Saudi Arabia said on Sunday anyone who received a voice recording from al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri on their mobile phone must inform the authorities within a week to avoid arrest.
The Interior Ministry said last week that 56 men held since December on suspicion of seeking to revive al Qaeda cells in Saudi Arabia had planned to use a voice recording of Zawahri saved on a mobile phone to raise funds for the group.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and home to Islam's holiest sites, has been the target of attacks by militants linked to al Qaeda since 2003. But the campaign has gone quiet since its last major operation in February 2006 when militants tried to attack the world's largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq. "The ministry calls on all those who were contacted concerning this voice message ... to inform the authorities," a statement on the official Saudi Press Agency said.
It said the grace period would last until next Saturday. "Legal action will follow for any suspected individuals once this deadline has passed," it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Syrian Minister of State for Red Crescent Affairs Bashar al-Sha'ar met on Sunday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal where he delivered an invitation to participate in the 20th Arab Summit, which will be held in Damascus on the 29th of March.
Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said the meeting was attended by Syria's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ahmad Nizam al-Din, Director of the Syrian Foreign Minister's Office Bassam Sabbagh, and Director of the Arab Countries Department at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The 36th meeting of the board of Prince Nayef Arab Academy for Security Sciences concluded on Sunday after finalizing various bureaucratic matters.
The Kuwaiti delegation at the meeting was headed by the Interior Undersecretary, Lieutenant General, Ahmad Al-Rujaib. The participants in the meeting reviewed a report about accomplishments of the academy in 2007, the work program for the current year and adopted the projected budget.
Today's workshop: 'Surrounding Miscreants'
The meeting also involved Secretary General of the Arab Interior Council Dr. Mohammad Koman, member of the Palestinian legislative assembly Mustafa Al-Barghouthi and the chairman of Algeria University Dr. Taher Belqassem.
MPs and human rights groups yesterday demanded an independent inquiry into the use of UK territory by CIA "torture flights" as fresh questions emerged over the government's handling of the issue. Ministers are coming under growing pressure as officials made it clear they still could not be certain of the extent to which US aircraft made use of British facilities when taking alleged terrorists to prisons where they were likely to be subjected to inhumane treatment.
No one's documented any inhumane treatment of course, but such documentation isn't necessary: it's enough to 'feel' that someone was mistreated.
Last month, David Miliband, the foreign secretary, apologised to MPs, admitting that contrary to "earlier explicit assurances" two flights had landed at Diego Garcia, the British Indian Ocean territory where the US has a large airbase. He said the flights had refuelled there, and each had had a single detainee on board who did not leave the aircraft. British and US officials have refused to give details about the two detainees other than that one was in Guantánamo Bay and the other had been released. Miliband said he had asked his officials for a list of all flights on which rendition had been alleged.
British officials said yesterday they were "working behind the scenes" in an attempt to get more information from the Americans. The Guardian has learned that Lord Malloch Brown, the Foreign Office minister, has spoken to Manfred Novak, the UN's special investigator on torture, about the alleged use of Diego Garcia as a detention centre to hold US suspects. Novak said he had credible evidence from sources he could not reveal that detainees were held on the island between 2002 and 2003. British officials say they have no evidence of this.
If he's not willing to reveal his evidence then he can go scratch. We're not going to play 'twenty questions' with him.
Some representatives of human rights groups who met FCO officials last week suggested records of the CIA flights may have been destroyed.
That's what CIA is supposed to do with records ...
Flight plan records show that one of the aircraft, registered N379P, flew in September 2002 from Diego Garcia to Morocco. From there it flew to Portugal and then to Kabul. Passenger names have been blacked out. However, Reprieve, which represents prisoners faced with the death penalty and torture, said that in Kabul the aircraft picked up Al-Sharqawi and Hassan bin Attash, two suspects who were tortured in Jordan before being rendered to Afghanistan and flown to Guantánamo Bay. Those rendered through Diego Garcia remain unidentified.
In a letter to Miliband, Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's legal director, said: "It is certainly not going to rebuild public confidence if we say that two people were illegally taken through British territory but then refuse to reveal the fates of these men."
His call for an independent inquiry was echoed by Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, and Andrew Tyrie, Tory chairman of the parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition, pressed Miliband to seek more information from the US, including reports that detainees were held on the island or on US ships anchored nearby.
