Villagers, many straight from their farms, and armed with machetes, sticks and axes, are shouting and crowding round in a big group in Kenya's fertile Kisii district.
I can't see clearly what is going on, but heavy smoke is rising from the ground and a horrible stench fills the air. More people are streaming up the hill, some of them with firewood and maize stalks.
Suddenly an old woman breaks from the crowd, screaming for mercy. Three or four people go after her, beat her and drag her back, pushing her onto - what I can now see - is a raging fire.
I was witnessing a horrific practice which appears to be on the increase in Kenya - the lynching of people accused of being witches. I personally saw the burning alive of five elderly men and women in Itii village.
But, will they ship 100000 pairs of surgical gloves along, so the Holy Book isn't defiled by being touched by unbelievers???
On the premise that nothing makes a better gift than a good book, a Muslim civil liberties group is launching a campaign to hand out 100,000 free copies of an expensive Arabic-English copy of the Qur'an™ to elected officials and influential policy makers.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is planning to announce their campaign at a press conference Tuesday. The group's executive director said the project was inspired after hearing people in his office heard Obama's speech to the Muslim world last month, in which Obama talked about seeking "a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world."
"When he quoted the Koran™ on the fundamental values we share such as sanctity of human life, racial Diversity™, importance of speaking the truth, we believe it was a surprise to many people not familiar with Islam," said Nihad Awad.
The hope is that by reading the Qur'an™, the central holy text of Islam, elected leaders and others will better understand Muslims and the Islamic faith and ease prejudices that have increased sine 9/11.
"One major source of Islamaphobia™ is a lack of accurate information and idea about muslims. Perhaps this will change some of that," Awad said.
The book, Awad says, is an expensive $78 version, which has Arabic text, the English translation along with English commentary. CAIR, which is subsidizing the project, is asking Muslims requesting a book to give to their local officials to pay $45 per copy.
The group is planning to issue copies to from U.S. congressmen and state governors down to the local level like police chiefs and city councils. Even if the officials don't end up actually reading the book, the group believes the act of giving the book will spark dialogue that didn't exist before.
#1
could you imagine the outcry if the bible was given..so much for sep of church and state...
Posted by: Dan ||
06/27/2009 17:35
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#2
This is hilarious. All some group has to do is publish a xeroxed, 5 page addendum, with those parts of the Koran used to justify terrible acts of murder and injustice. It could also include any number of statements from living Muslim leaders supporting the most appalling agenda around.
$70,000 should cover the cost of the xeroxes and postage.
All the elected officials would have to do is look it up to see that the xerox was right.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2009 18:03
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#4
I would be a whole lot more interested in whether the translation was dead accurate, bet it's NOT.
Depends greatly who did the translating, and their motives.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/27/2009 21:04
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#5
Oh goodee. Toilet paper is a huge expense and now they don't have to pay for any for a month or so.
A recent thread on the Al-Falluja jihadist forum discussed the case of whether a Muslim who has nothing else to eat may kill an infidel in order to eat him. The discussion was prompted by a recently published book by Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, one of the most influential jihadist sheikhs active today.
"Is It Permitted To Eat The Flesh of American Soldiers?"
On June 13, 2009, a member of the Al-Falluja forum who uses the moniker "Al-Maqdisi's Student" wrote a post based on this passage [in full report] titled "Is it permitted to eat the flesh of American soldiers? A quote from the illustrious Sheikh Al-Maqdisi, may Allah preserve him." He began by recounting an exchange between the early Muslim commander Khalid b. Al-Walid and the Byzantine commander at the battle of Yarmuk (in the year 636 C.E.) The Byzantine commander said to Khalid that the Muslims had only gone out from their land due to hunger, and offered to buy them off. Khalid responded: "It was not hunger that drove us out of our land, as you say; we are a people who drink blood, and we know that there is no blood more delicious than Byzantine blood. That is why we came."
"Al-Maqdisi's Student" then cites the aforementioned passage from Al-Maqdisi's Beginner's Guide [in full report], and follows up with the words: "The mujahideen should inform their belligerent [infidel] and apostate enemies of this exceptional law so that they can bring it up and study it at their conferences on human rights, counterterrorism, and so on! Then they in turn can proclaim that our soldiers lick their lips [at the thought of] eating the flesh of their hamburger- and Pepsi-eating soldiers!"
"If We... Eat Americans, Let's Make Them Into A Gunpowder-Flavored Kabsa With Some Hors D'oeuvres Made Of Apostates"
Most of the numerous responses to the post were off-topic. Some responses, however, did take up the flesh-eating issue. "Abu Hajir Al-Muqrin" wrote: "If we are forced to eat Americans, let's make them into a gunpowder-flavored kabsa with some hors d'oeuvres made of apostates."
"Muhammad Al-Baghdadi" wrote: "But the slaughtering needs to be according to the shari'a. He then wrote "perhaps this is the best way" above stills from the Nick Berg decapitation video.
"Al-Maqdisi's Student" weighed in again towards the end of the thread and wrote: "A true story: a group of mujahideen from one of the brigades was in the mountains during the jihad against the Russians. One of them was sent off on a mission; he went and came back, but he couldn't find any of the brothers. He saw a roasted calf leg that the brothers in the brigade left for him for dinner, and he ate of it until he was full. When he went back to the main camp, the brothers saw him and offered him dinner! He said: praise Allah, I already ate! They said: Where did you find dinner? He said: You left me roasted calf leg! They said: No, no, that wasn't calf, that was the leg of a Russian infidel! He answered: No matter, it's all Islamic slaughter! (smile)"
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
06/27/2009
14:59 ||
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#1
They might as well have unicorn steaks. Just as likely.
"It is also my wish that our Taliban brothers and all other Afghans who are not in Afghanistan for various reasons and are standing in opposition ... I request them again and again to renounce violence, not only on the election day but forever," Karzai said.
Families of 11 engineers murdered in Karachi in 2002 point finger of blame at French government
By John Lichfield in Paris
A political scandal is gathering pace over claims that 11 French submarine engineers were murdered in a bomb attack in Karachi seven years ago to punish France for the non-payment of arms contract "commissions" to senior Pakistani officials.
Lawyers for the French victims' families believe the attack, allegedly carried out by Islamist terrorists, was in fact part of a web of financial chicanery and political manoeuvring which may yet severely embarrass senior figures, including the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari.
Two French magistrates investigating the bombing of the engineers' bus in May 2002 have ruled out the possibility that it was an attack by al-Qa'ida on Western interests. They have told the victims' families there is "cruel logic" to an alternative explanation. They believe unknown figures in the Pakistani establishment may have fomented the attack in retaliation for the non-payment of part of the €80m (£68m) in sweeteners promised to senior officials when Lahore bought three Agosta 90B submarines from France in 1994.
A former mayor found sitting naked and holding a beer at a Rabun County campsite told police he wasn't the same naked man seen walking around earlier. No, I'm not the perv you're looking for...
Mark Musselwhite, 43, said he was hot and had been in the creek, according to a Georgia Department of Natural Resources incident report. He apparently didn't think he was doing anything wrong.
Enlarge this image (Had to leave that in)
Mark Musselwhite was elected to the Gainesville City Council in 2000, serving for six years, including as mayor of the town. Musselwhite, of Gainesville, was arrested last weekend after being confronted by state DNR authorities. He was charged with public indecency.
"He told me he was the ex-mayor of the city Gainesville and he was a very political person," DNR Ranger Brandon Walls wrote in the report. "I have nothing to hide!"
Walls and a deputy sheriff went to the campsite Saturday evening after a complaint of a man walking naked in Earls Ford Road, according to the report. Musselwhite appeared to be intoxicated, and several alcoholic beverages were at the campsite, Walls said. No surprise there.
Walls said he had spoken to Musselwhite earlier in the day regarding an ATV the former mayor was driving.
"He looked at us and said hello," according to the report.
Musselwhite then asked why he was being visited. "I said the complainant had specifically said his campsite, and the fact that he was still nude made me think it was him," Walls wrote. Can't get anything past Officer Squarenuts, nosiree ...
Musselwhite denied that he was the nude man identified in the complaint.
An unidentified female was also at the campsite. Argentine news babe? More importantly -- nekkid?
Musselwhite, a Republican, was elected to the City Council in 2000. He served on the council for six years, including as mayor of the town. In 2006, he lost a bid for a state Senate seat.
Musselwhite previously served as deacon of First Baptist Church in Gainesville. He could not be reached for comment Friday evening.
#1
It was indeed hot in North Ga. this week end, but I stayed away from the creeks. Did get a little wet while helping save a Labrador Retriever who fell overboard at the Lake Burton marina. Rabim County isn't a bad place to go skinny dipping in the creek...regardless of your politics. A staunch Republican enclave, even the black bears are conservative. I strongly recommend a private cabin and site as opposed to a public campground
......whatamoron.
TOKYO (AFP) -- As the International Whaling Commission started its annual meeting in Portugal Monday, a group of bars and restaurants near Tokyo have sought to lure patrons with an exotic new spread of whale dishes. That sizzling noise is the simultaneous explosion of millions of eco-wacky heads.
On the menu, alongside local staples such as whale sashimi, were new creations including whale spring rolls, whale bacon and even an Italian cheese whale cutlet -- all served with a dollop of local whaling history. ....and served up by topless PETA models....
"Whale meat is a very important part of Japanese tradition," said Masanobu Tai, the restaurateur leading the promotional drive in the Noge district of the port city of Yokohama, an area of narrow lanes filled with bars and eateries. For squeamish westerners, we still offer our world-famous fluffy bunny pie and kitten casserole...
"If whaling is not done to excess, I think this is a great thing... Whale meat is delicious, high in protein, low in fat," he added as staff in his pork cutlet restaurant dished up a new treat, whale dumplings.
Anti-whaling nations led by Australia and New Zealand, as well as environmental groups, have attacked Japan for its annual whaling expeditions, including in Antarctic waters, criticising them as cruel and unnecessary. Japan hunts whales by using a loophole in a 1986 IWC moratorium on commercial whaling that allows "lethal research," and Tokyo often accuses western critics of insensitivity toward its traditions.
Tai said he and others were trying to celebrate that tradition in Yokohama, which this year marks 150 years since it opened its doors to the world in an era when American traders and whalers led the push to enter Japanese ports. "When we opened the history books of the city, we learned that whale was very much part of it," Tai said, adding that whale meat sold in the local black market in the lean post-World War II years was a precious source of protein. "I think Japan should protect our culture within the framework of the IWC while seeking understanding in the international community," he said.
"Not many people eat whale any more," Tai conceded. "Some people come to our restaurants to remember the past. Some people bring their younger colleagues from work to taste whale," Tai said. A 2008 survey by the Nikkei business newspaper found that only 12 percent of Japanese in their 20s eat whale meat.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature in a report last week charged that Japan, as well as Norway, has been wasting millions of dollars in taxpayer money to sustain whaling, which it said was likely a loss-making industry. Not if they could pick up History Channel sponsorship.
Hopes were muted for much progress on reaching compromise on whaling and conservation at the IWC meeting starting Monday on Portugal's Madeira island. The focus of talks is now whether to allow Tokyo to conduct commercial whaling near its coast if it scales down its Antarctic hunt. The guerrilla theater pirates known as Sea Shepherd would have a much harder time of it in Japanese waters.
#2
I actually already have eaten whale meat, but, looking at it with hindsight, I'm not that comfortable with the thought of having eaten something that was probably cleverer than me by half, if not more.
#4
I gotta admit the "Japanese tradition" excuse has always made my hair stand on end. There are a number of Japanese tradtions that have gone (thankfully) by the wayside for good reason.
#1
Sounds like he's well positioned to win that seat in Congress. The only knock against him is that he was in the Army, but since he's not anymore, it should be ok.
The sixth meeting of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's (CPPCC) Standing Committee, the highest-level advisory body of the People's Republic of China, met ahead of the general plenary that is taking place in Beijing from June 22 to 27.
During one of the committee's working group meetings on June 18, the former deputy chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and standing committee member of the CPPCC, General Zhang Li, recommended that China build an airport and seaport on Mischief Reef located in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
The additional facilities, Zhang said, would enable China to conduct aircraft patrol of the area, support Chinese fishing vessels and demonstrate the country's sovereignty over the disputed islands.
The call for building military installments on the disputed islets by General Zhang, a senior high-ranking military officer, may be signs of China's increased willingness to use force in resolving territorial disputes as tension between China and ASEAN-member states (i.e. Philippines, Vietnam) boil over the contested islets in the region.
A Chinese media source reported that the PLA Navy, under the direct order of the Central Military Commission (CMC) under President Hu Jintao, recently conducted a large scale naval exercise in the South China Sea to demonstrate Chinese sovereignty over the islands.
China officially imposed a fishing ban in the South China Sea on May 16 to reportedly prevent "over fishing," and sent eight patrol ships to monitor 128,000 square kilometers of the region.
In recent months, tensions flared between China and Vietnam, which is one of the claimants contesting sovereignty over the islands, and Hanoi reportedly signed a $1.8 billion deal with Russia for six Kilo-class submarines in what analysts say appears to be the strongest response sent by Hanoi toward Beijing for what it increasingly sees as China's encroachment on the South China Sea islands. The submarines, which are designed for anti-sub and anti-ship warfare, could help protect Vietnamese claims in the South China Sea by denying access to its more than 2,000 miles of coastline.
In his remarks at the committee meeting, Zhang described the situation in the South China Sea as "very grim," and recommended that the Chinese navy add vessels and boats that have a displacement of 3,000 tons or higher for the navy and naval police that operate in the disputed area.
According to Zhang, the PLAN only has eight operational naval vessels that are deployable to the region, and these vessels are usually executing other missions in different areas, thus their capability to respond to any contingency that develops in the South China Sea is very limited.
If the airport and seaport are constructed, Zhang said that China will then be able to control the Spratlys and provide a platform for Chinese naval vessels to bypass the Straits of Malacca, which Chinese military strategists consider a strategic choke point for the country's national security.
The Spratly Islands are comprised of over 500 islets, while Vietnam occupies 29 of these islets; the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei occupy three or more islets each, and the General noted that China only controls four of these islets.
Save some for us!
Moreover, according to Zhang, China does not possess a single oil well in the area, but other countries have more than 1,000 wells that extract from 5,000 to 1 hundred million barrels of oil per year. In response, Zhang advised Beijing to increase its investment in naval surface ships, satellite surveillance, intelligence facilities and basing construction in the region, while expanding oil exploration and production in the South China Sea.
Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee's intelligence and terrorism risk assessment subcommittee, has submitted two pieces of legislation; one that would prohibit DHS from spending any money on the National Applications Office (NAO), which coordinates the use of space-based U.S. satellite imagery for domestic surveillance purposes, and the second that would close the NAO altogether.
