Afghan President Hamid Karzai has told a German newspaper that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar could run for president in elections next year.
Karzai's government has agreed the Taliban can open an office in Qatar if the group breaks all ties with al-Qaida and renounces terrorism.
He also has to cross his heart...
Karzai was in Qatar Sunday to discuss the issue.
Karzai said in an interview published Tuesday by the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that authorities have "sporadic contacts" with the Taliban. He said that the Afghan constitution is valid for all Afghans and "the Taliban also should benefit from it."
Even as they try to destroy it...
Asked whether Mullah Omar should seek the presidency, Karzai was quoted as saying: "He can become a candidate for the presidency and give Afghans the opportunity to vote for or against him."
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Secular and western societies are becoming increasingly concerned over developments in Tunisia following the noticeable post-revolution surge in the number of citizens participating in Islamist movements, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
The developed situation is raising concerns from counter-terrorism organizations as more Tunisian beturbanned goons are seen to take the frontlines fighting in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Mali.
Tunisia had been viewed as a secular state prior to the 2010 revolution.
In January, Tunisians formed the biggest group among the beturbanned goons who participated in the attack on the In Amenas natural gas plant in Algeria, and in February, suspected Islamist beturbanned goons rubbed out a leading secular politician in Tunis, triggering further political instability.
Tunisia has recently been embroiled in controversy following reports that members of Islamist Tunisian parties are involved in the fighting in Syria. The country said the presence of forces of Evil abroad and the increased access to weapons has left the government concerned about its foreign and domestic policies, the newspaper reported.
Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Larayedh said last week in a statement made to the press that his country cannot legally prevent its citizens from travelling to Syria to fight.
Larayedh revealed that Tunisians travel to Libya and Turkey under the pretext of tourism or work and later go to Syria.
Tunisian security forces said late March that there are a number of disbanded networks that were working on recruiting young Tunisians to send them to Syria.
Government officials reported to have on many occasions caught weapons being smuggled into the country. Earlier in February, Tunisian security forces were reported to have clashed with beturbanned goons smuggling weapons into the country and killed three.
Experts say the Tunisian uprising resulted in a sizable number of young Tunisian civilians recruited by bully boyz to participate in violent battles inside and outside the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Rached Ghannouchi, the head of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party, said he backs the application of the death penalty, describing it as a "natural law" in a television interview to be broadcast Monday evening.
"We say that capital punishment is a natural law, a soul for a soul. And whoever threatens the life of another must know that his life is also threatened," the Ennahda party's veteran chief told news channel La Belle France 24.
He was asked in particular about the punishment of rapists, after a number of incidents in Tunisia, including the case of a three-year-old girl repeatedly raped by the caretaker of a children's nursery, which has caused shock and anger.
"This crime must be sanctioned in the severest possible way and I would even say yes, by capital punishment," Ghannouchi said.
"Rape is like a death sentence for a woman and for the entire family."
Under Tunisia's penal code, rape, murder, acts of terrorism and plotting against the state are punishable by death, but in practice no executions have been carried out in Tunisia since 1991.
Amna Guellali, the Tunisian representative of Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... , said she regretted Ghannouchi's comments, which follow efforts by rights groups to get the death penalty's abolition inscribed in the new constitution currently being drafted.
"It is a setback, given that Tunisia has a moratorium on the death penalty. It's a challenge to that and it's quite serious," she told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Guellali said the Islamist leader was publicly expressing the position of a number of members of his party, who believe the death penalty is "something natural, an obligation in Islam and a just penalty for... an atrocity that has been committed."
Ennahda, which heads Tunisia's coalition government, is frequently accused by the secular opposition and rights activists of seeking to Islamize society and impose the key provisions of sharia, or Islamic law.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I think killing child rapists is a beat we can all dance to.
