[Al Arabiya Latest] France plans to hand the 11 Somali pirates seized in a naval raid this week to Kenyan authorities, as Europe ramps up its mission to fight the wave of attacks on shipping in the waters off East Africa.
The French frigate, Nivose, part of an EU force trying to halt attacks launched by pirates from Somalia, arrested 11 gunmen after it intercepted a pirate "mother ship" on Wednesday, officials said. "The Nivose should arrive in (the Kenyan port) Mombasa within four days, as it is towing the boats that it captured, which limits its speed," said a ministry spokesman.
The men were being taken to Kenya under the terms of a new treaty between Kenya and the European Union, he said. Kenya has agreed to deal with the detainees under accords with the European Union, Britain and the United States, but it has said it cannot try all pirates.
French forces have captured 71 suspected pirates and killed three more over the past year.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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I think that translates, in the original Russian, as "we ran out of people to kill."
Reporting from Moscow -- Russia today declared an end to its counter-terrorism operation in largely pacified Chechnya, lifting security restrictions that remained from a decade-old war that leveled towns and led to the death and disappearance of untold tens of thousands.
The announcement bolsters Moscow's current strategy for normalizing life in the restive republic by transferring control to ironfisted Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, a onetime rebel fighter who has switched his allegiance to the Kremlin. Kadyrov has brought relative calm to Chechnya, but human rights monitors and critics say he has used kidnapping, torture and death to stamp out opponents and silence ordinary Chechens.
Which is one reason why he's brought 'relative calm' ...
Kadyrov greeted the announcement from Moscow with ebullience. "We are extremely satisfied," he told the Interfax news agency. "The modern Chechen republic is a peaceful and budding territory, which is confirmed by thousands of our guests, including politicians, businessmen, journalists and artists."
In a gesture of public celebration, Chechen officials held a free concert in Grozny, the capital, ...
The Grateful Dead?
... once crushed by Russian bombs but now being resurrected with Kadyrov's dogged pursuit of cash from his government allies in Moscow.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the operation ended in hopes of boosting economic development and reconstruction, the government announced. The declaration would remove the Russian security forces' leeway to impose curfews and roadblocks in the territory, and could lead to the withdrawal of 20,000 policemen and soldiers, Russian state media reported.
Russia launched a large-scale assault on Chechnya in 1999, wresting control of the breakaway republic from rebels in a protracted and bloody campaign. By 2000, a guerrilla war had taken hold, and scattered attacks continue to this day. But in recent years, as the fighting slowed, Russian soldiers increasingly kept to their bases, giving Kadyrov greater leeway to quiet the streets as he saw fit. Special forces units created for Chechnya were recently disbanded. Kadyrov told reporters that only a few insurgents lived remained.
Critics today pressed Russian authorities to investigate thousands of unsolved disappearances during the Chechen wars and under Kadyrov's rule. Alexander Cherkasov, an expert on the Caucasus for the human rights group Memorial, downplayed the importance of the declaration. Russia called its military campaign an "anti-terrorist operation" to circumvent national and international laws that would have come to bear in a declared war, he said.
"In Chechnya this situation lasted on a territory of many thousands of square kilometers, and for many years," he said. "Now by dropping this false status, Russia technically returns the situation to normal."
He also pointed out that Kadyrov stood to gain still more power under the new arrangement, which shifts more control from Moscow. "Russia has already transferred a lot of power into the hands of Kadyrov," he said. "Now there are no forces comprised of Chechens and controlled by the capital. All the armed groups are controlled by Kadyrov."
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Compare wid WAFF > EPIC DEFEAT: RUSSIA ENDS CHECHNYA OPERATIONS [ Russia = "Peace in Our Time"]???
WASHINGTON: The Chinese cyber spies have penetrated so deep into the US system ranging from its secure defence network, banking system, electricity grid to putting spy chips into its defence planes that it can cause serious damage to the US any time, a top US official on counter-intelligence has said.
Chinese penetrations of unclassified DoD networks have also been widely reported. Those are more sophisticated, though hardly state of the art, said National Counterintelligence Executive, Joel Brenner, at the Austin University Texas last week, according to a transcript made available on Wednesday.
