(AKI) - A new video found by Spanish security forces shows the Taliban threatening to attack the US, Israel, Australia, Denmark, France and Spain. The 42-minute video was distributed on 14 November, five days after two Spanish soldiers were killed in a suicide bomb attack in western Afghanistan, said Spain's Cadena Ser news, which posted the video on its website on Wednesday.
The video shows the flags of the six countries and the United Nations burning and eventually exploding, only to be replaced by an Islamic white flag showing Islam's 'shehadeh' or creed.
The scene is followed by a speech in the Dari language by alleged Taliban commander Sheikh Mulavi Abdel al-Basset, who is holding a copy of the Koran in his hands. In the video he demands the withdrawal of Spanish, US and NATO troops in Afghanistan and threatens to attack their interests inside and outside the country.
Al-Basset is shown with four other militants, all with their faces covered and heavily armed, some of them wearing suicide bomb belts, holding a rocket-propelled grenade and a Kalashnikov machinegun.
Spain's security forces believe the video is authentic. It is the second time that the Taliban has made direct threats against Spain.
This article starring:
Sheikh Mulavi Abdel al-Basset
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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In the 21st century the age-old phenomena of piracy has experienced a spectacular rise, with the number of attacks increasing by double-digit rates per year. Last year, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), 263 actual and attempted pirate attacks took place. Large maritime areas have now become known as pirate heavens, where mariners can expect to be routinely molested. Specifically, the coasts off of Somalia, Yemen, and Kenya are now dangerous territory attracting worldwide attention for increasingly blatant seizures. Pirate attacks off these coasts have surged 75 percent this year, as bandits lured by million-dollar ransoms have pushed farther out to sea in search of bigger prey among the 20,000 oil tankers, freighters and merchant vessels transiting the waters each year.
The costs of pirate asymmetrical operations are very low and a ransom payoff an extraordinarily high rate of return. In addition, the pirates have a robust intelligence network at sea and in ports that appears to be tracking potential targets. For instance, the Saudi tanker was seized 700 kilometers at sea, meaning pirates' agents are monitoring movement of ships from places like the costs of Aden, Eretria and Djibouti.
In August 2008, Combined Task Force 150, a multinational coalition task force, took on the role of fighting Somali piracy by establishing a Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) within the Gulf of Aden. Countries presently contributing to CTF-150 include Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other nations who have participated include Australia, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) The Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday that the Turkish owner of a chemicals-laden tanker seized off Yemen in the Gulf of Aden two weeks ago is close to an agreement with the pirates on a ransom.
"We have talked to the pirates four or five times.... They have told us how much ransom they want. We have started bargaining on this amount. At this point, we are close to an agreement," Kubilay Marangoz, a lawyer for the YDC Maritime company which owns the vessel, told the agency.
Marangoz did not say how much money the pirates had demanded. "Our only aim is to secure the release of the vessel and the crew safe and sound. That is why we prefer an agreement to an armed operation," he added.
The Karagol, manned by a 14-strong Turkish crew, was seized on November 12 off the coast of Yemen as it was transporting 4 500 tons of chemicals from Israel to Mumbai in India. It was the second Turkish-owned vessel to be seized in the Gulf of Aden after the M/V Yasa Neslihan was captured on October 29.
Earlier this month, a representative from Yasa company, which owns the ship, said pirates had demanded a ransom in return for the release of the vessel and and its 20-man crew. He declined to reveal the sum.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) The two British crew members of a Saudi supertanker seized by Somali pirates 10 days ago told media here Tuesday they were being well treated by their captors. "Everything is OK, we've got no mistreatment or anything, we're being treated quite well," Peter French, the chief engineer on the Sirius Star, told ITV News television by telephone.
Peter said the pirates were "no problem whatsoever", adding: "Hopefully we are going to get some more phone calls to our families soon. Our families don't have too much to worry about at the moment."
Second officer James Grady said the 25-strong crew were not being allowed on deck. But while he said their captors were heavily armed, he said they appeared "quite relaxed" and had not hurt the hostages.
It was unclear whether the pirates were present during the interview.
Grady said the pirates had taken the ship within minutes of boarding it on November 15 in the Indian Ocean. It was the biggest ship ever hijacked and is carrying a 100 million dollar load of oil. "It happened very quickly, really. It was early on the 15th. Ship's time 0855 they boarded the ship, and by two minutes past nine we were slowing down, because they had control of the bridge by then," the officer said.
