News from the swinging hep-cat corner of Dar-al-insanity.
A string of steamy text messages has resulted in a jail sentence for an Indian couple, local media announced Wednesday, in the latest case of passions clashing with the law in the cosmopolitan, yet occasionally conservative, Gulf city of Dubai.
The conviction said the sexual content of the texts suggested the unnamed pair planned to "commit sin" a reference to an extramarital affair, which is illegal in the United Arab Emirates.
The pair, who worked as cabin crew for Emirates airlines, each were sentenced to three months in jail, said authorities. Court documents only gave their initials and their ages: 42 for her and 47 for him.
The court ruling said there was not enough evidence to determine whether the couple had an affair, which would have likely brought a harsher sentence.
The text messages surfaced in a divorce lawsuit by the woman's estranged husband.
Posted by: ed ||
03/18/2010 07:56 ||
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"Rajesh, my burqa is in the washing machine now . . . ."
Next time, use the TigerText app or whatever it's called.
(CNSNews.com) -- The Saudi lawyer acting for "descendants of Mohammed" who claim their forbear was defamed by cartoons published in Danish newspapers hopes to use courts in Britain, a popular center for "libel tourism," to secure damages.
Faisal Yamani's efforts to get more than a dozen newspapers to issue formal public apologies for reprinting a series of cartoons depicting Mohammed have been largely unsuccessful, although one liberal daily, Politiken, recently agreed to do so, raising concerns about the implications for free speech.
Yamani is now eyeing courts in Britain, where people with little or no connection to Britain have successfully sued for libel, in some cases because the allegedly offending material has been accessible to Internet users in Britain.
The Saudi says he represents eight organizations, based in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Jordan, Australia and the Palestinian self-rule territories, whose members together comprise almost 95,000 descendants of Mohammed.
In communications with the newspapers, Yamani said their decision to publish the cartoons -- he cited in particular one depicting a man with a turban shaped like a bomb -- had left his clients "personally insulted, emotionally distressed and defamed."
Denmark's justice minister, Lars Barfoed, told the Danish Berlingske Tidende newspaper it would be unacceptable if British courts could rule against Danish media organizations and require them to pay damages and legal costs.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Suing for "hurt feelings". What a crock. Will the defense think to trot out all muslim cartoons and animated kids shows and regular rantings of "kill the jews" and "death to the infidel world". Those hurt our feelings. Let's call it a wash. It's like kindergarten. Muslims, hampered by their submissive cult of insanity, never reach the age of reason. The civilized world hits that mark at about 7 years old.
#3
Well, according to the insane English libel law, truth is not a defense. Maybe they will further liberalize it, so that "myths" can be held as libeled.
If the Mockmud thing wins, perhaps the descendants of Richard III can sue Shakespeare for libel.
Oscar Schemel, the president of polling company Hinterlaces, says that the post-Chávez era started from the implementation of devaluation. He stressed that 65 percent of respondents believe that Chávez must leave office in 2012. Oogo isn't listening ...
The director of Hinterlaces said polls show that the approval rating of President Chávez has declined due to worsening quality of life, insecurity, pessimism and hopelessness.
According to a poll conducted in February-March among 1,500 people, 68 percent of Venezuelans reject government's expropriations and the nationalization of private companies.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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It'll be interesting when the Iranians and Cubans send military reinforcements to help the Venezuelan people maintain their workers' paradise against all the Venezuelans who disagree with Hugo.
Anyone know how Shiaism is doing in Venezuela?
Venezuela is satisfied with the current oil market situation and the status proposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with regard to output, and would rather not anticipate future increases in oil supply, said Venezuelan OPEC governor Bernard Mommer.
"We have witnessed a relative stability in price levels in recent weeks, even months. The OPEC has done a great job. There has been a lot of unity," said Mommer.
"It is always good to stabilize oil prices. That's what we want," Venezuela's OPEC governor said. Mommer referred to the fact that oil prices fluctuate between USD 70 and USD 80 a barrel.
The Venezuelan official refused to anticipate a change in OPEC's strategy in the next meeting, to be held in September. "We will monitor the situation in August or September," Mommer said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Not to be doom and gloom, but we still need to be oil independent soon. We'll all be raped again this summer at the pump.
