursday.
The Ministry of Social Affairs issued an urgent decree banning music, dancing, singing, and fashion shows at events held by women's charitable organizations, which make up 16 percent of the kingdom's 500 organizations, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported.
The decree came on the heels of the first fashion show, part of a designer contest for women, held in the kingdom last week.
Besides entertainment, the decree stipulates that all activities that contradict customs and traditions are banned. Fashion shows are only allowed if the clothes are displayed on mannequins, but no human models.
The ministry assigned its officials in each of the kingdom's 13 provinces the task of reviewing and authorizing all events organized by charitable associations and making sure the program does not include any banned activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's diplomatic bombshell Wednesday that Israel was no longer obligated by the Annapolis process, but was committed to the road map, was followed by silence on Thursday as neither Lieberman nor Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office issued directives to Israeli diplomats about how to explain the new policy abroad.
Egypt, meanwhile, responded negatively to Lieberman's obvious attempt to mend his relations with Cairo, with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issuing a statement that Egypt "did not need any party to recognize its position or role, especially from those who have previously attacked it."
Lieberman said during his speech at the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday that Egypt was an important country in the Arab world and a key factor in maintaining regional stability. In the past, he had harshly criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for refusing to visit Israel, and once said Israel could attack the Aswan Dam in case of a future war with Egypt.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2009
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#1
Since Annapolis accords were signed between my-parents-can't-spell Rice and Abu Mazen---nobody obliged to them but these two.
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.
SWAT: The spokesman of outlawed Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Muslim Khan said the incident of flogging a girl did not take place in Swat.
In what a federal judge called a betrayal of his country and fellow service members that stretched from San Diego to the Persian Gulf and London by way of Connecticut, a former U.S. sailor was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.
Meanwhile, terrorists gun down two in front of their home
[ADN Kronos] By Syed Saleem Shahzad - The release of a video showing a 17-year-old girl being brutally flogged in public is a deliberate attempt to sabotage the peace deal signed with the Taliban in Pakistan's troubled northwestern Swat valley, according to North West Frontier Province's information minister, Mian Iftikhar.
[Geo News] Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Friday said public whipping of a girl in Swat does not reflect Islam. Talking to media after visiting the mausoleum of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto here in Garhi Khuda Buksh, Qureshi said tribute will be paid to the leadership of Pakistan People's Party including Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto at the meeting of Central Executive Committee. Denouncing the public flogging of a girl in Swat, he said the act is not in conformity with the teachings of Islam. The Foreign Minister said it is Pakistan's desire that the composite dialogue with India be resumed.
[Bangla Daily Star] Sri Lankan troops captured a key village from the Tamil Tigers yesterday after heavy fighting that left at least 44 guerrillas dead while another 13 rebels were killed elsewhere, the military said.
[Iran Press TV Latest] UN Secretary-General renews a call on Sri Lanka's rebel leaders to provide for the trapped civilians in the island's north to leave the conflict area. 
WASHINGTON - US Congress supporters of Myanmars democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi pleaded Friday to keep sanctions on the military regime as a key senator said efforts to isolate the junta had failed. President Barack Obamas administration is reviewing strategy on Myanmar, also known as Burma, whose ruling junta has crushed dissent and kept Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 19 years.
STRASBOURG, France -- Britain will consider sending extra troops to Afghanistan to help with security during the presidential election in August, a British government official said Friday. The temporary increase in the number of British troops could be in the 'mid to high hundreds,' a government source said.
[Al Arabiya Latest] In the latest outburst of religious tensions in Egypt, dozens of villagers set fire to Bahai homes after hearing on television that the village was "full of Bahais," reports said Thursday. 
[Iran Press TV Latest] Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton says that Washington should consider military action against North Korea should its upcoming rocket launch hit Japan. 
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] As world leaders wrapped up on Friday an economic summit in London aimed at tackling the global financial crisis, a number of them took the opportunity to touch on another contentious issue by calling Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and urging him to work towards a two-state solution. 
Chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan in Swat, Mullah Fazlullah, returned to Imam Dheri Markaz -- a madrassa that was previously used by him as his headquarters -- on Friday after staying away from the place for two years. 
