A US pastor says he is not "backing down" from plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11, despite international outrage. "We are not convinced that backing down is the right thing," said Terry Jones of 50-member Florida church, the Dove World Outreach Center. The group's plan has sparked condemnation from Muslim countries, Nato and the top US Afghan commander. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the plan "disgraceful".
A US pastor says he is not "backing down" from plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11, despite international outrage.
"We are not convinced that backing down is the right thing," said Terry Jones of 50-member Florida church, the Dove World Outreach Center.
The group's plan has sparked condemnation from Muslim countries, Nato and the top US Afghan commander.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the plan "disgraceful".
A grassroots movement in Gainesville, Florida, is gathering pace against a local pastor's plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. By FRANCE 24 (text) Jody Jenkins (video) "This dispute has bought the city and its religious communities together," says Rev. Larry Reimer of Gainesville's United Church. "We are coming to realise that we have much more in common with each other than we thought." Rev. Reimer insists the overwhelming majority of the Florida city's population stands against the Islamophobic antics of the fringe pastor who wants to burn the Koran on Saturday's anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
"This dispute has bought the city and its religious communities together," says Rev. Larry Reimer of Gainesville's United Church. "We are coming to realise that we have much more in common with each other than we thought."
Rev. Reimer insists the overwhelming majority of the Florida city's population stands against the Islamophobic antics of the fringe pastor who wants to burn the Koran on Saturday's anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
There were many odd things about my recent Havana stopover (apart from the dolphin show, which I'll get to shortly), but one of the most unusual was Fidel Castro's level of self-reflection. I only have limited experience with Communist autocrats (I have more experience with non-Communist autocrats) but it seemed truly striking that Castro was willing to admit that he misplayed his hand at a crucial moment in the Cuban Missile Crisis (you can read about what he said toward the end of my previous post - but he said, in so many words, that he regrets asking Khruschev to nuke the U.S.).
TEGUCIGALPA - At least 15 people were shot to death Tuesday at a shoe factory in the northern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, police said.
Colombia Reports: The Office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) confirmed Tuesday in Bogota that a graveyard located in La Macarena, in Colombia's south-east Meta department contains at least 446 unidentified bodies that were reported as guerrillas killed in combat with the armed forces. The UNHCR undertook an analysis of the La Macarena graveyard, following concerns from human rights organizations that the cemetery may have been used as a mass grave to house up to 2,000 bodies, among them alleged victims of extrajudicial killings.
SAN JUAN - Puerto Rican authorities declared a public health emergency after the confirmation of 10 new deaths from dengue fever, which could cause record levels of fatalities in 2010 if the current trend is maintained. Chief epidemiologist Carmen de la Seda said Tuesday that the emergency declaration will immediately result in doctors with certain specialties receiving a course in detection and treatment of the disease.
BRIDGEPORT, USA (MCT) -- A three-month window lawmakers established for Puerto Ricans to apply for new, more-secure birth certificates is three weeks from closing. On September 30, Puerto Rican birth certificates issued before July 1 will become invalid. The deadline is significant to US residents who were born in the US territory and must soon display proof of their birth certificate for a transaction or official purpose. Residents of Puerto Rican descent who soon plan to get married, register a child for school for the first time or apply for a driver's license or passport for the first time will need the new certificate to do so. The document upgrade was conceived on the heels of a recent finding that Puerto Rican birth certificates enabled more than 40 percent of 8,000 American passport fraud cases recently investigated by the US State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
SANTIAGO, Sep 8, 2010 (IPS) - Latin American activists who want to call attention to mining developments located in border areas will gather in Chile to "pass judgement" on projects they regard as detrimental to local communities, the environment and national security. "One of the features of mining today is its expansion into traditionally untouched areas, where entry was forbidden for geopolitical or national security reasons, like border zones," Lucio Cuenca, of the Chilean branch of the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA), told IPS. OLCA is one of the organisers of the first ethics tribunal against border mining, to be convened Sept. 30 in the Chilean capital. Projects on the borders between Argentina and Chile, Ecuador and Peru, Bolivia and Brazil, El Salvador and Guatemala, Mexico and Guatemala, and Costa Rica and Nicaragua will be examined.