#2
I suspect they won't increase output because they are unable to, not because they are unwilling to. Their 'easy' oil is gone or going fast; although they still have a lot of oil it takes a lot of capital and a lot of technical expertise to exploit it, two things they sorely lack - and which their current behavior is unlikely to attract.
Notice Chavez became president in 1999. Venezuela missed out cashing in on the great rise in oil prices the last eight years. The sheiks, mullahs and Putin would like to thank the people of Venezuela.
Posted by: ed ||
03/18/2010 9:10 Comments ||
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#6
Great chart and that is a fact. The NON economics of bobo were clear during the mismanagment...should have pumped out the wazoo...like Saudi did, but noooo bobo knows better, keep it in the ground and charge more...its the extortion model.
Too bad bobo is going to have to confront the next big realization that oil isnt a fossil fuel at all, but a product of meteor strikes and thus not near as scarce as was thought. Oil in big quantity is just about everywhere...and the "international" will lose the price tool once the facts become known.hearing Virgina is sitting on billions and billions of barrels that were conveniently created by the Chesapeak impactor....an astroid nearly the size of the chixulub impactor if not bigger.
#7
Well Thor, show me the money oil. Until then I will go with the experts.
Posted by: ed ||
03/18/2010 10:55 Comments ||
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#8
ed...experts....lol, bunch of compartmentalists who like the bought and paid for game which reduces to dumb or dumber.
check the imagery of oil on Jupiter post shoemaker levy impactor, the pools were spread accross an earth sized diameter staying visible for 9 months before seeping into strata.
fisher tropish conditions are created all in a blast impact. no doubt about this one...
#9
post your review of Jupiter imagery consider ;
An international team of scientists reported this week in Science
that when an asteroid or comet about 9 miles in diameter hit the Earth with the energy of 100 trillion tons of TNT, or more than a billion times more explosive power than
the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in WWII, 25 trillion metric tons
of rock and debris were blasted up into the Earth's atmosphere"
Believe it. No fossils survive a blast of this magnitude....zero zip nada....the oil in the gulf came from the transition under the presence of vacuum temperature and pressure, of some % of the 25 trillion tons of debris that was literally cooked too transition temperatures, achieved by the release of impact energy, contained by vacuums formed as supercavitating waves, the dispersion of the end product, oil, becomes a function of randomness.
#10
You really ought to sell this discovery to Exxon. They, and you, could get rich drilling here. Instead Exxon wastes all their time drilling ancient shallow sea beds where organic matter was deposited over millions of years. Oh, Exxon already is filthy rich? Never mind.
BTW, don't you think if oil was created in asteroid impacts that it would be deposited in a uniform layers, much like the iridium layer? Or at least surrounding ancient impact craters?
Posted by: ed ||
03/18/2010 14:32 Comments ||
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#11
ed your supposed to be a pro...correlation of most major oil deposits is related to impacts, the big lie is that organics played any role at all, which alows the whole scarcity game to go round and round per the circle game. Exon knows but they are not telling you or anyone you know, afterall they have ecylopedias and a huge group of geologists to tell the story to dumb and dumber.
from your reply about uniformity, its clear your not visualizing the holistic nature of an impact. Shoemaker Levy was a long string of impactors......all on a trajectory which accounts for uniform dispersion, but at any point the fractured subsurface would capture and hold material disporportionatly to practically every other point within the affected area.
blast effects not only go up and out, they also go down...hence, fractures, fissures and all geologic features of land in stasis, are disrupted by degree, creating anomolous sub surface features to be misinterpreted by geologists..on someones payroll.
The mineral resources up for grabs out there are staggering. Jeffrey Kargel of the US Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona estimates that even a trifling 1-kilometer-wide metallic asteroid would yield 400,000 metric tons of metal (not just the iron and nickel, but many others including gold and platinum) worth between $300,000,000,000 and $5,000,000,000,000 by 1990 prices.
Less widely ballyhooed but potentially much more precious to spacefarers would be the stony asteroids called carbonaceous chondrites. Ceres appears to be one of these. Theyre rich not only in water but kerogen, that petrochemical ooze that Russia, China, and Brazil currently extract from oil shale. Give or take a zero or two, science writer and space colony advocate Marshall Savage estimates there are at least 1,000,000,000,000,000 tons of kerogen out there.
