[Tolo News] Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, First Vice President of President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... , died of a heart attack in his Kabul home early on Sunday, Karzai's front man Aimal Faizi said.
The government has called for three days of national mourning and the flag will be raised at half-staff.
Marshal Fahim, who suffered from diabetes for years, was ill for the past three days, a source said.
Karzai on Sunday visited Marshal Fahim's home in Kabul, where he had passed away. Top Afghan politicians, including Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... , Zalmai Rassoul ... former foreign minister and a very close confidant of Hamid Karzai. Before serving as foreign minister Rassoul also spent seven years laboring as a national security adviser to the president. An ethnic Pashtun born in Kabul, Rassoul was the valedictorian of his class at the illustrious Franco-American school in Kabul, Lycee Istiqal. He has an MD from the Paris Medical School in France..... , Hedayat Amin Arsala, and Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai, expressed their condolences upon learning of his death.
Karzai called Marshal Fahim a "great patriot."
Marshal became Karzai's first vice president in 2009.
A look at Marshal Fahim's life:
Marshal Fahim was born in Panjshir province in 1957.
He was a key commander under Ahmad Shah Massoud, the National Hero of Afghanistan during the fight against Soviet occupation in 1990s, and succeeded Massoud as the leader of the Northern Alliance after his liquidation in 2001.
He started his primary education in his birthplace and finished his studies in Islamic Sharia at the Arabic Institute of Kabul.
He fled Afghanistan to Pakistain after the Saur Revolution in 1978 and returned to Shegal area of eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... to fight against the Soviet invasion.
Saur Revolution takeover of political power from Dr. Najibullah, former Afghanistan's Caped President on 27-28 April 1978.
He visited Panjshir in the summer of 1979 to create the Mujahideen groups and become a commander for Ahmad Shah Masoud.
In 1988, he was appointed as the general commander of the Mujahideen in north of Kabul and in 1990 visited Balkh, Jawzjan and Faryab northern provinces to gather more Mujahideen.
He returned to Kabul in 1993 after the collapse of the government of Dr. Najibullah, former Afghanistan's Caped President. He was appointed as the Minister of Security. After the Kabul government collapsed in 1997 and the Taliban came to power, he become a commander of resistance forces in north of Kabul.
After Ahmad Shah Massoud's liquidation in 2001, Marshal Fahim became the leader of governmental and Resistance forces and came to Kabul with the assistance of international coalition forces in 2001.
After Bonn Conference on Afghanistan, Marshall Fahim was assigned as First Vice-President and Minister of Defense in Karzai's temporary government. And he was named with the highest military rank of Marshal in appreciation of his service to Afghanistan.
He once more became first Vice-President and Minister of Defense after launching emergency Loya Jirga in Afghanistan.
At the second round of presidential election in 2009, Karzai selected Fahim as his first vice-president.
Marshal Fahim spoke Dari, Pashto and Arabic languages and had 12 children.
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Sudanese authorities refused permission for an International Women's Day event in Khartoum, an activist said on Sunday, despite President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. 's vow that freedoms should be respected.
The March 8 event -- marked around the world -- had been held without incident for the past eight years at Khartoum's Nubian Club, women's activist Fahima Hashim told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"We didn't get the permission" from state security agents for Saturday's planned event, she said.
The women were told they needed additional authorization from a government commission handling voluntary activities but that was just a delaying tactic, said Hashim, director of the Salam Center for women's rights.
Hashim said it was unclear why approval was denied but it might be connected with the larger size of this year's event.
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[Libya Herald] Samira Massoudi, the President of the Libyan Women's Union in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , spearheaded the campaign for a women's quota in recent elections to the Constitutional Assembly but says there are still further challenges to face in the fight for women's rights.
"Women are caught in a Bermuda Triangle between the Moslem Brüderbund and Salafi groups," she told the Libya Herald today, International Women's Day. "We are victims of the political in-fighting between the government and the General National Congress (GNC)."
During her campaign for a female quota in last month's elections, she was able to gain support from a majority of Congress members apart from the Justice and Construction Party members who would not openly support or condemn the campaign. "They played with us," she says, adding that on the whole and despite progress, the government and the GNC still do not respect the views of women.
