A Somali man has been charged with trying to kill a Danish artist whose drawing of the Prophet Mohammed sparked riots around the world.The suspect, who was shot by police outside cartoonist Kurt Westergaard's home in the city of Aarhus on Friday, was carried into court on a stretcher. Police say he broke into the house armed with an axe and a knife. The suspect, who denies the charge, was remanded in custody. Police say he has links with Somali Islamist militants. The radical al-Shabab group in Somalia hailed the attack.
A Somali man has been charged with trying to kill a Danish artist whose drawing of the Prophet Mohammed sparked riots around the world.
The suspect, who was shot by police outside cartoonist Kurt Westergaard's home in the city of Aarhus on Friday, was carried into court on a stretcher.
Police say he broke into the house armed with an axe and a knife.
The suspect, who denies the charge, was remanded in custody. Police say he has links with Somali Islamist militants.
The radical al-Shabab group in Somalia hailed the attack.
Afghanistan's parliament voted on Saturday to reject most of the nominees put forward by President Hamid Karzai to serve in his new Cabinet. Just seven of 24 nominees were approved in a secret ballot that saw MPs vote on each candidate individually. Among the seventeen rejects were Energy Minister Ismail Khan and Women's Affairs Minister Husn Bano Ghazanfar, who had both been expected to be reappointed. Former warlord Khan is seen as a close ally of Karzai, and was a strong supporter of the president in his controversial reelection last year. Ghazanfar was the only woman nominated for a post.
Afghanistan's parliament voted on Saturday to reject most of the nominees put forward by President Hamid Karzai to serve in his new Cabinet.
Just seven of 24 nominees were approved in a secret ballot that saw MPs vote on each candidate individually.
Among the seventeen rejects were Energy Minister Ismail Khan and Women's Affairs Minister Husn Bano Ghazanfar, who had both been expected to be reappointed.
Former warlord Khan is seen as a close ally of Karzai, and was a strong supporter of the president in his controversial reelection last year. Ghazanfar was the only woman nominated for a post.
The Saudi foreign minister on Saturday criticized Israel's settlement construction and said the country acts like a spoiled child because the international community is not tough enough in pressuring it to make concessions. Prince Saud al-Faisal told a press conference in Riyadh that Washington and other players in Mideast peace efforts should take a firm and serious stand to put an end to Israeli construction on land Palestinians want for a future state. "Israel's announcement Monday that it plans to build building nearly 700 new apartments for Jews in East Jerusalem is a source of worry, which we strongly condemn," he said. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital and say each expansion of Jewish housing there is making partition as part of a future peace deal more difficult. The U.S., the Palestinians and the European Union condemned the new Israeli building plan.
The changes across the landscape here would have been hard to imagine just a few years ago. The rebel groups that started the war in Darfur in 2003, catalyzing a conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, almost seem to have gone into hibernation. So, too, have the infamous janjaweed, the marauding bandits who raped, killed and terrorized countless civilians. And this planting season, for the first time since 2003, United Nations officials say that tens of thousands of farmers who had been seeking refuge in squalid displaced persons camps returned to their villages to plant crops, a journey many Darfurians would have considered suicide until recently.
The rebel groups that started the war in Darfur in 2003, catalyzing a conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, almost seem to have gone into hibernation. So, too, have the infamous janjaweed, the marauding bandits who raped, killed and terrorized countless civilians.
And this planting season, for the first time since 2003, United Nations officials say that tens of thousands of farmers who had been seeking refuge in squalid displaced persons camps returned to their villages to plant crops, a journey many Darfurians would have considered suicide until recently.
The uneasy peace that has kept the two disparate halves of Africa's biggest nation together is under threat As Sudan approaches its fifth anniversary of peace, the fragile accord which has held the north and the south together is unravelling and Africa's biggest country is sliding back dangerously towards what was the continent's longest war. Momentous elections are due in a matter of months, a referendum on separation looms and Sudan's complex ceasefire is in open crisis. All over the south there are soldiers in new uniforms; the army was paid for the first time in six months last week. Around 2,000 people have died in violence there this year and the government of southern Sudan says small arms are pouring across the border. In the north, which is led by Omar al-Bashir, the president wanted for war crimes, opposition leaders have been jailed after protests over democratic reforms and crisis talks in Khartoum have failed to halt public demonstrations."Now we're seeing the crunch," says Sudan analyst John Ashworth. The "endgame" of the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) has arrived, he explains, and the fact that "the north gave away more than it could afford" to get the ceasefire means new conflict is almost inevitable. Tunguer Kueigong is among those who think that 2009 will be the last year of peace. In Bentiu, the dusty capital of Unity State, the paramount chief of the Nuer, southern Sudan's second largest tribe, holds court in his "office" under the shade of a mahogany tree. "You know the north will not just let the south separate like this," he says, matter-of-factly. "If it happens, the people must fight." ...
