Friday, May 11, 2012
Hamas says it will not go to war for Iran
Hamas won't fight because they haven't got their checks from Iran in a couple of weeks.GAZA (Reuters) - The Islamist movement Hamas will not let itself be dragged into a war against Israel if it attacks the nuclear facilities of Hamas ally Iran, Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Thursday.
"Hamas is a Palestinian movement that acts within the Palestinian arena and it carries out its political and field actions in a way that suits the interests of the Palestinian people," he said at his headquarters in the enclave.
"Iran did not ask anything from us and we think Iran is not in need of us," the prime minister of the Hamas government told Reuters in an interview.
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
Krauthammer: Echoes of ’67: Israel Unites
The entire situation in the Middle East has devolved rapidly over the last few years.
The bizarre support of Islamist takeovers, the distancing from our ally Israel, the proposed cutbacks in the US military and the portrayal of America as weak are all helping to contribute to what will be a disaster that will make the Iraq and Afghanistan wars look like a warm up.
The bizarre support of Islamist takeovers, the distancing from our ally Israel, the proposed cutbacks in the US military and the portrayal of America as weak are all helping to contribute to what will be a disaster that will make the Iraq and Afghanistan wars look like a warm up.
Ultimately, we will be facing the new Muslim Brotherhood caliphate with
multiple centers of Islamic terrorism, as well as a nuclear Iran, and
most likely a full fledged Arab war on Israel.
Just wait until the Saudi royals fall (I wonder if we will lead from behind on that) and the jihadis control ALL the oil.
That's going to be a lot of fun.
That's going to be a lot of fun.
(National Review) In May 1967, in brazen violation of previous truce agreements, Egypt ordered U.N. peacekeepers out of the Sinai, marched 120,000 troops to the Israeli border, blockaded Eilat (Israel’s southern outlet to the world’s oceans), abruptly signed a military pact with Jordan, and, together with Syria, pledged war for the final destruction of Israel.
May ’67 was Israel’s most fearful, desperate month. The country was surrounded and alone. Previous great-power guarantees proved worthless. A plan to test the blockade with a Western flotilla failed for lack of participants. Time was running out. Forced to protect against invasion by mass mobilization — and with a military consisting overwhelmingly of civilian reservists — life ground to a halt. The country was dying.
On June 5, Israel launched a preemptive strike on the Egyptian air force, then proceeded to lightning victories on three fronts. The Six-Day War is legend, but less remembered is that on June 1, the nationalist opposition (Menachem Begin’s Likud precursor) was for the first time ever brought into the government, creating an emergency national-unity coalition.
Everyone understood why. You do not undertake a supremely risky preemptive war without the full participation of a broad coalition representing a national consensus.
Forty-five years later, in the middle of the night of May 7–8, 2012, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shocked his country by bringing the main opposition party, Kadima, into a national-unity government — shocking because just hours earlier, the Knesset was expediting a bill to call early elections in September.
Why did the high-flying Netanyahu call off elections he was sure to win?
Because for Israelis today, it is May ’67. The dread is not quite as acute: The mood is not despair, just foreboding. Time is running out, but not quite as fast. War is not four days away, but it looms. Israelis today face the greatest threat to their existence — apocalyptic mullahs publicly pledged to Israel’s annihilation acquiring nuclear weapons — since May ’67. The world is again telling Israelis to do nothing as it looks for a way out. But if such a way is not found — as in ’67 — Israelis know they will once again have to defend themselves, by themselves.
Such a fateful decision demands a national consensus. By creating the largest coalition in nearly three decades, Netanyahu is establishing the political premise for a preemptive strike, should it come to that. The new government commands an astonishing 94 Knesset seats out of 120, described by one Israeli columnist as a “hundred tons of solid concrete.”
So much for the recent media hype about some great domestic resistance to Netanyahu’s hard line on Iran. Two notable retired intelligence figures were widely covered in the press here for coming out against Netanyahu. Little noted was that one had been passed over by Netanyahu to be the head of Mossad, while the other had been fired by Netanyahu as Mossad chief (hence the job opening). For centrist Kadima (it pulled Israel out of Gaza) to join a Likud-led coalition whose defense minister is a former Labor prime minister (who once offered half of Jerusalem to Yasser Arafat) is the very definition of national unity — and refutes the popular “Israel is divided” meme. “Everyone is saying the same thing,” explained one Knesset member, “though there may be a difference of tone.”
To be sure, Netanyahu and Kadima’s Shaul Mofaz offered more prosaic reasons for their merger: national-service laws, a new election law, and negotiations with the Palestinians. But Netanyahu, the first Likud prime minister to recognize Palestinian statehood, did not need Kadima for him to enter peace talks. For two years he’s been waiting for Mahmoud Abbas to show up at the table. Abbas hasn’t. And won’t. Nothing will change on that front.
What does change is Israel’s position vis-à-vis Iran. The wall-to-wall coalition demonstrates Israel’s political readiness to attack, if necessary. (Its military readiness is not in doubt.)
Those counseling Israeli submission, resignation, or just endless patience can no longer dismiss Israel’s tough stance as the work of irredeemable right-wingers. Not with a government now representing 78 percent of the country.
Netanyahu forfeited September elections that would have given him four more years in power. He chose instead to form a national coalition that guarantees 18 months of stability — 18 months during which, if the world does not act to stop Iran, Israel will.
And it will not be the work of one man, one party, or one ideological faction. As in 1967, it will be the work of a nation.
How Obama played the press perfectly on gay marriage announcement
(Fox News) Little happens by accident in the Obama White House, or the Obama reelection campaign for that matter -- if there even is a difference between the two. And the dramatic decision by the president to come out Wednesday in support of same-sex marriage is no exception. Contrary to what many in the news media would have us believe, the decision was carefully planned and timed.
One thing it was not: It was not the forced result of public pressure coming from others in his administration, starting with Vice President Biden. Biden, who said Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press" that he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage, was merely playing the role of John the Baptist, preparing the way for Obama’s coming.
We, and by “we” I mean those of us in the news media who by training and experience are armed to cut through political fog, blindly groped and assumed that it was just Biden once again putting his foot in his mouth.
Or as Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank wrote on Tuesday, another case of the gaffe-prone Biden making a mess that White House Press Secretary Jay Carney had to clean up.
“Carney should be offered a membership in the janitor’s union,” Milbank chortled.
We should have been tipped off that Biden’s position was prophesy when a day later Education Secretary Arne Duncan, one of Obama’s Chicago cronies, said on MSNBC that he too supported same-sex marriage. Also on Monday, Caroline Kennedy, co-chairman of the Obama reelection campaign said she would push to have a same-sex marriage plank put in the Democratic Platform at the party’s national convention in September.
But rather than connect the dots and find that we were being softened for the kill, we were encouraged to write and opine that a conscience-torn Obama was becoming increasingly isolated on the same-sex issue as some of his top administration and political aides began abandoning ship.
The conventional wisdom being peddled by the media was that the president, whose position up to now had been that he opposed same-sex marriage but supported civil unions, was being pushed to make a decision he really wanted to postpone until after Election Day.
“Gay Marriage Back on Radar,” blared a headline in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal. “As same-sex marriage became the topic of the day, the White House was forced to focus on a divisive social issue that could stir discord within the Democratic Party,” the article said.
