SEOUL (AFP) North Korea has closed down all shops and restaurant dealing in foreign currencies following a sudden money reform, a news report said on Saturday. The Joongang daily also quoted a North Korean businessman engaged in trade with China as saying that people are buying necessities to spend their old money before the deadline Sunday.
North Korea on Monday sharply revalued its currency for the first time in 17 years so as to make the people suffer more in an apparent attempt to curb inflation and clamp down on black-market trading. The revaluation saw 100 won replaced by one new won.
"All shops and restaurants accepting foreign exchanges were closed," the businessman was quoted as telling the daily in China's northeastern city of Dandong near the border with North Korea. "People in Pyongyang are stocking up like mad on necessities," he said.
One kilo of rice which used to fetch 1,700 won in the old won surged to 15,000 won as North Koreans scrambled to get rid of their old won.
"Local officials were going around knocking on every door, urging people to exchange for new currency before Sunday," he said.
A senior official of the communist state's central bank told a pro-Pyongyang newspaper published in Japan that all shops and restaurants in the North will be banned from accepting foreign currencies. The official, Jo Song-Hyon, told the Joson Sinbo that North Koreans were given until Sunday to change their old money into new currency at a rate of 100 old won to one won. "Old banknotes which fail to be exchanged into new ones in the given period will become automatically null and void, as well as banknotes which have been illegally diverted abroad," he said.
Shops and restaurants serving foreigners and Koreans living abroad will also accept only new money, departing from their old practices of accepting foreign exchanges including dollars, yen or euros, he added.
Thus attacking those who had a little of those currencies.
Individuals were initially allowed to exchange for new currency up to 100,000 won. But the limit was later raised to 150,000 won in cash and 300,000 won in bank savings because of widespread protests, according to DailyNK, an online newspaper with informants in the North.
The official exchange rate is 135 won to the dollar but the black market rate is between 2,000 and 3,000.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2009 00:00 ||
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So a North Korean families life's savings is worth 100 kilos of rice. 200 kilos if they are one of the few with a bank account. That's about $100 worth of rice.
Posted by: ed ||
12/07/2009 0:46 Comments ||
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Should have put those dollars in gold coins. Oh wait.....
Executive Order 6102 is an Executive Order signed on April 5, 1933 by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens.
The Order required U.S. citizens to deliver on or before May 1, 1933 all but a small amount gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates owned by them to the Federal Reserve, in exchange for $20.67 per troy ounce. Under the Trading With the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917, as amended on March 9, 1933, violation of Executive Order 6102 was punishable by fine up to $10,000 ($166,640 if adjusted for inflation as of 2008) or up to ten years in prison, or both. The price of gold from the treasury for international transactions was thereafter raised to $35 an ounce. The value of the dollar was thenceforth determined by its value relative to other national currencies.
Another report on the currency 'reform' in Nork-land. There is real trouble brewing there if you read between the lines.
Seoul, South Korea North Korea has confirmed a drastic reform of its currency in what's widely viewed as an attempt to control a growing black market and curbing runaway inflation.
Amid recent reports of protest and violence in Pyongyang among members of a small but restive middle class, a North Korean newspaper in Japan on Friday quoted an official with North Korea's central bank as confirming for the first time reports of currency reform instituted early this week.
North Korea's elite a narrow band of those close to leader Kim Jong-il and his inner circle of family members, top aides, senior members of the armed forces, the Workers' Party, and the government are assumed to have large caches of foreign currency, dollars, euros, or Chinese yuan. And the vast majority of North Koreans have almost no money of their own. That leaves the middle class feeling the sting the most.
"People are mad at Kim Jong-il," says Ha Tae Keung, head of Open Radio for North Korea, which broadcasts two hours a day of news from Seoul into North Korea. "Suddenly your wealth is gone, and you have nothing. It is very difficult."
The question, he asks, is "whether the protest is organized or random."
The North Korean mouthpiece newspaper, Choson Sinbo, published in Tokyo, quoted a bank official identified as Jo Sang-hyon as saying the currency was devalued in order to raise the value of North Korea's currency and make it easier to use in a normal transactions. The paper, with an office in Pyongyang, is widely viewed as a North Korean mouthpiece.
The newspaper carried photographs of new North Korean currency notes, all bearing images of the late Kim Il-sung, the North Korean leader who ruled for nearly half a century before dying in 1994 and passing on power to his son, Kim Jong-il.