#4
...maybe SCOTUS can take the issue up [and given the steepness of the slope they've sliding on recently, probably will]. If you must have a permission slip from your parents for a school day trip or get an aspirin from the school nurse, but don't need to tell the parents that their daughter can have an abortion, your country may be run by idiots.
An Australian-led naval task force conducting counter-terror and security operations in the Middle East has seized and destroyed half a tonne of heroin from a ship intercepted off east Africa.
Task force commander Australian navy Commodore Charles McHardie said the operation was carried out by Canadian frigate HMCS Toronto, and was part of a broader mission to cut the flow of heroin from Afghanistan to Africa.
Heroin trafficking was a major source of financial supply for terrorist activity and the latest haul, one of the largest ever maritime heroin busts, had an estimated street value of $100 million.
"The destruction of this cargo strikes at the financial heart of global terrorist organisations," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
HMCS Toronto boarded and searched the vessel in the Indian Ocean adjacent to Zanzibar Island, Tanzania, as part of Operation Southern Sweep.
Saudi Arabia is buying an armed drone from South Africa after the Obama administration declined to sell the oil-rich kingdom US Predator or Reaper missile-firing unmanned aircraft.
The state-owned South African company Denel Dynamics is working covertly with the Saudis to develop the Seeker 400 drone into an armed combat system for the Saudi military, the Paris-based newsletter Intelligence Online reported March 27. The Seeker 400 is an advanced version of the company's Seeker II unarmed surveillance aircraft.
The newsletter stated that the Saudi military would be the first customer to purchase the Seeker 400 armed drone and engineers from Denel are in the kingdom as part of the secret program.
If completed, the sale would allow Saudi Arabia to join the growing number of militaries that operate missile-firing drones--the most advanced weapon currently in use to launch precision strikes on terrorists.
The new drone will be equipped with South Africa's Mokopa air-to-ground missiles that are currently deployed on Algerian helicopters. The drone also can be outfitted with Impi laser-guided missiles with a range of 10 kilometers.
The drones are believed to be sought by the Saudis for use against the terrorist group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is currently operating in Yemen and has conducted international operations against the United States.
The United Arab Emirates is purchasing an unarmed export version of the Predator called the Predator XP, produced by General Atomics.
Riyadh has been trying to purchase missile-firing drones from the United States but so far the requests have been denied. According to the newsletter, the Saudis have sought armed drones for several years and want the weapons to counter Iran's unmanned combat vehicles known as the Karrar and the Shahed 129, which are fitted with Shahid-1 missiles.
However, Saudi Arabia lacks the infrastructure needed to operate drones. The systems require satellite communications that permit remote video and communications that allow drones to be piloted.
And guys who know how to turn a wrench...
The Seeker 400 can fly for 16 hours and has a range of 250 kilometers with a 100-kilogram payload.
SANAA -- Around 250 Yemenis have held a protest outside the US embassy in the capital Sanaa to demand the release of around 90 of their compatriots from Guantanamo Bay.
Yemenis make up the largest contingent of the 166 detainees held at the US naval base in Cuba.
Since they and the Paks are the cannon fodder for the Islamicists...
Most were detained in Afghanistan following the 2001 US invasion.
Yemeni rights activist Abdel Rahman Barman says conditions at the prison are "very poor" and that at least two of the men there are on hunger strike. A 32 -year-old Yemeni died in an apparent suicide last year.
Yemen's government has requested the prisoners be transferred to Sanaa.
As tempted as I am to say 'no' or 'hell no', I have a better idea. I think the Romans had this right. Sure, we'll release the 90 detainees from Gitmo, but in return we want 90 children from Yemen's leading government and business elites. Those 90 will live in a secluded, luxurious Virginia horse farm where they will receive the best education, food, and lodging (all paid for by Yemen). Unless -- one or more of the 90 mooks released from Gitmo decide to kill an American anywhere in the world. If that happens, well...