He asked for a message to be passed on to his family: "Not to worry. We hope that it's not going to be too much longer."
Sailors from Croatia, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia are also among the crew of the supertanker, which is now anchored off the Somali coastal village of Harardhere.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Overhear any pirate chitchat, bother to catch any names, physical descriptions, or take a few pics? No...? I figured as much, next please.
(SomaliNet) The United Nations said Wednesday that Somalia's weak transitional government has agreed to share power with a faction of the country's opposition.
Sources say the agreement was unlikely to change the political chaos in Somalia, however, as the extremist group at the center of a deadly insurgency did not participate.
The power-sharing deal calls for doubling the number of parliament seats to 550, with 200 going to the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia -- a relatively moderate group that split from the Shabab extremist group. No timeline was set for implementing the deal, which also extends parliament's term two years beyond its original end date of August 2009.
"We are happy with what we have achieved so far," Abdirahman Warsame, chief negotiator for the opposition alliance, told The Associated Press by telephone from the U.N.-backed talks in Djibouti. "What we are waiting for now is the election of the leadership that would haul the country out of its current chaos."
However, calls to Somali government negotiators were not immediately returned.
Somalia has had no effective government for two decades, and the U.N.-backed transitional administration has failed to exert any real control. Making matters worse, President Abdullahi Yusuf recently has been feuding openly with the prime minister, with each accusing the other of hampering plans for peace.
Meanwhile, a humanitarian crisis has worsened with high food prices and drought.
African Union peacekeepers have struggled to maintain security, with only 2,600 troops of the mission's approved 8,000 on the ground.
The U.N. Security Council said that, if Somalia can improve security and political reconciliation, it would consider sending U.N. peacekeepers to replace AU forces.
The U.N. envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said he hopes the new power-sharing deal will lead to "Somali leaders working together, wholeheartedly and committed to the dignity of the Somali people."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Nigeria's main militant group warned on Tuesday it may end a unilateral ceasefire and launch attacks across the Niger Delta in support of activists seeking the removal of a military commander in the oil-producing region.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it was considering a request from militants in the western part of the delta to join their campaign against the region's joint military task force (JTF). Most of MEND's attacks on the oil industry, which have shut down around a fifth of Nigerian output since early 2006, have focused on Rivers state in the eastern Niger Delta.
Militants from the western state of Delta warned at the weekend that they would interrupt shipping and attack oil and gas facilities run by US energy firm Chevron unless the region's military commander, Wuyep Rimtip, was removed.
"Should MEND join the fight, we intend to spread it all over the Niger Delta region so as to jeopardise the 2009 budget projections and cripple the oil dependent economy," MEND said in its emailed statement.
A network of armed gangs operate under the MEND franchise in the Niger Delta and the line between militancy and criminality is blurred.
Rimtip has taken a tougher line than his predecessor in fighting bunkering - a multi-million dollar trade in stolen oil - in the western states of Delta and Bayelsa, whose governments have long preferred negotiating to an overtly military approach. Security sources say Rimtip has replaced several battalions - including one in the Delta city of Warri and one in Bayelsa's capital Yenegoa - whose soldiers were deemed to have become too close to criminals engaged in bunkering.
His men said last week they had repelled an attack by gunmen in speedboats close to the Escravos export terminal operated by Chevron, a raid which Rimtip blamed on oil thieves retaliating for the seizure of a vessel used in the illegal trade.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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A fear psychosis has gripped India Inc. following the ghastly terrorist attacks in the countryÂ’s financial capital in which several senior corporate executives including the global board of fast moving consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever were trapped for several hours since Wednesday night.
Industry captains called for heightened security in industrial establishments and advocated for legislating tough anti-terror laws.
Saying that it is high time the industry started debating terrorism and terror laws, president of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) Rajeev Chandrasekhar said “Indian business and its various stakeholders have, so far, been mute and very detached from this debate on terrorism and tougher approach to terrorism and terrorists, including anti-terror laws.”
Calling the mood in the industry “extreme”, director general of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Chandrajeet Banerjee said, “We have to create political will and courage to combat terrorism. This is one issue where parliamentarians will have to move beyond their political parties and agenda. We need to react like America did after 9/11.”
