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Today: 73 articles and 215 comments as of 11:08.
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5 family members murdered by terrorist in Itamar settlement
Today's Headlines
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Africa North
Days ago the rebels were advancing; now they need more than Allah
The shelling began 18 minutes after the end of Friday prayers, round after round crashing in off the coast, the first time the navy has been used in this conflict and a fresh sign of how Colonel Gaddafi's forces had prepared themselves for the battles ahead as they attempt to re-conquer the land lost to the revolution.

The attack from the sea was followed by air strikes; a warplane streaking across the sky with the rebel forces opening up with everything at hand at the target above with loud cries of "Allah hu Akhbar". A little later two missiles came down, flashes of fire followed by black plumes of smoke spread rapidly by a gusting wind into a clear blue sky.
Posted by: tipper || 03/12/2011 08:29 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Libyan rebels brace for government attack on Misrata
The last rebel holdout in western Libya was bracing for a government attack today, with signs rebel morale was faltering after they were defeated or forced to retreat in other parts of the country.

Libyan troops forced rebels to retreat with a sustained bombardment and the front line moved back 12 miles overnight from the outskirts of the Ras Lanuf oil town, 380 miles southeast of the capital, Tripoli, a rebel officer said today.
Posted by: tipper || 03/12/2011 8:40 Comments || Top||

#2  why won't obama help these guys out. He sure put his big mouth into the mix as soon as Egypt just rioted. Hell these guys are being blown too shit
Posted by: chris || 03/12/2011 8:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Even if one didn't want to enforce a no-fly zone, you'd think the US and the Euros could enforce a naval interdiction zone, and keep the Libyan gunboats tied to piers.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/12/2011 9:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Steve, wouldn't that require a declaration of war as the interdiction zone would have to be way inside Libya's terretorial waters?

As bad as this all is I'm not sure what we should do about it. I don't see an overwhelming US interest unless you want to go in and occupy Libya and set up and run a new government in the way we did to Japan after WWII.

It looks too much like a larger version of the Bloods v. the Crips. Backing one against the other doesn't look like a winning strategy.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/12/2011 10:22 Comments || Top||

#5  It looks too much like a larger version of the Bloods v. the Crips. Backing one against the other doesn't look like a winning strategy.
Posted by: AlanC


Clearly a subset of the entire Arab world and it's legacy to date.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/12/2011 13:16 Comments || Top||

#6  The reality is that, if his regime survives, Gaddafi will attack the West. He will sponsor terror attacks on Europeans and Americans that will cost hundreds of lives as he did in the past.

Gaddafi had already explicitly renounced the conditions of his 'rehabilitation,' lenient as they were. That was well before this insurrection.

Now the Western political class is telling Gaddafi that they want him dead, in principle, and that the West will do absolutely nothing militarily to actually bring about his death.

Nuts!

Nothing will be done about Gaddafi now. We'll have to see how TSA style security will fare against a state sponsor willing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in an attack.
Posted by: Jineng McCoy3833 || 03/12/2011 16:21 Comments || Top||

#7  The glory is his to be had. "Kathathfa" a tribal name among many variants. He will emerge again like a phenix from the ashes. G, Q or K. His name is spelled correctly different ways. He will have gained respect from his allies and consternation among the impotent.
Posted by: Dale || 03/12/2011 21:45 Comments || Top||


Moroccans salute kings speech
[Maghrebia] Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Wednesday (March 9th) announced sweeping reforms, including a new constitution, an 'independent judiciary", and a popularly elected prime minister.

The goal of the announced reforms, he said, is "an elected government which reflects the will of the people, through the ballot box, and which enjoys the confidence of the majority of the House of Representatives".

Parliament will be provided with "new powers" based on free and fair elections. The monarch also promised to consolidate "the status of the prime minister as the head of an effective executive branch", elevate the judiciary to "the status of an independent power and reinforce the prerogatives of the Constitutional Council".

Political, economic, social and cultural rights will be expanded, the sovereign said. He pledged to bolster political pluralism and invigorate the role of parties. A new commission, headed by university professor Abdeltif Mennouni, will work on the constitutional revisions until June.

