Posts

Showing posts from November 11, 2012

No trust: Amnesty's Indian boss in line of workers' ire

For more of the past 50 years it has been regarded as the paragon of human rights organizations - a globally admired beacon of liberty and hope. But a note of discord has crept into the public reputation of Amnesty International. Staff are striking in offices across the globe, and a vote of no-confidence has been passed in its leadership. On the face of it, the human rights organization is being riven over a structural reorganization and a couple of dozen redundancies among its 700 staff. But the real problem goes much deeper and has even been characterized as a 'struggle for the soul' of the human right movement. Staff at Amnesty International UK (AIUK) have called for the resignation of its director , Kate Allen. Staff at the International Secretariat have issued a vote of no-confidence in the ability of the wider movement's Secretary General, Salil Shetty, and his senior leadership team to continue in the organization. The bitter crisis comes as cuts of £2.5m are

Cops hot on maoist Sabyasachi's trail

Berhampur: The death of five Maoists in the recent encounter in Gajapati district appears to have dealt a severe blow to the Sabyasachi Panda-led Odisha Maoist Party (OMP), at a time when Panda was desperately trying to spread his network in southern Odisha after being expelled from the CPI (Maoist). As many as 86 of his loyalists have either surrendered or have been arrested by police in Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts in the last three years. This apart, 14 of Panda's associates have been killed, including five in the recent encounter at Bhaliagada in Gajapati district's Mohana police station area. Police made the latest arrest on last Wednesday when Junesh Digal of Bahada Sahi village in Kandhamal district's Tikabali police station area was picked up from Bhaliagada forest during the gunfight. Digal was involved in the encounter. He was also involved in Maoist offensives earlier, police said. A senior police officer on Friday said, now that Sabyasachi is

Maoist chief Prachanda slapped at public event

Kathmandu: Nepal's most powerful politician Maoist supremo Prachanda was on Friday left shaken after a young activist, believed to be a supporter of his own party, slapped him in full public view, breaking his glasses. The incident took place during a tea reception hosted by 57-year-old Prachanda's UCPN (Maoist) party to mark the festivals of 'Deepawali', 'Chhath' and Nepalese New Year here. A 25-year-old youth, identified as Pawan Kunwar from Baglung district of western Nepal, slapped Prachanda at the function, according to eye witnesses. Prachanda's spectacles flew off his face and one of the lens of his spectacles was shattered, eye-witnesses said. Soon after, Maoist cadres attacked Kunwar, who got seriously injured, before police took him into custody. He had got blood all over the face after the beating. Kunwar, a former member of the Young Communist League (YCL) - the youth wing of the Maoist party, is undergoing treatment in Police Hospital,

Thailand to extradite prostitution ringleader to Russia

Bangkok: Thai authorities would extradite to Russia a man accused of running a prostitution ring involving minors. He claims that the case is fabricated. Konstantin Avdoshkin, a native of Tatarstan's capital Kazan, will be extradited next Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Thai immigration police said at a press conference in Bangkok. Avdoshkin used to run a prostitution ring in Russia between 2005 and 2009, with some of the participants being underage and/or coerced into prostitution, the spokesperson said, citing an extradition request from Interpol. Avdoshkin, who lived in the beach resort of Pattaya since 2009, marrying a local woman and working as a tour guide, was initially detained for violating visa rules because his passport expired. He admitted to running a "leisure company," but denied using coercion and said he had fled Russia because police made up the case to extort money from him, local media reported. Source http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/thail

'Boko Haram commander killed by Nigerian Army'

Abuja: Nigeria's military has killed a top Boko Haram commander, who had shot dead a former army general, in a "major offensive" in the northeastern city of Maiduguri. "During the offensive and in a counter-attack, a major commander of the Boko Haram terrorist sect commanding the northwest and the northeast, Ibn Saleh Ibrahim, with some of his commanders and foot soldiers, were killed by operation troops," a military statement said of yesterday's operation. "The late Ibn Saleh was confirmed to be responsible for the recent assassination of Civil War hero, the late General Mamman Shuwa, through the orders of the leader of the Boko Haram terrorists, Abubakar Shekau," it added. 79-year-old Shuwa was a top commander with the federal troops during the Biafra and Nigeria civil war in the 60s. The Joint Task Force said the operation that led to his assassin's death is ongoing. JTF said the man was killed in a major offensive. According to t