The uneasy peace that has kept the two disparate halves of Africa's biggest nation together is under threat
As Sudan approaches its fifth anniversary of peace, the fragile accord which has held the north and the south together is unravelling and Africa's biggest country is sliding back dangerously towards what was the continent's longest war. Momentous elections are due in a matter of months, a referendum on separation looms and Sudan's complex ceasefire is in open crisis.
All over the south there are soldiers in new uniforms; the army was paid for the first time in six months last week. Around 2,000 people have died in violence there this year and the government of southern Sudan says small arms are pouring across the border. In the north, which is led by Omar al-Bashir, the president wanted for war crimes, opposition leaders have been jailed after protests over democratic reforms and crisis talks in Khartoum have failed to halt public demonstrations.
"Now we're seeing the crunch," says Sudan analyst John Ashworth. The "endgame" of the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) has arrived, he explains, and the fact that "the north gave away more than it could afford" to get the ceasefire means new conflict is almost inevitable.
Tunguer Kueigong is among those who think that 2009 will be the last year of peace. In Bentiu, the dusty capital of Unity State, the paramount chief of the Nuer, southern Sudan's second largest tribe, holds court in his "office" under the shade of a mahogany tree. "You know the north will not just let the south separate like this," he says, matter-of-factly. "If it happens, the people must fight." ...
US president Barack Obama has accused al-Qaida of being behind the botched plot to blow up a transatlantic passenger jet on Christmas Day.He said it appeared that the alleged would-be suicide bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had been trained by an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen."We're learning more about the suspect," Obama said in his weekly radio and internet address today."We know that he travelled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida, and that this group - al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula - trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America," the president added.
US president Barack Obama has accused al-Qaida of being behind the botched plot to blow up a transatlantic passenger jet on Christmas Day.
He said it appeared that the alleged would-be suicide bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had been trained by an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen.
"We're learning more about the suspect," Obama said in his weekly radio and internet address today.
"We know that he travelled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida, and that this group - al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula - trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America," the president added.
The decision to hold a meeting, an initiative of Gordon Brown, came amid urgent efforts by the US administration to close holes in its intelligence system. The prime minister will host the talks in parallel with a conference on Afghanistan on January 28. A Yemen summit had "strong support" from the US and European Union, Downing Street said yesterday, and the UK hoped to secure the backing of Saudi Arabia and Gulf states. British and US security services believe Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian who on Christmas day boarded a flight to Detroit with 80g of explosive in his undergarments, was recruited by al-Qaeda in Yemen after leaving the UK in 2008.
A Yemen summit had "strong support" from the US and European Union, Downing Street said yesterday, and the UK hoped to secure the backing of Saudi Arabia and Gulf states.
British and US security services believe Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian who on Christmas day boarded a flight to Detroit with 80g of explosive in his undergarments, was recruited by al-Qaeda in Yemen after leaving the UK in 2008.
Yemen is a mosaic of conflicting authorities, though this authority may be confined to a few villages. Larger communities include the Shia in the north of the country near Saada with whom the government has been fighting a fierce little civil war. The unification of North and South Yemen in 1990 has never wholly jelled and the government is wary of southern secessionism. Its ability to buy off its opponents is also under threat as its oil revenues fall as its few oilfields begin to run dry. It is in this fascinating but dangerous land that President Barack Obama is planning to increase US political and military involvement. Joint operations will be carried out by the US and Yemeni military. There will be American drone attacks on hamlets where al-Qa'ida supposedly has its bases. There is ominous use by American politicians and commentators of the phrase `failed state' in relation to Yemen as if this somehow legitimises foreign intervention. It is extraordinary that the US political elite has never taken in board that its greatest defeats have been in just such `failed states' such as Lebanon in 1982 when 240 US Marines were blown up; Somalia in the early 1990s when the body of a US helicopter pilot was dragged through the streets; Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein; and Afghanistan after the supposed fall of the Taliban. Yemen has all the explosive ingredients of Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. But the arch-hawk Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Committee for Security was happily confirming this week that the Green Berets and the US Special Forces are already there. He cited with approval an American official in Sanaa as telling him that "Iraq was yesterday's war. Afghanistan is today's war. If you don't act pre-emptively Yemen will be tomorrow's war." In practice pre-emptive strikes are likely to bring a US military entanglement in Yemen even closer.