Obama strategists couldn’t have written it better.
Rather than being “forced to focus,” it is apparent that the Obama team was focused all along. Its strategy clearly was to make the controversial decision early in the campaign, giving the inevitable dust kicked up plenty of time to settle.
Wednesday presented the opportune time to come out because it was a day after North Carolina voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Obama’s support, which came in a staged interview with ABC News, overshadowed news coverage of that vote and helped him look like a hero to same-sex marriage supporters demoralized by the North Carolina defeat.
“I watched the interview and the tears flooded. There is something about hearing your president affirm your humanity,” said Daily Beast blogger Andrew Sullivan Wednesday in an interview on NPR’s "All Things Considered." Sullivan is gay and in a same-sex marriage.
By Thursday, the Obama campaign was already shoring up that support with a video against Republican rival Mitt Romney, depicting him as out of touch on the same-sex-marriage issue. Romney is opposed to same-sex marriage as well as civil unions.
And talk about coincidence: Obama will take a victory lap among many same-sex marriage supporters Thursday evening at a star-studded fundraiser at the Los Angeles home of actor George Clooney. It is expected to raise nearly $15 million, a record for a single political-fundraising event.
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In the perfect Obama world...
(TIME) The subjects on this week’s TIME cover aren’t models in pose. Jamie Lynne Grumet, photographed by Martin Schoeller with her 3-year-old son, is a mother from Los Angeles who subscribes to attachment parenting, the subject of staff writer Kate Pickert’s cover story. Attachment parenting has been on the rise over the past two decades, since the publication of The Baby Book by Dr. Bill Sears and his wife Martha in 1992. Its three main tenets are extended breast-feeding, co-sleeping and “baby wearing,” in which infants are physically attached to their parents by slings.
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Obama administration goes all out against Sheriff Arpaio
(Atlantic Wire) The Justice Department has been threatening since at least December to sue Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for civil rights violations against Latinos if he and his officers didn't clean up their act, and on Thursday the feds finally did. The best early reporting on the suit comes from Talking Points Memo's Ryan J. Reilly who quotes from the complaint which make Sheriff Joe and his deputies sound like a pack of jingoists:
DOJ’s suit, filed in the District of Arizona, accuses jail officials of referring to Latinos as “wetbacks,” “Mexican bitches,” and “stupid Mexicans.” The suit says Arpaio “voiced his biased opinion of Latinos and Latino culture” in a book he coauthored in 2008.Reuters also has some thorough early reporting, including quotes from Arpaio's statement responding to the DOJ charge: "I do not tolerate racist attitudes or behaviors. We at the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office do not foster a 'culture of cruelty." There's also more in the Reuters report from the suit's allegations:
“Arpaio singles out Mexicans and Latinos as different from all other immigrant groups in America,” the complaint says. “For example, Arpaio states that Latinos maintain ‘language [,] customs [and] beliefs separate from the mainstream,’ and are trying to “reconquest” American soil through migration to the United States.
"Latinos in Maricopa County are frequently stopped, detained, and arrested on the basis of race, color or national origin," the suit said. "In addition, defendants MCSO (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office) and Arpaio pursue a pattern or practice of illegal retaliation against their perceived critics by subjecting them to baseless criminal action, unfounded civil lawsuits or meritless administrative actions."Arpaio has always been an outspoken critic of easing immigration policy, and he's a big-time birther, both of which has endeared him to the Newsmax crowd. But the Justice Department sees a problem in the apparent racial profiling it found in his department, and has been trying to force him to change its practices through negotiations since its report was released in December. Last month, the department said Arpaio was negotiating in bad faith, which meant the only alternative was the lawsuit, which it has now finally filed.
Russia foils alleged plot to attack Sochi Olympics
[...] Russia's secret service said Thursday, May 10, 2012, that it had foiled terror attack plans in the Black Sea resort of Sochi ahead of the 2014 Winter Games. The FSB said it suspects the attacks were being masterminded by Doku Umarov. The FSB also said that it suspects that Umarov has close links to the secret service in Georgia. (AP Photo)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian authorities said on Thursday that security agencies had foiled a plot by Islamic militants to attack the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, an area they consider part of their historical homeland.
Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee NAC.L said the special services had confiscated arms, ammunition and explosives - including surface-to-air missiles and a flamethrower - in the breakaway Abkhazia region of Georgia, the South Caucasus country with which Russia went to war in 2008.
Any security breach around the games could be embarrassing for President Vladimir Putin, who has taken a personal interest in the event and hopes it can be used to boost Russia's image.
Abkhazia, which Russia recognised as an independent nation after the war, is adjacent to Sochi on the Black Sea coast. The assailants had also planned attacks in the runup to the games in February 2014, it said.
"Russia's FSB (security service) was able to establish that the fighters planned to move the weapons to Sochi from 2012 to 2014 and use them to carry out terrorist acts before and during the Olympic Games," NAC said in a statement.
The NAC blamed the plot on the Caucasus Emirate, one of the leading groups in an insurgency against Russian rule in the volatile North Caucasus, where Russian troops have fought two wars in Chechnya since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
It suggested the group's leader, Doku Umarov, had been cooperating with Georgian special services but did not give any details to support this allegation and the NAC report could not be independently verified.
Russia has often said Georgia may be plotting further aggression following the war, an accusation Georgia rejects.
NAC said the weapons included Igla and Strela portable surface-to-air missiles, two anti-tank guided missiles and 36 mortar bombs as well as a flame thrower, grenade launchers, explosive devices, and anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.
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Syrian ceasefire: Suicide bombers kill 55, wound 372
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two suicide car bombers killed 55 people and wounded 372 in Damascus on Thursday, state media said, in the deadliest attacks in the Syrian capital since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 14 months ago.
The blasts further shredded a ceasefire which was declared by international mediator Kofi Annan on April 12, but which has failed to halt bloodshed pitting Assad's security forces against peaceful demonstrators and an array of armed insurgents.
Opposition leaders said Annan's peace plan was dead, while Western powers insisted it remained the best way forward.
Annan himself condemned the "abhorrent" bombings and urged all parties to halt violence and protect civilians. "The Syrian people have already suffered too much," he said in a statement.
The Interior Ministry said suicide car bombers had carried out the morning rush-hour blasts. State television, blaming "terrorists" for the attacks, showed mangled, smoldering vehicles, some with charred remains of their occupants inside.
The near-simultaneous explosions hit the al-Qazaz district just before 8 a.m. (0500 GMT), residents said. One punched a crater three meters (10 feet) deep in the city's southern ring road. Bloodied corpses and body parts could be seen on the road.
State television also showed at least one overturned lorry. Walls of buildings on each side of the avenue had collapsed.
One resident reported limited damage to the facade of the nearby Palestine Branch Military Intelligence centre, one of the most feared of more than 20 Syrian secret police agencies.
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Bangladesh madrassa teacher 'burns' legs of girl pupils for not offering regular prayers during vacation
(BBC) Police in Bangladesh are looking for a teacher from a Muslim religious school who allegedly placed burning hot iron rods on the legs of her students for failing to offer prayers regularly.