#1
"It has access to military satellites to observe the United States. It has been described as a clearinghouse for requests by law enforcement, border security, and other domestic homeland security agencies to access feeds from spy satellites that have collected data for mainly scientific and military uses in the past. The name of the agency has been described as "deceptive."
"As of October 2, 2007, the United States Congress has filed an injunction against the NAO, that orders it not to begin operations. This is due largely to questions about civil liberty issues. Some in Congress want to shut down the agency because of concerns that the satellites could be used to create a “Big Brother” in the sky."
#6
“Imagine, for a moment, what it would be like if one of these satellites were directed on your neighborhood or home, a school or place of worship – and without an adequate legal framework or operating procedures in place for regulating their use,”
Imagine for a moment, what it would be like if one of these satellites were directed on your neighborhood or home, a school or place of worship after a disaster like a hurricane or flood and could provide near real-time damage assessment and help direct relief efforts.
I have less than zero confidence in anything the DHS and Napalitano is up to, but my understanding is that after Katrina, there were huge problems getting sat. imagery due to the various agencies and layers of government involved. The National Applications Office is supposed to help deal with that problem.
ACORN is probably more interested in the census TIGER files than satellite imagery.
#9
The satellite is much harder to put out of commission, Bright Pebbles, and the pilot doesn't have to be hauled out of bed in the middle of the night, should night footage be needed.
#10
There's another problem, Satellites can only see straight down, if at an angle atmosphere causes distortion, Helicopters can see sideways, not just straight down.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/27/2009 20:25
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#11
does anyone know - is the NAO a section of the NRO (National Reconnaissance Org) or is it a separate entity?
#12
...could provide near real-time damage assessment and help direct relief efforts.
...or fire fighting assessments. Google satellite forest fires. One of the holes in the thinking of city dwellers that is in the minds of more people in fly over country.
#13
Redneck Jim, dead wrong on satellite capacity to "look sideways".
Same goes for "before and after" so you can differentiate damage, etc. Also goes for penetrating storms wiht radars and imagery processing, things that helicopters and other airbreathing assets simply cannot do as efficiently. Modern imagery and sensing satellites can do all kinds of things "off angle". Not everything is a long stare straight down.
A relative of the head of Russia's Ingushetia region, who was accompanying him when their convoy was hit by suicide bomb attack, died of his wounds on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported.
Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was himself badly wounded in the June 22 assassination attempt when a suicide bomber detonated a huge bomb that destroying his armoured car. Agencies quoted Ingush hospital doctors as saying, Ramzan Yevkurov, 34, a cousin of the Ingush leader who was driving the car, died of multiple wounds. The Ingush leader's brother was also wounded.
Yevkurov is being treated in a Moscow hospital and spokesman Kaloi Akhilgov told RIA news agency that his condition was stable though he had not regained consciousness since the attack.
Nine people were wounded in a bomb attack at a bus terminal in the southern Philippines, police said. The blast, the latest in a string of attacks in the south over the past few months, hit in the town of Tacurong on Mindanao island, regional police spokesman Chief Inspector Alexander Sarabia said.
While no one has claimed responsibility for Saturday's blast, the military said they have reason to believe it was carried out by a "special operations group" of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). "The planned bombing activities targetting bus terminals and military installations clearly ... is a part of their diversionary effort to inflict casualties," regional army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce said. "These rogue MILF groups are very desperate," he said, adding that a military ordnance team was helping police secure the area around the attack to make sure there are no follow-up blasts.
Individual Augmentee (IA) and Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) Support Assignment (GSA) sailors currently assigned to the Navy Mobilization and Processing Site (NMPS) at Naval Base San Diego (NBSD) were treated to a presentation on life in the rural hinterlands of Afghanistan and an interesting perspective on the war by a best-selling author.
Greg Mortenson, author of the N.Y. Times best-seller Three Cups of Tea, offered stories of his experiences and unique views on the Global War On Terrorism – views that are increasingly being shared by senior military leaders. Many of his views run counter to what is considered conventional wisdom. “We used to be ‘Enemy-centric’ -- we would go into the fight and decimate the enemy. Now, the military is becoming what I call, ‘Friendly-centric,’ meaning the military identifies who our friends are and their goals. Then, together, we defeat the enemy. Ultimately, the war will be won with books and education, not just bullets and bombs,” he says.
Three Cups of Tea: One ManÂ’s Mission To Promote PeaceÂ… One School At A Time is required reading for U.S. senior military commanders, U.S. Special Forces deploying to Afghanistan and Pentagon officers as well as military personnel from several other countries. Many who have read it embrace MortensonÂ’s advocacy for building relationships as a part of an overall strategic plan for peace. Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has adopted three of MortensonÂ’s beliefs at CENTCOM: listen more, respect others and build relationships.
Mortenson was born in 1957, and grew up in Tanzania where his father, Dempsey, founded Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC), a hospital, and his mother, Jerene, founded a school. He served as a medic in the U.S. Army in Germany from 1977 to 1979 and graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1983. A promise made in 1993 led Mortenson to his exceptional humanitarian efforts. In July 1992, MortensonÂ’s sister, Christa, died from a massive seizure after a lifelong struggle with epilepsy the day before a scheduled trip to visit the Dysersville, Iowa cornfield where the baseball movie, Field Of Dreams, was filmed.
To honor his sisterÂ’s memory, in 1993, Mortenson climbed PakistanÂ’s K2, the worldÂ’s second highest mountain. During the climb members of MortensonÂ’s team became involved in a rescue effort and Mortenson himself became ill. While recovering in a village called Korphe, Mortenson met a group of children sitting in the dirt writing with sticks in the sand, and made a promise to help them build a school. Since, Mortenson has dedicated his life to promote education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson has established more than 90 schools in rural and volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to more than 34,000 children, including 24,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.
In emphasizing education for girls Mortenson says, “If you educate a boy you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community.” He also adds, “nowhere in the Koran does it say girls cannot be educated nor does it advocate murder or suicide. One of the reasons the radical mullahs do not want women to be educated is because males must have their mother’s permission to go on jihad. An educated mother would not likely allow her son to do so.”
His efforts have not been without conflict. In 1996, he survived eight-days kidnapped by armed members of the Taliban in PakistanÂ’s Northwest tribal areas. In 2003 he escaped a firefight between feuding Afghan warlords by hiding under putrid animal hides in a truck going to a leather-tanning factory. He has overcome fatwehs (standing death sentences) from radical mullahs, endured CIA investigations, and even received threats from some Americans for helping Muslim children with education.
Mortenson is seen as a hero to rural communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he has gained the trust of Islamic leaders, military commanders, government officials and tribal chiefs thanks to his tireless effort to champion education, especially for girls. The Government of Pakistan presented Mortenson with Pakistan’s highest civilian award, the Sitara-e-Pakistan (The Star of Pakistan), March 23, 2009 – Pakistan’s Independence Day. It was presented by Pakistani President Asif Zardari in recognition of services rendered with gallantry and distinction.
The Central Asia Institute (CAI), which he co-founded with Silicon Valley pioneer Jean Hoerni, promotes and provides community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Additionally, they sponsor the “Pennies For Peace” program, where U.S. schoolchildren collect pennies to help fund CAI activities and to learn more about the children in those regions.
Mr. Mortenson’s visit gave deploying IA and GSA sailors a unique opportunity to learn what to expect and things to be aware of before going forward. “Your primary goal is to help the good people of Afghanistan, with dignity, respect for elders. You are warriors, diplomats and humanitarians.”
“Local people can be empowered and become autonomous. Al Qaeda and the Taliban don’t represent the interests of the people. Most of the people there want the same things we all want – peace, education, health care … The Taliban is promoting extortion and disruption,” he said in closing.
“It was really eye-opening, a great perspective on the people of Afghanistan and how much they value education…something we largely take for granted here in the U.S.,” said Lt. Jet Ramos, a Medical Service Corps (MSC) officer preparing to deploy to Kuwait. “I learned that respect for other people and education will go a long way when interacting with (other) cultures and that education is paramount. It also gave me a better idea of what to expect,” said Information Systems Technician Second Class Paul Abalos.
“I was amazed at the good work he’s done in organizing the Afghan citizens at a grass roots level to advance their education... and what the Afghan citizens will put up with to get an education,” said Senior Chief Postal Clerk Field Kellogg..
The visit, sponsored by Commander Naval Air ForcesVice Adm. Kilcline, was made possible by Kilcline’s wife, Deb. In describing Mortenson, Mrs. Kilcline said, “I feel like we are in the presence of an individual who is shaping history.” Rear Adm. Gar Wright, Deputy Commander Navy Region Southwest added, “(I) wish that I had this opportunity prior to my own mobilization!”
After his presentation, Mr. Mortenson autographed copies of his book and spoke with deploying sailors.
#1
Ultimately, the war will be won with books and education, not just bullets and bombs Unfortunately the US has minimal interest in teaching the languages of Afghanistan to its own people, as if we will be out of there real soon now. I remember after Sputnik in 1957, there were many new courses in Russian launched with gov't sponsorship in schools all over the country, and not just in military or diplomatic facilities.
#3
I remember after Sputnik in 1957, there were many new courses in Russian launched with gov't sponsorship in schools all over the country
The government is sponsoring high school courses in Chinese, Anguper Hupomosing. Afghanistan is a near term problem, whereas China seems determined to be a mid-term one.
A Mississauga man who pleaded guilty to participating in a bomb plot concocted by members of the so-called Toronto 18 "intended to pursue jihad in Canada," a Brampton court was told this morning. During final submissions at the sentencing hearing of Saad Khalid, Crown prosecutor Croft Michaelson said the 22-year-old was "an active and enthusiastic participant" in a deadly plot aimed at blowing up targets in downtown Toronto.
Although he has pleaded guilty to participating in the foiled plot, lawyers on both sides are now arguing before Superior Court Justice Bruce Durno over how much Khalid really knew about it and what his intentions were. Michaelson told the court Khalid must have known the plan was to blow up the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Front Street offices of Canada's spy agency because he had been told by the alleged mastermind to take a camera and do reconnaissance work downtown.
The prosecutor also pointed out the evidence suggests Khalid knew that the plot would have involved, at the very least, two tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer destined for truck bombs because he had been told about an order for the explosive material and was instructed to find a place to store it. Khalid must have known the plot was "intended to cause death and destruction, if he did not know he was wilfully blind," said Michaelson.
But defence lawyer Russell Silverstein says two of Khalid's co-accused were the masterminds of the plot and that his client was "unaware of their true purpose" and the intended targets. He also said his client never intended to seriously hurt or kill anyone. "These men...are consciously misleading Mr. Khalid as a means of getting him to do their bidding, without telling him what's going on," said Silverstein, adding there was a "campaign of disinformation, obfuscation and hiding of the truth." If, as the Crown alleges, Khalid was to be tasked with building the bombs, why weren't any bomb-making videos, Internet materials or manuals found on him, asked Silverstein.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Khalid was arrested during a sting operation while unloading a delivery truck filled with what he believed were three tonnes of ammonium nitrate. He was off-loading it into a storage facility that he and a co-accused had rented.
Khalid was among 14 adults and four youths charged in the summer of 2006 with belonging to a homegrown terror cell. Since then charges have been stayed against seven of the accused and one youth has been convicted. The others await trial. A publication ban prohibits identifying the co-accused.
Posted by: ryuge ||
06/27/2009
06:03 ||
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Pansies.
The U.S. has announced a new drug policy for opium-rich Afghanistan, saying it was phasing out funding for eradication efforts and using the money for drug interdiction and alternate crop programs instead.
The U.S. envoy for Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, told The Associated Press on Saturday that eradication programs weren't working and were only driving farmers into the hands of the Taliban. "Eradication is a waste of money," Holbrooke said on the sidelines of a Group of Eight foreign ministers' meeting on Afghanistan, where he announced the policy shift and said it had been warmly received, particularly by the United Nations.
Afghanistan is the world's leading source of opium, cultivating 93 percent of the world's heroin-producing crop. The United Nations has estimated the Taliban and other Afghan militants made an estimated $50 million to $70 million off the opium and heroin trade last year.
In a report released earlier this week, the U.N. drug office said opium cultivation had dropped by 19 percent last year, but was still concentrated in southern provinces where the Taliban insurgency is strongest.
Holbrooke said the previous U.S. policy, which focused on eradication programs, hadn't reduced "by one dollar" the amount of money the Taliban earned off opium cultivation and production. "It might destroy some acreage," Holbrooke said. "But it just helped the Taliban."
"We're essentially phasing out our support for crop eradication and using the money to work on interdiction, rule of law alternate crops," he told the AP. At the same time, Washington is upgrading its support of agriculture programs. "That's the big change in our policies," he said. "This was widely accepted as the right thing to do."
Agriculture was among the issues taken up by the delegates at the G8 meeting in their Saturday session on Afghanistan, with participants saying in a draft version of the final statement that agricultural development was seen as "key to the future of Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as other countries in the region."
The statement called for "expanded agricultural cooperation that could lead to rural development, food security, employment growth, higher income levels, alternatives to poppy cultivation and ultimately lower tensions in the region."
Holbrooke said the international community wasn't trying to target Afghan farmers, just the Taliban militants who buy their crops. "The farmers are not our enemy, they're just growing a crop to make a living," he said. "It's the drug system. So the U.S. policy was driving people into the hands of the Taliban."
The shift in U.S. policy follows a steady decrease in the number of acres (hectares) destroyed by eradication programs. According to the U.N. report, opium poppy eradication reached a high in 2003, after the Taliban were ousted from power, with more than 50,000 acres (21,000 hectares) eradicated. In 2008, only 13,500 acres (5,500 hectares) were cut down compared to about 47,000 acres (19,000 hectares) in 2007.
#1
"Elimination of opium production has severely hampered the operational capabilities of the Taliban, depriving them of the money they need to overcome NATO soldiers. By restoring their income from the drug trade, we hope that they will be able to maintain their struggle against western forces."
#2
So, how well has interdiction worked in comparison to eradication elsewhere?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/27/2009 11:58
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This is probably a good idea but needs to be followed through with other support. For example, an opium crop can be transported from the farm on the back of a couple of donkeys with enough cash payment to last until the next year's crop.
If alternative crops are to be grown, infrastructure improvements must be made such as roads, bridges, grain storage, etc. A farmer will need to be able to harvest that crop and get it to market in sufficient quantity to earn a living. It is going to take several truck loads of wheat or maize to bring in the same amount of cash that a couple of donkey loads of opium do.
That implies the need for trucks, roads and bridges that will carry trucks, and a place to which the crop is brought for sale.
So any plan to convert the agriculture there to other crops will require a large investment in the infrastructure required to actually produce such crops on a scale where they can actually compete with opium as a viable subsistence crop for the farmers. Otherwise are are simply urinating upwind.