#1
These lawfare leftists have never caught on to the idea of "plausible deniability".
The CIA would never put any foreign leader on the spot by telling them that some airstrip or other facility was going to be used for rendition, or any other purpose for that matter. They would just ask to use it.
Thus, all they could testify to would be did they give authorization, to which they could respond "Yes" or "No". They could very truthfully say that they had no idea what any of it was used for.
#2
These leftist witch hunts are really starting to get annoying. They are ignoring their own house catching fire to point out their neighborer's bad lawn.
Tend to your own muzzie infestation and we'll worry about external threats later, chums.
Four police officers in Britain's top force are reportedly under close secret service surveillance after being identified as Al Qaeda spies, it emerged today. The suspected spies are believed to have used methods similar to those employed by the IRA in the 1970s as they infiltrated the police and the Army in Northern Ireland.
MI5 chiefs reportedly believe the suspected moles have been planted as sleepers - agents under deep cover - to keep al-Qaeda informed of anti-terror raids planned by London's Metropolitan Police. They are said to fear the four could have already accessed sensitive information about secret operations to root out terror cells planning further attacks in the UK.
Scotland Yard refused to discuss allegations that a sleeper cell of al Qaida spies is being kept under secret service surveillance after infiltrating the Metropolitan Police.
"Calling all cars, calling all cars, be on the lookout for four shady police officers, that is all."
According to the News of the World, in the past few weeks MI5 agents have identified four officers suspected of passing secrets from the force. All four are allegedly Asians living in London and are feared to have links with Islamic extremists in Britain and worldwide terrorist organisations - including al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
MI5 bosses reportedly fear the moles may have been planted to keep al Qaida informed of anti-terror raids, and may have already accessed sensitive information about ongoing operations.
Secret service agents are said to be monitoring the suspects, who work at different London police stations. A Yard spokesman said: "All police officers and police staff, upon joining the Metropolitan Police Service and during their careers undergo a range of security checks.
"These are robust and vary accordingly to the type and sensitivity of the individual postings. We take matters of security very seriously and if any issues arise about individuals, they may be subject to further assessment. This could lead to restrictions being put in place relating to where an individual may work within the organisation or could lead to their dismissal. If there are people within the police force feeding information to terror groups this needs to be stopped. Since the names came to light there has been a non-stop effort to find out everything about their backgrounds."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
And I'm sure they'll pull a "Philby" now, thanks to the Daily Mail.
#7
MI5 bosses reportedly fear the moles may have been planted to keep al Qaida informed of anti-terror raids, and may have already accessed sensitive information about ongoing operations.
#8
Ali Dizaei Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei (born c 1962) is a senior officer in the London Metropolitan Police. An Iranian-born Muslim with dual nationality, he came to prominence after an inquiry into alleged malpractice (of which he was cleared) and has frequently spoken out in the media on a variety of issues, mainly concerned with ethnicity and religion.
...
From 2000, Dizaei was investigated by the force after allegations of taking bribes, using drugs and prostitutes, and even spying for Iran.
Wow. Just wow.
Posted by: ed ||
03/10/2008 9:32 Comments ||
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Caretaker Interior Minister Lt Gen (r) Hamid Nawaz Khan has claimed that around 200 militants have so far surrendered to the authorities in Swat.
He told the state-run PTV channel that 422 people had been arrested in Swat for their involvement in terror activities. Six tonnes of explosive material has also been recovered from the area, he added. He praised the law-enforcement agencies for making foolproof security arrangements during the February 18 elections and Muharram. Security agencies have averted 20 to 30 possible incidents of terrorism in the Punjab and Sindh during Muharram and the elections, the minister said. However, he added that by just preventing these incidents we are not going to be successful as it is very important to go back and hit the base area of terrorist organisations.
Replying to his recent statement regarding the involvement of foreign elements in terrorist activities in Pakistan, Hamid said he was talking about the growing general perception of this because such activities cannot not be sustained longer without foreigners involvement. He stressed a joint and coordinated effort in the NWFP to eliminate terrorism and extremism from the country. He said that the new NWFP government would have an important role to play in tackling terrorism. Pakistan released Kashmir Singh, an Indian who served 35 years in prison, last week. Hamid said the release of Singh would help promote a benign image of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, who passed nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya, has returned home from hospital after a suspected infection, AFP quoted state media as saying on Sunday.