Listing out some of the examples of Chinese cyber spy penetration, he said: Were also seeing counterfeit routers and chips, and some of those chips have made their way into US military fighter aircraft.. You dont sneak counterfeit chips into another nations aircraft to steal data. When its done intentionally, its done to degrade systems, or to have the ability to do so at a time of ones choosing.
Referring to the Chinese networks penetrating the cyber grids, he said: Do I worry about those grids, and about air traffic control systems, water supply systems, and so on? You bet I do. Americas networks are being mapped. There has also been experience of both Chinese and criminal network operations in the networks of some of the banks.
#2
ION WORLD MILITARY FORUM > IIUC INDIA RESTLESS OVER HEAVY CHINESE ARMS SALES TO PAKISTAN, + INDIA: CHINA HAS BEGUN DEPLOYING MORE NUCLEAR MISSLE SUBMARINES IN THE INDIAN OCEAN, + RUSSIA UNCERTAIN OVER CHINESE AID TO KAZAHISTAN [ US$10.0BILYUHN in exchange for uranium and oil, pipeline rights].
#3
Also on WMF > US MEDIA "DEFENSE NEWS": US REPORT CLAIMS CHINA'S NUCLEAR STRATEGY, ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS MAY RESULT IN AN UNNECESSARY US-CHINA WAR [espec Nuclear]???
#4
CHINA HAS BEGUN DEPLOYING MORE NUCLEAR MISSLE SUBMARINES IN THE INDIAN OCEAN
No Chinese SSBN has ever made a patrol, far less travel to the Indian ocean.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/17/2009 19:54 Comments ||
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#5
Chinese SSNs and SSKs conducted all of 12 patrols (all near the Chinese coast) in 2008, up from 6 in 2007. With 54 submarines, each Chinese submarine on average goes on patrol once every four and a half years.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/17/2009 20:01 Comments ||
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#6
That is true, John. But people I know whose business it is to evaluate information assurance in DOD have voiced pretty much the same thing as Brenner says here re: networks, systems and controls.
#7
See also ISRAELI MIL FORUM > OBAMA: IGNORING THE CHIINESE BUILDUP; + COUNTERTERRORISM BLOG > NEFA FOUNDATION: TRANSLATED COMMUNIQUES FROM THE TURKESTAN ISLAMIC PARTY [Jihad Threat agz CHINA].
#8
WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC US INTELLIGENCE UNCERTAINTY IS GROWING ABOUT CHINA'S TRUE GEOPOL AGENDA. NEW US REPORT CLAIMS WESTERN PACIFIC IS BECOMING MORE DANGEROUS TO THE USA, US AIRCRAFT CARRIER. CHINA DESCRIBES USA AS ITS MAIN "ENEMY OF THE FUTURE". CHINESE UNILATERAL "PREEMPTIVE STRIKE" DOCTRINE AGZ USA.
#9
INDIA also remains unhappy over Chin mil, econ dev assistance to SRI LANKA.
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > NEW BRANDS OF NATIONALISM IN CHINA [Traditionalism versus ANTI/NON-CHIN, PRO-JAPAN OTHER CHIN MASS CONSUMERISM]???
versus
* WAFF.com > US NAVY WANTS TO RETIRE ITS CARRIERS EARLY [e.g. USS ENTERPRISE by 2012, no longer 2015]. USN down to 10 CARRIERS ONLY from 14.
POSTER > opined that USN may also desire to get rid of its larger surface warfare CGN's + FFG's classes in favor of ARLEIGH BURKE-, LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP [or LIGHTER] CLASSES???
LAHORE: The arrival of Maulana Aziz after release on bail coincides with the appearance of militant motivational literature and propaganda videos in front of Lal Masjid, according to DawnNews.
As Interior Ministry informed the National Assembly that publication and distribution of hate literature has been banned, militant videos and pamphlets professing jihad were being sold openly just a few kilometers from there out side the Lal Masjid.
However, just outside the mosque, Saeed, a video seller told DawnNews Now that Maulana Aziz has been restored, all activities will return.
The motivational militant videos being sold outside the Lal Masjid include scenes from battles of Iraq and Afghanistan showing the attacks on US led coalition forces.
The jihadi films being sold in the heart of the capital shows videos of suicide bombers, and incite others to join in the fight.