I know, I know, bloodthirsty and not fitting for the 21st century. But we'd see real quick just how real the desire is on the part of the Yemeni government to get their boyz back home.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Hundreds in Kuwait erupted into the streets demanding the release of two nationals who have been held in the U.S. prison in Guantanamo for more than 10 years, Russia Today reported Monday.
The protesters held their rally, dubbed "Rescue Fayiz al-Kandari and Fawzi al-Odah," outside the U.S. embassy. They also criticized the Kuwaiti government's inaction.
Kandari and Odah are "not animals, but humans who have dignity that must be respected," Fawaz Sahod Anzi, of the International Anti-Guantanamo Coalition, was quoted as saying.
Kandari was captured in Afghanistan while en route to Pakistain. He was charged with war crimes, and is believed to have been trained by a jihadist recruiter. However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... Kandari's lawyers say the evidence is based on hearsay.
Odah was also captured while on his way to Pakistain via Afghanistan. The United States has accused him of being a "Taliban foot soldier" with links to al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] In a ploy to label a Shahbagh blogger as "yet another atheist", pro-Jamaat-Shibir online activists have created a fake blog page of Arif Jebtik and filled it with articles demeaning Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!).
The blog registered with wordpress.com contains six atheistic posts and insulting cartoons. Five of them have been posed to be posted simultaneously on July 4, 2011 and one on September 1, 2010.
However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... a click on the picture links of these posts show that they were posted in February this year.
Arif has been writing in socio-political blogs www.sachalayatan.com, amarblog.com, and in somewhereinblog.net for more than four years. These blogs open to public have no contents offensive to religion.
Seeing the fake blog, Arif on March 20 published a post in his facebook page: "They have planned to kill me, as they have created a blog in wordpress.com and posted atheistic write-ups on back dates demeaning Islam and Muhammad (PTUI!).
"Jamaat-Shibir will circulate and promote this blog in the social media introducing me as an atheist even before my blood stains the footpath after they have slaughtered me," read Arif's post.
A technical analysis by another blogger, however, reveals that the fake wordpress blog under Arif's name [http://jebtikarif.wordpress.com] was created on February 22 at 23:43:23pm, just seven days after the killing of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider. Rest of the posts were uploaded in the next 40 minutes, shows the sitemap of the blog account.
But the creator of the blog could not modify the upload time of the photos or the cartoons. By default the photos were saved in the folder of the actual month when the photos had been uploaded, which is February.
Arif in his facebook post said he had never written or uploaded those posts. He, in fact, does not have any blog on wordpress.com.
Referring to the editor of a pro-Jamaat-Shibir newspaper, Arif said he [the editor] would publish the screenshot of the fake blog on the first page of his newspaper to prove that he [Arif] was an atheist.
"They are trying to eliminate us by treating us as their political opponents. As part of the plan they had been filing cases against us showing these pages," said Arif, adding, "I have reported the matter to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), but to no avail."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
What's the URL on that phoney blog? I've got a couple of real zingers I'd like to post.
I also assume the highly creative and highly intelligent readership of Rantburg could conjure up some stuff that would make their curly toed slippers fly around the room.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/02/2013 9:36 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Leaders of Hefajat-e Islam Bangladesh yesterday threatened to enforce nonstop hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... from April 7 should the government resist their Dhaka long march on April 6.
They also demanded highest punishment to the "atheist" organisers of Gonojagoron Mancha for "defaming" Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PTUI!).
The leaders were addressing a rally (Shan-e-Risalat) at the city's Laldighi Maidan.
About 4,000 people took part in the rally. Shah Ahmad Shafi, ameer of Hefajat-e Islam, administered the oath of martyrdom to the gathering.
Ahmad Shafi said their protest was not against the government. "We are fighting against them who are defaming Islam and also its Prophet [PTUI!]."
He urged people to join the long march peacefully.
Junaid Babunagari, secretary general of the party, said the government will prove itself to be atheist if it resists the long march.