"The new draft constitution [will be] submitted to the people via referendum for adoption and implementation," the king said.

Moreover, the monarch stressed the need for constitutional recognition of "the rich, variegated yet unified character of the Moroccan identity, including the Amazigh component as a core element and common asset belonging to all Moroccans".

Regionalisation was another salient point of King Mohammed VI's speech. Directly elected councils will be tasked with managing regional affairs, with the heads of these councils empowered to make decisions instead of governors and walis.

The reforms are also aimed at strengthening women's participation in the management of regional affairs, with legal provisions to guarantee equal access to elected posts for men and women.

Both politicians and ordinary citizens welcomed the king's promises.

"This is a new phase, as the people and the king move towards a democratic state, and it is a move in the right direction for the future," Justice and Development Party (PJD) chief Abdelilah Benkirane said. "It will take some time to think through all the points."
Posted by: Fred || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kings here have legitimate and rooted right to rule, and they have used kid gloves in the past. Confuse not nations legitimacy upon ruling system. It is the same, and everyone knows it - or should.
Posted by: newc || 03/12/2011 1:45 Comments || Top||

#2  With a middle finger?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/12/2011 3:58 Comments || Top||

#3  smart king, royal lines reflect excellent judgement and thought processes if they're real. look at then king of spain.
Posted by: 746 || 03/12/2011 11:03 Comments || Top||

#4  look at then king of spain.

I don't follow, 746, Would you be so good as to expand on that thought? Thank you. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/12/2011 12:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Something about Juan Carlos we dunno?
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 03/12/2011 21:52 Comments || Top||


Arabia
No threat seen to stability of Kingdom
[Arab News] A number of ambassadors in Riyadh have challenged reports of instability in the Kingdom.

Speaking to Delhi-based daily, Business Standard, India's Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad said Indian business executives should have "no apprehensions" about the Kingdom. "Indian investors can participate in Soddy Arabian projects with complete confidence and satisfaction that they will be welcomed by the business community," he said. The disturbances happening in other Arab states had not impacted on Soddy Arabia, he said.

British Ambassador Sir Tom Phillips underscored the public's warm reception of King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah's return to his country after some months abroad for medical treatment as a sign of the country's stability. "The crowds that lined the streets to welcome King Abdullah back to Riyadh last month were a vivid demonstration of the popularity of King Abdullah," he told Arab News. "The series of royal decrees that were announced that day showed the king's determination to maintain the process of reform and to continue to meet the aspirations of the Saudi people."

The ambassador was referring to the $29.5 billion package of social programs announced by the king as he returned home, including a 15 percent pay rise to employees of the government -- the largest employer of Saudis -- unemployment assistance and consumer debt relief.

US Ambassador James Smith told Bloomberg the US saw no reason to think that the Kingdom's stability was going to be affected. Unlike the situation in Libya where the people had become so disconnected to the Qadaffy regime and elsewhere in the Arab world, he said, "there is an ongoing dialogue between the people and Al-Saud family."

Similar views came from retired American diplomat Ryan Crocker. The Saudi government and those of other GCC states are "very sensitive to their populations, and have made numerous changes," the former US ambassador consecutively to Leb, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistain and Iraq told energy executives in Houston on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And if there are a threat---nobody in liberal Europe, or enlightened USA, will even dream of interfering with the House of Saud's handling of it.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/12/2011 3:54 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Colombian leader warns foreign firms against paying ransom to rebels
(Xinhua) -- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday warned foreign companies operating in the South American country that they will be expelled if they pay ransom money to kidnappers or any other kind of extortions to illegally gangs.

"I want to make this warning very clear, a company that pays as much as a single Colombian peso to those bandidos will be on their way out of the country," said Santos, speaking at the inauguration of an agricultural program in the central Meta department.

His comments were made in reference to recent stories that have suggested Canadian oil company Talisman paid extortion money to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
FARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a narco mob based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, paramilitary or government violence, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarian and is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who provides it with safe areas along the border.
(FARC) in order to avoid attacks by the rebel group.