They say 14 girls, aged between eight and 12, received burn injuries.
The school has been temporarily closed following the incident, while the "hellish experience" of the girls has been widely reported in newspapers.
Their injuries are not thought to be serious.
The Bangladeshi government banned all corporal punishment in all educational institutions, including religious schools - or madrassas - in 2010.
"I was shocked to see the burn injury of my daughter," Jumur Akhter, mother of one of the affected students, told the BBC.
The girls were learning Arabic and Bengali at the Talimul Koran Mahila madrassa at Namashyampur in Dhaka. The incident is said to have happened on Tuesday.
"It was the first day of the madrassa after our holidays. Our teacher got angry when she heard that we were not offering regular prayers during our vacation," said Ferdousi Akther, aged eight.
"Then she asked her servant to heat up the rod and then she pressed it on our legs. The pain was unbearable."
Pupils say that the teacher asked the students whether they knew the severity of the fire in hell.
They were allegedly told that if they did not offer prayers regularly, they would experience a similar punishment.
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Congressional committee moves to control Egypt, PA aid money
WASHINGTON (JPost) – A congressional subcommittee approved a foreign aid budget tightening control over money to Egypt and the Palestinians Wednesday following some members’ concern over developments in the region.
The House foreign operations appropriations subcommittee passed by voice vote the $40.1 billion foreign operations budget for 2013, which includes fully funding the $3.1b. US commitment to Israeli military assistance as part of the 10-year Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries.
However, the legislation cut funding for UNESCO, after the UN body voted to recognize Palestine as a member state. The Obama administration has been seeking a way to restore funding to the organization, though the law in its current format prohibits American contributions to any UN group that unilaterally recognizes the Palestinians.
The bill, which should be voted on by the entire appropriations committee next week, also maintains $1.3b. in military aid to Egypt as an ongoing commitment stemming from the Camp David Accords.
But following the Egyptian revolution and questions about its new government that will take power, Congress imposed more conditions on the military aid and $250m. in economic assistance.
Should Egypt break its treaty with Israel, as some emerging political voices have threatened, the assistance would automatically be cut. In addition, the US secretary of state would need to certify that upcoming elections are free and policies respecting civil rights are being implemented.
Though the secretary would have the ability to waive the restriction based on the elections if providing the aid to Egypt was declared in the national security interests of the United States, there is no waiver provision if the peace treaty ruptures.
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Noted douchebag Norman Finkelstein on BBC: Who cares Israel is under constant threat? Why does it go to war every 2 or 3 years?
This is the kind of stuff the BBC loves. Watch the video here.
Obama loses 41% of West Virginia primary vote to federal inmate
(ABC) In an embarrassment to President Obama, Federal Inmate No. 11593-051 – otherwise known as Keith Judd – won 10 counties and 41 percent of the vote in West Virginia’s Democratic presidential primary Tuesday.
Mr. Judd is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, Texas, where he is serving a 210-month sentence for extortion [he is in jail for what Obama is doing on a much larger scale -ed.], according to The Charleston Gazette. Judd had paid the $2,500 filing fee and submitted a notarized “certificate of announcement” to appear on the ballot.
He is even qualified to have a delegate at the Democratic National Convention, because he won at least 15 percent of vote. However, no one has stepped forward to fill that role.
But those are just details. The Republicans are having a field day with this slap at the president. Mr. Obama is deeply unpopular in West Virginia and was already certain to lose the small mountainous state in November. But the fact that enough people bothered to turn out in an uncontested primary to register a protest against the incumbent is telling.
“Just how unpopular does someone have to be for this to happen?” says Joe Pounder, research director and deputy communications director at the Republican National Committee, in a statement.
Virginia wouldn’t say whom he voted for in the primary. “Apparently, it’s a smarter political calculation to let people believe you may have voted for the guy in federal prison over the sitting president of your own party. Just saying,” Mr. Pounder writes.
West Virginia’s Democratic governor, Earl Ray Tomblin, has also not revealed his vote. Energy is a big issue in his state – America’s second-biggest producer of coal – and the Environmental Protection Agency’s handling of mining-related permits has angered the local industry, writes the Associated Press.
In addition to being a convicted felon, Judd is also a serial presidential candidate. In the 2008 Idaho Democratic primary, he finished third behind Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton with 1.7 percent of the vote, per The Charleston Gazette.
According to the website for the secretary of State of West Virginia, the state’s primaries are closed. Major party members are required to “vote the ballot” of their party. But “all the major parties allow members of minor parties and unaffiliated voters to vote their ballots upon request,” the site says.
Still, the 41 percent who voted for Judd had to have included a lot of registered Democrats. One voter, an electrician named Ronnie Brown from Cross Lanes, W.Va., told the AP that he’s a conservative Democrat who voted “against Obama.”
"I don't like him,” Mr. Brown said. “He didn't carry the state before, and I'm not going to let him carry it again."
And yes, Brown did vote for Judd – or “that guy out of Texas,” as he put it.
Fifteen people beheaded in Mexico, drug gang suspected
Forensic technicians handle bags containing the remains of people at the morgue after they had been found in two abandoned cars in Guadalajara May 9, 2012. Police found the decapitated and dismembered bodies of 15 people near Mexico's second city Guadalajara on Wednesday, in what appeared to be the latest atrocity by the Zetas gang. The bodies and heads were stuffed into two vehicles abandoned on the side of a highway in the small town of Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, said Tomas Coronado, chief prosecutor for the state of Jalisco. (Reuters Pictures)
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Police found the decapitated and dismembered bodies of 15 people near Mexico's second city Guadalajara on Wednesday, in what appeared to be the latest atrocity by the country's most brutal drug cartel.
Believed to have been carried out by the Zetas gang, it was one of the biggest mass beheadings in the recent history of Mexico, where decapitations have become alarmingly common.
The bodies and heads were stuffed into two vehicles abandoned on the side of a highway in the small town of Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, said Tomas Coronado, chief prosecutor for the state of Jalisco.
Some of the bodies had been refrigerated before they were dumped, Coronado said.
A policeman at the scene in Ixtlahuacan said some victims had been so badly mutilated officers could not tell if they were male or female.
The officer said a note by the bodies was signed by the Zetas cartel, a criminal militia led by former Mexican soldiers blamed for some of the worst atrocities in Mexico's drug war.
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UK: Abu Qatada's European Court Appeal Move Fails
(Sky News) Jordanian terror suspect Abu Qatada has lost an attempt to appeal against deportation heard by Europe's top human rights judges.
The ruling clears the way for UK deportation proceedings against the radical cleric, described by a judge as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, to continue.
Home Secretary Theresa May said: "I am pleased by the European court's decision. The Qatada case will now go through the British courts."
A panel of five judges rejected Qatada's bid to have his appeal heard by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.
However the panel ruled his application was made in time, according to a spokesman for the Council of Europe, which runs the court.
Qatada lodged a last-minute appeal to the court on April 17, claiming he faced the threat of torture in Jordan.
But Mrs May has rejected the claim and said: "I am confident the assurances we have from Jordan mean we can put Abu Qatada on a plane and get him out of Britain."
Sky’s home affairs correspondent, Mark White said: "This decision out of Strasbourg will come as a huge relief for Theresa May, who has taken personal charge of the efforts to deport Abu Qatada.
