A recent surge in opium prices could encourage Afghan farmers to expand cultivation of the narcotic crop and reverse advances in the fight against drug production in the war-torn country, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warned today.
The UNODC said a blight that cut poppy production by half in 2010 and continuing military operations in Afghanistan have spawned uncertainty about future cultivation and speculation that there will be shortages, which has led opium prices to soar.
"The market responded to the steep drop in opium production with an equally dramatic jump in the market price to more than double 2009 levels," UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said.
Opium prices had steadily declined from 2005 through 2009, as the United States led an international campaign against Afghan's opium production.
But a naturally occurring plant disease that ravaged crops in the major opium-poppy-growing provinces of Helmand and Kandahar has translated into a cash windfall for poppy farmers, the UNODC said.
Last year, dry opium was fetching an average price of $169 per kilogram at harvest time, up from just $64 a kilogram in 2009. That allowed poppy farmers to increase their gross income per acre by more than 36 percent to over $12,000.
And it gave opium-growing households significantly higher income than households that gave up the crop at the urging of the central government in Kabul and the international community, which provided incentives for the farmers to grow other crops instead.
But the UNODC said the dramatic rise in opium prices wasn't repeated in neighboring countries, including Iran and Pakistan, where Afghan traffickers are heavily involved in shipping morphine, heroin and other opiates.
#1
A recent surge in opium prices could encourage Afghan farmers to expand cultivation of the narcotic crop..
While the farmers may make it on the crop, I doubt they are getting the big cut of the take. It'll be more like more pressure to plant by the usual suspects using the usual methods of 'encouragement'.
#2
Hospira, the only US manufacturer of sodium thiopental, the death penalty drug, has ceased production, delaying executions. Italy is the companies' other site of manufacture, but opposes production due to opposition to the death penalty. I cannot think of a more humane alternative than just giving them an overdose of morphine purchased from the Afghans.
#3
Sounds like a report on the price of oil. Ho hum. Just another rise in the price of another commodity.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/22/2011 12:54 Comments ||
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#4
The thing is, the sale prices of wheat and corn/maize have gone up worldwide, and I imagine rice has or will, too. If one can bring in a crop, it's a pretty good time to be a farmer.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Reports emanating from Central Somalia yesterday indicate that a unit of United States forces descended in an area called Gaan, 18 kilometres north of Haradhere, a former base of the notorious Somali pirates and a current stronghold of Al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamist movement opposing the government.
The marines are said to have used a helicopter to reach the remote location.
Bet it beat walking...
According to Shabelle, a broadcaster in Mogadishu, five armed soldiers descended from the chopper and immediately handcuffed three Somali youth that were next to a vehicle being repaired following a breakdown.
Mohamed Bashir Mohamed told Shabelle that he was one of the three men flown by the American marines to a navy ship, off the coast. According to Bashir's tale, the Americans kept the Somali men on a large ship for three hours and asked them whether they were pirates.
Having responded that they were not pirates, they were asked other questions such as where the pirates spend when they receive ransom money and who controlled the nearby Haradhere town.
He said that they responded knowing that Al-Shabaab controls the district, but nothing about pirates' money.
The group was told that the American marines had their photos and that they were bandidos.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2011 00:05 ||
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#1
Mohamed, we can do this anytime we want.
Make sure you tell all your friends...
#2
we should keep the pressure on this burg and cyber-steal their ransoms
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/22/2011 1:17 Comments ||
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#3
We know the lawyers don't want to go burning out the dens of scum and villainy, but they've never seriously considered blockading the ports either. Only so many ports with enough draft to haul a decent size vessel into to keep under gun.
[Arab News] Almost 99 percent of south Sudanese who voted in an independence referendum chose to split away from the north, the first official but incomplete figures published by the vote's organizing commission showed on Friday.
The results were the latest indication of a landslide vote for southern independence in last week's referendum, promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war. The final official figures are expected in February.
The website for the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (http://southernsudan2011.com/) showed a 98.6 percent vote for secession, with more than 80 percent of the votes from the south counted, and 100 percent counted in other areas. The commission earlier confirmed the turnout had passed the 60 percent mark needed to make the result binding.