In one of the videos, young boys are shown being launched as suicide bombers covered in glory, aiming at motivating young impressionable minds to follow them.
Some of the videos being sold outside the Lal Mosque are brought in from other areas, including the tribal agencies while others are made in local markets.
With the release of Maulana Aziz on bail, it was hoped things will be different from the past. But, the very act of selling militant videos resonated with scenes before the military action against Lal Masjid clerics in July 2007 when militant literature was being sold openly in a similar manner.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/17/2009 15:54 ||
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Notice how all the recent jihadi threat has come out since we are talking about putting conditions to the aid these scroungers want to keep the shithole afloat!!!!
A growing number of U.S. intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials have concluded that there's little hope of preventing nuclear-armed Pakistan from disintegrating into fiefdoms controlled by Islamist warlords and terrorists, posing the a greater threat to the U.S. than Afghanistan's terrorist haven did before 9/11. I seem to remember another another weak, anti-American president from 30 years ago and the consequences that are still with us.
"It's a disaster in the making on the scale of the Iranian revolution," said a U.S. intelligence official with long experience in Pakistan who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
Posted by: ed ||
04/17/2009 10:03 ||
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What thesese so-called experts probably have not read is Wrechard's "Three Conjectures." I will spare the details, but if the Islamic terrorists obtain and use nuclear devices, in the end, the Islamic world disappears by massive nuclear counterattack. It is not pretty. READ IT. Perhaps DHS should read it, too.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Nikolaevsk, AK ||
04/17/2009 11:25 Comments ||
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#4
i'm ahead of the times .I always thought it was an Islamist state
[Geo News] Pakistan Thursday described the global reservation on Swat deal as premature.
"The time to worry is after your cheque has cleared, sahib. We will burn that bridge when we get to it. Trust me on this."
Foreign Office spokesman, responding to a question during a press briefing said, the majority of Pakistanis have endorsed the Swat peace agreement which, he said, will promote peace in the area. He reiterated that investigations into the Mumbai incident are continuing with a view to bringing the perpetrators of the incident to justice. Responding to the latest statements from India, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said, "We acknowledge the comments by the Minister for External Affairs of India confirming that Indian authorities were examining the material received from Pakistan seeking further clarifications and evidence from India on 13 April, and that New Delhi would respond accordingly". The spokesman however said, "The Government of Pakistan would appreciate if the Indian response to the clarifications sought is provided at the earliest". He also noted the reported remarks by the Indian Home Minister regarding the identical DNA reports of Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail furnished by India to Pakistan, and described by the Home Minister as a "minor clerical error". In this context, the spokesman underlined that the investigation into the Mumbai terror attack was a serious matter and it is imperative to avoid such lapses.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I guess it'll be okay not to have "reservations" when the Taliban hang Abdul Basit from an Islamabad lamp post...
[Geo News] Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani says that he will soon visit Swat and announce a relief package of Rs400 million for uplift of the scenic valley. He made this announcement, while speaking to a delegation of Awami National Party (ANP) here at the PM House today (Thursday). The prime minister said that the federal government would approve Rs17 billions for NWFP as electricity profit and Rs4 billions funds for the NWFP police before the next budget. He also directed the authorities concerned to form a committee in this connection. Gilani further assured that the government would first make payments to the NWFP province after getting aid from Friends of Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Enjoy the visit, Syed. Hopefully, you'll get to leave. Alive.
[Geo News] Maulana Abdul Aziz was greeted by hundreds of cheering people at the Red Mosque here on Thursday night. Earlier in the day, he was freed by the Supreme Court on bail. Speaking to Geo News, he said that a brutal operation was launched against them in the Red Mosque. He said: "Our struggle was for a noble cause to implement Islam across the country for which efforts would continue."