Yemen is a mosaic of conflicting authorities, though this authority may be confined to a few villages. Larger communities include the Shia in the north of the country near Saada with whom the government has been fighting a fierce little civil war. The unification of North and South Yemen in 1990 has never wholly jelled and the government is wary of southern secessionism. Its ability to buy off its opponents is also under threat as its oil revenues fall as its few oilfields begin to run dry.
It is in this fascinating but dangerous land that President Barack Obama is planning to increase US political and military involvement. Joint operations will be carried out by the US and Yemeni military. There will be American drone attacks on hamlets where al-Qa'ida supposedly has its bases. There is ominous use by American politicians and commentators of the phrase `failed state' in relation to Yemen as if this somehow legitimises foreign intervention. It is extraordinary that the US political elite has never taken in board that its greatest defeats have been in just such `failed states' such as Lebanon in 1982 when 240 US Marines were blown up; Somalia in the early 1990s when the body of a US helicopter pilot was dragged through the streets; Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein; and Afghanistan after the supposed fall of the Taliban.
Yemen has all the explosive ingredients of Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. But the arch-hawk Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Committee for Security was happily confirming this week that the Green Berets and the US Special Forces are already there. He cited with approval an American official in Sanaa as telling him that "Iraq was yesterday's war. Afghanistan is today's war. If you don't act pre-emptively Yemen will be tomorrow's war." In practice pre-emptive strikes are likely to bring a US military entanglement in Yemen even closer.
One might wonder why these people insist on being aggressive whenever we attack them ? keep to the Fen Causeway
CAIRO -- Iran's foreign minister warned the West on Saturday that it had one month to accept Iran's counterproposal to a deal brokered by the United Nations aimed at slowing the Iranian nuclear program, or else Iran would begin further enriching its nuclear fuel stockpile on its own. The comments by the foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, were broadcast on state television and presented as an "ultimatum" to the West just two days after Iran missed a deadline set by the United States and its allies to accept a deal that was brokered in October in Geneva.If the Iranian deadline is not met, Mr. Mottaki said, Iran will enrich its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to 20 percent, though it was unclear if it had the technical ability to accomplish the task. At the 20 percent level, Iran could, in theory, make an extremely crude nuclear weapon. The bigger threat would be that Iran's enrichment could quickly accelerate from there to the much higher grade of fuel typically used in modern nuclear warheads.
CAIRO -- Iran's foreign minister warned the West on Saturday that it had one month to accept Iran's counterproposal to a deal brokered by the United Nations aimed at slowing the Iranian nuclear program, or else Iran would begin further enriching its nuclear fuel stockpile on its own.
The comments by the foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, were broadcast on state television and presented as an "ultimatum" to the West just two days after Iran missed a deadline set by the United States and its allies to accept a deal that was brokered in October in Geneva.
If the Iranian deadline is not met, Mr. Mottaki said, Iran will enrich its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to 20 percent, though it was unclear if it had the technical ability to accomplish the task. At the 20 percent level, Iran could, in theory, make an extremely crude nuclear weapon. The bigger threat would be that Iran's enrichment could quickly accelerate from there to the much higher grade of fuel typically used in modern nuclear warheads.
More broadly, the Internet has given citizens a chance to discuss and organize action on sensitive issues. "The Internet has been very important. You can express yourself; you can distribute information to change other people's views; you can communicate; you can organize," says Wan Yanhai, a prominent Beijing-based AIDS activist, who started his organization with the help of email and the Web. "In the past 10 years, it has affected people's lives so much. It has given people courage to change society." To say that the censors are losing isn't to say they have lost. If the Communist Party's grip over information is loosening, it is far from clear whether its hold on political power in China is ultimately threatened by the trend. <...> Mr. Xiao points to the example of Liu Xiaobo, detained in December 2008 for his role in creating Charter 08, a sweeping call for political and legal reform in China. Mr. Liu was sentenced on Christmas Day to 11 years in prison for subversion. But since his detention, thousands more Chinese have signed Charter 08 through Internet sites that disseminate the document. ...