Officials from the oil-producing south have so far given a measured response to the early results and warned voters not to stage early celebrations to avoid antagonizing the north.
The calm, controlled mood in the southern capital Juba has been in sharp contrast to the jubilant scenes that greeted the start of voting, when campaign posters described independence as a liberation from war and northern oppression. "This is the outcome we expected ... the results won't change much," the commission's deputy chairman Chan Reek Madut, a southerner, told Rooters.
The only area to show a majority for unity was a small pocket of voters in the northern Sudanese state of South Darfur.
According to the figures, 63.2 percent of voters wanted to keep the country together and only 36.8 percent went for secession.
"It is not surprising because of the way they conducted their registration. Some people passed as southerners who were actually northerners from Darfur," said Madut. "They took advantage of the lack of security in the area. It won't impact seriously on the result." Darfur is the scene of a seven-year conflict pitting rebels against the government.
A bigwig from north Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said he would wait until the final announcement before giving an official reaction.
"But the expectation is that the result will be for secession," said Rabie Abdelati. "The party is working for the post referendum period now -- the demarcation of the borders and the resolution of the Abyei problem. We are doing our best to prepare for the consequences of secession on the north." Northern and southern officials still have to agree how they would divide oil revenues after a split and sort out the ownership of the contested border region of Abyei.
Overall, 57.65 percent of southerners voting in the north of the country chose independence, according to the figures. In countries outside Sudan, 98.55 percent chose independence.
Commission staff confirmed the authenticity of the website and the figures. "These are incomplete and provisional pending the declaration of preliminary and final results. They may be subject to change," a statement on its homepage warned.
Sudan's north-south war -- Africa's longest civil conflict - was fueled by differences over religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology. It killed an estimated 2 million people, forced 4 million to flee and destabilized the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
99%?
No doubt poll "watcher" Jimmah Cahtah will declare that the whole thing was rigged. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/22/2011 0:17 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
01/22/2011 1:56 Comments ||
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#4
Southern Sudan has a lot of quiet international support from a variety of sources. And after the Jajaweed genocide program, there is not a lot of support for the Northern Sudanese. As well, a lot of the Christians in Africa and their Western supporters are viewing Southern Sudan as the area to rebuild and develop in opposition to the Islamists in North Africa. So its chances are better than Biafra's ever were.
For a map, here. For a map of Hidalgo, click here. A photo gallery of the crime scene can be found here Updated with new information from Hidalgo state police director.
Hidalgo State Police Director Fingers Los Zetas for the Attack
A car bomb detonated with four police officers nearby near El Carmen killing one police chief in Hildago Saturday morning, according to Mexican news accounts.
The police were sent to a location near the Tula-El Carmen section of the interstate highway to investigate an abandoned Volkswagen sedan reported to have a dead body inside. When the officers went to open the trunk, an explosion occurred.
A threatening "narcomessage" was left at the site but news reports did not detail its contents.
Damiän Canales Mena, the head of the Hidalgo state police corporation Secretaria de Seguridad Publica said this afternoon that the Los Zeta criminal gang was most likely responsible for the attack. Canales Mena also hinted that the attack was a response to the recent deaths of two Los Zetas operatives in Hidaldo.
The report does not mention if this information was the information contained in the "narcomessage" left at the scene.
Canales Mena said chief Peña's death would not go unpunished.
The bomb was the fifth such explosion in a week in Mexico with three other minor explosions taking place in Nuevo Leon and a fourth explosion which destroyed a Datsun sedan and killed two in Tabasco.
For a map, click here. For a map of Michoacan, click here
Mexican counternarcotics operations continued in the last 48 hours in the west coast state of Michoacan despite a call for a truce from La Familia Michoacana drug cartel starting last month, according to several Mexican news reports.
Three agents of the Policia Federal were wounded and two armed suspects were captured in fighting in the Yurecuaro municipality (county) Friday evening. Armed suspects fired on a Policia Federal unit on patrol on the Vista Hermosa-La Piedad freeway at about Kilometer 4 at about 1940 hrs. Agents also seized two vehicles in the aftermath. Unofficial reports were that the suspects had fled the Lazaro Cardenas de La Piedad colony after the shooting of a drug dealer, when they encountered the federal agents.
