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Showing posts from July 7, 2013

Judges to rule on Karadzic genocide charge

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges at the United Nations' Yugoslav war crimes tribunal are ruling on a prosecution appeal against Radovan Karadzic's acquittal on one of the key allegations against him over atrocities during Bosnia's bloody war. The former Bosnian Serb leader was initially charged with genocide for the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Srebrenica enclave, but also for a Serb campaign to drive Muslims and Croats out of large parts of Bosnia early in the 1992-95 war. Judges dismissed the second charge, midway through his long-running trial, at the end of the prosecution case for lack of evidence, but left the Srebrenica genocide count in place. Karadzic's trial continues with him defending his actions during the war. The court is due to announce its decision Thursday afternoon. Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judges-rule-karadzic-genocide-charge-093159519.html

Bosnians rebury 409 Srebrenica massacre victims

SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Tens of thousands have gathered in Bosnia to rebury 409 newly identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre on the 18th anniversary of the worst slaughter on European soil since the Nazi era. Among the victims are 43 teenage boys and a baby that was born during the ordeal. They are being laid to rest at a special cemetery near Srebrenica where victims are buried as their remains are gradually found in mass graves. As of Thursday, there were 6,066l a further 2,306 are still missing. In July 1995, Serb forces overran the U.N.-protected Muslim town in eastern Bosnia and executed more than 8,000 men and boys within days. U.N. troops on the ground did nothing to stop them. Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bosnians-rebury-409-srebrenica-massacre-victims-092737503.html

Letter: Being a separatist is like being in love

Paul Carmel states that the separatist threat in Quebec is emotional, not necessarily logical, and therefore will always be with us. I completely agree. Although PQ spokesmen try to legitimize their goal of separating Quebec from Canada with logical reasons — economic and legal — that is not the real motivating factor for most followers. About 20 years ago, I did a significant amount of business with a young man, a Québécois. Our dealings necessitated mutual trust, which was readily given by both of us. One day, I felt I knew him well enough to broach the Big Question. I said, “Michel, I bet you are a separatist.” He said, immediately, “of course I am. When I went to the Université de Montréal, the competing ideologies were communism and separatism. I chose to be a separatist, and will always be one.” “But,” I said, “you are a businessman. Don’t you see that the uncertainty prevailing in Quebec has set us back a great deal in business?” His answer: “Have you ever b

Boston bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleads not guilty

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Tsarnaev, 19, faces 30 counts of using a weapon of mass destruction in the two 15 April blasts that killed three, including an eight-year-old boy. Prosecutors could press for the death penalty for 17 counts, CNN reported. The suspect has also been charged over the death of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police officer, who was allegedly shot dead by Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan three days after the attack. He is also charged in a carjacking incident and with downloading internet material from Islamist radicals some time before the blasts. Tsarnaev was dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, his hair long and shaggy, his left arm in a cast, the news channel said. He was wounded in the pursuit-during which his brother, Tamerlan, was killed-and he appeared to have an injury to the left side of his face. MIT police lined up outside the courthouse as the hearing neared its end Wednesday afternoon in a show of solidarity with their fallen com

Egypt: Suspected militants kill Christian

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Security officials say suspected militants have killed a Christian merchant in the northern Sinai Peninsula. They said 60-year-old Magdy Habashi was abducted last Saturday from the town of Sheikh Zweid. His decapitated body was found early Thursday in a cemetery, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Habashi is the second Christian to be killed in northern Sinai in less than a week. Coptic Christian priest Mina Abboud Sharobeen was gunned down by suspected militants last Saturday as he walked in an outdoor market. There has been a backlash against Christians by Islamist militants for their activism against former President Mohammed Morsi, ousted by the military on July 3 after a wave of massive protests against his rule. Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-suspected-militants-kill-christian-092419404.html