To a question, he denied that he was released as a result of any deal. But admitted that a deal was offered to him which he rejected. Responding to another question, Maulana Aziz said that he considers suicide attacks in the country as unjustified. However, he added that such attacks against Kufaar were correct. Maulana Abdul Aziz is due to lead the Friday prayers in Lal Masjid tomorrow.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Asadullah Faiz Thursday said Maulana Abdul Aziz is now a free citizen and he can go wherever he likes. He said government will take care of the security of Maulana Abdul Aziz. A large crowd comprising Lal Masjid students and others reached Lal Masjid to welcome Maulana Abdul Aziz on the occasion of his release on bail from Adia Jail following Supreme Court's order. Meanwhile, the present Khatib of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Ghafar has said that Maulana Abdul Aziz will deliver Friday sermon at Lal Masjid tomorrow.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
government will take care of the security of Maulana Abdul Aziz
Maybe as effectively as they did with Benazir Bhutto? (daydreaming)
[ADN Kronos] Sufi Mohammad, the head of the Pakistani militant group Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi on Tuesday said militants accused of brutal killings would not be prosecuted under Islamic law administered in the troubled Swat valley. "We intend to bury the past," the leader told a private television channel, off-camera. "Past things will be left behind and we will go for a new life in peace."
Mohammad's assertion highlights the dilemma facing the government as it seeks to halt 18 months of bloodletting in the Swat valley while convincing the nation, and the West, that it is not capitulating to militants.
Asked during the television interview on Tuesday whether the new courts would hear complaints from Swat residents about militant cleric Mullah Fazlullah or his followers, Sufi Mohammad said they could not.
Asked if the Taliban would enjoy such immunity, an NWFP minister only pleaded for peace. "Everyone should understand what we have gone through and what kind of hardship people in Swat have suffered," Wajid Ali Khan said. "We can look into any disputes and controversy at some later stage."
A Taliban spokesman said that militants would cooperate if Islamic law was quickly implemented. "The world will see how much peace and prosperity comes to this region," Khan said.
Mohammad said his followers would tour all districts of Malakand, including Buner, to "ensure peace". He also said that the courts would interpret civil rights according to Islamic strictures. "Women will have full protection and rights under Sharia (Islamic law). They will live a better life, but behind the veil," he said.
Meanwhile, the Swat Taliban have "banned" the display of weapons in bazaars and other urban areas, saying there is no need to take up arms if 'Shariat' is enforced in letter and spirit. The decision was taken after an appeal by Mohammad, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told journalists. He said the Taliban had achieved their goal and they were ready to cooperate for the quick implementation of Islamic law. He also praised president Asif Ali Zardari and members of the national assembly for having quickly approved this.
Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi is a Pakistani militant group whose objective is to enforce Sharia law in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Made men.
Posted by: ed ||
04/17/2009 10:01 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD - Iraqs urgent need for weaponry to tackle an expected increase in insurgent attacks when U.S. forces withdraw means it may have to shift away from buying U.S. arms, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said.
Zebari told Reuters the need to prepare to fight insurgents without U.S. help coincided with a depleted budget due to low oil prices, prompting Iraq to look to arms vendors it sees as cheaperand fasterthan U.S. suppliers. Zebari mentioned Russia, China and France as countries from which Iraq has bought weapons in the past.
Iraq recently said it wants F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp, is buying M1A1 Abrams tanks from General Dynamics Corp and may buy helicopters from Textron Inc and Boeing Co., but it has also raised the prospect of procuring helicopters from France for instance.
There are some imminent security challenges and we have seen the tip of that, Zebari said on Wednesday, referring to a recent spate of bombings that have alarmed Iraqis as they ponder whether dramatic security gains in the past year will hold. We need to do some preventative actions, not to allow that to be a phenomenon. And in order to do that we need more resources. We need to be ready, you need to have the right weapons, the right forces, the right commitment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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I figured this'd be the NY Slimes, still trying for an Iraq failure, so they could plan to sell more papers.
Now it just looks like a slam on the New Administration.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/17/2009 6:18 Comments ||
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#2
Even after the 'truce' in Korea, the South Koreans were still conducting anti-guerrilla ops in parts of the country for years afterward. Not that real history has any value for the factually-challenged media. How'd that all turn out. /rhetorical question.
BAGHDAD - The concrete walls and barbed wire that filled Baghdads streets at the height of Iraqs sectarian fighting are to be removed by the end of this year, a security official said on Thursday.
We have received instructions from the prime minister (Nuri al-Maliki) that all concrete barriers should be removed from the streets of Baghdad by the end of 2009, Major General Qassim Atta, the Baghdad security spokesman, told AFP. There were 88 streets closed (at the height of the fighting), and by now we have succeeded in opening 75 percent of them, he said.
