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Showing posts from February 5, 2012

Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire regime about 160 times this week

According to the data of the NKR Defense Army, about 160 ceasefire violations were registered at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan during the past seven days. Divisions of the Azerbaijani armed forces fired more than 600 shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of the Armenian positions. More intensive firing was registered on February 6 and 7. Committed to the maintenance of the ceasefire regime, divisions of the NKR Defense Army mostly refrained from response actions and confidently defended the military positions all along the line of contact, Information and Propaganda Department of the NKR Defense Army reports. Source:  http://www.armradio.am/eng/news/?part=pol&id=22031

Three militants killed in Russia's troubled Dagestan

MOSCOW, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Russian security forces have killed three militants in the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the National Anti-Terror Committee (NAC) said Saturday. The group of militants was spotted and blocked in a private house in the Karabudakhkent region on Friday, said a NAC spokesman. An exchange of fire ensued as the militants refused to lay down their arms. In the fighting, one police officer was killed and another was wounded, said the spokesman. Law enforcement officials evacuated residents of nearby houses before the operation. In 2011, Russian security forces eliminated over 300 militants in the troubled North Caucasus republics of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, where militants frequently attack police and other government interests. Source:  http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.asp?id=50130

Resorts accused in Maldives coup

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A fisherman goes to market in Male … the former president says he was ousted by opponents of economic reform.  Photo: AP MALE, the Maldives: The former president ousted in a coup last week has accused resort owners of plotting to overthrow him in reaction to his vision of a free-market paradise. Mohamed Nasheed said some owners of the Maldives' beach resorts financed the coup because they resented competition for contracts and fixed direct taxes. He said his own intelligence officers confirmed their involvement in the coup in a marriage of convenience with Muslim extremists. They had led street protests against his government's decision to allow massage and health spas to proliferate. ''I was ousted for bringing a Western conservative vision to the Maldives,'' he said. After he came to power in 2008, advised by a team of British Conservative Party campaigners, Mr Nasheed privatised the country's main airport, introduced compulsory private he

Female Neo-Nazis Not Just Hangers-On

BERLIN — The image of a far-right extremist in  Germany  has changed, with shaved heads and steel-toed boots replaced by long, tousled hair, a décolleté decorated with a swastika and wide blue eyes staring out from behind wire-rimmed glasses. Over recent months, two women, Marisa and Beate, have become Germany’s most talked about far-right extremists. Their stories — one fictional, the other linked to a series of crimes — are forcing the nation to rethink the role played by women in its neo-Nazi scene, and prompting federal and state officials to convene special sessions to address whether the authorities are doing enough to stamp out rightist extremism. “Typically women in the far-right scene are viewed by the general public either as devotees of their neo-Nazi boyfriends, or as being equally violent as the men,” said Michaela Glaser, a researcher on far-right extremism with the German Youth Institute in the eastern city of Halle. While the German authorities keep detailed sta

PKK executes militants then declares them heroes, says former member

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PKK militants are seen at a camp in Iraq. The PKK has executed many of its own as a form of punishment, something being investigated for the first time by Turkish prosecutors. (Photo: Reuters) 6 February 2012 / İSMAİL AVCI , DİYARBAKIR The terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which brutally executed some of its own members either over dissenting opinions or for being a potential threat to the leadership of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan -- who is now in jail -- frequently declared its victims “heroes” who died fighting Turkish security forces. Little was known of the inner workings of the PKK until very recently, when Turkish prosecutors conducting an investigation into state-sponsored deaths in the Southeast launched a second investigation into executions conducted by the PKK of its own militants. The investigation came out of another one, which looks into unsolved murders perpetrated in the Kurdish-dominated eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey

Suicide bomber detained in eastern Khost province

According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan security forces curb a suicide bomber to target Afghan government officials in eastern Khost province. The officials further added, a government employee who was working in provincial governor office was detained in connection to insurgency attack plot. Barilai Rawan a spokesman for provincial governor media relations office said, the detained suspected militant was recognized as Samdullah and was looking to carry out a suicide bomb attack at governor’s office. Mr. Rawan further added, Samiullah used to work in the secretariat of the provincial governor office and was employed by the militants group for the job to carry out insurgency attack. He also added, the detained suspected insurgent is currently under the probe of the security forces and he has confessed to his crimes during the preliminary investigations. Samiullah the detained suspected militant said, he was employed by the militants group to carry out