"Common Moslems of the country will fight for Islam. If necessary, they will sacrifice their lives, but they won't allow the dominance and presence of atheist bloggers in the sacred soil of the country," he mentioned.
The government, he said, will have to amend the constitution to restore the phrase "Absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah" in it.
The party's senior nayeb-e-ameer Mahibullah Babunagari, nayeb-e-ameer Abdul Malek and joint secretary general Mainuddin Ruhi were present, among others.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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North Koreans are being forced to make fertilizer for the regime. A source in Beijing on Sunday said, "Fertilizer is essential for the spring sowing season, but North Korea has almost no chemical fertilizer, so the government ordered every person to produce hundreds of kilograms."
In North Korea, fertilizer is usually made by mixing human feces with straw, but the excrement is harder to come by than one might expect. The source said, "There are cases of theft of squat toilets because of this, and people are putting locks on their lavatories to prevent this."
Until 2007, South Korea gave North Korea some 300,000 tons of chemical fertilizer a year. Until last year, farmers survived on the remainder and with help from China, but the reserves have run out and assistance from Beijing dwindled as the regime ignored Chinese pleas to desist from its nuclear and missile tests.
A North Korea expert in China said, "North Koreans are not only forced to produce more fertilizer but also to collect more scrap metal. The dire domestic situation could explain why the regime has been spouting so much belligerent rhetoric recently."
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I thought it was their PR department that produced fertilizer.....
Seoul and Washington have decided to keep the Combined Forces Command after full control of South Korean forces has been handed back to Seoul, and develop it into a bigger joint command structure to strengthen cooperation.
The heads of the South Korean and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff are to outline the plan when they meet in Washington this month for annual consultations. The new command structure will then be officially adopted at the bilateral Security Consultative Meeting in October.
The CFC was originally to be dismantled when the U.S. hands back wartime operational control of South Korean troops to Seoul in 2015, but there were fears here that this could weaken South Korea's defenses. The change of heart comes amid increasingly belligerent rhetoric from North Korea.
Park told her military brass at the briefing to launch "immediate and strong counterattacks" against any North Korean provocation. She said she considers the North's threats "very serious," and added, "If any provocations against our people and country ake place, the military has to respond quickly and strongly without any political consideration."
She vowed to "trust the decisions of the military."
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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South Koreas new president on Monday promised a strong military response to any North Korean provocation after Pyongyang announced that the two countries were now in a state of war. At a meeting with senior military officials and Defence Minister Kim Kwan-Jin, President Park Geun-Hye said she took the near-daily stream of bellicose threats emanating from the North over the past month very seriously.
I believe that we should make a strong and immediate retaliation without any other political considerations if (the North) stages any provocation against our people, she said.
Her defence minister made it clear that the South would carry out pre-emptive strikes against the Norths nuclear and missile facilities in the event of hostilities breaking out.
We will... establish a so-called active deterrence aimed at neutralising the Norths nuclear and missile threats quickly, Kim said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Compare wid ASAHI SHIMBUN AJW > ANALYSIS: EXPERTS DOUBT THAT NORTH KOREA'S THREATS WILL TURN INTO ACTION.
Again, IMO its actually Rising = "Mahanist",
"post-US", "World 31" wannabe, "strategic access" happy China that covertly is the real threat here due to seemingly stalled PRC-Taiwan Reunification + its latent failure to secure overseas Milbases for the PLA into WESTPAC, SOPAC vee the "First Island Chain".
versus
* TOPIX > [USA Today] NORTH KOREA COULD INFLICT SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE IN [initial] ATTACK, agz South Korea.
* FREEREPUBLIC > IFF NORTH KOREA STARTS A WAR THE UNITED STATES WILL LOSE, as due to the possible consequences of DPRK-caused or induced destruction of ROK, Japan-based companies + industries important to the US.