Suspected al Qaeda attack kills 3 in South Yemen

Sanaa: Yemeni security officials say a suspected al Qaeda suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint manned by pro-government tribesmen in the country's south, killing three militiamen. The officials say the attacker walked up to the checkpoint in the city of Zinjibar and detonated his explosives-laden vest today. The city was under al Qaeda control for months until a military offensive reclaimed the territory earlier this year. The Yemeni officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. Local tribesmen formed militias and fought both alongside the military in the government's offensive against al Qaeda and also alone in efforts to uproot the militants from villages and towns in the south. They frequently come under attack from al Qaeda, which is still active in Yemen. Source http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/suspected-al-qaeda-attack-kills-3-in-south-yemen_811304.html

Briton becomes first Western Tibetan Buddhist monk to die from self-immolation

Tonden, 38, whose name at birth was David Alain, had been training for the past five years in the Nalanda monastery near the southwestern village of Labastide-Saint-Georges. The secluded monastery's 25 monks, including five Britons, are currently in retreat. Horrified colleagues rushed into the garden of the quiet monastery, which is surrounded by rolling farmland, at 4.50pm on Thursday afternoon, after spotting their orange-robed, shaven-headed colleague burst into flames on the lawn. They were powerless to help and by the time the emergency services arrived, Tonden had died. Monks and local police said they were unsure whether Tonden had been depressed and committed suicide or that it was a political statement. But given international events of the past week, the timing of his demise could not have been more significant. Tonden died on the day that the Chinese Communist Party enacted its once-in-a-decade leadership change, with Xi Jinping taking over from Hu Jintao.

FBI adds 'rapping jihadi' to terror wanted list

Omar Shafik Hammami ... uses rap as a propaganda tool. The FBI says it has added to its list of most wanted terrorists the American "rapping jihadi", an operative for Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents who uses rap as a propaganda tool. Omar Shafik Hammami, who was born in Alabama but is now thought to live in Somalia, is believed to be a senior leader of the Shebab rebels, who were placed on the US State Department's terror blacklist in 2008. The group has "repeatedly threatened terrorist actions against America and American interests," the FBI said in a statement. Raddulan Sahiron ... added to the FBI's most wanted terrorists list. Photo: Reuters Also known as Abu Mansour al-Amriki, Hammami has been releasing rap songs in English on the internet since 2009 as a recruitment tool, although music is forbidden in Al-Qaeda's strict interpretation of Islam. Advertisement In the songs, Hammami says he hopes to be killed by a drone

Russia charges 9 Islamic radicals with terrorism

MOSCOW (AP) - Nine men were charged Friday with organizing cells of a banned Islamist group and illegal possession of guns, explosives and fake U.S. dollars and euros, Russian police said Five of the nine men are leaders of the Russian cells of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an anti-Western Islamist group whose name means "Party of Liberation," the Interior Ministry said. Banned in several countries, including Russia, the group claims it does not advocate violence to achieve its goal of reestablishing the caliphate, a Muslim empire that once ruled the Middle East and stretched to Spain and Central Asia. Hizb-ut-Tahrir's critics say its ideology is not too far off from overtly militant Islamist groups. The men, detained in Moscow on Monday, are nationals of Russia and ex-Soviet Tajikistan who rented apartments near "transport routes of federal importance" in Moscow, the ministry said in a statement. In 2007, 12 Hizb-ut-Tahrir members were convicted and sentenced to up

How real is 'Skyfall's' cyberterrorism?

(CNN) - "Skyfall," the 23rd installment in the James Bond series, one of the longest-running film franchises in history, recently landed at the top of the box office with $87.8 million in ticket sales. It was the largest opening ever for 007 and the fourth largest opening this year, behind "The Avengers," "The Dark Knight Rises," and "The Hunger Games." Ian Fleming's agent has always been a man of wish fulfillment. After all, he brought heat during the chilliest parts of the Cold War and had the requisite women and weapons. Now, Bond is proving that he still has a place at MI6 by tackling a much more modern dilemma: tactical cyberespionage and terrorism. While the methods for wreaking havoc have changed, the confidential case files are as classic as the man's martini. CNN spoke to Morgan Wright, a decorated former law enforcement officer who has done work relating to cyberterrorism for the United States Department of Justice, the De