#12
ed your supposed to be a pro...correlation of most major oil deposits is related to impacts, the big lie is that organics played any role at all,
Thor, you will need to show a map correlating asteroid impacts w/ oil fields. No evidence = not a valid basis for a theory.
Here is a map of ancient seas/swamps of North America during the Carboniferous period. Notice the shallow sea bed from TX to western Canada. That corresponds to the great TX/OK oil fields, CO oil shale, WY coal fields, Bakken oil sandstones (ND, SD, MT) and Canadian oil/oil sands fields. Notice the swampy areas. They correspond to the great Appalachian coal/oil fields. In fact, these ancient carbon deposits dwarf anything else on earth.
from your reply about uniformity, its clear your not visualizing the holistic nature of an impact. Shoemaker Levy was a long string of impactors.
Over time (the 4.5 billions years of the earth) and the random nature of comet/asteroids hits, yes the impacts would be spread more or less uniformly with some local granularity. That's basic statistics.
Shoemaker Levy was a long string of impactors......all on a trajectory which accounts for uniform dispersion, but at any point the fractured subsurface would capture and hold material disporportionatly to practically every other point within the affected area.
So are you saying asteroid formed oil forms in straight line impact fields or singular impact craters?
Questions for you:
1. Explain where did the carbon for the asteroid impact theory of oil come from? Where there trillions of tons of graphite just waiting to be pulverized? What about the hydrogen? Where these asteroids big balloons already filled with oil?
2. What has been happening to the ancient atmosphere (>8000ppm CO2) that has declined to today's 350ppm? Where has all that carbon gone?
Atmosphere mass: 5x10^15 tonnes
Carbon mass at 8000 ppm CO@: 11 trillion tonnes
11 trillion tons is 22,000,000 years of US coal production (at 50% carbon content) or 65 trillion barrels of oil (2600 times the yearly world production).
Biotic plant growth and subsidence provide the mechanism for the extraction of atmospheric carbon, burial, and under heat, pressure and time the formation of oil and gas.
blast effects not only go up and out, they also go down...hence, fractures, fissures and all geologic features of land in stasis, are disrupted by degree, creating anomalous sub surface features to be misinterpreted by geologists
And yet oil is not found in subsurface rifts and cracks. It is found over ancient highly productive seabeds and swamps capped by oil impermeable barriers (clay or salt domes)
..on someones payroll.
Yes, it's all a conspiracy. I've done my part. So please Mr Oil Baron, send me my check.
Posted by: ed ||
03/18/2010 16:11 Comments ||
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sillies. Oil is found in 55 gallon drums and quart plastic bottles. Now with Techcleanium!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2010 18:57 Comments ||
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11 trillion tons is 22,000,000 years of US coal production (at 50% carbon content)
That should be 22,000 years. And I wasn't stating all the atmospheric carbon when into energy deposits. A good fraction (even after life evolved) went into carbonate formation (limestone).
Oil is found in 55 gallon drums and quart plastic bottles.
And 12oz Jheri curl bottles.
Posted by: ed ||
03/18/2010 19:20 Comments ||
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#15
:-) Ed
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/18/2010 19:26 Comments ||
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#16
Venezuelan crude is thick, gummy, and tar-like : it is a real bear to refine. And just like PEMEX in Mexico, the state oil company in Venezuela has been driving away foreign expertise and workers with crazy restrictive laws, and has failed to reinvest in their local oil infrastructure.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has called for the United States to share responsibility in the battle against drug traffickers in the two countries. Sure, no problem, we got a Texas Air National Guard that's really good at that sort of thing ...
His comments came on a one-day visit to the border city of Ciudad Juarez, where three people connected to the US consulate were killed on Saturday.
Hundreds of demonstrators greeted Mr Calderon demanding the withdrawal of Mexican troops from the town.
Meanwhile, Texas has increased border patrols in the wake of the violence.
"The violence is a problem for both nations, one that has its origin in the consumption of drugs in the US and the criminality associated with trafficking," Mr Calderon said during his visit. "It is crucial that the fight against organised crime be tackled with a shared responsibility by the United States and Mexico, each on its own territory... but with close co-operation in information, intelligence and public policy."