Atta added that measures will be taken to protect the streets after they have been opened, without making mention of the heavily-fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad that is home to the Iraqi government and US embassy. He also insisted that the government, apart from the walls and T-wall anti-blast barriers, would remove many of the checkpoints which today guard nearly every intersection in the capital.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Mitchell meets with PM; earlier, reiterates 2-state commitment after Lieberman says the traditional approach has not brought any results.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Would not mean anything if they did. Just more taqqiyah.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Defense Minister Ehud Barak met Thursday with a US congressional delegation and urged them to help Israel secure funding for the development and production of the Arrow 3 ballistic missile defense system.
Israel is concerned that the US administration will cut the funding for the Arrow 3 in the context of the cuts Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made to the US defense budget. Israel and the US have been jointly funding the development of the Arrow since its inception in the late 1980s. The Arrow is developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Boeing.
The congressional delegation was led by Nita Lowey from New York who serves as the chairwoman of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee.
While it is not Lowey's committee which approves the funding for the Arrow, she is influential on Capital Hill in securing funding for weapons programs.
Barak gave Lowey a briefing on the recent successful interception tests conducted by the Arrow ballistic missile system and the Iron Dome system, under development to intercept short-range rockets.
Defense officials said they were confident that Lowey understood the need to continue funding and developing the Arrow 3, which will be capable of intercepting longer-range rockets at higher altitudes and further away from Israel.
Also Thursday, Barak met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov and asked that his country not supply Syria or Iran with advanced weaponry, particularly anti-aircraft missiles.
Barak stressed that Russia had an important role in the peace process and in preserving Middle East stability. He added that although the US was leading the diplomatic process in the region, Israel would be happy to cooperate with Russia.
Barak also met Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos and hailed efforts by the Madrid government in stopping legal proceedings against Israeli officials involved in the 2002 Gaza assassination of Hamas terrorist Salah Shehadeh in which 14 others were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] United States Mideast envoy held talks with Israeli senior officials on Thursday to press the two-state solution, as police beefed up security in Jerusalem's Old City, following reports that Jewish extremists planned to rally on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Muslims hold prayers there.
U.S. envoy George Mitchell told Israel's ultranationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that Washington wants to see the creation of a Palestinian state.
"I reiterated to the foreign minister that U.S. policy favors, with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a two-state solution which will have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside the Jewish state of Israel," Mitchell told reporters, with Lieberman at his side.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
a two-state solution which will have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside the Jewish state of Israel
She was 2 years old when her father promised her in marriage to a man in his 30s. It was a swap, so the father could marry the man's sister without paying the obligatory bride-price.
At age 9, the girl was put on a sack of rice to appear taller next to the bridegroom in the wedding picture. At 11, she was taken to her husband's house to live. Despite promising not to consummate the marriage before she reached puberty, he tied her to a bed, stuffed a rag in her mouth and raped her, she says.
"One day he tied me up and attacked me," the girl, who is now 13 and has fled her husband, told The Associated Press on Wednesday, choking with tears during an interview at an orphanage that has given her shelter. Her name and her husband's aren't being used to protect her identity.
Child marriages are widespread in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, where tribal customs dominate society. More than a quarter of its females marry before age 15, according to a recent report by the Social Affairs Ministry.
The issue of child brides vaulted into the headlines here two years ago when an 8-year-old boldly went by herself to a courtroom and demanded a judge dissolve her marriage to a man in his 30s. She eventually won a divorce, and legislators began looking at ways to curb the practice.
In February, parliament passed a law setting the minimum marriage age at 17. But some lawmakers are trying to kill the measure, calling it un-Islamic. Before it could be ratified by Yemen's president, they forced it to be sent back to parliament's constitutional committee for review. Rest at link
Posted by: ed ||
04/17/2009 10:10 ||
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Iran can't get those cloned goats on the market fast enough...
[ADN Kronos] The Philippines government has involved two Muslim clerics in negotiations to release two European Red Cross workers being held by Al-Qaeda linked Muslim militants on the southern island of Jolo in Sulu province.