Petraeus tells Congress that Rice was unaware of al-Qaida ties to Benghazi

David Petraeus, the former CIA director, told congressional hearings on Friday that he had always known a terrorist group had been involved in an attack in Benghazi that left the US ambassador and three other Americans dead. According to reports from members of Congress who attended the closed-door hearings, Petraeus said the information had been included in the original set of talking points prepared by the CIA for the Obama administration. But he said it was removed from the one provided to the UN ambassador, Susan Rice, who used it as the basis for a series of interviews on the weekend after the killings. Rice is among the contenders to replace Hillary Clinton as US secretary of state. In a press conference this week, Barack Obama, angrily criticised two Republican senators, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who threatened to block her nomination if the president put her name forward. Petraeus, who gave evidence to both the Senate and House intelligence committees, said that re

Gaza rockets land near Jerusalem as fears of ground offensive grow

Palestinians survey a destroyed house of a Hamas military commander after an Israeli air strike in Rafah. Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters The Israeli cabinet has authorised the call-up of 75,000 reserve troops as fears grow that the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, will order a ground invasion after Egyptian efforts to broker a ceasefire did not make headway and Hamas fired a rocket at Jerusalem. The US was scrambling to prevent a further escalation of what it described as a "very, very dangerous situation" in Gaza. Britain warned that a ground invasion could cost Israel international support. But concerns that Netanyahu is preparing to escalate the assault were strengthened as he held a strategy session with senior ministers. Also, the size of the call up is on a scale comparable to Israel's invasion of Lebanon six years ago, and several times larger than the number of reservists drafted during the last major incursion into Gaza in 2008. Tanks were seen

Dutch connection in Colombia peace talks role

BOGOTA, Colombia — Tanja Nijmeijer, 34, is a middle-class child of the Netherlands who for the past decade has been mixed up in a Latin American revolution as a jungle fighter, at least once narrowly escaping death in a military bombardment. And though her current role in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is not exactly clear, Nijmeijer is drawing plenty of attention within the rebel delegation for peace talks that are set to begin Monday in Havana. Colombian government officials privately grumble that Nijmeijer, the only known rebel fighter from outside Latin America, will be an unwelcome distraction at the talks on ending a half-century-old conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Nijmeijer is expected to play some sort of a public relations role, putting an international face on a peasant-based movement with no fluent English speakers in its top ranks. "They say I'm here because I've been in the FARC for 10 years, am a guerrilla and speak

Former Afghan Warlord Remobilizes Militia

In an ominous sign as international forces draw down in Afghanistan, one of the country's most powerful former militia commanders recently issued a call to arms to his supporters. Mohammad Ismail Khan, a former mujahedin commander in western Afghanistan who is currently the country's energy and water minister, told his supporters at a gathering in Herat on November 1 that they needed to rearm to defend the country from "foreign conspirators." Ismail Khan's announcement have come amid wavering confidence in the Afghan government and its security forces as U.S. and NATO-led ISAF troops prepare to leave the country. The move has fueled fears that regional and factional leaders could rearm, undermining support for the Afghan government and increasing the possibility of another civil war. Afghan lawmakers have slammed Ismail Khan's move as illegal and have called for him to be removed from his ministerial position. Meanwhile, officials in Herat Province say

Hacktivists Take Down Far-Right English Website, Access Group’s E-Mail

A group of hacktivists, known as the ZCompany Hacking Crew (ZHC), has defaced the website of the far-right English Defense League (EDL) and hacked into the group’s Gmail account. “We will chase you, expose your racism and even remove you from the web,” a message from the hackers read. The defaced website also shows e-mails taken from the EDL’s Gmail account which ZHC claims shows a misuse of subscription fees and harassment of “innocent people.” The hacked englishdefenseleague.org now redirects to englishdefenceleague.net. (Screenshots of the hacked website are available here.) The EDL is a street movement that sprung up in 2009 following a protest by an Islamist group against returning British troops. It is accused by critics of being racist -- a charge the organization denies -- and Islamophobic. An activist from ZHC told RFE/RL on Facebook chat that the e-mails show that “the EDL Admins are using EDL funds for their own personal gain and many innocent people are being charg

