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I moved to Rosemary's Thoughts

2007-08-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

I moved to Rosemary's Thoughts

It will take about the next 6 months for me to get all of my posts manually moved to the new site, but I will keep the titles and a message to guide any readers to my new site: Rosemary's Thoughts. It has truly been an honor serving you, my readers, and I pray for brighter days and a better world. God bless you, and take care. Oh yeah, come visit me over at my new site! :)

Cheney safe after blast at Afghan base kills 23

2007-02-27T07:44:00.000-08:00

This post, Cheney safe after blast at Afghan base kills 23, has moved to Rosemary's Thoughts.

CIA files: Japanese war leaders spied in Cold War

2007-02-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

This post, CIA files: Japanese war leaders spied in Cold War, has been moved to Rosemary's Thoughts.

Japan launches 4th spy satellite

2007-02-24T04:50:00.000-08:00

Japan launches 4th spy satellite

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japan launched its fourth spy satellite Saturday, stepping up its ability to gather intelligence from orbit and to keep a close eye on neighboring North Korea's nuclear program.

The satellite, along with a smaller test prototype, was launched from the country's space center on a remote southern Japan island atop an H-2A rocket, the workhorse of Japan's space program.

Japanese space agency spokesman Satoki Kurokawa described the liftoff -- which had been postponed three times due to poor weather -- as a success. Television footage showed the rocket racing up through cloudy skies.

The launch of the radar satellite enhances a multibillion dollar (euro), decade-old plan for Japan to have round-the-clock surveillance of the secretive North and other areas Japan wants to peer in on.

But weaknesses in the satellites' capabilities have led to criticism that the program is a waste of money and, with better data available on the commercial market, that Japan will continue to be dependent on Washington for its core intelligence.

The launch also comes just a month after China demonstrated its ability to shoot satellites out of orbit with ground-based missiles. Japan and other countries, including the United States, have strongly protested Beijing's anti-satellite test.

China has defended the test as peaceful, and said it presents no country with a threat.

Japanese space officials say the satellites provide an important means for the country to independently collect intelligence, and say improvements in the satellites' capabilities are in the works.

The prototype launched Saturday, for example, features higher-resolution optics that can be used in the future to improve the quality of the satellites' photographs from orbit.

Japan launched its first pair of spy satellites into orbit in March 2003. The program grew out of concern following North Korea's launch of a ballistic missile over Japan's main island in 1998.

The government's original plan was to put a total of eight intelligence-gathering satellites into orbit through 2006. However, it suffered a major setback in November 2003, when a rocket carrying the second set of spy satellites malfunctioned and was destroyed in mid-flight.

Officials say they are back on course now.

"Our crisis management has improved substantially," said Yasuhiro Itakura of the Cabinet office in charge of the program.

Though Japan's intelligence-gathering satellites are not under military control, Japan's ruling party proposed late last year that the military be allowed to use the country's space program. The proposal still needs to be approved by Parliament.

Since 1969, Japan's space program has been limited by a parliamentary resolution committed to peaceful uses. The new proposal would restrict military use of the program to self-defense, officials say.

Source: CNN.

Cheney: Realistic over N. Korea deal

2007-02-24T04:43:00.000-08:00

Cheney: Realistic over N. Korea deal

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday said Washington has a realistic view of recent steps in North Korea's nuclear weapons program, and also expressed concern about China's military buildup.

"We go into this deal with our eyes open," Cheney told members of the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue during a Friday speech in Sydney about the recent agreements with Pyongyang.

"In light of North Korea's missile tests last July, its nuclear test in October and its record of proliferation and human rights abuses, the regime in Pyongyang has much to prove. Yet this agreement represents a first hopeful step toward a better future for the North Korean people."

In an agreement that followed three years of talks, North Korea agreed earlier this month that it would halt its production of plutonium and begin closing down its nuclear program in exchange for $300 million in energy and financial aid. (Full story.)

But the former U.S. point man at the United Nations, John Bolton, publicly blasted the deal, saying it would encourage other countries to seek nuclear weapons.

U.S. President George W. Bush said last week that this agreement was different from the 1994 pact that his administration claims Pyongyang violated by trying to develop a uranium enrichment program. In this case, Bush said, North Korea's neighbors -- China, Russia, Japan and South Korea -- are acting in concert with Washington.

Worries about China

Cheney arrived in Australia after talks in Tokyo with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in which China's military rise and its growing clout in the region were high on the agenda.

"Last month's anti-satellite test and China's continued, fast-paced military buildup are less constructive and not consistent with China's stated goal of a peaceful rise," Cheney said. But he said he held out hope China would emerge as "a force for stability and peace in this region."

The Bush administration took office in 2001 with a more confrontational stance toward China than its predecessor, the Clinton administration, had taken. But it relied heavily on Beijing's influence with the Stalinist government in Pyongyang during the North Korean nuclear talks.

Cheney was scheduled to hold talks Friday with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a leading supporter of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The war has been unpopular in Australia, and anti-war demonstrators held protests in Sydney as Cheney spoke. (Full story.)

Australia has more than 1,400 troops in and around Iraq, and Cheney was scheduled to meet with members of the country's military Friday. He said the United States and Australia "are determined to prevail in Iraq, because we understand the consequences of failure."

Australia was one of the first nations to commit to the Iraq war, and despite the relatively small number of troops, Howard has been one of the most vocal supporters of the U.S.-led war.

Cheney praised Australian Prime Minister John Howard's commitment to the war, according to news services. The Australian commitment is being increasingly questioned and likely to become an election issue in the country.

"Prime Minister Howard and the nation he serves has never wavered on the war on terror," Cheney said, according to Reuters news service.

Howard -- whose ruling center-right Liberal Party will face Australian voters in October -- wandered into American electoral politics earlier this month by criticizing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's call for a withdrawal of U.S. combat troops. He told an Australian television interviewer that "If I was running al Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory, not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats."

Obama, a Democratic presidential hopeful, shot back that if Howard was still "ginned up" about the nearly 4-year-old war, "I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and send them to Iraq."

Source: CNN.

U.S. admiral questions Iran's motives

2007-02-24T04:33:00.000-08:00

U.S. admiral questions Iran's motives

By Barbara Starr
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House on Tuesday emphasized diplomacy over potential military action against Iran -- just a day after a top naval commander questioned the intentions behind Iran's recent exercises in the Persian Gulf.

Meeting with reporters at his headquarters in Bahrain on Monday, Vice Adm. Patrick Walsh, commander of the Fifth Fleet, said Iran is sending a message to the region that is "provocative and intimidating."

"Specifically, the concern with Iran is the combination of rhetoric and the exercises have taken on a very bellicose and pugnacious tone."

Walsh told reporters he was not trying to add to tensions with Iran, but said, "The trend line with Iran is one that is very concerning and troubling."

U.S. military officials also say Iranian patrol boats have probed defensive measures near Iraqi offshore oil terminals. The officials called those moves part of a continuing effort by Iran to raise its naval presence in the Gulf.

Top Bush administration officials, including President Bush, have denied the United States plans military action against Iran, and their complaints about Iranian meddling in Iraq are being met with doubt and alarm by many observers.

The Bush administration on Tuesday blasted those critics who say it's preparing for military action against Iran, warning that such speculation could undercut diplomatic efforts to break the impasse over Tehran's nuclear program. (Full story.)

"It's just been an interesting tactic in terms of trying to create a sense of aggression on the part of this administration that is not only unwarranted, but unwelcome in terms of trying to do diplomatically what we think ought to be done with Iran," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.

Snow said "suspicion and skepticism" could hinder efforts to persuade Iran to halt its production of nuclear fuel, as the United Nations has demanded, "right after we've demonstrated the success of diplomacy in North Korea using the same means and methods that we're trying to employ with the Iranians."

"Therefore, it just strikes as curious why people persist in trying to stoke up rumors about something that simply isn't true," he said.

However, the Navy commander's remarks added new fuel to the rumors.

Walsh said the exercises and training by Iran that involve the areas around the Strait of Hormuz are his "greatest concern."

For Iran "to focus on the most constricted part of the gulf which serves as the economic artery to the community of nations is one that we can only conclude is an act done in provocation; to intimidate and to strike fear in those in the region," he said.

Walsh noted that a year ago he told reporters that the contacts the U.S. Navy had with the Iranians in the Persian Gulf were professional, but now the tone has changed.

"When they take that tone and they have very aggressive displays of a warlike bellicose sort of attitude, it's hard for me to arrive at that same characterization," he said.

Bush's January announcement that he had ordered a second aircraft carrier battle group to the Persian Gulf and would share Patriot air-defense missile systems with U.S. allies in the region raised fears that the Iraq war could spread. So have its accusations that Iran is supplying advanced explosives to Shiite Muslim militias inside Iraq.

American-led raids have led to the arrests of several Iranians, and the administration has authorized the use of deadly force against suspected Iranian agents in Iraq. But Snow said the issue is being dealt with as a force-protection measure within Iraq

Source: CNN.

Guinea lawmakers reject president's martial law request

2007-02-24T03:56:00.000-08:00

Guinea lawmakers reject president's martial law request

CONAKRY, Guinea (Reuters) -- Guinea's Parliament on Friday refused a request from President Lansana Conte to extend martial law in a rare act of defiance against his autocratic rule over the West African country.

The period of martial law, imposed nationwide 11 days ago to quell violent protests accompanying a general strike, was to expire later Friday, but the president asked the National Assembly to prolong it, citing security concerns.

"The assembly deputies present unanimously refuse to renew martial law," National Assembly President Aboubacar Sompare told Parliament after a vote on Conte's request.

This meant the martial law rules, which gave the military sweeping search-and-arrest powers and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew, would cease at midnight Friday.

Union leaders say Conte, a reclusive diabetic in his 70s who has ruled since 1984, is unfit to govern, and they are demanding he appoint a new, neutral prime minister with powers to hire and fire ministers. They had criticized Conte's plan to extend martial law and said their strike would continue until he named a new premier.

"The strike is maintained. ... This initiative of Conte's will only radicalize our movement," union negotiator Boubacar Biro Barry said before meeting West African mediators.

Strike leaders had relaunched their stoppage after he chose a close ally, Eugene Camara, as prime minister despite having agreed to name a consensus figure.

More than 120 people, mostly unarmed civilians, have been killed since the beginning of the year in clashes between security forces and protesters.

The imposition of martial law restored some calm to the former French colony, keeping protesters off the streets by giving the army the right to shoot looters and troublemakers.

Union leaders met with Nigeria's former military ruler, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who is leading a delegation from the Economic Community of West African States to push for a negotiated settlement.

The unrest in Guinea has raised concerns that growing protests could shatter a fragile peace in the wider region, particularly in neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia, which are just starting to recover from civil wars.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said Conte must work with all parties to stop the political crisis from deteriorating into bloodshed and threatening neighbor states.

"If anything happens to Guinea, it could spill over. All our borders are porous," she told Reuters in an interview in Rwanda.

Source: CNN.

Disgruntled Guineans struggle for change

2007-02-24T03:49:00.000-08:00

Disgruntled Guineans struggle for change

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) -- Farmer Mohamed Conte tried to ignore his West African country's turbulent politics until a week ago, when soldiers riding with a passing presidential convoy shot him in the leg as anti-government protests raged across the capital.

Laying in an overflowing hospital ward full of gunshot victims with similar stories, the 62-year-old says he's joining the masses: he wants Guinea's longtime president to go.

"If someone shot you in your foot, would you continue to support him?" he asks, gesturing to the bloody bandage wrapped from toe to thigh. He says he wasn't protesting, just walking near the road.

In a country known for totalitarian rule and government corruption, the tide may be turning against longtime ruler President Lansana Conte, and people are speaking out more than ever before, urging him to step down. Facing protests, riots and nationwide strikes this month for the third time in less than 10 months, Conte, said to be 73, has hit back with a harsh crackdown, declaring martial law last week for the first time in decades. (Full Story.)

"We have never seen this kind of reaction before," Giles Yabi, a Guinea analyst for Brussels-based conflict think tank International Crisis Group, said of the popular protests. "We have a real tipping point in that they continue to take the streets."

But in their quest to remove Conte union leaders backed by a disgruntled population are walking a risky tightrope. The challenge is how to do it without sparking a military coup or more violence.

Conte, who has ruled this west African nation since 1984, justified his imposition of martial law by saying it was the only way to avoid civil war.

Seeking change

Unions called their first strike a year ago demanding unpaid wages for teachers and salary increases for civil servants to help offset surging prices for staples like rice. Most Guineans live in poverty even though their country boasts about half the world's bauxite -- an ingredient in aluminum -- along with deposits of iron ore, gold and diamonds.

Seeing no change by summer, they followed with a general strike in June that shut down the country for more than a week. Non-union members stayed home in solidarity and youth rioted in empty streets. About 10 people died.

Last month, union demands got more political: they called for the trial of a government official and a businessman accused of graft, then took up the cries of protesters and demanded Conte step down. Thousands marched on the capital and met government forces who shot or killed at least 59 people.

The unions struck a compromise deal with the president: he would name an independent prime minister who would take over much of the running of the government. Conte selected a Cabinet minister and longtime ally to the post instead, prompting more protests.

At least 47 people have died in the capital alone in the latest wave of clashes with security forces and rioting. Rights groups say dozens more died in clashes and looting in the interior.

Bakary Fofana, one of the heads of Guinea's council of civil society organizations, says people will continue to protest.

"People are getting used to the gunshots," says Bakary Fofana, one of the heads of Guinea's council of civil society organizations. "The noise of weapons doesn't make them afraid anymore."

The unions, meanwhile, continue their dance with the government. They've again backed off demands for Conte to step down, saying they want him to name a different prime minister. Residents say they're waiting to see if the negotiations are successful.

"The unions don't even represent 5,000 workers, but the population has taken up the unions as their voice, to make their demands known," explains Djibril Tamsir Niane, a retired history professor in the capital, Conakry.

Across the capital, Guineans say things have changed.

Boubacar Bah, a 30-year-old accountant, claims he was shot at during earlier protests and says he'll continue to take to the streets if that's what it takes to get a new government.

"If people don't take control of politics, the politicians are going to continue to control the people," Bah said from a storefront bench in a neighborhood that was ransacked by youth mobs just days earlier.

Mohamed Conte, the wounded farmer, puts his sense of abandonment even more succinctly. "The government wants to kill me," he said with an edge of shock in his voice.

Meanwhile, Conte appears to allotting more power to loyalists in his bid to stay in power.

Conte authorized military chief Gen. Kerfalla Camara, a close ally, to take any means necessary to return peace to Guinea until the "state of siege" expires Friday.

Many say younger officers are less loyal. In the first days of last week's strike, shooting was heard at an army barracks, prompting Conte to promote a host of Guinea's lower-ranking officers.

Conte has controlled Guinea since seizing power in a military coup soon after the death of the country's only other president since independence from France in 1958. The ruler -- reportedly ailing from diabetes and a heart condition that take him to Europe for regular treatments -- has held on to power through elections the opposition says were rigged.

Though the country remains poor, Conte is credited with keeping Guinea stable as regional neighbors Sierra Leone and Liberia descended into civil war in the 1990s. Those two nations have ended their own conflicts, though rebels and loyalists are still facing off in neighboring war-divided Ivory Coast.

Violence looms

For years, Guineans have worried that Conte's death would bring violence. Now it looks like frustrated youth may not wait that long.

Experts warn any serious violence in Guinea could throw the fragile region in into turmoil again -- with new waves of refugees or fighters spilling across borders.

Others say the danger of instability comes not from within Guinea, but the forested region surrounding it. Young men who grew up fighting in Sierra Leone and Liberia are unemployed and looking for someone new to follow, says Mike McGovern, a Guinea expert and anthropology professor Yale University.

"You've got a reservoir of young men who are good at fighting and looting and not at very much else," McGovern says. "Any time you have something like what's going on in Guinea now, it kind of reactivates these guys. ... they're going to gravitate toward Guinea."

Source: CNN.

Some mull idea of Sen. Bill Clinton

2007-02-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Some mull idea of Sen. Bill Clinton

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WASHINGTON - If Hillary Rodham Clinton wins the presidency, some top Democrats would like to see her husband, former President Bill Clinton, appointed to serve out Hillary’s unexpired Senate term.

“As a senator, he’d be a knockout,” said Harold Ickes, who was once a top White House aide to Bill Clinton and now gives behind-the-scenes advice to Hillary. “He knows issues, he loves public policy and he’s a good politician.”

Some Democrats and political analysts say Bill Clinton would thrive in the world’s greatest deliberative body, much like Lyndon Johnson did before he became president.

“President Clinton would excel in the Senate,” said Paul Begala, who helped Bill Clinton get elected and served in the White House as a top aide.

“Why not?” Begala added. “He excelled as attorney general and governor of Arkansas, he excelled as president and he’s been a model of the modern Senate spouse.”

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, agreed.

“Clinton is a natural for the Senate,” Sabato said. “He loves to talk and schmooze. He could be a great vote-organizer. Majority Leader Clinton?”

Such a scenario is not beyond the realm of possibility now that the governor’s mansion in New York is occupied by a Democrat, Eliot Spitzer, who succeeded Republican Gov. George Pataki last month. If Hillary Clinton wins the White House, Spitzer would likely appoint a fellow Democrat to take over her Senate seat.

So far, speculation about potential successors has focused on New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose father once held the same Senate seat.

But Spitzer could just as easily appoint Bill Clinton, who, under New York law, would fill his wife’s Senate seat through 2010. A special election would then be held, and the winner would serve the final two years of her term, which expires in 2012.

Although Ickes would love to see Bill Clinton in the Senate, he considers the scenario a long shot.

“I think there’d be a real call on [Spitzer] to appoint a black senator,” Ickes said. “I think there’d be a real call on him to appoint a Hispanic senator.”

Bill Clinton, who was once dubbed America’s “first black president” by author Toni Morrison, would not be the first former president to serve in Congress. John Quincy Adams had a long career in the House after his presidency, and Andrew Johnson served briefly in the Senate after a stint in the White House. Johnson and Clinton are the only two presidents in history to have been impeached by the House. Both were acquitted by the Senate.

Political analysts say a Senate seat for Bill would go a long way toward solving a potentially nettlesome problem for Hillary — what to do with her husband if they return to the White House. The former president currently maintains an office in Harlem and a home with his wife in Chappaqua, N.Y.

“Nothing will solve the Bill problem entirely,” Sabato said. “He will be restless and underfoot for Hillary, in part because he is the more talented pol.”

There would also be financial ramifications.

“It would certainly lower the family income because there are restrictions on how much a senator can bring in on speeches and so forth,” said presidential scholar Stephen Hess of George Washington University. “Of course he’d have housing, because she’d put him up in the Lincoln Bedroom or something.”

E-mail Bill Sammon.

Source: Washington Examiner.

Rice calls North Korean deal 'important first step'

2007-02-18T04:16:00.000-08:00

Rice calls North Korean deal 'important first step'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. officials on Tuesday defended the Bush administration's policy shift on North Korea, which coincided with an agreement by Pyongyang to begin to close down its nuclear program.

North Korea now has 60 days to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear complex and readmit nuclear inspectors. In return, it will get 50,000 tons of fuel oil or financial aid of an equal amount.

Once Pyongyang takes additional steps to disable its nuclear program, including taking inventory of its plutonium stockpile, it will qualify for another 950,000 tons of fuel oil or equivalent aid, according to the terms of the deal. The aid package is worth $300 million.

North Korean state media reported that the agreement called only for a "temporary suspension" of Pyongyang's nuclear program, according to wire reports.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice drew a distinction between the first 60-day period, when she said nuclear activities will be suspended, and the later "disablement phase."

"The disabling of these facilities is a sign that the North Koreans may, in fact, be ready to make a strategic choice," she said at a briefing in Washington. "I will not take it as a complete sign until we've seen that disablement, but obviously disablement is an important step forward."

"I am pleased with the agreements reached today at the Six Party Talks in Beijing," President Bush said in a statement. "These talks represent the best opportunity to use diplomacy to address North Korea's nuclear programs. They reflect the common commitment of the participants to a Korean Peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons."

The United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia have been holding talks with North Korean officials since 2002 in an effort to convince Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Not addressed in the agreement is what will happen to any nuclear weapons North Korea may have stockpiled. Reports have suggested that Pyongyang already may have as many as a dozen nuclear bombs.

The omission marks a change from the previous statements -- including by Christopher Hill, the U.S. envoy to the six-party talks, in September 2005 -- that all elements, past and present, of North Korea's nuclear program "will be comprehensively declared and completely, verifiably and irreversibly eliminated" for benefits to accrue.

The Bush administration halted fuel shipments agreed by the Clinton White House after North Korea said it was developing a nuclear weapons program in 2002. Earlier that year President Bush labeled Pyongyang part of the "axis of evil."

Bolton: Agreement sends 'wrong signal'.

John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, blasted the new deal Monday in an interview with CNN, saying it would only encourage other countries trying to secure nuclear weapons.

"It sends exactly the wrong signal to would-be proliferators around the world: If you hold out long enough and wear down the State Department negotiators, eventually you get rewarded," said Bolton, who was also involved with North Korea earlier as the State Department's undersecretary for arms control.

"It makes the [Bush] administration look very weak at a time in Iraq and dealing with Iran it needs to look strong," he said.

Hill on Tuesday defended the deal, saying it is different from the policy developed under the Clinton administration because it is a multilateral agreement.

"This is not a bilateral deal between the U.S. and North Korea," Hill said. "This involves six parties, with China in the share. I think the deal here is that North Korea has made certain commitments not only to us, but to all of its neighbors."

Bolton said the six-party deal "contradicts fundamental premises of the president's policy he's been following for the past six years" and could have effects on U.S. relations in other hot spots.

"I'm hoping that the president has not been fully briefed on it and still has time to reject it," he said.

As U.N. ambassador, Bolton helped push through a U.N. resolution last year that led to economic sanctions against North Korea.

Responding to the criticism, Hill pointed out that Bolton is a private citizen and has the right to speak his mind. Hill said he expects further criticism and emphasized that the deal is based on "initial actions" that will "begin a process aimed at complete denuclearization."

In October 2002, North Korea admitted it was developing a nuclear weapons program in violation of the 1994 Agreed Framework reached between the United States and North Korea. The United States then halted fuel oil shipments to Pyongyang called for under the same agreement.

In September 2005, North Korea committed to abandoning its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees. Pyongyang walked away from the talks weeks later to protest a U.S. crackdown on banks suspected of helping North Korea with illegal financial activities.

This time, an administration official said: "The Koreans faced five other united members, and they realized they were standing alone."

Source: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, John Vause and Susie Xu contributed to this report.

Oxfam: Action needed for Chad

2007-02-17T21:56:00.000-08:00

Oxfam: Action needed for Chad

N'DJAMENA, Chad (Reuters) -- Aid agency Oxfam urged the international community to tackle rising violence in eastern Chad before it becomes "another Darfur", ahead of a Security Council meeting on Thursday to decide on a peacekeeping force.

Ethnic conflict and a simmering rebellion in Chad's east have displaced tens of thousands of people and hampered efforts to aid a flood of refugees from Sudan's western Darfur region, where a four-year conflict has killed more than 200,000 people.

The Security Council was due to meet on Thursday to discuss a proposal to deploy a mission to protect civilians and respond to humanitarian challenges in eastern Chad.

Oxfam called on U.N. member states to make financial and logistical preparations to deploy peacekeepers this month, should the Security Council give its approval on Thursday.

"The situation is spiraling out of control," Roland Van Hauwermeiren, head of Oxfam in Chad, said in a statement.

"We are facing an extraordinary situation as more than 230,000 refugees who fled attacks in Darfur in 2003 and 2004 are joined by thousands of Chadians fleeing a new wave of fighting at home," he added.

With violence blocking efforts to establish decent camps and provide clean drinking water, Oxfam said diarrhea, cholera and hepatitis could spread among thousands of displaced people.

"In some of the areas where we work, you've got 12,000 or 15,000 people and not a single latrine," said Van Hauwermeiren. In the northeastern province of Dar Tama, traditional rivalries are turning into a major conflict, as groups become better armed and more numerous.

In the southeastern region of Dar Sila, cross-border raids are being carried out by Darfur's Janjaweed ethnic militia.

A variety of rebel groups are engaged with a cat-and-mouse war with President Idriss Deby's forces all across eastern Chad.

A senior U.N. official in the region said this week the United Nations was already preparing an advance mission to the Chad-Sudan border area to lay the groundwork for a possible international force.

An initial U.N. assessment mission sent to Chad in November concluded it was too dangerous to send in peacekeepers until all sides agreed to a political truce.

However, diplomats said the Security Council ordered a reassessment after its members complained at a closed-door session that too little was being done to protect suffering civilians.

Source: CNN.

Questions remain on N. Korea disarmament

2007-02-17T21:47:00.000-08:00

Questions remain on N. Korea disarmament

BEIJING, China (AP) -- A hard-won disarmament pact that the U.S. and four other nations struck with North Korea requires the communist nation to halt its nuclear programs in exchange for oil. But the deal leaves the ultimate abandonment of those weapons projects to a potentially trouble-filled future.

In a sign of potential problems to come, North Korea's state news agency said the country was receiving 1 million tons of oil for a "temporary suspension" of its nuclear facilities -- and failed to mention the full disarmament for which the agreement calls.

It wasn't clear if the report represented an attempt by the government to backtrack on the deal, or was simply a statement of bluster for a deeply impoverished domestic audience that Pyongyang has rallied around the nuclear program as a cause for national pride.

And by tackling so many issues in a process likely to take years, the deal could unravel, pulled apart by differing agendas of its six signers, which also include China, South Korea, Russia and Japan.

"We have a lot of work to do," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters Tuesday. "It's certainly not the end of the process, it's really just the end of the beginning of the process." (Details of the deal.)

Nevertheless, the agreement marks a turnabout for North Korea, which rattled the world only four months ago when it tested a nuclear device. If Pyongyang follows through with its promises, they would be the first moves the communist state has made to scale back its atomic development since it kicked out international inspectors and restarted its sole operating nuclear reactor in 2003.

"These talks represent the best opportunity to use diplomacy to address North Korea's nuclear programs," U.S. President George W. Bush said in a statement. "They reflect the common commitment of the participants to a Korean peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons."

Robert J. Einhorn, a former State Department official who visited North Korea with then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said Americans should applaud the agreement, but he predicted it would come under heavy questioning from both the right and the left.

He said, "I think a number of people are going to ask the question, `Couldn't this deal have been concluded three or four years ago before North Korea conducted its nuclear test and acquired enough additional plutonium to build anywhere from six to 10 nuclear weapons?"'

On the right, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said the agreement rewards North Korea for bad behavior while encouraging Iran to ignore international demands that it roll back its nuclear program and hold out for a better deal.

No timetable set.

In the negotiations, envoys debated who would pay for North Korea's disarmament. China, the U.S., South Korea and Russia agreed to foot the bill though Moscow may contribute in the form of debt relief. Japan has refused to provide aid until Pyongyang fully accounts for the abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea.

"We understand it marks the first concrete step by North Korea toward its nuclear dismantlement," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. "But our position that Japan cannot provide support without a resolution of the abduction issue is unchanged."

Disarmament, however, is likely to remain the thorniest problem.

"What if North Korea doesn't show them to inspectors, if they say we've stopped this and shut down that, what if they say you have to trust us?" said Liu Gongliang, a physicist at China's Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics who has followed North Korea's nuclear program for the Chinese government.

Under the deal, the North is required to seal its main nuclear reactor and related facilities at Yongbyon, north of the capital, within 60 days and allow inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Senior IAEA figures have met regularly with North Korean diplomats in past months preparing for such a mission, and a diplomat familiar with the status of preparations told The Associated Press that IAEA inspectors could be on site "within days" once given the go-ahead.

But no timetable was set for a final declaration by North Korea of all its nuclear programs and their ultimate dismantling.

North Korea has sidestepped previous agreements. It allegedly operated its uranium-based weapons program even as it froze a plutonium-based one, sparking the latest nuclear crisis in late 2002. The country is believed to have countless mountainside tunnels in which to hide projects.

The uranium program was not explicitly addressed in the agreement. But, Hill said, "I certainly have made very clear repeatedly that we need to ensure that we know precisely the status of that."

The nuclear issue has frequently been ensnarled by lingering frictions between the North and its neighbors, as well as a dispute over U.S. sanctions against the regime for alleged money laundering and counterfeiting activities. Hill said the sanctions issue would be resolved within 30 days, but didn't provide specifics.

The United States will also begin the process of removing North Korea from its designation as a terror-sponsoring state and also on ending U.S. trade sanctions, but no deadlines have been was set, according to the agreement. Washington's blacklisting of a Macau bank in September 2005 had led the North to a more-than-yearlong boycott of the six-nation talks during which it tested its first nuclear bomb.

Source: CNN.

Mauritania, Spain struggle to find home for migrants

2007-02-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

Mauritania, Spain struggle to find home for migrants

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) -- The 400 migrants stranded off the West African coast for 10 days as the governments of two countries argued over their fate continued their wait on land and in the air Tuesday.

Mauritanian officials were struggling to find countries willing to accept them.

Spanish officials sent four military planes to Mauritania to repatriate the migrants, but only one of the four had taken off by Tuesday afternoon. It headed south to Guinea-Bissau, a nation on the Atlantic coast near where the boat initially departed, but was turned back in mid-air, after Guinean officials refused to let it land.

It returned to Mauritania, where officials initially refused to allow it to land, but eventually let it land for refueling, said Yahfdhou Ould Amar, the police chief of Nouadhibou.

Soon after, it took off for what the governor of Nouadhibou called an unknown destination. "It's taken off but we don't know to where," said Mohamed Yahya Ould Mohamed Vall, the governor of the fishing town where the migrants initially came ashore on Monday.

The plane was carrying about 30 African migrants, who come from countries including Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

About 370 others are thought to be from Pakistan, mostly from the troubled region of Kashmir, but many have refused to divulge their identities in an attempt to avoid repatriation, Vall said.

Also hampering their repatriation is the fact that officials have not been able to arrange for governments in Asia to accept them.

Mauritania agreed to take the migrants following pressure from Spain and international aid groups, and on the condition that they would immediately be sent to their home countries.

The ship, called Marine 1, had been heading to Spain's Canary Islands, but ran into mechanical problems and was taken under tow off the Mauritanian coast by a Spanish rescue vessel over a week ago. Mauritania agreed to let the rusty, broken down vessel dock at one of its ports and allow its occupants ashore, after it spent 10 days in legal limbo on the high seas.

Source: CNN.

NK 'shows willing' in nuke talks

2007-02-08T23:21:00.000-08:00

NK 'shows willing' in nuke talks

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- North Korea said it was willing to consider first steps to ending its nuclear arms program at six-party talks that opened on Thursday, with China drafting a deal that could mark rare progress in the tortuous negotiations.