Most wanted Indonesia militant urges jihad in video: Police

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JAKARTA - Indonesia's most wanted Islamic militant has appeared in a video posted on the Internet delivering a tirade against the country's anti-terror police and urging "jihad", police said Wednesday. Santoso is the leader of a group called the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen that hides out in the jungles around Poso on Sulawesi island, an area considered a hotbed of terrorism. In the six-minute video posted on YouTube, a man calling himself Syaikh Abu Wardah Santoso describes Detachment 88 - the elite police anti-terror squad - as "a real enemy, a real satan". "My brothers in Poso, I have felt how cruel Detachment 88 is to these people," he says in the video that was posted on the Internet at the weekend. "Today, God almighty has decided that jihad will continue until judgement day." Police said the man was the terror suspect commonly known as Santoso. The video has now been removed from YouTube. "We saw the six-minut

Myanmar's radical monk targets interfaith marriage

The Myanmar man dubbed 'The Face of Buddhist Terrorism' by Time magazine wants a law restricting marriages between Buddhists and Muslims. Radical monk U Wirathu has been leading hundreds of Buddhist monks in protest. "This law is my dream," he said. "I've given speeches like this in different places so that we could propose this law." Last month, he joined around 200 other monks in Yangon to discuss ways to end rising religious violence that began in Rakhine state last year between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. It was here that U Wirathu, who is accused of fanning the tensions, announced his controversial proposal. This law is my dream. U Wirathu Senior leaders at the meeting have distanced themselves from the proposal, but U Wirathu and his followers are determined to present the idea to parliament. "This marriage law means Myanmar girls can marry people of different religions, but their future husbands have to become Buddhist," he said. &qu

Terror suspects’ legal bills a concern

As the Canada Day terrorism case moves toward a possible bail hearing, concerns are being raised about how the suspects will pay for their legal defence. The two defendants, John Nuttall and Amanda Korody, made their first appearance in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday, but Ms. Korody is still without her own lawyer. Mr. Nuttal’s lawyer, Tom Morino, is acting as Ms. Korody’s counsel on an interim basis, but has repeatedly told the media his interactions with her have been minimal. Mr. Morino, who has represented Mr. Nuttall in past cases, said there have been delays in finding Ms. Korody a lawyer because of complications around legal-aid funding. “This is not a situation where they’re being denied, but this is a situation where the normal tariff just simply does not cover it,” Mr. Morino told reporters outside the courtroom on Wednesday. “I’ll have to canvass that with legal services to see if there’s sufficient funding.” Mr. Morino said the unprecedented nature of a

Barclays account shutdown raises Somali fears

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Barclays bank is closing about 100 UK accounts held by cash transfer businesses, over fears they are being used for money laundering. The businesses are vital for Somali expatriates sending remittances back home, where banking facilities have collapsed. Aid workers say the service is a "lifeline" for 40% of the Somali population, who rely on the transfers. It is feared that the cash transfer business could now go underground. Continue reading the main story Analysis Mark Doyle BBC International Development Correspondent Money transfer shops are a lifeline for millions of people in the developing world. Their relatives living in richer countries send cash for school fees, medical care and even basic food. The companies having their Barclays accounts in the UK closed have branches in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, South Africa and Romania. Barclays says some of the companies don't have chec

Merkel: Surveillance Essential for Democracy

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected the growing comparisons between the NSA’s surveillance apparatus and that of the former East German state, the Stasi, saying it was unfair to compare the two since the NSA is from a “democratic” state. Merkel went on to defend the concept of surveillance in general as “essential” for a democratic state, insisting that security needs will mean that spying on citizens will always be a vital aspect of any democratic state. The chancellor seems to be treading into dangerous water with that position, as past examples of surveillance state abuses have left Germans particularly sensitive about giving up their privacy, and even if Merkel doesn’t appreciate the Stasi parallel, many Germans do. Moreover as a point of fact the NSA’s PRISM and other schemes are at least as far-reaching as anything attempted by the Stasi, and technological developments have allowed them to spread it world-wide to boot. There seems to be little doubt th