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Russian superjet goes missing during test flight with 44 on board
(Yahoo! News) A Russian passenger jet with at least 44 people on board—including embassy officials—went missing on Wednesday during a demonstration flight in Indonesia, according to reports from the region.
The civilian Sukhoi Superjet 100 "disappeared from radar screens during a flight from Jakarta meant to last 30 minutes," BBC News said.
According to CNN, the aircraft went missing at about 2 p.m. local time. Pilots requested permission to descend from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet, but air traffic controllers lost radio contact. "The plane began making its descent but vanished from radar screens at 6,200 feet in a mountainous area," CNN reported.
The plane was carrying Indonesia businessmen and Russian embassy officials, Reuters reported. (There were conflicting reports of the exact number of people on board. Reuters said 46, the BBC and CNN said 44.)
The demonstration flight—the second of the day—was part of a tour of six Asian countries. The Superjet 100 was the first commercial airliner produced by Sukhoi, a military plane manufacturer. The mid-size jet can carry up to 103 people. Sukhoi plans to produce 1,000 superjets.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Gang of Islamic paedophile males jailed in the UK
(Liverpool) Today, a gang of 9 males were found guilty of rape, sex trafficking and sexual grooming of minors. For years, stories have abound about how Islamic males have a predilection for underage white girls. Yet any attempt to state the bleeding obvious has been met with a deluge of racism by the left and, of course, from the Islamic community. Even after gang after gang after gang of Islamic paedophiles have been found guilty and jailed in the UK, the ethical latte crowd still subscribe to the notion that this isn't a problem within the Islamic community.
The bBC, when it aired this story today, used the all encompassing term of "Asian" to describe the men, yet the fact remains - 8 were Pakistani and the other was from Afghanistan.
What really is most disturbing about this story is how in 2008, one of the victims reported that she was being abused by the gang, DNA evidence was found and after a year's investigation, the Crown prosecution service decided not to prosecute because they didn't think they would win in a court of law.
Subsequently, the victim was abused for another 2 years by these odious creatures until the police reopened the case. Now I wonder why the CPS didn't want to prosecute in 2008? Could it be that all this banding about of racism, Islamophobia and how only Muslims can be victims has polarised the British legal system into looking the other way when it comes to the peccadilloes of the Islamic male?
Even today, the police are making sure that the public are informed how this vile practice entirely centred on the Pakistani Islamic community isn't down to one specific ethnic group:
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) denied that the ethnicity of either the defendants or the victims was a factor.
(L-R top row) Adil Khan, Mohammed Amin, Abdul Rauf, Mohammed Sajid
(L-R bottom row) Abdul Aziz, Abdul Qayyum, Hamid Safi and Kabeer Hassan
The bBC, when it aired this story today, used the all encompassing term of "Asian" to describe the men, yet the fact remains - 8 were Pakistani and the other was from Afghanistan.
What really is most disturbing about this story is how in 2008, one of the victims reported that she was being abused by the gang, DNA evidence was found and after a year's investigation, the Crown prosecution service decided not to prosecute because they didn't think they would win in a court of law.
Subsequently, the victim was abused for another 2 years by these odious creatures until the police reopened the case. Now I wonder why the CPS didn't want to prosecute in 2008? Could it be that all this banding about of racism, Islamophobia and how only Muslims can be victims has polarised the British legal system into looking the other way when it comes to the peccadilloes of the Islamic male?
Even today, the police are making sure that the public are informed how this vile practice entirely centred on the Pakistani Islamic community isn't down to one specific ethnic group:
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) denied that the ethnicity of either the defendants or the victims was a factor.
"It is not a racial issue," he said. "This is about adults preying on vulnerable young children."Really? Then I wonder, when out of 52 suspects recently charged in the UK with sexual grooming of minors, 83% were Pakistani, 11% Asian other and 6% white British, how this isn't a racial issue? I don't know what is then. But to the left, this is a subject which just can't be touched in the name of racial equality, and so the vile practice continues. Which explains why the oldest of the men found guilty (59) cannot be named for legal reasons. Get that? A 59-year-old paedophile cannot be named. Only in the UK would the police not name a rapist and hand back a victim to her abusers. And we wonder why people are flocking to the far right.
Israel Warns Hezbollah Over Responding to Attack on Iran
(Telegraph) Despite the inevitable international outcry, Israel would be left with no choice but to lay waste to swathes of southern Lebanon because Hizbollah has entrenched itself so deeply within the civilian population, he said.
The unusually stark warning comes after months of heightened speculation that the Israeli government is considering unilateral military action against Iran's nuclear installations despite opposition from the United States.
Although the prospect of an attack in the next few months is unlikely until after Israelis vote in a September general election, Ehud Barak, the country's defence minister, recently insisted that military strikes had not been ruled out.
Israel has always been aware of the heavy price it could incur from such an attack, with Iran able to retaliate through Hizbollah and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza. Both Islamist movements have long been funded and armed by Tehran and have built up vast stockpiles of rockets capable of reaching deep into Jewish territory.
Hoping to drive a wedge between Hizbollah and Lebanon's Sunni and Christian communities, the officer urged the Lebanese people not to be drawn into a war for which they, rather than Iran, would bear the brunt of Israel's anger.
"The situation in Lebanon after this war will be horrible," the officer, a senior commander on Israel's northern border with Syria and Lebanon, said.
"They will have to think about whether they want it or not. I hope that Iran will not push them into a war that Iran will not pay the price for but that Lebanon will."
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Courtroom jihad: Islamist antics make a mockery of justice in 9/11 trial
(WT) Five planners of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were arraigned on Sunday before a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The 13-hour proceeding was a theatrical farce, which unfortunately gives a taste of things to come.
The five terrorist defendants - Ramzi Binalshibh, Walid bin Attash, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, Ammar al-Baluchi and reputed mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed - face 2,976 counts of terrorism and capital murder for their role in the 9/11 attacks. The arraignment was the first step in a lengthy process of trial and appeal that is likely to stretch for years, if the arraignment is any indication.
The defense team made full use of every procedural delaying tactic available. The defendants ignored instructions from the judge, would not listen to translations of the proceedings over headphones, slept, passed around magazines and were generally disrespectful. Cheryl Bormann, counsel for Walid bin Attash, appeared in a black hijab even though she is not a Muslim. She requested that the judge order other women present, particularly on the prosecution team, to dress in similar attire. She said she was concerned the defendants might have to avert their eyes “for fear of committing a sin under their faith.”
The defense also complained that its clients were not allowed to wear their garb of choice, though Mohammed appeared resplendent in white, wearing a turban and with his flowing beard streaked with red henna, a powder intended to make hair silkier. Those who denounced the Guantanamo detainee facility as the “American gulag” might research whether Stalin supplied Soviet prisoners with hair care products.
Army Brig. Gen. Mark S. Martins, the chief prosecutor, said, “Everyone is frustrated by the delay.” But these antics are all part of courtroom jihad tactics. The terrorists are simply carrying on their struggle by other means. The excessive emphasis on procedure is due to concerns that the process appear fair, especially to the Muslim audience in the Middle East. The defendants were given regular prayer breaks, for example, and engaged in other impromptu religious outbursts that the judge seemed reluctant to quash. The Obama administration seems to think bowing to these customs will insulate America from charges that it is somehow hostile to Islam. If anything, courtroom capitulation gives heart to those Islamists who really do see the conflict as a religious war, and it tells them they are winning.