Dr Khan, the father of the countrys nuclear weapons programme, underwent cancer surgery in September 2006 and was hospitalised on Wednesday after he complained of fever and low blood pressure. Dr Khan was shifted to his residence after gaining significant improvement in his health, APP said quoting unnamed sources. Further treatment as required will be provided to Dr Khan at his residence, the sources told APP. A cardiologist examined Khans heart and found no problems, the agency added.
An army statement said on Wednesday that Dr AQ had been in good health since he was diagnosed with prostate cancer but that on Tuesday he complained of weakness and was provided immediate medical treatment at home.
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03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
AQ Khan:
He must have plenty of information we don't have and/or need confirmation of.
If we could do the almost impossible and snatch KHAN [bribe, trade], then give him the choice; either spill the beans on everything or we'll let the Indians-Saudis-Russians-South Koreans-Egyptians-Kurds or an entity he fears the mostus HAVE AT him.
The leaders of the two major political parties, in an unexpectedly strong show of unity against President Pervez Musharraf, agreed Sunday that they would reinstate judges fired by the president and would seek to strip him of crucial powers.
The power sharing deal, announced by Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the largest party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Nawaz Sharif, the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, represented another tough challenge to the already waning authority of Mr. Musharraf, a favorite ally of the Bush administration.
The two men, appearing at a news conference together in the resort area of Bhurban, said they would seek to remove the presidents power to dissolve the Pakistani Parliament and his power to appoint the chiefs of the military services. Together, the two parties control just shy of two-thirds of the Parliament after an election last month in which Mr. Musharrafs party was routed.
The agreement settled key differences that had clouded the post-election atmosphere.
Mr. Zardari, the widower of the slain party leader, Benazir Bhutto, had appeared to waver on Mr. Sharifs insistence that the judges be reinstated.
For his part, Mr. Sharif had indicated that members of his party would not sit in the cabinet while Mr. Musharraf remained in power. But on Sunday, Mr. Sharif, reading in English a summit declaration said: The coalition partners are ready to form the governments and the national and provincial assemblies should be convened immediately.
Mr. Sharif, who was twice prime minister in the 1990s, said his party would participate in a cabinet that would be dominated by Mr. Zardaris choices. He appeared to swallow the idea that his cabinet members would have to take the oath of office from President Musharraf, an act that Mr. Sharif had said he would oppose.
Mr. Sharif was overthrown in October 1999 in a bloodless military coup by Mr. Musharraf, who was then an army general, and he holds a particular enmity against the president, who he says should resign. Mr. Musharraf stepped down as the head of the army in December.
One of the biggest threats to Mr. Musharrafs dwindling authority was Sundays agreement on restoring the justices, whose dismissal Nov. 3 under an emergency order spawned an energetic anti-Musharraf lawyers movement.
In the last few days, the lawyers had started to mobilize again on behalf of Chief Justice Mohamed Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges, who have remained under house arrest for the last four months after their dismissals.
After Sundays joint announcement, a lawyer who is active in the movement, Athar Minallah, said he was now confident the justices, including Mr. Chaudhry, would be reinstated. I dont see any hurdle in the restoration of the judges now, Mr. Minallah said. Its a positive day for democracy in this country.
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03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif said on Sunday that his party considered President Pervez Musharrafs presidency unconstitutional and illegal. We cannot compromise on our eight-year struggle, he said to a question at a joint press conference following talks with the PPP. Nawaz Sharif said the parliament would discuss the War on Terror to formulate a national consensus policy. The parliament would be supreme, he said, and would make all decisions including those on the foreign policy. Asked whether the PML-N would support a resolution demanding an apology for the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he said: We will not embarrass each other on any issue. We have achieved a great objective today, he said. We had to do certain things against our will.
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03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed said on Sunday that the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have not mentioned the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf in the Muree Declaration, Dawn News reported.
The channel quoted Ahmed as saying that no clear policy on the restoration of the judiciary had also been given [in the accord], as the onus of responsibility had been shifted to the new parliament. He said the public expected the PML-N to restore the sacked judges, impeach Musharraf, resign from assemblies, and become part of the All Parties Democratic Movement.
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03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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A pro-Taliban leader in the Tribal Areas said on Sunday that Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden and fugitive Taliban militant leader Mullah Omar were not enemies of Pakistan. Addressing a rally near Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district bordering Afghanistan, Maulana Faqir Muhammad said that US President George W Bush was the biggest enemy of Pakistan.