Drones in Niger Reflect New U.S. Tack on Terrorism

NIAMEY, Niger — Nearly every day, and sometimes twice daily, an unarmed American drone soars skyward from a secluded military airfield here, starting a surveillance mission of 10 hours or more to track fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda and other militants in neighboring Mali.  The two MQ-9 Reapers that are based here stream live video and data from other sensors to American analysts working with French commanders, who say the aerial intelligence has been critical to their success over the past four months in driving jihadists from a vast desert refuge in northern Mali. The drone base, established in February and staffed by about 120 members of the Air Force, is the latest indication of the priority Africa has become for the United States at a time when it is winding down its presence in Afghanistan and President Obama has set a goal of moving from a global war on terrorism toward a more targeted effort. It is part of a new model for counterterrorism, a strategy

Turkish Peace Talks Flounder, PKK Promotes Hawk to Key Post

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The Turkish government’s peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), against whom they have fought an off-and-on 29 year war, have been stagnating lately, with both sides trading accusations of negotiating in bad faith. The PKK reiterated its support for the talks, and the ceasefire which is facilitating them, but they have also r eplaced one of the top political figures in their movement with an outspoken hawk, leading to concerns that the group’s patience is wearing thing. Murat Karayilan had long served as the acting leader of the PKK in the stead of its jailed founded Abdullah Ocalan, but has found himself replaced in the position by Cemil Bayik, another founder seen as a driving force in their military operations. Bayik has recently accused Islamist groups with close ties to the Turkish government of attempting to sabotage the talks, saying they had been trying to publicly name Turkish negotiators in the talks in an attempt to scare them away from the con

Wikileaks to begin fundraising for Snowden 'Flight of Liberty'

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Wikileaks has suggested that it will begin a campaign to fly the fugitive leaker Edward Snowden away from the grasp of the American authorities.    The whistleblowing website said via Twitter that it was on the verge of beginning what it called a “Flight of Liberty” campaign. Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who first published details of US mass surveillance allegedly stolen by Mr Snowden from the US National Security Agency, meanwhile said he believed Venezuela was his most likely destination. The Left-wing South American state has offered asylum to the 30-year-old American, who has been marooned in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport since June 23. Kristinn Hrafnsson, a WikiLeaks spokesman, could not give further details of the campaign, but said to watch for further announcements. He also declined to comment on whether or not WikiLeaks would seek to raise funds for Mr Snowden’s flight out of Moscow. That could be cos

Obamas, Bushes find common ground far from home in Tanzania : Terror memorial

Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican predecessor President George W. Bush found common ground in Africa on Tuesday, honouring the victims of a terrorist attack in an unprecedented encounter a world away from home. The U.S. presidents observed a moment of silence together at a monument to victims of the 1998 embassy bombing here in the east African city where Bush coincidentally happened to be as Obama wrapped up a week-long tour of the continent. While the two leaders didn’t say anything publicly, their wives engaged in a warm and chatty joint appearance at a summit on African women. Initially the two presidents weren’t even planning to meet while in town, but first lady Michelle Obama joked as she sat next to her predecessor: “They’re learning from us.” The Obamas departed Africa for home shortly after crossing paths with the Bushes, who were hosting the summit promoting the role of African first ladies in bringing change to their countries. Bush ended up

China firmly opposes separatism, terrorism: FM spokeswoman

BEIJING, July 5 (Xinhua) -- China strongly opposes national separatism and any violent act of terrorism, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said at a Friday press briefing. Spokeswoman Hua Chunying's remarks came after Reporters Without Borders, a non-governmental organization based in France, condemned the control of news and information by the Chinese government in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Sixteen knife-wielding religious extremists killed 24 people last week in Shanshan County, Turpan Prefecture. Local police shot and killed 11 of the attackers and apprehended the other five. The violence "makes people's hair stand on end," Hua said. "If one not only refuses to denounce or fight the atrocities, but instead takes a skeptical attitude toward the legal disposal by the Chinese government, or even makes carping comments on China's national and religious policy, then it only shows their double standards and a seriously biased view aga