No matter how far U.S. officials bend over backward, the process will never be seen as fair. The defendants have been held for more than a decade. Much of the evidence against them is either based on classified intelligence or extracted by interrogation techniques that President Obama loudly announced constituted torture.
Some have called this the Nuremburg trial of our times, but there is little to compare the two. The Nazi prosecutions were swift, public and based on unconcealed evidence. Had those trials been conducted by contemporary rules, the defendants would have been allowed to appear in full Nazi regalia, pause the proceedings for Hitlerian rituals and move that Jews should be removed from the courtroom because their presence made the accused uncomfortable. That may sound farcical, but it’s no more ridiculous than the charade grinding forward at Guantanamo.
Putin and Medvedev successfully complete job swap in Russia
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's lower house of parliament confirmed former president Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister on Tuesday, completing a job swap with Vladimir Putin that has sparked protests against the two leaders' grip on power.
The approval vote, comfortably won by Medvedev as Putin looked on, ignored growing concern in the country that keeping power in the hands of the same men who have led Russia for the past four years will bring political and economic stagnation.
Police led away more than 20 people, including two opposition leaders, when they broke up a peaceful protest near the Kremlin hours before the vote, after detaining more than 700 on the previous two days to keep a lid on dissent.
The vote in the State Duma, the lower house, was held under tight security, with camouflage-clad riot police guarding the building near Red Square and police trucks and buses parked nearby.
Medvedev stood and nodded his gratitude to Duma deputies and then shook hands with Putin. The president smiled and applauded the outcome of the vote, one day after he was sworn in as president for a six-year term.
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Dozens of Occupy Cleveland Members Show Up at the Courthouse In Support of Ohio Bridge Bomb Plotters
CLEVELAND - Dozens of members of Occupy Cleveland showed up at a Cleveland courthouse to support the five people charged in connection with an alleged plot to blow up a northeast Ohio bridge.
The five suspects -- 21-year-old Connor Stevens, 24-year-old Joshua Stafford (aka “Skully”), 26-year-old Douglas Wright (aka “Cyco), 20-year-old Brandon Baxter (aka “Skabby”) and 37-year-old Anthony Hayne (aka “Tony” & “Billy”) – pleaded not guilty during their arraignment Monday morning.
The suspects had the charges -- conspiracy and attempted use of explosive material to damage physical property affecting interstate commerce -- read to them in open court.
In all, about 50 members of the Occupy Cleveland group went into courthouse. After the arrests were made, Occupy Cleveland said the five suspects were associated with the group, but they were “in no way representing or acting on behalf of Occupy Cleveland.”
A man in the group – believed to be a father of one of the suspects -- was overheard asking people to pray for the suspect.
The city of Cleveland decided to not renew the group’s permit a day after the arrests, but did not say if the decision was related to the bomb plot.
The FBI said the five self-proclaimed anarchists came up with a plan to blow up the Route 82 bridge over the Cuyahoga National Forest in Brecksville. They were arrested after allegedly pushing a button they thought would detonate a C4 bomb placed at the base of the bridge on April 30.
An undercover informant working with the FBI had provided the group with an inert bomb.
Baxter’s attorney told NewsChannel5 the informant, who has a long criminal record, coached the suspects.
All five suspects will remain in federal custody, as their detention hearing was postponed.
NewsChannel5 will continue to follow this case. Keep checking newsnet5.com for more information.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Canadian Islamic school under investigation for spreading hatred
(Toronto) Yet another Islamic school in the West has been found to be teaching hatred towards non-Muslims, and as usual, the liberal authorities have been slow to attack (I suppose to prevent allegations of racism). The latest case involves the East End Madrassah in Toronto whose curriculum tells boys to exercise so they are “ready for jihad,” calls Jews “treacherous” and contrasts Islam with “the Jews and the Nazis.” I quote:
No doubt somebody will come and defend the above as somehow getting lost in translation. Err, it's in English on their website.“Islam has allowed boys to engage in sports for one specific reason and that is to always keep them healthy and strong. But why should a Muslim be healthy and strong? Firstly, it is necessary to take care of the body because it is a gift from Allah. Secondly, so that you may physically be ready for jihad whenever the time comes for it.”“Islam is a dynamic, comprehensive school that aims at the rectification of the social and economic systems of the world in a special manner. Unlike the beliefs of the ancient Romans, the Jews, and the Nazis, Islam is not restricted to a certain community of a certain race, but is for all human beings…”“No doubt any wise, humanitarian person accepts such a combat and admires it [jihad] because there is no other way to achieve the sacred ends of the Prophets.”“End of Jewish Plots and Treacheries: Ever since the Prophet’s entry into Madina, the treacherous Jews had vehemently opposed him and his Islamic call, evoking memories of their hostility to the previous Prophet, Jesus Christ, half a millennium ago. The crafty Jews entered into an alliance with the polytheist Quraish in a bid to stamp out Islam. They conspired to kill Prophet Muhammad despite the fact that he was lenient towards them and had treated them kindly, hoping to convince them of Islam’s truth. But eventually as Jewish plots and aggressions increased, he had no choice other than to take up arms against them, in order to protect Islam and the Muslims. At the battle of Khaiber which is famous for Imam Ali’s heroic exploits, the Prophet defeated them ending Jewish intrigues and conspiracies in Arabia.”Source: Curriculum, East End Madrassah, eemadrassah.ca
29 police injured, 2 stabbed as hundreds of Muslims riot in Germany
(Bonn) When the Germany's right-wing group Pro-NRW won a court battle to protest outside a Saudi Arabia-run school in Bonn, the police knew that there would be trouble. Which is why they called in hundreds of police officers to keep the peace. However, when the hoards of Islamic protesters who had turned up to counter the roughly 2 dozen right-wing protesters found the police were preventing them from physically attacking the object of their hatred, they instead decided to vent their frustrations out on the nearest sheep the police. Which is why 29 policemen ended up in a hospital, with 2 suffering from stab wounds, and which saw 109 peaceful Muslims getting arrested.
Chinese-Made Infant Flesh "Health Supplement" Capsules Seized in S. Korea
(ABC) The dried flesh of dead infants appears to be the not-so-secret ingredient in a health supplement that is reportedly being smuggled out of China.
The performance-enhancement pills, touted for increasing vitality and sex drive, have been found in the luggage of tourists and in international mail, according to South Korean authorities.
They said they had confiscated nearly 17,500 of the human flesh capsules since last August, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
South Korean authorities warned that the pills could be dangerous to human health.
"This is gross, as well as creepy," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who consults regularly with the Centers for Disease Control.
"We have no idea how this material is processed and under what circumstances," he said. "If it's not done in a hygienic fashion to make assurances infections are excluded, it could contain viruses as well as bacteria."
The dried human tissue may also not have been sterilized, according to Schaffner. "It's an extremely dubious for an operation like this with the potential for infection complications."
It is not known whether these pills made of human flesh have appeared in the United States.