Mr Calderon, who was accompanied by the US ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual, was making his third visit this year to Ciudad Juarez, which has earned a reputation as one of the most violent cities in the world. The city, just over the border from El Paso in Texas, is at the centre of the battle between Mexican drug gangs over trafficking routes to the US. More than 2,600 people were murdered there in drug-related violence last year alone.
Lesley Enriquez - a US citizen working at the Juarez consulate - her American husband, Arthur Redelfs, and Jorge Alberto Salcido, the Mexican husband of another consular employee, were shot dead in two separate incidents last weekend. The motives for the killings remain unclear.
Protesters frustrated with unrelenting attacks of violence held up signs reading "government assassins" and accused President Calderon of living "on another planet", Reuters reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Treating Marijuana and Cocaine like Alcohol and Tobacco would be a pretty big help.
But i'm sure the US and Mexico govs will come up with some brilliant solution.
Posted by: Gaz ||
03/18/2010 4:35 Comments ||
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declare war and get it over. Put SOF instead of unarmed N'tl guard and let em' roll
#6
The "War on Drugs" keeps too many bureaucrats, lawyers, policemen, Border Patrol, Judges, DEA, and prison guards in business. It might never end for this reason alone. Much more important are the legal zoning constructions in Jerusalem so hated by the Obamaites. //sarcasm off.
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has increased its missile arsenal by 25 percent in the past two years to about 1,000, expanding the threat the state poses to the region, the South's defense chief said Wednesday. Pyongyang's arsenal includes intermediate-range missiles that can hit targets at up to 3,000 km (1,860 miles) away, Yonhap news agency quoted Kim Tae-young as telling a forum of business leaders. The missiles could hit all of Japan and put U.S. military bases in Guam at risk.
South Korea's last estimate of the North's missile stockpile was 800 done in 2008, Yonhap said. Its Defense White Paper in 2008 said the North had deployed the intermediate range missile.
The estimate comes at a time when the North is seen to be under increasing pressure to return to six-party talks on nuclear disarmament, following economic sanctions imposed on it after its nuclear test in May 2009.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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And allegedly enuff nucmats for 6-8 NUCBOMBS, as per US Analysis.
*ION WMF > 2010 USJFCOM REPORT ADMITS JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA HAVE THE ABILITY TO INDIGENOUSLY PRODUCE THEIR OWN NUCLEAR BOMBS WITHIN A SHORT LEAD TIME; + USFK ANNOUNCES IT [ + SoKor] HAS CREATED UNIQUE SPECIAL FORCES UNITS WHOSE MISSION IS TO QUICKLY FIND AND ELIMINATE NORTH KOREA'S NBC STOCKPILES, BALLISTIC MISSLES [IRBMS], AND OTHER WMDS.
* SAME > US MAY EMPLOY "EXPERIMENTAL" ADVANCED BMD SYSTEMS IN REGIONAL DEFENSE AGZ IRAN, NORTH KOREAN MISSLE THREATS.
#4
Sounds like it is time for the South Koreans to spend a large chunk of money on more Patriot batteries, some AEGIS systems, and a lot of Standard Mark 3 missiles. That or accept being pounded on by the Nork missile inventory.
#5
My brother lives in Seoul. Says they pretty much accept that if the missiles start firing they are all screwed. Can't worry what can't be changed, so they go about their day-to-day lives.
#6
But the problem with that attitude, is that with the new Patriot PAC3 and the AEGIS/Standard Mark 3 combo, the Nork crap can be stopped before it hits Seoul. The Patriot PAC3 can hit SCUDs and enhanced SCUDs easily, and the AEGIS combo can take out true ICBMs, let alone IRBMs. And all of the Nork missiles are simple enhancements of the standard Soviet/ChiCom SCUD.
As the economic gap between China and North Korea widens, more and more young Chinese people are traveling to North Korea to see the sort of poverty their parents endured, China's Xinkuai Bao reported on Thursday.
About thirty years ago, before Deng Xiaoping began reforms, China's economy was similar to that of North Korea. But now youngsters from China which is brightly illuminated at night are visiting North Korea where the electricity is cut off after dark. "Cheez, Mom, this place is a dump!"