A leader of South Korea's ruling Grand National Party told Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, that the currency reform was "a desperate bid to maintain the regime." He also described the reform as motivated by the need "to consolidate the ground" for succession of power from Kim Jong-il, believed to be recovering from a stroke that he suffered more than a year ago, to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un.
North Korea, until the article appeared in Choson Sinbo, had been silent on currency reform, or the protests against it, but South Korean organizations with contacts in the North have been reporting rising concerns mainly among traders and others with stashes of old currency that is now nearly worthless.
Daily NK, which produces regular reports based on its contacts in the North and advocates for defectors, cited incidents of violence, including murder, suicides, and kidnapping. Good Friends, another group, dedicated to helping defectors, quoted one trader as saying the currency reform meant this year "is the year of disaster."
Chosun Ilbo, a major conservative newspaper here, cited accounts of "people loudly cursing the government" an offense that has generally meant jail sentences, torture, and possibly execution.
As a result of the protests, according to Daily NK, North Korea has had to raise the amount that people can exchange from old to new currency. Under the current rule, it is possible to change old for new North Korean won at a rate of 100 to 1 for only the first 100,000 won, after which the old won can be changed at a rate of 1,000 to 1.
Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency appeared to be commenting indirectly on the unrest in a commentary praising "the Korean people" for "demonstrating their mental power of self-regeneration and fight against hardships" by "strenuous efforts to build a strong, prosperous and powerful socialist nation."
The commentary made an unusual acknowledgement, saying "there are quite a few things that are still in shortage" but declaring, "Nothing is impossible" for people united by "a self-reliant economy" around the ruling Workers' Party.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Switching to the "Oyster Shell" standard, are we boys?
Kim Jong-un, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's third son and heir apparent, visited Beijing as a special envoy of Kim senior in June, NHK last Friday reported. It said Jang Song-taek, Kim senior's brother-in-law and a high-up in the North Korean Workers' Party, visited Beijing on June 10, where he met Chinese President Hu Jintao, and was accompanied by Kim junior.
The Japanese broadcaster quoted diplomatic sources in Beijing as saying Jang introduced Kim Jong-un to Hu.
"Mr. Hu, this here's gonna be the new boss."
"Stand up, young man, so that I may see you. Oh, you are standing up."
A similar report was also carried by the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun in June. Following this report, the daily carried another report on June 18 that Kim Jong-nam, Kim senior's eldest son, was also present at the meeting between Kim Jong-un and Hu.
At the time, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang officially denied the reports, saying, "The situation reported by the relevant media does not exist at all... I note that recent reports by the relevant media read like a 007 novel."
The Chinese government has not responded to the latest NHK report.
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The Choson Sinbo, a North Korea mouthpiece published in Japan, on Friday published pictures of new bills and coins which the North is releasing in its latest currency reform. The large-denomination bills, such as those worth 5,000 and 2,000 won, bear the stamp "2008" on the upper left. Images of the 500, 200, 100, 50, 10 and 5 won bills and those on the back of 1 won, and 50, 10, 5 and 1 jeon coins bear the stamp "2002."
This suggests the North had already printed them well in advance of last week's shock announcement.
Not surprising since the point of the currency 'reform' was to impoverish whoever in North Korea had managed to save a few bills.
"It seems that the North printed the new bills and coins in 2002 when it implemented the July 1 economic reform plan, where it introduced a modicum of market capitalism, but decided not to circulate the new currency that year apparently due to runaway inflation," a source said. "And the North again apparently prepared for currency reform in 2008 by printing new large-denomination bills but postponed the reform because leader Kim Jong-il had a stroke."
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The North Korean Army is on standby and ready to quell any protests against last week's drastic currency reform, Russian business daily Kommersant last Friday quoted diplomatic sources in North Korea as saying. The sources said authorities had ordered the Army to stand by as outrage grew in cities across the North, with critics describing the reform as daylight robbery.
North Koreans are panicking as all shops were ordered closed during the currency reform period and they can no longer use any money they have saved up. Foreign diplomats are meeting with North Korean authorities in efforts to persuade them to reverse the reform, the sources added. The North last week revalued the won at a rate of 100:1.