#4
I think Y'all are ignoring the price received, It seems far more likely the Opium growers will simply plant both crops, so if (Say) Wheat fails, Poppies will sustain the farm's expenses till next year.
It would be far better to simply pay a higher price than the Taliban can pay, and buy the crop.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/27/2009 20:34
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A soldier, policeman and a terrorist suspected insurgent were killed in a gun battle in Thailand's restive Muslim south, security forces said on Saturday. A Reuters reporter at the scene said at least two terrorists rebels were holed up inside a house at 11 a.m. local time surrounded by a combined force of 200 police and soldiers.
The standoff came after unknown gunmen attacked a joint military and police patrol unit early Saturday in a town in Yala, one of three provinces near the Malaysian border where nearly 3,500 people have died in five years of unrest.
After the policeman, soldier and terrorist suspected militant were killed in the gunfight, the other gunmen retreated to a nearby house and were resisting calls by security forces to surrender, the reporter said.
A recent escalation in hostilities in the deep south has killed 41 people and wounded 60 this month alone.
Police killed five suspected militants Saturday in a nighttime raid on a Karachi apartment housing insurgents loyal to the Pakistani Taliban leader blamed for a wave of suicide attacks, a top official said.
City police chief Waseem Ahmed said officers found a large quantity of weapons and explosives in the apartment. He said the militants were planning terror attacks in Pakistan's biggest city.
Police taking part in the raid early Saturday told the militants to surrender, but they shot at police, Ahmed said. In the gunbattle that ensued, five militants were killed, five were wounded and six escaped in the darkness, he said.
"All the dead belonged to Baitullah Mehsud. They were planning to target the city for their terrorist activities," Ahmed said.
Mehsud is blamed for a wave of suicide bombings across Pakistan that spokesmen for his group have said is in retaliation for two military offensives against Taliban in the country's volatile northwest.
#1
A guy is desperate and calls the suicide hotline. A voice with a Pakistani accent answers with "Suicide Hotline." The guy says: "I'm very depressed and thinking about suicide." Suicide hotline Paki says: "Good, can you drive a truck."
I never could see what people liked about Michael Jackson. The last time he was cute was on the Andy Williams Show. I don't think he was ever interesting.
As least little boys are safe again. Mama said if you can't say something nice, you shouldn't say anything at all, so I'll shut up now.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/27/2009 20:12
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#1
I got an email from a Nigerian Prince who will send me Obama's birth certificate if I will just help him put some money in a US Bank by giving him my account info and SSN.
#4
eBay made the auction disappear. Just like when I tried to sell an original set of lawn darts, or a vintage 1960s pro-cannabis pamphlet. ("Too dangerous!", "Can't promote drug use!").
#5
#2 You just know that SOB is going to make about $50k. Posted by gorb 2009-06-27 05:38
He's making over $ 400,000 per year gorb, and that's not including per diem percs such as icecream, in-and-around NYC and Paris transportation, per diem etc. Not bad for a kid from Peoria.
Two-page backgrounder on the goings-on in Iran, from a Jerusalem Post reporter who just returned. Herewith, a taste. Go read the whole thing.
The watching world well understands the young, pro-Western aspect of the ruthlessly countered post-election revolt in Iran. But what makes this outburst different, says The Jerusalem Post's Sabina Amidi, just returned from Teheran, is that many pro-Islamists have turned on the regime as well.
Way back in the days of the Shah, Sabina Amidi tells me down the phone in one of the few lighter moments of our conversation, it was easier for Iranians to get visas to Tel Aviv than to Mecca. So lots of Iranian Muslims came to visit the Jewish state.
"This friend of our family, a middle-aged woman, was telling me last week about how she'd come to Jerusalem in the mid-1970s, gone to the Western Wall, and seen all the Jews there praying to God and leaving messages between the stones," Amidi went on. "She felt left out. She also wanted to leave a message for God. So she told me she too went up to the Wall, and wrote a plea: that she would find a good husband. Six months later she met the love of her life, they've been deliriously happily married for more than 30 years, they have three children... and she - this very conservative Muslim lady - still talks excitedly about that trip to Israel, and about how God answered her prayers at the Western Wall."
And this lady too, Amidi continued, in serious mode now, this devout Muslim friend who lives in fealty to Islam and its laws, today shares the widespread sense of betrayal that so many Iranians feel with regard to the regime of the ayatollahs. She's not been out on the streets, risking her life to scream "Down with the dictator." But she's watched the brutally suppressed protests from her apartment window, and she hopes, sooner or later, that they'll have their effect.
THE AMERICAN-based Amidi is a courageous young reporter who flew to Teheran a few weeks ago to cover the presidential elections for The Jerusalem Post. She had anticipated a fascinating but thoroughly nonrevolutionary sequence of events - expecting that she would reconnect with friends and family there, report on an expertly manipulated exercise in mullah-style democracy, and leave the country much as she entered it: increasingly frustrated by the government's stifling of freedoms, but quietly seething rather than openly defiant.
Instead, by the time she got out of Teheran midway through last week, Iran was in turmoil, the regime had resorted to shooting its own people in the streets and branding its own former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi "a criminal" for daring to challenge it, and Amidi was understandably fearful that the fact of her writing for the Post was putting her own life in real danger.
In an effort to prevent a flare-up along the northern border, UNIFIL has increased its operations in southern Lebanon and has begun entering villages in search of Hizbullah weapons caches, according to information obtained recently by Israel. In one recent successful operation in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon, UNIFIL peacekeepers uncovered close to 20 Katyusha rockets that were ready for launch.
UNIFIL operates under Security Council Resolution 1701, passed following the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Operations in villages have been a point of contention between UNIFIL and Israel, which said over the past three years that the peacekeeping force was failing to prevent Hizbullah's military buildup in southern Lebanon since it refrained from entering villages. Hizbullah, the IDF believes, has deployed most of its forces and weaponry - including Katyusha rockets - inside homes in the villages. Until now, UNIFIL and the Lebanese army have mostly operated in open areas.
According to information obtained by Israel, UNIFIL has also succeeded recently in thwarting attacks that were planned against its own personnel.
UNIFIL's increased activity comes amid concerns in Israel that Hizbullah will launch an attack along the northern border to avenge the assassination of the group's military commander Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus last year. Hizbullah was behind a thwarted attempt earlier this year to attack the Israeli Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, according to foreign sources. The group has also tried using Palestinian proxies for attacks within Israel, without success.
While Hizbullah has amassed tens of thousands of Katyusha rockets since the 2006 war, it is having trouble recruiting new fighters and is short several hundred men. Before the Second Lebanon War, the assessment in Israel was that Hizbullah had some 6,000 fighters.
The group's current recruitment difficulties are believed to stem from its failure to keep its promises to rebuild homes in Lebanese villages damaged during the war in 2006. This disappointment with Hizbullah is also understood in the IDF as being responsible for the group's defeat in parliamentary elections in Lebanon earlier this month.
#2
I expect Hizbollah and the Paleos to get their marching orders shortly to try and distract the media from the killing, torture, and suppression going on in Iran
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2009 15:25
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MILLIONS of dollars in private wealth have begun flooding out of Iran after the mass demonstrations that have paralysed commercial life. Fears of new crippling sanctions are also thought to have fuelled the exodus.
Western intelligence agencies have reported that prominent private businesses and wealthy families have moved tens of millions of dollars out of Iranian banks into overseas accounts. The Italian foreign intelligence service is said to have detected multiple transactions, each of up to $US10 million ($12.4 million), by Iran's big four banks on behalf of families seeking a safe haven.
Once the money is out of country, it may be a bit difficult to repatriate. Perhaps President Ahmadenijad ought to invest in some Lebanese forgeries... because it isn't likely a North Korean shipment will be able to dock any time soon.
Iran has already been hit by three rounds of financial sanctions from the United Nations over its nuclear program, which have limited its access to international finance and trade. In Britain, a spokesman for the Treasury hinted that more action could be taken, particularly in relation to Mojbata Khamenei, the son of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who runs his father's office.
Meanwhile, one of Iran's leading foreign investors, the Austrian oil and gas company OMV, said it would not invest any more in a big offshore gas project and warned that it would pull out if Iran demanded more cash. Helmut Langanger, OMV's Iran representative, said the political environment would have to improve before it put any more money into the South Pars field.
In the US a Republican congressman, Mark Kirk, said there was growing support for a bill he is sponsoring to strip US support from foreign companies supplying refined petroleum to Iran. Iran is a big oil producer but decades of financial isolation mean it must import petrol and other end products.
Reliance, the Indian company, provides a third of Iran's daily needs but also has a massive trade loan from the US.
Another bill that would exclude companies involved in the trade from doing business in the US was put on hold this year as a gesture from President Barack Obama to improve relations.
President Obama must not be pleased that President Ahmadenijad so firmly rejected the open hand of American friendship.
#1
Iran is a big oil producer but decades of financial isolation mean it must import petrol and other end products.
What mainly causes the petrol shortage is Iranian price controls. When petrol sells for about a quarter of what it costs to make, there's no incentive to produce.
The other is Iranian subsidies. The fuel, being cheaper than its neighbors' fuel, ends up smuggled to them. So the Iranian gov't put up rationing.
President Obama must not be pleased that President Ahmadenijad so firmly rejected the open hand of American friendship.
Somebody postulated here earlier that Obama's antics were calculated to impress the 'Islamic World yokels' plus Russia and China; that if Iran rebuffed them he could shrug and say "I tried".
I don't buy the latter part, but it'll end up being the excuse. Still, I'll bet he and his experts will not be pleased when it happens.
#2
...I have a question: Any other time, Dinnerjacket breaks wind and the price of oil goes up. This time, they're executing their own people in the street, and the Iranian government is more unstable than at any time since the Revolution, yet gas prices are going down. Why?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/27/2009 18:58
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#3
dead martyrs don't stop production. Dinnerjacket rattling sabers externally might. These Iranian patriots are expendable.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2009 19:34
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#4
yet gas prices are going down. Why?
Not around here they're not, average is 2.50-2.60 and up about 15 cents
I personaly think it's the 4th holliday coming up, Gasoline always goes up right before a holliday.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/27/2009 21:47
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Saad Hariri was poised to be designated Lebanon's new prime minister after his March 14 party, which along with its allies holds the majority in parliament, picked him for the post on Friday, a day after Hariri held rare talks with his rival, leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah.
"We have chosen as our candidate for the premiership the head of the Future Movement, Saad Hariri," party official and MP Samir el-Jisr told reporters after holding consultations with President Michel Suleiman.
Suleiman is expected to officially designate Hariri on Saturday.
The other parties that are part of Hariri's alliance are expected to voice their support for his nomination as premier during consultations due to be wrapped up on Saturday.
Hezbollah will continue cooperating with an "open mind" in the discussions on naming a new premier, the head of the group's parliamentary bloc Mohamed Raad said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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#1
Watch your six, Hariri, as well as all the other positions on the clock, based upon history.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/27/2009 13:11
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[ADN Kronos] Turkey's army chief Ilker Basbug on Friday called for an end to speculation about an alleged military plot to overthrow the government and condemned what he called a smear campaign against the military.
"At a time when there are important things taking place in the world, notably in Iran... Turkey has used a lot of energy pointlessly over a piece of paper," he told reporters.
The document to which he referred was allegedly from a colonel in the general staff and published recently in the liberal newspaper Taraf.
It purportedly dealt with a plot to destabilise the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Basbug, who was surrounded by the army's most senior officers, repeated to reporters that military investigators considered the document to be a fake.
He also said the army would not stand by and watch the "growing and organised" smear campaign.
"We are an institution attached to the constitution and we will not permit anyone in our ranks to get involved in unlawful activities," he said.
The document published by Taraf newspaper, which has been a regular critic of the army, has sparked a fierce controversy in Turkey. The army has toppled elected governments there four times since 1960.
Taraf alleged that the document was a reaction to an ongoing probe into an alleged plot by the shadowy ultranationalist group Ergenekon to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government.
Suspects linked to Ergenekon allegedly sought to foment unrest and political chaos to pave the way for a military coup targeting the government of prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Ergenekon investigation, which began in June 2007, has fuelled tensions between the AKP and its hardcore secularist opponents.
Over a hundred people, including several generals, party officials, and journalists have been detained or questioned since July 2008 in relation to the Ergenekon plot.
Hearings began last October and are expected to continue for some time.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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The United States said it was monitoring “multiple” North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons and that it would discuss with its allies what to do with one suspect vessel it is tracking.
While the United States has been tracking the Kang Nam since last week, the Pentagon said it is closely monitoring several other North Korean ships allegedly carrying weapons. “We have been interested in this one ship [the Kang Nam], but we’ve been interested in, frankly, multiple ships,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874 “calls upon” member states to inspect all cargo to and from North Korea provided there are “reasonable grounds” to believe the cargo contains prohibited items. Also, members may inspect vessels on the high seas with the consent of the ship’s flag state. Without that consent, the resolution “decides” that the flag nation shall direct the vessel to “an appropriate and convenient port” for the required inspection. The resolution doesn’t authorize the use of military force.
Morrell said U.S. authorities were monitoring North Korean ships even before the UN Security Council resolution and were doing so under the Proliferation Security Initiative. Created in 2003, the PSI is a multinational regime designed to halt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by interdicting and inspecting suspect cargo in territorial waters of 95 PSI members.
“Under PSI, we had obligations to and an interest in tracking ships to make sure there was no proliferation of any banned goods,” Morrell said. “We obviously, under [Resolution] 1874, have additional responsibilities and authorities, and we appreciate that.”
The spokesman added no decision has yet been reached on whether to hail the Kang Nam for inspection and said the United States will discuss the matter with its allies. Morrell declined to elaborate where the Kang Nam was headed, saying, “I don’t think it’s productive for us to discuss it.”
The ship was reportedly bound for Myanmar via Singapore, but Myanmar’s state media and Singapore’s maritime and port authority both said they had no information about a North Korean vessel being tracked by the U.S. Navy. The New Light of Myanmar reported that the country was expecting the arrival of a North Korean ship carrying rice, but otherwise had no information about “this Kang Nam cargo ship.”
Also, despite reports that the Kang Nam would dock in Singapore to refuel, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said it has not received any information about the North Korean ship.
But the city-state’s Foreign Ministry said last week it would take necessary action if the Kang Nam arrived with banned materials. “Singapore takes seriously the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery and related materials,” the ministry said. “If the allegation is true, Singapore will act appropriately.”
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2009
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#1
ION FREEREPUBLIC > STRATEGYPAGE - SOUTH KOREA PLANS TO INVADE THE NORTH [in case of war].
[The News (Pak)] Islamabad traders' leader Malik Sohail on Thursday said that some property owners were using hired goons and Taliban to evict traders, which will not be tolerated.