"Our experts in global health haven't heard about this subject," said Arleen Porcell, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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BREAKING: CIA thwarts Al Qaeda underwear bomb plot on anniversary of bin Laden's death
Developing...
WASHINGTON (AP) – The CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Usama bin Laden, The Associated Press has learned.
The plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger's underwear, but this time Al Qaeda developed a more refined detonation system, U.S. officials said.
The FBI is examining the latest bomb to see whether it could have passed through airport security and brought down an airplane, officials said. They said the device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.
The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target or bought his plane tickets when the CIA stepped in and seized the bomb, officials said. It's not immediately clear what happened to the alleged bomber.
The operation unfolded even as the White House and Department of Homeland Security assured the American public that they knew of no Al Qaeda plots against the U.S. around the anniversary of bin Laden's death. The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish it immediately because the sensitive intelligence operation was still under way. Once those concerns were allayed, the AP decided to disclose the plot Monday despite requests from the Obama administration to wait for an official announcement Tuesday.
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Sometimes 1+1 = 2
KABUL (WaPo) — The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The heads of the House and Senate intelligence committees on Sunday declared that the Taliban had grown stronger since President Barack Obama's deployment of 33,000 more troops to Afghanistan in 2010.You do the math.
Obama campaign releases ad emphasizing economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is releasing a new television advertisement which argues that Obama saved the country from near-desperate economic straits in early 2009 and deserves a second term.
The commercial, which was made public early Monday, acknowledges that "we're not there yet" on new jobs to replace those lost in the deep recession of 2008-2009. But it calls Obama the right person to entrust with the nation's future. The commercial focuses on Obama's case for re-election and doesn't involve direct attacks on presumptive Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney.
It includes a statement that under Obama's watch, "our greatest enemy" was brought to justice, referring to assassinated al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Obama officially kicked off his campaign for re-election over the weekend with appearances in Virginia and Ohio.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Secret U.S. program releases high-level insurgents in exchange for pledges of peace
What could possibly go wrong?
KABUL (WaPo) — The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence but one that U.S. officials acknowledge poses substantial risks.
As the United States has unsuccessfully pursued a peace deal with the Taliban, the “strategic release” program has quietly served as a live diplomatic channel, allowing American officials to use prisoners as bargaining chips in restive provinces where military power has reached its limits.
But the releases are an inherent gamble: The freed detainees are often notorious fighters who would not be released under the traditional legal system for military prisoners in Afghanistan. They must promise to give up violence — and U.S. officials warn them that if they are caught attacking American troops, they will be detained once again.
There are no absolute guarantees, however, and officials would not say whether those who have been released under the program have later returned to attack U.S. and Afghan forces once again.
“Everyone agrees they are guilty of what they have done and should remain in detention. Everyone agrees that these are bad guys. But the benefits outweigh the risks,” said one U.S. official who, like others, discussed the issue on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the program.
The releases have come amid broader efforts to end the decade-long war through negotiation, which is a central feature of the Obama administration’s strategy for leaving Afghanistan. Those efforts, however, have yielded little to no progress in recent years. In part, they have been stymied by the unwillingness of the United States to release five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay — a gesture that insurgent leaders have said they see as a precondition for peace talks.
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Senate and House Intelligence Committee Chairs: Taliban became stronger under Obama
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Taliban is stronger now than before President Barack Obama ordered a surge of troops to Afghanistan, two senior U.S. lawmakers said on Sunday, contradicting the administration's assessment of the insurgency.
"I think we both say that what we found is the Taliban is stronger," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein told "Fox News Sunday" in an interview that included House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, who agreed with her statement. The two lawmakers returned last week from a trip to Afghanistan.
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Russian riot police beat up anti-Putin protesters, arrest 250
Russian riot police detain a protester during the "march of the million" opposition protest in central Moscow May 6, 2012. Russian riot police beat protesters about the head with batons and detained 250 on Sunday after clashes broke out at a Moscow rally by thousands of people against Vladimir Putin on the eve of his return to the presidency. (Reuters Pictures)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian riot police beat protesters with batons and hauled away dozens on Sunday after skirmishes broke out at a demonstration in Moscow against Vladimir Putin on the eve of his return to the presidency.
Opposition leaders Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov were among those detained at the rally, at which police tried to push back protesters who advanced towards them holding metal crowd barriers, Reuters reporters at the rally said.
Police, forming a line to prevent protesters moving towards a bridge leading across the Moscow river to the Kremlin, struck several protesters on the head and the demonstrators then fought back with flagposts before the scuffles died down.
The violence came at the end of a day of protests in several cities against Putin, who will be sworn in for a third term as president on Monday at a ceremony inside the Kremlin at which the head of the Russian Orthodox Church will bless him.
Many of the protesters are angry that Putin is extending his 12-year domination of Russia, despite being undermined by large protests from December to March, and fear he will stifle political and economic reform in his six-year term.
"History shows that if one person rules for a long time, especially using the methods of a dictator, nothing good comes of it for the country," said an 85-year-old World War Two veteran in Moscow who gave his name only as Alexander.
Many are frustrated that the same faces are still leading Russia. After Putin ushered his ally Dmitry Medvedev into the Kremlin and became premier in 2008 because of constitutional term limits, the two have agreed simply to swap jobs.
Holding a banner saying "Putin lost my trust", 44-year-old Moscow protester Andrey Asianov said: "I trusted Putin as long as he ruled within the bounds of the constitution but our law limits the presidency to two consecutive terms. He and his clown Medvedev spat on that."
At least 20,000 people protested in Moscow under banners and flags, chanting "Russia without Putin" and "Putin - thief". Police said four officers were hurt and Udaltsov, Nemtsov and Navalny had been detained for "incitement to mass disorder".
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A wounded opposition protester winces in pain during a rally in Moscow on Sunday, May 6, 2012. Riot police in Moscow have begun arresting protesters who were trying to reach the Kremlin in a demonstration on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president. (AP Photo)
Russian riot police scuffle with protesters during the "march of the million" opposition protest in central Moscow May 6, 2012. Russian riot police beat protesters with batons and hauled away dozens on Sunday after skirmishes broke out at a demonstration in Moscow against Vladimir Putin on the eve of his return to the presidency. (Reuters Pictures)
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Egypt imposes curfew, deploys army after protests, Field Marshal Tantawi accused of being - yeah, you guessed it - a Zionist puppet
Armoured military vehicles close the road to Abbasiya Square, near Egypt's Defence Ministry, in Cairo May 4, 2012. Egypt's army imposed an overnight curfew around the defence ministry in Cairo on Friday after protesters clashed with troops there during demonstrations against the country's military rulers, leaving one soldier dead and 373 people wounded. (Reuters Pictures)
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's military rulers on Saturday imposed an overnight curfew and deployed soldiers around the Defence Ministry to deter a repeat of Friday's deadly violence, less than three weeks before a presidential vote.
One soldier died and almost 400 people were wounded in Friday's clashes, the second time in a week that protests over the army's handling of Egypt's troubled transition from army rule to civilian government have turned violent.
The military imposed a 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew (2100 GMT to 0500 GMT) in the Abbasiya district around the defense ministry for the second straight day, according to a military source.
