[Iran Press TV] Thousands of Tunisians demonstrators have gathered in the small town of Sidi Bouzid, calling for the ouster of figures from the former regime of Zine El Abedine Ben Ali.
The protesters called on Sunday for for the resignation of interim Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, a Press TV correspondent reported.
They have also come to Sidi Bouzid to also thank the residents of the town -- the birthplace of Mohamed Bouazizi, whose self-immolation triggered the Tunisian Revolution.
The uprising led to the ouster of the former president Ben Ali, who decamped to Soddy Arabia as the Tunisian Revolution was gaining momentum.
The demonstrators opposed to the new government as it still includes figures from the ousted regime.
Ghannouchi had earlier said that he would resign after elections within six months.
At least four people were killed and 17 others injured after angry protesters attacked a cop shoppe in the northwestern Tunisian town of Klef on Sunday.
Ben Ali's 23 years of dictatorship, which was marred by repeated human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... violations and torture, ended last month after weeks of street protests.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] Tunisian Minister of Interior announced on Sunday the "suspension" of the activities of the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) party in power under President Ben Ali and the closure of all its premises.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Charles Taylor's war crimes trial enters its final phase on Tuesday after three years of gripping, often gruesome, testimony on the Liberian ex-president's alleged warmongering in Sierra Leone.
Prosecutor Brenda Hollis will present her closing arguments to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, insisting that Taylor armed rebels who staged one of the most brutal conflicts in modern times, in exchange for illegally mined diamonds.
"Charles Taylor created, armed, supported and controlled the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in a ten-year campaign of terror" that claimed some 120,000 lives until 2001, states the prosecution's final trial brief.
Thousands of civilians had limbs severed in one of history's bloodiest civil wars, which Taylor started "by sending ammunition, weapons and manpower to the RUF and its allies", according to the prosecution.
"The crimes suffered by the people of Sierra Leone would not have occurred but for Taylor's supervision and support for the RUF."
Taylor, 62, received "mayonnaise jars" of so-called blood diamonds from the RUF, a handful of which he presented to supermodel Naomi Campbell at a charity dinner in South Africa in 1997, according to testimony before the court.
"Many millions of dollars worth of ... diamonds, most mined by civilians under conditions amounting to slavery, were delivered to Taylor," states the prosecution brief.
Lawyers for Taylor, who has pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, will present their closing arguments on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like Chuck has failed to do his part and die of natural causes...
[Bangla Daily Star] In the wake of protests from religious bigots, Gazipur district administration yesterday prevented the 87th annual convention of Ahmadiyya Mohammedan Jamaat slapping section-144 in and around the venue.
Armed police were deployed at Bahadurpur Scout Training Camp where over 8,000 followers of Ahmadiyya Mohammedan Jamaat gathered for the three-day annual convention.
Many of them broke down in tears hearing that they had to leave without taking part.
"Our democratic rights have been taken away due to threats from some madrasa people," said Mir Mobasher Ali, a member of the convention organising committee.
"But we are respectful to the law, so we have accepted the government's order," he said.
According to Mizanur Rahman, additional superintendent of police Gazipur, a group of disgruntled locals presented a memorandum to the district administration yesterday demanding that the permit for the convention be revoked.
The SP said Mawlana Mostafa, Mawlana Sharfuddin and Mufti Ataur Rahman were present among others.
The district administration revoked the permit. And when violence was imminent, the authorities decided to impose section-144 in two square kilometres surrounding the venue, he said.
Section-144 does not allow any kind of public gathering.
Thousands of people were stuck inside the venue after the declaration of section-144, Ahmadiyya Mohammedan Jamaat leaders said.
Over 3,000 people coming from different parts of the country also had to return, they added.
According to Ahmadiyya Mohammedan Jamaat leaders, they rented Bahadurpur Scout Training Camp for three days. The location was picked since it was away from locality so problems with local religious bigots could be averted, they said.
The programme, usually held at their national headquarters in Bakshibazar, was moved to Gazipur to accommodate more people.
For over a decade, followers of Ahmadiyya Mohammedan Jamaat have been facing abuse and aggression of religious bigots across the country. Many of their houses have been looted from time to time and some have even been killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Tens of thousands of disenchanted Serbs have held protests in Belgrade against the government.
Saturday's rally was the biggest in years aimed at showing opposition strength ahead of scheduled 2012 elections.
A pro-European Union coalition has governed Serbia since 2008, but persistent economic hardship and frustration with slow EU integration has left many disgruntled with the government.
"This government was promising us milk and honey in 2008 and what do we have now? More hardship, and a dishonest and arrogant government which does not care about its own people," said Zdravka Stanojlovic, 44, a Belgrade waitress.
The rally was organised by Tomislav Nikolic, head of the Serbian Progressive Party, the most influential opposition party shown in polls as offering a strong challenge to the current ruling Serbian Democratic Party.
"Elsewhere in the world people are telling governments they should listen to the people," Nikolic said in reference to Egypt and other recent anti-government protests.
"I know you are disenchanted and bitter over this dishonest government which is tormenting you. Let us torment government instead."
Police estimated that 70,000 attended the rally, an event one security official described as peaceful, although a few people were jugged for drunken disorderliness.
"I was not a Nikolic voter in the past but now I am so disillusioned because of unfulfilled promises, poverty, corruption and hardship," said Dragomir Djuric, 56, a metal worker, who had travelled to Belgrade from Kragujevac.