According to sources in the North, the National Defense Committee has ordered guards on the border with China to shoot at will at anyone who crosses without permission. This is seen as an attempt to thwart defections by people disgruntled by the currency reform.
The guards are likely to be little better off, and little better fed, than the people trying to defect. At what point do they refuse to shoot their own people?
The sources said there could be a mass defection of middle-class North Koreans who have suddenly been deprived of their money. One South Korean intelligence officer said, "We don't have any information that there'll be a riot or a mass defection, but since North Koreans have never so far taken collective action, they are more likely to choose defection if the situation gets worse."
The Ministry of Public Security has been on emergency alert after old 5,000-won bills carrying the image of Kim Il-sung were found torn or damaged on piles of garbage in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province, Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province, and Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province. Graffiti and leaflets criticizing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il have also started to appear, the sources added. North Koreans are reportedly reluctant to replace old bills with new ones as a gesture of protest against the currency reform.
It's going to generate hyperinflation in North Korea: now traders and other street-level business types understand that they can't hold any large amount of Nork currency since the government can always spring another sudden 'reform' and make their holdings worthless. They'll try instead to hold Chinese, Japanese or South Korean currency to the extent they can get it. That puts a lot of pressure on the Nork won and makes their economy even more difficult to sustain.
The authorities have apparently caved in to some extent by raising the maximum amount of old bills that can be exchanged from 100,000 won per household to 150,000.
Josh Stanton at OneFreeKorea notes the anger of the North Korean people has never been higher than now.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Wow, it's like a news item from USA 2011 after Goldman Sachs gets done with us.
#2
The North last week revalued the won at a rate of 100:1.
Had they had more time they could have devalued at a rate of 100:1 via our own annual inflation model, ie, over a 30-35 year period. Of course when our time comes our annual inflation old model will go out the window, banks and shops will close, and the guns will be pointed at us as well.
If North Korea had an organized opposition, and if that opposition was prepared to continue the currency exchange program without limits and with counterfeit versions of the new North Korean currency, that opposition would make itself very popular over the course of this coming winter. Im just saying .
Swiss liberals are considering a new referendum to overturn the ban on new minarets.
Club Helvetique, a group of over 20 Swiss intellectuals, will draw up an action plan to overturn the ban, which has drawn widespread criticism abroad and prompted hundreds of people to take to the streets this weekend in Zurich, Basel and Berne.
"A new initiative is the most democratic way of achieving this," constitutional lawyer Joerg Mueller told Sonntag.
Voters adopted the ban in a referendum a week ago, defying the government and parliament which had warned the right-wing initiative violated the Swiss constitution, freedom of religion and a cherished tradition of tolerance.
Two complaints questioning the legality of ban had already been handed to Switzerland's Federal Court, Sonntag said.
Libya leader Gaddafi said the ban had done a great favour to al Qaeda militants, who would use it to attract recruits in a holy war against Europe, news agency SDA reported.
"The activists are now saying: 'we told you that they are our enemies...join al Qaeda and declare jihad on Europe '."
Politicians from the SVP, Switzerland's biggest party, and the conservative Federal Democratic Union gathered enough signatures to force the referendum on the initiative which opposed the "Islamisation of Switzerland".
Its campaign poster showed the Swiss flag covered in missile-like minarets and the portrait of a woman covered with a black chador and veil associated with strict Islam.
"The Club Helvetique is an association of bad losers," Sonntag reported SVP Vice-President Christoph Blocher as saying.
US prosecutors have charged a Chicago man in the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, including charges that he aided and abetted the murder of six Americans.
The man, David Headley, had already been charged with plotting attacks against a Danish newspaper whose cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed led to violent protests. Headley is cooperating with authorities, the US Justice Department said.
U.S. prosecutors said they also unsealed charges against a retired major in the Pakistani military, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, for participating in the conspiracy to attack the Danish newspaper and its employees.
RICHMOND, Va.Two Navy SEALs are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in military court on charges that they mistreated an Iraqi suspect in the gory slayings of four U.S. contractors in Fallujah.
One of the SEALs is accused of punching the detainee after his September arrest, while the other is accused of lying to investigators. A third SEAL also accused of lying to investigators about the episode will be arraigned later. All three men have men have received an outpouring of support from people who view them as heroes. A Facebook page created to support the SEALs had more than 45,000 members as of Friday, and a California congressman is spearheading a campaign to persuade Defense Secretary Robert Gates to intervene.