A Policia Federal detachment came under fire on a road near the Ecuandureo municipality at about 1915 hrs Friday. One vehicle was struck twice by gunfire, and no one was reported hurt and no suspects arrested.
A detachment of the Mexican 37th Battalion became involved in a pursuit and a firefight with armed suspects in Ario de Rayon Friday afternoon, arrested five armed suspects as well as seized a number of munitions and other contraband. The unit rolled up on a Mazda pickup truck and a Honda Civic with armed suspects aboard initiating the pursuit. When trapped, the suspects exited their vehicles and initated a firefight where two of them were wounded. Three others surrendered shortly afterwards.
Detained were Pioquinto Huato Jimenez, 31, Guerrero, Alejandro Covarrubias Galvez, 26, and Victor Estrada Alvarez. Wounded in the gunfight were Sebastian Sanchez Benitez, 29, who was formerly a police officer in Jacona, Michoacan and Eduardo Cruz Rubalcaba, 39.
Soldiers also seized two AR-15 and two AK-47 assault rifles, two .45 caliber pistols, 33 magazines, more than 800 rounds of ammunition, two tear gas grenades, cell phones and the two vehicles.
A Policia Federal unit on Morelia, the capital of Michoacan, seized nine vehicles and arrested an unknown number of suspects at a car lot Friday. One of the seized vehicles, a Nissan Murano with damage from gunfire is said to have been involved in an earlier firefight with security forces. All nine vehicles are said to have been stolen.
Seized were one Lincoln Navigator, one Alfa Plus Toyota, one Ford Expedition, two Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks, one Jeep Grand Cherokee one Ford Lobo (F-150) pickup truck and a Land Rover SUV.
Two Chihuahua state police agents were shot to death early Friday morning in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, according to Mexican news accounts.
Sergio Manuel Torres and Elias Mendez Lozano died at the scene where armed suspects travelling aboard two vehicles fired on the agents, killing them instantly.
Reports say armed suspects aboard a Ford Expedition and a Dodge Dakota fired on the two agents near 120th street and the Chihuahua-Parral highway in Los Pinos colony, and continued the assault for several blocks before they fled the scene.
Both victims were internal affairs agents based in Juarez. Mendez Lozano was the chief of the division.
News reports say the agents were dispatched to the area where the initial encounter took place after emergency systems reports armed men in the area.
A subsequent police air and ground search turned up the Ford Expedition abandoned and damaged by gunfire near the intersection of calles Gardenias and Miguelitos in the Campesina colony.
A total of 21 individuals were murdered in ongoing drug and gang related violence in northern Mexican states including four unidentified men found shot to death in a remote village in western Durango state For a map, click here.
An unidentified man was shot to death at a convenience store in Juarez Wednesday. The victim had just left the Superette convenience store when he was fired on a dozen times near the intersection of calles Carlos Amaya and Cusihuiriachi in the Anahuac colony.
Two young men were shot to death in northern Chihuahua, Chihuahua Wednesday. Julio Casar Zapata and Ariel Montana Torres were shot at a residence near the corner of calles Poseidon and Fernando Magallanes in the Miramar colony. Reports say armed suspects aboard a Nissan Altima fired the fatal shots. Five .223 and six .45 caliber spent shell casings were found at the scene.
An unidentified man was shot to death and another was wounded in Juarez Wednesday. The victims were in front of a hamburger stand near the intersection of calles Hiedra and Anis in the Ampliacion Aeropuerto colony where armed suspects aboard a sedan open fired on them.
An unidentified Juarez municipal police officer was shot to death and an unknown number were wounded in a small arms attack on a tax collection kiosk in Juarez Thursday. Armed suspects entered the Plaza Galerias mall and attempted to rob an armored car picking up receipts from a federal tax collection kiosk. Reports do not say how much was taken in the robbery if at all.