Women were able to secure ten seats in the Constitutional Assembly. While short of the 21 that the Libyan Women's Union and a coalition of organizations including the National Council for Civil Liberties and Human Rights campaigned for, it was nevertheless an achievement she say she is proud of.
Much more than the political struggle for rights though, she says, is the need to change a pervasive culture that holds women back. "We have our rights but we suffer because of the culture", she explains.
She is critical of those who say that women should not travel alone or that men should be permitted to have more than one wife. "You would think that it wasn't 2014," she says. "When I hear things like that it makes me think the men fought the revolution just so that they could have four wives."
Massoudi's own family have been supportive of her in her work but she says she has lost friends because of her views. Opposition, she says, comes from women as often as from men.
She refers to one rally where she was approached by women who told her women should not be involved in politics and claimed men knew better what was needed. "Who told them this -- could it have been a man?" she asks. "Women are used as weapons by men and this needs to change," she adds.
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Reacting to the arrival of an oil tanker in Es-Sider to load oil sold by Ibrahim Jedhran and the so-called government of Cyrenaica, demonstrators in Misrata yesterday demanded the government be replaced for its failure to safeguard the country's borders, ports and resources.
They also called for political organizations and parties, including the Moslem Brüderbund and the National Forces Alliance, to be banned.
Between 200 and 300 demonstrators, including members of the Union of Misrata Revolutionaries, civil society activists, and ordinary Misratans of all ages, gathered in front of the city's Sheikh Mohammed Mosque to air a number of grievances and make various demands.
Proclaiming solidarity with the revolutionaries in Benghazi who, they said, were being attacked and murdered, the protestors claimed there was a deliberate move to exclude them all from the scene and steal the revolution, notably by political organizations. Banners called for the suppression of such organizations, specifically the Moslem Brüderbund and the National Forces Alliance, and an end to party involvement in the political system. Instead, they said, there should be greater participation of revolutionaries in it.
The inclusion of the Brotherhood in the demands is seen as surprising. Misrata is generally viewed as sympathetic to it.
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... the protestors said they rejected the February Committee proposals of early elections for a fresh Congress and a state president -- a position more in keeping with Misrata's previous calls for Congress to remain in office. But, in a statement, they also said they agreed with Congress' road map, which would see early elections take place if the Constitutional Assembly cannot come up with a draft by July. Such elections, the protestors insisted, had to be in line with the standards of the political isolation law.
Demanding change, the protestors called on Congress to sack Ali Zeidan and replace his government with one consisting of revolutionaries "loyal to the nation and the blood of the deaders".
The statement ended with a warning that the revolutionaries were keeping an eye on "criminal gangs plundering the wealth Libya" and that they were ready to meet the call of duty to protect the country and the revolution.
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[Egypt Independent] Armed protesters controlling ports in eastern Libya said on Saturday they had started exporting oil, bypassing the Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... government in a major escalation of their blockade to demand a greater share of the nation's petroleum wealth.
A North Korean-flagged tanker docked earlier at the Es Sider port, which is controlled by protesters who want more regional autonomy, officials at state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) confirmed.
The oil standoff is one part of deepening turmoil in the North African OPEC producer, where the government is struggling to control militias who helped topple Muammar Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later... in 2011 but kept their weapons and are challenging state authority.
Any independent shipment would be a blow to Libya's government. Tripoli had said it would destroy tankers trying to buy oil from Ibrahim Jathran, a former anti-Qadaffy rebel who seized the port and two others with thousands of his men in August.
"We started exporting oil. This is our first shipment," said a front man for the protesters based in the eastern town of Ajdabiyah.
Jathran had commanded a brigade of former rebels paid by the state to protect petroleum facilities. He defected with his troops, however, to take over the ports.