"Forcing tenants out of businesses established after a lifetime effort cannot be justified under any circumstances. Plaza owners aim higher rents at the cost of the trading community, which will be resisted," he stated while addressing a meeting of traders here on Thursday. He said that the apathy of officials had helped the Qabza groups to hold majority of tenants as hostage.
He said that traders should be given protection or they would start taking out protests. The administration and commercial plaza owners would be responsible for the situation, he warned.
He said that forced eviction of additional general secretary of TWA Chaudhry Wasim, who is also the president of Mobile Phone Association, would not be allowed. He asked the owners to settle disputes amicably by avoiding employing violent criminals for dispossession.
Malik Sohail said that criminal gangs were openly operating, demanding protection money and offering different illegal services. He demanded of the president and prime minister to officially cancel the Islamabad Rent Restriction Ordinance 2001 and introduce a just and flawless rent control act so that traders could enjoy some peace of mind.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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[Al Arabiya Latest] American President Barack Obama on Friday praised the bravery of Iranians who protested against a disputed election in the face of "outrageous" violence, while Iran's electoral watchdog said it found no major violations and described the vote as the "healthiest" since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Hours after foreign ministers of the Group of Eight leading powers called on Iran to immediately put an end to post-election violence and urged Tehran to resolve the crisis "soon," Obama held a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel where they shared "one voice" against violence in Iran.
" I don't take Mr Ahmadinejad's statements seriously about apologies, particularly given the fact that the United States has gone out of its way not to interfere with the election process in Iran "
President Obama
Obama admitted Iran's crackdown on demonstrators had dented his hopes for direct talks with Tehran, but said international multilateral nuclear talks would go on.
"There is no doubt that any direct dialogue or diplomacy with Iran is going to be affected by the events of the last several weeks," Obama said after talks at the White House with Merkel.
"I think we're going to have to see how that plays itself out in the days and weeks ahead," said Obama.
In another stiffening of tone on Iran, Obama also sharply dismissed demands for an apology from President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad over his previous comments on Tehran's suppression of political dissent.
"I don't take Mr Ahmadinejad's statements seriously about apologies, particularly given the fact that the United States has gone out of its way not to interfere with the election process in Iran," said Obama.
Merkel bemoaned the "horrifying scenes" that she had seen from Iran. "We will not forget those," she said, and vowed to do everything to find out the number and identities of victims of the government crackdown.
"In this day and age of the 21st century, Iran cannot count on the world community turning a blind eye to this," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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Suspected Taliban blew up a girls' primary school on the outskirts of the provincial capital during the early hours of Friday, said police. There were no casualties. An official from the Mattani Police Station told Daily Times that three suspected Taliban broke into Government Girls Model Primary School Ghaziabad in Frontier Road area, tied up the guard and planted explosives on the premises. Four devices went off in quick succession, destroying the boundary wall and five of the six rooms in the building, said the official. Attacks on girls' school on the outskirts of Peshawar have recently spiked. Friday's attack was the second such attack in less than a week.
Apparently it's summer holidays. The brave Lions of Islam are blowing up empty buildings.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A prominent Egyptian preacher has issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, approving the use of punctuation in copies of the Quran, which has sparked protests by religious scholars who say the meaning can be changed if punctuation is inserted in the wrong place. If it's read without punctuation then it's subject to an even wider range of meanings, isn't it?
News of the fatwa comes after Egyptian poet and preacher, Abdel-Salam al-Basyouni, said he had researched the issue and discovered using punctuation such as commas, colons and semi-colons would make understanding Islam's holy book easier. "Hang on a second, guys! This isn't Klingon! It's... ummm... something else!"
Prominent Sunni scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi welcomed the news and said "I personally do this when I cite verses from the Quran in my books and lectures and anything I write," Egyptian daily independent, al-Shorouk al-Gadid, quoted the sheikh as saying. "I advise everyone to follow suit," he said. "If you put a colon after every eighth word it makes ever so much more sense!"
Qaradawi, however, objected to the use of parenthetical dashes as they imply that the sentence between them is not originally in the text and this could cause confusion. I read the Koran once. I was confused. It must have been the dashes.
But did you read it an English translation? In the original Arabic? In the ur-original Syrio-Aramaic? Each would add its own special level of confusion, after all, given that the scribe was by all accounts illiterate in all three languages.
The sheikh explained that in the past scholars had broken away from the traditional Ottoman style text and used punctuation marks in the Quran when citing parts of it in an article or a research paper.
This article starring:
ABDEL SALAM AL BASYUNI
Learned Elders of Islam
SHEIKH YUSUF AL QARADAWI
Learned Elders of Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, an anti-tax crusader, acknowledged that he used taxpayers' money to see Maria Belen Chapur, 43, in Buenos Aires last year during a nine-day trip to Brazil and Argentina that cost $12,000 (ÂŁ7,250).
But Mr Sanford, 49, showed no signs of resigning, holding a cabinet meeting preceded by another flurry of apologies to colleagues. "I right now am focused on the important part of this, the family in this circumstance," he said as he left home.
The first public images of Miss Chapur, a divorced mother of two, emerged in a video of her reporting for a Spanish language news channel from New York after the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001.
Mr Sanford's wife Jenny, on her way to a boat ride with the couple's four young sons, said she was "going to worry about my family and the character of my children". The 47-year-old wife was not concerned about her husband's career, she added. "He'll have to worry about that."
The South Carolina governor, who had harboured presidential ambitions, disappeared to Buenos Aires for almost a week after leading his staff to believe that he was hiking on the Appalachian trail.
He held a rambling, tearful press conference in which he confessed to having an affair with a "dear, dear friend" who he had initially been counseling "to get back with her husband for the sake of her two boys" because "not only was it part of God's law, but ultimately those two boys would be better off for it". Mrs Sanford then revealed that the couple had previously agreed to a "trial separation" with "the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage" and she had not known he had gone to Buenos Aires.
She explained: "We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago."
In a statement, Mr Sanford said he would pay back an undisclosed amount for the trip to Brazil and Argentina. "I made a mistake while I was there in meeting with the woman who I was unfaithful with."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago."
I guess a steak dinner, a couple of glasses of nice Merlot, a BJ, and a good nights sleep were no longer on the table at that pont. BOTH are losers! I'll be watching MBC.
#2
She wanted to maintain her self-respect so she asked Governor Jerk-face to leave. I suppose that's better than the other way to maintain her self-respect, which involves a long kitchen knife ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2009 10:54
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[Maghrebia] An al-Qaeda video released earlier this week urging Maghreb citizens to support the terrorist organisation provoked a negative reaction in Algeria. To analysts, the video reflects a desperate effort by al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb leader Abdelmalek Droukdel to link his struggling group to al-Qaeda's international organisation.
O stupid, stupid Lions of Islam!
In a video entitled "Algeria Between the Sacrifice of Fathers and Faithfulness of Sons", al-Qaeda spokesman Mohamed Hassan Kaid, alias Abu Yahya al-Libi (the Libyan), called on Muslims to wage "jihad" against Algerian military and government targets. He also made a recruiting call to the broader Maghreb population to join his cause.
The message provoked a wave of criticism in Algeria, particularly because it perpetuates confusion between al-Qaeda's "Mujahideen" and the Algerian Mujahideen who fought for Algerian independence.
Note the correct use of scare quotes in the previous sentence.
The editor of the daily newspaper El Fadjr said the video explains "why al-Qaeda is so desperate to win Algeria". Al-Qaeda "almost managed to realise its objective of founding an Islamic state, but people's reactions stood in its way," he stated. The organisation's determination is a form of "revenge" against Algeria, "which thwarted al-Qaeda's plans".
The paper emphasised al-Libi's poor knowledge of Algerian history, as he had stated that "Algeria had a million martyrs", when in reality the figure was more like one and a half million.
Merely a rounding error.
A former Mujahid who fought in the Algerian war of independence remarked to Magharebia that it was the original Mujahideen who defeated terrorism when it appeared in Algeria. "The first self-defence groups, the "patriots", were started up by former Mujahideen such as Haj Al-Makhfi in Lakhdaria, or Al-Haj Zitoufi in Ain-Defla, or Colonel Amirouche's son, Noureddine Ait-Hammouda, in Kabylia," he said."As long as we live and the terrorist threat exists, we shall continue to fight them," the former mujahid added.
Meanwhile, Algerian authorities vowed to continue the fight against terrorism. Speaking during the graduation ceremony of three classes of National Gendarmerie officers on Wednesday (June 24th), General Ahmed Boustila during the graduation ceremony of three classes of National Gendarmerie officers that "the fight against the terrorists will continue."
Referring to last week's attack in which AQIM killed 18 gendarmes in Bordj Bou Arreridj, General Boustila said, "This massacre will not discourage the gendarmes or alter their determination to fight terrorism as a top priority, until it is completely eradicated."
"The Salafist group is experiencing a difficult situation internally, but is still capable of doing harm. That's why we have to remain vigilant and step up our information-gathering activities."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison could use some advice on transparency in government. Fortunately, he's on friendly terms with two good sources: Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Tim Walz, two Democratic colleagues who have decided not to accept privately funded travel while in Congress.
Once enlightened, Ellison should quickly release all available details about a fall 2008 trip he took to Mecca courtesy of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.
Ellison cleared the 16-day trip with the House Ethics Committee, but he has declined to reveal how much he spent on travel, food and lodging. That leaves him wide open for the type of attacks Klobuchar and Walz must have anticipated when they made their 2006 pledges to steer clear of trips that could present real or perceived conflicts of interest.
Ellison's office has maintained that the Mecca trip was "personal,'' but it also says the Ethics Committee is revisiting the question of whether the costs must be reported.
Ellison, a second-term congressman, is making a freshman mistake. If he has nothing to hide, why is he declining to release a detailed summary of his expenses? And why has he refused to release the entire letter from the Ethics Committee explaining why the trip was approved?
Under the 2007 ethics reform legislation, lobbyists are prohibited from sponsoring trips for members of Congress. Nonprofit entities, such as the Muslim American Society, can cover the costs of such trips, but the travel is subject to ethics guidelines that require detailed disclosure.
Despite what you might hear on partisan talk radio or read on some blogs, this kind of travel is both common in Washington and bipartisan. Many trips are sponsored by nonprofit organizations that are holding events on issues related to congressional committee work or legislative agendas.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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#1
Ambrose Bierce defined politics as: Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
[Bangla Daily Star] Gunmen killed three persons including two businessmen belonging to the ruling alliance, and wounded another in broad daylight at the city's Karwan Bazar yesterday. The attack is believed to have been in reprisal for efforts to stop extortion in the capital's premier kitchen market.
The three are M Faruque Mollah, 55, Ashraf Miah, 53, and Nuruddin Sarkar Jewel, 35. Faruque was president of Karwan Bazar fruit traders association and general secretary of Tejgaon unit Jatiya Party. Ashraf was former vice-president of DIT Market Traders Association and senior vice-president of ward-39 AL. Jewel was Faruque's bodyguard.
The wounded, Abdur Rahim, is a homeopath and a ward unit AL leader.
According to witnesses, a gang of around six youths stormed the DIT traders association office at 12:45pm. As they sprayed those sitting there with bullets, two died on the spot.
The business community of Karwan Bazar have expressed deep concern about their safety.
Security guard Zakir Hossain, who was at the office during the incident, told The Daily Star, "I was sleeping on a bench in far corner of the room, and woke up to the sound of gunshots.
"I saw four youths getting onto a white microbus near the TCB building, some 100 metres off the scene."
Sprinting towards the vehicle, they fired a few rounds into the sky to scare off the locals after them, Zakir continued. "I don't know who attacked the office and who else were there at the time because I was deep asleep after night shift."
Local businessmen said Faruque, Ashraf and Rahim had lately been campaigning against extortion and other crimes in the area. Of them, Ashraf and Rahim used to frequent the office as shop owners and former leaders of the market. But for Faruque it was quite rare to spend time there.
Fellow traders took bodies of Faruque and Ashraf to DMCH, while police recovered that of Jewel from 25/30 yards off the scene.
Faruque's brother Mobarak Mollah told The Daily Star, "My brother was the target, while the other two might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Talking to this correspondent at DMCH, he said, "We know who were behind the killings. Wait for the dust to settle, you'll know everything you need to know."
Tofael Hossain, Ashraf's brother-in-law, said they have no clues to the identity of the killers.
Hailing from Karimganj upazila of Kishoreganj, Faruque was a four-time president of the fruit traders association. Though he had no links to organised crime, he had good relations with top terror 'Pichchi' Hannan, who was killed in Rab crossfire in 2004.
Since then, he had his attention totally focussed on business.
Meanwhile, persons close to Faruque suspect his slaying might be linked to that of Juba League leader Mamun two months back. Mamun's men, who believe Faruque had a hand in their boss's death, might have committed the murders yesterday, the sources added.
Mamun, office secretary of city Juba League, would coordinate the extortion activities against Karwan Bazar traders. After his murder that is still unresolved, extortion declined considerably, said local shopkeepers.
Deputy Commissioner Chowdhury Manzurul Kabir of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Tejgaon zone) told The Daily Star, "For now we know little about the motive. We are however working to know if extortion had anything to do with the triple murder."
The businessmen at Karwan Bazar however are convinced that extortionists had carried out the killings.
Police recovered a magazine with three bullets from the spot.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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The House ethics committee is investigating a Caribbean trip taken last year by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, but they put a fellow CBC member in charge of the probe. Among those on the trip was House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who is already the subject of an ethics probe over nonpayment of taxes and other issues.
The group of members, all Democrats, said their trip was sponsored by a non-profit group, but the conservative National Legal and Policy Center, claims for-profit companies paid for the trip, which is a violation of House rules because it would give lobbyists for those companies access to members.
The ethics committee has formed a special subcommittee made up of four House members who will make a recommendation to the full ethics committee as to whether they think the members committed an ethics violation. Leading the investigation is fellow Congressional Black Caucus member G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C. The ranking Republican on the subcommittee is J. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., who is running to replace embattled governor and fellow Republican Mark Sanford.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2009
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The old rules no long apply. The new rules are now in effect. Please place your seatbacks and tray tables in the upright and locked positons. Sit back and enjoy get used to the ride. On behalf of CAPT Shakedown and crew, we know you used to have a choice in voting and we be glad you voted democrat.
[Maghrebia] The 12th Arab Conference for Combating Terrorism concluded Thursday (June 25th) in Tunis with a number of recommendations aimed at enhancing counter-terrorism efforts and promoting co-operation between relevant Arab security bodies.
The two-day conference was organised by the Secretariat General of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers. Delegations from 15 Arab countries and representatives from the League of Arab States, Interpol and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime attended the conference.
Participants discussed a draft Arab strategy to fight money laundering and terror financing, the "mental, psychological, and social characteristics of a terrorist", the role of the internet in expanding global terrorism and the need for protections against cyber crimes and cyber terrorism.