The U.S. envoy to the talks, Christopher Hill, said negotiators were looking to end North Korea's production of the plutonium that fed its first nuclear test explosion last year.

"We're interested in addressing problems created by plutonium production in North Korea," Hill told reporters. "We're not interested in just freezing, we are interested in moving toward taking steps toward the abandonment of these nuclear programs."

Russia's RIA news agency quoted unnamed diplomatic sources in the Chinese capital as saying the draft was distributed to national delegations late on Thursday night.

South Korea's envoy, Chun Yung-woo, said the potential deal would spell out parts of a 2005 agreement promising North Korea aid and security assurances in return for nuclear disarmament.

"We have confirmed that there is a consensus among the countries that there must be an agreement on the early steps on implementing the Sept. 19 joint statement at this round," he said after the first day of talks.

Participants have dismissed hopes of an immediate settlement of the long-burning nuclear standoff. But even limited agreement would ease tensions in volatile northeast Asia and would be a diplomatic victory for the beleaguered Bush administration.

Rice optimistic.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a deal could be in sight. "I am cautiously optimistic that we may be able to begin, again, to implement the joint statement of 2005," she told a congressional panel in Washington.

Since 2003, six-party talks have brought together the host China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia in a stop-start effort to curtail Pyongyang's nuclear plans, which took a dramatic step forward with the October nuclear test.

In previous sessions, hopes of progress have foundered over North Korea's distrust of Washington and, since late 2005, the North's objections to a U.S. financial squeeze.

U.S. envoy Hill did not rule out the current talks coming to nothing. But he said North Korea was finally considering specific steps towards curbing its nuclear activities.

"These would be set of actions, and not a set of pledges, but really a set of actions that would have to be taken in a finite amount of time," he told reporters.

"We think if we can get this first good step it will give us some momentum to get to the next step and the step after that."

Hill has avoided specifying what he wants the first act by North Korea to be, but many observers have homed in on the North's Yongbyon nuclear plant, which produces plutonium that can be used in weapons.

Japan's chief delegate, Kenichiro Sasae, echoed that demand.

"North Korea needs to halt and seal its operations of the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and accept verification and monitoring by the IAEA," he told Thursday's meeting, according to a draft of his speech released by Japan's Foreign Ministry.

He was referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which inspects nuclear facilities and oversees disarmament.

"The initial-stage steps must be implemented in a relatively short period of time," Sasae added. Hill said the proposed deal would unfold over a few weeks if agreement was reached.

After the first day of talks, secretive North Korea remained silent about its demands.

In December, Pyongyang's negotiator Kim Kye-kwan stymied hopes of a deal by focusing instead on objections to a U.S. financial crackdown on what Washington said was clear evidence of North Korean counterfeiting of U.S. cash and other misdeeds.

Kim told China's official Xinhua news agency before leaving Pyongyang he did not "expect too much" from the talks and their fate lay in U.S. hands.

"We are prepared to discuss the initial steps, but the judgment (for the talks) should be based on whether the United States will come forward and abandon its hostile policy against us and co-exist peacefully," Kim said on arrival in Beijing.

Source: CNN.

Struggling African nation hopes Whoopi can help

2007-02-08T23:12:00.000-08:00

Struggling African nation hopes Whoopi can help

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) -- When the government of one of the world's poorest nations learned that Whoopi Goldberg had taken a DNA test showing her ancestors hail from there, the news necessitated a high-level meeting.

It was, the country's leaders decided, a chance to change the image of a nation plagued by coups since wresting independence from Portugal in 1973. If the world could only grasp that a Hollywood celebrity traced her roots to this forsaken corner of the globe, it could bring goodwill from afar -- even fame for Guinea-Bissau, they reasoned.

So they set out to write a letter on official stationary embossed with the country's star-shaped seal. It was hand-delivered to the U.S. Embassy, which passed it on to the State Department in Washington with instructions for onward delivery to the home of the Oscar-winning actress.

It begins, with some uncertainty on the star's name: "Your Excellency Hoppy Goldberg, it is with great euphoria that the government of Guinea-Bissau ... learned of your ancestral origins .... The news has awoken in each and every one of us a deep sense of fraternity .... We simply cannot remain indifferent to the news of your Guinean heritage."

The two pages peppered with elaborate expressions of praise and respect end with a simple request: Please come visit our country.

For a special for PBS, the American public broadcaster, that aired last year, prominent black Americans agreed to take a DNA test. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey discovered her roots in the rainforests of Liberia with the Kpelle tribe and Bishop T.D. Jakes in Nigeria's Ebo people. Goldberg found that her genetic makeup is overwhelmingly Papel and Bayote, two tribes indigenous to this country on Africa's western seaboard.

"She will come. She's Guinean. She's our daughter. She's ours," Minister of Tourism Francisco Conduto de Pina said.

A nation in need.

Few countries are poorer than Guinea-Bissau, a country of 1.3 million roughly the size of Maryland. In the capital, there are so few hospital beds that women in labor share mattresses in cramped maternity wards. Water is chronically in short supply, so much so that the fire department does not have enough pressure in its hoses to fight blazes.

Restaurants routinely run out of food. Civil servants go months without a paycheck. Entire neighborhoods in the capital have not had electricity for the past six months.

It's not hard to see how Goldberg's fame and her unexpected blood ties to Guinea could seem like an unparalleled opportunity.

But in an e-mail to The Associated Press, the actress' publicist, Brad Cafarelli, writes that Goldberg never received the letter. "Regardless," he says, "due to the fact that she hosts a live daily radio show from New York and does not fly, it would not be possible for her to travel to West Africa in the foreseeable future."

That message has not yet made it to Guinea-Bissau, however, where the politicians that conceived the letter simply think she's taking her time to reply.

"We're waiting for her with much anticipation," said Prime Minister Aristides Gomes, sitting in his leather-clad office, an oasis of comfort in the crumbling capital.

Little access to Goldberg.

Gomes says he's a fan of "The Color Purple," the critically acclaimed film which secured Goldberg's spot in Hollywood. But he admits few of his countrymen have seen the movie -- or any others for that matter featuring the 51-year-old actress.

There are only two TV channels in Guinea-Bissau and both broadcast in Portuguese. After the government learned of Goldberg's ancestry, national TV began showing her movies with Portuguese subtitles. "Sister Act" and "Sister Act II" were instant hits in the capital, but in much of the country's brush-covered interior, access to TV is rare.

Her movies never reached the grass-covered huts of Ome, a village 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Bissau located at the epicenter of the country's Papel region, whose people share her DNA.

"I have no idea who that is," said Tiro Ca, 50, carrying a baby on her back, who stopped to pore over a headshot of the actress brought to the village by the AP.

But as mothers carrying babies and young men in jeans gathered to muse over the photograph, a consensus emerged: "This woman must be Papel," said Iye Faustino, 28, his hands pointing to the actress' distinctive cheekbones, not unlike that of the women crowding around the grainy image. The shape of her mouth and her nose, he added, is similar to theirs.

In the PBS special, the actress expressed a degree of reticence upon learning of her exact origins: "Who would I see when I went back, if I was able to go back to the village? Would I recognize anybody? Would they look like my mom?"

Likely she would find people that look not too unlike her.

"She's pretty," said Faustino, before handing the picture back. "If she comes here, we will be very happy to see her."

Source: CNN.

Report: 120 North Korean political prisoners escape

2007-02-08T22:53:00.000-08:00

Report: 120 North Korean political prisoners escape

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Some 120 inmates escaped from a political concentration camp in northeastern North Korea several months ago in an unprecedented prison break, news reports said Tuesday.

The prisoners escaped from Hwasong camp in North Hamgyong, a province close to the Chinese and Russian borders, in December, the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported Wednesday.

Daily NK, a Seoul-based Internet news site focusing on North Korea, also carried a similar report on Tuesday.

Both reports cited multiple unnamed sources in North Korea.

An official at South Korea's Unification Ministry, which deals with North Korean affairs, said he was unable to confirm the reports but questioned their reliability. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

News leaked from the reclusive North, which shuns outside access, is usually hard to confirm.

The Daily NK report said the area was put in a "state of emergency" after the prison break, calling it unprecedented.

North Korean authorities have since tightened inspections at Hwasong and adjacent cities to catch the fugitives, of whom 21 have so far been caught, the report said. So far, 21 prisoners have been caught, most of whom were found in China and sent back to the communist North after failed attempts to defect to South Korea, the report said.

The Hwasong prison camp -- located deep inside a mountain and encircled by high wire fences -- holds about 10,000 prisoners, Daily NK said. The escape seemed to have been carefully planned with outside help since the escapees drove off in a vehicle waiting outside the prison, according to the report.

Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are believed to be held in prison camps in the communist North for political reasons, according to U.S. government data.

Separately, Daily NK reported Sunday that 20 North Korean guards along the border with China had fled the country to avoid arrest for allegedly helping North Korean defectors cross the border.

The guards had fled to China, where the North sent intelligence officials to capture them, the report said, citing a North Korean resident.

Hundreds of North Koreans leave the country every year to escape poverty and political repression, usually through China. Defectors in South Korea say they usually bribe border guards to cross the border.

Source: CNN.

Pyongyang's nuke envoy dubbed 'the smiling assassin'

2007-02-06T05:50:00.000-08:00

Pyongyang's nuke envoy dubbed 'the smiling assassin'

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- For those who have sat across the table from him, North Korean chief nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan is known simply as "the smiling assassin."

A youthful 64, Kim is the face of Pyongyang's nuclear crisis and the communist state's best-known diplomat.

Disarming and shrewd, he has been at the North Korean nuclear game longer than almost any other diplomat and will almost certainly be leading his country's delegation when six-way nuclear discussions formally resume on Thursday.

"He's always cordial, but he is pretty effective," an official involved in the talks said. "Sometimes you may not realize what's happening, but it's just him getting the job done."

Charles Pritchard, a former U.S. negotiator with North Korea, calls him "the dean" of all the negotiators.

"He can be quick on his feet." said Pritchard, who used to be able to share jokes with Kim as the two grew to know each other.

Recent contact between North Korea and the United States has raised hope for the prospects of the nuclear talks, which also include South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.

According to South Korean government data, Kim's diplomatic career began with a posting to Algeria in 1969, followed by two decades of service that was heavy on developing-world diplomacy.

Then in the early 1990s, he surfaced to the forefront of the North's nuclear diplomacy as part of the Pyongyang delegation which negotiated a now defunct deal with Washington aimed at freezing its nuclear programs in return for energy aid.

Then he appeared a grey cadre spouting communist ideology. Now he is a nattily dressed diplomat who often appears to be a voice of authority from the North.

Jettisoning a communist penchant for harangues, Kim can be startlingly to the point. "Everything can change," he said last month in Beijing when asked if Pyongyang would be more flexible on its longstanding demand for U.S. concessions.

He may be the only North Korean diplomat who will regularly sit down for news conferences with Western media, even answering questions on the fly from reporters not shoved aside by his security detail.

"He's learned the art of negotiation and dropped a lot of the ideologically driven comments when he sits down at the table," said a diplomat who has followed Kim since he first emerged on the international stage.

Kim, dubbed "the smiling assassin" by former South Korean nuclear officials, has been infinitely courteous with reporters, yet unbending in tough negotiating sessions.

"He knows these issues backwards and forwards and up and down, so he's a formidable guy to sit down with," said Thomas Hubbard, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

But officials and experts say his impact on the direction of the negotiations could be limited because he has no family ties with paramount leader Kim Jong-il.

"Like most of the North Korean team, Kim is polished and smooth, but he is not so much a negotiator as a buffer," said a former U.S. official who attended most rounds of the six-way talks but has since left government.

Source: CNN.

Cross-posted at Causes of Interest.

Mass defection decimates South Korea's ruling party

2007-02-06T05:26:00.000-08:00

Mass defection decimates South Korea's ruling party.

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- A group of lawmakers deserted South Korea's ruling Uri Party on Tuesday, dumping the liberal group into the second-ranked slot in parliament and leaving it in disarray ahead of this year's presidential election.

The defection is likely to scupper attempts at economic and constitutional reform by the country's deeply unpopular president Roh Moo-hyun, and will strengthen the hand of the Grand National Party, which backs a tougher line with North Korea.

Roh wants to change the constitution so that his successors can serve two terms instead of one, which would give the president more sway in forming long-term policies.

The group of 23 defecting lawmakers said Uri -- which has a popular support rate of about 10 percent -- had failed.

"We are giving up on the Uri Party," lawmaker Lee Jong-kul told reporters, saying the party had let voters down.

Roh, increasingly labeled a lame duck in his final year in office by the local media, had appealed for unity. But some Uri members said they had to distance themselves from him to have a chance in December's presidential vote.

With the defection, the conservative Grand National Party has now surpassed Uri to become the largest group in parliament.

The Grand National Party has 127 members in the 299-seat unicameral parliament. Prior to the defection, Uri had 133.

Surveys have indicated some of the biggest concerns of South Korean voters are runaway real estate prices and uncertainty about the job market.

Uri will likely split into two groups, political analysts said.

One group would follow Roh, whose support rate is only slightly higher than Uri's, and his calls for economic reform aimed at narrowing income disparity.

The other group would try to distance itself from Roh's policies and advocate market-based economic reforms, they said.

A trickle of lawmakers had already left Uri -- whose name means "our" in Korean -- in the past few weeks.

Opinion polls show the Grand National Party as the clear frontrunner to provide South Korea's next president.

Previous South Korean presidents, facing falling support rates, have also seen their parties crumble into disarray ahead of a presidential vote.

Source: CNN.

Cross-posted at: Causes of Interest.

NK at impasse, threatens 2nd test

2007-01-31T20:02:00.000-08:00

NK at impasse, threatens 2nd test

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- North Korea will feel compelled to announce plans for another nuclear test if a financial dispute with Washington is not resolved, a source said on Wednesday, a sign of Pyongyang's impatience with a lack of progress in talks.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser resumed talks with North Korean officials in Beijing on Tuesday over the dispute over currency counterfeiting. He said the talks were inching forward and had "established a framework" for more negotiations.

Glaser also said U.S. Secret Service officials had presented North Korean officials with their findings.

The source with close ties to the North Korean government said the United States lacked evidence of wrongdoing, and that North Korea would likely express its frustration when it comes to six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear programs scheduled for February 8 in Beijing.

"If the United States does not resolve it, North Korea will have no choice but to announce at the six-party talks that it plans to conduct another test," the source told Reuters after being briefed by a North Korean official.

The last session of talks grouping the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China was held in December -- two months after Pyongyang dramatically raised the stakes by holding its first nuclear test -- and yielded no breakthrough.

The December session bogged down over Pyongyang's complaints about a U.S. financial crackdown that led to Macau freezing $24 million in North Korean accounts.

The U.S. Treasury has accused Macau's Banco Delta Asia of helping North Korea launder earnings from counterfeit U.S. dollars and drug trafficking.

U.S. officials have held out little hope of a quick resolution to the financial negotiations and South Korea cautioned against hopes for a breakthrough in the six-party talks.

"We hope to adopt a joint document," South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told reporters in Seoul.

"But the substance of the document is such that it's a ridge we have not set foot on. So, despite the strong will of the countries to get there, whether we actually can will depend on a lot of consultations and time."

Song said U.S.-North Korean talks about the financial curbs were key to the success of the six-party negotiations. The Beijing-based source described the curbs as a "huge insult" to a sovereign country.

"If the United States does not resolve it, North Korea would be a 'sinner' taking part in the six-party talks ... North Korea would have no face and could not be on equal footing with the other parties at the six-party talks.

"The United States has no evidence, just like it had no evidence Iraq had weapons of mass destruction," the source said.

The North Korean Embassy in Beijing declined to comment. The Chinese Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.

A Japanese newspaper said on Wednesday North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son was in Macau, quoting diplomatic sources in Hong Kong.

The Yomiuri Shimbun said Kim Jong-nam may visit a bank in Hong Kong to give an explanation of his account held there.

The Hong Kong account is not subject to the U.S. crackdown but may have some link to the discussions, the paper said

Source: CNN.

Liberians in U.S. finding way home

2007-01-30T18:46:00.000-08:00

Liberians in U.S. finding way home

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- Ciata Victor gave up a high-paying tech job, a spacious condo and a first-world life in Maryland to return home to an African capital that barely has electricity or running water.

After 26 years of watching from afar as her native Liberia was ravaged by coups and war, Victor says she's home to stay. And she's started a business -- running a seven-computer Internet cafe using a generator and a borrowed satellite hookup.

"There's some now who say they will not come to Liberia until Liberia gets running water and electricity. I just wanted peace," Victor said.

As this West African country works to rebuild, moneyed Liberians who spent decades abroad are starting to come home. It's a trickle that the year-old government hopes will swell, supplying investment and a much-needed educated class in a nation where few went to school during 14 years of fighting and instability.

Now 45, Victor was 19 when she moved to the United States to attend college in 1980, the year Liberia's government was overthrown in a coup. Nine years later, Charles Taylor launched a rebellion that threw the region into a conflict from which it only emerged with his ouster in 2003. Taylor has been charged with war crimes by neighboring Sierra Leone and is awaiting trial.

In 2005, a Harvard-educated former U.N. and World Bank official became the first female elected president in Africa. Many Liberians said the installation of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf heralded a new era for the country's 3 million citizens -- including those who hadn't been back in years.

Victor said Sirleaf's speech to the U.S. Congress in March prompted a trial visit.

"I visited in May, and I felt pretty safe. So I went back (to the U.S.), gave my job 30 days' notice, sold my condo, packed a container -- and on July 31, I came home," she said.

Most Liberians with means fled during the war. Liberia's historically close ties to the United States -- it was created in 1847 to resettle freed slaves -- meant many ended up in U.S. cities.

Sirleaf started calling on Liberian expatriates to come home during her election campaign, and many returned to take posts in the government. But Liberia's biggest sign of hope may be entrepreneurs like Victor who start businesses with their own money.

Trying to attract foreign investment.

There is already foreign investment in Liberia -- Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. operates a rubber plantation, Mittal Steel is redeveloping iron ore mines and foreign governments have promised aid. And the U.N. has brought in 15,000 peacekeepers and other expatriate workers.

Henrique Caine, who is trying to start a construction equipment rental company in Monrovia, said the foreign presence was part of what spurred him to return.

"I look on the news and I see a lot of white folks from Europe and America in Liberia and I say, 'Well, it can't be that bad. So it's time for us to start going home,'" he said.

Caine keeps a house in the Baltimore area where his wife and children live, but travels to Liberia every few months. On this trip, he was trying to get a container of jackhammers, concrete mixers and other supplies past customs.

He says it's gotten easier to do business, but he still has had to pay some bribes at Monrovia's port. And he's had difficulty getting U.S. investors for a company in a country so recently known for child soldiers and no-go zones.

Victor says her Internet cafe has yet to turn a profit after six months. Running the generator eats up most of what she makes from e-mail surfers and people who use their laptops in her wireless lounge. She's funding the enterprise with savings and ad sales from a Web site she runs for the Liberian diaspora. Her relatives in the U.S. call her crazy for moving back so soon.

"I flew back into the same airport I left out of. And it looked better back then," said Caine, who was 13 when he left in 1985.

Once, there was a large main terminal with a balcony where family members would wave goodbye. That building was closed after being damaged by fighting, and now people wait on wooden benches outside a smaller building.

Victor describes the Monrovia she once knew as a place where children were more familiar with books than guns. She said it was hard to come back and find buildings gone and people missing. Most former classmates are still overseas.

But the pioneers share a heady optimism that may be just what a devastated Liberia needs.

Barkue Tubman, who did marketing for singers like Missy Elliott and Norah Jones in New York before she moved back, says her ultimate goal is to bring a performing arts center to Monrovia and to get the cultural life going again.

Caine says he's risking everything on his venture -- he even cashed out his 401(k) retirement plan.

Not everyone so enthusiastic.

Many of those who stayed, or couldn't leave, are more cautious. Just outside Monrovia, aid workers in the village of Quenyodee say they've had to cajole residents to rebuild houses. Men whose houses were torn down by rebels again and again have been reluctant to trust the peace.

T-Max Jlateh, a Monrovia radio talk show host, said some of those who stayed resent the ease with which those who left can return, but added that mostly, Liberia is thankful for whatever help it can get.

"Some of them have quite a lot of expertise that this country really needs now coming back from war," Jlateh said.

A typical newcomer, he said, is easily distinguishable by his American accent, hip hop clothing -- and his walk.

"He walks as if he was walking on ice," said Jlateh, "Floating up and down. ... But it's just an act. After five or six months it wears off and you're just a Liberian just like anybody else."

Source: CNN.

Sudan loses African leadership post over Darfur

2007-01-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

Sudan loses African leadership post over Darfur

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Reuters) -- Sudan lost the leadership of the African Union for a second time after the pan-African group on Monday awarded the rotating chairmanship to Ghana because of widespread outrage over continuing bloodshed in Darfur.

Alpha Oumar Konare, the AU's top diplomat, told reporters Ghanaian President John Kufuor would become chairman. "By consensus it is President Kufuor."

He said Sudan had supported the decision, which avoided a damaging dispute eclipsing issues on the summit agenda including raising peacekeeping troops for Somalia.

Before the summit some analysts had predicted the dispute over Sudan would dominate the summit and only be resolved at the last moment.

Delegates at the summit said a deal was worked out through the mediation of South African President Thabo Mbeki and a group of seven respected presidents or "wise men."

The 2007 chairmanship was promised to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir a year ago when he was passed over for the post because of the violence in Darfur, which experts estimate has killed 200,000 people and driven 2.5 million from their homes.

Critics say that far from abating, the violence has worsened in the last year and government-backed Arab militias have killed thousands. Bashir has repeatedly blocked deployment of U.N. peacekeepers to bolster an overstretched African Union military mission of 7,000 soldiers and monitors.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Lama Kol told Reuters: "This was our suggestion. We voluntarily suggested this so that the foreign elements who were trying to divide the continent over this issue would not succeed. ... What was important was to take the decision for the unity of the continent."

Under fire

Sudan had seemed adamant on the eve of the summit that it should get the chairmanship despite a chorus of demands from rights organizations and Western governments that it be snubbed because of abuses in Darfur.

But as the summit began in the Ethiopian capital, pressure rose to prevent Sudan from running the organization whose peacekeepers are charged with stemming the violence in its vast west.

In his opening speech, Konare accused Khartoum of attacking civilians in Darfur, where the United States says genocide has occurred.

"We appeal to the government of Sudan to stop attacking and bombarding Darfur and instead restore peace," he said.

Rights group Amnesty International said in a statement on the eve of the two-day summit that the AU would undermine its credibility if it gave the chairmanship to Bashir.

Chad, whose relations with Sudan are severely strained after the Darfur conflict spilled over their border, had vowed to withdraw from the AU if Bashir got the chair.

Diplomats said Western governments lobbied vigorously in Addis Ababa against Sudan and had earlier suggested Tanzania might be a compromise candidate.

But U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer rejected Sudan's accusations of Western pressure.

"I think that's a mistake. The membership of the AU takes the decision about who will lead them. I think that they want leadership that reflects criteria they have within their own process, which includes democracies not at war," she said.

Delegates said there had been trenchant opposition to Sudan from some of the governments and a compromise over Ghana, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence in 2007, offered a way out of the dilemma supported by consensus--the traditional African way of resolving disputes.

"How can you ask someone who is dealing with their own internal conflict to deal with all the other issues going on the continent?," one African delegate said.

The Addis Ababa meeting is also due to discuss raising a peacekeeping force for Somalia to replace Ethiopian troops, unrest in Guinea and climate change, as well as the AU military mission in Darfur.

Reposted from CNN.

Somali leader makes reconciliation bid for peacekeepers

2007-01-30T09:20:00.000-08:00

Somali leader makes reconciliation bid for peacekeepers

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Somalia's president agreed Tuesday to a national reconciliation conference to try to end 16 years of anarchy in the war-ravaged country, paving the way for the deployment of African peacekeepers.

After intense pressure from the United States, European Union and United Nations for all-inclusive political talks, President Abdullahi Yusuf said his government was willing to negotiate despite stiff opposition from within his own administration. The conference would include religious and Somali clan leaders, officials said.

Speaking to journalists at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said the talks must include moderate leaders from the routed Islamic movement that had threatened to take control of Somalia and had confined the interim government to one farming town.

Yusuf's agreement to national reconciliation was a key component to securing financial and logistical support from the U.S. and EU to help in the deployment of an 8,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force. At stake is $20 million from the E.U. for a peacekeeping force and $40 million from the U.S.

African governments also want reconciliation talks before they begin deploying troops. Yusuf's government needs the peacekeepers to help maintain order as Ethiopia, which helps prop up his government, begins withdrawing troops after defeating the rival Islamic movement.

"We would like to negotiate with all Somalis who would like peace, but we cannot negotiate with those who are intent on violence and terrorism," Yusuf said Tuesday on the sidelines of the summit attended by 35 African leaders.

"The peacekeeping force from the African Union will come soon," he added.

Fears are mounting that Somalia could again be plunged into civil war without a peacekeeping force or reconciliation talks. Since the Islamic movement were ousted, factional violence has once again become a feature of life in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. But many senior officials in Yusuf's administration oppose the talks because they fear their jobs could go to Islamic leaders as a way of winning widespread support for the government. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi voiced his opposition to such a move late Monday, saying the government was already inclusive and broad-based.

Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle said Tuesday the government would crack down on rising unrest in the capital by increasing patrols on the streets and launching attacks against areas believed to be hiding militants from the Islamic movement.

"They will be dealt with severely," he told journalists.

On the final day of the two-day AU summit, African leaders met to try to make up a 4,000 troop shortfall in peacekeepers. So far only three nations -- Uganda, Nigeria and Malawi -- have pledged troops. The peacekeeping agreement calls for an initial deployment of about 2,400 troops.

The U.S. has pledged to offer airlift support to the African force to prevent the routed Islamic movement from taking advantage of the power vacuum created by the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, told reporters at the summit.

"We do have continued concerns that these terrorists are not able to reconstitute themselves, and concern that they pose a threat to the Somali people and to the transitional federal government," she said late Monday.

On Monday Alpha Oumar Konare, the AU's chief executive, said it was vital more troops were pledged and that they were deployed quickly.

"Let's be clear, we need to get the deployment off," Konare told delegates at the two day summit.

"We need 8,000 troops but we only have 4,000 so far." Konare added: "The more we delay in deploying troops, the more chance of the situation worsening."

The two-day summit has focused on two of the continent's thorniest issues, the worsening violence in Sudan's Darfur region and attempts to restore peace to Somalia.

On Monday, with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir looking on, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that "the toll of the [Darfur] crisis remains unacceptable," with more than 200,000 people killed and 2.5 million displaced in four years of fighting. Hours later, in a rebuff to al-Bashir, the African Union chose Ghana to head the 53-member bloc, turning aside Sudan's bid for the post for the second year in a row.

Reposted from CNN.

Missile defense shield test aced as dummy target hit

2007-01-27T23:28:00.000-08:00

Missle defense shield test aced as dummy target hit.

KEKAHA, Hawaii (CNN) -- The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency shot down a dummy target missile over the southern Pacific Ocean during a test of the U.S. missile defense shield early Saturday, according to an agency spokeswoman.

First, a dummy ballistic missile was fired from a U.S. mobile launch platform in the Pacific Ocean in a simulated attack.

Moments later, an interceptor missile was fired from the agency's missile range facility on Hawaii's Kauai Island and struck the dummy warhead over the Pacific Ocean, military footage showed.

The mobile, ground-based system is designed to protect the United States from short to intermediate-range high altitude ballistic missile attacks in the North American region, agency spokeswoman Pam Rogers said.

The system "intercepts missiles that are shorter range and at the end of their flight trajectory. It is part of the ballistic missile defense system, a layered system that is designed to intercept all types of missiles in all phases of flights," Rogers said.

This particular short to intermediate-range interceptor system has been tested four times a year since 2005.

"This was our first test since we moved equipment in October from the White Sands missile range in New Mexico ... everything went exceedingly well," Rogers said.

In September, the agency successfully tested its long-range ballistic missile interceptor system, which it said was the most realistic test since the tests started in 2001.

That interceptor system was designed to knock out missiles that could, for instance, be launched in a surprise strike from nations as far away as North Korea.

Source: CNN.

Valentine's Day for the Troops

2007-01-26T18:59:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day for the Troops

Kat is already ready to make another push to support our men and women overseas. I say, "Let's do all we can!"

OPERATION: VALENTINE
Valentine's Day Card Drive for Troops

Let's show our troops we love and support them! Starting NOW, I will be collecting Valentine's cards to send to troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you wish to participate, please send light-hearted, silly, cheerful (and un-sealed) cards to this address:

Mrs. Kat Orr
Operation Valentine
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, GA 30052

I am also collecting "Hershey's Kisses" and "Hershey's Hugs" candy, and any other silly Valentine's candy you'd like to send – lollipops, candy hearts, etc. It's cold over there now, so we can, for the moment, get away with sending CHOCOLATE!

You may also send a e-mail of support to the following email address: LoveFromHome@gmail.com. Any e-mail received to this e-mail account will be printed and mailed, together with the Valentine's cards.

The cards can be handmade or store-bought...for that matter, they don't even have to be cards; a hand-written letter is just as wonderful! Let's all band together and overwhelm our heroes with support and chase away those "after Christmas blues!"

ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 2007

Thank you so much for having a heart for our heroes !

If you have any questions about this campaign, please e-mail me at LoveFromHome@gmail.com. Also, you might wish join my Yahoo Group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome in order to receive updates about the progress of this and other card drives.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This is not a "dating service" of any type. Please do not send suggestive or otherwise inappropriate cards or pictures. I will be reading and screening every Card received to ensure that the above guidelines are adhered to (please don't seal the envelopes, by the way ~ that will make it much easier on me)! Any card deemed inappropriate will not be sent! Remember: This is strictly to let the troops know that we love them, we are proud of them and that WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN THEM!

Thank you everyone who participates. You will never know how much you mean to our troops and me. I thank God for each and everyone of you.

UN to deny aid to NK until audit

2007-01-25T23:22:00.000-08:00

UN to deny aid to NK until audit.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Development Program agreed Thursday not to approve new projects in North Korea until an external audit addresses U.S. allegations that the agency has funneled millions of dollars to the communist regime in violation of United Nations rules.

UNDP assistant administrator Ad Melkert said the agency also agreed to end cash payments to the North Korean government and local suppliers and to stop hiring staff recruited by Pyongyang. The United States had complained about both practices.

The UNDP also agreed it will be responsible for implementing all North Korean projects, addressing U.S. complaints that authorities in the North were overseeing several initiatives.