There was no immediate word from the Libyan government and navy about the shipment, but Prime Minister Ali Zeidan ... served as a diplomat for Libya during the 1970s, serving in India under Ambassador Mohammed Magariaf. Both men defected in 1980 and went on to form the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. Zeidan spent nearly three decades in exile in Geneva after the defection. During the revolution Zeidan served as the National Transitional Council's Europe envoy, and is credited as having played a key role in persuading French President Nicolas Sarkozy to support the anti-Qadaffy forces... and the justice minister scheduled news conferences in the afternoon.
In January, the Libyan navy fired on a Maltese-flagged tanker which it said had tried to load oil from the protesters in the Es Sider port.
The tanker Morning Glory, which was previously flagged in Liberia and can load around 35,000 tonnes (about 250,000 barrels) of oil, had been circling off the Libyan coast for days.
The vessel had tried to dock at Es Sider on Tuesday, when port workers still loyal to the central government had told the crew to turn back.
Workers confirmed they could see the ship docked at the port, but it was not immediately clear whether it had started loading crude. Tanks at Es Sider and other seized ports are full, according to oil sources.
"We have informed the government and the defense ministry so they can take action," a senior NOC official said, adding that the tanker's crew "are trying to buy oil illegally."
It is extremely unusual for an oil tanker flagged in secretive North Korea to operate in the Mediterranean region, shipping sources said.
A front man for NOC said the Morning Glory was owned by a Saudi company. It had changed ownership in the past few weeks and previously been called Gulf Glory, according to a shipping source.
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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[The Peninsula] A Saudi court yesterday tossed in the slammer You have the right to remain silent... an Islamist for eight years on charges of inciting protests, mocking the monarch and criticising the security services on Twitter, official news agency SPA reported.
The defendant, who was not identified, had been convicted of inciting "families of those tossed in the slammer ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... for security reasons to protest by publishing Tweets and videos on YouTube," Justice Ministry front man Fahd Al Bakran was quoted by SPA as saying.
Prosecutors also found the defendant guilty of "mocking" the King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , Saudi scholars and the judiciary, as well as criticising security services for arresting "promoters of myrmidon ideology".
In addition to the jail sentence, the court banned the defendant from travelling for eight years and posting on social media.
Security forces had previously arrested the accused on similar charges, but freed him after he signed a pledge not to take part in such activities again.
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[An Nahar] Shiite Saudi holy mans warned Sunday against taking up arms against the authorities in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, in the wake of sporadic violence that has rocked the country's Shiite-dominate east.
Demonstrations in Eastern Province, where most of the kingdom's two million Shiites live, erupted simultaneously with a protest movement in neighboring Bahrain in 2011.
They took a violent turn in 2012 and festivities between police and protesters have so far killed 24 people, including at least four coppers, according to activists.
The 10 influential holy mans from Eastern Province said in the statement received by Agence La Belle France Presse that "using violence and arms against the state is rejected and condemned".
They also warned Shiite Moslems in the kingdom from "being lured into violence and extremism... which complicates matters and serves enemies."
The holy mans insisted that religion demands achieving "security and stability in the country" and that "political violence destroys the nation."
Clerics who signed the statement included Hassan al-Saffar who is known for his role as mediator between Shiite protesters and authorities in the past.
The statement follows several meetings between Khalid al-Safyan, governor of Qatif in Eastern Province, and a number of Shiite dignitaries to try and ease tensions that have been brewing in the oil-rich east, activists said.
It also comes after Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... published Friday a list designating "terror" groups, including the little-known Saudi Hezbollah Shiite Death Eater group and the Shiite Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is "God is Great, Death to America", Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews" ... rebels in neighboring Yemen.
In February unknown gunniesshot up a cop shoppe in the flashpoint village of Awamiya, in Qatif, wounding three coppers, a week after a firefight there killed two coppers and two wanted Shiite activists.
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Four Shiites who "confessed" to taking part in an attack that killed three coppers in Bahrain this month could face the death penalty if convicted, prosecutors said on Sunday.
Death sentences are usually commuted to life imprisonment -- 25 years -- in the Gulf kingdom, which has been rocked by a Shiite-led uprising against the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty since 2011.