New technology makes it "easier for terrorist rings to influence weak people through TV and, most of all, the Internet", Council of Arab Interior Ministers chief Mohammad Bin Ali Koman said in his opening speech.
Describing terrorism as "the incontestable crime of the age", he said that "global crime and terrorism call for global co-operation and co-ordination".
More dialogue is needed to fight terrorism, participants in the conference concurred. Tolerance and understanding are other factors in that battle. They also agreed that regular citizens can play an effective role in fighting terrorism through collaboration with security forces.
"Terrorism has surpassed all other forms of crime, in terms of its massive damage and perilous repercussions. It is now a thorn in the body of countries and societies," Koman told the participants.
To deny terrorist groups access to financial support, participants urged the authorities to establish a firm policy to monitor this issue and analyse relevant information to keep terrorist groups from receiving any funding. They also urged development of a strategy to monitor all donations to charity institutions and social work associations, to prevent them from becoming fronts for terrorist financing.
Conference president and Lebanese security official Hassan Farhat urged Arab countries to lay down strategies and identify the best means co-operate and co-ordinate counter-terrorism efforts.
"Terrorism is a topic that still appears on the agendas of most conferences and meetings," said Farhat, "while no common definition has yet been reached for it at the international level."
"Everyone unanimously agrees that terrorism is evil and a danger that is invading the globe."
It is indeed terrible, whatever the heck it is, and we shall fight it to our last drop of blood, once someone gives us the money to acquire the proper tools and weapons. But not until then, because we wouldn't want to do it wrong.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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Though not as much as The $100 Million Dollar Man - Al Gore.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to bring the Obama-Waxman-Markey (OWM) anti-global warming cap-and-trade energy bill to the floor for a final vote Friday, which raises an interesting question: How much money will Pelosi make if the measure becomes law, as seems quite likely?
Pelosi, of course, is not the only member of Congress to own significant shares of energy companies. Senators and representatives from all over the country do, not just the "oilies" from energy states like Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
But as House Speaker, Pelosi's ownership of an unknown number of shares in the Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) valued at between $15,000 and $50,000, may deserve particular attention.
Shares of CLNE have gone up and down in value in recent years, thanks to the fluctuations in the price of natural gas and changes in the oil industry worldwide. And a Pelosi spokesman told The Washington Examiner last year that her husband takes care of their stock portfolio, so she has no knowledge of how any of her family investments will be affected by any particular piece of legislation before Congress.
Another prominent public figure with an interest in OWM is CLNE's major domo, T. Boone Pickens, best known of late as a wind-energy investor and the man behind the largest-ever single donation to a state university, $165 million to Oklahoma State University for its athletic programs three years ago. CLNE is a cog in Pickens massive plan to create a giant wind farm in West Texas to generate electricity.
Pelosi will profit because OWM will boost the price of natural gas on the market. This is because natural gas burns with significantly less carbon emissions than other fossil fuels. For companies trying to get under OWM limits for greenhouse gases emissions, burning more natural gas instead of, say coal, will be a no-brainer. That will drive up demand for natural gas, which in turn will create upward price pressures.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2009
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#1
so corrupt. Soo corrupt.
You know congressrat, people are keeping files on all this that you do.
#3
Barry knew the Cap & Traitors were in the bag. He knew them by name, district, and payoff, hence his and Pelosi's confidence last week. Nice of them to vote as the market was closing and the 90 day mourning period for child-fondler Jackson was just beginning.
#6
The rep traitors and the rural heartland Dems sold the country out for 20 pieces of silver. It's biblical, and it's Chicago politics on a nationwide scale. And all the MSM talks about is the Michael Jackson vaporlock.
We are going to need an act of God to save us from ourselves.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/27/2009 13:21
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#7
I don't think this bill has 60 votes in the Senate. I hope not.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2009 14:14
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If it doesn't pass in the Senate, it doesn't matter what happened in the House.
The Wall Street Journal has a roundup on the subject:
But it isn't clear how much of the sprawling House bill will survive in the Senate, where moderate Democrats and Republicans could form a majority that backs less ambitious action. Among the potential problem areas: the House bill has a provision that would impose tariffs on goods imported from countries that don't match U.S. carbon dioxide restrictions -- a slap at China and India that some business interests fear could provoke a trade war.
Mr. Obama and House leaders struggled to win over a large group of rank-and-file Democrats who expressed doubts about the climate bill. The president lobbied hard personally and through top aides to secure votes from wavering members over the past several days. But in the end, 44 Democrats defected, joining 168 Republicans in opposition. Eight Republicans crossed party lines to support the bill.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the bill would have a modest impact on family budgets. The CBO projected an annual economy-wide cost in 2020 of $22 billion, or about $175 per household. The CBO's study didn't consider the broader effect of the legislation on employment or gross domestic product.
Republicans argued that the CBO's estimate lowballs the actual cost of the bill for families. They contended the measure amounted to a job-killing tax on consumers and businesses.
#9
Senator Imhofe (R, Oklahoma) is convinced the bill will not pass in the Senate.
Passing President Obama’s “cap and trade” energy program would cost the average Oklahoma family $3,200 a year, Sen. Jim Inhofe said Friday, but he’s confident the measure will be killed in the Senate no matter what happens in the House of Representatives.
At the time of the interview Friday morning, he said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was only two votes short of winning and predicted that if she brought the question up for a vote, it would indicate she had found them. Late Friday, the bill was approved in the House on a 219-212 vote.
“It doesn’t matter,” he declared flatly, “because we’ll kill it in the Senate anyway.”
Asked if he was confident that would be the case, Oklahoma’s senior senator said he was “absolutely certain.” He noted that it would take 60 votes to break an anticipated Republican filibuster over cap and trade and predicted the most the Democrats can muster is about 34.
He said all the hubbub in the House was over Pelosi’s desire to attend a conference in Copenhagen and be able to stand up and say, “Oh, we’ve passed this out of the House and we’re going to lead the way in America but it’s not going to pass the Senate.”
He scoffed at Democratic claims that “cap and trade” doesn’t represent a tax increase at all but instead is a free enterprise solution. “MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and the Wharton School of Economics came out with an analysis of what this is. They said that the range is between $330 and $350 billion a year. That translates in Oklahoma to $3,200 per family. Everyone who’s reading this story right now, that would be a tax increase of over $3,000 per family. I can give you all the documentation on that.”
#10
I wish I could be as certain - the Senate is a convention of posturing morons, liars, thieves, and whores
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2009 17:44
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The question isn't whether the Repubs could block passage if it came to a vote - they can't - but whether they can hold 40 votes to support a filibuster. In my opinion that would be close. There are some who would vote against the bill but not for a filibuster - both Ds & Rs.
At least five associates of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud were killed in a shootout with the police in Sohrab Goth area, Gadap Town on Friday night. Gadap Town SP Rao Anwaar said that the police, after receiving a tip-off, conducted a raid at the TTP members' hideout near Pioneer farmhouse -- a secluded area on the outskirts of Karachi. Some of the terrorists managed to escape while the police killed five of them during crossfire. A large quantity of weapons was also seized from the hideout.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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[Kyodo: Korea] A Japanese lawmaker said Friday a senior Chinese diplomat has denied a media report that Kim Jong Un, third son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, visited China earlier this month, quoting him as saying the younger Kim has never been to China. Koichi Kato of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party told a group of reporters that Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei made the comment at their meeting in Beijing on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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[The News (Pak)] Elders of six tribes of the Kurram Agency have demanded of President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani to take serious notice of the activities of the Turi tribe allegedly involved in fomenting insurgency in the violence-hit area.
Addressing a joint press conference at the Sadda Press Club on Thursday, former MNAs Haji Zareen Khan Mangal and Zulfikar Ali Chamkani and other elders of the tribes including Haji Saleem Khan Orakzai, Malik Mir Badshah Masozai, Haji Rai Khan Khoidadkhel, Malik Mir Akbar, Malik Saifullah Khan Masozai, Haji Sher Khan, Haji Gul Zaman, Fazal Hameed and Abdul Kareem Abid alleged that the Indian consulates in Afghanistan were supporting the Turi tribesmen, who were involved in the endless violence in the area.
They alleged that hundreds of Turi tribesmen had been recruited in the Indian consulates in Afghanistan where they were being trained, funded and supplied sophisticated arms. The elders alleged that they were not only involved in insurgency and terrorism in the Kurram Agency but also across the country.
They said the Turi tribesmen was trying to hide their anti-state activities by claiming themselves as innocent in the media but it was on the government record that they had deliberately spoiled the peaceful atmosphere in the area.
They said the six tribes of the Kurram Agency never challenged the writ of the government in the past while the Turi tribe took law into their hands and there was no sign of governance in Upper Kurram.
They asked as to who killed Political Agent Taj Muhammad Khan, Assistant Political Agent Masoodur Rehman and other officials in the past. They said the Turi tribe was trying to prove itself innocent.
They alleged that the Turi tribe had expelled thousands of innocent people of the six tribes from their own villages and homes in the past. They said they had not closed the main road but the armed men of the Turi tribe were behind the blockade for the last two years in Alizai and Marukhel areas and even the government officials were not allowed to travel. They said the people of the six tribes had been travelling to Kohat and Peshawar through the mountainous areas.
It's all the fault o'them damned Turis. It's time we had us a proper feud!
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The United States is sending weapons to Somalia's government to thwart Islamist insurgents, who reportedly chopped off the hands and feet of thieves and paraded the severed limbs in the streets of Mogadishu, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
While the United Nations has had a long-standing arms embargo on Somalia, a May Security Council resolution urged member states to train and equip government security forces --as long as a U.N. embargo monitoring committee had no objections.
" The prospect of the government collapsing is sending alarm bells ringing in Western capitals, but whether this latest move will succeed remains to be seen "
Rashid Abdi, analyst at International Crisis Group
"It's confirmed. They received approval from the U.N. Security Council," an international security source said.
Another foreign security source said weapons had come into Somalia for the government via Uganda, which provides half the 4,300 African Union troops protecting key sites in Mogadishu.
"The prospect of the government collapsing is sending alarm bells ringing in Western capitals, but whether this latest move will succeed remains to be seen," said Rashid Abdi, analyst at International Crisis Group. Now, there's some insightful analysis. We need more like that.
"Going further than providing arms to actually sending in more foreign forces would be a mistake," he said. "The government would then play right into the hands of the militants, who would accuse them of accepting foreign meddling."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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#1
With a fall of the Somali government, and the south of Yemen being plagued by pirates and al queda, it makes a real convienient choke point for cutting off oil and food supply.
You better be concerned. That gulf area is a tenderbox.
#2
Just a suggestion, but preferable to send weapons that can't be captured and turned against us and our allies. I suggest cluster bombs, cluster bombs, and cluster bombs. Oh! and a hellfire, or 50, sent on targets
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2009 0:22
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#3
Per Frank, our motto should be: "we deliver!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2009 14:11
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#4
I say we launch an arclight strike from a B-52 Q-ship dropping F-150 pickups filled with explosives.
[ADN Kronos] One of the most powerful clerics in Iran, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, has called for "ruthless and savage" punishment - implying the death penalty - for leaders of the protests that have erupted since the presidential election on 12 June. Khatami is very close to the re-elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
At a sermon broadcast nationally on Friday at Tehran University, Khatami said, "I want the judiciary to...punish leading rioters firmly and without showing any mercy to teach everyone a lesson.
"Based on Islamic law, whoever confronts the Islamic state... should be convicted as a 'mohareb' [one who wages war against god]...They should be punished ruthlessly and savagely."
Under Iran's Islamic law, punishment for people convicted of being a 'mohareb' is execution.
Khatami considers Ahmadinejad the official winner of the disputed presidential election on 12 June.
Official election results gave a landslide victory to Ahmadinejad but supporters of the defeated candidates including Mir Hossein Mousavi have disputed the result and taken to the streets of Tehran and other cities in the thousands.
It is the most dramatic upheaval seen in the country in more than 30 years since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
The two reformist candidates demanded an annulment of the election.
But Iran's top legislative body or Guardian Council said on Friday there would be no annulment of the election results because they found no evidence of fraud.
"After ten days of examination, we did not see any major irregularities," Abbasali Kadkhodai, a council spokesman, told Iran's official news agency IRNA.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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#1
Well of course he would. He himself is a savage.
[Bangla Daily Star] An armed cadre of Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP), student front of Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS), was shot dead during a gunfight with security personnel at Suvalong Bazar yesterday morning. The deceased was identified as Jagadish Chakma alias Tarun Chakma, 30, son of Gunadhar Chakma of village Moitri Nagar in the town.
Thirty years old and still a student? A bit slow, perhaps?
Locals and security personnel sources said a dozen of armed PCP activists led by Tarun Chakma went to Suvalong Bazar, 30 kms off the district town, to attack the local office of United Peoples' Democratic Front (UPDF), an anti-peace treaty organisation.
Anti-peace treaty? Who is treating with whom?
Being informed by UPDF activists, army from local camps challenged the PCP men when the armed cadres reached Suvalong Bazar at about 11:00am.
At one stage, the PCP activists started fleeing the scene by firing gunshots at army. The security men also retaliated by firing bullets, leaving Tarun dead on the spot.
Shooting at an army, unless one is another army, strikes me as a good way to get killed.
Army personnel arrested PCP activist Elen Chakma from the spot while other PCP men managed to escape during the gunfight. No case was filed till 5:30pm yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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[Maghrebia] Mauritanian officials arrested two young men Thursday (June 25th) in Nouakchott as part of their investigation into the murder of American aid worker Christopher Leggett, PANA reported. Leggett, a computer teacher and NGO worker in the El Kasr neighbourhood of Nouakchott, was shot and killed by two unidentified assailants on Tuesday. In a statement aired Wednesday night on Qatari satellite TV channel Aljazeera, al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the murder.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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Cocaine production in Latin America fell last year because of declining demands in global markets, tougher law enforcement, and shifting trends in the production and consumption of narcotics. Cooling markets have also led to a reduction in the value of the coca leaf -- the raw ingredient in the production of cocaine -- causing some farmers to stop growing the crop.
The downturn was seen mostly in Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine, where production of the drug plummeted by 28 percent, the United Nations' annual report on drugs revealed. "In terms of ... production, the 2008 results are the lowest in Colombia in a decade," said the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, which produced the report. But increases in the cultivation of cocaine in the smaller producer nations Peru (by 4 percent) and Bolivia (by 9 percent) partially offset the drop in Colombia -- where half of the world's cocaine is produced, it said.