Post titleArgentina: British nuclear weapons threaten South Atlantic

New York - Argentina Friday denounced Britain for introducing nuclear weapons into the South Atlantic, saying the move threatens the security of the region and Latin American countries. Argentina's Foreign Minister Hector Timerman presented a thick document folder to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as well as Togo's UN Ambassador Kodjo Menan, president of the UN Security Council. The documents described the alleged British military deployment and included news clippings on the issue. He asked the UN to find ways to establish a peaceful dialogue with Britain to resolve the dispute. Timerman said he agreed with Ban's proposal to use his good offices to mediate the sovereignty dispute between Argentina and Britain over the Falkland Islands, which Argentina also claims. Ban said he would ask Britain to agree to the dialogue. The document presented to the UN said that Britain's nuclear submarine Vanguard, which has the capability to carry nuclear weapons, recentl

Tadic: Triumph over organised crime close at hand

Tadic expressed belief that Serbia would attract more substantial investments once all criminals and heads of crime rings are arrested and convicted, since investors want to place their funds only in safe countries. Serbian President Boris Tadic stated on Friday that Serbia is just a step away from winning the battle against organised crime.  Serbia is now very close to dealing the final blow to organised crime, and the effect of this action would take several decades to fade away, he underscored. Commenting on the news about the arrest of Luka Bojovic and other individuals  involved in organised crime, Tadic said that Serbia would become one of the few countries in the region which managed to put this matter under control in case information as regards search and arrest of criminals prove true, in addition to the individuals who have already been sentenced to several decades of imprisonment in Serbia.  He recalled that the action was coordinated with Serbian security ser

Nigeria insurgency beginning to take toll on economy

Lagos - An increasingly violent insurgency by Islamist sect Boko Haram in Nigeria's economically stagnant north has begun pressuring the country's finances by forcing extra spending on security. It is diverting money away from needed infrastructure spending and could be costing as much as 2 percent of the country's economic output. Boko Haram, which wants Islamic sharia law more widely applied across Africa's most populous nation, has been waging a low level insurgency against the government and security forces since 2009. The severity of its attacks has leapt in the last six months with its strikes have been largely confined to the Muslim north, hundreds of kilometres from the commercial hubs of Lagos and the Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil industry. "The northeast is not all that important economically, so unless they start blowing up stuff in Lagos or they can find a way to disrupt business on a larger scale, I think foreign investors ar

Maoists to launch a major offensive against forces: Police

RANCHI: The  Communist Party of India (Maoist)  is going to launch a major offensive against security forces in Jharkhand to regain the lost ground in the state, police sources claim. Intelligence inputs available with  Jharkhand Police  suggest that the central leadership of Maoists have asked their men operating in the state to launch a massive attack in Palamu and Singhbhum which once used to be their bastion. There have been two major attacks by Maoists in the last two months killing 24 security personnel. Jharkhand Inspector General (IG) RK Mallik confirmed that the intelligence inputs. "In the last one year we have uprooted Maoists from their bastions, Saranda jungle in West Singhbhum and Sarju region in Latehar. The two places were like their regional headquarters and after regular operations we have almost flushed them out. To regain the lost ground the central leaders of the rebels have asked the members to be on a major offensive," said Mallik adding that the secur

NPA issues ‘warrant’ for arrest of RPA men

he Roselyn Pelle Command of the New People’s Army yesterday said it has issued arrest warrants against members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade and armed goons, allegedly responsible for burning of houses and crops, as well as firing at farmers in Brgy. Lopez Jaena, Sagay City, late last year. Cecil Estrella, spokesperson of the Roselyn Pelle Command in a press statement, said all NPA units in northern Negros were ordered to arrest RPA-ABB members alias Remar, Larry Chavez, alias Mingming, Loreto Bandala, alias Rufo, alias Barok, alias Bongbong and their companions, as well as RPA-ABB leader Remar Agabon. Even members of a fact-finding mission team were not spared from the harassment of the suspected RPA-ABB members and armed goons, Estrella said. Members of Karapatan-Negros and its affiliated organizations claimed they were harassed by alleged RPA-ABB members, while they were conducting a fact finding mission last month in Hacienda Baldevia, Brgy. Lopez