Y'know, I've always had a suspicion about which side Maulana Faqir Muhammad was on...
Biggest terrorist: America is the biggest terrorist in the world and the current war in Pakistan has been imposed as a consequence of American policy, Faqir said. As compared to Pakistani rulers, Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar are the biggest well-wishers of Pakistan. They are not enemies of Pakistan, he said. US President Bush is the biggest enemy of Pakistan ... Pakistani rulers backing of Bush has caused grave harm to the country, Faqir said, referring to the close alliance between Washington and President Pervez Musharraf in the US-led war on terror.
Pakistani opposition to Bush would also have caused great harm to the country, though admittedly harm of a different sort.
The mujahedeen have the right to wage jihad against the rulers in the nooks and corners of the country as a result of continued operations against them. We do not want to capture the government, but we want imposition of an Islamic system in the country, Faqir said. He had told a press conference in December that Osama was possibly in some safe area inside Afghanistan, adding that if he came to Bajaur we will give him a warm welcome.
Faqirs relatively new umbrella group, the United Taliban Movement of Pakistan, is said to have been established to unite Taliban activities in the semi-autonomous tribal belt and other parts of northwestern Pakistan.
Security forces have fought increasingly fierce battles against Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the tribal belt since 2003.
The Taliban were ousted from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in November 2001, shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, blamed on Osama. Musharraf has been seen in Washington as a bulwark against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, but northwestern Pakistan has seen the worst of a wave of violence blamed on Al Qaeda and Taliban militants that has swept the country in recent months.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
TOPIX > ARE UNENDING SUICIDE ATTACKS TO PRE-EMPT A MILITARY OFFENSIVE? Surge against Surge in Paki-Afghanistan???
#2
Again, Radical Islam's prioriy right now is to de facto stop the on-going US-COALITION ENTRENCHMENT IN THE ME, which in the absence of any Islamist-only major or significant battlefield victory can likely only be accomplished via AMER HIROHIMA, GREAT POWERS CONFRONTATIONISM, + MUTUAL DESTRUCTION SCHEMAS/OPTIONS. these latter of which also entail dedic Radical Islamists being willing to place the ultimate destiny of their -ISM and OWG ISLAMIST AGENDA in the hands and ambitions of DEDIC NON/ANTI-ISLAMIST WORLD NATION-STATES.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani police fired teargas at supporters of the countrys sacked chief justice protesting outside his official residence in the capital Islamabad on Sunday, witnesses said. The protestors, including lawyers, political party workers and civil society activists, were stopped by riot police at the barbed barricade erected outside the residence of deposed supreme court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Police fired teargas at the protestors to disperse them and both sides threw stones at each other, an AFP photographer said. The protestors wanted to march towards Chaudhrys residence and present him with flowers, but police stopped them, he said.
Lawyers across Pakistan observed black flag week to press for Chaudhrys reinstatement.
President Pervez Musharraf sacked Chaudhry on March 9 last year on misconduct charges but the Supreme Court reinstated him in July. In November Musharraf again sacked Chaudhry and other judges under emergency rule, fearing they might disqualify him for contesting presidential election while being army chief and president at same time.
Chaudhry and his family have been living under house arrest at the official residence of the Supreme Court chief justice in a heavily-guarded government residential area of Islamabad since November.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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After days of rumors to have entered into a deadlock over judicial and cabinet issues, Pakistan's two main political parties, who won majority in the Feb 18th elections, Sunday evening announced to form a coalition government at center and cooperation in provinces.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by Asif Ali Zardari, and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), led by Nawaz Sharif, announced to have reached on consensus at a joint press conference in hilly resort Bhurbhan, about a 100 kilometers north of Islamabad, after detailed meeting.
The two leaders expressed their resolve to work together for the restoration of democracy and development of country and said that a common agenda would be followed to nominate any person for the important slots, including Prime Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker National Assembly.
Continued on Page 49
Do Ehud Barak, Meir Dagan and Amos Yadlin need to be worried? In the Iranian capital of Tehran, it was reported that an unprecedented ceremony took place on Sunday in which a price was put on the heads of the top ranking Israeli security officials as revenge for the assassination of Hizbullah arch terrorist Imad Mugniyah last month.