Petty Officers 2nd Class Matthew McCabe of Perrysburg, Ohio, and Jonathan Keefe of Yorktown, Va., and Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas of Blue Island, Ill., face courts-martial at a date to be determined. Keefe's arraignment has been continued.
The men refused an administrative process known as "nonjudicial punishment" because they feared unfair treatment by military brass, said Neal Puckett, an attorney for McCabe.
"They felt they had already been determined to be guilty," said Puckett.
By refusing to accept the reprimand, the men could face a more serious penalty at court martial, which will be determined by a six-person military jury. If the men are convicted, they could face up to a year in a military jail, a bad conduct discharge or loss of pay, said Puckett, a retired Marine Corps officer and judge advocate.
McCabe, 24, is charged with assault. All three men also are charged with dereliction of duty, accused of failing to safeguard the detainee, and with lying to investigators, according to charge sheets. Huertas also is charged with impeding an investigation for allegedly trying to influence the testimony of a witness.
Puckett said the charges stem from an alleged "punch in the gut" after the SEALs captured the Iraqi in early September. Puckett said the men are not guilty, and that he also has been bombarded with calls and e-mails from people who say that even if the detainee was punched, it's "a minor affront" compared to what he is suspected of doing.
Army Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, a spokeswoman for the military's Special Operations Command Center, urged the public to withhold judgment until the evidence is heard.
"This is much more involved than the defense would lead you to believe," Silkman said.
Ahmed Hashim Abed is believed to be connected to the 2004 killings of four Blackwater security guards who were protecting a convoy when they were attacked by Iraqi insurgents. Their burned corpses were dragged through the city, and two of them were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River.
A military official confirmed that Abed is the detainee who claimed he was assaulted. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the detainee publicly. The detainee's name was blacked out on charging documents released by the military.
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., wrote a letter to Gates last week expressing "grave concerns" about the prosecution of the SEALs. More than two dozen of Hunter's colleagues signed the letter, saying military officials overreacted. "As we understand it, there was no allegation of torture or abuse," Hunter wrote.
The SEALs, based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Norfolk, are not in custody.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2009 00:00 ||
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This sad and disgusting business should have never gotten out of the blocks. A quiet phone call should have gone down the chain of command. The fact the call never went out indicates that legal action is endorsed at the highest levels of the civilian controlled military. Very sad. Very sad indeed. My fear is this action may devekio into some type of military torture prosecution.
If the administratin was upset that a few cadets slept through Barry's presentation at West Point, they'll really be shocked over the attitudes that are brewing within the Special Operations Community toward this US Navy Seal affair.
#4
"This is much more involved than the defense would lead you to believe," Silkman said.
There must be more than somebody would lead me to believe. If something doesn't make sense you don't know the whole story, and on the surface this doesn't make sense.
#7
A quiet phone call should have gone down the chain of command. The fact the call never went out indicates that legal action is endorsed at the highest levels of the civilian controlled military.
In the Vanity Fair piece on Blackwater (Xe), Eric Prince said as much. He's retiring to teach history.
#8
What's the point of this court martial?
On one side you have three men who deserve nothing less than than to be treated as heroes, who undertook a dangerous mission and successfully accomplished it. (If it wasn't dangerous, why use SEALS?) On the other side you have a barbarian POS whose playbook tells them to make accusation of ill treatment as a matter of course.
If these guys are found guilty, might as well pack up and go home. No one is going to put themselves in a position where they will undertake to put their lives in danger only to be thanked with a court martial.
The guy had a fat lip!!
I've seen guys with worse than that after a football game and no one was charged.
What were they supposed to do, put themselves in the same situation that the contractors were in and hope for the best that they wouldn't be strung up like in linker's post above.
Andd how the hell can you be charged with "dereliction of duty" when they accomplished their mission.
What a joke.
#12
A witch hunt by the administration. For what purpose I can't imagine. Screw with our military too much and you won't have one. Enlistments and re-enlistments will disappear. But maybe that is the purpose of the administration.
#15
This is the product of pissant O-6/O-7s who are more concerned about promotion than their people. That's why the declined NJP and asked for a Court Martial. NJP would have been hidden. This will push the scumsucking O-6/O-7s who allowed this to happen, hiding behind ROE's, out in the open and twisting in the wind.