More broadly, the Internet has given citizens a chance to discuss and organize action on sensitive issues.
"The Internet has been very important. You can express yourself; you can distribute information to change other people's views; you can communicate; you can organize," says Wan Yanhai, a prominent Beijing-based AIDS activist, who started his organization with the help of email and the Web. "In the past 10 years, it has affected people's lives so much. It has given people courage to change society."
To say that the censors are losing isn't to say they have lost. If the Communist Party's grip over information is loosening, it is far from clear whether its hold on political power in China is ultimately threatened by the trend.
<...>
Mr. Xiao points to the example of Liu Xiaobo, detained in December 2008 for his role in creating Charter 08, a sweeping call for political and legal reform in China. Mr. Liu was sentenced on Christmas Day to 11 years in prison for subversion. But since his detention, thousands more Chinese have signed Charter 08 through Internet sites that disseminate the document. ...
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen on Friday denied fresh accusations by the Venezuelan government that the Netherlands is supporting US spy flights over Venezuelan territory. (...) Twice in the past two weeks, the government of President Hugo Chavez has publicly claimed that the Dutch have let the US military launch spy flights from bases on the territories of Aruba and Curacao under the guise of drug surveillance missions.
The armoured anti-riot vehicles have a capacity of 10,000 liters to shoot cold and hot water, and three 100 liter tanks to shoot burning chemical liquids. The water is mixed with paint or tear gas that cannot be washed away. Each vehicle has two guns for shooting liquid up to a distance of 70 meters- it is controlled from inside the cabin. The price tag for each unit is 650,000 dollars. Also, a lot of extra burning liquid, paint, and tear gas was purchased. It took four months for the delivery of the armoured vehicles, and since the Iranian regime was in a hurry, they had them delivered from China's army organization- this is rare! China's government was in as much of a hurry to get these to Iran. We pray that this regime will not last to get to use these violent equipments. But even if they do get to use them on the streets, it is nothing to worry about. Iranians are so creative that we will find the cheapest way to destroy them. The tyrannical and blood thirsty government of China should realize that this inhumane action against the people of Iran will turn out to be a big punishment. We will cut off their hands from our country and we will try our best to get rid of their products in our region. Also, China should wait for our full support of the people of Tibet against their barbaric crimes and the Muslim people of Sien Kiang, and we will punch their dirty mouths. This clear interference of China in Iran's internal affairs and their cooperation in putting down the Iranian people must be condemned by all nations of the world. We also feel sorry for the "Supreme Leader" who is willing to kiss the bottoms of the Chinese who do not even believe in God, but is not willing to listen to the people of Iran. Translation: Tour Irani
The armoured anti-riot vehicles have a capacity of 10,000 liters to shoot cold and hot water, and three 100 liter tanks to shoot burning chemical liquids. The water is mixed with paint or tear gas that cannot be washed away. Each vehicle has two guns for shooting liquid up to a distance of 70 meters- it is controlled from inside the cabin. The price tag for each unit is 650,000 dollars. Also, a lot of extra burning liquid, paint, and tear gas was purchased.
It took four months for the delivery of the armoured vehicles, and since the Iranian regime was in a hurry, they had them delivered from China's army organization- this is rare! China's government was in as much of a hurry to get these to Iran.
We pray that this regime will not last to get to use these violent equipments. But even if they do get to use them on the streets, it is nothing to worry about. Iranians are so creative that we will find the cheapest way to destroy them. The tyrannical and blood thirsty government of China should realize that this inhumane action against the people of Iran will turn out to be a big punishment. We will cut off their hands from our country and we will try our best to get rid of their products in our region. Also, China should wait for our full support of the people of Tibet against their barbaric crimes and the Muslim people of Sien Kiang, and we will punch their dirty mouths.
This clear interference of China in Iran's internal affairs and their cooperation in putting down the Iranian people must be condemned by all nations of the world. We also feel sorry for the "Supreme Leader" who is willing to kiss the bottoms of the Chinese who do not even believe in God, but is not willing to listen to the people of Iran.