The UNDP's decision came a week after U.S. deputy ambassador Mark Wallace alleged the agency's North Korea operation had been run "in blatant violation of U.N. rules" for years. He demanded an outside audit focusing on concerns that development funds had been used by Pyongyang for "its own illicit purposes."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the audit on Monday, a swift response that indicated he was determined to avoid a repetition of the scandal over the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq. Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan did not agree to an independent investigation into that scandal until months after it erupted.

The U.S. welcomed the new steps.

"We're pleased with the approach that the UNDP administrator has laid out," acting U.S. Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff told reporters.

The decisions were made by consensus during a regular meeting of the UNDP executive board to approve country programs. North Korea, which sits on the board, said it would accept the steps, though it condemned them as an attempt to "politicize the system" of the UNDP -- a stance echoed by the representatives of Russia and Cuba.

Possible irregularities.

U.S. officials said they first received indications there might be irregularities in UNDP's North Korea program last year. They raised concerns the cash might be misused, possibly for Pyongyang's nuclear program.

The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on North Korea on October 14 for conducting a nuclear test.

At the board meeting, North Korean delegate Jang Chunsik called the U.S. allegations "nonsense," insisting the UNDP's activities in his country had been "conducted in a transparent way."

The Russian delegate, Dimitry Maksimychev, said that while his country "did not stand in the way of the consensus ... it is an undesirable example of politicization of the work of the executive board."

Japan, however, applauded the agreement and went a step further. It said U.N. should stop providing aid to North Korea except for humanitarian assistance "directly delivered to the people" because Pyongyang had defied Security Council demands that it end its nuclear program.

Asked about that proposal, Wolff said "the Japanese argument is quite compelling. We're going to consider it."

U.S. officials said the United States already withholds its contributions to the UNDP and other U.N. agencies that provide funds to North Korea.

The audit, to be completed in three months, will initially focus on UNDP spending in North Korea and then be expanded to other U.N. agencies. It will be conducted by the U.N.'s Board of Auditors, which is comprised of accountants from eight U.N. members.

Wallace has made several allegations in letters to senior UNDP officials, which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal. He has said UNDP's local staff is dominated by North Korean government employees who managed the agency's programs and finances in violation of UNDP rules.

The UNDP has spent about $3 million annually in the last 10 years on programs in impoverished North Korea, in addition to about $600,000 in office costs, which include local salaries and supplies. The programs focus on food production, rural and environmental sector management, economic management and social sector management.

The UNDP executive board agreed to delay approval of its 2007-2009 North Korea program until the audit is completed. It also agreed to review the proposed program to ensure it addresses the concerns raised by the United States, Melkert said.

Current projects will continue but must stop cash payments and the hiring of North Korean government recruits by March 1, Melkert said. He also said all projects will be directly implemented by the UNDP.

The agreement came despite the UNDP's ardent denials this week that its North Korea program violated U.N. financial rules.

The agency noted that it already directly manages the vast majority of its projects, with about $337,000 worth of program costs overseen by North Korean authorities. UNDP officials also stressed that it has conducted three internal audit of its North Korean operations in the last eight years, the last in 2004.

Source: CNN.

Texas to Guard Borders?

2007-01-24T17:01:00.000-08:00

I found this little tidbit over at RealClearPolitics.

Operation Wrangler

Hmm...do you think they are finally hearing us or is this for show? I have no idea, since everything seems to only matter if they can re-elected or not! Let's hope my skeptism is wrong.

'Everyone in the dock' in Kabul trial

2007-01-24T04:16:00.000-08:00

'Everyone in the dock' in Kabul trial

After dragging on almost two months - with just six actual court sessions - the strange trial of the three Americans accused of torture and running a private jail has come to an abrupt and dramatic end. At least for now.

Former US soldier "Jack" Idema and Brent Bennett were each given 10-year jail sentences in a Kabul court on Wednesday.

Their co-defendant Edward Caraballo - who says he is a journalist with them to document their activities in Afghanistan - received eight years. Four Afghans arrested with them in a Kabul house in July were also jailed.

But lawyers for the Americans say they will appeal.

Embarrassing revelations.

The colourful Idema - sunglasses on in court as always - insisted again he was on an anti-terrorist mission approved by the Pentagon and the Afghan government.

And that his efforts had prevented several planned attacks by Islamic militants - including against US and Nato bases and Afghan politicians.

But there will be many in both governments who will be breathing a sigh of relief that for the moment, the case is over - and out of the public eye. It has proved embarrassing for them, because of a drip feed of revelations.

First, there was the admission by US forces that they had received a detainee from Idema at their main Bagram airbase - an admission which they only made after he had revealed this in court.

The man was released, the US military said, but two months later.

Then, long after the trial was underway, the Pentagon said one of its senior officials had had contact with Idema - as he had claimed back in July. But a defence department official insisted this was to turn down Idema's offer to work for them.

Conspiracy theories.

But while far from conclusive for Idema's case, they left the impression among some that the American authorities are hiding something.

What has fed this is that US officials have never completely denied the possibility that Idema and his group were working for some part of its sprawling government and military system.

Last month, when asked by reporters for such a denial, a senior US official responded: "We can find no evidence that Jack Idema works for the US government."

Privately, some US officials say Idema "just does not fit" and is not the kind of person the intelligence agencies or special forces would take on. He is too much of a maverick, they argue.

But that little gap in the American public position leaves enough room for Afghanistan's many conspiracy theorists to speculate.

And in a country where ex-military personnel working on security contracts for the US government are everywhere, Idema did not seem out of place.

Video footage.

The case has also embarrassed the Afghan government and senior political figures.

There was the revelation on video that the chief of the Kabul police force, General Baba Jan, had greeted Idema when he arrived in the country in April.

One of the charges the three Americans were facing was illegal entry to the country.

But despite appearing several times in the court during proceedings, the police chief never mentioned that he was there when Idema arrived.

Footage also emerged of Yunus Qanuni, a presidential candidate and former education minister, receiving Idema and apparently offering support for his plans.

But again, none of these revelations supported the core of Idema's case.

'Selective' translation.

The former soldier and his lawyer John Tiffany protested they never had a chance to present the evidence that would have done so - because it was taken and held by the FBI.

Mr Tiffany and the lawyer for Edward Caraballo, Robert Fogelnest, also heavily criticised the whole process, saying the trial should be stopped because the Afghan justice system did "not meet international standards".

There is no doubt that some hearings descended into almost comical chaos, with witnesses having stand-up rows with Idema and the other Americans. And the prosecution seemed to base most of its case on accusation rather than evidence.

Translation was another problem - some of those chosen were not up to what was a difficult job.

But in one case, the translator also started offering the judge advice in Dari that was clearly biased against the Americans, whose words he was translating very selectively in any case.

This was picked up very quickly by other Afghan translators in the court room at the time.

Perhaps everyone ended up being on trial here - not just the three Americans, but also the Afghan authorities and the US government and its policy of using so many private military contractors to carry out its policies in Afghanistan.

Reposted from BBC News.

Bush Considers Pardoning Border Agents

2007-01-19T05:38:00.000-08:00

Bush Considers Pardoning Border Agents

WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush left open the possibility of a pardon for two U.S. Border Patrol agents serving federal prison sentences for shooting a Mexican drug dealer as he fled and covering up the crime.

Bush said "there's a process for pardons" and the case has to work its way through the system. In an interview with KFOX-TV in El Paso, Texas, Bush said the White House will review the case, and he urged people to "take a sober look at the case."

"People need to take a tough look at the facts, the evidence a jury looked at, as well as the judge. And I will do the same thing," he said.

Several lawmakers have urged the president to pardon former Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos for the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who retreated to Mexico after he was shot and later admitted he was transporting marijuana while in the U.S. illegally.

The agents began serving their sentences Wednesday — 11 years and one day for Ramos and 12 years for Compean. Both were fired after their convictions on several charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, obstruction of justice, and a civil rights violation.

Rancor over the convictions and sentencing of the agents has been simmering for months, and the two have become a cause celebre among conservatives and on talk shows. Their supporters have said they were defending themselves and have called them heroes. The agents' prosecution occurred as the issue of illegal immigration was being debated in Congress and amid campaigns for last November's midterm elections.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, introduced a bill Thursday calling for a congressional pardon of the agents. Congress has never issued pardons to anyone convicted of a crime, said Joe Kasper, Hunter's spokesman. But Kasper said Hunter believes there is enough ambiguity in the law on pardons to give it a try.

"Agents Compean and Ramos fulfilled their responsibilities as Border Patrol agents and rightfully pursued a suspected and fleeing drug smuggler. It is irresponsible to punish them with jail time," he said in a news release.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton took the unusual step of issuing a five-page document of the "myth vs. reality" of the case as the agents began serving their sentences.

The document covered everything from the claims that the former agents were just doing their jobs to reports that the shooting was at night when it actually happened about 1 p.m. on Feb. 17, 2005.

White House spokesman Tony Snow also seemed to support the agents' conviction, listing details of the case in a briefing with reporters Thursday. He said an officer hit Aldrete in the chest with a gun after he got out of his car and that "a lot of the allegations about a scuffle and discovering drugs at the scene and all that, they're simply not supported by the fact record of the case."

Texas Sen. John Cornyn said the Justice Department should have the chance to explain why the agents were prosecuted. Cornyn sent a letter to Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, asking for a hearing.

"I understand that the Justice Department believes all the facts have not come out on this prosecution and would welcome the opportunity to explain its decisions. I believe such a public explanation and opportunity for questioning is necessary," Cornyn wrote.

Cornyn said he and Sen. Arlen Specter, who chaired the committee last year, investigated the case and that his office personally interviewed Sutton.

Fox News.

U.S. Strike Targets al-Qaida in Somalia

2007-01-09T01:20:00.000-08:00

U.S. Strike Targets al-Qaida in Somalia

WASHINGTON Jan 9, 2007 (AP)— The U.S. military launched a strike against several suspected members of al-Qaida in Somalia, a government official said Monday night.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the operation's sensitivity, said at least one AC-130 gunship was used in the attack.

CNN, NBC and CBS first reported the military action. Citing Pentagon officials, CBS said the targets included the senior al-Qaida leader in East Africa and an al-Qaida operative wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The same operatives are also believed responsible for a 2002 attack on Israeli tourists in Kenya and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli aircraft the same day, NBC News reported.

The 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed more than 250 people. The 2002 attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya killed 15.

The White House on Monday night would not confirm the incident. Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a Defense Department spokesman, said he could neither confirm nor deny the reports of an airstrike.

Meanwhile, the Bahrain-based U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet announced Tuesday that "due to rapidly developing events in Somalia," the U.S. Central Command has sent the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to join three other warships in the coastal waters of Somalia.

It was not immediately clear whether any aircraft from those ships were involved in the attacks on the al-Qaida targets. It also was not clear whether any of the targets were killed.

The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reported that one of the targets was embassy bombing suspect Abu Talha al Sudani. Somalia's deputy defense minister Salad Ali Jelle told reporters last week that al Sudani had led Islamic militiamen in a battle with government troops in which 10 people were killed.

Air Force AC-130 gunships are heavily armed aircraft with elaborate sensors that can go after discreet targets day or night. They are operated by the Special Operations Command and have been used heavily against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

U.S. Navy vessels have been deployed off the coast of Somalia to make sure al-Qaida or allied jihadists don't escape the country, the State Department said last Wednesday.

Somalia's effective central government fell in 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew a military dictator and then turned on each other. The government was formed two years ago with the help of the United Nations, but has been weakened by internal rifts.

Soldiers loyal to Somalia's U.N.-backed government and Ethiopia's military late last month drove out a radical Islamic group that had been in control of the country for six months.

The U.S. has believed for years that a group of al-Qaida operatives has been hiding in Somalia.

ABC.news.

U.S. Launches Attack on Suspected Al Qaeda Members in Somalia

2007-01-09T00:19:00.000-08:00

U.S. Launches Attack on Suspected Al Qaeda Members in Somalia

United States forces have launched a strike against suspected Al Qaeda members in Somalia, a senior U.S. official tells FOX News.

The attack by the Air Force AC-130 gunship, capable of firing thousands of rounds per second, left casualties on the ground, but it is not clear if any are suspected terrorists, the official said.

The U.S. could be taking advantage of terrorists that have flown their hideout, as Al Qaeda operatives taking cover in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu were likely chased out when Ethiopian forces cleared out Islamists who had taken power there.

The move marks the first time the U.S. has mounted a mission in Somalia since forces pulled out in 1994, two years after entering on a mission to feed starving people there.

Officials have long suspected those involved in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, that killed more than 200, have taken refuge in Somalia. Because of that, the U.S. has shared intelligence with allies such as Kenya and Ethiopia and this fresh attack could be part of an long, ongoing anti-terror operation.

The Bush administration has grown increasingly concerned about the threat of terrorism in Africa, so much so that the Defense Department is planning to create a new regional command specifically to focus on Africa.

Over the past decade, the U.S. military has been working to train African armies and has been particularly concerned about lawless states such as Somalia and other failed states where Al Qaeda elements and other terrorist groups have sought haven.

If necessary, the U.S.S. Eisenhower aircraft carrier is also in the region, within striking distance and loaded with firepower, and could be called into action.

FOX News' Mike Emanuel and Michael De Dora Jr. contributed to this report.

First U.N. advisers headed to Darfur in days

2006-12-31T03:12:00.000-08:00

First U.N. advisers headed to Darfur in days

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- The first group of more than 175 U.N. advisers and staff supporting peacekeepers in Darfur will deploy within the next few days, according to a joint statement issued Wednesday by U.N. and African Union offices in Sudan.

The United Nations and African Union offices in Sudan provided the Sudanese government Wednesday with a list of the names of the 43 U.N. military staff officers and 24 police advisers making up the first U.N. group to be deployed to Darfur, the statement said. That action opens the way for sending the personnel to the troubled area of western Sudan.

The Sudanese government confirmed that it was permitting the first U.N. experts to head to Darfur. But the numbers it gave were lower than those mentioned by the U.N. statement.

Sadeq Al-Magli, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said that 18 military experts and 20 policemen would soon head to Al Fasher, capital of North Darfur. The discrepancy could not be accounted for immediately.

Most of the experts come from African and Asian countries, Al-Magli said.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said in a recent letter to outgoing U.N Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Sudan was ready immediately to implement agreements endorsing a three-step U.N. plan to strengthen the beleaguered 7,000-strong African Union force in the vast western region of Sudan. The letter was circulated Tuesday at the United Nations.

According to the statement released Wednesday, U.N. staff officers and police advisers will wear their national uniforms with blue U.N. berets and an African Union Mission in Sudan armband.

The statement noted that in addition to the personnel, the United Nations is to provide a further $21 million in equipment to African Union peacekeepers. Computers and water tankers are included in the equipment.

Fighting began in Darfur in February 2003 when rebels from African tribes took up arms against Sudan's Arab-dominated government.

The violence has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million. The government is accused of unleashing Arab tribal militias known as the janjaweed that are blamed for most of the atrocities. The government denies backing the militias.

Representatives of the U.N. and African Union missions in Sudan are to hold their next meeting with Sudanese officials January 10.

Re-posted from CNN.com.

Chad president, rebel leader sign cease-fire

2006-12-31T03:08:00.000-08:00

Chad president, rebel leader sign cease-fire

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- Chad's president and a rebel leader pledged during a meeting in Libya to end the fighting in their country and urged other rebel groups to lay down their weapons.

President Idriss Deby and Mahamed Nour, the leader of the rebels who attacked Chad's capital in April, pledged Sunday to make peace during a meeting hosted by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Libyan state television showed footage of the politicians gathered round a fire in a tent draped with green fabric.

"We thank God for enabling us to reach this agreement," Nour told journalists. Nour leads the Chadian United Front for Democratic Change, which launched a failed assault on N'djamena in April.

Competition for power in Chad has intensified since 2004 when it began exporting oil.

Deby also declared his support for the cease-fire.

"I vow in front of Gadhafi and everybody that we will be committed to our obligations," Deby said. "I call on those who believe that weapons are the solution to join this agreement."

Gadhafi has acted as a mediator in several African conflicts in recent years.

"I am against any rebelliousness in Africa and carrying weapons should only be done against occupation, which has ended in Africa," he said.

"I hope that the raging fire in the African Horn will be extinguished," the Libyan leader added. "Goodwill must be stronger than the will to destroy."

A Libyan official close to the talks said the agreement includes an amnesty for members of the rebel group, the integration of former fighters into the military and provisions for the return of refugees.

The pact is scheduled to be implemented over three months, and other rebel groups have a month to sign on, the Libyan official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Since early November, about 300 people have been killed in attacks on more than 70 villages in eastern Chad near the Sudanese border, the United Nations has said.

The violence came after repeated warnings that the Darfur conflict in western Sudan could spill over and engulf the region where Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic meet.

The governments of Chad and Sudan accuse one another of supporting each other's rebels. Each side denies the charges.

At least 350 people -- troops, rebels and civilians -- died in April during the rebel assault on N'djamena.

Re-posted from CNN.com.

Report: Japan inquired into nukes

2006-12-31T03:03:00.000-08:00

Report: Japan inquired into nukes

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- The Japanese government recently looked into the possibility of developing a nuclear warhead, a news report said Monday, citing an internal government document.

However the government's top spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki denied such a document existed.

The Japanese daily Sankei reported that experts at several government organizations concluded it would take at least three to five years to make a prototype weapon.

The experts also estimated that the project would cost about $1.68 billion to $2.52 billion and require the efforts of several hundred engineers, according to Sankei.

The experts did not say whether Japan should develop nuclear arms, the newspaper reported, only what such a project would require. The newspaper published a summary of the document, dated Sept 20 and titled "On the Possibility of Developing Nuclear Weapons Domestically."

"The government is not aware of such a document," Shiozaki told reporters at a regular news conference.

As the only country ever attacked with atomic weapons, Japan for decades has adhered to a strict policy of not possessing or developing nuclear weapons, and not allowing their introduction onto Japanese territory.

This stance, however, has become a subject for discussion since North Korea conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, causing deep concern in Japan. Just months prior to North Korea's nuclear test, it test-fired several ballistic missiles capable of hitting Japan.

Several politicians have suggested Japan should at least debate starting a nuclear weapons program following the North Korean test.

The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said the country's pacifist Constitution does not ban it from possessing nuclear weapons for self-defense. But the government stressed that Japan would stick to its policy of forbidding nuclear weapons on Japanese soil.

Japan's huge plutonium stockpile from its nuclear power stations is a major international concern, partly because that stockpile could be a target of terror attacks or be used to build nuclear arms.

Officials at the Defense Agency could not immediately comment on the report early Monday.

Re-posted from CNN.com.

Saddam hanged

2006-12-29T20:23:00.000-08:00

Ned Parker in Fallujah
Saddam Hussein was hanged shortly before dawn today after the Iraqi Government rushed through the formalities of his final hours.

With unexpected speed, the Iraqi Prime Minister swept aside any remaining political hurdles and signed the former dictator’s death sentence. Iraqi and US officials met for almost three hours late last night to confirm that all legal requirements for the execution had been met.

The official witnesses to the execution gathered at the green zone in Baghdad in the early hours as final preparations were made. A gallows had been erected in a parade ground still dominated by a triumphal arch formed of crossed swords held in hands modelled on Saddam’s own.

Judge Moneer Haddad, who was one of the official witnesses, told The Times that he read the death warrant to Saddam before asking him for his last wish and request. Another witness, a Muslim cleric, then asked Saddam to deliver his final words.

Earlier, Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, insisted that there would be “no review or delay” in carrying out the sentence. To do so would be an insult to his victims, he said: “Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him.”

In his high-security cell near Baghdad airport, Saddam would have been aware that his end was near.He was allowed a visit by his half-brothers. Saddam gave them his will, and they left with his personal belongings.

An official close to Mr al-Maliki said the Government had decided to expedite Saddam’s route to the gallows “because a lot of Iraqis believe in conspiracies and thought a group might help him escape”.

The physical transfer of Saddam from American to Iraqi authorities was one of the last steps before the hanging. The former dictator had been in US custody since he was captured in December 2003.

The way for the execution was cleared yesterday by Mr al-Maliki and Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi President. They agreed that the hanging could go ahead without reference to the country’s three-man presidency council, as was expected, because Saddam’s case had been dealt with by a special tribunal and not the regular Iraqi courts.

Saddam’s lawyers made a desperate last-minute application asked a US judge for a stay of execution, but it was denied.

Iraqi authorities have imposed a curfew on Saddam’s home town of Tikrit.

Romano Prodi, the Italian Prime Minister, said: “The execution of Saddam Hussein fills us with horror. We had hoped that human pity and political sense would inspire wiser decisions.” In the United States, Iraqi-Americans gathered at a mosque last night in anticipation of Saddam Hussein’s execution, praying for the death of the former Iraqi dictator. People honked car horns, sang and danced in celebration.

Dave Alwatan, 32, one of dozens of men at the mosque in Detroit, said: “Now there will be peace for my family. My dream has come true.” He said that Saddam’s forces tortured and killed family members that were left behind when Mr Alwatan left Iraq in 1991.

This article is from The TimesOnline.

Somali Government Troops Enter Capital: Guardian

2006-12-28T13:30:00.000-08:00

Somali Government Troops Enter Capital

Islamists Retreat From Mogadishu, Promise To Make Stand In Southern Somalia

(CBS/AP) Somali government troops rolled into Mogadishu unopposed on Thursday, the prime minister said, hours after an Islamic movement that tried to establish a government based on the Quran abandoned the capital and promised to make a stand in southern Somalia.

"We are in Mogadishu," Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi said after meeting with clan leaders to discuss the hand over of the city. "We are coordinating our forces to take control of Mogadishu."

Gedi was welcomed to the town of Afgoye by dozens of traditional leaders from Mogadishu and hundreds of government and Ethiopian troops who have been fighting more than a week against the Islamic militia that had at one point taken over most of southern Somalia.

Meanwhile, Yemeni authorities opened fire on boats filled with refugees fleeing the fighting in Somalia, and at least 17 people drowned when one of the vessels capsized, the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday. About 140 people were still missing. The incident took place late Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden when four boats smuggling 515 people were spotted by Yemeni authorities, UNHCR said.

The Islamic movement's retreat from Mogadishu early Thursday, which its leaders called tactical, was followed by looting by clan militiamen, a chilling reminder of the chaos that had once ruled Mogadishu. One resident said three men and a woman had been killed in the looting. Gunfire could he heard in many parts of the city.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to inflict total defeat on the Islamic movement, saying the that he hoped the fighting would be over "in days, if not in a few weeks."

"Forces of the transitional federal government and Ethiopia are on the outskirts of Mogadishu now," he told reporters in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. "We are discussing what we need to do to make sure Mogadishu does not descend into chaos. We will not let Mogadishu burn."

Mogadishu's clan leaders, though, have the greatest influence over whether order or lawlessness follows the retreat of the Islamic movement known as the Council of Islamic Courts.

President Abdullahi Yusuf said in a statement Thursday afternoon that his troops were not a threat to the people of Mogadishu.

"The government is committed to solving every problem that may face Somalia through dialogue and peaceful ways," the statement said.

Mohamed Jama Furuh, a former warlord and current member of parliament, claimed control of the capital's seaport on behalf of the government at midday on Thursday. His militia had controlled the port before Islamic forces took over.

"The port is now in my hands. I want to provide security and protect it from looting ... until we hand it over to any other administration," Furuh told the Associated Press by telephone.

Abdirahman Janaqow, a top leader in the Islamic movement, said he had ordered his forces out of Mogadishu to avoid bloodshed in the capital.

"We want to face our enemy and their stooges ... away from civilians," Abdirahman Janaqow said in a telephone interview.

Yusuf Ibrahim, a former Islamic movement fighter who quit Thursday, said only the most hardcore fighters were still opposing the government and its Ethiopian backers. He numbered them at about 3,000, and said they were headed to the port city of Kismayo, south of Mogadishu, which the Islamic forces captured in September. Ahmed Ali Harare, the military commander for the region, told the AP they would not quit Kismayo without a fight.

Witnesses reported seeing a large number of foreign fighters in the convoys heading south. Islamic movement leaders had called on foreign Muslims to join their "holy war" against Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population. Hundreds were believed to have answered the call.

Islamic fighters have gone door-to-door in Kismayo, recruiting children as young as 12 to make a last stand on behalf of the Islamic courts, according to a confidential U.N. situation report citing the families of boys taken to the frontline town of Jilib, 110 kilometers (65 miles) north of Kismayo.

Residents told the AP Islamic leader Hassan Dahir Aweys had arrived in Jilib with hundreds of fighters in 45 pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns.

In Iraq, an insurgent group linked to al Qaeda in Iraq urged Muslims to support the Islamists in Somalia who were abandoning the capital Thursday and fleeing government forces, according to an Internet statement.

The so-called Islamic State of Iraq — a coalition of Sunni insurgent groups, chief among them al Qaeda in Iraq — said all Muslims should "stand by the side of their brothers in Somalia and to support them financially, with weapons and men and with prayers."

The Islamic movement took Mogadishu six months ago and then advanced across most of southern Somalia, often without fighting. Then Ethiopian troops went on the attack in support of the government last week.

Before the Islamists established control, Mogadishu had been ruled by competing clans who came together to support the Islamic courts. Now, the clans could return to fighting one another and may reject the government's authority.

Somalia's complex clan system has been the basis of politics and identity here for centuries. But due to clan fighting, the country has not had an effective government since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew a dictator and then turned on one another.

Two years ago, the United Nations helped set up the interim government. It had been unable to assert much authority, in part because it has been weakened by clan rivalries.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said that over the past few days, hospitals and other medical facilities in southern and central Somalia have admitted more than 800 wounded people.

"The ICRC is extremely concerned about civilians caught up in the fighting, wounded people and people detained in connection with the fighting," said Pascal Hundt, head of the ICRC's Somalia delegation.

©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Islamic fighters quitting Somalia front

2006-12-26T17:44:00.000-08:00

Islamic fighters quitting Somalia front

By SALAD DUHUL, Associated Press Writer

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Islamic fighters attempting to wrest power from Somalia's internationally recognized government retreated from the main front line early Tuesday, witnesses said, a day after Ethiopian fighter jets bombed the country's two main international airports.

Troops loyal to the Council of Islamic Courts withdrew more than 30 miles to the southeast from Daynuney, a town just south of Baidoa, the government headquarters.

The Islamic forces also abandoned their main stronghold in Bur Haqaba and were forming convoys headed toward the capital, Mogadishu, residents in villages along the road told The Associated Press by telephone.

"We woke up from our sleep this morning and the town was empty of troops, not a single Islamic fighter," Ibrahim Mohamed Aden, a resident of Bur Haqaba said.

On the northern front, government and Ethiopian troops entered the town of Bulo Barde, where just two weeks ago an Islamic cleric said anyone who did not pray five times a day would be executed.

"We have withdrawn as part of our military strategy," said Sheik Mohamoud Ibrahim Suley, an official with the Islamic council in Mogadishu.

On Monday, Russian-made jets swept low over the capital at midmorning, dropping two bombs on Mogadishu International Airport, part of a major escalation in the week-old fighting. The leader of the Islamic militia, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, flew into the airport shortly after the attack; it was not clear if he was an intended target.

Air strikes also hit Baledogle Airport outside Mogadishu.

"We heard the sound of the jets and then they pounded," said Abdi Mudey, a soldier with the Council of Islamic Courts, which has seized the capital and much of southern Somalia since June.

Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, pushing the country into anarchy. Two years ago, the United Nations helped set up a central government for the arid, impoverished nation on the Horn of Africa.

But the government has not been able to extend its influence outside the city of Baidoa, where it is headquartered about 140 miles northeast of Mogadishu. The country was largely under the control of warlords until this past summer, when the Islamic militia movement seized power.

Experts fear the conflict in Somalia could engulf the region. A recent U.N. report said 10 countries have been supplying arms and equipment to both sides of the conflict, using Somalia as a proxy battlefield. Some analysts also fear that the courts movement hopes to make Somalia a third front, after Afghanistan and Iraq, in militant Islam's war against the West.

The Islamic group's often severe interpretation of Islam is reminiscent, to some, of Afghanistan's Taliban regime — ousted by a U.S.-led campaign in 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden. The U.S. government says four al-Qaida leaders, believed to be behind the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, are now leaders in the Islamic militia.

On Ethiopian television Monday night, the defense ministry said troops would move toward the city of Jowhar, about 55 miles from Mogadishu. Later, Ethiopia made a push in that direction, capturing the villages of Bandiradley, Adadow and Galinsor, according Yusuf Ahmed Ali, a businessman in Adadow.

As its military forces advanced against militia fighters, Somalia's government also sought to seal its borders in order to prevent foreign Islamic militants from joining the Islamic courts forces.

Residents living along Somalia's coast have seen hundreds of militants arriving by boat, apparently in answer to calls by religious leaders to wage a holy war against Ethiopia.

It seems unlikely the government can blockade Somalia's 1,860-mile coastline — the longest in Africa. But the closures could hamper humanitarian aid deliveries to the country, where one in five children dies before age 5 from a preventable disease.

The U.N. World Food Program airlifted several tons of food and other aid into Somalia on Monday, but had not yet been notified of any border closings, agency spokesman Peter Smerdon said.

The Islamic militia, which grew out of a network of ad hoc Muslim courts, has brought a measure of law to a lawless country: The international airport reopened in July after being closed for a decade.

But leaders of the Islamic courts movement alarmed the country's neighbors by threatening to incorporate ethnic Somalis living in eastern Ethiopia, northeastern Kenya and Djibouti into a Greater Somalia.

Many Somalis are enraged by Ethiopian intervention because the countries have fought two wars over their disputed border in the past 45 years. Somalia is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, while Ethiopia has a large Christian minority.

Despite this friction, the Somali government — which has failed to assert any real control since it was formed two years ago — relies on its neighbor's military strength.

Earlier, Ethiopia had said it sent advisers to bolster the Somali government's outgunned military forces, but denied dispatching combat troops. The U.N., though, estimates that Ethiopia has 8,000 troops in the country.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Sunday that his country was "forced to enter a war" with Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts after the group declared holy war on Ethiopia.

So far, Ethiopian and Somali troops have used MiG jet fighters and artillery to attack the Islamists, who have no military aircraft and can return fire only with much smaller mortars and recoilless rifles.

Meles has said he does not intend to keep his forces in Somalia for long, perhaps only a few weeks. He has told visiting dignitaries that his goal is to damage the courts' military capabilities, take away their sense of invincibility and allow both sides to return to peace talks on an even footing.

Government officials and Islamic militiamen have said hundreds of people have been killed in clashes since Tuesday, but the claims could not be independently confirmed. Aid groups put the death toll in the dozens.

Associated Press writers Mohamed Olad Hassan and Mohamed Sheik Nor in Mogadishu, Les Neuhaus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Chris Tomlinson in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.

Sudan agrees to U.N. peacekeeping plan

2006-12-24T12:20:00.000-08:00

Sudan agrees to U.N. peacekeeping plan

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- The Sudanese government has accepted the U.N. package for Darfur, including the deployment of what is called a "hybrid" peacekeeping operation of U.N. and African Union troops, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday.