Narcotics experts say changes in the $320 billion global cocaine market partially explain recent drug-related violence in Central America, with cartels fighting for a shrinking market. Aldo Lale-Demoz, U.N. agency representative for Colombia, said traffickers tend to migrate to countries where there is less police pressure and eradication. "There's a shift from Colombia toward Peru and Bolivia," he said. Peru was more worrisome, he added, because of "the penetration of international cartels, above all Mexicans." But in both Peru and Bolivia, local police authorities have given drug producers freer rein. Crop eradication was down by more than 10 percent in the two countries, U.S. anti-drug officials said. They complain that Bolivia, which expelled U.S. drug agents last year, is no longer a serious partner in combating drugs.
The UNODC's executive director, Antonio Maria Costa, also had a warning for Colombia's two Andean neighbors. "The increases for Bolivia and Peru show a trend in the wrong direction," he said, adding, "Peru must guard against a return to the days when terrorists and insurgents, like the (guerrilla group) Shining Path, profited from drugs and crime."
The U.N. report warned that the production and consumption of synthetic drugs -- amphetamines, ecstasy and methamphetamine -- are making inroads in developing countries by going from a cottage industry to "big business." The report acknowledged the difficulty of estimating the size of production of cannabis and synthetic drugs, as they can be made in laboratories anywhere. But the report said the production of amphetamine-type stimulants, like ecstasy, methamphetamine tablets, crystal meth and other substances, is worsening. It also warned that criminal gangs may try to exploit the production of synthetic drugs in vulnerable, developing countries.
SEOUL, South Korea – The United States will not use force to inspect a North Korean ship suspected of carrying banned goods, an American official was quoted as saying Friday.
So what was the talk all about? You mean the UN resolution was just posturing?
Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy met with South Korean officials in Seoul on Friday as the U.S. sought international support for aggressively enforcing a U.N. sanctions resolution aimed at punishing Pyongyang for its second nuclear test last month. The North Korean-flagged ship, Kang Nam 1, is the first to be tracked under the U.N. resolution.
On Thursday, the communist regime organized a massive anti-American rally in Pyongyang where some 100,000 participants vowed to "crush" the U.S. One senior speaker told the crowd that the North will respond to any sanctions or U.S. provocations with "an annihilating blow." That was seen as a pointed threat in response to the American destroyer.
It was idiotic, and only idiots believe that the demonstration meant anything. That includes the reporter and, apparently, Bambi ...
Flournoy said Friday that Washington has ruled the use military force to inspect the North Korean freighter. "The U.N. resolution lays out a regime that has a very clear set of steps," Flournoy said, according to the Yonhap news agency. "I want to be very clear ... This is not a resolution that sponsors, that authorizes use of force for interdiction."
It wasn't a resolution that did anything, in fact. China won again.
Flournoy said the U.S. still has "incentives and disincentives that will get North Korea to change course."
None that mean anything, of course, but all sorts of options ...
lournoy's trip came as the U.S. sought international support for aggressively enforcing the U.N. sanctions.
It is not clear what was on board the North Korean freighter, but officials have mentioned artillery and other conventional weaponry. One intelligence expert suspected missiles.
The U.S. and its allies have made no decision on whether to request inspection of the ship, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Wednesday in Washington, but North Korea has said it would consider any interception an act of war.
If permission for inspection is refused, the ship must dock at a port of its choosing, so local authorities can check its cargo. Vessels suspected of carrying banned goods must not be offered bunkering services at port, such as fuel, the resolution says.
A senior U.S. defense official said the ship had cleared the Taiwan Strait. He said he didn't know whether or when the Kang Nam may need to stop in some port to refuel, but that the ship has in the past stopped in Hong Kong's port.
Another U.S. defense official said he tended to doubt reports that the Kang Nam was carrying nuclear-related equipment, saying information seems to indicate the cargo is banned conventional munitions. North Korea is suspected to have transported banned goods to Myanmar before on the Kang Nam, said Bertil Lintner, a Bangkok-based North Korea expert who has written a book about leader Kim Jong Il.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2009
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#1
The United States will not use force to inspect a North Korean ship
#3
Doesn't the US have the capacity to detect radioactive isotopes from a distance? Of course, that wouldn't help with things like centrifuges or a bomb chassis or a missile.
#4
I thought we never planned to use force, only to shadow the ship until it reached port. At which point the port authorities would demand inspection before permitting refueling and so forth.
#5
A lot will depend on where the ship pulls in for fuel. Singapore is pretty tough - they would insist on a thorough inspection. Vietnam and other countries, not so much.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/27/2009 8:40
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#6
Again, can't we offer the Vietnamese more than China and the Norks can? China and Vietnam aren't exactly on the best of terms.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2009 10:51
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#8
Hong Kong is the other option. The Chinese won't inhibit the ship's travel. If it's conventional weapons to Myannmar, the PRC might have even paid for the cargo in the first place.
#9
You don't extend an open hand to the clenched fist. The MMs of Iran sense weakness, now the Norks and their little experiment sense weakness, and certainly the Chicoms do, too. The Big O has made it perfectly clear that the US will not take a line-in-the-sand stand for anything.
And in doing so, he will accelerate the world into war---the very war that he thinks his ideology will prevent. God help us all.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/27/2009 13:07
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#10
President Obama's foreign policy is a joke to our enemies and an embarrassment to our nation. He's a bathtub Admiral at best.
At least 20 Taliban were killed and 15 others injured when security forces shelled TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud's hideouts in South Waziristan, a private TV channel reported on Friday.
Fighter jets bombarded Taliban hideouts in the agency's Ladha, Saam and Makeen tehsils, it said
North Waziristan: Meanwhile, four persons, including three security personnel, were killed and 24 others injured in two remote-controlled bomb attacks on a security convoy in North Waziristan Agency on Friday.
Local sources told Daily Times that an army convoy from Bannu was proceeding to Miranshah in the morning when it was targeted with a remote-controlled bomb on the Chashma Pul -- around two kilometres from agency headquarters Miranshah.
The attack killed three security personnel and a pedestrian and injured 20 personnel. The injured were moved to a hospital in Toochi Fort. The same convoy was targeted a second time as it reached Nooruk, 20 kilometres from Miranshah. The second explosion injured four security personnel.
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06/27/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Police disperses a crowd of nearly 200 people who stormed the Iranian Embassy in Stockholm on Friday, a report says.
According to the AP report, a smaller group of the protestors, believed to have been Iranian expatriates, broke away from the crowd and forced their way into the Embassy.
"A few managed to climb through broken windows into the building," police spokesman Ulf Hoglund said, adding that one of the Embassy staff was injured inside the building.
Fifty police officers and an ambulance were dispatched to the Embassy building in the Lidinge archipelago island outside the city. Hoglund said police had evicted the demonstrators from the building and arrested one person.
Organizers of the demonstration said a few of the protesters were injured in clashes with the Embassy's security officers.
Police said the situation was under control, however, demonstrators continued to block the entrance, preventing Embassy personnel from leaving.
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06/27/2009
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#1
Since violence is the only language the Supreme Thug understands I consider this a good thing. Shutting down their embassies with protesters is a great way to demonstrate the ire of the world.
#2
There will be a protest this evening in Cincinnati. Formerly temporary daughter and her family will be joining the fun (ftd's father is Iranian, and the children have both Iranian and American passports). The participants were asked to dress in black for morning, with green ribbons.
And then July 4th another tea party. Fountain Square is a busy place this year.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Guardian Council, Iran's election watchdog, forms a "special commission" to prepare a report on the disputed presidential election.
In an interview with Press TV on Thursday, Guardian Council Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei said in addition to a five-day extension for filing complaints, the Council had formed a "special commission" to "secure the additional confidence of the complaining candidates and their supporters."
He added that the commission was composed of six "outstanding political, social and religious figures" and the representatives of the two defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi who persist with their complaints and demand a re-run.
A third candidate, Mohsen Rezaei, has withdrawn his complaint.
Members of the special commission include former foreign minister and current foreign affairs adviser to the Leader Ali Akbar Velayati, former Majlis speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, Dean of the Faculty of Law at Shahid Beheshti University Goudarz Eftekhar-Jahromi, Chief Prosecutor Qurban-Ali Dorri-Nadjafabadi, Majlis deputy Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi, and the Leader's representative at the Martyrs Foundation Mohammad-Hassan Rahimian.
The commission will supervise the recounting of about 10 percent of the ballot boxes to be "chosen at random," which Kadkhodaei may be broadcast live.
Kadkhodaei said candidates had 24 hours to name their representatives.
He added that the Guardian Council had called on all political and religious figures to send in any "ambiguities, questions or documented issues for consideration" and that the Council had contacted a number of social and political figures in this regard.
Iran became the scene of opposition rallies last week after the announcement of the results of the 10th presidential election, which declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner with nearly two-thirds of the votes.
At least 20 people were killed and many others injured when some protests turned violent. Tehran blames 'saboteurs' for the deaths of the Iranian protesters.
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06/27/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Pro-Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, vowing fresh attacks on security forces.
Um, guys, you're sending the jacketwallahs after targets on the Pakistani side of the line. You're supposed to attack on the Indian side, remember? Good Muslims do not wage jihad against other Muslims. (Unless they are taqfirs or apostates, but even so the Hinjoos must be targetted first. Srsly.)
A deputy commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, Hakeem Ullah Mehsud told reporters on Friday that his men had carried out the bombing that targeted a convoy of security forces in Muzaffarabad. The incident happened earlier in the day when a bomber blew himself up against an army vehicle in the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, killing at least two soldiers and wounding three others.
On Friday, Pakistani warlord Maulvi Nazir, who leads his own wing of Tehrik-e-Taliban in South Waziristan, announced the withdrawal of his group from a 2007 agreement with the Pakistani government. Nazri's spokesman, Shams Ullah, said the group would continue targeting checkpoints, military convoys and bases until the United States stopped its drone attacks on the tribal areas where Washington claims Taliban fighters are holed up.
That sounds about right: kill Pakistanis because you're mad at America.
The decision follows a recent missile attack by unmanned US planes on the hideouts of Nazir's men in Shahalam area in South Waziristan Agency.
Elsewhere, four security forces were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded in a remote-controlled bomb attack on a road near the main town of Miranshah in North Waziristan.
Pakistan remains the victim of Taliban-linked insurgency, with bombings and terror attacks targeting different parts of the country, particularly in the northwest were it borders insurgency-ravaged Afghanistan.
A shoot-yourself-in-the-foot kind of a victim, but a victim nonetheless.
Washington is beefing up its military contingent in Afghanistan, as restoring security has become exceedingly difficult ahead of the August 20 Presidential and general elections in the country.
US drone attacks on Pakistani soil have long irked Islamabad officials who believe the army's crackdown on militants in the northwest is progressing well and unwanted US assistance is not required.
How long?
Very long. Longer than we can remember. Practically forever, in fact.
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06/27/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] A high court in Pakistan has dismissed a case of tax evasion filed against former premier Nawaz Sharif which could have sent him behind bars for 14 years.
The court ruling came on Friday to revoke Sharif's earlier conviction of not paying taxes on the alleged purchase of a helicopter used during an election campaign in the 1990's.
Pakistan's national accountability court in 2000 sentenced him to a 14-year jail term and barred Sharif from holding any public office for 21 years as well as a penalty of 50 million rupees (625,000 US dollars).
On Friday, Sharif's lawyer Khwaja Haris told the court that the case against his client was politically-motivated, adding that Sharif had got the helicopter on lease for his party's election campaign and not for personal use.
Today's court order is the second ruling in the past two months to lift the ban on Sharif's ability to run for public office. On May 26, Pakistan's Supreme Court said Sharif was eligible to hold public office.
The former premier leads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) -- the second largest political party in Pakistan -- and is expected to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Overthrown by former army chief Gen. Parvez Musharraf in 1999, Nawaz Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia in 2000, only a few days after his conviction.
The two-time premier has already filed nomination papers to run for a vacant National Assembly seat.
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Sri Lankan police say they have arrested an astrologer after he predicted serious political and economic problems for the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse. He knew that was coming. It was written in the stars.
Chandrasiri Bandara, who writes an astrology column for a pro-opposition weekly, was taken in on Thursday, police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara said. "The CID (Criminal Investigations Department) is questioning the astrologer," Gunasekara said on Friday, adding that they wanted to find out the "basis" for the prediction. Um? He's an astrologer. Something to do with Venus being in the fourth house and Uranus rising.
The astrologer had predicted that a planetary change on October 8 will be inauspicious for parliament and the government may not be able to arrest rising living costs -- a prediction already made by private economists.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal welcomed Thursday the change in tone from Washington towards his Islamist movement but said action was still needed as he hit out on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called his right-wing government "fascist."
In a televised address from Damascus following United States President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo, Mashaal welcomed Obama's overtures to Hamas as "the first step towards direct talks," but stressed that action as well as unconditional direct talks with Palestinian resistance groups should be the outcome of any outreach. "Working with Hamas and Palestinian resistance groups, has to be on the basis of respecting the will of the Palestinian people and their democratic choice and not on the basis of placing conditions like that of the Quartet, as imposing conditions on others, is a problematic matter and unsuitable for free nations," Meshaal said.
" America's talk today of freezing settlements and of a Palestinian state is not new. More important is the extent of their response to the rights of our people and the reality of the Palestinian state they talk about in terms of its sovereignty "
Khaled Meshaal
The Hamas chief added that Obama's stance on halting settlements and the right of Palestinian self-determination needed to move beyond words to concrete gains for Palestinians.
"America's talk today of freezing settlements and of a Palestinian state is not new. More important is the extent of their response to the rights of our people and the reality of the Palestinian state they talk about in terms of its sovereignty," Meshaal explained, adding "that is why our stance on the Obama administration is still under examination."
Hamas has "no illusions about the new policy... we want change on the ground that will bring about an end to the occupation," he said, adding that U.S. must begin to consider Hamas as a resistance movement elected by the will of the people and not an outlawed group.
In his Cairo speech earlier this month, Obama acknowledged the Palestinian support for Hamas but added that the Islamist movement must gain legitimacy by putting an end to violence and recognizing past agreements and "Israel's right to exist."
Israeli stance "fascist"
Underscoring Obama's need for concrete action on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict Meshaal noted that Netenyahu's Tel Aviv speech earlier last week defied U.S. demands for peace in the region by insisting on continuing settlement activity.
Hamas's first outreach move towards the new administration came during Obama's Cairo visit during which former Hamas advisor Yusuf Ahmed submitted a "Peace Letter" which was delivered to Obama by CODEPINK, an advocacy group supporting Palestinians, in hopes of opening dialogue with the world's super power.
" We reject the position taken by Netanyahu... on east Jerusalem, settlement activity, the right of return of Palestinian refugees and his vision of a demilitarised Palestinian state deprived of sovereignty over its land, air space and territorial waters "
Meshaal
Meshaal also slammed Natenyahu's right-wing government, saying that the conditions it placed on the Palestinian statehood were unacceptable and that its demand that Palestinians recognize it as an officially Jewish state is "fascist." "We reject the position taken by Netanyahu... on east Jerusalem, settlement activity, the right of return of Palestinian refugees and his vision of a demilitarised Palestinian state deprived of sovereignty over its land, air space and territorial waters," Meshaal said.