Center for Economic Policy and Research, Venezuela: This paper examines recent economic data, including the most recent data released the third week of August 2010, in an attempt to evaluate the Venezuelan economy's prospects in the foreseeable future. It finds that the Venezuelan economy, which went into recession in the first quarter of 2009 after six years of record economic growth, is now most likely in recovery, and that the 2009 recession has probably ended. This is based on seasonally adjusted quarterly data, which show that the Venezuelan economy grew by an estimated 5.2 percent in the second quarter of 2010, on an annualized basis.
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) -- At least 22 Mexican journalists have been killed over the past four years, according to a U.S.-based media watchdog group that is calling on the government to respond forcefully to the dangers facing reporters who cover the country's drug war. (...) ''Violence against the press has swept the nation and destroyed Mexicans' right to freedom of expression,'' the report said. ''This national crisis demands a full-scale federal response.''
WASHINGTON - A sharply divided federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit involving the Central Intelligence Agency's practice of seizing terrorism suspects and transferring them to other countries for imprisonment and interrogation. The ruling handed a major victory to the Obama administration in its effort to advance a sweeping view of executive secrecy power.
Dubai has become a magnet for Afghanistan's smattering of nouveau riche: many invested heavily in the emirate's seemingly never-ending real estate fairytale.However, the financial crisis abruptly ended Dubai's property boom, and a scandal involving Kabul Bank, Afghanistan's largest private lender, has highlighted the close but opaque ties between the Gulf's commercial entrepot and the Afghan elite. The bank's travails have also involved the blood relatives and political allies of President Hamid Karzai. It recently emerged that Sherkhan Farnood, then chairman of Kabul Bank and a key supporter of Mr Karzai's government, had used the bank's money to invest in Dubai real estate, including villas on the Palm Jumeirah artificial island. This helped trigger panic among depositors and his ousting from the bank by the regulator. Mahmoud Karzai, the Afghan president's brother and the bank's third largest shareholder, with a 7.4 per cent stake, lives in a beachside villa in Dubai.
However, the financial crisis abruptly ended Dubai's property boom, and a scandal involving Kabul Bank, Afghanistan's largest private lender, has highlighted the close but opaque ties between the Gulf's commercial entrepot and the Afghan elite. The bank's travails have also involved the blood relatives and political allies of President Hamid Karzai.
It recently emerged that Sherkhan Farnood, then chairman of Kabul Bank and a key supporter of Mr Karzai's government, had used the bank's money to invest in Dubai real estate, including villas on the Palm Jumeirah artificial island. This helped trigger panic among depositors and his ousting from the bank by the regulator.
Mahmoud Karzai, the Afghan president's brother and the bank's third largest shareholder, with a 7.4 per cent stake, lives in a beachside villa in Dubai.
A sharply divided federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit involving the Central Intelligence Agency's practice of seizing terrorism suspects and transferring them to other countries for imprisonment and interrogation. The ruling handed a major victory to the Obama administration in its effort to advance a sweeping view of executive secrecy power. By a six-to-five vote, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, reversing an earlier decision, dismissed a lawsuit against Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., a Boeing subsidiary accused of arranging flights for the C.I.A.'s "extraordinary rendition" program, as it is known. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the case on behalf of five former prisoners who say they were tortured because of the program - and that Jeppesen was complicit in their treatment. Judge Raymond C. Fisher described the case as presenting "a painful conflict between human rights and national security." But, he said, the majority had "reluctantly" concluded that the lawsuit represented "a rare case" in which the government's need to protect state secrets trumped the plaintiffs' need to have any day in court.