Spokesman Sadeq al-Magli said the number of troops in the hybrid force "would be decided by the commander and his committee, and we have to state clearly that the entire command would be from the African Union."

The comment reflected his government's long-standing opposition to the deployment of 20,000 U.N. troops in Darfur, as proposed by the U.N. Security Council.

In deference to Khartoum's opposition, the U.N. scaled back its plans to replace the African Union force of 7,000 troops in Darfur with the much bigger U.N. operation and, since early November, has been pushing to reinforce the existing peacekeepers with smaller numbers of U.N. personnel as well as technical and financial assistance.

Speaking Thursday -- before the government's assent was announced -- al-Magli said a Darfur peacekeeping mission would be "a hybrid operation and not international or joint forces."

He said Friday that the peacekeeping troops would come mainly from African Union countries, but the U.N. would provide technical assistance, consultants and military and police experts.

Earlier Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he believed the Sudan government had also agreed to make renewed efforts to enforce a cease-fire and negotiate peace with those Darfur rebels who rejected the peace agreement of May. Annan said he had heard that President Omar al-Bashir would approve "a full cease-fire, a renewed effort to bring all parties into (the) political process, and deployment of the proposed African Union-United Nations hybrid force."

Al-Magli said his government had not yet seen Annan's statement, but it was true that "Sudan has confirmed to the [U.N.] envoy that it would sit down for peace talks with the rebel factions any time, any where."

"In fact, a government delegation went to Asmara, Eritrea, on Thursday to look into the possibility of talking to those groups that did not sign the Abuja peace agreement," al-Magli said, referring to the May accord between the government and one Darfur rebel group.

The world "should pressurize the other factions which are attacking the government, humanitarian and civilian communities, to come to cease-fire talks and to stop attacking. But for us in the government, yes, we have confirmed our commitment to the cease-fire," al-Magli said.

Re-posted from CNN.com.

Sudan's refugees in Chad beg for help as killing widens

2006-12-22T17:29:00.000-08:00

Sudan's refugees in Chad beg for help as killing widens

GOZ AMER, Chad (Reuters) -- Thousands of people who fled to Chad from Sudan's Darfur region pleaded with the U.N.'s top refugee official on Friday to either move them or protect them against cross-border raids that have killed hundreds.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres visited the Goz Amer refugee camp near Koukou Angarana, close to the border with Darfur, where Arab raiders attacked two villages last weekend, killing Sudanese refugees and Chadian civilians.

"When we see these villages, burned last week with 40 people killed and now 90,000 Chadians displaced, one can understand the huge security problem," Guterres said, referring to the number of people uprooted over the past year.

"The international community has a great responsibility to create a humanitarian space so we can keep working. To do nothing would be unacceptable," he said.

The east of Chad borders Sudan's Darfur region where political and ethnic bloodletting since 2003 has killed tens of thousands of people and spilled over into neighboring states.

Some 70 villages in southeastern Chad have been attacked since early November by gunmen on horseback using identical tactics to those of the Janjaweed militia fighting over the border in Darfur, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said.

It said the recent violence had killed some 300 Chadians.

Chad's government has said the attackers gouged out the eyes of some soldiers and disembowelled one civilian in the latest raids. Officials have blamed the attacks on the Janjaweed, a term loosely signifying "devils on horseback" in Arabic.

'Please remove us quickly'
Terrified of more attacks, refugees lining the road leading to the Goz Amer camp, which houses some 18,000 civilians from Darfur, chanted "security or relocation" as Guterres arrived. "Please remove us quickly from here," read one placard.

Guterres also met displaced Chadians at Habile, a makeshift camp housing around 9,000 people, more than half of them displaced over the past two months.

"If you can't give us security, you have to move us from here," one displaced village chief was quoted as telling Guterres in a UNHCR communique. "We are poor people and we don't have the means to defend ourselves."

The U.N. refugee chief met Chad's President Idriss Deby on Thursday and has been looking at a proposal by the authorities in the former French colony to move the refugee camps some 500 kilometers (310 miles) farther from the Sudan border.

"Relocating refugees farther away from the border could improve security, but such a move also requires a suitable environment and infrastructure for hosting more than 200,000 people," UNHCR said in its statement.

It said U.N. and government experts were preparing a report on the proposal. The refugee agency also said it was supporting calls for strengthened security in eastern Chad for refugees and local civilians.

Outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has launched a last-ditch effort for a "hybrid" peacekeeping force in Darfur consisting of African Union troops with U.N. resources.

Sudan has so far rejected the possibility of Western troops on its soil, which the Islamic state has likened to a second colonization.
GOZ AMER, Chad (Reuters) -- Thousands of people who fled to Chad from Sudan's Darfur region pleaded with the U.N.'s top refugee official on Friday to either move them or protect them against cross-border raids that have killed hundreds.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres visited the Goz Amer refugee camp near Koukou Angarana, close to the border with Darfur, where Arab raiders attacked two villages last weekend, killing Sudanese refugees and Chadian civilians.

"When we see these villages, burned last week with 40 people killed and now 90,000 Chadians displaced, one can understand the huge security problem," Guterres said, referring to the number of people uprooted over the past year.

"The international community has a great responsibility to create a humanitarian space so we can keep working. To do nothing would be unacceptable," he said.

The east of Chad borders Sudan's Darfur region where political and ethnic bloodletting since 2003 has killed tens of thousands of people and spilled over into neighboring states.

Some 70 villages in southeastern Chad have been attacked since early November by gunmen on horseback using identical tactics to those of the Janjaweed militia fighting over the border in Darfur, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said.

It said the recent violence had killed some 300 Chadians.

Chad's government has said the attackers gouged out the eyes of some soldiers and disembowelled one civilian in the latest raids. Officials have blamed the attacks on the Janjaweed, a term loosely signifying "devils on horseback" in Arabic.

'Please remove us quickly'

Terrified of more attacks, refugees lining the road leading to the Goz Amer camp, which houses some 18,000 civilians from Darfur, chanted "security or relocation" as Guterres arrived. "Please remove us quickly from here," read one placard.

Guterres also met displaced Chadians at Habile, a makeshift camp housing around 9,000 people, more than half of them displaced over the past two months.

"If you can't give us security, you have to move us from here," one displaced village chief was quoted as telling Guterres in a UNHCR communique. "We are poor people and we don't have the means to defend ourselves."

The U.N. refugee chief met Chad's President Idriss Deby on Thursday and has been looking at a proposal by the authorities in the former French colony to move the refugee camps some 500 kilometers (310 miles) farther from the Sudan border.

"Relocating refugees farther away from the border could improve security, but such a move also requires a suitable environment and infrastructure for hosting more than 200,000 people," UNHCR said in its statement.

It said U.N. and government experts were preparing a report on the proposal. The refugee agency also said it was supporting calls for strengthened security in eastern Chad for refugees and local civilians.

Outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has launched a last-ditch effort for a "hybrid" peacekeeping force in Darfur consisting of African Union troops with U.N. resources.

Sudan has so far rejected the possibility of Western troops on its soil, which the Islamic state has likened to a second colonization.

Reposted from CNN.com.

U.S. gives Sudan until year-end to accept UN force

2006-12-20T17:24:00.000-08:00

U.S. gives Sudan until year-end to accept UN force.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Sudan must allow a team of U.N. personnel into Darfur and formally accept an international force for the area by the end of the year or face unspecified U.S. steps next year, a U.S. special envoy said Wednesday.

Andrew Natsios, President Bush's special envoy for Sudan, told reporters he delivered the message to Sudanese President Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir during a visit to Khartoum this month.

U.S. officials have voiced growing frustration at Sudan's refusal to allow international troops to go to Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed in three years of fighting that the United States says is genocide.

"We have told the Sudanese that we have to move along to our own strategic process in the United States government and we will do that beginning in the new year if we do not see some kind of progress ... between now and the end of the year," Natsios told reporters.

Natsios specifically asked that Sudan allow about 60 U.N. military and civilian personnel now in Khartoum to go to Darfur and that the government provide its written, detailed agreement for more than 10,000 international troops to deploy as part of a hybrid force of U.N. and African Union peacekeepers.

While Natsios declined comment on what Washington might do if Sudan fails to act by year-end, the United States and others are considering options from travel bans on Sudanese officials and an assets freeze to imposing a no-fly zone in Darfur.

In response to a Sudanese request, the rotating president of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday issued a statement reaffirming an agreement reached last month for the hybrid force of U.N. and African Union troops for Darfur, a step U.S. officials hoped might help Sudan accept the hybrid force.

"We expect the Government of Khartoum to respond positively to that action in the U.N.," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters. Asked if she had reason to believe Sudan would do so, she replied: "We will see."

The Darfur conflict began when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in 2003, accusing Khartoum of marginalizing the arid region. Militia, which the international community says the government mobilized to quell the revolt, are accused of pillage and murder.

The hybrid force, which would shore up the roughly 7,000 struggling African Union forces in Darfur, was proposed as a compromise after Sudan rejected outright a U.N. force called for in a U.N. Security Council resolution passed on August 31.

Under a plan crafted by outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a small initial force of U.N. military and civilian forces would deploy to Darfur, followed by 2,500 troops in a second phase and 10,000 more in a third phase, Natsios said.

Natsios said Sudan could not "cherry-pick" the plan -- accepting some elements but rejecting others -- because nations would only contribute troops if Khartoum agreed to a contingent large enough to ensure their own self-protection.

The U.S. official said he had been unable to visit Darfur on his recent trip to Sudan because "the province is in such trouble now in terms of violence, instability and chaos, I couldn't get into the airports.

Reposted from CNN.com.

Pentagon considers Navy buildup in Gulf

2006-12-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

Pentagon considers Navy buildup in Gulf

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Defense Department is thinking about a major buildup of U.S. Navy forces in the Gulf as a show of force against Iran, a senior defense official said Tuesday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because the idea has not been approved, the official said one proposal is to send a second aircraft carrier to the region amid increasing tensions with Iran, blamed for encouraging sectarian violence in neighboring Iraq as well as allegedly pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

The United States and its European allies are seeking sanctions against Iran because of its refusal to stop uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel for civilian purposes or fuel for a nuclear bomb.

In Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that U.N. sanctions would not stop Iran from pursuing its uranium enrichment program, which he has said is for peaceful development of energy.

The idea of building up U.S. Navy forces has been discussed over some time, and it is unclear when a decision will be made, the official said.

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is already in the region. It left the United States in late September with four other ships and submarines carrying 6,500 sailors.

The flotilla headed to the Mediterranean Sea and eventually went to relieve the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise strike group, which was in the region supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also, the U.S. in late October led a naval training exercise aimed at blocking smuggling of nuclear weapons in the Gulf.

The six-nation maneuvers off the coast of Iran were the first of their kind since North Korea's October 9 nuclear test and U.N. sanctions that called on the international community to conduct searches at sea. The measures were made to ensure the reclusive communist nation is not secretly expanding its nuclear program.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration said Monday that Iran is making headway in building nuclear weapons, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried to iron out differences with Russia over a U.N. resolution designed to stop the program with economic sanctions.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Iranians were trying to perfect technology to enrich uranium.

The spokesman provided no details of Rice's telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia, which has close economic ties with Iran, has favored diplomacy over punitive sanctions, but the Bush administration is hoping Moscow may be prepared to approve a watered-down resolution at the U.N. Security Council.

Reposted from CNN.com.

Bush signs nuclear deal with India

2006-12-18T17:08:00.000-08:00

Bush signs nuclear deal with India

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President George W. Bush signed away decades of U.S. nuclear policy by agreeing to a change in U.S. law that will let India receive U.S. civilian nuclear technology and fuel.

Until Monday, when Bush signed the U.S.-India nuclear cooperation law, the U.S. law banned nuclear relations with countries that were not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"By helping India expand its use of safe nuclear energy, this bill lays the foundation for a new strategic partnership between our two nations that will help ease India's demands for fossil fuels and ease pressure on global markets," Bush said in a bill-signing ceremony at the White House.

The bill exempts India from the Cold War-era U.S. law that limits nuclear trade with countries subject to the NPT and the international inspections of nuclear facilities it entails. In exchange for allowing U.S. civilian nuclear trade with India, the Indian government agreed to safeguards and inspections at 14 civilian nuclear plants. Eight military plants it designated as military remain off-limits to inspectors.

The House and Senate had approved overwhelmingly the nuclear-cooperation bill, giving Bush a foreign-policy victory at a time when the administration is struggling to come up with a new approach to the unpopular war in Iraq.

Critics worry the agreement could spark a nuclear-arms race in Asia by boosting India's atomic arsenal. They also argue that the measure undermines international efforts to prevent states like Iran and North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons. In Beijing on Monday, North Korea defiantly declared itself a nuclear power at the start of the first full international arms talks since its atomic test in July and threatened to increase its arsenal if its demands were not met.

The White House said it was willing to make an exception for India, the world's largest democracy, because it had protected its nuclear technology and not been a proliferator.

"India has conducted its civilian nuclear energy program in a safe and responsible way for decades," Bush said. "Now, in return for access to American technology, India has agreed to open its civilian nuclear-power program to international inspection."

The administration also argued it was a good deal, because, while India's military plants that work with nuclear material would not be subjected to inspections, there would be international oversight for the civilian program, which has been secret since India entered the nuclear age in 1974.

"After 30 years outside the system, India will now operate its civilian nuclear-energy program under internationally accepted guidelines, and the world is going to be safer as a result," the president said.

Not a counterweight to China.

The Bush administration said the pact deepens ties with a democratic Asia power, but was not designed as a counterweight to the rising power of China. "We don't have a policy that would build up a relationship with India to contain China," Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters before the bill-signing.

Bush said the law would make it possible for India, the world's fifth-largest consumer of energy, to reduce emissions and improve its environment. India, whose demand for electricity is expected to double by 2015, currently produced nearly 70 percent of its electricity by burning coal, which produces air pollution and greenhouse gases.

The deal also could be a boon for American companies that have been barred from selling reactors and material to India where the economy has more than doubled in size since 1991.

In New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defended the nuclear deal, rejecting strong opposition from critics at home that it would lead to the dismantling of India's atomic weapons. He said he had some concerns about the legislation, but that they would be dealt with during technical negotiations on an overall U.S.-India cooperation agreement.

"The United States has assured us that the bill would enable it to meet its commitments" made in agreements struck in July 2005 and in March by Bush and Singh.

Singh said India would not accept new conditions and its nuclear-weapons program would not be subject to interference of any kind, because the agreement with the United States dealt with civil nuclear cooperation.

Earlier, opposition leader L.K. Advani of the Bharatiya Janata Party said India should not accept the U.S. legislation, saying that the deal would prevent India from conducting nuclear tests in the future. India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974 and followed it up with a series of nuclear tests in 1998.

"The primary objective is to cap, roll back and ultimately eliminate its (India's) nuclear-weapons capability," Advani warned.

Before civil nuclear trade can begin, several hurdles remain. American and Indian officials need to work out a separate technical nuclear-cooperation agreement, expected to be finished next year. The two countries must now obtain an exception for India in the rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of nations that export nuclear material. Indian officials must also negotiate a safeguard agreement with the IAEA.

Re-posted from CNN.com.

Japan rolls back pacifist pillars

2006-12-15T17:02:00.000-08:00

Japan rolls back pacifist pillars

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japan's conservative government chipped away at two pillars of the country's postwar pacifism, requiring schools to teach patriotism and upgrading the Defense Agency to a full ministry for the first time since World War II.

The measures, enacted Friday in a vote by Parliament's upper house, form key elements of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to bolster Japan's international military role, build up national pride and distance the country from its post-1945 war guilt.

The votes were important victories for Abe's government, which has suffered sharp drops in popularity polls since taking office in September over the perception that he has not paid enough attention to domestic issues.

The education reform bill triggered controversy, both because of its sensitive content and because of disclosures this week that the government had planted officials posing as ordinary citizens at "town meetings" discussing the measure.

The scandal and other issues inspired a spate of no-confidence motions against Abe and some members of his Cabinet, but they were crushed in Parliament, which is dominated by the ruling party coalition.

The upgrading of the Defense Agency under the Cabinet Office to a full ministry passed Parliament without significant opposition, propelled by deep concern in Japan over North Korean missile and nuclear weapons development.

The upgrade, to be effected early next year, gives Japan's generals greater budgetary powers and prestige -- a reversal for a military establishment that has kept a low profile since being discredited by Japan's disastrous wartime defeat.

The education measure, the first change to Japan's main education law since 1947, calls on schools to "to cultivate an attitude that respects tradition and culture, that loves the nation and home country."

The reform reflected concerns voiced by Abe and strident Education Minister Bunmei Ibuki that Japan's long stretch of economic prosperity has eroded the morals and cooperative spirit of prewar Japanese.

"The new education law will allow children to acquire a good understanding of their heritage and become intelligent and dignified Japanese," ruling party lawmaker Hiroo Nakashima said during the upper house debate.

Critics, however, attacked the move as harkening back to Japan's war-era education system, in which children were instructed to support the country's imperialist military and sacrifice themselves for the emperor and nation.

Opponents on Friday voiced fears that the changes could lead to schools grading students on their patriotic fervor -- possibly as a prelude to making Japan an aggressive nation once again.

"The government is putting the future of Japanese children at risk and turning Japan into a country that wages war abroad," said Ikuko Ishii, a Communist Party lawmaker.

The call for more patriotism in the schools coincides with a push by some local governments to crack down on teachers and students who refuse to stand for the national flag or sing an anthem to the emperor at school ceremonies.

Postwar Japan has been solidly pacifist under the 1947 U.S.-drafted Constitution, which foreswears Japan from using force to settle international disputes, and Tokyo maintains fighting forces only for self-defense. The U.S. bases some 50,000 troops in Japan under a security alliance.

Re-posted from CNN.com.

Bush adds 8 countries to anti-malaria campaign

2006-12-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

Bush adds 8 countries to anti-malaria campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Declaring that malaria can be defeated, President Bush on Thursday added eight countries to a U.S. initiative aimed at combatting the disease in Africa and slashing its mortality rate by half in targeted nations.

"Last year, about a million Africans died of malaria," Bush said. "The vast majority were children under five. Their lives ended by nothing more than a mosquito bite."

The new countries were announced at a White House summit on malaria, intended to raise awareness of the mosquito-borne disease and to mobilize a grass-roots effort among voluntary, faith-based and nonprofit organizations to save millions of lives. The additional countries are Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali and Zambia.

"By bringing together such a wide variety of people, the summit is sending a clear message that we are determined to defeat malaria," the president said.

"In this new century, there is a great divide between those who place no value on human life and rejoice in the suffering of others, and those who believe that every life has matchless value and answer suffering with compassion and kindness," he said. "The contrast is vivid, and the position of America is clear: We will lead the case of freedom, justice and hope, because both our value and our interests demand it."

Just before the summit, Bush told the president of Benin that the United States will commit resources, time and talent to help rid much of Africa of malaria, but added that Benin's government must help by educating its citizens on prevention.

"We cannot succeed, however, unless there is an administration that is willing and capable to do the hard work necessary to educate people and spread nets and insecticides necessary to deal with a disease that can be defeated," Bush said.

The program, known as the President's Malaria Initiative, is a five-year, $1.2 billion effort that challenges the private sector to join the U.S. government in combating malaria in 15 of the hardest-hit African nations.

Angola, Tanzania and Uganda were the first three countries in the program, followed by Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal.

At least one million infants and children under five in sub-Saharan Africa die each year from malaria.

First lady Laura Bush also urged American school children to donate $10 each to buy insecticide-treated mosquito nets to help save the lives of African children.

"If a child can give $10 in the United States they can save the life of a child in Africa, and I think that's an especially sweet and direct way to reach people in Africa," Mrs. Bush told CBS' "The Early Show."

"This is a disease that's preventable," Mrs. Bush said. "We've eradicated it in the United States generations ago, so people don't even really have a memory of it."

Re-posted from CNN.com.

N.M. governor to host nuke talks with North Koreans

2006-12-14T13:19:00.000-08:00

N.M. governor to host nuke talks with North Koreans

SANTA FE, New Mexico (AP) -- Gov. Bill Richardson is to meet Friday with two top North Korean officials in New Mexico.

The governor's office said Wednesday that the North Koreans asked for the meeting to discuss upcoming multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

The six-party talks, scheduled to resume Monday in Beijing, will include North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.

Richardson said that while he will not act as an official representative of the Bush administration, he will do whatever he can to move the talks forward.

"I believe we have an opportunity to use diplomacy to end this crisis and bring stability to the Korean Peninsula," he said. "I will press the North Koreans to start dismantling their nuclear weapons."

North Korea agreed in late October to reconvene the negotiations three weeks after conducting an atomic bomb test. The breakthrough came after pressure from China and a U.S. offer to discuss financial penalties already in place.

U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said Wednesday his aim in resuming negotiations with North Korea is an agreement to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

The U.S. State Department granted permission for the two diplomats from the North Korean Mission to the United Nations to come to Santa Fe, the governor's office said.

The governor, a former congressman, energy secretary and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has dealt extensively with North Korea. He has traveled to North Korea five times, most recently in October 2005.

Friday's visit will mark the second time a North Korean delegation has traveled to Santa Fe to meet with Richardson. The first took place shortly after he took office in January 2003.

Source: CNN.

Bush presses Damascus to release all political prisoners

2006-12-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

Bush presses Damascus to release all political prisoners
Assad calls on west to stop interfering in Lebanon

President George W. Bush, who is facing calls to try to engage Syria over Iraq, on Wednesday criticized Damascus for its handling of human rights and its interference in Lebanon. "The United States supports the Syrian people's desire for democracy, human rights and freedom of expression," Bush said in a statement.

"The Syrian regime should immediately free all political prisoners," he added.

Bush said Syria should "cease its efforts to undermine Lebanese sovereignty" and disclose the whereabouts of Lebanese arrested during Syria's military occupation of Lebanon.

The influential Iraq Study Group led by former Secretary of State James Baker urged the Bush administration to consider direct talks with Iran and Syria but the White House has so far rejected such contacts.

This came as Syria's president called on world powers Wednesday not to intervene in Lebanon, where pro- and anti-Damascus forces are locked in a political standoff, saying that the Lebanese can resolve their own problems.

Bashar Assad was speaking during talks with US Senator Bill Nelson, a member of the powerful foreign relations and armed services committees who is on a one-day visit to Damascus.

The two men "considered it important to activate a dialogue and to set up mechanisms for bilateral cooperation," state news agency SANA said, only days after a top-level US panel called on Bush to begin talking with both Syria and Iran about the Iraqi situation and broader regional issues.

Assad called on the "international community to make all efforts with countries in the region to achieve security and stability in the Middle East."

In particular, he counseled against "intervening in the affairs of Lebanon, because the Lebanese are capable of understanding each other regarding their domestic issues."

The Syrian Arab News Agency quoted Assad as saying that foreign powers should

not intervene in Lebanon as the Lebanese "are capable of reaching an understanding amongst themselves."

Syria was the powerbroker in Lebanon for nearly three decades. It was forced to withdraw its troops last year amid a public outcry over the murder of former Premier Rafik Hariri, widely blamed on Syria, which denies responsibility

Pro-Syrian political forces are now seeking to bring down the Western-backed Lebanese government with demands for greater power sharing, which the government sees as a ploy to reassert Syrian influence in the country.

Assad also affirmed Syria's policy of "supporting a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, and the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes," SANA said.

Nelson, a Florida Democrat, can expect to play a major role in influencing US foreign policy after his party gained control of both houses of Congress in mid-term elections last month.

In addition to the two other key committee memberships mentioned above, Nelson was named on Monday to the Senate's intelligence committee.

He is the first US lawmaker since January 2005 to visit Syria. The country has been under US sanctions since May of the previous year because of its alleged support of terrorism and its role in Lebanese affairs.

Syria and its Lebanese allies regard the Beirut government as following Washington's line.

The US has repeatedly accused Syria of interfering in Lebanon - a charge Syria denies.

Syrian-US relations have been strained for several years. Washington accuses Syria of aiding anti-American insurgents in Iraq by allowing them to cross from Syria.

Damascus denies promoting the insurgency, arguing that it cannot have absolute control over its long and porous border with Iraq.

The US withdrew its ambassador to Damascus last year after the February 14, 2005, assassination of Hariri.

Nelson also discussed the situations in Iraq and the Palestinian territories with Assad.

Assad's meeting with the Florida Democrat was his first with a US official since the Iraq Study Group recommended last week that Washington should engage Syria and Iran in efforts to curb the bloodletting in Iraq.

Source: Daily Star.

EU urged to be tougher with Sudanese leaders over Darfur

2006-12-14T09:04:00.000-08:00

EU urged to be tougher with Sudanese leaders over Darfur.

EU leaders should support tough action against Sudanese leaders for their failure to end abuses in Darfur, the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

On the eve of a two-day EU summit in Brussels, the campaigning groups called for individual sanctions on Sudanese leaders, an assets freeze and a travel ban.

"Millions of civilians are paying the price for nearly four years of unkept promises and empty commitments," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "With Khartoum having long learned that the global response is all bark and no bite, the situation is again predictably deteriorating and spreading across neighboring borders."

The two global NGOs called for the imposition of strong new economic, legal and military measures unless Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir acts immediately to stop all attacks on civilians, accepts the proposed new African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force, and cooperates fully in new political settlement efforts.

"Bashir has just been laughing at the 'do this or else' resolutions passed by the UN Security Council so far," said Gareth Evans, president of the International Crisis Group.

Already the EU has tabled a draft UN resolution calling for a mission to be dispatched under the auspices of the UN human rights expert on Sudan.

This is opposed by the African group, which itself has tabled amendments calling for the mission to be composed of diplomats and headed by the UN Human Rights Council president.

The Council in Geneva resumed its special session on Darfur on Wednesday, with member states still divided.

In a further sign of growing international pressure for action on Darfur, British Premier Tony Blair was reported to have backed US plans to impose a no-fly zone on the province, a call also supported by the NGOs.

The rights groups also called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to extend its present investigations into crimes against humanity already committed, "and to threaten robust action against any future atrocity crimes, to maintain legal pressure on the Khartoum regime."

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he plans to indict suspects for Darfur atrocities by February, nearly two years after the Security Council asked him to probe the region.

Moreno-Ocampo, in a report ahead of his address Thursday to the council, said his office was preparing submissions for arrest warrants to judges of the ICC's pretrial chamber.

Arrest warrants are equivalent to indictments at the ICC, the world's first permanent criminal court based in The Hague.

Moreno-Ocampo said that since the investigation began, his team has carried out more than 70 missions to 17 different countries and conducted more than 100 interviews, many of which were with victims of crimes in Darfur.

He said Sudan so far had not conducted trials for the most serious crimes "and those who bear the greatest responsibility for those crimes."

Source: Daily Star.

Feds: Man planned to blow up Ill. mall

2006-12-09T00:17:00.001-08:00

Feds: Man planned to blow up Ill. mall.

By Mike Robinson, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO - A Muslim convert who talked about his desire to wage jihad against civilians was charged Friday in a plot to set off hand grenades at a shopping mall at the height of the Christmas rush, authorities said.

Investigators said Derrick Shareef, 22, an American citizen from Rockford, was acting alone and never actually obtained any grenades. He was arrested Wednesday when he met with an undercover agent in a parking lot to trade a set of stereo speakers for four hand grenades and a gun, authorities said.

"He fixed on a day of December 22nd on Friday ... because it was the Friday before Christmas and thought that would be the highest concentration of shoppers that he could kill and injure," said Robert Grant, the agent in charge of the Chicago FBI office.

Authorities said Shareef had been under investigation since September, when he told an acquaintance that "he wanted to commit acts of violent jihad against targets in the United States as well as commit other crimes."

The acquaintance immediately informed the FBI, officials said.

Federal officials said Shareef planned to set off four hand grenades in garbage cans at the CherryVale shopping mall in Rockford, about 90 miles northwest of Chicago.

Other potential targets that Shareef allegedly discussed included government facilities such as courthouses and city hall, authorities said.

An affidavit quoted him as saying: "I just want to smoke a judge."

Shareef was born in the United States and converted to Islam, officials said. They believe he might have learned about jihad through videos and Web sites.

"While these are very serious charges, at no time was the public in any imminent peril," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a statement.

A spiritual leader of Rockford-area Muslims commended authorities for intercepting the alleged plot and reiterated "the Muslim community's condemnation of terrorism in the name of Islam," said Shpendim Nadzaku, imam of the Muslim Association of Greater Rockford.

Asked if he had ever met Shareef, Nadzaku said: "No one in the community has any clue as to who this person is — he's completely anonymous."

The door of a Genoa town home that is the last known address for Shareef went unanswered Friday although a female inside was seen turning off a light as a reporter stood outside.

Shareef appeared briefly before a judge Friday and was ordered held without bond. He was charged with one count of attempting to damage or destroy a building by fire or explosion and one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Defense attorney Michael B. Mann declined to comment on the charges.

Shareef and his acquaintance cased the mall on Nov. 30, discussing the layout and spots where they might set off several grenades simultaneously to create more pandemonium, according to an FBI affidavit.

A spokeswoman for the mall said officials were cooperating with the investigation but referred all other questions to the U.S. attorney's office.

Mall customers expressed a mixture of anger and indifference Friday evening.

"I don't think anything is going to stop people from coming to this mall now. It's Christmas," said 27-year-old shopper Jaclyn Gonzalez of Rockford. "You're not going to keep from doing what you have to do just because someone is making ignorant comments."

This is a repost of Yahoo News, since they tend to disappear. I want my readers to be able to read the article. It will be linked to the article first, but just in case...

Charles Taylor's Son Indicted in US for Torture

2006-12-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

Charles Taylor's Son Indicted in US for Torture

By James Butty
Washington, D.C.
07 December 2006

Butty interview with Ellise Keppler.

The son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor was indicted Wednesday by a court in Miami on charges of committing torture while he was chief of the notorious anti-terrorist unit. Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Chuckie Taylor junior, was charged with committing torture overseas as a U.S. citizen as well as conspiracy. He could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty. Chuckie Taylor was already in custody in Miami awaiting sentencing for falsifying his father’s name to get a passport.

Ellise Keppler is counsel for the international justice program at Human Rights Watch. She explains the importance of the indictment.

“From our perspective, this indictment is a crucial step by the U.S. government in insuring justice for torture. It’s important for the U.S., but it’s also important, especially for Liberian victims. This would be the U.S. government’s first ever charges on torture committed abroad and it’s a very important step for victims in Liberia who have suffered by Chuckie Taylor’s alleged crimes,” she said.

Keppler said international rights groups have been following the Chuckie Taylor case for some time.

“Human Rights Watch has gathered information over the years regarding torture and war crimes that Chuckie Taylor is linked to, particularly in his role as head of the anti-terrorist unit in Liberia during this period when his father, Charles Taylor was president of Liberia. And this includes torture such as beating people to death, war crimes, including extra-judicial executions, a variety of serious crimes committed against Liberians,” Keppler said.