A man was shot to death and his father wounded in an armed attack in Chihuahua, Chiuhuahua Thursday. Jorge Carrillo and his father were driving a Ford Mustang sedan near the corner of Aveida De las Industrias and Calle Sicomoro when armed suspects aboard a Dodge Cirrus sedan fired on them. Several .223 and .45 caliber spent shell casings were found at the scene.
An unidentified man was shot to death in Juarez Friday morning. Armed suspects arived at the victim's residence near the intersection of calles Rio Escondido and Yaqui in the Cordova Americas colony and shot him to death as he tried to escape the attack. The same suspects also threw a Molotov cocktail at a Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, and left a message for authorities before fleeing the area.
An unidentified man was shot to death at a car wash in Juarez Friday night. The shooting took place on Avenida Tomas Fernandez at about 1700 hrs when the victim was riding a motorcycle.
Three unidentified men were shot to death in Juarez Friday night. The victims were at an electrical shop near the corner of calles Portal del Cesar and Yepomera in the Aeropuerto colony when armed suspects shot them.
Three individuals were murdered in Juarez Friday night according to the Mexican daily La Polaka.
An unidentified man was beheaded at El Chaop park near the intersection of calles Limon and Ponciano Arriaga. in the Revolucion colony Friday night. A message was left at the scene although its contents was not revealed
Two unidentified men were found tortured, bound and shot to death near the corner of calles Camino Viejo San Jose and Paseo de la Victoria near the Colegio Sierra Madre school Friday. Both victims were bound by their hands and feet and gagged with duct tape before being killed.
An inmate at a Torreon, Coahuila Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) was stabbed to death in a brawl Thursday. Cesar Daniel Rivera Rodriguez, 21, was serving time for auto theft and was due to be released Saturday when he was killed by an another inmate.
A Poanas, Durango municipal police officer and his daughter were shot to death Tuesday afternoon. Armed suspects entered the home of Martin Loyo Najera, and shot him and his 10 year old daughter, Joselin. Loyo Najera died at the scene while his daughter died on the way to receiving medical attention.
A Villa Union, Durango police commander was kidnapped and then executed Wednesday. Neighbors in the area found the headless body of Diego Piedra Rodriguez, 50, who was kidnapped on Tuesday.
A nationally known cattle rancher was found shot to death in a highway in Durango Wednesday. Reports say Javier Saravia Francisco Saravia, 48, and president of Union Ganadera, a cattlemen's trade group was found near La Punta ranch on the main highway our for Durango leading south, shot three times. Francisco Saravia had apparently been kidnapped days before, but the family failed to supply the ransom in time.
Four unidentified men were shot to death in a remote village in western Durango Wednesday. The victims were found in a shallow grave in the village of Navajas in the Pueblo Nuevo municipality, all having been shot to death. The corpses had been mutilated by vermin before they were discovered.
MIRANSHAH: Hundreds of tribesmen on Friday rallied to demand an end to US drone attacks, which they said were killing innocent people in the Tribal Areas, witnesses said.
More than 2,000 protesters staged the demonstration in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, shouting slogans against the United States and its Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), responsible for the missile attacks.
2,000 protesters, all looking up, worried that perhaps the rally was a mite too big for its own good...
Shop owners, lazy unemployed students and other residents shouted anti-American slogans, and called for US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and the former CIA station chief in Islamabad to be brought to justice. They should be arrested and punished by the courts in America, said Abdul Khan, a student leader.
Wonder if International ANSWER was there...
Addressing on Fridays rally, a member of a local political committee, Cindy Sheehan Sarfraz Khan, denounced the drone attacks for killing innocent people, including women and children, and said that if it did not stop he would launch a long march to Islamabad in protest.
That'll do a lot of good. Gilani the Humble will take note of your protest right before he orders the army to whack you.
The insurgents regularly execute people they accuse of collaborating with the American attacks, so whether those attending the rally were doing so of their free will was highly questionable.
All the ones named 'Mahmoud' were there against their will. You boys better have a talk with them...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:01 ||
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#1
Jeez. Sounds like a nice time for a...drone strike.