WASHINGTON: The US will launch a new effort to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding along the mountainous borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, US National Security Adviser James Jones said on Sunday. Asked in an interview if the administration planned a fresh attempt to go after Al Qaedas leader, Jones said, I think so.
Just lead us to the man's grave, we'll do the rest ...
The latest intelligence reports suggest that Bin Laden is somewhere inside north Waziristan, sometimes on the Pakistani side of the border, sometimes on the Afghan side of the border, hiding in very, very rough mountainous area, generally ungoverned, Jones said.
I still think the man is cranberry jam in a cave in Tora Bora. No way a man who liked the camera that must is skulking about. He'd be releasing videos every other week just to taunt us.
Were going to have to get after that to make sure a very important symbol of what Al Qaeda stands for is once again on the run or captured, said Jones, a retired Marine general, he said. Al Qaeda was plotting more attacks against US and other Western targets and the United Stated needed to ensure those plots did not become a reality, he said.
Jones said the US was working closely with Islamabad to disrupt militant networks inside the countrys borders.
Despite Jones vow to track down Bin Laden, Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday said in an interview that Washington did not know where the Al Qaeda leader was and had lacked reliable information on his whereabouts for years.
Immediately after the attacks, US government officials named Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network as the prime suspects and offered a reward of 25 million dollars for information leading to his capture or death. In 2007, the reward was doubled to 50 million dollars. But so far, the Al Qaeda founder has avoided capture.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2009 00:00 ||
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ION WORLD NEWS > TALIBAN WARLORDS: OSAMA HAS LEFT PAKISTAN FOR AFGHANISTAN, due to pressures from PAK Army Waziristan offensive???
#2
Osama is dead. He's probably been dead for years.
Its pretty clear he's not sitting in his office answering the phone and giving decisive direction and leadership. And Zawahiri ( 'ol Bumpy ) is not exactly prominent either. I expect they are scared to death if they fart too loud we will say hello.
No morning issue of the NYT and a picture of Binny waving at the camera pointing at today's date.
Binny's dead. Zawahiri knows that Zarquawi is the future. And they are on foot listening at night and knowing its gonna be a big surprise and there wont be any warning.
Remember the King Philip's War in the 1670's (?). Philip died shot to pieces in a mudhole and we cut his head off and put it in a bucket of brandy. And people have forgotten because it was a long time ago. But someday even today will also be a "long time ago".
Osama is dead. This war will go on for another 17 years and there will be Black Rain and darkness as the Tanks move up on the Moslem population centers while staggering refugees fill the ditches by the hundreds of thousands carrying their dying away from the burning cities.
No? Even Obama will be a long time ago. Right up there with the Roadmap and the Peace Plan.
If you want to put flowers on Zarquawi's grave where are you gonna go to do it.? Saddam's grave, where? Get the picture, I know you get the smell.
#3
General Jones, please direct your attention at Secretary Gates recent [YESTERDAY] statement to ABC News:
THE United States does not know where al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is and has lacked reliable information on his whereabouts for years, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told ABC News, December 06, 2009 6:41PM .
Meanwhile the real threats to our freedom roam cluelessly about the Beltway. Thank you General Jones for the....latest uncordinated attempts at administration deflection intelligence updates.
#4
Besoeker is exactly right. Without Gates statement yesterday Jones would not have said anything about Osama. This is nothing more than damage control.
#8
Binny may or may not be dead, but the mission is not accomplished.
Jeremiah 16:
However, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when men will no longer say, As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt, but they will say, As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them. For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers. But now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land.
Isaiah 14:
"I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
But you are brought down to the grave,to the depths of the pit.Those who see you stare at you,
they ponder your fate:
Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home? All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb. But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again. Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the sins of their forefathers;they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities.
I will rise up against them, declares the LORD Almighty. I will cut off from Babylon her name and survivors, her offspring and descendants, declares the LORD. I will turn her into a place for owls and into swampland;I will sweep her with the broom of destruction, declares the LORD Almighty.
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Nepal's Communist party called a crippling nationwide strike Sunday to protest police action against squatters on government land, officials said.
The action by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal closed schools, offices and businesses, and brought public transport to a halt, the Hindustan Times reported. Protesters attacked shopkeepers and motorists in Kathmandu, damaged vehicles and destroyed property, the newspaper said.