Some Liberians have said that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has not been moving fast enough to purge the country of other human rights violators like Chuckie Taylor. Keppler said there must be accountability for all human rights abuses.

“Human Rights Watch believes it’s absolutely essential that there be justice for serious crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture committed in Liberia or anywhere else. And it would be very important that there be accountability for those crimes in Liberia,” she said.

Chuckie Taylor’s father is awaiting trial in The Hague, Netherlands on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the Sierra Leone civil war. Keppler said the trial of Taylor senior could start early next year.

“At this point there are status conferences happening, and I understand that the trial, at least right now, is schedule to begin in April,” she said.

Keppler said the indictment of Chuckie Taylor sends a strong message.

“It’s a very important signal of U.S. commitment to ensuring justice for torture, and we’ll be looking to see what the next steps are. We see it as a precedent and hope that this would be the beginning of more cases of this kind. The law on torture committed abroad has been on the books for [more] than a decade but has never been applied,” she said.

E-mail This Article.
Print Version .

Reposted from Voice of America so it will remain available to my readers. Thank you.

Additional information: Chuckie was a resident of Boston, Mass., and he headed the Anti-Terrorist Unit in Liberia after his father became president in 1997.

"The indictment said that in 2002, a man was abducted from his home, and Emmanuel and others burned him with an iron, forced him at gunpoint to hold scalding water, applied electric shocks to his genitals and other body parts and rubbed salt in this wounds."

"Taylor faces trial in the Netherlands court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly overseeing the murder, rape and mutilation of thousands of people during Sierra Leone's bloody 10-year civil war."

"The conflict, fought primarily by teenagers and children, centered on the region's diamond trade. Most of the young fighters were given addictive drugs to make them aggressive."

"Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie Myers, who leads U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the son's indictment sends a message that the United States is not a sanctuary for human rights violators."

'"We must never deny safe haven to those with a genuine and legitimate fear of persecution. But we must also ensure that those who come here seeking freedom and rule of law do not have to fear that their oppressor may be come their neighbor," Myers said.'

This second addition is taken from CNN's article on this article. Charles Taylor, deposed dictator, will face the Hague, Netherlands sometime in early next year.

Egypt ties cell to man who blew himself up in Syria

2006-12-06T18:18:00.000-08:00

Egypt ties cell to man who blew himself up in Syria

Foreign Islamists arrested in Cairo last month, including nine Frenchmen and an American, had ties with a militant who blew himself up at the Lebanese-Syrian border last week, Egyptian security sources said Wednesday. The allegations were not immediately confirmed by foreign security sources, however, and several of the suspects were still expected to be flown to their home countries within days.

"There are links between this cell and the person who blew himself up on the Syrian-Lebanese border" in late November, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

The group of Islamists detained late last month in Cairo included nine Frenchmen, two Belgians, one American and multiple Egyptians, Tunisians and Syrians.

An Egyptian Interior Ministry statement Monday said the group had links to terror organizations outside Egypt and was involved in recruiting militants to wage "jihad" in Iraq.

The Syrian news agency had reported that Omar Abdullah, a military leader for the Tawhid wal Jihad group, blew himself up at the main border crossing between Syria and Lebanon on November 28, wounding two Syrian soldiers.

Tawhid wal Jihad is reportedly linked to the Jund al-Sham group that has carried out several attacks in Syria since 2003, including a strike near a former UN building in Damascus.

Despite the gravity of the accusations leveled against the cell, French and Egyptian authorities were negotiating the deportation of seven of the nine French suspects, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The two Belgians were also expected to be flown back to their country within days, security sources said.

"There are indications that seven Frenchmen will be deported and handed to French authorities for questioning over links with a terrorist organization which has ties to an international North African network headquartered in Tunisia and linked to Al-Qaeda," Egypt's top-selling state-run daily Al-Ahram said.

The newspaper did not provide further details on the alleged Tunisian organization and its links with the Cairo students.

The vast majority of suspects are in their mid-20s and were in Egypt to study Islam and Arabic.

Two of the detained Egyptian suspects were identified as Ramadan al-Nagdi and Islam Sabri, both students at Al-Azhar University's faculty of medicine, a security official said on condition of anonymity.

"Their role was to teach the rules and tenets of Islam to the other members of the group, including the foreigners," he said.

US authorities in Egypt have refused to comment or reveal the identity of the US suspect.

State Department spokes-man Sean McCormack criticized

Egypt on Tuesday for refusing to grant US Embassy officials timely access to the arrested American. Egyptian authorities told US officials that no access would be granted until the investigation is completed, he said.

French consular officials have been allowed to visit their detained citizens, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said.

He said Paris prosecutors have opened their own preliminary investigation into the suspects' activities.

"We are in contact with the Egyptian authorities" to find out exactly what the suspects are accused of, Mattei told reporters.

The Daily Star.

Muslims expelled from school for burning Bibles

2006-12-05T16:12:00.000-08:00

Muslims expelled from school for burning Bibles

The explosive incident has forced the East Preston Islamic College to call in a senior imam to tell its 650 Muslim students that the Bible and Christianity must be respected.

Anxious teachers at the school have also petitioned principal Shaheem Doutie, expressing "grave concern" about an "inculcation of hatred and radical attitudes towards non-Muslims" at the school, including towards non-Muslim teachers.

The Bible desecration took place last week at a school camp held near Bacchus Marsh, about 50km west of Melbourne, attended by 33 teenage Muslim boys ranging in age from Year7 to Year 10.

A school report of the incident, obtained by The Australian, says it happened late at night and involved three students and another two watching.

"The main perpetrator (a Year 7 student) urinated on the Holy Bible, tore some pages from the Holy Book and burnt them then finally spat on the Holy Book," the report says.

The second boy, from Year 9, "tore pages from the Holy Book and burnt them", while a third student, from Year 7, "tore pages from the Holy Bible and then he rolled it up like a cigarette and pretended to smoke it".

The boys come from a variety of ethnic Muslim backgrounds - one is believed to be an Albanian/Malaysian, another Lebanese and another Indonesian.

Mr Doutie, whose school receives about $3.9 million in state and federal government funding each year, told The Australian yesterday that both he and the school community were appalled by the Bible desecration and that he had expelled the first two boys and suspended the third.

In a letter to all staff on Monday, Mr Doutie wrote: "The school unconditionally apologises for this horrible act as conducted by some illiterate and ignorant students while under the care of EPIC teachers.

"We regard the desecration of the Bible in a very serious light and therefore we have taken serious action against the offenders.

"The Bible is an important book both for non-Muslims and Muslims and should be treated as a holy book by all religions."

Mr Doutie said he did not believe that the boys realised the significance of their act.

But to ensure it did not happen again he had called in the assistant imam of the Newport Mosque, Oman Haouli, to tell the students that the Bible was a sacred book. "My lesson to them was to respect their neighbours and respect all religions," Mr Haouli said yesterday.

But the desecration incident has shaken the nerves of the school's teachers, about half of whom are non-Muslim.

A petition signed by 22 teachers expressed "anguish and dismay at the grave incident of the desecration of the Holy Bible".

"This whole incident implies a deep hatred inculcated in the students towards the Christians/non-Muslim teachers," it says.

The petition said there had been "previous incidents of students misbehaving towards non-Muslim teachers".

It called on the school to "take steps to rectify this explosive situation" to ensure the safety of teachers.

Mr Doutie said the school had tried to contact the parents of the expelled boys to find out why they had desecrated the Bible. But he said the school had not received a response.

EPIC is an eight-year-old primary and secondary school in Melbourne's north that caters mostly to the children of working-class immigrant Somali and Lebanese families.

The Bible desecration comes at a time of heightened tension among Australia's 300,000-member Islamic community, many of whom believe their religion is being unfairly discriminated against because of terrorism fears. Many Muslims remain angry about the public humiliation suffered by their spiritual leader, the mufti Taj al-Din al-Hilaly, after the Sheik likened female rape victims to pieces of meat who brought the attacks on themselves.

Sources: The Australian, by Cameron Stewart and Voice of the Pacific by Sonnabend.

UPDATE 4-Blair to renew Britain's nuclear arsenal

2006-12-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

UPDATE 4-Blair to renew Britain's nuclear arsenal

(Recasts with more background, quotes)
By Adrian Croft and Katherine Baldwin

LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged on Monday to renew Britain's nuclear arsenal, saying new threats from Iran, North Korea or nuclear terrorists made it "unwise and dangerous" to disarm.

Britain will buy up to four new nuclear submarines at a cost of up to 20 billion pounds ($39.60 billion), enabling it to keep a nuclear deterrent into the 2050s, the government said.

The new submarines will replace Britain's existing nuclear submarines which are due to go out of service around 2024.

In a concession to legislators in his Labour Party who oppose a new nuclear weapons system, Blair said Britain would cut its nuclear warheads by 20 percent to less than 160 and may reduce its submarine fleet to three from four.

The decision keeps Britain in a nuclear club comprised of all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain.

Blair argued that Britain needed a deterrent as an insurance policy against future unpredictable threats.

He pointed to a "new and potentially hazardous threat" from states such as North Korea, which carried out a nuclear test in October, or Iran, which the West accuses of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the accusation.

"It is not utterly fanciful either to imagine states sponsoring nuclear terrorism from their soil. We know this global terrorism seeks chemical, biological and nuclear devices. It is not impossible to contemplate a rogue government helping such an acquisition," Blair said.

"It would be unwise and dangerous for Britain, alone of any of the nuclear powers, to give up its independent nuclear deterrent," he said.

COLD WAR WEAPON?
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and scores of Labour parliamentarians, however, say Britain is contributing to nuclear proliferation by updating its arsenal. They argue there is no need for a costly deterrent now the Cold War has ended.

The government plans to build the new submarines in Britain, preserving thousands of highly skilled jobs, Blair said.

Britain's existing nuclear defence consists of Trident missiles aboard four Vanguard-class nuclear-powered submarines.

The government said Britain would take part in a U.S. programme to extend the life of the Trident missile until 2042 when it would work with the United States on a new missile.

"How can this proposal really be justified when there is an utterly different post-Cold War environment?" Labour member of parliament Michael Meacher told Reuters. Labour was committed to unilateral nuclear disarmament until the late 1980s

"It's going to drain off colossal sums of money from where I think it's most needed for Britain's future, dealing with real threats -- terrorism, climate change and long-term energy insecurity," he said, pointing to estimates the cost of the programme could run to 75 billion pounds.

Countries such as Iran would now say to Britain: "If you need nuclear weapons for your security, why shouldn't we have it for ours?" he said.

Labour legislator Jeremy Corbyn asked Blair if he didn't think that "the security of the 21st century is better served by seriously pursuing disarmament rather than rearmament?"

The government will decide later if it needs three or four new submarines in order to keep one at sea at all times.

Blair's announcement signalled the start of weeks of heated debate, set to culminate in a parliamentary vote next March. He is expected to win the vote with the support of the opposition Conservatives despite a Labour revolt.

Reposted from Reuters, the paper who doesn't mind lying to us and putting our men in harms in harms way. (If the link gives you an error message, press the refresh button. These people are real jerks.)

Letter urges action from Sebelius on Sudan

2006-12-03T02:48:00.000-08:00

Letter urges action from Sebelius on Sudan

By Mary Clarkin

The Hutchinson News.

mclarkin@hutchnews.com

When Gov. Kathleen Sebelius returns Monday from Thanksgiving break, she will read two letters from Capitol Hill urging her to take economic action to protest genocide in Sudan, said a spokesman in her office.

One letter signer is a fellow Kansan - Sen. Sam Brownback.

The letter, jointly signed by Brownback, a Republican, and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., points out that California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey and Oregon "have already moved to divest from companies doing business with Sudan."

"Hundreds of thousands of people have died and more than two million people have been displaced," the letter states. "There is no question that the government of Sudan orchestrated and continues to direct the genocide in Darfur. Bold action is now warranted."

In addition to the Brownback-Durbin letter, six members of the House of Representatives - four Democrats, two Republicans, none of whom are from Kansas - signed a letter to Sebelius expressing similar sentiments.

On Wednesday, the Washington-based nonprofit Sudan Divestment Task Force issued a press release noting that the letters from Congress went to more than 40 governors.

"Divestment helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa, and I hope the example already set by six states will inspire other governors to take action," Brownback was quoted as saying in the release.

Kansas Public Employees Retirement System has about $43.5 million worth of affected investments, but it does not have direct holdings in Sudan, the system's executive director, Glenn Deck, told The Lawrence Journal-World recently.

Overall, KPERS has more than $12 billion in assets, making its Sudan-related investments less than 1 percent.

Foreign-based energy companies dominate the Sudan Divestment Task Force's list of the "top dozen companies that warrant scrutiny in Sudan."

Among companies on the list are PetroChina, the Oil and Natural Gas Company of India and the oilfield equipment division of the United Kingdom's Rolls-Royce.

Daniel Millenson, president of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, said Wednesday that while some states have decided to divest from any company with any connection to Sudan, the organization is advocating "a much more narrowly tailored approach."

Primarily, he said, the group is looking for companies that provide revenue to the Sudanese government, provide little benefit to the disadvantaged regions in the country and have no corporate policy regarding Darfur.

If a company provides benefits to those outside government circles in poor regions of Sudan, Millenson said, the organization isn't advocating divestment.

Millenson also noted that essentially all U.S. companies are already prohibited from operating in Sudan because the U.S.-imposed sanctions in 1997.

Hong Kong: We're made as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore!

2006-11-30T15:06:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong: We're made as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore!

HONG KONG—Hundreds of villagers have surrounded a local government building and taken two hostages in southern China, demanding market-based payment for land they were forced to sell to developers, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.

"We are holding the wife of the former village committee secretary and the son of the head of the Shareholders' Association," one villager said in a telephone interview from Xichong village, near Shunde in Guangdong province. "I am here with about 1,000 other villagers. There are a lot of plainclothes [police] nearby. It's not convenient for me to say too much."

The same villager, who asked not to be named, told RFA's Mandarin service a group of villagers had been summoned Nov. 29 to the local Lunjiao Land Development Co. to discuss their year-long campaign to obtain more money in exchange for just over 1,000 mu (165 acres) of farmland. How much money the villagers have already received in exchange for the land wasn't immediately clear.

These villagers were detained shortly after arriving at the company office, the source said. "They detained 27 people. They used the meeting as a pretext. Around 11:30 this morning, village representatives were taken away by the police in the middle of the meeting."

Sources said that among the 27 detained villagers, five were newly elected village cadres.

"More than 20 villagers were taken away by police, including the village committee chief, the village committee deputy chief, the village chief, the village deputy chief, and a village committee cadre," another villager said. "Also taken away were a number of senior citizens in their 70s and 80s."

By 9:00 p.m., up to 1,000 villagers had descended upon the Xichong village committee building and surrounded it.

The wife of village cadre Wu Peifa said her husband and the others "did not do anything to violate the law. They did not do anything wrong. Why were they taken away? Now villagers have descended upon the village committee. They are demanding the release of our people."

The wife of another detained villager said her husband had come home for lunch but was taken away when he returned to the meeting. "Three elderly villagers in their 70s and 80s have been released," the woman said. "They are ordinary villagers. Not village representatives."

Local police and public security officials declined to comment. "I am not clear on the situation," one official said.

Tensions have been simmering over the land sales for more than a year, and villagers suspect that former village committee shortchanged them in the sales of farmland to build factories.

On Nov. 23, hundreds of villagers surrounded a plastics factory-built on what had been farmland-and demanded to see land-sale documents. The crowd later dispersed without incident.

The villagers also demanded more money for the farmland and want factories built on former farmland to cover trash-collection fees and public utility fees for the village. Factory officials rejected their demands, they say.

In another Guangdong village, Dongzhou, police staged a pre-dawn raid Nov. 18 on a temple where angry villagers had been holding eight local officials hostage for a week over the detention of a local anti-corruption activist.

"They didn't release Chen Qian," one villager from Dongzhou said at the time, referring to the villager detained Nov. 9 while he hung anti-corruption posters in the village. "Instead, they detained three more."

Dongzhou has a bloody history, and protests over land appropriated for commercial and industrial development have been escalating since the 1990s.

On Dec. 6 last year, according to China's official Xinhua news agency, police opened fire "in alarm" on protesters who attacked them with home-made explosives, killing at least three people. But villagers said police fired first on an unarmed crowd, and that the death toll was higher than official reports admitted.

China experiences thousands of protests and confrontations every year that the Chinese government says happen despite efforts to address widespread corruption allegations and growing disparities in wealth.

According to an official report, the number of protests and riots in China fell by more than one-fifth in the first nine months of 2006, down 22.1 percent from a year earlier. Many protests are related to land seizures, pollution, and corruption.

Original reporting by Ding Xiao for RFA's Mandarin service. Service director: Jennifer Chou. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.

Rebels shoot down Chadian military plane

2006-11-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

Rebels shoot down Chadian military plane

By HALIME ASSADYA ALI Associated Press Writer

N'DJAMENA, Chad — A Chadian military reconnaissance plane was shot down in eastern Chad on Tuesday, a government spokesman said, and a rebel group claimed responsibility. A government spokesman blamed neighboring Sudan for backing the rebels and said it was "a state of war."

The plane was downed in Chad's volatile east, close to the Sudanese border, government spokesman Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said at a news conference. He did not provide other details.

"Today we are in a state of war with forces from Sudan," he said. "We consider ourselves under attack by Sudan."

An opposition Web site quoted rebel spokesman Ali Izzo as saying rebels had shot down a plane and a helicopter using surface-to-air missiles. The account could not immediately be confirmed.

On Oct. 24, someone fired a surface-to-air missile at a French reconnaissance jet, part of a military mission in support of the Chadian government, but the weapon missed its target.

Doumgor told journalists that in response to Tuesday's downing of a plane that "the state of emergency will be reinforced and the military put on the highest alert."

He said the United Nations and African Union should do all that is possible to evacuate Sudanese refugees who are in camps near the border, which he called havens for "the forces of aggression."

Doumgor claimed some refugees were working for the Sudanese government, trying to destabilize Chad. He also repeated allegations made a day earlier that Saudi Arabia finances and supplies the rebels in order to establish a militant form of Islam in Chad.

In the eastern town of Abeche, meanwhile, some 60 miles west of the airplane attack, Chadian troops went door-to-door Tuesday, shooting open locks and searching for looted goods.

Rebel fighters stormed and briefly held Abeche Saturday, and civilians ransacked U.N. warehouses and government buildings, including the governor's residence. The rebels withdrew Sunday, and government troops retook the city.

Provincial Gov. Mahamat Nimir Hamata said a courthouse in Abeche, an office of the national bank, a cigarette factory, the repair shop where the U.N. keeps spare parts, and the state archives were also stripped of goods and furnishings.

Under pressure from government troops, residents made piles of stolen goods in the street, including tires, tables, mattresses and satellite television dishes.

Heavily armed soldiers in pickup trucks later patrolled Abeche's mostly deserted streets. Most shops were closed.

Most civilians were too frightened to speak to journalists, and those who did demanded anonymity for their personal safety.

The U.N. said looters plundered around $1.5 million worth of relief supplies. The U.N. and other agencies based in Abeche deliver aid to 218,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur, which neighbors eastern Chad, and some 90,000 internally displaced Chadians.

The U.N. refugee agency said the looting and the volatile security situation had hampered relief efforts. The agency has reduced monitoring close to the Sudanese border and some U.N. staff were leaving for safe areas, the U.N. statement said.

French troops, who have a base in the area 550 miles east of the capital, N'djamena, deployed to protect Abeche's airport and some 150 foreigners sought refuge in an aircraft hanger there.

About 50 foreigners and a few Chadians boarded two French military planes for evacuation flights to the capital.

Both France and Britain have cautioned their citizens not to travel to Chad and France bolstered its presence in Chad with 100 additional troops, a supply plane and a reconnaissance plane, a military official said Tuesday. The reinforcement brings the total French troops there to 1,200.

President Idriss Deby, who first took power at the head of his own rebel army in 1990, is unpopular in the region.

Rebels bent on toppling Deby have clashed sporadically with the government since 2005. The competition for power has become more intense since Chad began exporting oil in 2004.

The rebels have been able to exploit volatility in neighboring Sudan, establishing rear bases in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

Besides the rebellion, Chad's government has in recent weeks reported outbreaks of violence pitting ethnic Arab Chadians against ethnic African Chadians. The pattern mirrors the Arab-African clashes in Darfur, and Chad has accused Sudan of inciting ethnic unrest.

Sudan, in turn, alleges that Chad supports Sudanese rebels. http://capitalistrosie.blogspot.com/2006/11/rebels-claim-they-shot-down-chadian.html

This is a repost from Causes of Interest in case this article's link moves and is no longer available to my readers.

Sudan rebels attack oil field

2006-11-27T20:26:00.000-08:00

Sudan rebels attack oil field

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- Darfur rebels have attacked an oil field in Southern Kordofan, making a rare eastward extension of their campaign toward central Sudan, the rebels and government said Monday.

The National Redemption Front said its fighters had seized the Abu Jabra oil field on the edge of South Darfur and Southern Kordofan on Sunday.

"The government garrison guarding the oil field was totally destroyed," the NRF said in a statement. "Numerous soldiers, including high ranking officers and generals, have surrendered."

But the Sudanese military said its forces had repelled the attack and were in full control of the field.

The army "inflicted heavy causalities on the rebels, who withdrew from the area," said a military spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official policy.

The NRF, a rebel alliance that opposes the May peace agreement, also claimed to have shot down a military helicopter and captured a "substantial amount of weapons, ammunitions, anti-aircraft missiles and military vehicles."

But the government forces denied this, saying the rebels had tried to extend Darfur's violence to other parts of Sudan but had failed.

"To put it simply, they did not achieve what they were looking for," the military spokesman said.

The NRF stronghold has traditionally been in Northern Darfur, and its conducting a strike on the border South Darfur and Southern Kordofan shows a considerable leap in range.

A Sudanese official in the oil industry said the state-owned Abu Jabra field produces up to 10,000 barrels per day -- a relatively small output.

"The capacities seem to have been significantly damaged, but it won't affect Sudan's production overall," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Sudanese officials say the country produces about 500,000 barrels per day and that oil revenue should be at least $4 billion this year, more than half of the government's income.

Most of Sudan's oil reserves are in the south of the country, which is now semi autonomous under a separate peace agreement that southern rebels signed with the government in January 2005.

Sunday's raid on the oil field came amid heightened violence in Darfur, where pro-government janjaweed militia have been accused by the United Nations of forcing 60,000 people to flee their homes this month.

After the Abu Jabra attack, South Darfur officials accused Minni Minnawi, the one rebel chief who signed the May peace accord and subsequently took a government position, of having ceded terrain to the NRF to facilitate attacks.

But the NRF's head of strategic planning, Abdullahi el-Tom, denied this, telling The Associated Press his group had occupied Minnawi's territory in South Darfur by force.

In July, NRF rebels ventured east of Darfur and attacked the Northern Kordofan town of Hamarat Sheikh, killing more than a dozen people.

Re-posted from CNN.

Troops fortify positions in Chad capital

2006-11-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

Troops fortify positions in Chad capital.

N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) -- Heavily armed Chadian soldiers began reinforcing their positions in the capital, N'djamena, Monday amid fears of a fresh rebel attack on the city.

Troops were positioned throughout the capital, cordoning off key government buildings and supported by at least a dozen tanks guarding the main entrances to the city. Schools have been closed and residents of N'djamena have been panic buying in markets and shops.

At dawn a French Mirage fighter jet conducted low-level reconnaissance flights over the capital and surrounding areas.

On Sunday government troops set up roadblocks in Lamadji, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the capital, and were searching cars and fighting-age men.

The Forces for Democracy and Development, known by the French acronym UFDD, is a union of several rebel groups opposed to President Idriss Deby, who first took power at the head of his own rebel army in 1990. The group has had sporadic clashes with the government since 2005 and launched a failed attack on the capital in April.

The competition for power has become more intense since Chad began exporting oil in 2004. The rebels have been able to exploit volatility in neighboring Sudan, establishing rear bases in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, which borders eastern Chad.

Both France and Britain have issued warnings of reports of rebel forces heading toward the capital, urging against all travel to Chad. The Chadian government has denied rebels were about 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the capital and said they were no longer advancing.

On Saturday, rebels launched an attack and claimed to have seized Abeche, the largest city in the country's east, but pulled out Sunday before government troops arrived.

Abeche, 550 miles (885 kilometers) east of the capital, is the base for dozens of aid organizations looking after 200,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur and 50,000 displaced Chadians. The U.N. refugee chief said the violence is threatening aid delivery.

In addition to the rebellion, Chad's government has in recent weeks reporting violence pitting ethnic Arab Chadians against ethnic African Chadians, mirroring ethnic clashes in Darfur. Chad accused Sudan of instigating the clashes. Chad often accuses Sudan of supporting Chadian rebels and Sudan makes a similar accusation against Chad.

In Darfur, ethnic African tribes accusing the central government of neglect launched a rebellion three years ago, following years of low-level tribal clashes over land and water. The government is accused of responding by unleashing ethnic Arab tribal militias who have been linked to atrocities.

More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced since fighting began in Darfur in early 2003.

Chad, an impoverished country in central Africa, has suffered from years of political turmoil that have hampered economic development. The country relies on livestock and a relatively new oil industry to keep the economy going.

Re-posted from CNN because they always move their links so as not for my readers to read their articles. Shame on them!

Rebels attack, residents loot in eastern Chad

2006-11-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

Rebels attack, residents loot in eastern Chad.

ABECHE, Chad: U.N. and government workers took stock of looted warehouses and even the governor's residence in an eastern Chad town that was the latest victim of unrest that started in Sudan's Darfur and has since spread across a swath of Africa.

Over the weekend, Chadian rebels who have their rear bases in Darfur briefly held Abeche, a hub for aid workers helping Darfur refugees. A French military officer posted in the town said it remained under threat. Gunfire could be heard in the distance after nightfall, and residents said it was rebels fighting government troops north of town, but there was no confirmation of that.

Earlier Monday, the U.N. said looters plundered around US$1.5 million (€1 million) worth of aid intended for refugees after the rebel attack. Governor Mahamat Nimir Hamata, whose Ouaddai province has Abeche as its capital, said a courthouse, an office of the national bank, a cigarette factory, the repair shop where the U.N. keeps spare parts and the state archives also were looted by residents.

Both Hamata's office and his nearby official residence were struck, stripped of doors, windows and plumbing. He spoke Monday amid piles of paper strewn around his office. The night before, he had declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew and, in a radio address, pleaded with people to return stolen property.

"It's really sad," said Hamata, who seemed particularly troubled by the attack on the state archives. "I don't understand the state of mind of the people. How can you destroy our archives?"

The rebels themselves were described as disciplined. It was not clear what prompted civilians to loot, targeting many government buildings, but President Idriss Deby, who first took power at the head of his own rebel army in 1990, is considered unpopular in this area.

Chadian rebels have clashed sporadically with the government since 2005 and launched a failed attack on the capital in April. The competition for power has become more intense since Chad began exporting oil in 2004. The rebels have been able to exploit volatility in neighboring Sudan, establishing rear bases in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, which borders eastern Chad.

Rebels seized Abeche Saturday and government forces recaptured it Sunday.

French troops, who have a base in the area 885 kilometers (550 miles) east of the capital, N'djamena, deployed to protect Abeche's airport and some 150 foreigners seeking refugee in an aircraft hanger there. "We are in a state of war," French officer Didier Lebailly told reporters and aid workers who arrived on the first flight into Abeche since rebels briefly held the town.

He said Abeche still is under threat "from all sides." French troops in jeeps mounted with machine guns patrolled the perimeter of the airport.

In Paris, French foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei told reporters Monday: "These new rebel attacks show again the gravity of the situation and the urgency for an international presence to be deployed along the border between Chad and Darfur," he said.

According to initial reports from staff, nearly 500 metric tons (more than 500 tons)of food worth US$500,000 (€380,000) were taken from a WFP warehouse in the center of Abeche. Also stolen was around US$1 million (€760,000) worth of blankets, tents, stoves, medical, communications and water purification supplies and other equipment.

"Stealing food from people who have lost everything is the most shameful and inhumane act that anyone can possibly commit," WFP Executive Director James Morris said in a statement.

U.N. and other agencies based in Abeche deliver aid to 218,000 Darfur refugees and some 90,000 internally displaced Chadians.

In the capital, heavily armed Chadian soldiers reinforced their positions Monday, although the government insisted that their forces were pursuing the rebels in the east back toward the Sudanese border. Troops were positioned throughout the capital, cordoning off key government buildings and supported by at least a dozen tanks guarding the main entrances to the city. Schools have been closed and residents of N'djamena have been panic buying.

At dawn a French Mirage fighter jet conducted low-level reconnaissance flights over the capital and surrounding areas.

Both France and Britain have issued warnings of reports of rebel forces heading toward the capital, urging against all travel to Chad. The Chadian government has denied rebels were 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) from the capital and said they were no longer advancing.

Besides the rebellion, Chad's government has in recent weeks reporting violence pitting ethnic Arab Chadians against ethnic African Chadians, mirroring ethnic clashes in Darfur. Chad accused Sudan of instigating the clashes. Chad often accuses Sudan of supporting Chadian rebels and Sudan makes a similar accusation against Chad.

In Darfur, ethnic African tribes accusing the central government of neglect launched a rebellion three years ago, following years of low-level tribal clashes over land and water. The government is accused of responding by unleashing ethnic Arab tribal militias who have been linked to atrocities.

More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced since fighting began in Darfur in early 2003.

Chad, an impoverished country in central Africa, has suffered from years of political turmoil that have hampered economic development. The economy relies on livestock and a relatively new oil industry.

Re-posted from the International Herald Tribune in case this article is no longer able to be accessed by my link at Causes of Interest.

Chad: State of Emergency Extended

2006-11-26T23:20:00.000-08:00

Chad State of Emergency Extended

Ndjamena
The Chadian government has extended a state of emergency to six months from an initial 12 days in the midst of continuing violence that has displaced tens of thousands of people.

"There is a kind of crisis of confidence between the communities in the areas and, in one way or another, between the communities and the administration," Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji told parliament on Thursday when requesting that it authorise the extension.

"More time is needed to restore the administration, to sensitise the population, to reconcile populations and create confidence," he said.

The prime minister also said that the government would have the power disarm civilians and put in place more civilian and military authorities.

The state of emergency would affect the capital, N'djamena, and several areas in the east w[h]ere various armed groups have forced at least 75,000 people to flee their villages in the past year - 12,000 of them this month alone, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

Armed men on horseback have attacked at least 23 villages in southeastern Chad since the beginning of November, UNHCR said, and people have fled 20 other villages in fear of more attacks. At least 200 people have been killed and dozens others wounded. Some have had their eyes gouged out, while others have been burned after being trapped when their homes were set on fire.