Sulu's governor Abdusakur Tan said Muslim clerics are now helping in efforts to convince the bandits from Muslim militant group Abu Sayyaf to free Swiss national Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni.
Notter and Vagni were seized January 15 along with Filipino aid worker Mary Jean Lacaba. Lacaba was released on 2 April after intense negotiations. Vagni, in his sixties, is reported to have health problems.
Tan said the government had enlisted the help of the Muslim clerics as a "last-ditch" effort to secure Vagni and Notter's safe release.
Also on Wednesday, interior secretary Ronaldo Puno and the head of the Philippines police, Jesus Verzosa, arrived in Sulu and met with Tan to discuss the progress of the negotiations, said Sonny Abing III, the provincial government spokesman, quoted by private TV channel GMA News.
The Abu Sayyaf bandits have repeatedly threatened to kill the remaining hostages if security forces do not pull back from several Jolo villages and the town of Parang. Security forces have surrounded the jungle lair of Indanan town to prevent the terrorists from escaping with their captives.
Authorities have rejected Abu Sayyaf's demand, and have vowed to ensure the two Red Cross workers are released unharmed.
Hundreds of armed village guards under the supervision of police and local mayors also put up a cordon around the Abu Sayyaf stronghold, GMA News reported.
The network quoted military and police intelligence reports as saying the kidnappers include several suspects alleged to belong to the Al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network.
The suspects were said to include Mauiya, Dulmatin, Zulkifli bin Hir and Umar Patek. All are wanted by Indonesia for the spate of deadly attacks there, including the Bali nightclub bombing in 2002 which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
The US has offered rewards of at least 16 million dollars for their capture.
The Philippines army said suspected rogue elements from the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Monday beheaded one of two Filipino Christian hostages captured last week in the province of Basilan in the Sulu Archipelago.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Cairo has leveled new accusations against Hezbollah, alleging that the movement plans to carry out a massive bomb attack in Tel Aviv. A new report published in the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Youm on Thursday alleges that the group recently arrested over supposed links to the Lebanese movement was planning to carry out "a suicide attack" in Tel Aviv.
Cairo announced last week that its security forces had arrested a group of 49 people -- who it accuses of having links with the Lebanese movement -- on charges of plotting attacks in Egypt.
Based on the Thursday report, however, the detainees had been on a mission to carry out a suicide attack in Tel Aviv.
The claims come from alleged painful confessions of two of the detainees -- Mohamed Ramadan Abdel Fattah Baraka and Nadal Fathy Hassan -- who are believed to be members of the Palestinian Fatah.
According to the report, the detainees said they had joined the "Hezbollah group" in Egypt in early 2008 after entering the country from the Gaza-Sinai border. Cairo had initially claimed that the detainees were Hamas supporters only to change its allegation shortly afterwards, saying they were plotting "terrorist attacks inside Egypt".
Hezbollah has dismissed the Egyptian claims as politically motivated and aimed at undermining the group in line with Israeli policies.
Differences between Fatah and Hamas have so far prevented the formation of a Palestinian national unity government and although Hezbollah has no problem with Fatah, relations between the two groups are not very warm.
In 2006, Sultan Abu al-Einin, a Fatah leader in Lebanon, accused Hezbollah of curbing the movement attempts to launch cross-border attacks on Israel. According to Einin, Hezbollah on several occasions arrested Fatah gunmen who wanted to infiltrate into Israel and handed them over to Lebanese authorities.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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.
[Geo News] Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Asadullah Faiz Thursday said Maulana Abdul Aziz is now a free citizen and he can go wherever he likes. He said government will take care of the security of Maulana Abdul Aziz. A large crowd comprising Lal Masjid students and others reached Lal Masjid to welcome Maulana Abdul Aziz on the occasion of his release on bail from Adia Jail following Supreme Court's order. Meanwhile, the present Khatib of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Ghafar has said that Maulana Abdul Aziz will deliver Friday sermon at Lal Masjid tomorrow.
[ADN Kronos] Sufi Mohammad, the head of the Pakistani militant group Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi on Tuesday said militants accused of brutal killings would not be prosecuted under Islamic law administered in the troubled Swat valley. "We intend to bury the past," the leader told a private television channel, off-camera. "Past things will be left behind and we will go for a new life in peace."