The strike was called after four squatters and a police officer were killed Friday in skirmishes between police and more than 20,000 landless people occupied forest lands in a district of western Nepal bordering India, officials said.
Any pretext will do ...
Nepalese Home Minister Bhim Rawal said squatters had been warned to leave and police had only fired in self-defense when attacked.
"If the government continues to use excessive force against the landless, we will come up with appropriate answers," Netra Bikram Chand, general secretary of the Maoist political party said.
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Iraqi lawmakers overcame long-standing divisions Sunday to pass a law needed to conduct parliamentary elections early next year. Parliament approved the law late Sunday in a nearly unanimous vote.
The new law expands parliament from the current 275 seats to 325 seats.
The bill took shape during several months of intense debate over how much parliamentary representation should be given to Iraq's minority groups.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi said the law resolves his objections. He had demanded revisions to give his Sunni minority group a greater political voice. The vice president vetoed an earlier version of the law that did not meet this condition.
The White House congratulated the Iraqi people and their elected representatives in passing the law and called it a "decisive moment for Iraq's democracy."
The United States has linked the pace of its military withdrawal from Iraq to the elections, which are considered a test of the country's ability to provide its own security.
Iraqi leaders had warned that if the law was further delayed, the elections previously planned for January would be postponed for at least a month.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A team of French doctors have performed medical check-ups on captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in the Gaza Strip, the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat reported on Sunday.
An Egyptian security official confirmed to AFP that three French doctors went into the Gaza Strip through the Egyptian border crossing of Rafah last week, but that there was no indication that they were there to see Shalit.
"They went in to perform operations in Gaza. This is a very standard thing. Foreign medics provide medical services in the Gaza Strip on a regular basis," the official said.
Al-Hayat quoting "reliable sources" said four French doctors entered Gaza a week ago on Sunday "accompanied by the German mediator Ernst Uhrlau through the Rafah border crossing and examined Shalit at a secret location in the Gaza Strip."
The team and Uhrlau "arrived in Gaza amid unprecedented security measures by Hamas... as Israeli airplanes flew overhead," Al-Hayat said.
It said Hamas received guarantees from Uhrlau that the Israeli planes would not attack and would not try to liberate Shalit.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
If it's the same Herr Uhrlau I'm thinking of, then he's the head of the German Federal Intelligence Service(BND).
I believe he also had something to do with the Israel/Lebanon 'remains exchange' after the 2003 war.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims the United States is attempting to thwart the return of mankind's savior, according to reports from Al Arabiya, a television news station based in Dubai. Ahmadinejad reportedly claims he has documented evidence that the U.S. is blocking the return of Mahdi, the Imam believed by Muslims to be the savior.
We have documented proof that they believe that a descendant of the prophet of Islam will raise in these parts and he will dry the roots of all injustice in the world, Ahmadinejad said during a speech on Monday, according to Al Arabiya. "They have devised all these plans to prevent the coming of the Hidden Imam because they know that the Iranian nation is the one that will prepare the grounds for his coming and will be the supporters of his rule," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
Ahmadinejad continued the rant by claiming there have been plots by both the West as well as countries in the East to wipe out his country, according to Iranian news Web site Tabak. "They have planned to annihilate Iran. This is why all policymakers and analysts believe Iran is the true winner in the Middle East," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the site. He also alleged that foreign nations seek to control Iran's oil and natural resources.
"In Afghanistan, they are caught like an animal in a quagmire. But instead of pulling their troops out to save themselves, they are deploying more soldiers. Even if they stay in Afghanistan for another 50 years they will be forced to leave with disgrace because this is a historical experience," Ahmadinejad reportedly said. "They know themselves that they need Iran in the Middle East, but because of their arrogance they do not want to accept this reality. They are nothing without the Iranian nation and all their rhetoric is because they don't want to appear weak."
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Saturday banned foreign media from reporting on a student rally next week that authorities fear could turn into a new round of protests against June's disputed presidential election. Police and elite Revolutionary Guards have warned that any "illegal" rally will be fiercely confronted on Monday when the country marks Student Day, commemorating the killing of three students in 1953 under the former Shah.
"All permits issued for foreign media to cover news in Tehran have been revoked from December 7 to December 9," the Culture Ministry's foreign press department said on Saturday in an SMS text message sent to journalists, photographers and cameramen working for foreign media in Iran.