The streets were calm on Saturday as cleaners swept up rocks and other projectiles hurled by protestors during the previous night's violence. Troops responded with fired teargas and charged the crowd to drive them from the ministry.
Eleven people were killed in disturbances on Wednesday.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 18 journalists had been assaulted, injured or arrested while covering the clashes.
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A protester carries a picture of Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), with his head on the body of a snake with U.S and Israel flags behind it, during clashes with riot police and army soldiers at Abbasiya square near Egypt's Defence Ministry, in Cairo May 4, 2012. Egypt's army imposed an overnight curfew around the defence ministry in Cairo on Friday after protesters clashed with troops there during demonstrations against the country's military rulers, leaving one soldier dead and 373 people wounded. (Reuters Pictures)
Mexico: 37 bodies discovered in Nuevo Laredo, of which 9 (5 men and 4 women) with signs of torture were hanging from highway overpass and 14 were headless
Five of nine corpses are seen hanging from a bridge in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas state, early morning on May 4, 2012. The bodies of four women and five men were found hanging off a bridge in Nuevo Laredo with an apparent message from a criminal gang, an army official said Friday. The bodies showed signs of beating and torture and 'we believe they were members of a criminal gang,' the official said, declining to be named. (Getty Images)
Four of nine corpses are seen hanging from a bridge in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas state, early morning on May 4, 2012. The bodies of four women and five men were found hanging off a bridge in Nuevo Laredo with an apparent message from a criminal gang, an army official said Friday. The bodies showed signs of beating and torture and 'we believe they were members of a criminal gang,' the official said, declining to be named. (Getty Images)
MEXICO CITY (LAT) -- Another 23 bodies were discovered Friday in the embattled border city of Nuevo Laredo, including five men and four women hanging from a highway overpass, authorities said.
The grisly surge in violence in Nuevo Laredo, across the river from Laredo, Texas, appears to be part of a battle between Mexico's two largest drug-trafficking gangs for control of the important land corridor.
The nine bodies dangling from the overpass were bloody, some were blindfolded, and, according to authorities, they bore signs of torture. The victims carried no identification but appeared to be between 25 and 30 years old, the state prosecutor's office said.
A banner hanging alongside them contained a profanity-laden message in which one drug gang, possibly the Zetas, threatens to eliminate another for "heating up the plaza" -- that is, provoking the kind of violence that could attract federal troops.
The Zetas have controlled the area, but a faction of the powerful Sinaloa cartel is moving to challenge them and is believed responsible for a car bomb detonated outside police headquarters last month.
Also Friday in Nuevo Laredo, 14 headless bodies were found in black garbage bags in a truck parked outside a government customs building, authorities said. The heads were later found in three ice chests near City Hall. All of these dead were men, also between the ages of 25 and 30. Similarly, a little more than two weeks ago, 14 other dismembered bodies were found near City Hall.
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Mali Islamists attack UNESCO holy site in Timbuktu
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian fighters from the Ansar Dine Islamist group attacked and burned the tomb of one of the town's saints, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, residents and a regional official said on Saturday.
The militants broke off doors, windows and wooden gates from the grave and burned them, they said, in the first reported attack on a shrine in Mali.
El Hadj Baba Haidara, an elected member of parliament from Timbuktu told Reuters some young people were discussing how to react despite being unarmed.
"There is a risk the people may revolt because this is something that affects their dignity. This tomb is sacred, it is too difficult to bear," Haidara said.
Ansar Dine, along with Tuareg rebels and other armed groups, swept through northern Mali in March and April, seizing the northern half of the country and its ancient towns of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal after the government collapsed in a March 22 coup.
While the rebel MNLA has declared an independent state in the north, al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine - led by veteran Tuareg leader Iyad Ag Ghaly - has rejected that idea and said the group's objective was to impose Islamic law in Mali.
In 2001, the Taliban dynamited and destroyed two 6th century statues of Buddha measuring 55 and 37 meters (180 and 121 feet) high, carved into a cliff in Bamiyan in central Afghanistan.
Timbuktu Muslims on their way to Friday worship at the tomb of Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar and those of other saints were stopped and threatened by armed men from Ansar Dine, one resident said.
"What you are doing is haram! (forbidden). Ask God directly rather than the dead," one of the armed men told the residents, according to Ahmed Ibrahim, a resident who witnessed the scene.
Some Islamists view shrines as idolatry but traditional Muslims, especially Sufis, see shrines as part of accepted Islamic custom. Salafists have attacked several Sufi shrines in Egypt and Libya in the past year.
"After uttering those words, three of them (armed men) entered the mausoleum, ripped and burnt pieces of white clothing that surrounded the tomb of the saint in front of everyone," Ibrahim said.
Haidara told Reuters the act by the Islamist group could spark a violent reaction from the population, and that he had urged the U.N. body to help protect Timbuktu's heritage sites.
"They attacked the grave, broke doors, windows and wooden gates that protect it. They brought it outside and burn it, because to build a tomb is contrary to the principles of Islam," he said. The men said they would return to destroy other tombs.
No one at UNESCO was immediately available to comment.
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Jihad-bent Algerian born nuclear researcher sentenced in France for plotting attack
PARIS (Reuters) - A Paris court sentenced a Franco-Algerian nuclear physicist to five years in prison on Friday on charges of helping to plot an attack in France in 2009 with an al Qaeda militant in Algeria.
Adlene Hicheur, 35, a former researcher at the prestigious CERN physics lab in Geneva, was found guilty of providing logistical advice to Mustapha Debchi, a militant for al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), using encrypted messages sent via the Internet.
Hicheur said he had been charged over his opinions rather than his acts, but prosecutors called him a "technical attack adviser" and said he had provided Debchi with a terrorist manual.
His lawyer Patrick Baudoin called the ruling a "revolting injustice" and described it as "simply abusive".
Hicheur's trial comes amid heightened tensions in France over Islamic militancy after an al Qaeda-inspired gunman shot dead seven people in March before police killed him in a siege.
Following the drama which gripped the nation in the middle of a presidential campaign, police commandos arrested 19 suspected militants.
In addition to providing planning support, Hicheur was accused of suggesting a French military base in eastern France as a target and relaying Internet messages between AQIM and Somali militants.
He was also accused of discussing the opening of an anonymous Swiss bank account, making money transfers and relaying internet messages between AQIM and Somali militants.
Prosecutors had called for a six-year prison sentence, but Hicheur was handed a lighter five-year term, including one year suspended, on the grounds that he had never physically met his contact and had corresponded by computer.
He has already been in detention for two and half years, which means he could be released soon.
His lawyer Baudoin did not say whether he would appeal.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Two Mexican journalists found dismembered in eastern Mexico
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The mutilated corpses of two Mexican photographers were found on Thursday by police in the eastern state of Veracruz, the latest in a series of attacks that have made Mexico one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.
The bodies of Guillermo Luna and Gabriel Huge were discovered chopped up in garbage bags and dumped in a canal in the town of Boca del Rio, the Veracruz government said in a statement.
Police also found two other corpses in the canal but have not yet identified them.
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Russia threatens to strike NATO missile defense sites
Hey, remember that widely publicized "reset" button Hillary gave the Russians?