Condemning the “dastardly and cowardly act” of terrorists, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) Sajjan Jindal said this “heinous act of terrorists will not destabilise India’s growth”.
#5
Guru: Where are the stranglers?
Thuggees: [Thuggees respond in Hindi]
Guru: Give them their strangling cloths.
Thuggees: Kali.
Guru: Give them their burial picks.
Thuggees: Kali.
Guru: Swear by our mother Kali to be thrice faithful to her and to me and to our order and to all of us.
Thuggees: [Thuggees pray in Hindi]
Guru: Rise, our new-made brothers. Rise and kill. Kill, lest you be killed yourselves. Kill for the love of killing. Kill for the love of Kali. Kill! Kill! Kill!
-- Guru, and followers, from the move Gunga Din (1939)
#6
Add to IRNA > PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD: THE ISLMAIC REVOLUTION IS NOT LIMITED TO BORDERS [Geographic andor National]; + CURRENT DEBATE IN CHINA OVER HISTORICAL ISOLATIONISM/"SOFT POWER" VERSUS ACTIVE FULL "NEW INTERNATIONALISM" VEE DECLINE OF AMERICA + DESIRED FUTURE CHIN-SPECIFIC GLOBAL SUPERPOWER AMBITION.
#7
And my above is NOT even counting the ISLAMIST THREAT PER SE to PAN-ASIAN ORDER, i.e. the Islmaist-led/desired destabilization and breakup of RUSSIA, CHINA, INDIA, + PERIPHERALS/ "NEAR ABOARD" ENCLAVES???
NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has said that a jirga comprising 100 men from tribal areas will hold a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday (today). Talking in a TV programme on Wednesday, Hoti said that President Zardari had called for a jirga to address the issues over the ongoing military action in Swat. He said the jirga, led by him, would comprise members of the NWFP Assembly from Swat, and representatives from the Awami National Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan People's Party and Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami party. He also said that because of constant American drone attacks in populated areas of the province, people who were once supporting security forces against the Taliban, have become dejected and are not helping the fight against militancy. Hoti denounced the missiles attacks in Bannu and urged America and its allied countries to honour the sovereignty and integrity of other countries and stressed the need to avoid such attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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The defunct Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) will target President Asif Ali Zardari and his allies for their 'pro-American' stance, a regional commander told journalists in the Orakzai tribal region on Wednesday.
Hakeemullah Mehsud, deputy to Baitullah Mehsud, accused the ANP, PPP and MQM of "working to break up Pakistan in collaboration with the US". The TTP also threatened to 'cut off' supplies to American forces in Afghanistan if US drone attacks did not stop. The TTP displayed one of the two American Humvee military vehicles they had hijacked in Khyber Agency on November 10.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Gee, that gives gomez lots of incentive to try and "smoothe things over" with the "rebels" and "militants" don' it?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/27/2008 3:46 Comments ||
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Iraqi lawmakers deferred until Thursday a scheduled vote on a security agreement that would extend the U.S. military presence in Iraq until the end of 2011 but agreed to put the pact to a national referendum next July. If voters reject the agreement, U.S. forces would have to leave the country by the middle of 2010, according to Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers.
The referendum was a last-minute concession to Iraq's largest Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, which has long demanded a nationwide vote on the issue. "If there is no referendum, we will not vote yes to the agreement," said Omar Abdul Sattar, an Islamic Party lawmaker, speaking before parliament postponed the vote on the so-called status-of-forces agreement.
Haider al-Abadi, an influential member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party, said lawmakers affiliated with the ruling coalition had "given guarantees to conduct the referendum and will comply with the result, whatever that may be."
The Sunni bloc's 44 votes in the 275-seat parliament are insufficient to defeat the security agreement; Shiite and Kurdish parties already claim the simple majority of 138 votes required to approve it. But in accommodating the Sunnis, the ruling coalition is bowing to the wishes of the country's preeminent Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has said any deal should have the support of all of Iraq's parties in order to appear legitimate.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Arab foreign ministers from 11 countries were to meet at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo Wednesday to call on Arab governments and civil society to officially take a stance against the Israeli blockade and to seek reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas.