"Yes, number one son, it's just like going home [sniff]!"
The tourists usually go by train to North Korea through the Chinese border city of Dandong. The Chinese youngsters look different from their North Korean counterparts, with their trendy clothes, digital cameras, and loud laughter at tourist attractions like Panmunjon.
North Korean authorities ask the tourists to use the euro, but the Chinese prefer to use the Chinese yuan. That means the yuan is now accepted as hard currency at most sightseeing spots in North Korea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Dandong, home of the broken bridge. It was bombed out by B-29s to keep Chinese reinforcements from coming over the Yalu river.
#2
ION CATHAY WMF > CHINA'S "USELESS RENT/LEASE" OF NORTH KOREA'S RANJIN PORT, CHINA'S NORTH CHINA SEAS FLEET CAN EASILY BE HELD HOSTAGE BY US, JAPAN.
IIUC, ARTIC + RELATED > seems KIMMIE offered China such "CHEAP/USELESS RENT" for RANJIN/RAJIN is to induce Beijing into paying all or most of the costs in modernizing SAME + OTHER PROPOSED SPEC ECON ZONES INSTEAD OF NORTH KOREA.
The COLD WAR NATO-VS-USSR NAVAL STANDOFF as per NORWAY-FINLAND comes to mind.
*IPS NEWS >BLAME ON CHINA'S DAMS RISE AS MEKONG RIVER DRIES UP.
#4
It seems to me, in my naivete, that it would be pretty hard to openly buy a wife for the Only Son while touring North Korean border towns, g(r)omgoru. Especially given how racist the North Korean authorities are. On the other hand, placing an address and phone number in a known drop box might work...
Too, it will certainly bring home to the formerly isolated North Koreans exactly how poor they are compared to their less-oppressed communist brothers.
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/18/2010 8:50 Comments ||
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#5
I'm surprised a black-market NKor bridal trade hasn't occurred to the Chinese yet. But then, from personal experience, mainland Chinese seem to be pretty racist towards Koreans.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/18/2010 10:23 Comments ||
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#6
i believe every different type of asian is racist towards the others
Posted by: chris ||
03/18/2010 16:00 Comments ||
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#10
chris: not to the extent that it's prevented the emergence of at least some traffic in Philipino mail-order brides among rural folk in Japan and South Korea. Although I get the impression that their new neighbors and relatives make those immigrant brides pretty miserable on average.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/18/2010 21:45 Comments ||
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ISLAMABAD: Twelve top generals of the Pakistan Army, including the chief of army staff and the chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, are likely to retire between March and November this year, while eight others will call it a day by September 2011. This will mark the end of a generation, which not only saw a phenomenal shift from conventional to digitalised war strategies, but also served under two martial laws.
With the stage set for some more extensions in the top brass -- depending on current exigencies -- some top ranking lieutenant generals might have to hang their boots to see their seniors holding on to the top slots, a Daily Times study revealed.
Out of the 29 serving lieutenant generals and two four-star generals, four lieutenant generals have so far been given one-year extensions in the past few months, including Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Lt Gen Shuja Pasha, Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Masood Aslam, officer on a UN mission Lt Gen Sikander Afzal and Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Mustafa Khan. According to official sources, the Peshawar corps commander is likely to relinquish his charge without completing his extension but the rest may continue.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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I need John Frum to help me interpret this. IIUC, the current crop of top officers are aligned with the US, and there could be something of a 'changing of the guard' coming? And that the Pakistani terrorism problem is aided by India - and thus indirectly by us at times - that we promote one kind of terrorism in order to persuade Pakistani leaders to help us fight another?
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and main rival Iyad Allawi were neck-and-neck Thursday, with updated results showing their blocs in a tight race to be the largest faction in the Iraqi parliament.
Maliki's State of Law Alliance led Allawi's Iraqiya list by just 40,000 votes nationwide, according to updated results based on 83 percent of ballots counted, as the incumbent's bloc alleged fraud and demanded a recount. The incumbent party alleges fraud? As victim or incompetent perpetrator?