#2
I'd go for the Daisy Cutter BLU - these people are demanding better than a Hellfire
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/22/2011 0:28 Comments ||
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#3
Every time I see these "Tribesman rally...." type headlines I can't help but see a bunch of folks on horse back with feathers and bows and arrows riding down on the US Cavalry.
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
01/22/2011 12:07 Comments ||
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#4
I agree with Frank, here. An opportunity lost. My own personal taste would be to use a thermobaric propane bomb, however, with a hat tip to the Russians.
QUETTA: Three NATO containers were set on fire and two people were injured by unidentified terrorists in two separate incidents in Mastung and Kalat on Friday.
According to police sources, two containers carrying military hardware for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan were going to Chaman from Karachi when some unidentified assailants intercepted them and off-loaded the cleaners and drivers. They then set the two containers on fire at the Chutu area of Mastung and fled the scene.
Meanwhile, another NATO container was torched in Kalat. Two people sustained bullet injuries when the assailants, who were on a motorbike, opened fire on the container before setting it ablaze. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital by locals. Personnel of Levies force and other law enforcement agencies rushed to the spot after the incidents and cordoned off the area. Separate cases have been registered against unidentified people and investigations are underway.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
One of these days one of those containers will be full of Claymore mines.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 0:51 Comments ||
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#3
I'm thinking four snipers with 360 degree coverage and silenced rifles in an armored container. Not our guys, but some motivated foreigners, say Sikhs. Armored cab as well.
PESHAWAR: The management of the MOL Pakistan, an oil and gas exploration company, on Friday suspended its operations at Maramzai well due to security reasons. The decision resulted in the suspension of 40mmscfd gas and 1,600 barrel of oil per day from the well, the MOL said in a press statement.
Suspected terrorists killed six people, including four Frontier Constabulary guards in an ambush on Thursday.
Janos Feher, the managing director of the company, said, The federal and provincial governments have been asked to provide safe and secure working conditions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:00 ||
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In the fall of 2009, Bekkay Harrach, an extremist from Bonn, threatened on behalf of al-Qaida to launch terrorist attacks in Germany. It now appears that he has been killed in Afghanistan. The terror group IMU announced his death this week.
A well-known jihadist of German-Moroccan origin raised in the city of Bonn is believed to have been killed in fighting in Afghanistan. Bekkay Harrach, also known by his nom de guerre "The Dead German Guy" "Abu Talha al-Alamani," has been reported dead in an online posting attributed to the terror group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
In the fall of 2009, Harrach alarmed security officials in Germany when, in a video message made in al-Qaida's name, he claimed there would be terror strikes, "bitter consequences" and a "grim awakening" in Germany if September general elections that year didn't result in the withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan.
The message released this week states that Harrach died near the city of Bagram during a joint military operation that had been conducted by IMU, al-Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban (TTP). The group said Harrach had led the mission and that videos of the fighting would soon be released.
After posting his video threat on the Internet in the autumn of 2009, Harrach became one of the most prominent German jihadists known to be in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Dozens of jihadists from Germany are believed to have traveled to the region to join the fight against Western troops stationed in Afghanistan. But Harrach was the only one believed to actually have been a member of al-Qaida.
At the time of his 2009 terror warnings, intelligence officials in Germany said they believed he had reached the Number Three mid-level of al-Qaida leadership and that he had become a member of the terror network's external operations committee, which is thought to be responsible for attacks abroad. Most of the other German jihadists had joined forces with either IMU or the Islamic Jihad Union, or one its splinter groups.
The IMU message announcing Harrach's death appears to be a circular letter that has been signed by jihadist Mounir C., also known as Abu Adam, who also hails from Bonn. The group posted the message on Tuesday on a well-known jihadist website that has published similar material from a number of terrorist groups over the years.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Authorities announced the arrest Friday of several suspects in the deadly suicide kabooms outside a holy Shiite city that have provoked criticism of the security forces for not protecting the pilgrims flocking to the shrines.
Karbala provincial councilman Shadhan al-Aboudi said Iraqi security forces raided a house in the region's southern outskirts, not far from where 56 people were killed Thursday in a triple suicide kaboom at highway checkpoints. Al-Aboudi said a group of people were jugged in the raid, but he did not know exactly how many.