Meshaal said Hamas opposed Israel as a Jewish state because that would amount to the denial of the rights of the six million Palestinian refugees. "The enemy's leaders call for a so-called Jewish state is a racist demand that is no different from calls by Italian Fascists and Hitler's Nazism," Mashaal said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Khaled Meshaal welcomed Thursday the change in tone from Washington towards his Islamist movement but said action was still needed
Ha ha ha! Stop it! You're killing me! Man, that guy's got a wicked sense of humor!
[Al Arabiya Latest] A bomb killed 13 people and wounded over 50 when it exploded in an industrial area of Baghdad on Friday, just four days before United States combat troops are due to withdraw from Iraqi cities and towns.
Defense and interior ministry officials confirmed the toll and said the bomb went off around 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) while people gathered at the market on the Muslim day of rest. The bomb was planted on a motorbike in a market specializing in motorcycles in Bab al-Sheikh in central Baghdad.
" There was a huge shockwave. I saw so many people burned; others were thrown in the air. My friend was killed "
Bike trader Maytham Abdelamir
"People burned and bodies were thrown everywhere," Omar Hashem, 34, who was accompanying a friend to the market when the explosion happened.
"At first we ran away but we returned to help the victims," he added, his clothes covered in blood.
The act of a good citizen.
Bike trader Maytham Abdelamir, 23, crying, added: "There was a huge shockwave. I saw so many people burned; others were thrown in the air. My friend was killed."
Officials from two Baghdad hospitals told AFP 54 people had been wounded.
A spate of bombings in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq raises questions about the abilities of Iraqi security forces, whose ranks have swelled since they were disbanded after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, to combat a stubborn insurgency.
P'rhaps y'all should quietly ask the Americans not to leave just yet.
On Wednesday, 78 people were killed in a bomb attack in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, just days after a truck bomb killed 73 people in the northern city of Kirkuk.
The Tree of Liberty, etc.
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06/27/2009
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Former state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello is expected to accept a plea deal to fraud-related charges Friday in Albany County Court, the Daily News has learned.
Novello, a former U.S. surgeon general who was state health commissioner under former Gov. George Pataki from 1999 through 2006, was charged in a 20-count indictment with using state workers to run errands, take her on shopping sprees and act as house servants.
The 64-year-old, who lives in Florida, was facing up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
She is set to appear before Albany County Judge Stephen Herrick.
Her lawyer, Stewart Jones, did not return a call for comment last night.
A spokeswoman for Albany County District Attorney David Soares had no comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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#1
.. was charged in a 20-count indictment with using state workers to run errands, take her on shopping sprees and act as house servants.
So she treated them like serfs taxpayers. What do you expect with the prevailing mentality that the people exist to serve the ruling class government, rather than the government exists to serve the people.
[Mail and Globe] Spiralling violence in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, is taking a heavy toll on civilians, with more than 250 killed and 160 000 forced to flee their homes over the past seven weeks, aid agencies said on Friday.
Fighting between government forces and the Islamist-led insurgency, which erupted on May 7, "is leaving a trail of civilian casualties, destruction and renewed displacement", the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.
"The deteriorating security situation has sharply reduced deliveries of desperately needed humanitarian aid to the displaced in and around Mogadishu," UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told a news briefing in Geneva.
Somali hospitals have reported more than 250 civilians killed and 900 wounded during the period, the UNHCR said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) put the number of wounded much higher at two Mogadishu hospitals, Medina and Keysaney, which it has provided with life-saving medical and surgical supplies.
"Since May 7, they received more than 1 500 wounded people in these two hospitals alone, which is far more than their usual capacity," ICRC spokesperson Anna Schaaf said.
The humanitarian agency said it had no figure for the death toll in the latest round of fighting in the Horn of Africa country, where the government, which controls little but a few parts of the capital, declared a state of emergency a week ago.
A two-year insurgency has killed about 18 000 civilians and unknown numbers of fighters.
"We estimate that since the start of the fighting in May, more than 160 000 people have been forced to leave their homes and seek shelter elsewhere within Somalia or in neighbouring countries," Spindler said.
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[ADN Kronos] At least eight people were killed in continuing clashes in northwest Pakistan between rival factions in the Kurram Agency tribal area on Thursday. Local people said fresh clashes in the Baleshkhel area left eight people dead and several others injured.
The two tribes targeted each other's positions with heavy weapons, including mortars, rockets and Kalashnikovs.
Local tribal elders meanwhile, expressed concern over what they called the lukewarm attitude of the government, saying it had failed to resolve the issue.
A member of Pakistan's national assembly from Kurram Agency, Sajid Tori, has appealed to the government and tribal chieftans to help put an end to the clashes.
At least seven people died in clashes on Wednesday and scores have been killed since hostilities began in mid-June.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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#1
Would this have anything to do with Al Q and the dissaffection they now have for the foreign law being forced upon them?
[Khaleej Times] An Iranian doctor who claims he tried to save Neda Agha Soltan as the young Iranian protester bled to death on the streets of Tehran said Thursday that she was shot by a member of Iran's pro-government Basij militia.
Video images of 26-year-old Soltan, with blood pouring from her mouth and nose as a few Iranian men struggled to save her, have became a powerful symbol of the protests taking place over Iran's disputed presidential election.
Dr. Arash Hejazi told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he was one of those men who tried to save her.
Hejazi, who is currently studying in England, said he was briefly visiting friends in Tehran when he heard the protest Soltan was taking part in and went to see it.
Suddenly, he said, police began to fire tear gas and race forward on motorcycles.
"We heard a gunshot. Neda was standing one meter (yard) away from me. I turned back and I saw blood gushing out of Neda's chest," he said. "We ran to her and lay her on the ground. I saw the bullet wound just below the neck."
Hejazi said he tried to stop the bleeding, but she soon died.
The protesters first thought the gunshot had come from a nearby rooftop, but later spotted an armed member of Iran's Basij militia on a motorcycle, and stopped and disarmed him, the doctor said.
The man shouted "I didn't want to kill her," but the furious protesters confiscated his identity card and took photographs of him before letting him go, Hejazi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez threw his support behind Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and said he believed America's spy agency, the CIA, was behind clashes that have rocked the Islamic Republic for almost two weeks.
Although ties between Venezuela and the United States seemed to be warming as they planned to reinstate their ambassadors almost nine months after Chavez expelled the U.S. envoy Patrick Duddy, Chavez, however, still blamed the U.S. and the "imperial hand" for the worst unrest in Iran since the 1979 revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed Shah.
" People are in the streets, some are dead, they have snipers, and behind this is the CIA, the imperial hand of European countries and the United States "
President Hugo Chavez
"People are in the streets, some are dead, they have snipers, and behind this is the CIA, the imperial hand of European countries and the United States," he said at a gathering of Latin American leftist leaders.
He said he suspected the U.S. and European central agencies for having a role in the post-elections clashes as he said their "imperial hand" was behind the protests that have left at least 17 people dead.
The Venezuelan president also announced his support for Ahmadinejad and said the Iranian premier "won the elections legally, we are absolutely sure we know quite a lot about Iranian politics."
Iran has also accused Western powers, including the CIA, of having a hand in the protests and the nation's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has refused to calls for a vote recount.
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06/27/2009
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Albany's dysfunctional follies veered further into the inane on Thursday: Gov. Paterson cut off some Senate pay, a lawmaker branded the governor a "coke snorting" womanizer and the Senate - once again - accomplished nothing.
The only sign of progress in ending the impasse that began June 8 with a Republican-led coup was that warring senators agreed not to battle for the gavel.
Democrats and Republicans held short, separate sessions in which they did no business. Sources hinted that a deal may be near - but there were no details.
Among the day's lowlights:
Paterson ordered that the per diems and travel expenses paid to do-nothing senators be withheld.
Democrats blasted the governor for keeping them in Albany day after day and hot-headed Sen. Kevin Parker called Paterson a "coke snorting, staff-banging governor." Paterson has admitted youthful drug use and several extra-marital affairs.
The governor ordered both sides back Friday - and said he won't let them go home until they vote on important legislation.
"This is a crisis that needs to be redressed and it needs to be redressed now," Paterson told reporters. "This is a crisis of governance."
The Senate has been paralyzed since a GOP-led leadership coup on June 8 that included dissident Democrats Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens). Monserrate has since switched back to the Democrats, leaving the Senate deadlocked at 31-31.
Senators on both sides toned down the vitriol yesterday, reporting progress in negotiations for a leadership agreement that would get the Senate working again.
"We acknowledge ... we have brought obviously a lot of disrespect to this institution," Espada said.
Both sides agreed to go in separately yesterday to avoid a replay of Tuesday's circus, when each party held simultaneous sessions. The Democrats gaveled in, said they believed the session wasn't legal without the governor also calling in the Assembly, and left in under four minutes. The Republicans followed suit in even less time.
Paterson accused senators of being more interested in going home for the weekend than getting their work done. "The Senate is derelict in their duties just at the time that the people need the Senate to act the most," he said.
Paterson's continued actions and criticisms have worn thin on his fellow Democrats.
Parker, who is under indictment for felony assault, said lawmakers don't need a "coke snorting, staff-banging governor to lecture us about behavior in government."
He was unapologetic about the attack. "I'm sorry the governor has not provided the kind of leadership we need to deal with the issues of the people of New York, that's what I'm sorry about," Parker said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009
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#1
"We acknowledge ... we have brought obviously a lot of disrespect to this institution,"
How do you bring disrespect to an institution that has sunk lower then a whore house? /rhetorical question.
#5
The Senate has been paralyzed since a GOP-led leadership coup on June 8 that included dissident Democrats Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens). Monserrate has since switched back to the Democrats, leaving the Senate deadlocked at 31-31.
And it will remain paralyzed as long as both democrats are referred to as De Queens.
#6
Don't compare the two. Whorehouses make money, not just the girls.
Well, the US Government took over the Mustang Ranch in Nevada a while back for tax delinquencies. They ran it for a while. Even with cheap liquor and loose women, they couldn't keep it in business and it closed. Tells you something, doesn't it.
The gummint can't run jack, except into the ground.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/27/2009 20:19
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#8
FYI - re: Joe Conforte's Mustang Ranch: The Gov't whores were ready to work, they just demanded the "johns" be called "lobbyists". I guy may want to visit a prostitute, however low that is, but he doesn't need to be verbally abused while doing it.
Another FYI - my Grandfather's ranch was just up the valley from there, by Derby Dam, and it was an actual ranch
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2009 20:56
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Turmoil continued in Iran on Thursday as a top cleric warned the Islamic Republic's rulers that their continued suppression of opposition protests could destabilize the government and defeated reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi said he was determined to continue fighting against "major" election rigging.
In the harshest criticism yet from an Iranian cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, said: "If Iranians cannot talk about their legitimate rights at peaceful gatherings and are instead suppressed, complexities will build up which could possibly uproot the foundations of the government, no matter how powerful."
Montazeri, once tipped as a possible successor to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, also called for an "impartial" committee to be set up to resolve the worst crisis since the 1979 that ousted the U.S.-backed Shah.
Ahmadinejad to Obama
" Mr Obama made a mistake to say those things ... our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously Bush used to say "
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Meanwhile President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on U.S. President Barack Obama to apologize for interfering in Iran's affairs as several members of parliament refused to attend a victory dinner party hosted by the incumbent.
More than 100 MPs, including parliament speaker Ali Larijani, were notably absent at Ahmadinejad's inauguration ceremony. "Apart from 70 members of the (Islamic) revolution faction, which backs Ahmadinejad, only 30 other principalists (conservatives) turned up," the reformist Etemad Melli newspaper said, adding that 290 boycotted the event. "Ali Larijani and his deputies were not there," conservative MP Javad Arianmanesh was quoted as saying of the Wednesday evening event.
In comments about Obama's recent statement in which he said he was "appalled and outraged" by Iran's post-election crackdown, Ahmadinejad likened the president to his predecessor George W. Bush and demanded an apology. "Mr Obama made a mistake to say those things ... our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously Bush used to say," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "Do you want to speak with this tone? If that is your stance then what is left to talk about ... I hope you avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express your regret in a way that the Iranian nation is informed of it," he said.
World leaders voiced increasing alarm over the situation in Iran and G8 foreign ministers headed into three days of talks seeking a united stance condemning Iran's crackdown on the opposition.
In the latest diplomatic snub, the United States said it would no longer issue invitations for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 Independence Day parties at U.S. embassies, following the violent suppression of protests. "No wienies for meanies!" Mousavi presses on
" I am pressured to abandon my demand for the vote annulment ... a major rigging has happened ... I am prepared to prove that those behind the rigging are responsible for the bloodshed ... Continuation of legal and calm protests will guarantee achieving our goals "
Mir Hossein Mousavi
Defeated Mousavi, meanwhile, maintained that he had won the June 12 election and said the nation had the right to protest over the "rigged" vote. "I am pressured to abandon my demand for the vote annulment ... a major rigging has happened ... I am prepared to prove that those behind the rigging are responsible for the bloodshed ... Continuation of legal and calm protests will guarantee achieving our goals," he said. "I insist on the nation's constitutional right to protest against the election result and its aftermath...I strongly criticize the closure of the Kalameh-ye Sabz daily and arrest of those who worked there...The illegal confrontation with the media opens the way for foreign interference," he said in a statement.
Mousavi was the managing-director of the Kalameh-ye Sabz daily, which was closed earlier this week. "Such illegal behaviors (closure of the newspaper) unfortunately will lead society to get information from foreign media," said Mousavi.
Pressure on the opposition
Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist parliament speaker who came a distant fourth in the vote, cancelled a planned mourning ceremony as he was unable to find a site but plans to hold it next week, his party website said. His decision came after a large force of riot police and Islamist Basij militiamen stopped a crowd of several hundred people trying to assemble outside parliament on Wedesday, according to a witness. Another witness reported seeing police charge at passers-by, who dispersed into nearby streets, with some reports of shots being heard.
Iran's interior ministry banned all gatherings by opposition groups, which have staged massive protests in Tehran over what they say were rigged results of the election that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.
At least 17 people have been killed in the post-election violence, state media reports say, but the foreign media is banned from the streets under tight new restrictions imposed in the aftermath of the election, making it difficult to confirm official reports.
Despite the restrictions of the foreign media, images of police brutality have spread worldwide via amateur video over the Internet.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
We can hope that continued unrest will uproot the current Iran government. Meanwhile it would be helpful if BO and administration supported the protesters in the street er, er community organizers in the street both openly and covertly.