But Iraqiya was on pace to garner 90 seats in the 325-member Council of Representatives compared with State of Law's 89, according to an AFP calculation that excluded eight seats reserved for minorities.
The Iraqi National Alliance, a coalition led by Shiite religious groups, is set to come in third with 69 seats, according to AFP calculations, while Kurdistania, comprised of the autonomous Kurdish region's two long-dominant parties, is likely to have 39. No other group is set to win more than 10 seats.
Posted by: ed ||
03/18/2010 08:00 ||
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The big surprise is that Gorann, the Kurdish anti-corruption party is set to win 10 seats. They did particularly well in Mosul.
But per usual because the MSM doesn't know how to spin this, it doesn't get reported.
#1
On second thought not a moron. Because this translates into "If you support Israel against the current admin, you're killing American servicemen". Obama will probably make him Chairman of JCS for this.
The widely read and influential Islamic news website Islam Online was on the brink of collapse yesterday after a mass walkout and strike in its Cairo-based newsroom.
More than 300 employees of the site, which is run by a Qatar-based religious non-governmental organisation, were negotiating a severance deal that could gut the website's staff.
"By Sunday there probably won't be an Islam Online. It will be an empty building," a striking employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
Months of growing tension between the site's Cairo-based newsroom and the Islamic Message Society, which funds the project, culminated in Monday's mass walkout and street protest by employees.
One, Fathi Abu Hattab, said that the new directors of the site had been interfering in editorial decision-making, seeking to alter its moderate tone and diversity of content.
"They want to change the personality of Islam Online," he said. "Even if you fund the organisation you don't have the right to just change the editorial policy without first talking to us."
The dispute has played out over the internet via Twitter and through a live online video stream set up by the striking workers. With strikers chanting in the background, a steady stream of employees have voiced their grievances before the video feed, with many saying that they were fighting for their jobs and their vision for their website.
"If you want to found a conservative website, go and found one. Don't take over Islam Online and try to change it," one unnamed striker said on the video feed on Monday.
The website was established in 2000 under the guidance of the prominent Qatar-based Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi. It has built a reputation for covering a diverse array of issues in English and Arabic, including advice columns that homosexuality and pornography addiction. The site is also known for employing non-Muslims and openly secular staffers.
A mission statement on the website says that it aims to embody a "holistic image" of Islam and "present the unified and lively nature of Islam that is keeping up with modern times in all areas".
That vision, according to Abu Hattab and other current and former employees, changed several months ago with a shake-up on the board of the Islamic Message Society. The new bosses, Abu Hattab said, immediately sought to rein in the scope and tone of Islam Online. That included scaling down or completely eliminating the culture and youth sections.
"They want Islam Online to be only a religious website," Abu Hattab said.
He recalls one particular controversy last month when the new board strongly objected to an article on Valentine's Day reprinted from a local newspaper.
After widespread newsroom resistance to the editorial changes, administrators informed employees on Monday that all Cairo contracts would end on March 31, prompting the walkout.
Efforts to contact the Islamic Message Society in Qatar or the website's local administrators were unsuccessful.
Several strikers speculated that the new board, viewing the newsroom as insubordinate, was determined to purge the Cairo operation.
"They don't want anyone to stay. They're fine if all 315 or so employees walk out," Abu Hattab said.
He expected all employees to resign and take the guaranteed severance package rather than risk an uncertain future under the new management.
He added: "Besides, anyone who stayed would become their slaves."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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this site has enough content management to employ a staff of about 3
Qatar has lots of money but also some other needy folks.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/18/2010 8:27 Comments ||
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#2
A mission statement on the website says that it aims to embody a "holistic image" of Islam and "present the unified and lively nature of Islam that is keeping up with modern times in all areas".
Is this lively enough for you? How's that mission statement working out for you? Feeling unified yet?
TEHRAN (AFP) A day after his apartment block was besieged by hardliners calling for his prosecution, defiant Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi lashed out at the government, saying it was "plagued with despotism", his website reported on Tuesday.
The cleric, who continues to question the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, said it was still difficult for him to understand how the hardliner won the poll last year given his government's track record.
"Unfortunately, the (Islamic) republic has been plagued with despotism and elections have become meaningless. It has become only a term," Karroubi told a group of visitors from central province of Isfahan, according to his website Samannews. "How can one believe that a president with so many objections against him such as inflation, unemployment... gets more votes than he got in his first election?"