"Arab foreign ministers must find tangible solutions to the issues facing Palestine in terms of internal conflict and the Israeli siege," Ambassador Hisham Yusef, director of the office of the secretary general of the Arab League, told AlArabiya.net
"Without internal reconciliation, we cannot move forward with peace talks," he added.
The conference is expected to seek tangible solutions to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which has reached its lowest point since the Israeli blockade began in early November.
Arab states have said that penetrating the Israeli blockade is one possibility on the table, a spokesperson from the Arab League press office told AlArabiya.net. Breaking the blockade would involve sending humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip either through international aid organizations or through other arrangements among Arab states bordering the Gaza Strip, such as tunnel shipping.
According to U.N. reports, more than 1.1 million people-88 percent of Gaza's residents-depend on food aid from humanitarian organizations, which have been forced to intermittently suspend deliveries when Israel prevented their trucks from passing through the border.
Representatives from Iraq, Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and Egypt are also expected to discuss Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations and reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.
Egyptian efforts at achieving internal reconciliation through dialogue fell flat when Hamas cancelled 48 hours before scheduled talks with Fatah were to take place on November 10.
"Last minute cancellation on the part of Hamas was very strange. Halting negotiation talks at the last minute signals that some sort of external pressure was put on Hamas," Magdi Subhi, a political analyst at al-Ahram newspaper told AlArabiya.net.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Abul-Gheit and Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa are expected to review Egypt's mediation role between Fatah and Hamas and push for more Arab states to get involved in the peace process.
"So far Egypt plays the mediatory role in peace talks and reconciliation process, but having more players would add effective pressure on Hamas and Israel to resolve their issues," said Yusef.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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UN officials slammed as inadequate limited basic supplies Israel allowed into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, saying the closures of recent weeks were forcing the territory's population to live from hand to mouth. The UN Relief and Works Agency, which distributes food rations to half of the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million population.
They always seem to have rockets, though, don't they?
Wonder if they bothered to walk down to the supermarket ...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#4
shut off the power and let em starve in the dark. F*ckers.
Ima have a happy turkey day, but then again, I don't seethe, roll my eyes, shoot/kidnap the neighbor's kids, or shoot rockets into their house. Maybe they should look in the mirror. I'll have an extra glass of wine, helping of turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy and pie, and Gaza gets....nuthin
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2008 10:54 Comments ||
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#5
Consider the photo at the link. BTW, has anyone ever noticed that mot of the "starving" Paleo children look slightly overweight.
Oh and BTW how is that the Paleos never lack money for weapons? Make them refund every single cent they got in aid.
#7
Also while we are at it: those UN people feeding the Palestinans haven't beeeen working for free. In fact I even doubt their salries have been their sole income and they didn't take a cut of the aid.
#8
Justice, what makes you think any of your threats against us would make us bow to your crap. Let this be a "reminder to you". It makes us all the stronger.
Posted by: Jan from work ||
11/27/2008 13:20 Comments ||
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Lebanese President Michel Suleiman recently asked Iran for medium-sized weapons for Lebanon's army, in a move aimed at shifting Iran's assistance from the country's militant Hezbollah movement to the state, a Lebanese government official said Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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A Russian company tasked with building Iran's first nuclear plant says UN sanctions do not apply to the plant due to its peaceful nature.
Russia's Atomstroiexport, nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, said the project is going on as scheduled and faces no problem. "Bushehr nuclear plant is under no sanction because it is a nuclear center for peaceful purposes," the company's spokeswoman Irina Yesipova told IRNA on Wednesday.
Some 1,800 experts are working to complete the construction of the nuclear plant.
Yesipova declined to reveal the exact date of the launch of the plant but noted that "we are doing our best to launch the plant as soon as possible."
Iran and Russia signed an agreement on nuclear cooperation in 1992, and Russia's nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly signed a contract in January 1995 to build Iran's first nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. The plant was originally scheduled to come on stream in 1999, but the project has faced numerous delays.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Bushehr seems to be more of a revenue center for the Russians than an actual project.
This nuclear power plant began construction in 1975. I'm guessing there must have been hundreds of major design changes during this process. The Russians and the Persians say it will produce commercial power in 2009 but they would say that.
#3
The Israelis should try to persuade the Iranians of the error of their ways in a direct manner, before militarily attacking. For the very good reason of convincing the Iranians to quit messing around with nuclear anything.