'We Are Legion' Is A Great Film, But Anonymous Deserves More Scrutiny

http://wearelegionthedocumentary.com/ I got a chance to see "We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists" recently. It's a great film and in 90 minutes packs in plenty of interviews with Anonymous activists and experts, putting Anonymous in a broader context of Internet culture, protest movements, and hacktivism. The film is particularly good on how Anonymous became politicized, how the movement (for want of a better word) went from pranking to taking on the Scientologists through to supporting WikiLeaks and helping out Tunisian revolutionaries. There is plenty of nuance here and the film rightly portrays Anonymous as a multifaceted and diverse movement that's hard to pin down -- it covers, for example, the splits between the so-called moralfags and hatefags, between those Anons who wanted to do good versus those who just wanted to wreak havoc. Where the film is less good is when the director, Brian Knappenberger, seems to be too enamored with his subject. Many

Pakistan Takes Step, Not Leap, Toward Afghan Peace

In a move intended to encourage the Taliban to join stalled peace negotiations with the Afghan government, Pakistan this week released at least eight jailed members of that militant group. The releases, granted by Islamabad after repeated requests, is seen by some as a sign that Pakistan is finally prepared to play a constructive role in jump-starting reconciliation efforts that have yielded little since they began several years ago. Skeptics -- including the Afghan government -- say that while it is a positive step, Islamabad must do much more to prove its commitment to the Kabul-led peace process. The Afghan government and its Western allies have stepped up efforts to find a political solution to the ongoing battle against Taliban militants. There are fears that the country could descend into civil war or face another Taliban takeover if militants are not brought into a serious peace process before 2014, when the majority of U.S. and NATO-led ISAF troops will leave. Releases W

UN Hague Tribunal Frees Croatian Generals

The most senior Croatian military officers convicted of war crimes have been freed after the UN court in The Hague acquitted them on appeal. Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac had been sentenced to 24 and 18 years, respectively, in 2011 for their roles in a 1995 military offensive to drive Serbian rebels out of Krajina, a Croatian region bordering Bosnia-Herzegovina. A Croatian government plane carrying the two men arrived hours later in Zagreb, where they were welcomed by Croatia's prime minister and other officials. Gotovina told a cheering crown in the city's main square that "We have won, the war is over and let's turn to the future." Judge Theodor Meron read out the decision at a hearing of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Portraits of Ante Gotovina (foreground) and Mladen Markac are seen as people celebrate the court decision in Zagreb. ​​Some 200,000 ethnic Serbs were

Femen Report Leader Detained At Russian Airport

Ukrainian activist group Femen reports that one of its leaders, Anna Hutsol, has been detained at a Russian airport. The group said on its Facebook page on November 16 that Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) was responsible for the detention. A subsequent report by "Ukrayinska Pravda" said FSB agents and border guards took Hutsol's documents at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport and took her away for questioning. Femen promotes women's rights through high-profile stunts that are frequently carried out topless, attracting wide international attention. The group has also displeased officials at home in Ukraine, in neighboring Belarus, and in other countries where they have staged protests, often considered by some to be disrespectful and in some cases, illegal. Their targets are frequently perceived abusers of women's rights, but the group, which has grown exponentially in recent years with branches in a number of countries, also takes on other

Over 50 rebels killed in clashes with DR Congo forces

Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:59PM GMT Over 50 members of the March 23 Movement (M 23) rebel group have been killed in clashes with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) government forces, Congolese officials say. Lambert Mende, government spokesman, said on Thursday that 51 bodies “wearing Rwandan army uniforms” had been collected. A captain of the rebel group was also arrested, he added. According to Mende, clashes broke out in the Rugari area, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from DRC's key eastern city of Goma. Since early May, nearly half a million people have been displaced due to the fighting in eastern Congo. Most of them have resettled inside Congo, but tens of thousands have crossed into neighboring Rwanda and Uganda. The M23 rebels defected from the Congolese Army in April in protest over alleged mistreatment in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC). They had previously been integrated into the Congolese army under a peace deal signed in 200

Israel warplanes target open area on Gaza-Egypt border

Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:23PM GMT Media reports say fresh Israeli airstrikes have targeted an open area in the southern Gaza Strip, near the Egyptian border.