Want to be drug-free? Thai monks prescribe projectile vomiting

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BANGKOK – Carrie Jeffers feared she would never kick her heroin addiction after relapsing repeatedly in her native Michigan. Then she flew to Thailand, and her life changed. Jeffers, a 37-year-old yoga teacher, says she broke her dependency thanks to treatment at a remote Buddhist temple. The rigorous regime includes meditation and the daily ingestion of a foul-tasting herbal drink that induces projectile vomiting to cleanse the body of toxins. “I got my strength back slowly but surely after the treatment,” Jeffers said after spending months at Thailand’s Thamkrabok Monastery , a drug rehabilitation center in Saraburi province about 90 miles north of Bangkok. The center, in the heart of a sunlit forest surrounded by limestone crags, has won a worldwide reputation as a place with harsh but effective addiction treatment and has attracted thousands of foreigners from Europe and the U.S. Harsh, but effective Jeffers said she had been addicted to heroin since the

Journalist couple murdered in Bangladesh capital

Dhaka - Assailants on Friday killed a journalist couple at their residence in Bangladeshi capital, police said. Golam Mustofa Sarowar, an editor for Maasranga television, and his wife Meherun Runi, a reporter at ATN Bangla television, were killed in their apartment building in central Dhaka, police officer Zakir Hossain Mollah said. Police found Sarowar's hands and legs tied with rope and his throat cut. Runi had been beaten with sharp weapons. Their only child, who lived with them, survived the attack. Sarowar previously worked as a reporter for Duetsche Welle Bangla service. He returned from Germany last year and joined the private broadcaster Maasranga in December. Police detained two suspects, including a security guard of the building http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1690475.php/Journalist-couple-murdered-in-Bangladesh-capital Source: 

Official: Roadside bomb kills 5 Afghan policemen

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan government official says five policemen have been killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. The deputy governor of Uruzgan province, Haji Khubirahim, says the policemen were patrolling in their vehicle when it hit a roadside mine in Chanartu district. He says one civilian also was wounded in the blast, which occurred early on Saturday morning. http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/10/2148016/officials-2-held-in-death-of-afghan.html Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/02/10/2148016/officials-2-held-in-death-of-afghan.html#storylink=cpySource:

Lebanese gunmen clash in northern city over situation in neighboring Syria

BEIRUT — Lebanese security officials say clashes between pro- and anti-Syria gunmen in a northern Lebanese city have left one person dead and 12 wounded. The officials say the two sides fired on each other from two rival neighborhoods in Tripoli, one dominated by Sunnis, the other by Alawites, a Shiite offshoot sect. They say clashes started Friday night and continued sporadically until Saturday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Lebanese factions have been deeply divided over the Syria crisis, and tensions have intensified with the regime’s siege of the central Syrian city of Homs this week. Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime is dominated by Alawites, while the uprising against him has been led by Sunnis. Source:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/lebanese-gunmen-clash-in-northern-city-over-situation-in-neighboring-syria/2012/02/11/gIQAu0255Q_story.html

2 explosions strike northeast Nigeria city

Authorities say two explosions, including a car bomb, struck a northeast Nigerian city, wounding two soldiers. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Hassan Ifijeh Mohammed said in a statement that the attacks took place Friday in Maiduguri, the spiritual home for the radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. Mohammed said only two soldiers were wounded in the explosions, while four suspected Boko Haram militants died. The blasts come after Boko Haram claimed responsibility for multiple bomb attacks Tuesday in Maiduguri, which saw shops in a major market burn. Boko Haram is waging an increasingly violent campaign against Nigeria's weak central government in its quest to enact strict Shariah law, free its detained members and avenge Muslim deaths in the nation.