Last Monday 23 Talisman workers were kidnapped by FARC rebels in the Vichada department in eastern Colombia. All but one hostage were freed in a rescue operation by the Colombian armed forces the next day.

After their release, some victims told local media that Talisman had agreed to pay an estimated 2.6 million Colombian pesos to the FARC on previous occasions in order to avoid attacks by the guerilla group, that have fought with government troops for over 40 years.

Military commander Edgar Cely, who traveled with Santos to Meta, told news hounds that company executives had denied having made any such payments.

"We cannot allow anyone to feed these bandidos, which the only thing they will do with the money is to produce more violence and more insecurity," said Santos.
Posted by: Fred || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  But, but, but do you mean the US - Afhgani model is invalid?
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/12/2011 4:45 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea's food shortages serious this year
SEOUL, March 11 -- North Korea's food shortages will continue to be severe this century year due largely to shrinking international handouts, soaring grain prices and an outbreak of a highly infectious animal disease, a researcher said Friday.

Kwon Tae-jin, a North Korea expert at the Korea Rural Economic Institute in Seoul, said that he expects the North's grain harvest this year to be about 100,000 tons less than last year.

South Korean experts and officials say the impoverished communist neighbor probably produced about 4.1 million tons of grain last year, similar to a year earlier.

On Saturday, the U.N.'s World Food Program plans to brief foreign officials in Pyongyang on the situation of North Korea's harvests for last year, according to a diplomatic source in Seoul. Earlier this week, South Korea's Unification Minster Hyun In-taek said the harvest would amount to "4.1 million tons, plus or minus."

According to Kwon, the country will need at least 5.5 million tons to feed its hungry 24 million population this year. Since North Korea conducted a series of missiles launches and nuclear tests, international assistance has been curtailed while South Korea suspended its official food aid amid high cross-border tensions.
Neither the Norks nor the aid agencies have figured out 'cause and effect'...
Foot-and-mouth disease has also hit the North, the country recently reported to an international animal health organization, a development likely to be harsh on its farmers because they depend largely on cows to cultivate their land.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION NOT-EAST-LIBYUH, PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > CHINA SAYS IT CONTROLS OFFSHORE OIL FIELD DISPUTED [claimed] BY JAPAN.

CHUNXIAO, according to CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKES-BABE JIANG YU, whom says that China's Sovereignty, Admin. Authority oer same is TOTE + COMPLETE.

ARTIC also read, MOSCOW = RUSSIA IS BEING A BIG ANTI-CHINA,PLA MEANIE WID THAT SOUTH KURILES THINGY AGZ JAPAN.

* SAME > NEXT US DEFENSE SECRETARY MUST SHRINK DOD. SecDef Gates still planning to leave USDOD + Obama Admin. in 2012.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/12/2011 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Bark shortage?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/12/2011 10:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Well NORK diplomats have been asking for food donations from poor African countries. What is noticeable though is that China doesn't appear to be throwing much toward the NORKS either they've got problems of their own, they are tightening up the leash on the NORKS or a combination of those two?
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Thrigum9014 || 03/12/2011 17:36 Comments || Top||

#4  What is noticeable though is that China doesn't appear to be throwing much toward the NORKS

You feed it, you own it.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/12/2011 18:24 Comments || Top||


N. Korea's nominal state head meets visiting AP president
SEOUL, March 11 -- North Korea's nominal head of state met Friday with the visiting president of The Associated Press (AP), according to the communist state's official media.
Yup, the news agency that dare not be named...
Thomas Curley, CEO of the U.S. newswire, has been in North Korea since Tuesday, and Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said this week that he asked the country to allow the opening of an AP bureau in the capital, Pyongyang.
Why not just pull the news from the KCNA wire?
North Korea's official media have yet to report on why Curley was visiting the country but said the AP delegation has left the country.

A source in Seoul had told Yonhap News Agency that Curley was expected to stay in Pyongyang until Friday. While Kim Yong-nam represents the North in official events, Kim Jong-il, 69, essentially rules the country with an iron fist.

Among foreign news agencies, only Itar-Tass and China's Xinhua have bureaus in Pyongyang, while a journalist from the People's Daily newspaper of China is also based there.