* SAME > [ABS-CBN News] "US WON'T GO TOO FAR BACKING PH [Philippines], JAPAN IN SEA DISPUTES".
RUAN ZONGZHE - Senior Chinese Scholar, Vice-President OF CIIS Institute, WHOM CLAIMS THAT "US ASSURANCES TO ITS ASIAN ALLIES HAS ITS LIMITS" GIVEN THE SOLIDITY/SOLIDNESS OF THE US-CHINA RELATIONSHIP.
[An Nahar] The White House said Monday that despite days of bellicose rhetoric, North Korea had yet to back up its threats with mass troop mobilizations or troop movements.
With tensions on the Korean peninsula rising ever higher, Washington reiterated that it took Pyongyang's war talk seriously but also noted that threats and warnings were nothing new from the isolated state.
"Despite the harsh rhetoric we're hearing from Pyongyang, we are not seeing changes to the North Korean military posture, such as large-scale mobilizations and positioning of forces," White House front man Jay Carney said.
"We haven't seen action to back up the rhetoric," Carney said, adding, "what that disconnect between the rhetoric and actions means, I'll leave to the analysts to judge."
Washington has warned North Korea that it will take robust efforts to defend its allies in Asia and repeatedly tells Pyongyang to stand down its nuclear program and that its "unproductive" rhetoric is self-defeating.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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CBC News says it has identified the two Canadians involved in January's deadly terrorist attack at an isolated Algerian gas plant.
Citing unidentified sources, the news outlet says Ali Medlej and Xristos Katsiroubas, high school friends who were both from London, Ont., were the Canadians whose bodies were found amidst the carnage.
CBC says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was asking questions about both men at one point after a family member contacted authorities in 2007 with concerns that the pair were associating with the wrong crowd.
But the report says CSIS did not have the two men, who were thought to be in their mid-20s, under surveillance when they left Canada for Algeria sometime last year.
The report also says it has learned that two other individuals from the London area traveled to Algeria with Medlej and Katsiroubas, but it isn't known if they were involved in the gas plant attack or if they're even alive.
Sgt. Greg Cox, a spokesman for the RCMP, says the force's investigation into Canadian involvement in the attack continues and added that no further information would be provided at present.
At least 38 hostages and 29 militants were killed in the four-day siege of the natural gas plant that ended when the Algerian military stormed the energy complex.
#1
update Mr. Juneau-Katsuya noted that in the 1990s, Algerian extremists running away from the French and Algerian authorities set up in Montreal to plan and collect money to send back home.
The Algeria attack and a deadly 2012 bombing in Bulgaria that was linked to a man with a Canadian passport prompted the recent drafting of a law to strip Canadian citizenship from dual-citizens engaging in terrorism.
If a citizen is convicted of serious terrorist offences, if they take up arms against Canada or if they are convicted of high treason, that individual has severed the bonds of loyalty which is the basis of their citizenship, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told a parliamentary committee last month.
[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto returned to the country on Monday to start the party's election campaign on April 4.
PPP sources revealed to Daily Times that despite severe security threat and reservations on the way party's affairs are being run, PPP chairman decided to return to Pakistain to start the party's election campaign on April 4, but it was still not clear whether he would lead the party campaign till the elections in prevailing circumstances or not.
The sources said that the party had instructed all its district level organizations to arrange meetings in their respective offices to observe the 34th death anniversary of founder-chairman of PPP and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ...9th PM of Pakistain from 1973 to 1977, and 4th President of Pakistain from 1971 to 1973. He was the founder of the Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP). His eldest daughter, Benazir Bhutto, would also serve as hereditary PM. In a coup led by General Zia-ul-Haq, Bhutto was removed from office and was executed in 1979 for authorizing the murder of a political opponent... . It must be noted that there are different points of view among PPP leaders regarding the departure of their party's chairman from Pakistain before the start of election campaign, but they all agreed that he would return before April 4.