Last week some 10,000 other people were displaced by an attack on villages around the town of Koloy in the southeast. One aid worker from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was also killed and the whereabouts of three others remain unknown.

In his speech, Prime Minister Yoadimnadji blamed the government of Sudan for igniting violence between local communities in the east. He said Sudan is seeking to destabilise Chad by exporting its conflict from neighbouring Dafur.

Sudan denies the accusation. MSF issued a statement on Friday saying that the recently displaced people are victims of incursions from armed men from Sudan but also of fighting between the Chadian army and Chadian rebels.

2006-11-24T08:53:00.000-08:00

Retired spies group claims scalps

2006-11-23T15:12:00.000-08:00

Retired spies group claims scalps

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- It says its members brought about the conviction of radical Egyptian-born cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, uncovered insurgent tactics in Iraq and are now working to provide intelligence from North Korea.

The organization is not the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency or Britain's security agency MI6 but "Vigil", a shadowy network of retired spies, senior military personnel, anti-terrorism specialists and banking experts.

The group's director Dominic Whiteman said he set up Vigil with two other businessmen last year to act as an interface between retired spies who were still party to good, raw intelligence, and the police and security services.

"This evidence was just getting lost in the system," Whiteman told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Vigil numbers more than 30 members and is spread across the globe from India to the United States, working with contacts ranging from a maid in Bangkok and a Mumbai train driver to senior intelligence figures.

"We just recruited a guy who's a senior figure in police training in Iraq," Whiteman said.

Sixty percent of Vigil's work involves gaining information via the Internet, by infiltrating online chatrooms, while the remainder is face-to-face or telephone work.

The information gleaned is passed on to authorities like the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York Intelligence Unit and British police's Counter Terrorism Command (CTC).

A CTC spokeswoman said the group was treated seriously.

"The CTC is working closely with Vigil and in particular its director and spokesman who has made officers aware of chatroom material," she said.

Whiteman said: "We generally don't drop stuff off until it's pretty well formed and ready for them to use.

"It's quite a faceless relationship. You can never really tell if some of the evidence you hand over is behind some of the arrests that have been security service-inspired."

'Miss Marple'
One member of Vigil is credited with helping bring about the conviction of cleric Hamza, jailed in London in February for inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder, and wanted in the United States on terrorism charges.

Glen Jenvey said he tricked Hamza into handing over videos and audio tapes which were used by U.S. authorities in their case against James Ujaama who pleaded guilty in 2004 to trying to help al Qaeda militants.

Ujaama's conviction led to an arrest warrant for Hamza and ultimately the discovery of the material that led to his trial.

Jenvey said he previously worked for Sri Lanka's intelligence service infiltrating the London base of the Tamil Tigers. He describes himself as an amateur spy "like Miss Marple," the elderly sleuth created by author Agatha Christie.

"It sounds more insulting to the terrorists," he told Reuters.

His latest undercover work has involved another hardline Muslim cleric, Omar Bakri Mohammed, banned from Britain in August as part of a crackdown on so-called "preachers of hate".

Jenvey's revelation that Bakri had been delivering nightly sermons via an Internet chatroom from his exile in Lebanon was reported prominently in Britain's media this week.

"What he wasn't aware of is we recorded everything for the last six months and then handed it over to the anti-terrorist squad and MI5 (the UK domestic spy agency)," he said.

"When you listen to a whole lecture ... it's a pretty fair assessment he's inciting terrorism, calling for terrorism, supporting terrorism and he's Mr Terrorism himself."

Jenvey said one of the chatroom's regular participants, a man since convicted of inciting racist hatred, had also called for the killing of Queen Elizabeth. Others had targeted U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Anjem Choudary, a close friend of Bakri, denied there was anything sinister about the sermons and said the talks in "no way encourage or incite" British Muslims.

Muslim extremists.
London, where four British Islamists blew themselves up on the city's transport network last year, remained a focal point, Whiteman said.

MI5's chief Eliza Manningham-Buller said recently Muslim extremists were plotting at least 30 attacks and there were some 1,600 suspects being monitored.

Whiteman said a very trusted contact who had a "key security role in the UK" had revealed that 70 percent of information given in a daily briefing to President Bush by U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte centred on the British capital.

Vigil has now turned its sights on two groups prominent in Britain: Tablighi Jamaat, a missionary organization that is planning to build Britain's largest mosque in east London, and Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), an organization Britain announced it would ban after the July 7, 2005 London bomb attacks.

Both groups say they do not have links to militants and say they promote peace. Media reports have often linked them to terrorism investigations.

"We wanted to find out more," Whiteman said, adding that his group had already infiltrated the organizations. "There's nothing to suggest that they will be banned, but there are definitely a few rotten apples that need to be looked at."

Reposted from CNN due to problems with their links disappearing.
CNN may find their post here.

Egeland: 'Meltdown' in Darfur

2006-11-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

Egeland: 'Meltdown' in Darfur

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Citing a "dramatic deterioration" of the situation in Darfur, the top U.N. humanitarian official said a crisis is approaching for the region in Sudan that could cost millions of lives.

"I was there in 2004 when there was 1 million people in need," Jan Egeland, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, told reporters. "2005, 2 million ... in the spring, 3 million. And now there are 4 million in desperate need of humanitarian assistance."

Egeland briefed the U.N. Security Council Wednesday on Darfur.

In a report from Reuters, Egeland also accused Sudan of deliberately hindering relief aid in Darfur, attacking villages and arming brutal militia to combat rebels and bandits.

Egeland told the Security Council that international relief operations were threatened by government obstruction and members needed to talk to Sudanese officials immediately as well as put pressure on those sending arms to rebels.

"The next weeks may be make or break for our lifeline to more than 3 million people," Egeland said in the Reuters report. "This period may well be the last opportunity for this Council, the government of Sudan, the African Union, the rebels, and all of us to avert a humanitarian disaster of much larger proportions than even the one we so far have witnessed in Darfur."

Part of the problem, Egeland said, is a "meltdown in security. The humanitarians are confined to the towns. We cannot even reach many of the camps."

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday that negotiations continue on whether Sudan will allow U.N. peacekeepers to be stationed in Darfur, and that he is waiting to hear from Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

"I spoke to President Bashir today," Annan said, "and he indicated that he will be writing to me shortly. And I think I should wait for his letter." (Full story)

Last week, the United Nations said Sudan had agreed "in principle" to a plan that would station U.N. peacekeepers and African Union troops as a hybrid operation in Darfur. But Sudanese officials denied that, saying they would only accept technical and logistics support from the United Nations.

U.N. officials say at least 200,000 people have been slain in Darfur from fighting between government-backed troops, militias and rebels. Millions of others have been displaced.

The attacks by militias who support the Arab government against blacks in Darfur have been characterized as a genocide.

In late August, the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 1706, which expands the mandate of the U.N. mission in Sudan to include its deployment to Darfur.

"The failure is one of the government not being willing to protect its own citizens, rather fueling the conflict; of rebels not wanting to join the cease-fire; and of the international community, which is not living up to the responsibility to protect, which was solemnly sworn in this building one year ago," Egeland said.

The 4 million he mentioned, Egeland said, "are dependent on international assistance to survive the future. There is no economy. There are no nomadic roots anymore. There is nothing to sustain them except the international lifeline.

"Up until August, we were able to -- against all odds -- to reach up to 3 million of these people," he said. "Most of the people got assistance, and mortality decreased because of this -- the best-funded operation on Earth ... all of that is now at risk," he said.

"Ninety-five percent of the roads in west Darfur are no-go at the moment. We cannot go by road, except with massive military escort, and there will be hundreds of thousands who are beyond our reach and where we seem to have little hope of resuming activities unless we see a dramatic change for the better. But the reality is that the change is for the worse."

Reposted from CNN to prevent any continuity with my readers in case their URL moves or is no longer valid. It has happened before.
CNN may find their post here.

U.S. moves to 'Plan B' on Sudan conflict

2006-11-23T14:58:00.000-08:00

U.S. moves to 'Plan B' on Sudan conflict

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States may move to "Plan B" if the Sudanese government cannot reach an agreement on allowing peacekeepers in the region by January 1, U.S. presidential envoy Andrew Natsios said.

What exactly "Plan B" entails is unclear, however.

"We need to put a time limit on where this is going," Natsios said Monday, declining to specify consequences for Sudan if the deadline is not met.

"Making threats is not a wise thing to do," he added.

After years of low-level clashes over water and land in the vast, arid Darfur region, rebels from ethnic African tribes took up arms against Sudan's Arab-dominated central government in 2003.

Khartoum is accused of unleashing the janjaweed pro-government militia force in return. The militiamen are accused of atrocities in a conflict that has killed some 200,000 people and forced 2.5 million from their homes.

The mandate for the 7,000-member African Union peacekeeping troops in Darfur expires January 1.

Natsios noted that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who has made peace in Darfur a top priority, is stepping down on the same day.

Optimism about a final settlement and approval to send in troops has risen somewhat since the Sudanese government joined with the United Nations and the African Union in a framework agreement last Thursday at a meeting in Ethiopia. The agreement included some concessions by the Sudanese, including support for U.N. assistance proposals.

Although the Sudanese government agreed in principle last week to allow U.N. peacekeepers into the region as part of a joint peacekeeping mission with the African Union, they immediately began backpedaling.

There has been no final agreement on the proposed "hybrid" force of 20,000 U.N. and African Union peacekeepers and police officers.

But Natsios remains resolute, saying of the Sudanese, "You frequently will take two steps forward and one step back."

"Our goal here is to get the Sudanese government to negotiate an agreement that they will then carry out with the United Nations that will result in a force, a hybrid force, going to Darfur," Natsios said.

One issue not subject to negotiation is alleged Sudanese government participation in atrocities in Darfur, Natsios said.

"Human rights abuses are not negotiable," he said. "There is no compromise on that."

Susan Rice, a top Africa aide in former President Bill Clinton's administration, has assailed the U.N.-AU plan as a "colossal sellout."

"We have a fig leaf here that won't solve the problem," Rice said in comments last week. She added that it was unseemly for the international community to be "negotiating with the perpetrators of genocide."

Sudanese refusal to accept a "robust" international force should be met with a U.S.- and European-led bombing campaign against Sudanese airfields and other targets, Rice said.

Natsios said he was especially pleased by the "very helpful" role played by Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya in Ethiopia. Since the United Nations first became involved in the Darfur crisis in 2004, China has been widely seen as an advocate for the Sudanese government position on Darfur because of commercial ties.

Natsios, who attended the meeting in Ethiopia, also said Arab League delegates and Egyptian Foreign minister Abul Geit made positive contributions.

A former chief of the U.S. foreign aid program, Natsios has remained relatively silent about his Darfur duties since his appointment by President Bush in September.

On Monday, however, he was very much in the spotlight, appearing at a two-hour think tank forum in the morning, meeting with reporters in the afternoon and presiding at the official opening of an exhibit at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in the evening.

The museum planned to project wall-sized images of what it described as the "escalating genocide."

Re-posted from CNN for when their link is no longer valid.
CNN may find their post here.

Pierre Gemayel's assasination

2006-11-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

Pierre Gemayel's assasination

Written by Daily Star Online edition staff

Prominent Christian politician Pierre Gemayel was assassinated in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday his death will heighten the political tension in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has threatened to topple the government if it does not get a bigger say in Cabinet decision making.

Witnesses said Gemayel was shot in his car in Jdeideh. The witnesses said a car rammed Gemayel's car from behind and then an assassin stepped out and shot him at point blank range.

Gemayel was rushed to a nearby hospital seriously wounded he was later confirmed as dead.

Gemayel, the minister of industry and son of former President Amin Gemayel, was a member of the Kataeb party and supporter of parliamentary majority, which is locked in a power struggle with different parties led by Hezbollah.

Gemayel is the fifth figure to be assassinated in the past two years in Lebanon. Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a massive car bombing in February 2005. The journalist and activist Samir Kassir and former Communist Party leader George Hawi were killed in separate car bombings in June last year in addition to lawmaker and newspaper manager Gibran Tueni was killed in a car bombing in December.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, broke off a televised news conference after hearing that Gemayel had been shot. In an interview with CNN later, Hariri hailed Gemayel as "a friend, a brother to all of us" and appeared to break down after saying: "we will bring justice to all those who killed him."

Gemayel was first elected to parliament in 2005 and was believed to be the youngest legislator in the legislature, where anti-Syrian groups dominate.

He came from a prominent family of politicians. His father, Amin, served as president between 1982 and 1988 and his grandfather, the late Pierre Gemayel, led the right-wing Christian Kataeb Party that fielded the largest Christian militia during the 1975-90 civil war between Christians and Muslims.

Kirkut is fighting back

2006-11-20T05:07:00.000-08:00

Kirkut is fighting back

By LAUREN FRAYER
Associated Press Writer

KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) -- A voice crackles through a two-way radio as U.S. soldiers patrol the dusty streets of this northern Iraqi city: A roadside bomb has exploded downtown, and there are casualties.

It's a routine call across Iraq, but one thing is different in Kirkuk: The voice on the radio is Iraqi, not American.

Iraqi forces are gradually taking the lead in policing Kirkuk, where sectarian violence is scant compared to places like Baghdad 156 miles south. The transition gives the American troops training them hope that they are closer to going home.

U.S. soldiers transferred authority to one Iraqi unit in Kirkuk in early autumn, and two others are scheduled for mid-January. By the time the Army's 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry heads home to Hawaii next summer, about half the Iraqi forces in Kirkuk - army and police - will be under Iraqi command, said Lt. Col. Michael Browder, a 45-year-old Clarksville, Tenn., native in charge of training the units.

"They're in the lead, but they still have on their training wheels," Browder said with a wry smile. He left this week to lead a mission organized and executed by Iraqi forces, going after a suspected terrorist group south of Kirkuk.

The city's ethnic diversity - a mix of Kurds, Sunni Arabs, Christians and Turkomen - helps insulate it from the Sunni-Shiite conflict battering other Iraqi cities, the capital especially.

But Kirkuk is not without violence. In the past three months, the city has seen about 20 car bombs that have killed or wounded 300 people - mostly Iraqi police and civilians, said Col. Khattab Omar Aref, commander of the Kirkuk police's best-trained group, the Emergency Services Unit.

Aref, 50, has survived six assassination attempts - including one in which a suicide bomber jumped onto the windshield of his car and exploded himself

"Kirkuk is my life, and I hope the rest of Iraq can use our example. We're the only ones who do attacks on the terrorists and not the other way around."

The Iraqi army is made up mostly of Shiites, so ethnic and sectarian balance is a concern in places like Kirkuk.

"I organized my men so that when we go out, we make sure there are Kurds, Christians, Arabs and Turkmen on each patrol," said Col. Samir Taher Rashid, 43, who commands Iraqi police on Kirkuk's north side. "I support federalism in Iraq, and in my units too."

He is referring to the potential division of the country into three mostly autonomous regions - Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the center and west and Shiites in their homeland south of Baghdad.

U.S. officials say Kurds, who claim they are majority in Kirkuk, are more comfortable with the ways of democracy after 15 years of self-rule in the north since the first Gulf War.

"They've had a 10-year head start in getting themselves organized and looking at how a democratic type system can work. They've had the ability to see beyond what the Iraqis right now are facing - the violence. They've seen that there can be a better way of life," Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander of the Army's 25th Infantry Division, said in an interview this week.

But U.S. and Iraqi officials say the key to their success in Kirkuk is that citizens here see themselves as Iraqis first, and members of ethnic or tribal groups second.

"All the people came under my command - Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. I told them they must work together as brothers," said Aref.

"We are all policemen, and the reason we became police is to save our city," he said in an interview at his office, where ornate gold-embroidered curtains hide sandbagged windows. A photo of him shaking hands with outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld hangs prominently under a crystal chandelier.

Wind whips across Kirkuk's dusty plains, crisscrossed by verdant riverbeds, and it carries the acrid smell of oil byproducts burning at facilities on the horizon. It's a reminder of what could make this city prosper once violence recedes.

"It's not the time for retribution or payback - there's too much to lose," Browder said.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have established a telephone hot line for Kirkuk's residents to report insurgent activity or government corruption.

"They're not able to mount large scale terror operations because someone would tell on them here," said Capt. Rob Wolfe, a 37-year-old company commander from Amarillo, Texas.

Wolfe logs time every day sipping tea with Iraqi police commanders, going over training plans and listening to their concerns. He believes such "soft" training pays off.

"These guys are heroes to their people. Some of them came from Kurdish peshmerga militias and they've been fighting all their lives for their country," he said. "They're certainly not going to stop now."

Hat tip: AP.

Abe seeks strong Japanese defense

2006-11-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

Abe seeks strong Japanese defense

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday that he would push during his term to revise Japan's war-renouncing constitution as part of his plan to improve the country's defense capabilities.

Saying he hoped it would foster a "new spirit" in Japan, Abe said, in an interview with The Washington Post, that he would seek a new constitution within six years.

In the interview posted on the newspaper's Web site, Abe also suggested that his administration could take the interim step of reinterpreting the existing constitution to more rapidly achieve his goal.

The Japanese constitution drafted by U.S. occupation forces after World War Two bans the country from maintaining a military, although it has been interpreted as allowing armed forces purely for defense purposes.

Abe also vowed to fortify the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance during his first official meeting with President George W. Bush at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Hanoi this weekend, the Post said.

Despite the strong Japan-U.S. alliance, Abe noted that it is not clear whether Tokyo is permitted under its constitution to shoot down a ballistic missile flying over Japanese territory en route to the United States, the Post said.

Japan had to pass special laws to allow its armed forces to be sent to the Indian Ocean off Afghanistan and to Iraq in support of U.S. operations.

Even then, its forces were allowed to operate only in noncombat zones and to take part only in activities such as reconstruction and logistical support.

Leading Japanese scholars have said that rather than revising the constitution, policy changes could be made through official clarifications issued by the cabinet, the Post said.

Abe called for analysis of new security protocols on a case-by-case basis, the newspaper said.

"We need to take up each individual example and study whether they 'actually' infringe upon the constitution," said Abe.

Abe also vowed that Japan would adhere to its non-nuclear principles, but added that he could not stop private citizens from expressing their views.

"For the general public to discuss this matter -- for example, academics, scholars or journalists -- is the freedom of the Japanese people," said Abe. "I am not in a position of restricting that."

Controversy erupted last month when a key member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Japan should discuss whether it should acquire nuclear weapons after North Korea conducted a nuclear test.

Resuming discussions with China.
The Associated Press also reported that Japan and China are resuming discussion between their defense chiefs after a three-year hiatus, according to Japanese officials.

The two sides are arranging talks in Japan between Zhang Qinsheng, a senior officer in the People's Liberation Army, and Defense Agency Vice Minister Takemasa Moriya, a Defense Agency spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

The Nihon Keizai business daily said the meetings are likely scheduled for November 28 or November 29.

This is a reproduction of CNN's article. This is in case CNN's link no longer works.

Australia to ban N Korean ships (Japan did week ago)

2006-11-16T07:42:00.000-08:00

Australia to ban N Korean ships (Japan did week ago)

Australia is to ban North Korean ships from entering its ports in response to its claimed nuclear bomb test, the foreign minister has announced.

Alexander Downer told Parliament the move would help Australia make a "quite clear contribution" to other sanctions agreed by the UN on Saturday.

The move came as US envoy Christopher Hill arrived in Tokyo for talks on how to enforce the sanctions.

The UN resolution imposes both weapons and financial sanctions on the North.

But despite the unanimous vote, disagreements have emerged between the members of the council.

Beijing has indicated that it still has reservations about carrying out the extensive cargo inspections that Washington says are called for in the resolution.

Ship inspections.
Australia is one of the few countries to have diplomatic relations with North Korea, but its trade ties are limited. In 2005, imports amounted to A$16m ($12m).

"If we are to ban North Korean vessels from visiting Australian ports then I think that will help Australia make a quite clear contribution to the United Nations sanctions regime."

Christopher Hill is expected to spend two days in Japan before heading on to South Korea. Talks will focus on US-Japan co-operation over the North Korean crisis.

Japan, which banned North Korean ships from its ports last week, is looking at whether it can provide logistical support for US vessels if they start trying to inspect cargo ships going to or from North Korea.

The restrictions imposed by Japan's pacifist constitution may require the government to pass new laws to allow that to happen.

In a further diplomatic drive, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive in Japan on Wednesday.

She reportedly intends to reassure the country that Washington will provide adequate protection in the event that North Korea obtains a viable nuclear weapon - a message she will later take to South Korea.

'Heavy responsibility'.

The UN resolution against North Korea was agreed after lengthy negotiations.

It imposes tough weapons restrictions, targets luxury goods and imposes a travel ban on some North Korean officials.

It also allows the inspection of cargo vessels going in and out of North Korea for banned materials, although the resolution was weakened slightly at China and Russia's insistence, to make this provision less mandatory.

Beijing's UN envoy, Wang Guangya, said immediately after the vote that China urged countries to "refrain from taking any provocative steps that may intensify the tension".

Both Russia and China are concerned that inspections could spark naval confrontations with North Korean boats.

But the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, told American television that China had voted for the sanctions and therefore "China itself now has an obligation to make sure that it complies."

North Korea reacted angrily to the resolution. Its UN envoy, Pak Gil-yon, condemned the move before storming out of the meeting in New York.

The isolated communist state announced on 9 October that it had carried out an underground nuclear test near Gilju in Hamgyong province.

US officials said on Saturday that preliminary results of scientific tests appeared to confirm that that claim was true, but they stressed that more tests were needed to reach a conclusion.

This was reproduced from the BBC in case their link is no longer working.

Africa

2006-11-16T00:54:00.000-08:00

I have been spending a little time over at Causes of Interest. I posted an article about Chad, Darfur and Uganda. Please go check it out. Thanks, and have a good day.

Africa's forgotten conflicts

2006-11-16T00:15:00.000-08:00

Africa's forgotten conflicts.

By Simon Hooper for CNN.

(CNN) -- United Nations humanitarian chief Jan Egeland was in Uganda on Sunday to meet Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group responsible for an insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives and displaced nearly two million people.

While conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan dominate headlines, it is Africa -- more commonly associated with famine and disease -- that has suffered most from war in recent years.

More than five million Africans are estimated to have died as a result of conflicts in the past decade, while the continent accounts for 80 percent of the total number of U.N. peacekeepers deployed around the world.

Uganda

Egeland has described the 20-year conflict in northern Uganda between government forces and the Lord's Resistance Army as the most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world. Rebel leader Kony says he wants to rule Uganda according to the Ten Commandments but the LRA campaign has been marked by brutality, including the abduction of many school children with girls forced to be sex slaves and boys pressed into the guerrilla army.

A truce was signed in August but hopes of a lasting peace are complicated by the fact that LRA leaders, including Kony, are wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Since 1998 the country formerly known as Zaire has been caught up in a conflict variously described as the world's deadliest since World War Two and the "African World War," with up to four million people losing their lives.

The origins of the war date back to 1997 when Mobutu Sese Seko, Zairian president since 1965, was overthrown by Rwandan-backed rebels led by Laurent-Desire Kabila. Kabila and his former allies quickly fell out, plunging the country into a civil war fueled by rebel forces supported by Rwanda and Uganda. Kabila's regime was defended by troops from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Chad and Sudan, while locally-raised forces controlled by warlords further complicated the conflict, with regional factions battling for control of diamond mines and mineral resources.

Kabila was assassinated in 2001 and replaced by his son, Joseph Kabila. A fragile cease-fire has been in place since 2003, although localized outbreaks of fighting continue. Elections held this year -- the first in 40 years -- marred by violence but hailed as a success. The country has the largest deployment of U.N. peacekeepers anywhere in the world -- some 18,500 personnel.

Sudan

The east African country has been in a state of near permanent civil war since winning independence from Britain in 1956. Since 2003 a rebellion has raged in the western Darfur region, fueled by the grievances of the local black African population who claim they are being oppressed by the Arab-led government in Khartoum.

In response Arab militia known as the Janjaweed began attacking villages, killing and raping and forcing millions into refugee camps. The government denies controlling the militiamen, but former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell described the conflict as "genocide" in 2004 and Human Rights Watch accuses Khartoum of killing civilians indiscriminately.

A peace deal signed in May between Khartoum and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) has done little to stop the crisis, fragmenting the rebels into those who accept the cease-fire agreement and those who don't. More than 200,000 have died to date while around two million refugees live in over-flowing camps lacking food, water and medicine. The conflict has also spilled over the border into neighboring Chad, where many refugees have fled.

Somalia

Somalia has lacked a functioning central government since warlords ousted former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and a two-year U.N. peacekeeping effort was abandoned in 1995 after enduring heavy casualties.

In May 2006 Islamic militants loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and soldiers fighting for an alliance of secular warlords known as the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) fought fierce gun battles in the capital Mogadishu, killing several hundred people in the crossfire.

With the UIC increasing its control in the south of the country, Arab League-mediated peace talks between the group and Somalia's transitional government collapsed at the start of this month, prompting fears of a return to all-out civil war.

Militia accused of Sudan killings

2006-11-15T23:40:00.000-08:00

Militia accused of Sudan killings

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Pro-government militiamen launched new attacks in Sudan's volatile Darfur region that may have killed at least a dozen people, international observers said Sunday.

A coalition of Darfur rebel groups known as the National Redemption Front said some 300 janjaweed militiamen on camels and horseback raided the West Darfur town of Sirba on Saturday, backed by 18 military vehicles.

"The attack resulted in 32 dead, 18 injured including women and children," the NRF said in a statement. The rebels said janjaweed militias and elements from the regular Sudanese army burned about 100 houses and looted hundreds of heads of cattle.

A U.N. official in Darfur said the janjaweed had looted several villages and a refugee camp in the past few days, reportedly killing about 12 people. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

African Union peacekeepers in Darfur said they were investigating the reports of fresh janjaweed raids near Sirba.

"Our investigators are heading there to confirm the reports," Hassan Gibril, the deputy head of the AU mission, told The Associated Press by telephone from Darfur.

The casualty figures from the rebels could not be independently verified, and Sudanese government officials were not immediately available to comment on the accusations.

The government in Khartoum has denied backing the janjaweed, blamed for the worst atrocities in more than three years of conflict in Darfur. But U.N. investigators say the government has armed the militia, and members of the paramilitary group have acknowledged receiving state support.

The U.N. blamed janjaweed militiamen for killing 50 people, including 27 children, in the Jebel Moon area of West Darfur in late October. A Sudanese government investigation blamed "renegade Arab tribesmen" for the killing.

More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced since the Darfur conflict began in February 2003, when ethnic African tribesmen took up arms against the Arab-led government in Khartoum.

A peace agreement signed by the government and one rebel group in May has been ignored, and the violence has since escalated.

Sudanese and AU officials were expected to start a series of meetings in Ethiopia's capital on Monday to discuss the future of the 7,000-member AU peacekeeping force in the region.

A Security Council resolution has called for the U.N. to take control of the peacekeeping mission in Darfur when the AU mandate expires on December 31. But Sudan's government has staunchly opposed a U.N. takeover, insisting that it provide money and logistics to fortify the AU troops instead.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, on a visit to Sudan's capital, said Sunday that his country would boost its funding to the AU force, which has been hobbled by equipment and cash shortfalls. He also said France would support an Egyptian proposal to break a diplomacy deadlock by sending extra troops from Arab and other Muslim countries to bolster the AU peacekeepers in Darfur.

Reproduced because CNN does not stay in one place. If I do not do this, my readers will not be able to read the entire article. CNN, however, will get full credit.

Arab Gunmen Kill Hundreds of Villagers in Chad

2006-11-15T22:59:00.000-08:00

Arab Gunmen Kill Hundreds of Villagers in Chad

By LYDIA POLGREEN
Published: November 15, 2006

DAKAR, Senegal, Nov. 14 — Hundreds of Chadians have been killed by roving groups of Arab gunmen in dozens of villages over the past 10 days, according to aid workers and human rights officials along Chad’s troubled border with Sudan.

At least 220 people have been killed, and dozens of wounded people have overwhelmed small, poorly equipped local hospitals, the United Nations said Tuesday. Chad’s government has declared a state of emergency over the attacks and has accused Sudan, its neighbor to the east, of fomenting a crisis in Chad.

“By exporting its Darfur conflict to Chad, Sudan wants to weaken Chad by making different Chadian communities fight each other,” Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor, a government spokesman, told The Associated Press on Monday. “All this is to prepare the ground for a large-scale war.”

For more than two years, Chad and Sudan have traded accusations about support for insurgents across their shared border. Sudan is fighting non-Arab rebel groups in the western region of Darfur that seek greater autonomy, while Chad is fighting rebels seeking to overthrow the government of President Idriss Déby.

The conflict in Darfur, which pits the non-Arab tribes against the Arab-dominated government, has been marked by brutal intertribal violence in which the Sudanese government has armed Arab militias to fight the non-Arab insurgents. At least 200,000 people have died, and more than two million have been driven from their homes. That ethnic warfare has spilled over into Chad, inspiring copycat violence among Chadian Arabs and cross-border raids on villages by Sudanese militias.

The recent violence has been particularly brutal. One man’s eyes were gouged out with bayonets, said David Buchbinder, a researcher with Human Rights Watch who is traveling in the region affected by the attacks. Two women were burned alive in their hut, he said.

“It is extremely horrific violence,” Mr. Buchbinder said. “It is as if it is driven by hatred. It is a coordinated action over a large part of eastern Chad, and not always with theft as a motive. Sometimes the motive is only to kill.”

The attacks represent a sharp escalation of the violence in the volatile region around Darfur and threaten to further destabilize one of the most dangerous and lawless corners of the world.

The attacks appear to be the work of Arab militias from both sides of the Chad-Sudan border, and because they are occurring deep inside Chad, about 60 miles from the border, the violence is particularly ominous.

While the initial clashes between non-Arab villagers and Arab raiders appeared to involve mainly local tribes, the fresh set of attacks appears to be linked directly to the fighting in Darfur and involves a mix of Chadian and Sudanese Arabs. But even that distinction is largely academic — the porous border has little meaning for most villagers, who move back and forth freely.

The United Nations Security Council has approved a United Nations peacekeeping force to stanch the violence spreading out of Darfur and replace the largely ineffective and undermanned African Union force currently working there. But Sudan has adamantly refused to allow the new force to deploy. The United Nations plans to convene a high-level meeting on Thursday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the headquarters of the African Union, to discuss ways to end the violence.

This article has been reproduced so as not to be forgotten.

Thailand 'rebels' attack schools

2006-11-05T00:13:00.000-08:00

Thailand 'rebels' attack schools.

Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand have burnt down three schools and shot and wounded a teacher.

The attacks took place overnight on Saturday in the Muslim-dominated province of Yala.