The public prosecution service has ordered Sami Mirza Ahmed Mushaima, Abbas Jamil Tahir Alsameea, Ali Mohammed Jamil Taher Alsameea and Yusuf Ahmed Mohammed Taher Alsameea "locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! on remand after being charged with establishing and joining a terrorist group... (and) killing security personnel," a statement said.
The four, who have "confessed" their involvement in the blast, are also accused of manufacturing and possessing explosives to disturb "public security and for a terrorist purpose", said the English-language statement.
The crimes could carry the death penalty and revocation of citizenship, it said.
The March 3 kaboom in the Shiite village of Daih was the bloodiest attack on security forces since the Shiite majority backed an uprising in February 2011 against the ruling al-Khalifa family.
An officer from the United Arab Emirates was among the dead, making him the first officer from another Gulf state to be killed since regional forces entered Bahrain in March 2011 to boost security personnel who later quelled the month-long uprising.
Some 29 people were jugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! over alleged links to the bombing and other suspects remain on the lam, said Sunday's statement which added that the attack was carried out using an improvised bomb connected to a mobile phone.
Bahrain remains deeply divided with persistent protests sparking festivities with police, scores of Shiites locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! on "terror" charges and reconciliation talks deadlocked.
Last year the authorities increased the penalties for those convicted of violence, introducing the death penalty or life sentences for those convicted in cases which result in death or injury.
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] To fight communalism and militancy, the government must ban Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... and its publications, stop its funding and increase vigilance on its associated business organizations, stated Sector Commanders Forum (SCF), Liberation War 71 yesterday.
SCF placed seven other recommendations at "Samprodayikota o Jongibad Birodhi Jatiya Shommelon 2014", a conference against communalism and terrorism it organised at Dhaka University's Teacher-Student Centre.
Reading out a paper, freedom fighter, journalist and SCF acting secretary general Haroon Habib said, "Both local and foreign research show that this party has direct or indirect links to all krazed killer groups irrespective of the name they (the latter) taken on."
Shahriar Kabir, acting president of Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, questioned why the ban was not imposed under the terrorist act even though Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. termed it a terrorist organization last year.
"Is there anyone more powerful in government impeding Jamaat's ban than the prime minister?" said the journalist and researcher.
He called on the premier to be courageous like her father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who enacted the 1972 constitution based on four principles -- secularism, democracy, nationalism and socialism.
The demand to reinstate the 1972 constitution to build a peaceful, harmonious nation for people of all beliefs, ethnicity, language and social class was also placed by National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman, Gonojagoron Mancha spokesperson Imran H Sarker and Bangladesh Mahila Gay Pareehad acting secretary general Rakhidas Purakayastha.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... noted Islamist thinker Maulana Fariduddin Masud said, "Sitting here in an air-conditioned room and reading papers would not bring any results."
He urged everyone to reach out to the grassroots people in villages and spread the message of non-communalism and the Liberation War's spirit through waaz mahfils (congregations on religious sermons) which are conducted by religious leaders.
"At least 40,000 waaz mahfils are being held as we speak. Do we know who is conducting these mahfils and what is being said?" he said.
Speakers also called for reforming the education system and increasing control over Qawmi madrasas and other educational institutions which work as a breeding ground for communalism and militancy.
In his paper, Habib noted that children of the poverty-stricken rural populace who go to madrasas and English medium students of the high-income class remain disconnected from the mainstream and are easily lured towards krazed killer ideologies.
Chairing the programme, SCF Chairman Air Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khandker said the conference aimed to make people aware and conscious against communalism and militancy.
Other SCF recommendations were on forming a global taskforce to curb terrorism since it has a strong and expanding network worldwide.
They also urged all political parties to unite in the decisive fight against militancy and stop political parties' direct and secret patronisation of myrmidon and krazed killer forces, making grassroots people aware about these ill-forces and putting an end to the "two-faced policy" of the West on the issue.
Members of SCF from different districts and eminent personalities, including Prof Anisuzzaman, were present.
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North Korea's state-run TV on Wednesday broadcast footage showing military politburo chief Choe Ryong-hae, suggesting that rumors of his imprisonment were exaggerated.
He needs to have a bout of acute cirrhosis...