Itar-Tass on Thursday said officials from Reuters, the London-based news agency, also visited Pyongyang earlier with a similar request.
Couldn't Reuters make up news from a more comfortable city? One with flesh-pots and full-service bars?
AP Television News, the international video division of AP, opened a full-time office in Pyongyang in 2006, making it the first Western news organization to establish a permanent presence in North Korea. The Pyongyang office of APTN currently provides only video images.
I'm surprised CNN didn't beat them there.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Naked Mohammed poster politician cleared
A Swedish politician who produced a poster of the Muslim prophet Mohammed standing naked next to his nine year-old wife has been found not guilty of aggravating an ethnic group. Carl P Herslow, who is the leader of small right-wing regional party Skane, was cleared last Wednesday by a jury -- which are only used in Sweden in freedom-of-speech cases.

The poster, which Herslow admits producing, contains the text: 'He is 53 and she is nine. Is this the kind of wedding we want to see in Skane?'. The politician, however, claims the purpose of the controversial notice was simply to stimulate debate about whether Islam is compatible with equality and democracy. "The intention was to provoke a strong reaction among both Muslims and non-Muslims," he said.

Prosecutor Bo Birgerson argued on behalf of the country's top legal official, the Chancellor of Justice, that Herslow's actions showed disrespect to Muslims and that a guilty verdict would not violate his right to free speech. "A conviction is important to show where the boundaries are for debate in an open and democratic society," he said.
A not guilty verdict shows those boundaries even more clearly, Mr. Prosecutor.
Birgerson called for Herslow to receive a suspended sentence, but the jury found him not guilty after deliberating for less than an hour. The politician will now avoid conviction when the court delivers its formal verdict later this month.
Not guilty, and therefore no sentence. Society has has spoken, giving the Chancellor of Justice much to ponder.
Posted by: tipper || 03/12/2011 08:44 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  show where the boundaries are for debate in an open and democratic society

Talk about your oxymoron. Is Prosecutor Bo a registered Dhimmi or an unofficial one?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/12/2011 10:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Rep. King making progress with his Muslim terror commission
Despite Rep. Ellison breaking down in tears at the persecution of his people.
New York congressman Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, defended the hearing as a necessary examination of terrorists' attempts to recruit Muslims living in the U.S.

The committee also heard from Melvin Bledsoe, whose son faces capital-murder charges for allegedly killing a military recruiter and wounding another in a June 2009 shooting in Little Rock, Ark. The son, Carlos Bledsoe, converted to Islam and traveled to Yemen before the shooting.

Melvin Bledsoe described what he called the brainwashing' of his son, saying Carlos was a happy teenager who changed after he went to college and converted.

New York Republican Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, defends the merit of holding hearings on Radical Islam in the United States.

"This is a big elephant in the room, and our society continues not to see it,'' he said. "Our children are in danger. Our country must stand up and do something about the problem. Tomorrow it could be your son, your daughter.''

Another witness, Abdirizak Bihi, said that when his family went to authorities in Minnesota and expressed concern that his nephew and other local youths might have joined a Somalia terrorist group, other members of his community tried to intimidate them into not cooperating with investigators.
Juxtapose this with Bill Maher's discussion with Rep. Ellison. The conversation is finally happening.
Posted by: || 03/12/2011 12:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rep. King has drawn so much flak on this, it has to be a good idea.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/12/2011 18:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, thank God the conversation is finally happening. A few more years of politcal correctness and it might not have. Conversations of a similar nature regarding radical fringe groups should follow, but I will not open that Pandoras Box.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/12/2011 21:41 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Arrested: homeless former Iraqi soldier linked to OK City bombing
Follow-up.
It was a routine call for Quincy police about two homeless men fighting. Hussain Al-Hussaini was arrested. The victim was taken to the hospital.

Then came the surprise. Readers commenting on a story about Wednesday's arrest on The Patriot Ledger's website noted that a man with the same name was mentioned prominently in a book about the deadly bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

By Thursday afternoon, police had contacted the FBI and spoken to the book's author.