The Iranian news agency IRNA quoted an announcement from a radical organization called the "Islamic Student Justice Seekers" in which the group made clear its reasoning for the move. "Following the increase in crimes by the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine and in the Gaza Strip, and in wake of the assassination that this regime carried out abroad of senior members of the resistance front, a ceremony will be held today to set a financial prize for the killing of the organizers of these acts."
Just the usual nonsense from the usual rubes ...
According to the organization's announcement, the financial prizes are to be given to those who take out the three most senior members of the Israeli security establishment: Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Mossad Chief Meir Dagan and Head of Military Intelligence Amos Yaron. "The prizes will be given to those who succeed in killing these three international terrorists in any place in the world," the statement read.
According to the claims made by the Iranian student organization, Dagan, Barak and Yadlin are responsible for much more than merely Palestinian suffering. The group blamed the trio for the killing of senior Hizbullah military commander Mugniyah, who was killed in a car bomb in Damascus last month. Israel has denied involvement, although Iran and Syria also blamed the act on Israel.
The Justice Seekers also called for volunteers to donate a kidney in order to offer the money acquired via the act to increase the financial prize. The organizers claim that a number of civil groups agreed to take part in the ceremony in order to contribute to the amount of money offered for the heads of the Israeli threesome.
The students in the extremist group are connected to another radical organization in Tehran called The Martyrs' Commemoration Headquarters, which organized the establishment of a monument for Imad Mugniyah in the Iranian capital.
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03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Hamas denied Sunday that it had reached understandings with Israel over a truce or period of calm, but confirmed that Egypt was playing a role in trying to achieve a cease-fire.
Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas and Israel had reached "secret understandings" to stop the violence. The officials claimed that the latest agreement was reached under the auspices of the Egyptians and that Hamas had pledged to stop firing rockets at Israel.
Islamic Jihad to start firing rockets in 5 .. 4 .. 3 ..
Israeli officials emphatically denied that it was negotiating any type of cease-fire with Hamas, or through a third party.
"Hamas's position regarding a tahdiyah [calm] has not changed," said Muhammed Nasr, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip. "Any tahdiyah must be mutual and comprehensive."
He said the Egyptian government was making huge efforts to reach a deal that would be acceptable to all parties. "Egypt has been working to achieve calm for several years now," he added. "In 2005 the Egyptians succeeded in achieving a truce between the Palestinian factions and Israel."
Nasr said that Hamas was prepared for a truce with Israel, but would not agree to a unilateral one. "In the past, we announced a unilateral truce, but Israel continued to launch attacks on us," he said. "This time we won't repeat the mistake of the past and that's why we want any truce to come from both sides and to be implemented simultaneously."
The Hamas official said his movement was also demanding that any truce include the West Bank, and not only the Gaza Strip. "If Israel is serious about a truce or tahdiyah, it must accept our demands," he said, adding that Hamas was also asking that Israel lift the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and reopen all border crossings there.
Meanwhile, Hamas and Fatah have agreed to resume talks over ending their differences, representatives of the two parties said. Officials from Fatah and Hamas are scheduled to hold talks in Yemen in the coming days in yet another attempt to end the power struggle that has been raging in the Palestinian territories in the past two years.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh invited the two parties to the talks after launching an initiative aimed at ending the power struggle. The initiative calls for ending Hamas's control over the Gaza Strip and holding early elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official and a close aide to Abbas, on Sunday accused Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of seeking to undermine the PA. He stressed that the PA would not resume the talks with Israel until it agreed to a cease-fire. In response to Olmert's remarks to the effect that the PA was not doing enough to fight terrorism, Abed Rabbo said: "How can any government fulfill its duties when the West Bank is under [Israeli] siege and there are hundreds of Israeli checkpoints and while settlement construction is continuing, particularly in Jerusalem?"
Abed Rabbo added that Israel was deliberately undermining the PA by launching daily incursions into Palestinian cities in the West Bank, especially where the PA security forces had succeeded in restoring law and order. "Both Israel and Hamas are taking turns in weakening the PA," he said. "Their goal is to increase tensions and violence. They want to separate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip so that the Palestinians would not be able to establish a state. Both Hamas and Israel have a common interest in undermining the PA."
Hamas also appealed to Abbas not to return to the negotiating table with Israel, saying such a move would be a "crime" against the Palestinians. "We call on the Ramallah leadership to stay away from the talks with the Israeli enemy," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. "We don't understand how Abbas can resume the talks after all the massacres that Israel perpetrated in the Gaza Strip."