They came after Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, installed in an October coup, apologised for the policies of the previous government.

More than 1,500 people have died in violence in the country's restive south since January 2004.

Three schools were completely gutted and a fourth badly damaged in the blazes which began almost simultaneously during the night.

A police officer told Reuters news agency that four militants had shot the couple and their daughter from the back of motorcycles later on Saturday.

Schools and teachers are a frequent target as symbols of the distant Bangkok-based government.

Many teachers have even been issued guns to protect themselves.

On Friday, the new government ordered the release of 92 Muslims charged with taking part in an anti-government rally two years ago during which 85 protesters died while in army custody.

BBC News.

Hat tip: LGF's: Religion of Peace Strikes in Thailand Despite PM's Apology.

Power cuts strike western Europe

2006-11-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

Power cuts strike western Europe

Power cuts have struck several countries in western Europe, leaving millions of people without electricity.

Power companies said the outage started in Germany with a surge in demand prompted by cold weather, and then spread to other parts of Europe.

Some five million people in France lost power, mainly in the east of the country and including parts of Paris.

"We weren't very far from a European blackout," a senior director with French power company RTE said.

Pierre Bornard told the French news agency AFP that two German high-voltage transmission lines failed, causing problems across western Europe.

This triggered a "house of cards" style system breakdown, he said.

Automatic security systems cut supplies to some customers to avoid a complete blackout.

Italy, Belgium and Spain were also affected by the power cuts.

Most electricity supplies were restored within two hours of the outage, and so far no injuries or accidents have been reported.

Fire brigades in France said they had to answer several calls from people stuck in lifts.

High speed rail links were also disrupted.

BBC News.

North Korea says Japan not welcome at nuclear talks

2006-11-04T01:06:00.000-08:00

North Korea says Japan not welcome at nuclear talks

By Jack Kim.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday Japan should not bother to attend six-country nuclear talks because Tokyo is refusing to recognise the reclusive communist country as a nuclear weapons state.

"There is no need for Japan to participate in (the talks) as a local delegate because it is no more than a state of the U.S. and it is enough for Tokyo just to be informed of the results of the talks by Washington," North Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Japan's refusal to accept the North as a nuclear weapons state when the talks resume later this year proved they were "political imbeciles incapable of judging the trend of the situation", said the statement carried by the North's official Korea Central News Agency.

North Korea agreed on Tuesday to return to the talks involving the two Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the United States after snubbing them for a year in protest over a U.S. crackdown on its international finances.

North Korea conducted its first nuclear test on October 9 and is now referring to itself as "a responsible nuclear weapons state."

"It is unacceptable that North Korea returns to the six-party talks on the premise that it has become a nuclear weapons state," Noriyuki Shikata, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said on Saturday.

AID AND SECURITY

A South Korean government official said it was "preposterous" to assert the goal of the talks has changed since an agreement in principle was reached in September 2005, under which North Korea would dismantle its nuclear programmes in exchange for aid and security guarantees.

But some analysts said Pyongyang's nuclear test and agreement to return to the talks three weeks later likely marked the beginning of North Korea's pursuit to turn the six-way talks into bilateral arms reduction negotiations with the United States.

North Korea has feuded with Japan over the abduction of at least 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and the 1980s, and criticised Japan for raising the issue at the six-way talks.

Tokyo has been implementing U.N. sanctions imposed after the North launched ballistic missiles in July and in moving to apply additional U.N. measures after Pyongyang conducted its nuclear test.

Pyongyang's number two official said on Friday that North Korea agreed to come back to the six-party talks to give the United States a face-saving way out of the impasse, and it was now Washington's turn to show good faith by ending the financial crackdown.

"The result of the six-party talks depends on the attitude of the U.S.," the president of North Korea's assembly, Kim Yong-nam, was quoted as saying by South Korea's leftist Democratic Labour Party, whose delegation was visiting Pyongyang.

The Bush administration had "used the six-way talks as a campaign tactic" in next week's mid-term elections instead of working to resolve the conflict between the two countries, Kim was quoted as saying.

Washington has said it was willing to discuss at the talks the North's illicit activities that triggered a financial crackdown on a Macau-based bank.

Japanese police sources were cited as saying in Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper on Saturday that North Korea used accounts at Banco Delta Asia to buy equipment that could be used to develop biological and nuclear weapons.

Appeals Court Overturns Blind Chinese Activist's Guilty Verdict

2006-11-03T23:53:00.000-08:00

Appeals Court Overturns Blind Chinese Activist's Guilty Verdict

HONG KONG, Oct. 31, 2006--An appeals court in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong has overturned the guilty verdict again rights activist Chen Guangcheng, sending the case back to the county-level court for a retrial, Radio Free Asia reports.

"I got a call this afternoon from the Yinan county court telling me that the Intermediate People's Court in Linyi had reached a decision regarding Chen Guangcheng's case and that that decision had already been delivered to the Yinan court for them to implement," Chen's lawyer Li Jingsong told RFA's Mandarin service.

Chen, a social activist who blew the whistle on official abuses under China's one-child policy, was sentenced by the Yinan County People's Court on Aug. 24 to four years and three months' imprisonment for "willfully damaging property and organizing a mob to disturb traffic."

Lawyers and relatives called the trial an illegal and retaliatory move by local officials angry at Chen's damning expose of their actions.

"The decision did two things," Li said. "One was to overturn the guilty verdict against Chen handed down by the Yinan County Court. The second was to require that the Yinan court carry out a retrial."

"For them to do that means that the original decision was completely in error and illegal. We can be sure of this. The original verdict has no effect any more. It is obsolete," Li said.

"And an appeals court will never order a retrial lightly, without a very good reason, especially not in a case that has the sort of international impact that this one has."

"From the point of view of the defense, this is the best possible result," Li said.

Chen's wife Yuan Weijing welcomed the news.

"When I heard the news I was very happy because at the very least it means that Chen will get another opportunity to speak on his own behalf. And it shows that there was a problem with the initial verdict."

But she said she doubted the retrial would be conducted fairly.

"Even now I am under surveillance," Yuan said. "And I'm not sure about the strongest witnesses for the defense; whether they will come out and testify. Especially the ones who had forced confessions wrung out of them. I am afraid that they have been too intimidated to come out and speak."

Chen's groundbreaking work as a self-trained legal advocate on behalf of women suffering forced abortions and other abuses at the hands of Yinan county family planning officials has earned him praise among socially aware netizens in China.

But it has also drawn him years of house arrest, surveillance, beatings, and harassment by local officials and the unidentified men they hire as heavies.

Li said the Linyi Intermediate People's Court's decision wasn't just a victory for Chen Guangcheng, but also for all those struggling for civil rights and the rule of law in China.

"It's a victory for all those people who are continuing to fight to protect the rule of law and their rights in the face of persecution by corrupt officials."

The New York-based Human Rights in China said in a recent report that China's legal system was being undermined by continual pressures on lawyers, especially those representing clients in sensitive cases involving allegations of official wrongdoing.

Original reporting in Mandarin by Ding Xiao. RFA Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

RFA is a private, nonprofit corporation that broadcasts news and information in nine Asian languages to listeners who lack access to full and free news media. The purpose of RFA is to provide a forum for a variety of opinions and voices from within these Asian countries. Strict adherence to the highest standards of journalism is at the very core of RFA's mission. Our Web site adds a global dimension to this objective. RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).

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N. Korea wants bank accouts unfrozen

2006-11-03T00:17:00.000-08:00

N. Korea wants bank accounts unfrozen.

(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-02 08:47
China Daily.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Wednesday it would return to nuclear disarmament talks in an effort to get access to frozen overseas bank accounts, a vital source of hard currency for the nation.

The North's Foreign Ministry make only indirect mention of its headline-grabbing atomic test last month, saying in a statement that it hoped to resolve US financial restrictions by going back to six-nation arms talks that it has boycotted for a year.

Confirming US and Chinese reports of the agreement Tuesday, the North's Foreign Ministry said Pyongyang decided to return to the arms talks "on the premise that the issue of lifting financial sanctions will be discussed and settled between the (North) and the US within the framework of the six-party talks."

Washington had banned transactions between American financial institutions and Banco Delta Asia SARL - a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau - saying it was being used by North Korea for money-laundering.

US officials also sought to rally other countries to prevent the North from doing business abroad, saying all transactions involving Pyongyang were suspected of being involved in counterfeiting and money laundering.

The Macau ban is believed to have blocked the North's access to some US$24 million (euro18.9 million), and is thought to have hit the country's leadership in particular, who indulge in luxury goods like cognac and fine wines while the vast majority of North Koreans live in poverty.

In Seoul, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said Wednesday he expects leaders of the countries involved to discuss the issue when they gather in Vietnam for an Asia-Pacific summit in mid-November and that the six-party talks were expected to take place after that. He did not indicate when.

However, South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was quoted as saying by Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency that the talks could resume as early as this month.

Ban, who will be the next UN secretary-general, also said sanctions against the North would remain in place until the six-nation talks make progress, and that Pyongyang must halt all nuclear testing activity and invite inspectors to examine its nuclear program, ITAR-Tass reported.

According to Interfax, Ban also said the international community should provide North Korea with security guarantees and economic aid.

The North barely alluded to its October 9 nuclear test in the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, and didn't say whether it remained committed to an earlier agreement to abandon its nuclear ambitions - a possible sign that negotiators could be facing another round of frustrating dialogue when the talks resume.

North Korea also emphasized that a direct meeting with the US during previously unpublicized negotiations Tuesday in Beijing, had made the diplomatic breakthrough possible. US President George W. Bush, who has long shunned direct talks with Pyongyang, credited China's mediation for the agreement.

"Bilateral and multilateral contacts took place in Beijing on October 31 with (the) main emphasis on the contact between the DPRK (North Korea) and the US," it said.

The North only briefly noted that the country "recently took a self-defensive countermeasure against the US daily increasing nuclear threat and financial sanctions against it."

The nuclear talks - which include China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas - reached an agreement in September 2005 where the North pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees, but there was little progress toward implementing the accord.

The US had previously maintained that the financial issue was a matter of law enforcement separate from the nuclear talks. But in Beijing on Tuesday, the chief US nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said Washington agreed to take up the matter in the revived arms negotiations.

However, there were conflicting signals from the United States. White House press secretary Tony Snow later insisted the United States made no promises to link the financial dispute to the nuclear one, but only agreed that "issues like that may be discussable at some future time."

Hill said Tuesday that the nuclear talks could resume as easy as November or December, but acknowledged the negotiations still had a long way to go.

In Washington, Bush cautiously welcomed Tuesday's deal and thanked the Chinese for brokering it. But he said the agreement would not sidetrack US efforts to enforce sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council to punish Pyongyang for the nuclear test. Those measures ban the North's weapons trade and other items such as luxury goods.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Japan will maintain sanctions on the North until it abandons its nuclear development.

South Korea's Yu also told lawmakers Wednesday in Seoul that "just coming to the talks itself won't affect the level of Security Council sanctions" against North Korea.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun announced a shake-up Wednesday of top Cabinet security positions, naming a new foreign minister, unification minister, defense minister and spy chief.

The reshuffle was triggered by the appointment of the current foreign minister, Ban Ki-moon, as the next UN Secretary-General and last week's resignation by the unification minister, who offered to step down to apologize for policy failures after the North's nuclear test. Two other top-level officials also handed in their resignations last week citing separate reasons.

Is China Complicit in NK Currency Counterfeiting?

2006-11-02T22:55:00.000-08:00

Is China Complicit in NK Currency Counterfeiting?

by John J. Tkacik, Jr.
WebMemo #1046

When it comes to North Korea, the United States has concerns about more than just nuclear weapons. For over 25 years, Pyongyang’s state-supervised currency printing plants have been churning out high-grade counterfeit U.S. dollars as well as counterfeit Japanese yen, Thai baht, and in recent years, euros. A more recent concern is the increasing evidence that China has not been an innocent bystander in North Korea’s traffic in bogus bills.

In the 1990s, Pyongyang purchased advanced high-speed banknote presses similar to those used by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing and began to print extremely high-quality copies of foreign currency notes dubbed “supernotes” by the U.S. Secret Service. The Economist Intelligence Unit estimated in 2003 that North Korea earned as much as $100 million a year from counterfeit currency.[1] In 2005, an interagency U.S. task force broke a number of North Korean counterfeit cases. The task force estimates that $45 million to $60 million in Pyongyang’s counterfeit currency (primarily in U.S. $100 bills) is in circulation today.[2]

China enters the picture through Macau. Prior to 2000, Macau was under Portugal’s colonial administration. In 1994, Portuguese police arrested several North Korean trading company executives, who carried diplomatic passports, for depositing $250,000 in counterfeit notes in a Macau bank.[3] Otherwise, counterfeit currency laundering there was not pronounced. This began to change sometime after control over the area was transferred to China in late 1999 and it became the Macau Special Administrative Region. From that time until September 2005, when a U.S. law-enforcement case known as “Operation Smoking Dragon” traced a large quantity of counterfeits to a Macau bank known as Banco Delta Asia, North Korea’s state-run global money-laundering operations were based in Macau.[4]

The United States Treasury Department quickly imposed strict financial sanctions on Banco Delta Asia, naming it as a “a willing pawn for the North Korean government to engage in corrupt financial activities through Macau, a region that needs significant improvement in its money-laundering controls.” [5] Although a Treasury spokesperson was candid about the Banco Delta Asia sanctions, she had “no comment” about whether Treasury was also investigating Beijing’s Bank of China branches in Macau.[6] U.S. law enforcement officials involved in the “Smoking Dragon” case were initially frustrated by a Justice Department decision, apparently made for diplomatic reasons, not to name China and North Korea as the sources of counterfeit currency and other goods. Oddly, indictments in an August 2005 counterfeiting case referred to source countries only by numbers.[7] North Korea was subsequently named, but China’s role remains shrouded.

Macau sources told U.S. officials that when Banco Delta Asia ceased passing supernotes for Pyongyang, North Korea’s agents moved their accounts to Chinese state-owned banks in the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone adjacent to Macau.[8] According to the Los Angeles Times, immediately following the U.S. Treasury action in Macau, North Korea’s flagship front-company there, Zokwang Trading Co., closed its headquarters on the fifth floor of an office building near Banco Delta Asia, and “most of its personnel have relocated to Zhuhai, just across the border in China proper.”[9]

Another intriguing piece in the North Korean counterfeit supernote puzzle came in October 2005 when U.S. prosecutors indicted Sean Garland, a member of Ireland’s radical left, for procuring supernotes directly from North Korean officials.[10] Garland’s connections in China had long been a focus of U.S. criminal surveillance. According to “top secret” U.S. intelligence reporting, reportedly based on telecommunications intercepts by the National Security Agency, Garland may have been introduced to his North Korean contact in 1997 by a Chinese Communist Party official, Ms. Cai Xiaobing, while visiting Beijing. Ms. Cao was identified as director of the International Liaison Department, the bureau within the Chinese Communist Party structure that supports communist parties abroad. U.S. intelligence analysts reportedly believe that the "unidentified business opportunities" that Garland discussed with Ms. Cao related to North Korea.[11]

A clear trail of supernote American $100 bills extends through China and back to North Korea. In February 2006, South Korean police arrested three people who had purchased supernote counterfeits with a face value of $140,000 from “a broker in Shenyang, China.”[12] That same month, a South Korean legislator said he had obtained Series 2003 supernote counterfeits in the Chinese city of Dandong. “I paid $70 to get each of these [counterfeit $100 bills], but you can get them for as little as $50 in China,” the legislator told a South Korean parliamentary meeting.[13] And much earlier, in 1994, U.S. Secret Service investigators had tracked the chief of the North Korean counterfeiting ring to China where, according to press reports, “the trail went cold”—at the least an indication of a lack of Chinese police cooperation.[14]

In 1998, the Japanese Navy seized a North Korean spy-ship with a multi-million dollar consignment of supernote U.S. and Japanese currency.[15] Since then, Japanese maritime forces have been alert to the movements of North Korean ships in their waters. By December 2001, Japanese and American intelligence officials had become aware that North Korean spy-ships were regular visitors to Chinese naval bases.[16]

Conclusion:
A considerable amount of circumstantial evidence points to Chinese complicity in North Korea’s counterfeit currency networks. The nature of the evidence, especially the ease with which North Korean counterfeiters were able to relocate from Macau to more secure offices inside China, indicates that China gives aid and asylum to North Korean counterfeiting operations as a matter of policy. If so, there is little hope that North Korea’s criminal activities can be brought to heel until China changes its ways—whether by diplomacy or by litigation of its banks and officials.

Administration law-enforcement and intelligence agencies must be encouraged to brief Congress on the extent of Chinese cooperation with U.S. investigations into North Korean counterfeiting—or the lack thereof. U.S. prosecutors, meanwhile, must be encouraged to pursue leads involving Chinese complicity.

John J. Tkacik, Jr., is Senior Research Fellow in China Policy in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.

[1] "Country Profile 2003; South Korea, North Korea," Economist Intelligence Unit, p. 85.
[2] For a comprehensive look at North Korea’s counterfeit currency industry see Balbina Y. Hwang, "Curtailing North Korea’s Illicit Activities," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1679, August 25, 2003.
[3] See prepared statement of William Bach, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Department of State, "Hearing on Drugs, Counterfeiting and Arms Trade: The North Korean Connection," before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Management, The Budget, and International Security, May 20, 2003.
[4] For more background see "The Macau Connection: The Former Portuguese Colony was a Terrorist Base for Pyongyang," Far Eastern Economic Review, February 13, 2003.
[5] "U.S. Says Bank Laundered Money for Pyongyang," The Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2005, p. A12.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Glenn R. Simpson, Gordon Fairclough, Jay Solomon, "U.S. Probes Banks' North Korea Ties", The Wall Street Journal, September 8, 2005, p. A3.
[8] Private conversations with U.S. officials.
[9] Barbara Demick, "No More Gambling on N. Korea; China's Macao, its casinos looking for U.S. funds, has dropped a pariah bank client," The Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2006.
[10] Bill Gertz, "U.S. accuses North Korea of $100 bill counterfeiting", The Washington Times, October 12, 2005, P. A-04. See also Mark Sherman, "Irish Man Charged in Counterfeit Scheme," The Associated Press, October 12, 2005.
[11] Bill Gertz, "China supports foreign leftists, Irish communist visited party official in 1997, NSA says," The Washington Times, May 10, 2001, Pg. A7. See also Bill Gertz, "Irish forgery suspect fights U.S. extradition," The Washington Times, November 17, 2005.
[12] "Seoul 'Concealed U.S. Information on N.K. Dollar Fakes'," Chosun Ilbo (Seoul), February 12, 2006.
[13] "S.Korean Lawmakers Give Details on North Fake Money," Reuters, February 22, 2006.
[14] John K. Cooley, "The rogue money printers of Pyongyang," International Herald Tribune, October 23, 2005.
[15] Ibid.
[16] David Ibison, "Pyongyang's spy ship reveals a dark secret," Financial Times, May 28, 2003, p.3. See also "U.S. photos show mystery ship look-alike," Japan Times, March 2, 2002, citing Asahi Shimbun. p.1; "Japan ends ship probe," Japan Times, March 2, 2002 (citing Kyodo News Agency).

Zimbabwe: Gov't Intensifies Crackdown On Dissent

2006-11-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

Zimbabwe: Gov't Intensifies Crackdown On Dissent

Human Rights Watch
(Washington, DC)
October 30, 2006
Posted to the web October 31, 2006
New York

In reaction to a recent wave of protests against deteriorating social and economic conditions in the country, the Zimbabwean government has intensified its campaign to suppress peaceful dissent, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 28-page report, "'You Will Be Thoroughly Beaten': The Brutal Suppression of Dissent in Zimbabwe," reveals the repressive tactics that the government has used against civil society activists in the past year. Human Rights Watch has documented systematic abuses against activists, including excessive use of force by police during protests, arbitrary arrests and detention, and the use of torture and mistreatment by police and intelligence officials.

"When Zimbabweans engage in peaceful protest, the government responds with brutal repression," said Georgette Gagnon, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The authorities use torture, arbitrary arrest and detention to deter activists from engaging in their right to freely assemble and express their views."

Political, social and economic conditions in Zimbabwe have deteriorated considerably in recent years. Civil society organizations have increasingly expressed concerns at the worsening conditions by engaging in peaceful protests and demonstrations. The government's response has been heavy-handed and brutal. Police have violently disrupted peaceful protests by beating demonstrators with batons and in some cases rifle butts.

On September 25, for example, police violently disrupted a peaceful march by some 500 activists from the National Constitutional Assembly in Harare. Riot police armed with batons stopped the march, asked the activists to sit down, and proceeded to beat them one at a time with batons before ordering them to leave. During the beatings, a number of people panicked, which led to a stampede that injured about 24 people, seven of them seriously.

Police have also used laws such as the Public Order and Security Act and the Miscellaneous Offences Act to justify the arbitrary arrest and detention of hundreds of civil society activists around the country. After arrest, most of the activists are released within hours, but some are held for days, often without charge. Others are brought before the judicial authorities to answer charges that, in many cases, are dismissed by the courts.

Civil society activists who had been detained told Human Rights Watch that they were often held in overcrowded and filthy conditions, with human waste on the floor and blankets infested with lice. The activists have sometimes been denied legal counsel and access to food, water and needed medical assistance.

Human Rights Watch also documented acts of police torture and mistreatment of activists while in detention. Police have subjected detainees to severe beatings that involve punching, kicking and striking with batons, beatings on the soles of the feet, repeated banging of detainees' heads against walls, and shackling in painful positions. Civil society activists told Human Rights Watch that police and intelligence officers interrogated them during these beatings, and then accused them of belonging to the opposition and trying to overthrow the government.

"During interrogation, they beat me with baton sticks, clenched fists and kept kicking me," a student activist told Human Rights Watch. "I was being beaten every night. Every night they would threaten me and say, 'We will kill you tonight."

"Each night they would come and they would strip me naked and then handcuff me with my hands between my legs so that I would not be able to move while they beat me," said the activist, who was detained for four days in May by police in the northeastern town of Bindura. "Sometimes they would be three people beating me, then two, or at times four. I was being accused of trying to facilitate regime change and working for the opposition."

The report also highlights the brutal police assault of 15 trade unionists from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions at Matapi police station in Harare on September 13 after they participated in peaceful demonstrations to protest poor working conditions and the deteriorating economic situation. At the police station, a group of five police officers took the unionists in pairs to a room and proceeded to beat them with batons, and punch and kick them. The beatings, which lasted for between 15 and 20 minutes, were so severe that a number of the trade unionists lost consciousness. They sustained serious injuries ranging from fractured limbs to extensive bruising, deep cuts to the head, and perforated eardrums.

"The police torture and mistreatment of civil society activists is not only deeply disturbing; it's illegal under Zimbabwean as well as international law," Gagnon said. "The government must immediately investigate these abuses and bring those responsible to justice."

Police and intelligence officers also routinely target human rights lawyers and activists who try to expose abuses of human rights in an effort to prevent them from doing their work. The lawyers and activists are subjected to sustained harassment and intimidation in the form of verbal attacks in the state-run media, and death threats over the phone by people purporting to work for the government.

The Zimbabwean government has an obligation to respect basic freedoms and human rights under both domestic and international law. These rights include the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Human Rights Watch called upon the government of Zimbabwe to end the practice of arbitrary arrests and detentions, and to stop the use of excessive force by the police. The government should also investigate all allegations of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and bring the perpetrators to justice, Human Rights Watch said.

Click here to read the report.

Civilian attacks by PLO force government to respond: Continued

2006-11-01T08:21:00.000-08:00

Civilian attacks by PLO force government to respond: Continued

According to an IDF official, militant groups have also found a way to smuggle into Gaza light weapons and ammunition, and about 20 advanced anti-tank missiles since the end of the recent Israel-Hezbollah war. [13].

Anti-tank missiles found in Gaza tunnels in recent weeks are similar to those used by Hezbollah militants in the recent war; which caused a number of IDF casualties on the Lebanese border. [14].

Over the past year, Israeli officials say that among the tons of arms and explosives that have been smuggled into Gaza, Palestinians are obtaining 122-millimeter (mm) Grad rockets, which can be launched 18-30 km (11-19 mi.), placing major Israeli cities such as Ashkelon and Ashdod well within firing range. [15].

On March 28, 2006 Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched a Grad-type Katyusha into Israel for the first time. [16] Four Grad-type rockets in total have been fired into Israeli territory.

All the Katyusha rockets that have been fired from Gaza were 122 mm, [17] the same as those found on the Karin-A ship captured by Israeli authorities in Jan. 2002. The ship was carrying a supply of weapons and munitions delivered by the Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah and paid for by Iran, [18] the leading state sponsor of terror.

The 122-mm Katyusha rocket was widely used by Hezbollah to attack Israeli civilians in northern Israel during the recent Lebanon war and is thought to comprise the bulk of its arsenal. [19].

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said on Oct. 24, while touring the Gaza border area with the Southern Command, "We will not allow the Gaza Strip to turn into southern Lebanon and we will take action to prevent the strengthening of the terrorist organizations." [20].

Gaza Civilians Receiving Extensive Aid.

Although the Palestinian civilian population is undoubtedly experiencing some hardship due to the current security situation in the Gaza Strip, it is receiving extensive financial aid to prevent humanitarian suffering.

Both Israel and the international community, including the European Union, continue to hold back direct payment of funds to the Palestinian Authority, until the ruling Hamas party agrees to recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce terrorism, and agree to abide by existing agreements. But despite this, humanitarian aid benefactors' programs are operational, and Palestinians are receiving extensive financial and medical support.

The European Commission (EC), for example, has recently initiated its Temporary International Mechanism (TIM) for aid payments. Through the TIM, the EC has started paying social welfare allowances to 40,000 of the neediest Palestinian families.

The payments are in addition to stipends that have already been paid to health workers and those who have suffered a sudden drop in income and pensioners. Families selected to receive allowances through the TIM will receive $344 (€270) each. No regular payments have been made to the families since February 2006 due to the ongoing Palestinian Authority (P.A.) financial crisis.

In Sept. 2006 the Quartet (United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia) supported an extension of the TIM for a three month period and an expansion of its scope. So far, 1.3 million people in the Gaza Strip have gained access to water, health care and sanitation through the TIM. In the upcoming months, more than 600,000 people will benefit from social allowances under the TIM, including 12,000 health care workers, 55,000 other low-paid public service providers and pensioners and 40,000 families in greater need.

TIM has delivered over 2 million liters of fuel to Palestinians to ensure the continued supply of energy, in particular for hospitals and water sanitation in the Gaza Strip following the destruction of the Gaza power plant in July.

The European Commission is making $134 million (€105 million) available for the TIM from the Community budget and Member States have so far pledged an additional $98 million (€77 million). Together with the support granted through international organizations, UNRWA and NGOs, the total European Commission support to the Palestinian people will reach $420 million (€330 million) this year. [21] Following EU Council approval, the TIM will be extended an additional three months. [22].

Israel has permitted the Karni crossing and the Nahal Oz terminal to continue operations for the delivery of food and fuel to Palestinians despite the constant threat of terrorist attacks at these facilities. [23].

Oct. 2006 Timeline: Gaza Terror Activities

2006-11-01T07:19:00.000-08:00

Oct. 2006 Timeline: Gaza Terror Activities

Oct. 29 - Two Qassam rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza. One landed in Sderot and the other in the western Negev, north of the Karni crossing. One woman was treated for shock and one structure was damaged. [24]

Oct. 28 - Four Qassam rockets were launched into Israel from Gaza. Four mortars were also fired from Gaza and landed near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. [25]

Egypt deployed an additional 3,000 security forces to the Gaza border, according to an Egyptian official, due to "fears of Palestinian militants breaching the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt." [26]

Oct. 26 - Israel prevented a shipment of 13 lbs. (6 kg) of TNT from reaching the West Bank through a Gaza-Israel passage. [27]

Oct. 23 - Three Qassam rockets were launched from Gaza, two of which landed in the city of Sderot. Two vehicles were damaged and several residents were treated for shock. [28]

Oct. 22 - Two Qassams were fired into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, one landing south of Ashkelon. [29]

Oct. 21 - Four Qassam rockets were launched into Israel from Gaza, landing in Sderot. [30]

An anti-tank missile was fired at IDF troops near the Gaza anti-terrorist security fence. [31]

Oct. 20 - Five Qassam rockets were launched from Gaza, one landing south of Ashkelon. One resident was wounded by shrapnel. Several people were treated for shock. [32] An apartment building in Sderot was damaged when it was directly hit.

Five mortar shells were also fired from Gaza.

Three Bedouin were arrested in Sinai, Egypt en route to smuggle 200 crates of automatic weapons into Gaza. [33]

Oct. 19 - IDF announced that nine tunnels were uncovered between the Egypt-Gaza border. [34]

Oct. 16 - One Qassam was launched at the city of Sderot, landing near a home and another rocket landed near the western Negev Kibbutz Nir Am. In Sderot, one person was lightly injured and six others were treated for shock. [35]

Of the two Qassams, one of them bared the Hebrew inscription "Al-Quds" for the first time. The Hebrew inscription signified that the terrorist group - Al-Quds Brigades - closely associated with Islamic Jihad, was responsible for the rocket attack.

Oct. 14 - Two Qassam rockets landed in Sderot. One of the rockets damaged a fence adjoining a home in Sderot. Three residents were lightly wounded and one home was damaged. [36]

Oct. 13 - Six Qassams were fired from Gaza and landed in the western Negev area. [37]

Oct. 12 - Five Qassam rockets landed in the western Negev.

Oct. 8 - "Al-Qaeda in Palestine" claimed responsibility for blowing up an Internet café in Gaza. [38]

Oct. 7 - Qassam rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza; one landed next to Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal's home. [39]

Oct. 6 - A tunnel collapsed under the Gaza-Egypt border from an explosion, trapping five Palestinian militants inside and killing at least one. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, said the five were members of the group. [40]

Oct. 5 - Two Qassams landed in the western Negev.