Jayna Davis, author of the 2004 book "Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing," said she asked a Quincy police detective if Hussain Al-Hussaini, the man police arrested, had a tattoo of an anchor with a snake wrapped around it. He did. Police sent her a photo of him.

"His age, his name, the picture, the mug shot -- that's him," Davis told The Patriot Ledger via telephone after speaking with police. She said the anchor-and-snake tattoo was common among members of a branch of the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein.

An FBI spokesman in Boston, Greg Comcowich, said Thursday night that a man named Hussain Al-Hussaini was "thoroughly investigated" in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing and "was found to not have any role whatsoever in the attack on the Murrah Federal Building in 1995."

Comcowich said the Hussain Al-Hussaini the FBI investigated had been seen with bomber Timothy McVeigh before the April 19, 1995, bombing, which killed 168 people.
Perhaps the FBI was a bit hasty, back in the day.

This article starring:
Hussain Al-Hussaini
Posted by: || 03/12/2011 12:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Nothing to see here ... Move along.
Posted by: One Eyed Omease2378 || 03/12/2011 15:25 Comments || Top||

#2  everybody knows McVeigh was motivated by right-wing talk radio like Rush. Bill Clinton said so
Posted by: Frank G || 03/12/2011 15:31 Comments || Top||

#3  I read Jayna Davis' book, The Third Terrorist, as well as Others Unknown, by McVeigh's defense counsel Stephen Jones. Davis was a local reporter who smelled a rat, and Jones makes no excuses for McVeigh. I thought the accounts were credible, consistent with each other, and raise good questions that have never been satisfactorily answered.

So if "Hussain Al-Hussaini was found to not have any role whatsoever in the attack on the Murrah Federal Building in 1995," I would be extremely interested in a detailed explanation of exactly how, when, and why the FBI arrived at that conclusion.

Is it out there and I just haven't seen it?
Posted by: RandomJD || 03/12/2011 20:16 Comments || Top||


Manning Gets New Jammies
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — The Marine Corps says it has issued a suicide-proof sleeping garment to the imprisoned Army private suspected of giving classified material to WikiLeaks.
"...and then the rabbit comes out of the hole like this..."
Col. Thomas Johnson said Thursday that Pfc. Bradley Manning was given the smock Monday as a substitute for clothing that is removed each night from Manning’s cell at the brig in Quantico, Va.

Manning says in a memo to base commander Col. Daniel Choike that the clothing-removal order on March 2 was punitive. He says the bulky smock is uncomfortable.
Sorta like a straight-jacket, in fact...
Manning’s memo is a rebuttal of Choike’s decision on March 1 to deny Manning’s request for an easing of the maximum-custody order that keeps him locked up alone 23 hours a day.
I didn't realize incarcerated privates could write memos to colonels...
Posted by: Steve White || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here's a picture of his new smock.

alternatively

Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/12/2011 8:53 Comments || Top||


Al-Haramain charity awaiting appeal verdict in US court
[Arab News] Attorneys representing the defunct Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation criticized the US government for designating the Saudi-based charity as a "global terrorist organization" without spelling out the charges against it in 2004.

Attorney David Cole made this argument before a US court during a hearing on Wednesday about the US government's seizure of assets belonging to the US chapter of Al-Haramain that led to a protracted legal battle.

The case is being heard by a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in the state of Oregon. Attorneys for the charity asked the court to give their client another chance to defend itself.

The US Treasury Department labeled Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation of Oregon as having ties to terrorist groups and having direct links with Osama Bin Laden. The charity has been in court for years trying to clear its name from the terror list.

Thomas H. Nelson, another attorney of Al-Haramain, told Arab News that the primary activity that the Ashland branch of the charity engaged in was Islamic work, "in this case the distribution of Qur'an and Islamic literature in the US." He said the US government claimed without any substantial proof that Al-Haramain "supported Islamic fighters against the Russian occupiers in Chechnya."

"From the beginning, the US government has been trying to inflame public passion against Al-Haramain," said Nelson, adding that Washington's claim of Al-Haramain's direct association with Osama bin Laden was also proved wrong.

On his part, Douglas Letter, the US government attorney, said: "It would be extremely burdensome to give a list of charges against the Saudi charity and a large number of such organizations."