[Straits Times] THAILAND on Friday destroyed six tonnes of narcotics worth US$276 million (S$401.7 million) to mark the UN's annual day against drugs, as the government vowed to step up its campaign against illegal substances.
The drugs, which were gathered as evidence in nearly 4,500 court cases, were burned in an incinerator in front of public health officials.
'Drugs present a serious threat as they destroy the brain, the family, and social and national security,' deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban said at a meeting of state anti-drug officials.
'Therefore the government has put drugs on the national agenda, to stamp them out swiftly to protect younger generations,' he said.
The drugs burned on Friday included 2.7 tonnes of methamphetamine, 2.9 tonnes of marijuana, 228 kilos of heroin and 10 kilos of ecstasy tablets.
Nine kilos of cocaine and 3.1 kilos of ketamine were also destroyed.
The total street value of the drugs was estimated at 9.4 billion baht.
Friday marks the United Nations' International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
So they "destroyed tons of drugs? Yeah, and I taught my cats to recite Shakespeare last night...
[Mail and Globe] President Robert Mugabe says Zimbabwe may revive the use of its own currency because the United States dollar introduced to tame hyperinflation was unavailable to a majority of people in the countryside. His comments contradict a pledge made to investors this week by Economic Planning Minister Elton Mangoma to stick with the dollar, and raise questions about who is in charge of policy in Harare's fractious power-sharing administration.
Was that really a question?
Friday's state-run Herald newspaper quoted Mugabe as saying the government set up with rival Morgan Tsvangirai was battling to ease economic hardship, but Zimbabwe could not have a system where rural people were forced to trade their livestock. "We cannot have a country like that. We are reviewing this so that we can go back to the use of our own national currency," he was quoted as telling a meeting of his Zanu-PF party.
In January, Harare lifted a ban on the use of foreign currency to stem hyperinflation of more than 230-million percent that had rendered the Zimbabwe dollar almost worthless. The decision led to falling prices and a flood of goods on to previously barren supermarket shelves, but Mugabe said it had caused untold suffering because rural people had no access to the dollars and South African rands circulating in towns.
At the time of currency liberalisation, economists predicted it could make life tougher for ordinary Zimbabweans, most of whom would continue to be paid in local currency but be forced to pay for goods and services in foreign currency.
Mugabe's and Mangoma's contradictory comments suggest the unity administration formed in February to try end a devastating political and economic crisis was still at loggerheads over very basic policies. "It creates the impression of a divided government which has not worked out some positions on very basic issues," leading economic consultant John Robertson said. "Potential donors will be worried about this."
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[ADN Kronos] Islamic militants who abducted Italian aid worker Eugenio Vagni in the southern Philippines in January, have demanded a "ridiculous" ransom for his release, sources have told the head of the Philippines Red Cross, Richard Gordon. Gordon said he had received information that the kidnappers who are linked to Abu Sayyaf are asking for a ransom, but had been unable to confirm the amount.
"I received reports that they are now asking for ransom but I could not confirm that," Gordon told reporters during the weekly news forum in the Senate in Manila.
"There was a ridiculous amount mentioned but since I did not get it from them [abductors] I don't want to mention it," he added.
He said Vagni's last contact with his wife was on 2 June, when he spoke to her by telephone.
On 7 June the International Committee of the Red Cross reportedly received text messages from Vagni's abductors.
Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday reiterated his call for Vagni's release.
The 62 year old Italian has been held captive by Islamic militants in the southern Philippines since January. At the end of his audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, the pope called for all those held in conflict zones and in particular Vagni to be freed.
Marking the 150th anniversary of the Red Cross, the pope used his weekly audience "to urge the release of all those held in conflict zones and once more that of Eugenio Vagni, an employee of the Red Cross in the Philippines."
Vagni was abducted with two colleagues from the International Committee of the Red Cross - Andreas Notter of Switzerland and Mary Jean Lacaba of the Philippines - in January while on a humanitarian mission on southern Jolo island.
Notter and Lacaba were released in April, but attempts to rescue Vagni or negotiate his release have so far failed, although Philippines officials believe he is still alive
Gordon insisted that the Red Cross did not pay a ransom for the release of Vagni's colleagues.
"They keep saying Red Cross gave in to the ransom demands. The Red Cross cannot pay the ransom. Notter escaped from his abductors, while Lacaba was freed," Gordon said.
The abduction of the Red Cross workers is the most high-profile kidnapping of foreign nationals since 2001, when two dozen tourists were kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf separatists from an island resort in the western Philippines.
Al Bader Parad is an Abu Sayyaf leader whose group is said to be holding Vagni.
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[The News (Pak)] A law enforcement agency claimed to have arrested two militant commanders in guise of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in a raid on a local school in Kheshgi area on Thursday.
Sources said the police and intelligence agency personnel conducted a joint raid on the Government High School Kheshgi, which was being used as a camp for the IDPs, and arrested two militant commanders, identified as Adnan Shah and Sabir Shah, residents of Swat district.
Both the militants had worked as commanders with the TTP Swat-based chief Maulana Fazlullah. They had changed their appearance by trimming their beard and hair and were living with their families settled in the school camp. They were also getting relief aid in the camp along with other IDPs.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Geo News] A loud explosion occurred at a house being employed as firecracker-producing factory in Gharibabad area of Karachi, killing at least two persons and injuring 32 others including 14 women and nine children.
A powerful blast occurred at 1730 PST at a godown with stored goods for fireworks, causing the two-storey building at which the godown was situated to collapse completely; while, over two dozens of nearby buildings were greatly damaged.
Also, the gas pipeline passing through the area caught extreme fire triggering panic among the residents. The Sui Gas personnel arrived before long and cut off the connection, putting off the blaze.
According to eyewitnesses, the blast was heard far and wide.
The rescuers and relief team members faced great hardships in relief activities, as the area was over-crowded and has narrow streets; however, initially, the local residents on their own, took out the people trapped under the rubble and rushed them to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Liaquatabad General Hospital by the ambulances of Edhi and Chhipa Welfare.
According to eyewitnesses, police, the Rangers, City government warden, town administration and their personnel arrived 45 minutes late on the blast site. On this occasion, police baton-charged the people gathered there to break them up.
The crane of City Government and other heavy machinery clawed away the debris to rescue the injured from there.
According to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Mashhood Farooq, at least 27 injured were brought to the hospital, of them, four are in critical condition.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Nigerian authorities have agreed to release the leader of the country's freedom fighters in compliance with a precondition set by the rebels for peace.
The proper definition of peace being hudna, of course.
On Friday, head of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) Henry Okah, who had been charged with treason and arms trafficking, was given national amnesty by the government, BBC reported.
The gunmen had conditioned any peace accord on the release of Okah within a week.
The government also announced a period of amnesty for all rebels from August 6 to October 4 during which they will be allowed to avoid prosecution by laying down arms. "We have the 60 days period of grace from August 6, 2009 for all those who are willing to embrace the amnesty to surrender their weapons and renounce militancy," AFP quoted Interior Minister Major General Godwin Abbey as saying.
MEND rebels, who first appeared in 2005, eye a bigger share of the national oil and gas revenues and have conducted numerous attacks and abductions in an attempt to scare away foreign oil workers. The group has managed to reduce Nigeria's oil production by around 500,000 barrels per day.
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House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. has backed off his plan to investigate purported wrongdoing by the liberal activist group ACORN, saying ?powers that be? put the kibosh on the idea.
Mr. Conyers, Michigan Democrat, earlier bucked his party leaders by calling for hearings on accusations the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) has committed crimes ranging from voter fraud to a mob-style "protection" racket. "The powers that be decided against it," Mr. Conyers told The Washington Times as he left the House chambers Wednesday.
The chairman declined to elaborate, shrugging off questions about who told him how to run his committee and give the Democrat-allied group a pass.
Conyers spokesman Jonathan Godfrey said late Thursday, several hours after the first request for comment, that the chairman had been referring to himself as "the powers that be."
Pittsburgh lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh, whose testimony about ACORN at a March 19 hearing on voting issues prompted Mr. Conyers to call for a probe, said she was perplexed by Mr. Conyers' explanation for his change of heart. "If the chair of the Judiciary Committee cannot hold a hearing if he wants to, [then] who are the powers that he is beholden to?" she said. "Is it the leadership, is it the White House, is it contributors? Who is 'the power'?"
The comment spurred similar questions by House Republicans, who asked whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was involved in blocking the probe. "Chairman Conyers has a responsibility to explain who is blocking this investigation, and why. Is it Speaker Pelosi? Others in the Democratic leadership? Who in Congress is covering up ACORN's corruption?" said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin, ranking Republican on the Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and civil liberties, said the chairman should be calling the shots.
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#1
I wonder if Rep. Conyers was affected somehow by his wife Monica pleading guilty to a felony on Friday. She has not yet been sentenced. Does she know something he doesn't want publicized?
"I also want to make it equally clear that the evidence offered no suggestion that U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Mrs. Conyers' husband, had any knowledge or role in Mrs. Conyers' illegal conduct, nor did the congressman attempt to influence this investigation in any way."
#4
the US Atty takes direction from Obama through Holder. Conyers dropped the Acorn investigation due to "the powers that be" when HE is the committee chairman. Can you connect the dots?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2009 11:44
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#5
I think Obama has something on Rep. Conyers that turned up in investigating the Mrs., and so he can pull the strings whenever he wishes.
#6
One would hope that Representative Conyers cared about his wife's immediate future, even if he were not involved in any wrongdoing himself. This puts him even more in a position to be pressured.
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.
By Odhiambo Joseph BBC News, Kenya 
A recent thread on the Al-Falluja jihadist forum discussed the case of whether a Muslim who has nothing else to eat may kill an infidel in order to eat him. The discussion was prompted by a recently published book by Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, one of the most influential jihadist sheikhs active today. 
Families of 11 engineers murdered in Karachi in 2002 point finger of blame at French government
A relative of the head of Russia's Ingushetia region, who was accompanying him when their convoy was hit by suicide bomb attack, died of his wounds on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported.
A soldier, policeman and a 
Police killed five suspected militants Saturday in a nighttime raid on a Karachi apartment housing insurgents loyal to the Pakistani Taliban leader blamed for a wave of suicide attacks, a top official said.
In an effort to prevent a flare-up along the northern border, UNIFIL has increased its operations in southern Lebanon and has begun entering villages in search of Hizbullah weapons caches, according to information obtained recently by Israel. In one recent successful operation in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon, UNIFIL peacekeepers uncovered close to 20 Katyusha rockets that were ready for launch.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Saad Hariri was poised to be designated Lebanon's new prime minister after his March 14 party, which along with its allies holds the majority in parliament, picked him for the post on Friday, a day after Hariri held rare talks with his rival, leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah. 
[ADN Kronos] Turkey's army chief Ilker Basbug on Friday called for an end to speculation about an alleged military plot to overthrow the government and condemned what he called a smear campaign against the military. 
Suspected Taliban blew up a girls' primary school on the outskirts of the provincial capital during the early hours of Friday, said police. There were no casualties. An official from the Mattani Police Station told Daily Times that three suspected Taliban broke into Government Girls Model Primary School Ghaziabad in Frontier Road area, tied up the guard and planted explosives on the premises. Four devices went off in quick succession, destroying the boundary wall and five of the six rooms in the building, said the official. Attacks on girls' school on the outskirts of Peshawar have recently spiked. Friday's attack was the second such attack in less than a week.
Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, an anti-tax crusader, acknowledged that he used taxpayers' money to see Maria Belen Chapur, 43, in Buenos Aires last year during a nine-day trip to Brazil and Argentina that cost $12,000 (ÂŁ7,250).
At least five associates of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud were killed in a shootout with the police in Sohrab Goth area, Gadap Town on Friday night. Gadap Town SP Rao Anwaar said that the police, after receiving a tip-off, conducted a raid at the TTP members' hideout near Pioneer farmhouse -- a secluded area on the outskirts of Karachi. Some of the terrorists managed to escape while the police killed five of them during crossfire. A large quantity of weapons was also seized from the hideout.
[The News (Pak)] Elders of six tribes of the Kurram Agency have demanded of President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani to take serious notice of the activities of the Turi tribe allegedly involved in fomenting insurgency in the violence-hit area.
[Bangla Daily Star] An armed cadre of Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP), student front of Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS), was shot dead during a gunfight with security personnel at Suvalong Bazar yesterday morning. The deceased was identified as Jagadish Chakma alias Tarun Chakma, 30, son of Gunadhar Chakma of village Moitri Nagar in the town. 
[Maghrebia] Mauritanian officials arrested two young men Thursday (June 25th) in Nouakchott as part of their investigation into the murder of American aid worker Christopher Leggett, PANA reported. Leggett, a computer teacher and NGO worker in the El Kasr neighbourhood of Nouakchott, was shot and killed by two unidentified assailants on Tuesday. In a statement aired Wednesday night on Qatari satellite TV channel Aljazeera, al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the murder.
At least 20 Taliban were killed and 15 others injured when security forces shelled TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud's hideouts in South Waziristan, a private TV channel reported on Friday.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Pro-Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, vowing fresh attacks on security forces. 
[Iran Press TV Latest] A high court in Pakistan has dismissed a case of tax evasion filed against former premier Nawaz Sharif which could have sent him behind bars for 14 years. 
Sri Lankan police say they have arrested an astrologer after he predicted serious political and economic problems for the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal welcomed Thursday the change in tone from Washington towards his Islamist movement but said action was still needed as he hit out on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called his right-wing government "fascist."
Former state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello is expected to accept a plea deal to fraud-related charges Friday in Albany County Court, the Daily News has learned.
[Mail and Globe] Spiralling violence in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, is taking a heavy toll on civilians, with more than 250 killed and 160 000 forced to flee their homes over the past seven weeks, aid agencies said on Friday. 
Albany's dysfunctional follies veered further into the inane on Thursday: Gov. Paterson cut off some Senate pay, a lawmaker branded the governor a "coke snorting" womanizer and the Senate - once again - accomplished nothing.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Turmoil continued in Iran on Thursday as a top cleric warned the Islamic Republic's rulers that their continued suppression of opposition protests could destabilize the government and defeated reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi said he was determined to continue fighting against "major" election rigging. 
[ADN Kronos] Islamic militants who abducted Italian aid worker Eugenio Vagni in the southern Philippines in January, have demanded a "ridiculous" ransom for his release, sources have told the head of the Philippines Red Cross, Richard Gordon. Gordon said he had received information that the kidnappers who are linked to Abu Sayyaf are asking for a ransom, but had been unable to confirm the amount.
[The News (Pak)] A law enforcement agency claimed to have arrested two militant commanders in guise of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in a raid on a local school in Kheshgi area on Thursday.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. has backed off his plan to investigate purported wrongdoing by the liberal activist group ACORN, saying ?powers that be? put the kibosh on the idea.