The way to do this is with a covert operation to contaminate the stronghold of the Mullahs, the city of Qom with lethal, but short half life radioactive contamination. It must be done with very plausible deniability, and the means of dissemination must be very, very discreet, and leave a vague trail in the direction of Bushehr.
Suddenly, out of the blue, the people of Qom start suffering from radiation burns and poisoning, tens of thousands needing medical treatment and thousands dying. Truly horrible stuff.
But actually fewer people injured and killed than in the attack needed to take out their nuclear facilities. And it goes directly to their heart of the regime's unpopular support.
A few rumors blaming the disaster on an Iranian government screw up will spread like wildfire.
#4
I think it is over a hundred miles between the Bushehr plant and Qom and there is no obvious reason why rad material would be leaving the Bushehr area.
#5
Send some Californium as a gift. Lively little neutron emitter.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/27/2008 13:47 Comments ||
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#6
If a 'Polonium Putin' style attack happened in Iran, the only countries that would be blamed for it are Israel and the US. No amount of propoganda on our behalf would change that. Not to mention the difficulties involved in attacking Qom in a manure spreader loaded with nuke material style attack.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/27/2008 18:02 Comments ||
Top||
#7
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > RUSSIA SAYS IT WILL UKRAINE HARDER IFF ANOTHER RUSSIAN-UKRAINE CONFLICT/WAR OCCURS; + ROW OVER ANTI-VIETNAM INTERNET "WAR PLANS" [SINA.net] HIGHLIGHTS CHINA-VIETNAM TENSIONS. Hanoi angrily sends for the Chin Ambassadors more than once for explanation. PLANS > VIETNAM IS THE STRATEGIC HUB FOR THE WHOLE OF SE ASIA, AND WHICH MUST BE "CONQUERED FIRST" BY CHINA, IFF CHINA IS TO BECOME AN ASIAN-PACIFIC GREAT POWER, PROTECT AND CONTROL THE REGION, ESPEC IN [geopol]CONTEST = WAR AGZ AMERICA???, + CHINA AND VIETNAM IN TUG OF WAR OVER LAOS, SE ASIA TRADE RESOURCES AND INFLUENCE.
Also from SAME > GERMAN MEDIAS: NORTH KOREA AT HIGH RISK OF NATIONAL COLLAPSE UPON SUDDEN/NEAR-TERM DEATH OF KIM JONG-IL. POWER OF KIM HEIRS-APPARENT [sons] UNCERTAIN. CHINESE MILITARY OCCUPATION, CONTROL OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS A POST-KIM "STABILIZING FORCE" FOR NORTH KOREA.
* STRATFOR > SPRATLEY ISLANDS: THE TIRADE OF TROUBLES RISES + JAPAN: NEW MILITARY UNITS, NEW MILITARY STANCE [new Asia fears].
#8
Jeebus, its not even JAN 2009 YET, and PRE-POTUS BARACK already is facing more real domestic and geopolitical crises, and potential crises, than POTUS JIMBO CARTER EVER DID.
Jan. 2009 - 2012/2016 > THE THREAT TO AMERICA's = AMERIKA's, the potent USSA = weak USRof A's, NATIONAL SECURITY, SOVEREIGNTY, INTEGRITY, + CONSTITUTION = WAY OF GOVT, ETC. IS GREATER THAN AT ANYTIME DURING THE COLD WAR.
#9
IRANIAN.WS > IRAN AIMING FOR 50,000 CENTRIFUGES, over five years ending circa 2012-2013???; + ISRAEL MAY ATTACK IRAN VIA TURKEY, JUST LIKE WITH SYRIA?; + PAYVAND > US GATHERING INTELLIGENCE ON IRAN'S DEFENSES.
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.
(AKI) - A new video found by Spanish security forces shows the Taliban threatening to attack the US, Israel, Australia, Denmark, France and Spain. The 42-minute video was distributed on 14 November, five days after two Spanish soldiers were killed in a suicide bomb attack in western Afghanistan, said Spain's Cadena Ser news, which posted the video on its website on Wednesday.
(SomaliNet) The United Nations said Wednesday that Somalia's weak transitional government has agreed to share power with a faction of the country's opposition. 
A Russian company tasked with building Iran's first nuclear plant says UN sanctions do not apply to the plant due to its peaceful nature. 