Protesters, some of whom arrived by bus from cities across Serbia, gathered in front of the national parliament holding banners including: "Democratic Party, time to go" and "We are hungry". Police closed off parts of central Belgrade to accommodate the demonstration under sunny skies and a break in recent bitter winter cold.
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02/07/2011 00:00 ||
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Everybody has heard the national Emergency Alert System (EAS). Those familiar "duck calls" that reassure listeners "THIS is a test...this is ONLY a test..."
The FCC is planning an upgrade to the tests by including presidential announcements in the system.
Lisa Fowlkes, deputy chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the FCC, explained to the Federal Drive the Presidential Alert isn't new.
"The primary goal is to provide the President with a mechanism to communicate with the American public during times of national emergency," said Fowlkes. The change, she said, is that prior to last week's order there was no rule in place to call for or allow a test from top to bottom.
Fowlkes said, "There's never been a test from top to bottom where it's issued by FEMA and it goes straight down to all the different levels of EAS to the American public. So this is a way for us to glean, okay, if there were an actual emergency and the federal government needed to activate the Presidential EAS, making sure that it actually works the way it's designed to."
Now that there's a rule in place, the next challenges are going to be working with all the stakeholders on timing of the test and to reach out to the public so they understand it's a test and not a real emergency, Fowlkes said.
"We want to make sure that it works the way it's designed to," Fowlkes said. "If there are things that work well, great. If there are things that don't work well, we can work with EAS participants and with state and local governments as well as our federal partners to correct or improve what doesn't work."
At the same time, said Fowlkes, the FCC is looking at how wireless broadband could also enhance the EAS as part of a recommendation that was in the FCC's National Broadband Plan from last year.
The idea is to leverage broadband and the Internet for emergency alerting with the "Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) being developed by FEMA and the wireless industry."
CMAS would allow three kinds of text messaging or wireless alert to be sent, said Fowlkes:
* Presidential Alerts - "Which would be the same as what the president might issue or FEMA might issue through the EAS system,
* Imminent Threat Alerts - Which Fowlkes said would warn when "there's a hurricane coming or a tornado coming," and then the
* Child Abduction Emergency/AMBER Alerts - Alerts related to missing or endangered children due to an abduction or runaway situation.
Fowlkes said the CMAS is slated to begin deployment in April 2012. For the next 60 seconds I can imagine a LOT of people cursing like dockworkers at the ARROGANCE of these people!
#1
"beeeeeeep beeeeeep beeeeeep...
First Citizen Michelle here urging you to make sure that any snacks you eat today are healthy. We're sure you wouldn't want to cost your fellow Americans more for health care just because you weren't being patriotic enough, would you? We didn't think so. Remember to encourage at least 10 people you meet today to vote for hope. That is all.
...beeeeeeeep beeeeeeeep beeeeeeeep"
#2
Shades of 1984 and the "patriotic" announcements from the Great Leader.
News flash, assholes. In a time of National Emergency, people are already tuning in to the news both on the TV and the radio as well as the internet. We don't need our Great Leader to preach to us then, or anytime for that matter.
#8
Ima off the grid, I don't abide those fools.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/07/2011 20:34 Comments ||
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All it takes to sink this thing is to hack it, send a few false alerts to the masses and then the backlash will take care of putting this pin head idea where it belongs. File 13.
When the alarm goes off on my weather radio every Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. (I don't know why they changed it from noon -- it didn't wake me from my morning nap, then), I hit the silence button. When it goes off on the television, I click "mute". I don't think many people will actually listen long enough to hear the president warning everyone that in case of a real emergency he might use this channel to communicate with them.
A state-owned news website on Saturday said Iran's broadcasting authority has banned Iranian TV channels from showing cooking programs that present recipes for foreign cuisine. Normally I edit out the ads and links, but these seemed so appropriate.
RELATED:
Iran: Tight jeans, bright clothes banned in universities
Hamas bans women's underwear from shop windows
Hamas bans women from smoking in public
Some cooking programs on Iranian stations present recipes for foreign cuisine, such as Italian and French.
The ban is seen as part of a nationalistic campaign increasingly pushed by Iran's government in recent years.
Pizza, pasta and decadent Western fast foods like hamburgers and hot-dogs are popular in Iran, and Tehran boasts many infidel restaurants that serve Western or Asian food. Watch for My Belle Michelle to join short round in a press conference saluting the Iranian efforts to curb obesity.
Including all the crazy commenters, conspiracy theories, and foolish wacko columnists.
For $315 large.
Man alive, I am in the wrong business.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2011 9:16 Comments ||
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#8
As part of the transaction, Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Posts co-founder and editor-in-chief, will be named president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, which will include all Huffington Post and AOL content, the statement said
so - never trust AOL content
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2011 9:43 Comments ||
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#9
A payoff laundered through AOL?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/07/2011 9:45 Comments ||
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#10
I seem to remember someone calling Ariana, the most upwardly mobile Greek since Icarus.
#16
Lefties have a simple system for making things work and it's called "cooking the books". It kept the soviet union going for 70 years and it was so spectacularly successful that everyone was worried right until it collapsed.
So lets see what exactly is involved in this purchase and can it be verified?
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.
Everybody has heard the national Emergency Alert System (EAS). Those familiar "duck calls" that reassure listeners "THIS is a test...this is ONLY a test..."