Oct. 2 - Two Qassam rockets were fired into Israel from northern Gaza. [41]

Oct. 1 - One Qassam rocket hit a home in Sderot, wounding a 76 year-old woman and an 11 year-old boy. [42] Five other residents were treated for shock. [43]

Footnotes:
[1] Hadad, Shmulik, "Qassam lands near Ashkelon strategic facility," Ynetnews, Oct. 30, 2006, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3321203,00.html

[2] Alon, Gideon, "PM Olmert: Israel to expand military operations in Gaza Strip," Haaretz, Oct. 30, 2006, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/781386.html

[3] "Hamas says militant died while digging tunnel in Gaza Strip," published in Haaretz, via Associated Press, Oct. 29, 2006, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/780868.html; "Statements: Baker Al-Asar Was Martyred During A Jihad Mission," Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, Military Wing of Hamas Movement, Oct. 29, 2006, http://www.alqassam.ps/english/statements/491.htm; Arabic Statement, Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, Military Wing of Hamas Movement, Oct. 29, 2006, http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/win_bayan.php?nid=2092

[4] Chronological order: Grinberg, Mijal, & Haaretz Service, "One person hurt as two Qassam rockets strike Negev town of Sderot," Haaretz, Sept. 17, 2006; Hadad, Shmulik, "Sderot house, Sapir College hit by Qassams," Ynetnews, Sept. 21, 2006; Dadon, Tova, "2 Qassam rockets land in south," Ynetnews, Sept. 25, 2006; Issacharoff, Avi, & Agencies, "Palestinians: IDF tanks, troops move into northern Gaza," Haaretz, Oct. 1, 2006; "September: News Archive," Weaponsurvey Web site, http://www.weaponsurvey.com/newsarchive/september06.htm

[5] Statement via phone from IDF Spokesperson's office.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Harel, Amos, Issaharoff, Avi, Haaretz Service & Associated Press, "Four Qassam rockets launched from Gaza hit Sderot area," Haaretz, Oct. 21, 2006, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/777252.html

[8] "IDF force attacked and soldier abducted by Kibbutz Kerem Shalom," Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, June 27, 2006, http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/kerem_shalom_e.pdf

[9] Greenberg, Hanan, "Gaza; 13 tunnels unearthed," Ynetnews, Oct. 19, 2006, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3317229,00.html

[10] Fishman, Alex, "Tunnels feed new Hamas army," Ynetnews, Oct. 5, 2006, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3311372,00.html

[11] Greenberg, Hanan, "Gaza; 13 tunnels unearthed," Ynetnews , Oct. 19, 2006, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3317229,00.html

[12] Ibid.

[13] JPost.com Staff, "Anti-tank missiles smuggled into Gaza," The Jerusalem Post, Oct. 14, 2006, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193433744&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[14] Ellingwood, Ken, "Israel finds 9 tunnels from Gaza Strip into Egypt," The Los Angeles Times, Oct. 19, 2006, http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-smuggling19oct19,1,3551949.story?coll=la-headlines-world"

[15] Missiles and Mortars: Introduction," Weaponsurvey Web site, http://www.weaponsurvey.com/missilesrockets.htm

[16] "Katyusha rocket 'fired from Gaza,'" BBC News, March 28, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4855056.stm

[17] Katz, Yaakov, "Katyusha fired for the first time from Gaza," The Jerusalem Post, March 28, 2006, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498754886&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[18] Karmon, Ely, "Hizbullah and the war on terror," The Institute for Counter-Terrorism, Aug. 1, 2002, http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=444

[19] Gordon, Michael, "Militants Are Said to Amass Missiles in South Lebanon," The New York Times, July 16, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/weekinreview/16isra.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[20] "Brannon, Josh, "Peretz: IDF operations in south must continue to stop terror," The Jerusalem Post, Oct. 25, 2006, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1159193510716&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[21] 40,000 Palestinian families to benefit from EU social allowances," The European Commission's Delegation to Israel, [IP/06/1251], Sept. 25, 2006, http://www.eu-del.org.il/English/whatsnew.asp?id=756"

[22] The European Union extends under the Temporary International Mechanism allowances to some 40,000 vulnerable Palestinians," European Commission Technical Assistance Program, Sept. 21, 2006, http://www.delwbg.cec.eu.int/en/whatsnew/pressrelease_en.doc

[23] "Summary of IDF activity in the Gaza Strip," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site, July 26, 2006, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2006/Summary%20of%20IDF%20activity%20in%20the%20Gaza%20Strip%2026-Jul-2006

[24] Greenberg, Michal, and Itim, "Two Qassam rockets land in Sderot and western Negev," Haaretz, Oct. 29, 2006

[25] Ibid.

[26] "Egypt sends troops to Gaza border," BBC News, Oct. 28, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6095608.stm

[27] Lavie, Mark [Associated Press], "Israel intercepts shipment of explosives," The Washington Post, Oct. 25, 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501157_pf.html

[28] Brannon, Josh, and JPost.com Staff, "IDF kills 7 Palestinian gunmen in Gaza," The Jerusalem Post, Oct. 23, 2006, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193500694&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[29] JPost.com Staff, "11 rockets fired over past three days," The Jerusalem Post, Oct. 22, 2006, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1159193486033&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[30] Harel, Amos, Issaharoff, Avi, Haaretz Service & Associated Press, "Four Qassam rockets launched from Gaza hit Sderot area," Haaretz, Oct. 21, 2006, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/777252.html

[31] Ibid.

[32] Ibid.

[33] "Egyptian police intercepts 200 crates of weapons en route to Gaza," published in Ynetnews, via Associated Press, Oct. 20, 2006, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3317454,00.html

[34] Ellingwood, Ken, "Israel finds 9 tunnels from Gaza Strip into Egypt," The Los Angeles Times, Oct. 19, 2006, http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-smuggling19oct19,1,3551949.story?coll=la-headlines-world

[35] Hadad, Shmulik, "New: Qassam rockets with Hebrew captions," Ynetnews, Oct. 16, 2006, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3315719,00.html

[36] Grinberg, Mijal, Harel, Amos, & Stern, Yoav, "2 Qassams land in Sderot area, lightly wounding three people," Haaretz, Oct. 14, 2006, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/774581.html

[37] Ibid.

[38] Waked, Ali, "Al-Qaeda affiliate burns coffee shop in Gaza Strip," Ynetnews, Oct. 8, 2006, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3312455,00.html

[39] Hadad, Shmulik, "Qassam lands next to Sderot mayor's home," Ynetnews, Oct. 7, 2006, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3312158,00.html

[40] "Terrorist trapped after tunnel blast," published in The Jerusalem Post via Associated Press, Oct. 6, 2006, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1159193380916&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
[41] Hadad, Shmulik, "2 Qassam rockets fired at Sderot on Yom Kippur," Ynetnews, Oct. 2, 2006

[42] Katz, Yaakov, "Security forces on alert ahead of Yom Kippur," The Jerusalem Post, Oct. 1, 2006, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1159193342519

[43] Issacharoff, Avi, & Agencies, "Palestinians: IDF tanks, troops move into northern Gaza," Haaretz, Oct. 1, 2006, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/769071.html.

Sudan: Rice Calls Sudan's Planned Expulsion of UN Envoy 'Unfortunate'

2006-10-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

Sudan: Rice Calls Sudan's Planned
Expulsion of UN Envoy 'Unfortunate'
October 23, 2006
Posted to the web October 24, 2006
Stephen Kaufman,
Washington File
White House Correspondent
Washington, DC

United States Department of State (Washington, DC)

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sudan's planned expulsion of U.N. envoy Jan Pronk is "unfortunate in the extreme," and said she planned to discuss the issue with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan October 23.

In remarks to reporters in Washington, Rice said, "The situation in Darfur has been deteriorating and the international community needs very much to be able to act there."

According to press reports, the Sudanese government told Secretary-General Annan October 22 that it considers Pronk's mission in the country "terminated," and has given him three days to leave the country.

"We think that it's important that the U.N. has continued high-level access in Sudan," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, adding that the expulsion order, "if carried out, would be very, very unfortunate."

Rice planned to telephone Annan to discuss this issue, as well as how to get the Sudanese government to comply with the Security Council's decision to authorize a U.N. peacekeeping force to address the humanitarian situation, McCormack said.

"It is a just terrible situation right now, where you have loss of innocent life. And there are areas where [nongovernmental organizations], where -- international organizations just can't get to. So there are people that are at risk in those areas," McCormack said.

He said Rice also had discussed the situation in Sudan with Chinese officials during her recent trip to Asia.

"[T]he sense we get is that the Chinese ... understand the importance of getting an international force in there. And I think that they do have some influence with this regime," he said, adding that other states, including Sudan's Arab neighbors, also can engage the Sudanese government in an effort to "explain to them clearly what the intent of this international force is and ... address some of their concerns."

President Bush's envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, recently returned from the region and was expected to brief Rice October 23 or October 24, McCormack said.

A senior State Department official said the United States wants to see a change in the behavior of the Sudanese government. However, despite Sudan's continued opposition to allowing a U.N. peacekeeping force to replace the African Union force in Sudan, the official said, "I don't know who you're going to find around the world to shoot their way into Sudan."

The official said all countries and groups who have influence with Sudan should "apply it and apply it in a vigorous way," as well as answer Sudan's questions regarding the mission of the U.N. force.

"[T]hey have raised questions about whether or not this U.N. force would be charged with tracking down members of the Sudanese regime a la [Serbian leaders Radovan] Karadic and [Ratko] Mladic," as with international forces in the former Yugoslavia.

"[T]hat is not in the mandate of this regime. So if there are questions in their mind about those things, we have tried to explain what this is, what it isn't and we encourage others to do so as well," the official said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: US Info.)

Written by allAfrica.com.

Pyongyang threatens war if S.Korea joins sanctions

2006-10-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

Pyongyang threatens war if S.Korea joins sanctions

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea warned South Korea on Wednesday against joining U.S.-led sanctions against Pyongyang and said it would take action after any such move by Seoul.

South Korea's participation in sanctions would be seen as a serious provocation leading to a "crisis of war" on the Korean peninsula, a North Korean spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

The North issued a similar warning in September before it conducted a nuclear test earlier this month, prompting the U.N. Security Council to impose financial and arms sanctions on North Korea.

Written by: ABC News US.

UN measure would ban nuclear sales to Iran

2006-10-25T00:32:00.000-07:00

UN measure would ban nuclear sales to Iran

The U.S. and its allies want the UN Security Council to ban the sale of missile and atomic technology to Iran and end most UN help for its nuclear programs, moves that diplomats said Tuesday were narrowly focused in hopes of winning Russian and Chinese backing for sanctions.

The diplomats, who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the draft resolution was not public, said the proposal also would commit UN member countries to denying entry to Iranian officials involved in developing missiles or nuclear systems.

A Security Council resolution passed last week imposed similar sanctions on the sale or transfer of technology that could contribute to North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs after a test explosion of a nuclear bomb there.

One of the diplomats described all three measures aimed at Iran as moderate in impact, saying that was an attempt to win Russian and Chinese support. Moscow and Beijing could be presented with the draft this week, the diplomat said.

Written by: International Herald Tribune.

NK: Special gulags for disabled, subhuman

2006-10-25T00:14:00.000-07:00

NK: Special gulags for disabled, subhuman

North Korea operates a rigorous system of eugenics that locks up those deemed subnormal, ranging from the disabled to dwarves, according to a UN report released yesterday.

A system of gulags is designed to ensure that those who do not conform to the state's designation of normal do not pass on their genes by having children.

"Those with disabilities are sent away from the capital city and particularly those with mental disability are detained in areas or camps known as 'Ward 49' with harsh and subhuman conditions," wrote Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Thai lawyer who is special rapporteur for human rights in North Korea. Evidence was gathered from defectors to South Korea.

The report said that dwarves are not allowed to reproduce and that they are rounded up and relocated. Marriages at the camps are permitted but having children is not.

Shut away for life, the afflicted are subjected to harsh and sub-human conditions. Food is scarce and of poor quality and beatings are commonplace. There are extensive reports of other forms of torture, including chemical weapons tests and germ agent experiments. Those not used as laboratory guinea pigs are ordered to carry out back breaking work.

North Korea is not the only totalitarian state to retain a fascination with a goal of breeding a better population by eliminating those with "weak" genes.

Since the fall of the Soviet bloc, it is one of the last states to implement the practice. Pyongyang is also dedicated to the principle of racial purity. Women who have sexual relations with the small Chinese community in North Korea are often purged.

The report said: "If they carry a child of non-Korean ethnicity, they may be subjected to discrimination and/or violence, with a dire impact on the babies."

The report was delivered to the UN General Assembly which has been asked to censure the Stalinist dictatorship.

Written by: (The) Telegraph.

The Israel Project is Expanding!

2006-10-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

The Israel Project is Expanding!

The Israel Project (TIP) seeks candidates for the following seven positions. If you are interested in being considered for any of these positions, please email a cover letter and resume to the attention of Cathy Bolinger at jobs@theisraelproject.org with the job title in the subject line of your email. All positions are located in Washington, DC and relocation assistance is not available.

TIP is an international not-for-profit organization with offices in Washington, DC and Jerusalem whose mission is to impact world opinion to help achieve security and peace for Israel. For more information about TIP mission and activities, visit our website at www.theisraelproject.org .

Please forward this email to anyone you know who might be interested in working for one of the top pro-Israel advocacy organizations in the world.

Vice President for Strategic Communications

Senior level strategic communications expert with a minimum of 10 years experience in the areas of media campaigns, strategic communications, crisis communications and public/media relations. Must possess a solid understanding of the Middle East, outstanding management skills, commitment to Israel’s long-term peace and security, and willingness/ability to travel. Understanding of polling/research and past journalism experience preferred but not required. Foreign language skills and international experience a plus.

Media Communications/Media Fellows Associate

Mid-level media communications associate responsible for media research, fact-checking materials, creating background materials, drafting press releases and updating sources for journalists. In addition, associate will be responsible for coordinating and managing all aspects of a summer media fellows program including recruitment, programming, advising and evaluating. Successful candidate will have a minimum of 3 years communications/media relations experience, an understanding of the Middle East and commitment to Israel; excellent research, writing and proofreading skills required as well as excellent presentation skills. Must be able to effectively plan/manage work flow on multiple projects simultaneously and manage project details with limited supervision. Ability to work hard in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment required. Demonstrated high level of proficiency in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook essential.

European Affairs Associate -- French speaking

Entry-level position to write and translate press releases, facts sheets, and related materials in French; conduct research on European foreign policy, monitor the press on various Middle East issues; build a network of and rapport with European experts on Middle East issues; set up meetings and support media tours and press events to engage European journalists. Experience in Pro-Israel advocacy required; fluent knowledge of written and spoken French at a university level required; must also be fluent in English. Basic knowledge of spoken and written Hebrew, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi or German would be a plus. Experience in strategic communications, planning events, pitching media required. Demonstrated experience in conducting research in specialized areas; knowledge of European media and knowledge of European anti-terrorism experts also required. Must be willing to work long hours and travel overseas.

European Affairs Associate -- German speaking

Entry-level position to write and translate press releases, facts sheets, and related materials; conduct research on European foreign policy, monitor the press on various Middle East issues; build a network of European experts on Middle east issues; set up meetings and support media tours and press events to engage European journalists. Experience in Pro-Israel advocacy required; fluent knowledge of written and spoken German at a university level required; must also be fluent in English.Basic knowledge of spoken and written Hebrew, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi or French would be a plus. Experience in strategic communications, planning events, pitching media required. Demonstrated experience in conducting research in specialized areas; knowledge of European media and knowledge of European anti-terrorism experts also required. Must be willing to work long hours and travel overseas.

Development Associate

Mid-level fundraising associate responsible for identifying, planning and carrying out a number of fundraising activities to increase the organization’s donor base and increase revenues. Must have a minimum of 2 years fundraising experience and understanding of the Middle East and commitment to Israel. Excellent research, writing and presentation skills required. Must be able to effectively plan/manage work flow on multiple projects with limited supervision. High level of proficiency in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook essential.

Grant and Direct Mail Associate

Mid-level fundraising associate responsible for identifying and qualifying prospective foundations and other sources for funding; preparing, monitoring and reporting on all funding request proposals. Also responsible for developing direct mail pieces and overseeing the development and production of quarterly newsletters.

Position requires an understanding of the Middle East and commitment to Israel. Excellent research and writing skills, excellent editing and proofreading skills and excellent presentation skills required. Must be able to effectively plan/manage work flow on multiple projects with limited supervision. High level of proficiency in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook as well as familiarization with Adobe PDF and utilization of video streaming essential.

Assistant to COO/CFO

Seeking mature individual with a good sense of humor and professional work ethic to assist COO/CFO in completion of daily operational, accounting, HR and general office functions. Position requires a minimum of 3 years of office experience, previous experience with integrated accounting and database management systems preferred. Must be proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook. Ability to work in a fast-paced, detail oriented environment, and able to manage multiple tasks simultaneously with minimum supervision.

Lawmaker Outraged by Sniper Footage on CNN

2006-10-21T23:44:00.000-07:00

Lawmaker Outraged by Sniper Footage on CNN
By Tony Perry, Times Staff Writer
October 21, 2006

SAN DIEGO -- CNN has become "the publicist for an enemy propaganda film" by broadcasting a video showing an insurgent sniper in Iraq apparently killing an American soldier, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said here Friday.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) called for the Pentagon to oust any CNN reporter embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq.

"I think Americans like to think we're all in this together," Hunter said. "The average American Marine or soldier has concluded after seeing that film that CNN is not on their side."

CNN said it broadcast the brief video to show the threat that insurgent snipers posed to U.S. troops.

"Whether or not you agree with us in this case, our goal, as always, is to present the unvarnished truth as best we can," CNN producer David Doss wrote in a blog on the network's website.

Tony Snow, President Bush's press secretary, said the insurgents were hoping to "break the will of the American people" by giving the video to CNN.

The footage was shown first on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" program, of which Doss is executive producer, and then on several news shows. It remained on CNN's website Friday.

Doss said CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware received the video after communicating -- through intermediaries -- with Ibrahim Shammari, a spokesman for the Islamic Army.

Doss said the decision to broadcast the video came after hours of "intense editorial debate."

He said one compromise was made: The moment when the bullet hits the soldier's head is blacked out. The soldier's face and unit patches were not clear, so identifying him was impossible, CNN said.

Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Carlsbad), who with Hunter and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, called the film "nothing short of a terrorist snuff film."

Snow, at his regular news briefing in Washington, said the video was misleading because it made it appear that Americans were "sitting ducks" and that insurgents were winning the war. In truth, he said, insurgents "are dying in much greater numbers and suffering much greater damage."

The Pentagon had no comment on the video.

Embedded reporters sign pledges not to show the faces of dead American troops until their families are notified, but nothing prohibits the use of pictures in which identities are not discernible.

To view my opinion of this, visit here. Thank you, and have a nice day.

POWs Lawsuit: Could it force Kerry's hand?

2006-10-21T01:48:00.000-07:00

POWs Lawsuit: Could it force Kerry's hand?

When John Kerry slandered an entire generation of men who fought in Vietnam he branded them as "war criminals." Today, much of the same thing is being said about our young men and women in Iraq.

Now, a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas will test the very foundation of Kerry’s anti-war persona for the first time. It isn’t dubious medals or Kerry’s disputed service record in Vietnam that is being called into question. This time Kerry may finally be forced to answer for the events that launched his public career, one that made him an anti-war hero for many American liberals and a turncoat for millions of Vietnam veterans.

The lawsuit (Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, et al. v. Kenneth Campbell, et al.) challenges the basis, the factual accuracy of then Lt. (j.g.) Kerry’s acrimonious testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971. It was there Kerry’s public career was catapulted with his now ubiquitous portrayal of American soldiers as murderers, rapists and torturers "who ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam . . . [and] razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan."

For the anti-war, anti-American protesters, the American soldiers are the "terrorists," and the enemies are the victims of a barbaric U.S. military which tortures and murders defenseless civilians.

That false premise, one of the most vicious and enduring smears spawned by Kerry 35 years ago, will also be put to the test once Kerry’s true "Band of Brothers" are put under oath in a Philadelphia courtroom.

The background to this lawsuit is long and complex, but even a condensed version is rich in irony and poetic justice.

It had it roots in 2004 with the documentary Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal. Many may recall the film, although it is probably best known for not being seen, suppressed after Sinclair Broadcasting Company courageously announced it was going to air the documentary in its entirety. Thanks to Kerry and his liberal colleagues in the Senate and their enablers in the mainstream media, Sinclair was browbeaten into withdrawing the film, its broadcast license threatened by a Kerry campaign manager in 2004. The film’s producer, Carlton Sherwood, a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter, interviewed former POWs for the documentary.

I was among those whom Sherwood, a decorated Marine combat veteran himself, asked to participate in Stolen Honor. I was a POW for nearly six years, held in North Vietnam prison camps, including the notorious Hanoi Hilton, a place of unimaginable horrors — torture, beatings, starvation and mind-numbing isolation. When Kerry branded us "war criminals," he handed our captors all the justification they needed to carry out their threats to execute us. Thanks to Kerry, Jane Fonda and their comrades in the anti-war movement, our captivity was prolonged by years. The communists in Hanoi and Moscow couldn’t have had a better press agent to spread their anti-American propaganda.

To guarantee Stolen Honor would never be seen by anyone — not even theatre-goers — the producer was slapped with a libel and defamation lawsuit.

That lawsuit was filed by a long-time anti-war disciple of the Massachusetts Senator. He was one of Kerry's key war crimes "witnesses," one of several on whom Kerry claims he based his Senate testimony.

The lawsuit put a unique spin on the definition of defamation, claiming that Stolen Honor had damaged the public reputations of himself, Kerry and others by simply quoting their own words and criticisms of America during the Vietnam war!

The POWs and the wives of POWs who participated in Stolen Honor refused to abandon the facts conveyed in the film. For some of us, it was the first time since our release by the Communists in 1973 that we were able to have our voices publicly heard, to tell our stories about the consequences of Kerry’s treachery. In 2005, we formed a nonprofit organization, the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation (VVLF), to gather records, documents and other materials to form a fact-based, educational repository for students and scholars of Vietnam history and to tell the true story of the American soldiers in Vietnam. The VVLF’s mission is "to set the record straight, factually, about Vietnam and those who fought there."

For our efforts, we were promptly sued by two long-time anti-war Kerry followers and VVAW members. It was clear that Kerry not only wanted to punish us for Stolen Honor; he intended to use surrogates to sue us into permanent silence and financial ruin.

Forced to spend huge sums to defend ourselves from these frivolous lawsuits, we have filed a countersuit against these Kerry surrogates and intend to reveal the truth about the lawsuits and their sponsors. We believe that we can prove that the purpose of nearly two years of litigation was to protect John Kerry, to drain us financially and spiritually, and to prevent us from setting the record straight.

At stake is ultimately nothing less than the integrity of the American military in Vietnam, the honor of the men who served their country, the nobility of those who gave their lives, and the truth of America’s history in Vietnam. Until or unless we do correct the existing record, the American military may never be free of the myths and smears of Vietnam, its honor and integrity cleansed as it fights to defend freedom at home and around the world.

Our mission is hardly over. We hope you will join us in fighting this battle . . . for our soldiers, then and now. For more information about Vietnam, the foregoing litigation, or to make a donation, please access the VVLF website.

Col. George E. "Bud" Day
Director and President,
Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation

Col. George E. "Bud" Day, USAF (Ret.,) was a POW in North Vietnam for five years, seven months and 13 days. He served in three wars (WWII, Korea, and Vietnam) and earned the Medal of Honor. He is the Air Force’s most decorated living veteran. He is the Director and President of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, Inc., an organization created to better educate and inform the public about the Vietnam War, its events, its history, and the men and women who sacrificed to serve their country. Please go here to read Col. Day’s statement in its entirety.

House Intel Chair suspends staff member

2006-10-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

House Intel Chair suspends staff member

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra has suspended a Democratic staff member because of concerns he may have leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to The New York Times last month.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press Thursday night, Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., a committee member, said that an unidentified staffer requested the document from National Intelligence Director John Negroponte three days before the Sept. 23 story about its conclusions.

The staffer received the National Intelligence Estimate on global terror trends on Sept. 21.

"I have no credible information to say any classified information was leaked from the committee's minority staff, but the implications of such would be dramatic," LaHood wrote Hoekstra, R-Mich., late last month. "This may, in fact, be only coincidence, and simply 'look bad.' But coincidence, in this town, is rare."

A spokesman to Hoekstra, Jamal Ware, confirmed that a committee staff member was suspended this week. He said the staff member is being denied access to classified information pending the outcome of a review.

"Chairman Hoekstra considers security highly important, and the coincidence certainly merits a review," he said.

An aide to California Rep. Jane Harman, the committee's top Democrat, did not have an immediate comment Thursday night.

The New York Times did not immediately answer a telephone message seeking comment.

Well, well. What scum we have crawling underneath the belly of the beast...

Free Jack Idema Blogburst 10/18/2006

2006-10-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

Free Jack Idema Blogburst 10/18/2006

So where do things stand with Jack Idema, the U.S. Special Forces soldier being held illegally in Afghanistan?

On the face of it, the situation seems to have stabilized:

Jack continues to broadcast his weekly Wide Awakes Radio show from Pulacharke prison
Captain Brent Bennett, in spite of being bundled out of Afghanistan against his will by the U.S. State Department two weeks ago, remains free
Jack now has his friends in the Northern Alliance watching his back again
Solitary Confinement Cell Number 10 at Tawab Keef prison, reserved by Karzai for Jack, remains empty

... So has everything returned to 'normal'? Well, no. For one thing, the Karzai/State Department plan was at least partially successful in that it separated Jack from one of his right-hand men, something neither Idema nor Brent Bennett are happy about. Then there's this:

Idema Update 10/5: Although it appears that Karzai special police have been withdrawn from Pulacharke, Jack Idema is still barricaded in and preparing for another attempt on him at his POW compound. Karzai's men cut down his satellite dishes on the Pulacharke tower and he has not been allowed to get food or water. A 50 man force has been kept a short distance away waiting for orders. The regular officers at Pulacharke have refused to him attack again. The appearance is that everything is back to normal and there are no problems. Appearances can be deceiving. In the prison command say another attack by outside forces is inevitable.

There are two issues here, and both of them are serious.

First, and obviously, having Karzai's '50 man force' parked outside Pulacharke doesn't exactly bode well for Jack's future wellbeing. Clearly, if the plan to move him to Tawab Keef had been completely aborted, the force would have been stood down. Instead, they remain ready to move on Idema again -- It only takes an order from Karzai or, as we've shown in the past, the U.S. Embassy.

The second issue is that of Idema's access to food and water. Although the U.S. Embassy are duty bound to ensure that American citizens imprisoned abroad have access to a clean supply of drinking water, since Jack and Brent were moved to the relative safety of their annex by the Northern Alliance two years ago, the State Department have blocked all access to clean drinking water. This is a major issue, since, for Westerners, Afghan water is highly unsafe to drink. Because of this, Jack has always relied on friends in the Northern Alliance and elsewhere to supply him with food and clean water -- If this is now being blocked by Karzai and the State Department, then Jack's health is in very real jeopardy.

So where do things stand with Jack Idema? With his satellite communications curtailed, his access to safe food and water cut-off, and fifty-plus hostile troops stationed around the corner, just waiting on the order to haul him off to Tawab Keef and a solitary confinement cell -- With all of this tacked against him, things are looking pretty grim.

So what can we do? Well, anyone reading this with their own blog can sign up for the weekly Free Jack Idema Blogburst by emailing Cao or Rottweiler Puppy for details. I'd urge everyone to do this, as we're still terribly short on takers. If you want to know more about the story, Cao's Blog has a large section devoted to Jack Idema. There's also a timeline here, and, of course, a huge amount of information is available over at SuperPatriots, without whose work none of us would have learned about Jack's story.

Finally, PLEASE NOTE: The SuperPatriots and Jack images on this site are used with WRITTEN COPYRIGHT PERMISSION and any use by any third party is subject to legal action by SuperPatriots.US.

The Free Jack Idema Blogroll:
The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill, The Lone Voice, Kender's Musings, Irate Nate, The Devil's Kitchen, Cao's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Theodore's World, NIF, Rottweiler Puppy, Making Headlines, Right For Scotland, Freedom Folks, The City Troll, Sacramento Boxing, Causes of Interest, Concatenation of Events, Hyscience, Stuck On Stupid, The Daily Blogster, You Don't Know Jack and Right Wing Nation.

Technorati tags: jack idema, afghanistan and Technorati Search for Jack Idema.

Sheik's Lawyer Gets Nearly 2 1/2 Years

2006-10-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sheik's Lawyer Gets Nearly 2 1/2 Years

By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/LOUIS LANZANO

NEW YORK (AP) -- A firebrand civil rights lawyer who has defended Black Panthers and anti-war radicals was sentenced Monday to nearly 2 1/2 years in prison - far less than the 30 years prosecutors wanted - for helping an imprisoned terrorist sheik communicate with his followers on the outside.

Lynne Stewart, 67, smiled, cried and hugged supporters after U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl pronounced the sentence of 28 months.

The judge said Stewart was guilty of smuggling messages between her client and his followers that could have "potentially lethal consequences." He called the crimes "extraordinarily severe criminal conduct."

But in departing from federal guidelines that called for 30 years behind bars, he cited Stewart's more than three decades of dedication to poor, disadvantaged and unpopular clients.

"Ms. Stewart performed a public service, not only to her clients, but to the nation," Koeltl said.

The judge said Stewart could remain free while she appeals, a process that could take more than a year.

Stewart was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, and her lawyer Elizabeth Fink had warned in a plea to the judge: "If you send her to prison, she's going to die. It's as simple as that."

Outside court, Stewart said she thought the sentence was "a victory for doing good work all one's life." She added: "You get time off for good behavior usually at the end of your prison term. I got it at the beginning."

Stewart has represented Black Panthers, leaders of the 1960s student activist group Weather Underground, a former mob hit man and a man accused of trying to kill nine police officers.

Stewart was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to terrorists. She had released a statement issused by one of her clients, Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind sheik sentenced to life in prison for plotting to blow up five New York landmarks and assassinate Egypt's president.

Prosecutors have called the case a major victory in the war on terrorism. They said Stewart and other defendants carried messages between the sheik and top members of an Egypt-based terrorist organization, helping spread Abdel-Rahman's call to kill those who did not subscribe to his extremist interpretation of Islamic law.

Stewart was arrested six months after the Sept. 11 attacks, along with Mohamed Yousry, an Arabic interpreter, and Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a U.S. postal worker.

Yousry was sentenced to one year and eight months behind bars, while Sattar received 24 years in prison Monday.

Convicted of conspiracy to kill and kidnap people in a foreign country, Sattar could have gotten a life sentence. But the judge said no one was killed or injured, and he cited Sattar's lack of previous crimes and his restrictive prison conditions.

In a letter to the judge, Stewart proclaimed: "I am not a traitor." She said she did not intentionally enter into any conspiracy to help a terrorist organization.

"The end of my career truly is like a sword in my side," Stewart said at her sentencing. "Permit me to live out the rest of my life productively, lovingly, righteously."

In court papers, prosecutors said Stewart's "egregious, flagrant abuse of her profession, abuse that amounted to material support to a terrorist group, deserves to be severely punished."

Earlier, about 150 Stewart supporters who could not get inside the filled-to-capacity courtroom stood outside the courthouse, chanting "Free Lynne, Free Lynne."

"It's not just Lynne Stewart who is a victim; it's the Bill of Rights that's the victim," said Al Dorfman, 72, a retired lawyer.

About 200 more supporters jammed the halls outside the courtroom.