Choe was seen walking behind leader Kim Jong-un with a drunken lurch visible limp. Though considered the new power behind the throne since the execution of Kim's uncle Jang Song-taek, Choe had been rumored to be behind bars after he was absent from major events in recent weeks.
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Bulgaria has identified a Lebanese man as the bomber who blew up an airport bus in 2012, killing five Israeli tourists, their Bulgarian driver and himself, local media said Sunday.
Israel and Bulgaria have already accused Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... of being behind the attack at Burgas airport on the Black Sea, the deadliest on Israelis abroad since 2004.
Bulgaria had previously identified as alleged accomplices two Lebanese men with links to Hizbullah -- and with Canadian and Australian passports -- and has made so-far unanswered extradition requests to Leb.
Chief prosecutor spokeswoman Rumyana Arnaudova declined to comment on the latest report in the Pressa newspaper, which cited sources in the Bulgarian intelligence services.
"The investigation is ongoing and is very intensive but I cannot confirm any details around the probe as this might jeopardize it," Arnaudova told AFP.
The bomber died in the attack -- although it remains unclear if he intended to die -- and Sherlocks had been unable to identify him despite having DNA from the severed head and limbs found at the site of the bombing.
Chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov returned on Friday from a four-day visit to Israel where he met attorney general Yehuda Weinstein and chief prosecutor Shai Nitzan.
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Arab foreign ministers on Sunday rejected Israel's demands that the Paleostinians recognize it as a Jewish state, saying such a move would undermine the rights of Paleostinian refugees.
In a resolution released at the headquarters of the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... in Cairo, the foreign ministers called the issue of Paleostinian refugees an integral part of a comprehensive and just peace.
It blamed Israel for the floundering of peace negotiations.
The Arab statement offers strong backing to Paleostinian leader the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , who said publicly last week he will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state despite facing strong international pressure.
Abbas did not identify who is pressuring him.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week the Paleostinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state to show they are serious about peace.
It was the latest sign that despite seven months of mediation efforts by U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... , wide gaps remain between the two sides.
Abbas is due to meet US President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... in Washington on March 17, as part of US efforts to press both sides.
He has said that the Paleostine Liberation Organization recognized the state of Israel in 1993 and that this is sufficient.
Netanyahu has already met Obama.
The current round of talks began in late July, but was plagued from the start by disagreement between Abbas and Netanyahu on the ground rules.
The Paleostinians want a state in the West Bank, Gazoo Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in 1967, and say talks about that state should use the 1967 border as a starting point.
That position is backed by the US but rejected by Netanyahu.
The seven-page Arab resolution on the Paleostinian issue said it rejects ''the demand by Israel and some international parties to identify Israel as a Jewish state, which aims to annul the right of return and compensation for Paleostinian refugees.''
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
So, Jahn. Why the long face? Arabs killing your Nobel chances?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/10/2014 11:20 Comments ||
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#2
I read over the weekend that the Obama Administration is agreeing with the Paleostinians.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/10/2014 12:20 Comments ||
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#3
So does this mean the whole 'peace processor' thingie is over and done (finally!), and we can to back to obsessing over important stuff like face-biting turtles?
Let's put it in WoT Background. It's being investigated as possible terrorism.
ROME -- Interpol is investigating more suspect passports used to board a missing Malaysia Airlines flight, in addition to two European ones that were falsely used by unidentified passengers, the global police agency said on Sunday.
An Italian man and an Austrian man were falsely listed as passengers on Beijing-bound flight MH370, which disappeared after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur early on Saturday with 239 people aboard. Authorities later confirmed the two men - Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi - were not on the plane, and their passports had been stolen in Thailand within the last two years.
An Interpol spokeswoman said a check of all documents used to board the plane had revealed more "suspect passports" that were being further investigated. She was unable to give further information on the number of documents or the country they related to.
"I can say no more!"
Interpol maintains a vast database of more than 40 million lost and stolen travel documents, and has long urged member countries to make greater use of it to stop people crossing borders on false papers. Few countries systematically do so, it said in a statement.
What good is a system that no one uses? And how often does it fail to detect stolen passports?