But, US Appeals Court Judge Susan Graber questioned whether having too many suspects means an organization or a government shouldn't try to inform them of the charges against them.

"If you live in a city with a lot of bank robbers, you still have to give them a notice of charges," Graber said. Cole said that Al-Haramain deserved to know the reasons for placing it on the list of terrorist organizations in 2004.
Posted by: Fred || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


India-Pakistan
Brace up for another judiciary movement, Imran asks people
[Geo News] Pakistain Tehree-e-Insaf (TI) Chief Imran Khan
... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five...
Friday said a strong judicial system is vital to put an end to the loot and plunder of the rulers, Geo News reported.

Addressing the lawyers who came into folds of TI, Imran Khan said the people should be ready for another movement for maintaining the independence of the judiciary.

He termed as essential independence of judiciary for the country's progress.

Air Marshal (Retd.) Asghar Khan be made chairman of National Accountability of Bureau (NAB), the TI Chief demanded.

He said the level of corruption could be gauged from the fact that the same machine that was bought for Shaukat Khanum at a cost of 4 million dollars was installed in a government hospital for 6 million dollars.
Posted by: Fred || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Paleo truck drivers end strike at Gaza checkpoint
A Palestinian official declared on Friday that the Palestinian truck drivers have ended a one-week strike at the commercial crossing point of Kerem Shalom at southern Gaza-Israel borders.

Gaza Transportation Association chairman Jihad Isleem said that the association called on the truck drivers to resume their work on Sunday after one week of general strike.

He said, "We decided to halt the strike for 15 days after an agreement was reached with the coordination council for Gaza Strip associations to tackle the drivers' complains with both Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip authorities."

One week ago, the Gaza Strip truck drivers stopped receiving and loading on their trucks goods which were imported through the Israeli-controlled crossing of Kerem Shalom.

Their strike was to protest the closure of Karni commercial crossing point on the borders between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel. The drivers also demanded lower costs on shipment.

"We received promises from the coordination council that our demands will be considered and the tight measures imposed on the drivers and the importers of goods will be eased," Isleem said.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/12/2011 02:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Support on Facebook for Palestinian uprising
[Ma'an] Tens of thousands of Paleostinians on Facebook want a third intifada.

"Third Paleostinian Intifada" had over 80,000 supporters Friday, nearly twice as many as the day before. The page was established Sunday.

"After the Tunisian, Egyptian, and Libyan intifadas, it's time for the Paleostinian intifada," the page says. "It's time to free Paleostine."

Intifada, or uprising, literally means "to shake off" in Arabic. Paleostinians have launched two intifadas in the past three decades, the first in 1987. The second, and far-deadlier, uprising began in 2000.

President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas has vowed that areas under his control will not return to armed resistance while he is in power. The Paleostinian Authority has discouraged demonstrations, as it busies itself assembling international support for statehood. A strong of countries have recognized Paleostine in recent months.

But that has not been enough for the anonymous founders of the Facebook page, or the leaders of the March 15 movement, whose members hope to restore political unity to the Paleostinian territories.

Israel's army, meanwhile, is closely monitoring the recent events in Arab states and adjusting plans to combon the lam demonstrations in light of the popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, reports say.

The central command and "Judea and Samaria" division are also altering protocol to act judiciously against thousands of nonviolent protesters, according to a report in the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Military officials have emphasized that they will make no effort to prevent large demonstrations, even of thousands of civilians, as long as they do not try to enter settlements, Haaretz reported.
Posted by: Fred || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sure all the EH foreign ministers, as well as Mrs Bill, have already drafted a condemnation of Israel's actions. And the vote in UNSC is a cinch.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/12/2011 3:57 Comments || Top||