Abu Zuhri added that Hamas found it strange that Abbas was prepared to resume talks with Israel while continuing to oppose any form of dialogue with Hamas.
Yahya Musa, another top Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, accused Abbas of moving his lips lying when he said that he would not resume talks with Israel before a cease-fire is reached between the Palestinians and Israel. "Abbas is tampering with the feelings of the Palestinian people," he charged. "We have become accustomed to this man's lies and there's nothing new in what he says or does."
Musa claimed that Abbas had actually never suspended the talks with Israel."Resuming the talks after the death of more than 130 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is a big sin," he said. "Abbas's forces, which operate on instructions from the Israeli occupation, are continuing to coordinate with Israel on security matters."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
TOPIX > YA LIBNAN NEWS [lebanon] > US READY TO GO TO WAR WITH SYRIA TO DEFEND LEBANON; + ISRAEL, SYRIA UPDATE PLANS FOR MILITARY CONFLICT.
IDF desires ground campaign + potractive stay in Lebanon, Syria likes air and missle strikes agz Israel.
Arab League permanent representatives are due to hold talks [in Cairo] on Monday reviewing developments of Arab prisoners in Israeli jails.
How about the plight of Coptics in Egyptian jails?
That's different. Not even worth mentioning, really, but IF you insist, then:
"Tsk."
There. Now back to our noble Paleo brethren...
Palestinian Authority for Detainees Affairs Ashraf Ajami said a full report would be presented to the Arab delegates on the plight of the detainees, Director of the league's Council Affairs Ambassador Mohammad Zaidi said in a press release. He said the meeting is aimed at drawing out an Arab media plan to highlight the suffering of the Arab prisoners in Israeli jails and activate the issue at the international level.
BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka - Residents in Sri Lankas tense eastern city of Batticaloa and surrounding towns go to the polls Monday in a vote the government says is key to restoring order in the area, which troops recaptured months ago following more than a decade of rule by the Tamil Tiger rebels.
But human rights groups say the government is irresponsibly rushing ahead with the city and village council elections to show that its rule has brought democracy to the long-troubled east. They fear that violence and intimidation will taint the results.
If the Lankans weren't moving towards elections the human rights groups would be equally unhappy. There's just no pleasing them.
By last July, a major government offensive _ supported by thousands of former Tamil Tigers now known as the Karuna faction _ had forced the rebels out of the east. Violence and chaos have plagued the area since then, however. Residents speak of armed groups demanding protection money, abducting civilians, forcibly recruiting children into their militias and killing people without fear of arrest.
Several such groups were fielding candidates for Mondays election in Batticaloa city and other towns and villages in the surrounding district, where 101 council seats were up for grabs. On Sunday election officials transported ballot boxes from Batticaloa to village polling booths guarded by police with rifles. A Batticaloa school was being used as the election coordination and counting center. Authorities _ fearing Tamil Tiger suicide bomb attacks _ frisked officials, reporters and observers as they entered.
Government spokesman for national security and defense Keheliya Rambukwella said the elections were an important step toward cementing democracy in the area, even if the environment was not perfect. "Here you have democracy. There is a serious development taking place. You have freedom of movement, but again, until the last six months, it was in the clutches of a major terrorist group," he said, referring to the Tamil Tigers.
But a coalition of human rights organizations said there was so much violence that it would be impossible to hold a fair poll.
The islands main opposition United National Party and the main regional party, the Tamil National Alliance, were boycotting the election. They said they could not take part alongside armed parties.
Feel free to deal with the Tamil boomerrettes yourselves ...
The rights groups said some candidates were unable to campaign due to fear of attack by rival parties, while armed groups have forced local officials to run as their candidates, rights group say. In such a situation, there is no possibility of free choice between candidates, said Dulani Kulasinghe, a researcher at the Law and Society Trust rights group based in the capital, Colombo.
Many groups have declined to monitor the elections because the intimidation level was so high that making an accurate report would be impossible, said Sunila Abeysekara, executive director of the Colombo-based human rights group Inform.
The government was sending 4,200 police officers to Batticaloa and the other towns holding elections. Five officers would guard each of the 285 polling stations, police said.