The police organization confirmed that Kozel's and Maraldi's passports had both been added to the database after their theft in 2012 and 2013 respectively. But it said no country had consulted the database to check either of them since the time they were stolen, so it was unclear how many times they might have been used to board flights or cross borders.
"Whilst it is too soon to speculate about any connection between these stolen passports and the missing plane, it is clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in Interpol's databases," Secretary General Ronald Noble said.
The database is currently available to law enforcement authorities but not to airlines, the spokeswoman said.
Brilliant. The one place where passports are used frequently -- air travel -- and the airlines don't use it. Simply brilliant.
"This is a situation we had hoped never to see. For years Interpol has asked why should countries wait for a tragedy to put prudent security measures in place at borders and boarding gates," Noble said.
"If Malaysia Airways (sic) and all airlines worldwide were able to check the passport details of prospective passengers against Interpol's database, then we would not have to speculate whether stolen passports were used by terrorists to board MH 370," he added.
There is so far no indication that the plane's disappearance is linked to the two passengers falsely travelling under the European passports. Authorities are currently trying to establish their true identities.
Despite years of pressure from Interpol, in 2013 passengers were able to board planes a billion times without their passports being screened against the agency's databases, the agency said.
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
..so far, no black box ping, no wreckage, no (published) report(s) of a missile track (although ATC was, apparently, able to paint a course change of the a/c.). Weird..
#3
There are also reports (aka rumors) of five passengers who did not board.
Idle speculation, assuming terrorism and not mechanical/flight problems:
Terrorist attack - terrorism is as much about PR and theater as killing people. Curious that no one has taken credit. Maybe this was not the final target, but just a practice run. Or maybe the message is clear to someone (like the Chinese). Possible follow-on to the recent attack there.
Assassination - someone suggested the target was not the plane but some specific passenger(s). Seems a little extravagant. But certainly thorough. Does account for no one taking credit.
Moro National Liberation Front founder Nur Misuari has sacked dozens of commanders during the past week as the separatist organization enacted a loyalty check of its key officials. Group's spokesman Absalom Cerveza said,"We have taken out from the rooster troop commanders who seem to have lost interest in the MNLF organization."
Cerveza did not mention the number of people involved, but added that loyalty to Misuari was a primary consideration. He announced the purge after Misuari last month expelled Jimmy Labawan, the group's former vice chairman, who supposedly misrepresented the MNLF when he said he was the group's official delegate to the so-called tripartite review meeting in Jakarta last year.
Misuari also appointed Rolando Olamip, chairman of the MNLF in Davao City, as the new vice chairman of the MNLF. Cerveza said, "We had a series of loyalty check meetings from late last week to early this week," adding that most MNLF members reaffirmed their desire to stay in the group and "prove their loyalty to Nur Misuari".
Cerveza said that the MNLF had a total force of 75,000 fighters scattered in Mindanao, 500 of which serve as close-in security of Misuari in Jolo, Sulu. He said the meetings were divided into separate conferences, two of which discussed what they called "state forces" and "national security force".
The biggest contingent in the meeting came from Sarangani, South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat with Cerveza noting that the national force remained intact based on the assessment made.
Cerveza said they will be visiting MNLF camps for an inventory of military armaments and troops and to check the moral of the rank and file. He said, "We're just a little bit wary because we are in a situation of no peace and no war."
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syria's seat at the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... will remain vacant until the opposition completes the formation of its institutions, the pan-Arab group's secretary general Nabil al-Arabi said on Sunday.
"The last Arab summit in Doha in March 2012 adopted the principle of granting Syria's seat within the League to the opposition, but it has not yet established its institutions and must take further steps in this regard," Arabi said after a meeting of the Arab Ministerial Council.
The fierce repression of the anti-regime uprising that began in March 2011 resulted in Damascus being suspended from the vaporous Arab League in late 2011.
Last November, Syrian National Coalition chief Ahmad Jarba said the opposition was claiming his country's seat in the organization.
The Istanbul-based Coalition -- which includes several opposition groups -- is considered to be one of the most important representatives of the Syrian opposition.