One section of the PPP says that Bilawal left the country due to the security concerns, but few senior party leaders say that Bilawal was unhappy regarding the running of party's affairs, as he believed that the party's ideology was being compromised by promoting different individuals whose loyalty is divided. On the other hand, one PPP leader claimed that isolation of Bilawal from the upcoming election campaign was part of the strategy because party leadership believed that they should not ruin a PPP asset by using Bilawal in the upcoming election campaign, especially when the performance of the PPP was too poor.
Likewise, he said that few senior PPP leaders told the part leadership that it was better that PPP chairman be spared from the upcoming election campaign and those party leaders who ran the government affairs for the last five years should lead the election campaign. Another annoyed PPP leader said that it was better that party should ask Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. , Asim Hussain, Hafeez Sheikh, Farooq H Naek, etc, for campaigning in the elections because they had occupied important executive portfolios during the last five years and were responsible for bad governance.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea... it has been learnt that severe mismanagement has been witnessed in Punjab in resolving the dispute among party workers, which erupted due to the decisions regarding the issuance of party tickets to the candidates. The sources said that no regular meeting of the PPP Punjab parliamentary board was being held to address these issues. Likewise, with general elections around the corner, the Supreme Court has taken up cases against big shots of the Pakistain People's Party who are in charge of party campaign across the country.
The cases to be taken up include former premier Raja Pervez Ashraf's contempt and rental power projects scam, alleged involvement of Amin Fahim in NICL scam, intra-court appeal of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani against his conviction and contempt proceedings against Rehman Malik that may be a setback for the PPP with the elections just over a month away.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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Canada opened its first diplomatic mission in Iraq in more than two decades on Monday. On a brief visit to the Iraqi capital, Baird met with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his political rival Osama al-Nujaifi, the parliament speaker, as well as inaugurated the mission, an office of the Canadian embassy in Amman that will be located on the compound of the British embassy in Baghdad.
Ten years after the Iraqi intervention, Iraq is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, despite deep and lingering sectarian tensions, Baird said in a statement.
Canadas trade and investment interests in Iraq have strong potential, including in the countrys north, where we will expand our dialogue with leaders in Arbil.
To pursue our interests, we know that Canada needs to be on the ground in Baghdad.
Ottawa, which did not support the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, closed its embassy in the Iraqi capital in January 1991.
The Baghdad offices charge daffaires will be Stephanie Duhaime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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A law banning normalizing ties with the Zionist occupation as well as co-education schooling in the Gaza Strip has entered into force, the education minister for Hamas, said on Monday.
The law, which was issued on February 10, was approved by the Islamist movement's legislative council and went into effect on Sunday, Osama Mazini told a news conference.
Article 46 of the law, obtained by the AFP news agency, will "ban the mixing of students from the two sexes in educational establishments after the age of nine, and work to 'feminize' girls' schools."
Hamas has in the past moved to enforce conservative religious laws, including telling schoolgirls in Gaza to wear traditional full-length robes and headscarves.
The newly approved education law also forbids the "receipt of gifts or aid aimed at normalizing (relations) with the Zionist occupation (Israel)."
The Hamas terrorist organization has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, after it won a victory in a Palestinian general election a year before against rival Fatah.
[Pak Daily Times] Veteran Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leader Khaled Meshaal is set to be elected to a new term as head of the Paleostinian Islamist movement, party officials said on Monday.
There had been speculation that Meshaal, who is based in exile, would be forced aside by the movement's powerful leaders in the Gazoo Strip, which it has controlled since 2007.
Meshaal himself had said last year that he would not seek a new term.
But Hamas officials said that the party's governing shura council was poised to re-elect him at a meeting in Cairo later on Monday or on Tuesday.
"The movement's leaders have decided to renew Meshaal's term for four years," a high-ranking official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The leadership of the shura council are meeting today (Monday) to decide on the selection of the movement's chief," he said, adding their decision would be officially announced Monday evening or Tuesday at the latest.