Karroubi's remarks came two days after hardliners reportedly gathered outside his Tehran home, calling for him to be put to death. His wife, Fatemeh, charged that a group of "thugs" paid by "corrupt" government officials had vandalised the apartment block where the family lives.
Iran's Fars news agency described the small but vocal crowd which gathered outside the flats as "students and families of martyrs" of the Iran-Iraq war.
Pictures carried by the pro-government Borna news agency showed the building defaced with red colouring while slogans pronouncing "Death to Karroubi" were scribbled on the walls.
Karroubi and former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi have led a protest movement against Ahmadinejad since his June re-election, which they reject as massively rigged. The outspoken cleric, who with Mousavi stood against Ahmadinejad in the June vote, has infuriated hardliners by charging some post-election detainees had been raped in jail. Iranian authorities vehemently deny the allegations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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TEHRAN (AFP) The wife of top Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi told AFP on Tuesday that she has been unable to see her husband in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since his arrest earlier this month.
"Ever since he was apprehended, I have managed to talk to him twice. I went to Evin to meet him last Thursday, but was not allowed to meet," Tahereh Saeedi said of the Tehran jail where her husband is being held.
Media reports have said Panahi was arrested for making a film about the unrest which rocked the Islamic republic after last year's disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But his wife denied these reports, saying "the film was being shot inside the house and had nothing to do with the regime."
Saeedi also said that the authorities had still not filed any charges against her husband. "I spoke to (Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari) Dolatabadi yesterday, but he did not give me any precise answer. But I sensed that he has a positive approach to the case."
According to opposition websites, Panahi was arrested along with 16 other people, including Saeedi and the couple's daughter and six human rights activists. Fourteen of those detained have been freed so far.
Panahi, a vocal backer of the opposition movement, was arrested when security forces raided his Tehran home on March 1. Soon afterwards, Dolatabadi said Panahi was not arrested for political reasons or because he is an artist. He was "accused of some crimes and arrested with another person following an order by a judge."
Panahi, 49, is known for his gritty, socially critical movies such as "The Circle," which bagged the 2000 Venice Golden Lion award, "Crimson Gold" and "Offside," winner of the 2006 Silver Bear at the Berlin film festival.
In February, the authorities banned Panahi from leaving the country to attend the Berlin film festival.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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"Sorry ma'am, he's a little tied up at the moment and cannot meet with you. And considering he is calling for his momma with what we're doing to him and all we are a little concerned he may also be mentally ill. We'll give you a call after we find out if the electric shock treatment works or not."
Iran has announced it will cut the volume of its cheap petrol ration by 25% to 60 litres per vehicle per month from 21 March.
Currently, each vehicle is allowed a quota of 80 litres of fuel at 10 cents a litre, with any amount needed on top of that priced at 40 cents. That compares to a UK price that has been averaging £1.12 a litre ($1.68) and is forecast to reach £1.20.
The Financial Times said last week the energy trading company, Vitol, and its fellow trading giants Glencore and Trafigura, had stopped supplying petrol to Iran after increased pressure from the United States.
General Mohammad Rouyanian of Iran's fuel management committee told local agencies the new rationing was for three months only but it could be reduced further if needed. Iran's oil ministry has pledged to increase domestic petrol production by 13m litres a day to counter any future sanctions.
Iran consumes around 65m litres of petrol a day, one third of which is imported. Iran heavily subsidises energy and food - although that is a policy due to change in the next fiscal year.
Iran's parliament this week approved a budget bill set to remove $20bn worth of subsidies - the revenue-starved government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had wanted a cut of twice that amount. Iranian MPs say they fear further removal of subsidies would triple the country's inflation - which has only recently fallen to 11.3%.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/18/2010 00:00 ||
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As I regularly point out, setting a couple of Iran's refineries ablaze will bring down the regime in short order.
Even if Israel or the US don't plan to do this, I'd say one or more of the Arab states has such a plan.
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
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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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.
Iran has announced it will cut the volume of its cheap petrol ration by 25% to 60 litres per vehicle per month from 21 March.