In the past few days, Internet connections in Tehran have been either very slow or completely down. An official at Iran's telecommunications ministry told Reuters that Internet access and cellphone lines would be disabled on Monday.
"Any illegal gathering outside universities will be strongly confronted," said police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, quoted in the Etemad newspaper.
The Paris-based press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders said in a statement on Saturday that journalists were facing increasing difficulties in Iran.
"The press freedom situation is getting worse by the day in Iran," it said. "Journalists who have chosen not to leave the country are being constantly threatened or summoned by the intelligence services, including the intelligence service of the Revolutionary Guards. Some have been given long prison sentences at the end of completely illegal judicial proceedings."
The watchdog said 28 journalists and bloggers were currently detained and urged the authorities to release them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2009 00:00 ||
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These people sound like they have a solid foundation of popular support for conquering the world alright. It should be a walkover.
here comes Iran. Gonna GITCHA!
yeah? The 13th IMAM..BuuhwwooBwahahHHaahmmmm... (organ music rises to a crescendo).
TEHRAN (AFP) Powerful cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani accused Iran's rulers on Sunday of being intolerant, saying they have closed the door on constructive criticism. Rafsanjani, one of the main figures in Iran's opposition movement, also called on protesters opposing the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to express their views "within the framework of law."
"The situation in the country is such that constructive criticism is not accepted," Rafsanjani told a gathering of students in the northern city of Mashhad, according to ILNA news agency.
He urged the Islamic republic's various political factions to unite and work within the law in order to "create a climate of freedom which will convince the majority of people and erase ambiguities."
"Those who demonstrate or protest must express themselves through legal means. Leaders must also respect the law," Rafsanjani said on the eve of the annual Students Day when fresh demonstrations are expected against Ahmadinejad.
"There have always been extremist factions and excessive attitudes on both sides... but several problems will be solved if we adopt the path of moderation," said the cleric.
And who knows moderation better than Rafsanjani?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Well, duh. Did it take awhile to come to that realization? Now the next jump in logic and reasoning. Raf, did ya also know that islam is intolerant?
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said on Sunday the reform movement was alive despite pressure from the clerical establishment to end it as former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani accused the government of intolerance.
Mousavi's remarks, a day before Iran plans to commemorate the killing of three students in 1953 under the former Shah, may encourage his supporters to hijack the state-organised rallies to revive anti-government protests.
" It is very bitter to see the same mistakes are repeated by the authorities who insist that reforms have ended...After all these pressures, the movement has not ended "
Mousavi
"It is very bitter to see the same mistakes are repeated by the authorities who insist that reforms have ended...After all these pressures, the movement has not ended," Mousavi said in a statement, the Kaleme website reported.
Iran's June 12 presidential election returned hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power with a wide margin. But his reformist opponents cried foul and thousands of Iranians took to the streets in the biggest anti-government protests since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iran on Saturday banned foreign media from reporting on the planned rallies on Monday that authorities fear could turn into a new round of protests against the election.
Police and elite Revolutionary Guards have warned that any "illegal" rally will be fiercely confronted on Monday.
Several moderate websites have called on people to gather on Student Day near Tehran University, where the main state-rally will be held.
Reformist website Mowjcamp has warned of the possibility of clashes between security forces and demonstrators.
In September, opposition demonstrators clashed with government backers and police at annual pro-Palestinian rallies.
Security forces also clashed with supporters of Mousavi in Tehran on Nov. 4 during an anti-U.S. rally, used by the opposition to protest against the clerical establishment.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2009 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.
WASHINGTON: The US will launch a new effort to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding along the mountainous borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, US National Security Adviser James Jones said on Sunday. Asked in an interview if the administration planned a fresh attempt to go after Al Qaedas leader, Jones said, I think so.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims the United States is attempting to thwart the return of mankind's savior, according to reports from Al Arabiya, a television news station based in Dubai. Ahmadinejad reportedly claims he has documented evidence that the U.S. is blocking the return of Mahdi, the Imam believed by Muslims to be the savior.
TEHRAN (AFP) Powerful cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani accused Iran's rulers on Sunday of being intolerant, saying they have closed the door on constructive criticism. Rafsanjani, one of the main figures in Iran's opposition movement, also called on protesters opposing the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to express their views "within the framework of law."