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03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Iran told the West on Sunday that it would only hold talks over its disputed nuclear programme if world powers stopped threatening further punitive measures against Tehran.
The time of using the policy of the carrot and the stick has ended, said Javad Vaeedi, a top national security official, said on the sidelines of a security conference in Tehran.
If they [the West] want to have serious negotiations, in fair conditions and taking into account the interests of the two parties, they must first stop threatening [Iran]. His comments came a week after the UN Security Council tightened sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to heed the world bodys calls to freeze uranium enrichment.
No talks with Solana: Following the UN security council resolution, which tightened sanctions by the UN Security council against Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected any new talks with the European Unions foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.
Ahmadinejad said Tehran would in future negotiate only with the UN atomic agency and would not sit down with anyone from outside the body, such as Solana. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking at a conference in Tehran, meanwhile refused to directly answer a question about whether Iran would continue talking to Solana.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Crash and burn sand fleas, you'll run out of money eventually, before you have a nuke I hope.
I say hope because it is clearly evident to me that nobody is going to DO anything to stop you, just a lot of big talk.
#2
Just once, I'd like to see a diplomat instruct an opponent, baldly, "talk or die!" It'd go a long way towards seducing me away from the supposition that the Retief novels were disguised non-fiction.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/10/2008 12:33 Comments ||
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#3
As learned from the NKor "Appeasement for Dummies" Self help book.
#4
STRATEGYPAGE > COUNTER-TERRORISM: WAITING FOR THE AMERICANS TO LEAVE. - Article on MUGTADA AL-SADR, ANTI-US "TIME" FACTORS/VARIABLES, and how the likely future face of Islamist terrorism in Iraq will be SHIA RADICALIST. SADR's + ISLAMIST PROB IN IRAQ-ME > ARTICLE MAKES IT CLEAR THAT AMER INTENDS TO STAY IN IRAQ = ME FOR A "LONG, LONG TIME" - ALTHOUGH ITS NOT CLEAR HOW POTENT ANY SAID REMAINING US-ALLIED MILFORS WILL BE, ARTICLE HINTS THAT AMER IS NOT GOING TO LEAVE PRO-DEMOCRATIC IGA VULNERABLE, NOR MIL UNSUPPORTED VV WEAK MIL UNITS.
StratPage Article > describes SADR as "may be slow, but not stupid". METHINKS ITS MORE CORRECT TO SAY SADR IS "FOCUSED", NOT SLOW. Lest we fergit, ANTI-US/WESTERN "TIME" etc. gener works IN FAVOR OF RADICAL ISLAMISM EVENTUALLY GETTING THEIR "ISLAMIST/IRANIAN BOMB", espec in the absence of BILATERAL PEACE, IMPLOSION, OR "DEMOCRATIC REGIME CHANGE".
*As a reminder, TOPIX > UN BANS/SANCTIONS WILL NOT STOP PROLIFERATION.
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.
MPs and human rights groups yesterday demanded an independent inquiry into the use of UK territory by CIA "torture flights" as fresh questions emerged over the government's handling of the issue. Ministers are coming under growing pressure as officials made it clear they still could not be certain of the extent to which US aircraft made use of British facilities when taking alleged terrorists to prisons where they were likely to be subjected to inhumane treatment.
Four police officers in Britain's top force are reportedly under close secret service surveillance after being identified as Al Qaeda spies, it emerged today. The suspected spies are believed to have used methods similar to those employed by the IRA in the 1970s as they infiltrated the police and the Army in Northern Ireland. 
Scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, who passed nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya, has returned home from hospital after a suspected infection, AFP quoted state media as saying on Sunday.
The leaders of the two major political parties, in an unexpectedly strong show of unity against President Pervez Musharraf, agreed Sunday that they would reinstate judges fired by the president and would seek to strip him of crucial powers. 
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani police fired teargas at supporters of the countrys sacked chief justice protesting outside his official residence in the capital Islamabad on Sunday, witnesses said. The protestors, including lawyers, political party workers and civil society activists, were stopped by riot police at the barbed barricade erected outside the residence of deposed supreme court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Hamas denied Sunday that it had reached understandings with Israel over a truce or period of calm, but confirmed that Egypt was playing a role in trying to achieve a cease-fire. 
Iran told the West on Sunday that it would only hold talks over its disputed nuclear programme if world powers stopped threatening further punitive measures against Tehran.