But it has yet to present a united front, and is struggling to impose its legitimacy on the ground.
Nevertheless, Sunday's League ministerial meeting invited Jarba to speak at its next meeting scheduled for Kuwait on March 25.
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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The council of Arab foreign ministers decided Sunday during a meeting in Cairo to support the Lebanese government materially and financially to help it cope with the Syrian refugee crisis.
The council also agreed to ask the member states to share the burden, stressing that the refugees' presence in Leb is "temporary" and that efforts would be exerted to return them to their country as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Slats grabbed his rosco... al-Jadeed TV revealed that the council accepted to add to its statement a suggestion by Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil that mentions "the right of Leb and the Lebanese to liberate and recover the Shebaa Farms, the Kfarshouba Hills and the Lebanese part of the Ghajar village, and to resist any Israeli aggression or occupation through the legitimate means."
The council lauded "the national role that is being performed by the Lebanese Army in preserving stability and civil peace," welcoming "the extraordinary assistance offered by Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... " to the army.
Bassil had reportedly changed Leb's clause of the final statement of the Arab ministers' meeting amid lack of consensus among the rival Lebanese parties on the policy statement of Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet.
Al-Akhbar newspaper quoted a source in Cairo as saying that the version sent by Bassil was totally different from that of his predecessor ex-FM Adnan Mansour, who according to An Nahar has held onto the "army-people-resistance" equation.
The controversy on the word "resistance" is already delaying the approval of the policy statement. A seven-member committee tasked with drafting the blueprint is scheduled to hold its tenth meeting on Tuesday amid hopes that it would reach a compromise.
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03/10/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Al-Nusra Front in Leb stated on Sunday that the Lebanese army "has become a pawn in the hands of the Shiite project" in Leb.
It accused Shiite members of the army of taking part in the fighting in Syria, "defying any side to hold those who ordered them to go there accountable for their actions."
It made its accusation in a "clarification" on the "true role of the Lebanese army" published on its Twitter page.
It noted: "Since its formation, the army never once dared to confront the Israeli or Syrian armies that occupied Leb."
"The Lebanese army only dared to oppress the Sunnis under the excuse that it is the guarantee of the Lebanese people," it added.
"In reality, the army is only a guarantee for the Velayat-e faqih agenda," said the Nusra Front in Leb.
"Look at prisons in Leb. Don't you see that they are filled with Sunnis, held on baseless charges," it continued.
"Does anyone dare to arrest any Shiite that headed to fight in Syria?" it wondered.
Al-Nusra Front in Leb has grabbed credit for bombings that have targeted Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... strongholds in the Bekaa region of Hermel.
It has also grabbed credit for rocket attacks fired against those areas.
Hizbullah has been taking part in the fighting alongside the Syrian regime forces against a rebel uprising.
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[An Nahar] Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil stressed on Sunday that terrorism cannot be justified by religion or any other excuse, warning against the spread of the phenomenon in Leb and the rest of the Arab world.
He said: "We fear that Leb will become a passageway for jihadists."
He made his remarks during the opening of the Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo, Egypt.
"The solution lies in properly equipping the army," he added, while hoping that the upcoming Rome conference aimed at bolstering the army will fulfill this demand.
"Can you believe that in the country of coexistence some individuals have taken the path of suicide kaboom as a result of the political and religious environment that harbors such sentiments?" he asked the gatherers.
"Terrorism does not have a creed and combating it requires a firm political and security position," stated Bassil.
"Combating terrorism in Leb requires the proper equipping of the army," he declared.
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03/10/2014 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.
[Tolo News] Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, First Vice President of President 
North Korea
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as 
It was the latest sign that despite seven months of mediation efforts by U.S. Secretary of State 
Moro National Liberation Front founder Nur Misuari has sacked dozens of commanders during the past week as the separatist organization enacted a loyalty check of its key officials. Group's spokesman Absalom Cerveza said,"We have taken out from the rooster troop commanders who seem to have lost interest in the MNLF organization." 
[An Nahar] Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil stressed on Sunday that terrorism cannot be justified by religion or any other excuse, warning against the spread of the phenomenon in 