Car bomb seriously wounds Iraqi police chief

Iraqi officials say a car bomb south of Baghdad has seriously wounded a local police chief. Police officials say Lt. Col. Salman Kadhim was badly hurt when the bomb that was hidden in a parked car in the town of Jbala detonated on Friday. Jbala is about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of Baghdad. Two of Kadhim's guards were also wounded in the explosion. A local health official confirmed the injuries. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media. Iraqi security forces have long been targeted by insurgents seeking to highlight instability in the Shiite-dominated government and its efforts to protect people from violence without U.S. help. Source:  http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/world/518309/Car-bomb-seriously-wounds-Iraqi-police-chief.html

ATS to probe if Qaeda funded 13/7

The investigators of the July 13 Mumbai triple blasts are now probing whether it was Al Qaeda that funded the attack, sources said. Earlier, the police had claimed that arrested Indian Mujahideen (IM) top cadre Haroon Naik, who arranged for the hawala money used in the blasts, received terror training from LeT, and was closely connected to Al Qaeda since 2001. The police is now investigating his contacts in Saudi Arabia too from where he had arranged the funds. The ATS had earlier claimed that Naik was inspired by a lecture of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and went to outskirts of Kandahar to be trained by Al Qaeda. “Naik, a key member of the planning committee of the IM was living in the guise of working at a construction company in Saudi Arabia. He was however, a top member of the IM and had arranged for the funds used for the July 13 blasts. The investigators are now looking into whether Naik had received funds from Al Qaeeda because of his proximity to the terror

Bali bomb built with 'rice ladle, scale'

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Umar Patek, a bomb-maker for militant group Jemaah Islamiah.  Photo: Reuters AN INDONESIAN terrorism suspect known as ''Demolition Man'' for his expertise with explosives allegedly told interrogators he used household items, including a rice ladle and a kitchen scale, to build the huge bomb that ripped apart Bali nightclubs in 2002. Umar Patek stashed the 700-kilogram bomb in four filing cabinets installed in a van along with a vest bomb, according to documents detailing his interrogation. The explosives ripped apart two nightclubs on October 12, 2002, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians. Patek goes on trial tomorrow for his alleged role in the Bali bombings and other acts of terrorism following a nine-year flight from justice. The 45-year-old Indonesian was finally caught in January 2011 in the same Pakistani town where US Navy Seals would kill Osama bin Laden just a few months later. Patek was hiding out in a second-floor room of a house in Abb

Al-Shabab, al-Qaida formalize bond

NAIROBI, Kenya - Al-Qaida's decision to formally extend its terror franchise to what once was a nationalist movement in Somalia may only be a desperate joining of hands to prop up two militant groups that are both losing popular support and facing increasingly deadly military attacks, analysts said Friday. Somalia's main militant group, al-Shabab, and al-Qaida have been patting each other on the back for years. On Thursday, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri formalized the relationship by giving "glad tidings" that al-Shabab had joined al-Qaida. Al-Shabab, which began as a movement to oust Ethiopian troops from Somalia some six years ago, has long been using terror tactics like suicide bombings and car bombings against the weak Somali government and African Union troops in Mogadishu. The group also has hosted al-Qaida and other foreign fighters with experience in Iraq and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Al-Qaida also could seek to utilize several dozen U.S.

Kenyan military says al-Shabaab is weakening

Johannesburg - The Kenyan military said on Saturday that its operations in Somalia have weakened al-Shabaab, the Islamist insurgent group, and cut off its key sources of funding. 'In our own assessment, 75 per cent of revenue collection of al- Shabaab has been disrupted,' said Colonel Cyrus Oguna, according to Capital FM radio in Nairobi. Kenyan troops entered southern Somalia about four months ago, after a spate of kidnappings on its territory which Nairobi blamed on al-Shabaab. On Thursday, al-Shabaab announced it was merging with al-Qaeda, a move analysts say was brought on by the current financial and military weaknesses of both groups and their loss of support. Al-Qaeda suffered major losses in 2011, with its founder Osama bin Laden killed by US special forces in his hideout in Pakistan in May, and its spiritual leader Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born radical Islamist cleric, killed in a US airstrike in Yemen in September. Questions have been raised on whether curre