Romania takes step toward punishing gulag guards

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BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Guards slammed doors on prisoners' fingers, beat them on the soles of their feet and burned them with cigarettes. They served rotten meat and forced inmates to eat excrement as punishment. In extremes of heat and cold, they made their victims haul crushing loads until they collapsed. After decades of denial, chilling details are emerging about the torment guards inflicted upon political prisoners in Romanian communist-era gulags, as part of a first small step toward holding them to account. The names of 35 guards — now in their 80s or 90s — are to be handed to authorities starting next week for possible prosecution by a government institution tasked with investigating communist-era crimes, The Associated Press has learned. The perpetrators of communist-era crimes have long been shielded by Romania's establishment, whose ranks are filled with members of the former Securitate secret police. But the movement to expose Romanian gulag guar

It’s time to tell the truth about Quebec separatism

OTTAWA — Why will no political leader stand up and tell the truth about Quebec separatism? That truth is that separatism is dead — not, of course, as something to dream about and vote for; like death and taxes, that will always be with us. No, the truth is that the hurdle is set so high for it to be done successfully and legally that separation is, for all intents and purposes, impossible. Even Stéphane Dion, architect of the Clarity Act and one of the most courageous and rightly admired of Quebec federalists, still maintains the fiction that the key question is whether Quebec gives a clear answer to a clear question on secession. Quebec will not be kept in Canada “against its will.” He said so again recently at one of the Great Canadian Debates Series organized by my institute in Ottawa. If Quebecers really want to go, he says, they can. True, forcing Quebecers to stay against their clearly expressed will is a recipe for misery. On the other hand, downplaying the cer

Iraqi official: Gunmen kill 14 security troops in attack at Ramadan mealtime

BAGHDAD - Gunmen overran an Iraqi army checkpoint and then shot up a trailer packed with policemen breaking their Ramadan fast, killing a total of 14 troops in the country's restive western Anbar province, authorities said Thursday. The attack happened at sundown Wednesday as the troops were marking the end of the first day of fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It was the latest in a string of brazen strikes by militants that has killed more than 2,000 people since the start of April. Gunmen launched their assault on an army checkpoint near the town of Barwana, which lies across the Euphrates River from the town of Haditha, about 220 kilometres (140 miles) northwest of Baghdad, according to Barwana's mayor, Meyasser Abdul-Mohsin. The attackers then shot up a trailer used by special oil industry police force protecting a nearby pipeline as the men were sitting down to have the iftar meal that breaks the daytime Ramadan fast at sunset. Abdul-Mohs

Two successive roadside bombings kill five in southern Afghanistan

KABUL: Officials say a twin bombing in southern Afghanistan has killed five people, three civilians whose car struck a roadside bomb and two police officers who had rushed to the scene to help the victims when the second bomb went off. A provincial government spokesman, Ummar Zawaq, says the attack occurred on Thursday morning in Helmand province.  Zawaq says the officers who died were members of the elite Afghan National Civil Order Police — the so-called ANCOPs who get special training from NATO forces.  The spokesman says a third officer was wounded in the blast.  Afghan authorities say roadside bombs and booby traps are their worst threat in fighting the Taliban. Source  http://m.timesofindia.com/world/middle-east/Two-successive-roadside-bombings-kill-five-in-southern-Afghanistan/articleshow/21016028.cms

Saudi princess arrested in human trafficking case

SANTA ANA (California): A Saudi princess has been charged with human trafficking for allegedly holding a domestic worker against her will at a California condominium, prosecutors said. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas identified 42-year-old Meshael Alayban as a Saudi princess who was charged with one count of human trafficking. If convicted, she faces up to 12 years in prison. Alayban was arrested after a Kenyan woman carrying a suitcase flagged down a bus and told a passenger she believed she was a human trafficking victim. The passenger helped her contact police, who searched the condo where Alayban and her family were staying, authorities said. The 30-year-old woman was hired in Kenya in 2012 and her passport was taken from her on arrival in Saudi Arabia. She was forced to work excessive hours, was paid less than she was promised and was not allowed to leave, authorities said. "This is not a contract dispute," Rackauckas told a bail hearing yesterday afterno