By a six-to-five vote, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, reversing an earlier decision, dismissed a lawsuit against Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., a Boeing subsidiary accused of arranging flights for the C.I.A.'s "extraordinary rendition" program, as it is known. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the case on behalf of five former prisoners who say they were tortured because of the program - and that Jeppesen was complicit in their treatment.
Judge Raymond C. Fisher described the case as presenting "a painful conflict between human rights and national security." But, he said, the majority had "reluctantly" concluded that the lawsuit represented "a rare case" in which the government's need to protect state secrets trumped the plaintiffs' need to have any day in court.
The booming Chinese clean energy sector, now more than a million jobs strong, is quickly coming to dominate the production of technologies essential to slowing global warming and other forms of air pollution. Such technologies are needed to assure adequate energy as the world's population grows by nearly a third, to nine billion people by the middle of the century, while oil and coal reserves dwindle. But much of China's clean energy success lies in aggressive government policies that help this crucial export industry in ways most other governments do not. These measures risk breaking international rules to which China and almost all other nations subscribe, according to some trade experts interviewed by The New York Times.
But much of China's clean energy success lies in aggressive government policies that help this crucial export industry in ways most other governments do not. These measures risk breaking international rules to which China and almost all other nations subscribe, according to some trade experts interviewed by The New York Times.
Thousands of Iranian narcotics agents have been killed and billions of dollars spent in Iran's fight against the opium trade, the country's ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday. The ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, told the UN General Assembly his country needs more international help to combat the narcotics trade which he said was the "main financial source" for militant groups in the region.
The ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, told the UN General Assembly his country needs more international help to combat the narcotics trade which he said was the "main financial source" for militant groups in the region.
National Press Club, Washington DC, 2:00 pm, Thursday, September 9, 2010 WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 PRNewswire-USNewswire -- On Thursday September 9, 2010, Mike Gravel and Richard Gage will host a central press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, presenting hard evidence that all three WTC skyscrapers on September 11, 2001, in NYC were destroyed by explosive controlled demolition. Senator Gravel notes, "Critically important evidence has come forward after the original government building reports were completed." This press conference will be webcast at AE911Truth.org and hosted concurrently in cities throughout the world.* Following the conference, there will be a mock debate during which public statements made by government investigators and other defenders of the official account will be presented and responded to in multimedia format. "They refuse to debate us in person," says Gage, "so we will let their public statements represent them." Gage will release a media-friendly summary of his organization's findings, which are based on forensic evidence as well as video and eyewitness testimony that were omitted from official reports. He will show evidence that the WTC Twin Towers were not destroyed by jet plane impacts or fires, but by pre-set explosives and incendiaries. The non-profit organization, Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, will also call for a grand jury investigation of government report lead engineers Shyam Sunder and John Gross of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. "They were in a position to know the evidence we have been presenting," says Gage. Also speaking will be Florida State Professor Lance deHaven-Smith, who coined the academic term State Crimes Against Democracy (SCAD). Prof. deHaven-Smith has appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, CBS Nightly News with Dan Rather, and other national TV/radio shows. The DC press conference will be accessible via webcast AE911Truth.org, 2:00 pm September 9, 2010. * For information on satellite press conferences in your area, contact CongressionalOutreachTeam [at] ae911truth.org. To arrange print/broadcast interviews, with Richard Gage, AIA, contact Tania at 510-292-4710, or via email at 1000 [at] ae911truth.org. CONTACT: David Slesinger 410-499-5403 SOURCE Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 PRNewswire-USNewswire -- On Thursday September 9, 2010, Mike Gravel and Richard Gage will host a central press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, presenting hard evidence that all three WTC skyscrapers on September 11, 2001, in NYC were destroyed by explosive controlled demolition.
Senator Gravel notes, "Critically important evidence has come forward after the original government building reports were completed."
This press conference will be webcast at AE911Truth.org and hosted concurrently in cities throughout the world.* Following the conference, there will be a mock debate during which public statements made by government investigators and other defenders of the official account will be presented and responded to in multimedia format. "They refuse to debate us in person," says Gage, "so we will let their public statements represent them."