(WT) Russia’s most senior military officer said Thursday that Moscow would pre-emptively strike and destroy U.S.-led NATO missile defense sites in Eastern Europe if talks with Washington about the developing system continue to stall.Well, we need to be more... "flexible".
“A decision to use destructive force pre-emptively will be taken if the situation worsens,” Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov said at an international missile defense conference in Moscow attended by senior U.S. and NATO officials.
The threat comes as talks about the missile defense system, which the U.S. and its allies insist is aimed at Iranian missiles, appear to have stalled.
“We have not been able to find mutually acceptable solutions at this point, and the situation is practically at a dead end,” Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said.
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Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Egypt clashes over army rule leave up to 11 dead
CAIRO (Reuters) - Eleven people were killed in Cairo on Wednesday, medics said, when armed men attacked protesters demanding an end to army rule, prompting several candidates to suspend presidential campaigns and heightening doubts on the transition to democracy.
Leaders from Islamist and secular camps blamed the trouble on hired "thugs" doing the bidding of entrenched interests behind military rule and warned the generals not to use it as a pretext to delay their departure; the army reaffirmed its stated commitment to handing power to civilians by July.
Unidentified men armed with guns and batons attacked demonstrators who included hundreds of ultraconservative Salafi Islamists protesting at their candidate's exclusion from the ballot for a first-round presidential vote on May 23 and 24.
For hours after the dawn raid, the security forces seemed unable or unwilling to put an end to the violence. As fighting raged near the Defence Ministry in the Abbasiya district of central Cairo, Reuters reporters saw men carrying guns, even a sword, while protesters threw rocks, bottles and petrol bombs.
Only in the afternoon did riot police arrive in large numbers to break up the bloody melee and the clashes abated.
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From and by those who served: "Why does President Obama take so much credit for killing Bin Laden?"
America knows who deserves the credit for killing Osama Bin Laden - United States Navy SEALs and the American intelligence community. Join with Veterans for a Strong America and let President Obama know who really deserves the credit.
Syrian ceasefire: Assad regime accused of war crimes, rebels kill 15
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels killed 15 members of the security forces in an ambush on Wednesday, a monitoring group said, and a human rights organization accused Damascus of war crimes in last month's run-up to a U.N.-brokered truce.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has been tracking the 14-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, said two rebel militiamen also died in clashes that followed the ambush in the northern province of Aleppo.
State media carried no news of the attack, the latest in a series of heavy losses inflicted on pro-Assad forces in the last week by some of the disparate militias fighting for his downfall.
Twelve soldiers died in a firefight in the eastern town of Deir al-Zor on Tuesday, the Observatory said, and nine people, including security officials, died in twin suicide bombs in the restive town of Idlib on Monday, according to state media.
Most independent media are barred from Syria or have their movements restricted, making it hard to verify such reports.
The United Nations says Syrian forces have killed 9,000 people in a violent crackdown on mass protests that started against Assad in March 2011. The initially peaceful demonstrations have since turned into a bloody guerrilla insurgency.
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Video: Broken Promises: Jobs and the Economy
In 2008, President Obama said he measures progress by how many people can find a job. Today, the unemployment rate is still over eight percent and nearly twenty-three million Americans are unemployed, underemployed, or have stopped looking for work.
Car bomb kills 7 after Obama declares mission success and leaves Afghan capital
Afghan security forces members inspect the site of a car bomb attack in Kabul May 2, 2012. At least six people were killed in the suicide car bomb attack in the Afghan capital on Wednesday, officials said, hours after U.S. President Barack Obama left Kabul following an unannounced visit during which he signed a strategic partnership agreement. (Reuters Pictures)
KABUL (Reuters) - Suicide bombers attacked a compound housing Westerners in Kabul on Wednesday hours after U.S. President Barack Obama signed a security pact during a short visit to a city that remains vulnerable to a resilient insurgency.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack which involved a car bomb and insurgents disguised as women on the eastern outskirts of the capital, killing seven people, a Gurkha guard and six passers-by, and wounding 17.
The Taliban said it was in response to Obama's visit and to the strategic partnership deal he signed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a pact that sets out a long-term U.S. role after most foreign combat troops leave by the end of 2014.
The insurgency also claimed their spring offensive, which began two weeks ago with attacks in Kabul, would be renewed on Thursday, despite a security clamp-down in the capital.
Obama's visit came a year after U.S. special forces troops killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the architect of the September 11, 2001, attacks, in a raid in neighboring Pakistan.
In a televised address to the American people from a base north of Kabul, he said the war in Afghanistan was winding down.
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Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Pic of the day: Revolutionary Marxists recognize a revolutionary Marxist when they see one
Activists of Sri Lanka's Marxist political party, People's Liberation Front, with masks and dressed to imitate Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, left center, and US president Barack Obama, center right, participate in a street march to celebrate international Labor Day known as May Day in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, May 1, 2012. May Day moved beyond its roots as an international workers' holiday to a day of international protest Tuesday, with rallies throughout Asia demanding wage increases and marches planned across Europe over government-imposed austerity measures. (AP Photo)
FBI arrests 5 anarchists for trying to blow up Ohio bridge
(Fox News) URGENT: Five people described as anarchists were arrested Monday in a Cleveland-area park for allegedly trying to blow up a bridge, sources tell Fox News.
The public was never in danger from the explosive devices, which were inoperable and controlled by an undercover FBI employee, according to sources close to the investigation.
A criminal complaint was filed Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. Court documents say three of the suspects are self-proclaimed anarchists who formed a small group and considered a series of plots over several months.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Steven M. Dettelbach, said Tuesday that the defendants "took numerous and repeated acts that demonstrated a commitment to violent, terrorist acts."
According to the complaint, the suspects initially planned to use smoke grenades to distract law enforcement so that they could topple financial institution signs atop high-rise buildings in Cleveland. However, the plot later called for C-4 explosives contained in two improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, to be placed and remotely detonated, according to authorities.
The final plan allegedly named the Route 82 Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge, which crosses from Brecksville to Sagamore Hills, as the designated target. The IED drop location was reportedly under the bridge on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail near the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad Brecksville Station.
The suspects were identified Tuesday as Brandon Baxter, 20; Anthony Hayne, 35; Joshua Stafford, 23; Connor Stevens, 20; and Douglas Wright, 26, Fox affiliate WJW-TV reported.
Baxter, Hayne and Wright were arrested Monday night by members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force on charges of conspiracy and attempted use of explosive materials to damage physical property affecting interstate commerce, according to the station.
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Syria violence kills 23 despite the so called UN-monitored "truce"
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Violence hit two Syrian provinces on Tuesday with a rights group reporting 10 civilians dead in an army mortar attack and 12 soldiers killed in a firefight with rebel gunmen as U.N. monitors sought to shore up a flimsy ceasefire.
The United Nations accused both sides of breaching the truce and said it had credible reports that at least 34 children had been killed since the accord took effect on April 12.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the 13-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, said nine members of one family died in mortar bomb blasts in a village in the northern province of Idlib.
An activist on the Turkish border, Tareq Abdelhaq, said 35 people had been wounded and that some were being carried 25 km (15 miles) along mountain tracks to receive emergency treatment in refugee camps dotted along the frontier.
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