A Karbala police officer confirmed the arrest, adding that a car boom was also seized in an orchard near the house. He declined to provide further details and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
An hour earlier, a top representative of the revered holy man Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani criticized security forces during Friday prayers in Karbala, saying that faceless myrmidons seem to remain one step ahead of the government's efforts to protect Iraq.
"To our brothers in the security forces we say: We really appreciate your efforts in protecting pilgrims, but you need to develop your tactics as the faceless myrmidons do," said Sheik Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalaie. "It is true that there are checkpoints, but that's not enough to stop such criminal acts against millions of pilgrims."
He called on the government to better fund and train Iraqi soldiers and police, and said intelligence forces in particular need to be bolstered to combat orcs.
Millions of Shiite pilgrims are converging this weekend on Karbala, located 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Storied Baghdad, for rituals marking the 7th century death of Imam Hussein. He was a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and was slain by Mohammedan rivals near Karbala.
Iraqi police and soldiers lined main Storied Baghdad roads to watch over thousands of pilgrims headed on foot to the holy city.
No group so far has grabbed credit for the bombings, but suicide kabooms are the trademark of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaeda front group believed made up mostly of Sunni religious orcs.
In a statement, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani condemned the Karbala bombings that he said aimed "at provoking sedition and spreading fear and turmoil."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2011 00:09 ||
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EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip Dozens of furious Palestinians protested against the French foreign minister on a visit to the Gaza Strip on Friday, pelting her motorcade with eggs and narrowly missing her with a lobbed shoe. The thugs protesters, relatives of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, were angry about comments Michele Alliot-Marie reportedly made the day before in support of Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier captured in a cross-border raid by the Islamic militant group Hamas and held in Gaza since 2006.
Thugs Protesters were waiting for Alliot-Marie as she crossed from Israel into Gaza through the Erez Crossing, lying on the road and jumping on her vehicle. Hamas police eventually dispersed those thugs protesters, but more thugs gathered outside a United Nations office in Gaza City that was her first stop in the Palestinian territory, and later followed her to a nearby hospital, pelting her motorcade with eggs. AP Television footage showed Alliot-Marie narrowly dodging a shoe thrown by a thug protester as she climbed into a jeep under heavy guard.
Schalit, the captive soldier, is an Israeli-French dual national and France has repeatedly called for his release.
Alliot-Marie made no public statement Thursday after meeting with Schalits parents in Jerusalem, but the soldiers father, Noam Schalit, said afterward that the minister had called on Hamas to allow the Red Cross to visit his son for the first time. He referred to his sons capture as a war crime.
The Palestinians linked the comments to Alliot-Marie, although she did not say anything publicly before or after the meeting.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the statements reflected a total bias toward Israel and ignored the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. They are the true prisoners of war, he said.
Hamas is demanding that Israel release hundreds of Hamas thugs prisoners, including terrorists militants behind deadly attacks against Israelis, in return for Schalit. Talks facilitated by a German mediator have produced no result. Schalit has been seen by no one but his captors since 2006. A videotape released in 2009 showed him talking and reading a newspaper.
In keeping with the policy of the European Union, which considers Hamas a terror organization, Alliot-Marie did not meet with Hamas officials during her half-day visit.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2011 00:00 ||
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If they are truly prisoners of war, as opposed to generic murderers, they will be released when the war ends. That's kinda sorta how it works. Me, I'm not holding my breath...
One man was seriously wounded by a bomb in Narathiwat province and two others were shot in Pattani province on Saturday morning.
A five kilogram IED went off Saturday morning seriously wounding a motorcycle rider, who happened to be passing by.
Police said the terrorists suspected separatists set the bomb off by a mobile phone, trying to attack six troops on motorcycle patrol. The bomb malfunctioned and exploded a few seconds later.
Meanwhile in Pattani province an assistant village leader was gunned down in a drive-by-shooting on Saturday morning.
The attack took place about 7:50 a.m. on the Patatni-Yala road while the victim was on his motorcycle going to a teashop in his village. Two men on another motorcycle followed him and the passenger shot at him.