Translation: Tour Irani
This post has been translated into Chinese and is currently spreading through Chinese Tweetosphere. Also from Chinese Twitterer @bleutee: "The Chinese government gave the Iranian government armoured vehicles with high-pressure water hoses; Chinese netizens give Iranian netizens circumvention software. This tells us that real friends are not necessarily in the same country, region or culture, but must share the same ideals. #CN4Iran"" "中国政府送伊朗政府高压水 6538;战车，中国网民送伊朗网民 ;翻墙软件，说明真正的朋友 5292;不必然是要同一个国家、地 ;域、文化，但必然是要有相 1516;理想的人。 #CN4Iran"
This post has been translated into Chinese and is currently spreading through Chinese Tweetosphere.
Also from Chinese Twitterer @bleutee:
"The Chinese government gave the Iranian government armoured vehicles with high-pressure water hoses; Chinese netizens give Iranian netizens circumvention software. This tells us that real friends are not necessarily in the same country, region or culture, but must share the same ideals. #CN4Iran""
"中国政府送伊朗政府高压水 6538;战车，中国网民送伊朗网民 ;翻墙软件，说明真正的朋友 5292;不必然是要同一个国家、地 ;域、文化，但必然是要有相 1516;理想的人。 #CN4Iran"
The armoured anti-riot vehicles have a capacity of 10,000 liters to shoot cold and hot water, and three 100 liter tanks to shoot burning chemical liquids.
Got to keep the starving masses in line. Wonder what the "burning chemical liquids" are? Nitric Acid? Sulfuric Acid?
Gotta admit. The Chinese don't screw around with half measures. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
Editor's Note: Officials in China are a special breed. They tend to be restrained when facing the press and stick to the scripted lines. But occasionally they can be caught off guard and make some of the most unusual remarks one can expect from public servants, including those that are funny, annoying, ironic or simply heartless. You can laud them for speaking their minds, or you can criticize them for their big mouth, but you cannot deny that these retorts, rebuttals and asides add much needed color to an otherwise drab portrait of Chinese officialdom. [The top 10 everything of 2009] 1. "We are of high-level positions. So don't bother to call the police." 2. "Why doesn't the public reveal their assets first?" 3. "I will have your website shut down if you (journalist) dare to report it." 4. "Go straight to the fifth floor. Don't choose the first or second floor." 5. "You are doomed to be punished if you fight against the government. Any action against the government is illegal." 6. "You are a mouthpiece for the party (CPC) or the people?" 7. "Build, baby, build! We will make up for your loss." 8. "I say 99 percent of repeat petitioners are mentally ill." 9. "Which media organization do you work for?" 10. "Are you a member of the Communist Party (CPC)?"
1. "We are of high-level positions. So don't bother to call the police."
2. "Why doesn't the public reveal their assets first?"
3. "I will have your website shut down if you (journalist) dare to report it."
4. "Go straight to the fifth floor. Don't choose the first or second floor."
5. "You are doomed to be punished if you fight against the government. Any action against the government is illegal."
6. "You are a mouthpiece for the party (CPC) or the people?"
7. "Build, baby, build! We will make up for your loss."
8. "I say 99 percent of repeat petitioners are mentally ill."
9. "Which media organization do you work for?"
10. "Are you a member of the Communist Party (CPC)?"
"You are doomed to be punished if you fight against the government. Any action against the government is illegal."
There it is in a nutshell. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
A prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbi has asked a Tiberias bus company to launch a line similar to the ones in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak that segregate women from men. Rabbi Asher Idan from Jerusalem, a ruler on religious matters pertaining to modesty, contacted the company Veolia Transportation last month, saying that ultra-Orthodox Jews from Tiberias wanted a segregated line. [...] He added that Veolia would be glad to meet the needs of the Haredi public. But when queried by Haaretz, Veolia would only say that it was "acting according to the directives of the Transportation Ministry as they are issued from time to time, and will continue to act according to them."
Rabbi Asher Idan from Jerusalem, a ruler on religious matters pertaining to modesty, contacted the company Veolia Transportation last month, saying that ultra-Orthodox Jews from Tiberias wanted a segregated line.
[...]
He added that Veolia would be glad to meet the needs of the Haredi public. But when queried by Haaretz, Veolia would only say that it was "acting according to the directives of the Transportation Ministry as they are issued from time to time, and will continue to act according to them."