#2  If you go there you can find a handy "report page" link in the left column. I suggest selecting "Violence or harmful behavior" and then "Credible threats of violence".
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 03/12/2011 7:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Go IF you can read Islamic, no english.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/12/2011 14:45 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
The widows of southern Thailand
Fatimah and Phakaporn, both 50, now participate in a government job-creation scheme where government agencies hire locals for 4,500 baht ($150) a month. They supplement this meagre income doing odd jobs.
Meagre? 4,500/month is good pay by Thai standards. My ex-wife earned 2,000/month as a cook working 12 hours a day 7 days a week.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/12/2011 02:35 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Palestinian refugees storm UNWRA offices in Beirut in protest of aid-cuts
[Haaretz] Hundreds of Paleostinians demonstrated in front of the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society relief agency in Beirut on Friday, in protest of the scaled-back service for refugees.
Oh dear. Has donor fatigue finally set in?
Some of the protesters tried to storm the head office of the UN Relief and Work Agency,
... an agency instituted in 1948 to perpetuate the status and condition of refugees from the war following the creation of the state of Israel. It provides education, health care, social services and emergency aid to over 4.7 million Palestine refugees in Jordan, Leb and Syria, the West Bank, and the Gazoo Strip. Most of UNRWA's funding comes from European countries and the United States. Paleostinians under the care of UNRWA periodically assert their dignity by spitting on the hand that feeds them...
or UNRWA, in Beirut but were held back by police.
Was this Beirut or Madison?
Many Paleostinians in Lebanese refugee camps have been angry over cuts to health and education services in recent years.

The protest comes three days after the death of a Paleostinian boy in the refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon. Mohammed Nabih Taha, 10, reportedly died in front of a hospital where he was refused entry because his family did not have money for treatment.
No doubt there are Swiss bank accounts bursting at the seams, if only someone would care to look.
Some 400,000 refugees live in Leb, mainly in 12 crowded camps.
Posted by: Fred || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Some 400,000 Paleo refugees live in Leb, mainly in 12 crowded camps burrows.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/12/2011 15:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Was this Beirut or Madison?

Beirut. In Madison, the police don't try to hold back protesters.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/12/2011 15:42 Comments || Top||


Syria denies rumors on presidential amnesty on political prisoners
(Xinhua) -- The official Syrian SANA news agency denied Thursday a report published by some websites about what it claimed as a legislative decree concerning the issuance of a general amnesty on political prisoners and attributed to SANA.

The source added that this story has no basis of truth, clarifying that this forged news was distributed via email and from an unknown source including a false link to SANA's website.

"Syria's hereditary President Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. Also head of Syria's Baath Party, an old-fashioned fascist operation that's seldom described as one in the press...
issued a legislative decree no. 34 of 2011 dated March 7 that granting a general amnesty for crimes committed before the date of March 7 of 2011," the forged decree said, which was posted on SANA and sent to local and international media.

Syrian authorities recently released 78-year-old prominent opposition activist Haytham al-Maleh.

He was nabbed and charged with "damaging the image of the state" in January 2008 and has been set free due to his age.
Posted by: Fred || 03/12/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
61[untagged]
2Govt of Pakistan
2Taliban
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Commies
1al-Qaeda
1Govt of Syria
1Hezbollah
1Pirates
1TTP
1al-Qaeda in North Africa

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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2011-03-12
  5 family members murdered by terrorist in Itamar settlement
Fri 2011-03-11
  Rebel forces retreat from Ras Lanuf
Thu 2011-03-10
  Libya no-fly zone a UN decision, "not US": Clinton
Wed 2011-03-09
  OIC rejects military action on Libya
Tue 2011-03-08
  Gaddafi sends negotiators to Benghazi
Mon 2011-03-07
  National Libyan Council to seek recognition
Sun 2011-03-06
  Gaddafi forces fight to seize Zawiyah, dozens killed
Sat 2011-03-05
  Qadaffy forces try, fail to retake Zawiyah
Fri 2011-03-04
  Libyan rebels push west
Thu 2011-03-03
  Gaddafi strikes at Brega, rebels eye foreign help
Wed 2011-03-02
  National Libyan Council outlines strategy
Tue 2011-03-01
  Yemen Opposition Rejects Plan for Govt of National Unity
Mon 2011-02-28
  Defiant Gaddafi confined to Tripoli
Sun 2011-02-27
  Ex-minister forms interim govt. in Libya
Sat 2011-02-26
  Anti-Gaddafi protesters control Misrata: witness

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