Israeli tanks moving toward Gaza border, ready for ground attack

Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:39PM GMT Israeli tanks and armored vehicles are reportedly moving toward Gaza for a possible ground offensive as the death toll from Israeli attacks on the Palestinian enclave rises to 25. Scores of Israeli tanks have already been deployed near the Gaza border for a possible ground invasion. Dozens of military trucks were seen transporting tanks and armored personnel carriers toward Gaza late on Thursday. Many buses carrying soldiers also headed toward the border area. According to Israeli sources, Tel Aviv has called up 30,000 reserve soldiers for the operations and that military commanders are preparing 16,000 of them for a possible ground invasion of Gaza. Senior cabinet minister Moshe Yaalon confirmed on Friday that Israel was considering a ground operation against the Palestinian enclave. At least 25 Palestinians, including a senior Hamas commander, have been killed and over 250 others injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza since Wednesday when the Israe

Pakistan frees several jailed Afghan Taliban leaders

Fri Nov 16, 2012 Islamabad government has freed more than a dozen leaders of Afghan Taliban from Pakistani jails in a bid to facilitate peace process in the militancy-wracked region. The release of at least 13 high-profile Taliban figures came days after the Pakistan government officials held talks with Afghanistan's High Peace Council in Islamabad. The operatives who were released by Pakistani authorities included Anwar ul-Haq, a famous Taliban commander. Sources say the freed Taliban will not be arrested under an agreement between the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has formed a peace council to lead talks with the Taliban. The council has been making efforts to initiate dialogue with discontented Afghans and militants who have engaged in warfare with the US-led forces and Kabul's Western-backed government. The council has expressed willingness to listen to legitimate demands by the militants. President Karzai earlier sa

- Bomb blast kills 2 US-led soldiers in eastern Afghnistan

PressTV A powerful explosion has killed at least two US-led soldier in the volatile eastern Afghanistan as foreign fatalities continue to rise across the war-ravaged country. Latest reports suggest the soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in the country's east on Friday. The US-led military coalition has not yet released further details regarding the nationalities of the slain soldiers or the exact location of the incident. Bombs and IEDs are by far the most lethal weapon militants use against foreign troops and Afghan forces. There has been no letup in the Taliban attacks on the US-led foreign troops across the war-ravaged country. US-led troops and Afghan forces are falling prey to Taliban attacks on an almost daily basis. According to the website icasualties.org, over 382 foreign troops, mostly US personnel, have lost their lives in Afghanistan in 2012. The increasing number of military casualties in Afghanistan has caused widespread anger

The return of the curfew in Assam's Kokrajhar: 10 big developments

Reported by Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Edited by Surabhi Malik | Updated: November 16, 2012 18:58 IST Guwahati: In the last week, six people have been killed in the district of Kokrajhar, which in July was the epicenter of sustained ethnic violence, the worst in over a decade in the state of Assam. The area is simmering again because of a new surge of hostilities between the indigenous Bodo tribals and Bengali-speaking Muslim settlers. There were reports of fresh firing on Friday evening in which one woman was injured. Here are 10 big developments in this story: Kokrajhar is now under indefinite curfew, which, the administration says, will be reviewed on a day by day basis. Kokrajhar is one of the four districts in south Assam that make up Bodoland, which is governed by the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council. Assam's DGP Jayanta Narayan Choudhury, who reviewed the situation in Kokrajhar today, told NDTV that easy access to weapons had been identified as a major reason f

Israel vs Hamas on Twitter too

Associated Press | Updated: November 16, 2012 10:52 IST Jerusalem: The hostilities between Israel and Hamas have found a new battleground: social media. The Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas militants have exchanged fiery tweets throughout the fighting in a separate war to influence public opinion. Shortly after it launched its campaign Wednesday by killing Hamas' top military commander Ahmed Jabari, the Israeli military's media office announced a "widespread campaign on terror sites & operatives in the (hash)Gaza Strip" on its Twitter account. It then posted a 10-second black-and-white video of the airstrike on its official YouTube page. Google Inc., which owns YouTube, removed the video for a time early Thursday, but reconsidered and restored it. A tweet from (at)idfspokesperson said: "We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead." Hamas, under its (at)AlQassam

Germany's Merkel to press Putin on rights in Russia

MOSCOW (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will complain to President Vladimir Putin on Friday about a crackdown on political freedoms in Russia at talks likely to deepen a chill between the two big European powers. Merkel has been asked by the German parliament to express concern about the state of human rights in Russia since the former KGB spy returned to the presidency for a six-year third term in May. Putin's spokesman hit back on Thursday by denouncing a rise in "anti-Russian rhetoric" in Germany and signalled that the Kremlin leader would stand his ground if Merkel tried to lecture him on democracy and human rights. But senior German government officials said a resolution agreed last week by the Bundestag expressing alarm over human rights and the threat to civil society in Russia broadly reflected the views of Merkel and her government. "If there are new limits (on civil society), then naturally this is a concern for the chancellor and she wi