Another Hamas official, also speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , said: "The elections take place in total secrecy, but it's widely known that Meshaal's term will be renewed."
Hamas officials were in Cairo on Sunday and Monday for the vote, and to discuss with Egyptian leaders reconciliation with the rival Fatah faction of Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Hamas re-elects Khaled Meshaal as its leader Once reviled as a hardliner but now seen increasingly in the Arab world and by some Westerners as a moderate, Meshaal, 56, has headed the movement that rejects Israels existence and controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza, since 2004.
Born near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Meshaal steered Hamas through the upheaval unleashed by the Arab Spring uprisings. He spent decades in exile and returned to Gaza in December.
Meshaal left Syria about a year ago after ties ruptured with President Bashar al-Assad over the bloody civil war there.
Building on relations with Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, said to be an old friend, Meshaal moved on to win a delicate truce with arch-enemy Israel in November and has also sought to heal a rift with rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian officials and analysts said Meshaal, dogged by Gaza critics of his ceasefire with Israel and efforts to reconcile with Abbas, had to be persuaded to continue as Hamass leader for another term.
DEBKA... you know the drill.
In fierce battles with Syrian troops, Al Qaeda's al-Nusra front is spearheading the rebels' advance on the Syrian army's biggest chemical weapons depot at the Al-Safira military and air defense base near Aleppo in the north. By Tuesday, April 2, the assault force had come within 1.5 kilometers of its target.
This prompted an urgent visit by Israel's top security officials to the Golan border for a close assessment of the situation.
The group surveying the situation from the IDF position at Tel Hazaka was led by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and OC Northern Command Maj. Gen. Yair Golan.
On his first visit to the Golan border, the defense minister said that Israel had in the past and would in the future prevent the proliferation of weapons that could "threaten us."
Yaalon was the first leading Israeli figure to state clearly that Israel would act to prevent the proliferation of Syria's chemical weapons -- whether to the al Qaeda or Hizballah terrorist organizations.
His words came after the rebels Monday seized from the Syrian army the town of al-Safira from which they continued to push forward toward the sprawling air, air-defense and artillery base itself.
As Syrian defenses weakened, the troops fighting there and in the Damascus region were issued with anti-contamination suits and gas masks.
debkafile's military and intelligence sources add that the possible fall of the strategic al-Safira base into rebel hands, especially the Islamist militias, was one of the highest items on the agenda of US President Barack Obama's talks with Israeli and Jordanian leaders in Jerusalem and Amman in the third week of March.
He supervised plans for coordinated US-Israeli-Jordanian-Turkish action in Syria in the event of a direct threat of chemical warfare.
#3
Yaalon was the first leading Israeli figure to state clearly that Israel would act to prevent the proliferation of Syria's chemical weapons -- whether to the al Qaeda or Hizballah terrorist organizations.
Care should be taken that the warring parties do not end their fighting and unite against Israel.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The opposition controls more than 70 percent of the oil wells in Northeastern Syria, where Al Arabiya's cameras were able to go and look around.
Fighters are patrolling the area regularly to protect the oil wells and facilities, Abu Ahmed -- a commander in the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) -- told Al Arabiya.
Most of the oil facilities are not working due to imposed sanctions by the international community. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... Oweinan al-Jerba -- another FSA commander -- said the opposition's plan was to get them working again.
"We are currently negotiating with Kurds in neighboring areas for shared control over those wells in order to get the oil production started," he told Al Arabiya.
However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the government of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... still controls the Baniyas and Tartus ports, which are a main export portal.
Even though the Syrian opposition may not be able to generate revenue, their control over the wells is sure to put pressure on the Assad regime, which has killed more than 70,000 people since the March 2011 uprising, the U.N. says.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2013 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The opposition controls more than 70 percent of the oil wells in Northeastern Syria, where Al Arabiya's cameras were able to go and look around.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