The victim was shot a number of times and died at the scene. The attackers took his pistol before fleeing.
Another shooting took place in Pattani province early Saturday morning. A rubber tapper was shot and seriously injured while working at her rubber plantation.
Police blamed separatist terrorists militants for all three attacks.
[Straits Times] MALAYSIA'S leader says the country's navy is holding at least seven Somali pirates after thwarting an attempt to hijack a chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
The Royal Malaysian Navy says its commandos injured three pirates in a gunbattle and rescued 23 crew members of the Malaysian-owned MT Bunga Laurel late on Thursday.
The navy said in a statement that the rescue was carried out within less than two hours after pirates stormed the vessel with pistols and assault rifles.
Crew members had locked themselves in a safe room and activated a distress call.
Prime Minister Najib Razak told a news conference late on Friday that authorities are considering whether the pirates should be brought to Malaysia to face trial for the hijack attempt.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2011 00:03 ||
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#1
Commandos from the navys elite team Pasukan Khas Laut (Paskal) on board the navys auxiliary ship Bunga Mas 5, headed by Komander Nazri Sharif, arrived in time to save the tanker that was heading for Singapore.
A total of 18 pirates, who were involved in the attack, surrendered. Seven pirates were on board Bunga Laurel while 11 were aboard their mothership.
MISC Emergency Reporting Centre (ERC) received a security emergency indication at about 11.37pm from MT Bunga Laurel. MISC called Bunga Laurel by phone but there were no response from the vessel, said Adm Abdul Aziz.
At exactly 11.40pm, Bunga Mas 5 called MISC ERC to report that Bunga Laurel had been attacked and pirates were attempting to board the ship by using skiffs. A suspected mothership was also reported in the vicinity.
The 23 crewmen managed to assemble in the citadel (engine room). All lights were switched off and the main engines disabled, he said, adding that the pirates attempt to barge into the citadel failed.
The commando team in two boats, led by Lt-Komander Maznan Said and Lt Noor Asri Roslan, were dispatched from Bunga Mas 5, located 14 nautical miles (25.9km) away, at 1.20am.
At the same time, the navys Fennec attack helicopter piloted by Lt Jason Solomon John provided reconnaissance and aerial cover.
Gunshots were exchanged between the pirates from the Bunga Laurel and snipers from the Bunga Mas 5 and helicopter. The pirates mothership attempted to move closer to Bunga Laurel but was thwarted.
Eventually, after taking heavy fire from Bunga Mas 5 and the helicopter, the pirates decided to surrender via radio. All the pirates were captured. Three pirates suffered injuries from gunshots or splinters and given first aid, but no Malaysians were injured.
#2
I worked with the Royal Malaysian Navy back in the 90s. They were professional and competent, albeit a bit touchy. And Admiral Aziz (he was a commander then, I think) was getting ready to take command of a patrol craft.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Thursday denied an attempt to rescue ranking New People's Army commander Tirso "Ka Bart" Alcantara from an Army facility. "Nope. Wuzn't us!"
The CPP laughed off as a "crude and lunatic concoction" the military's claim that one Romulo Luna tried to sneak into Army headquarters to spring Alcantara, who was arrested last Jan. 4 in Tarlac City. "We want the public to think we're smarter than to walk through the front gate" How about we just cut through the fence?
No, that's...just what they'll be expecting us to do. "Suppose we built an enormous wooden badger..."
"There was no such attempt to rescue Ka Bart from detention. The Luna tale is obviously a crude and lunatic concoction by the military to impugn the legitimate demand of the [National Democratic Front] to have Ka Bart immediately released and cover up the continuing violations of his rights as a consultant of the NDF for the peace talks," the group said in a statement posted on its website. Desperately handwaving towards their legal fig leaf.
Luna, allegedly a security escort of Alcantara, was arrested Tuesday night after he supposedly tried to sneak into the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. The Army said he was armed with a hand grenade. "One...two...four..."
#1
So just how dumb are you? The fact that you are commies in the first place is not exactly a point in your favor. Unless you are going for the Nobel Peace Prize maybe.
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.
Somali pirates
