Still popular and articulate despite five years behind bars, the 50-year-old activist is seen by some as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, the man who could galvanise a drifting and divided national movement if only he were set free by Israel. ..."I do not see that there are fundamental political differences between Fatah and Hamas," said Barghouti, a leading figure in the two Intifadas, or uprisings against Israeli occupation, waged by the Palestinians since 1987...."In the shadow of the failure of negotiations and the absence of an Israeli partner for peace, the necessary strategy is firstly ending the division and restoring national unity," Barghouti said.
Still popular and articulate despite five years behind bars, the 50-year-old activist is seen by some as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, the man who could galvanise a drifting and divided national movement if only he were set free by Israel.
..."I do not see that there are fundamental political differences between Fatah and Hamas," said Barghouti, a leading figure in the two Intifadas, or uprisings against Israeli occupation, waged by the Palestinians since 1987.
..."In the shadow of the failure of negotiations and the absence of an Israeli partner for peace, the necessary strategy is firstly ending the division and restoring national unity," Barghouti said.
Hassan Nasrallah was re-elected head of Hezbollah on Thursday following a congress that also adopted a new manifesto, which is to be revealed in coming days, the militant Shiite party announced.
Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president vetoed the election law on Wednesday and sent it back to parliament, sparking fears of an election delay that could affect U.S. plans to end combat operations in Iraq in August. Lawmakers must pass a modified law in the next few days to meet a constitutional deadline to hold the ballot in January. Instead of addressing Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's demand that the law give more seats to Iraqi refugees and minorities, lawmakers squabbled over whether the veto was legal. They scheduled a session on Saturday in which they would vote to reject Hashemi's veto and send the law back for approval by the three-person presidency council without changes, said the speaker of parliament, Ayad al-Samarai.
Lawmakers must pass a modified law in the next few days to meet a constitutional deadline to hold the ballot in January.
Instead of addressing Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's demand that the law give more seats to Iraqi refugees and minorities, lawmakers squabbled over whether the veto was legal.
They scheduled a session on Saturday in which they would vote to reject Hashemi's veto and send the law back for approval by the three-person presidency council without changes, said the speaker of parliament, Ayad al-Samarai.
AFP - Bombers on Friday killed 18 people in Afghanistan, a deadly start to President Hamid Karzai's second term in office that underscored spiralling insecurity nine years into the US-led war. The attacks brought to 30 the number of people killed since Karzai was sworn in for another five years on Thursday, pledging to try to bring peace to the nation and take over security from foreign forces in five years.
AFP - Bombers on Friday killed 18 people in Afghanistan, a deadly start to President Hamid Karzai's second term in office that underscored spiralling insecurity nine years into the US-led war.
The attacks brought to 30 the number of people killed since Karzai was sworn in for another five years on Thursday, pledging to try to bring peace to the nation and take over security from foreign forces in five years.
Micheletti said he expected to be absent from public functions from November 25 to December 2, in an address on national media. "With this measure I aim to concentrate all the attention of Honduran people on the electoral process and not on the political crisis," Micheletti said. Zelaya, in comments to Venezuela's Telesur TV channel, immediately rejected the move as a "crude maneuver" that implicitly recognizes that Micheletti's presence in office "stains the electoral process." Micheletti did not name a replacement but said that the government would function normally during his absence.
"With this measure I aim to concentrate all the attention of Honduran people on the electoral process and not on the political crisis," Micheletti said.
Zelaya, in comments to Venezuela's Telesur TV channel, immediately rejected the move as a "crude maneuver" that implicitly recognizes that Micheletti's presence in office "stains the electoral process."
Micheletti did not name a replacement but said that the government would function normally during his absence.
Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said uniformed troops from the Venezuelan army dynamited the bridges that cross into Colombia's Norte de Santander department in what he criticized as a violation of international law. "Uniformed men, apparently from the Venezuelan army, arrived in trucks on the Venezuelan side at two pedestrian bridges that link communities on both sides ... and then proceeded to dynamite them," Silva said. But Venezuelan authorities said the army had destroyed an illegal, improvised bridge spanning the border. "The Venezuelan army took down a sort of walkway, put up by the people who pass from Venezuela to Colombia," said Alexis Balza, frontier director for Tachira State governor's office.
"Uniformed men, apparently from the Venezuelan army, arrived in trucks on the Venezuelan side at two pedestrian bridges that link communities on both sides ... and then proceeded to dynamite them," Silva said.
But Venezuelan authorities said the army had destroyed an illegal, improvised bridge spanning the border.
"The Venezuelan army took down a sort of walkway, put up by the people who pass from Venezuela to Colombia," said Alexis Balza, frontier director for Tachira State governor's office.
...many people are asking: why he is delivering so little, so slowly? A pair of seemingly small stories about the forces warping American politics can help us to answer this question. At first glance, they will seem like preposterous caricatures, but the facts are plain. The institutions that are blocking progress on all these issues - Republicans in the Senate, and the mighty corporate lobbying machine that bankrolls both parties - have rallied over the past few months to defend two causes with very little popular support in the United States: rape and slavery. No, really. If we begin to explain how this came to pass, then we might see why the American political system is malfunctioning so badly, even after a landslide victory for change.
...many people are asking: why he is delivering so little, so slowly?
A pair of seemingly small stories about the forces warping American politics can help us to answer this question. At first glance, they will seem like preposterous caricatures, but the facts are plain. The institutions that are blocking progress on all these issues - Republicans in the Senate, and the mighty corporate lobbying machine that bankrolls both parties - have rallied over the past few months to defend two causes with very little popular support in the United States: rape and slavery. No, really. If we begin to explain how this came to pass, then we might see why the American political system is malfunctioning so badly, even after a landslide victory for change.
(He is not joking. Read it.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