Where Maoist fund comes from and where it goes

Maoists collect about Rs 140 crore annually from a variety of sources, stash the money in 'dumps’ or keep with overground sympathisers, and regularly audit expenditure on workforce, procurement of firepower and so on, reveals a maiden study by the government on the Red economy.  The preliminary study through interaction with various stakeholders in some of the nine Maoist affected states, points out that Maoists source their illegal earnings by taking cuts from various government development schemes, milking timber and Tendu leaf contractors and traders in minor forest produce, from mining industry, besides extorting government officials and politicians, said security officials aware of the study.  A part of the funding also comes from membership fees and donations sympathisers volunteer.  The report is expected to give a fair idea to security mandarins on ways of choking finances of Maoists, which security experts believe is necessary to cripple their dominance in 82 districts of

Buddhist-Rohingya clashes: Economy the real trigger?

YANGON (Myanmar): The conflict between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine province may have been touted as the reason behind the attack on Bodhgaya's Mahabodhi temple, but the issue of the Rohingyas is seen less as a clash between religions and more of an ethnic and economic problem within the rapidly developing country whose military government started the process of democratic reforms two years ago. The reforms initiated by former military general-turned president Thein Sein which have led to the release of National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the lifting of sanctions imposed by the US are now translating into huge foreign investments in the country which is a largely untapped reservoir of natural gas and other resources. "For a vast majority of people, there was frustration at seeing economic opportunities slip by during the military regime," says U Thura Ko Ko, chief representative of the Texas Pacific Group Fund which advises

Indian Mujahideen's 'twitter handle' still active, 'unfollows' LeT boss Hafiz Saeed

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10 Jul, 2013, 2318 hrs IST ,  Vishwa Mohan & Bharti Jain ,  TNN Indian Mujahideen's 'twitter handle' still active, 'unfollows' LeT boss Hafiz Saeed NEW DELHI: A twitter handle, purportedly belong to a terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, has created flutter in the country's security establishments. It's claim on Bodh Gaya blasts may not be genuine, but the fact that the account generated its first  tweet barely 16 hours before the incident forced the agencies on Wednesday to take it up with the US-based company  Twitter Inc. to find out the location where it could be used to upload the message.  Interestingly, the twitter handle - @IndianMujahidin - which went silent after July 7 was used again on Wednesday. It was, however, this time not used to tweet something. The handler of the account did just 'unfollow' the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba  (LeT) founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed  and go on silent mode again.  The fiddling with the accou

Dossier on Osama Bin Laden needs an open debate

By Omar R Quraishi   The leaked 337-page report of a four-member commission that was formed by the government of Pakistan in 2011 to investigate the US raid to get  Osama bin Laden  has created quite a stir in Pakistan, and one would assume, elsewhere as well. First of all, there seems to have been a blunder: the report was released not by the government but by a foreign TV channel,  Al Jazeera  English. The commission had said in the report that its findings, after being submitted to the prime minister's office, should be made public in English as well as Urdu, and that this was "in the national interest".  If ever this much-abused phrase was used with the right intent by the officialdom in Pakistan, it was probably this time. Regrettably, the then PPP government and the new PML-N one failed to do so. The only official reaction from the government has been a guarded comment by the information minister that an investigation into the leak is underway.  Questions for ISI Al

Emergency broadcasts 'can be hacked'

The system used to broadcast to the United States in times of national crisis can be hacked, researchers have warned. The Emergency Alerting System (EAS) was set up to allow the president to talk to the entire country within 10 minutes of a disaster. Security specialists IOActive said one TV network's output "was interrupted by news of a zombie apocalypse". Lead researcher Mike Davis said the system needed to be re-engineered. IOActive has released a guidance sheet for concerned broadcasters looking to protect their system. 'Extremely dangerous' In February, weaknesses in the system - which was introduced in 1997, replacing an older set-up - were exposed by hackers. "Earlier this year we were shown an example of an intrusion on the EAS when the Montana Television Network's regular programming was interrupted by news of a zombie apocalypse," said Mr Davis. "Although there was no zombie apocalypse, it did highlight just how vulnerable the system i