Gage will release a media-friendly summary of his organization's findings, which are based on forensic evidence as well as video and eyewitness testimony that were omitted from official reports.
He will show evidence that the WTC Twin Towers were not destroyed by jet plane impacts or fires, but by pre-set explosives and incendiaries. The non-profit organization, Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, will also call for a grand jury investigation of government report lead engineers Shyam Sunder and John Gross of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. "They were in a position to know the evidence we have been presenting," says Gage.
Also speaking will be Florida State Professor Lance deHaven-Smith, who coined the academic term State Crimes Against Democracy (SCAD). Prof. deHaven-Smith has appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, CBS Nightly News with Dan Rather, and other national TV/radio shows.
The DC press conference will be accessible via webcast AE911Truth.org, 2:00 pm September 9, 2010.
* For information on satellite press conferences in your area, contact CongressionalOutreachTeam [at] ae911truth.org.
To arrange print/broadcast interviews, with Richard Gage, AIA, contact Tania at 510-292-4710, or via email at 1000 [at] ae911truth.org.
CONTACT: David Slesinger 410-499-5403
SOURCE Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth
If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
I guarantee this will go NOWHERE! It would bring down the US govt., the Rep. Party, and GOD KNOWS Cheney, Gouliani, Bush, etc. The MSM including Maddow won't go near it, WATCH! In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
If there is no set of observations and arguments conceivable that would either validate or refute such an argument in the public sphere that says something basic about our polity. Are the similarities or the differences between the current USA and the former Soviet Union the most significant elements of a comparison? It took the fall of the Soviet Union for many of the activities that were widely suspected to have been occurring to be confirmed. Is that the most important similarity? As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies.Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians.In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to emerge from the Afghan conflict, the killings are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.
Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians.
In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to emerge from the Afghan conflict, the killings are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.
This struck me as the mother of all Emily Litella moments. Did the leader of the Revolution just say, in essence, "Never mind"? I asked Julia to interpret this stunning statement for me. She said, "He wasn't rejecting the ideas of the Revolution. I took it to be an acknowledgment that under 'the Cuban model' the state has much too big a role in the economic life of the country."Julia pointed out that one effect of such a sentiment might be to create space for his brother, Raul, who is now president, to enact the necessary reforms in the face of what will surely be push-back from orthodox communists within the Party and the bureaucracy. Raul Castro is already loosening the state's hold on the economy. He recently announced, in fact, that small businesses can now operate and that foreign investors could now buy Cuban real estate. (The joke of this new announcement, of course, is that Americans are not allowed to invest in Cuba, not because of Cuban policy, but because of American policy. In other words, Cuba is beginning to adopt the sort of economic ideas that America has long-demanded it adopt, but Americans are not allowed to participate in this free-market experiment because of our government's hypocritical and stupidly self-defeating embargo policy. We'll regret this, of course, when Cubans partner with Europeans and Brazilians to buy up all the best hotels).
Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar said on Wednesday his fighters were close to victory in driving foreign forces out of Afghanistan, flouting claims of progress against the militants by the top military commander there.In a statement e-mailed to the media marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and attributed to the reclusive Taliban chief, Mr Omar called on President Barack Obama to withdraw US troops "unconditionally and as soon as possible".
In a statement e-mailed to the media marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and attributed to the reclusive Taliban chief, Mr Omar called on President Barack Obama to withdraw US troops "unconditionally and as soon as possible".
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A Somali security official says a car bomb has exploded at the front gate of Mogadishu's airport and that he believes two women were killed. Somali army official Abdul Rahman Yussef says that vehicles with the African Union blocked the vehicle from gaining entry into the airport.
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A Somali security official says a car bomb has exploded at the front gate of Mogadishu's airport and that he believes two women were killed.
Somali army official Abdul Rahman Yussef says that vehicles with the African Union blocked the vehicle from gaining entry into the airport.