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Friday announced a project to step up help to the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur following last monthŽs expulsion of 13 international aid agencies. The plan envisages ŽŽurgent and continued aid services,ŽŽ help for refugees to go home and rebuilding in the war-torn western region.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The United States will push for new U.N. sanctions against Iran later this year if President Barack Obama's effort to improve relations fails to stop Tehran from pursuing its nuclear program, U.S. diplomats said late on Thursday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] United States President Barack Obama warned Europe on Friday that it should not expect the U.S. to carry the burden of fighting a campaign against global terrorism, stemming from Afghanistan, alone, in a press conference with his French counterpart ahead of a key NATO summit.
[The News (Pak)] Taliban militants holding the Canadian woman Khadija Abdul Qahaar in North Waziristan tribal region on Friday circulated a pamphlet threatening to kill her if their demand for ransom was not met by tomorrow (Sunday).
[Geo News] Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has strongly denounced the flogging in public of a young woman in Swat and called for a report from the government and apprehending those involved in the heinous crime. 
[Geo News] Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday condemned the flogging of a girl in Swat and ordered an inquiry into the incident. Talking to journalists here, Gilani said Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were the champions of the rights of women and minorities, adding that the government will bring legislation in the parliament for the rights of women. 
Hundreds of tribesmen in South Waziristan's Wana headquarters ransacked government buildings in the area hours after suspected Taliban blew up a two-room state-run FM radio station on Friday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday demanded North Korea halt its "provocative" impending missile launch, in a strongly worded public challenge after North Korea's military said it would attack "major targets" in Japan if Tokyo attempts to shoot down a satellite it intends to launch as soon as this weekend.
[Mail and Globe] Chairman Philip Hampton warned on Friday as he called for an end to "public flogging" of the state-rescued bank over its past mistakes. 
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 15 activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) were injured in a violent intra-party clash over establishing supremacy at a dormitory at Jahangirnagar University (JU) early Friday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] American pop star Madonna will not be allowed adopt a second child in Malawi, the southern African countryŽs High Court ruled on Friday. Rights groups have accused Malawian authorities of giving her special treatment.
[The News (Pak)] Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that the Elite Force should be prepared to eliminate terrorism, extremism and militancy and, for this purpose, its training as well as provision of modern weapons should be ensured keeping in view the present situation.
CARACAS - A Venezuelan ex-defense minister who resigned President Hugo Chavez's government to join the opposition was placed under 'preventive arrest' Friday while he is investigated for alleged corruption, his lawyer said.
[Al Arabiya Latest] World leaders were set to impose new financial rules on Thursday to jumpstart the sputtering global economy and triple the war chest of the International Monetary Fund to fight the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, sources at the G20 summit said, as tens of thousands of protesters from around the world gathered to demonstrate for economic justice and environmental accountability.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] The seizure of explosives from a Cypriot-flagged Iranian ship believed to be bound for Gaza has "no legal basis," Iran complained in a letter to the UN Security Council released Friday. The letter from Iran's UN ambassador Mohammad Khazaee said that the complaint was in response to "certain allegations against Iran concerning the Cypriot-flagged vessel M/V Monchegorsk." 
A would-be suicide bomber was killed on Friday when he tried to target Pakistan People's Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) NWFP President Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao in Charsadda district, police sources said. Sherpao, a member of the NWFP provincial assembly, was addressing a public gathering in Mandani area of Charsadda, at the time. A Mandani Police Station official told Daily Times the police ordered the would-be bomber to stop, who was approaching on a bicycle. They opened fire at him after he ignored repeated warnings to stop. The attacker was killed and his aide was arrested. The attacker was wearing a suicide vest, the sources said.
[Geo News] As many as nine alleged terrorists have entered in Lahore, intelligence sources said on Friday. According to sources, two among nine terrorists are capable of carrying out suicide attacks while remaining seven may launch terrorist attacks parallel to Liberty and Manawan terror strikes. Alleged terrorists are aged between 20 to 22 years, sources added.
[Al Arabiya Latest] An official decree by Saudi Arabia has banned all forms of entertainment at women's charity events, according to press reports Thursday.
